Vrinda Bachchan
In a small car-crazed town in the heart of British Columbia, Canada sits a sprawling five-acre property full of more than 400 old rusty cars. This town is Tappen (near Shuswap Lake) and the five-acre property is the playground (or Land of Dreams, as they call it) of the Rust Bros Restoration company. Rust Bros is owned by Mike Hall, an eccentric automobile-obsessed businessman. Mike and his team of charismatic, funny, knowledgeable mechanics make up the cast of History Channel’s ‘Rust Valley Restorers‘. It’s a docuseries that follows the Rust Bros team as they restore old cars to their former shiny glory and try to sell them for a profit. Here are all the cast members of ‘Rust Valley Restorers’.
1. Mike Hall (owner)
Mike has a self-admitted problem – he just cannot help but buy old cars that are not in working condition anymore. Mike Hall has been obsessed with cars for over 50 years and ever since he was a teenager, he has been collecting vintage junk cars and now has amassed over 400 of them. Till 2018, he had restored maybe 5. But the 64-year-old hippie’s fear of dying soon and leaving his family with the burden of a land filled with scrap cars pushed him to put the property (and all the cars on it) up for sale. When it didn’t sell, instead of lowering the asking price, Mike increased it. That’s when news broke about this crazy real estate listing and Mike came onto the radar of the network. Mike still wants to sell, but before he finds any takers, he wants to restore as many of his cars as possible. There’s only one problem – Mike has no business acumen and most of the time ends up going way over budget on restoration projects.
2. Avery Shoaf (lead mechanic and second in command)
Avery is Mike’s best friend and arguably the most knowledgeable about cars. Avery is the one who usually tells Mike that he bought a piece of junk and also convinces him to sell cars that Mike gets attached to. Mike’s tendency to ignore the pre-agreed budget and going overboard is a constant source of consternation for Avery. They argue sometimes and things heat up, but then the best friends always end up having a good laugh after doing a bang-up job of fixing old cars. Some episodes of Season 2 also saw Avery’s son restoring a vehicle by himself.
3. Connor Hall (Mike’s son and mechanic)
Connor Hall may be Mike’s son but he’s Avery’s disciple in all ways that matter. Connor started his career off by working for Avery, making the latter his mentor. Having grown up around junk cars, it was only natural that Connor also cultivates a deep interest and extensive know-how of cars. But working with Rust Bros is not his only gig. After Mike picked up restoration full-time, Connor took over his father’s company Chimera Springs Rock Works, which is a slope stabilization business. Connor is in his late twenties to early thirties (exact age unknown) and is currently single.
4. Cassidy Mceown (autobody apprentice)
Cassidy joined the Rust Bros crew as a 17-year-old and now she is 20. She is a hard-working autobody apprentice and she is really good at her job. Having grown up in a family of gearheads, Cassidy learned to work on vehicles pretty early on in life. Even though she loves cars, in Season 1, she couldn’t drive to save her life and took three tries to pass her driver’s ed test. Cassidy is currently pursuing a course in Auto Collision Repair from Okanagan College. She is a tomboy and a dog-lover.
5. Sarah Ward (parts manager)
Sarah is the second girl in the team and she’s the parts manager which basically means that she helps with the procurement of the parts that Mike and Avery require for any ongoing project. Sarah is also extremely passionate about cars and is quite the restorer herself. In Season 3, Sarah restores her own 1938 Buick to its gloriously mint condition. Sarah is 26 years of age and married to Shaun Scott, who owns his own auto shop in Salmon Arm, British Columbia.
Apart from the main cast listed above, there’s also a number of other people who feature sometimes on the show, like the Rust Bros’ lead body man Greg Preece and lead welder Rick Hamerston, and a couple of competitors who Mike trades parts with. For car junkies, this show is a completely fun watch as they would get to learn a lot because the crew talks in car lingo but still manages to make it easy enough to understand.
Read More: Where is Rust Valley Restorers Filmed?
