WHEELER Dealers host Mike Brewer has opened up on how his love of cars began in a tell-all interview.
The TV star, who’s hosted the popular car flipping show Wheeler Dealers since it first aired in 2003, is a well known face among petrolheads – gaining a legion of fans thanks to his skills as a trader and his ability to buy used cars and restore them for a profit.
But many fans will be fascinated to know the London-born host got his first taste of motoring thanks to ‘Hot Rods’ – which are typically American-style cars rebuilt or modified with large engines.
In a sit down chat with former Fifth Gear presenter Jonny Smith for The Late Brake Show‘s YouTube channel, Mike revealed that he was thrust into the world of car building and modifying thanks to his father.
In the interview, Mike says it all began because of his dad’s job as a car customiser – which included building several ‘Hot Rod’ motors that became famous in the world of muscle motors.
Mike said: “It was really like being in the scene of American Graffiti, you know back then.
“It was a very special moment growing up with my dad and it meant that I had no choice but to fall in love with cars.
“In terms of falling in love with cars it was sort of instilled in me, this is the family business, this is what we do and you’re helping.”
“During the summer holidays that was my job, I would be down the workshop helping my dad.”
Mike goes onto say that he “absorbed” his dad’s knowledge simply by watching him in his workshop.
Mike said: “It was just a cool time to sort of just hang around with my dad and I really didn’t know what I was doing, I was just doing it.
“It wasn’t until much later, until I got to the age of 15 or 16 years of age when I bought my first scooter and then my first car, that I realised that I knew all this stuff about cars.
“I knew what to look for, how to look for it, what would be wrong with a car, what would be right with a car, because I’ve just been around it all my life.”
Mike recently shared a “sad and exciting” update on the “last filming day” of Wheeler Dealer’s latest run and even teased new episodes.
This comes after he “brutally” turned down the chance to restore a classic motor sent to him via a fan on social media platform X.
