There’s no denying that “Rust Valley Restorers” has done wonders in the genre of car-restoration shows of this decade. Since premiering its first season in 2018, the guys from Rust Bros Restorations have taught us how to make gold out of junk, turning some of the most seemingly irreparable cars into beautiful and powerful icons.
Out of all the talented and car-passionate people on the Rust Bros Restoration team, the one who stands out the most is the business owner Mike Hall, who is also famous for having hundreds of cars in his backyard, which he proudly shows on screen. His amazing collection is not only impressive, but also leads us to wonder how rich he actually is and what’s going on with his business behind the scenes.
Stay with us to find out more about Mike Hall’s financial situation, his business, the shows he’s been in, and a lot more!
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Net Worth
According to online sources, Mike Hall has an estimated net worth of over $5 million. However, unlike many other famous reality TV stars, Mike’s fortune doesn’t come from his on-screen appearances, but from his decades-long work in the construction business, and from restoring cars for resale.
Nevertheless, the latter isn’t something Mike has been extremely profitable at. As he revealed in an interview with Driving.Ca in 2019, being in “Rust Valley Restorers” hadn’t made him gain more money, as on only a couple of cars had he broken even, while the rest he had to stand most of the costs.
Reportedly, Mike sold dozens of cars out of his once-massive collection throughout 2022 and 2023. The worth of those mostly unfinished projects was around $250,000, yet it’s unclear how much money Mike actually made out of those deals. It’s also worth noting that Mike owns several properties in British Columbia, which are mostly used to store his car collection, given that his wife is against him using the family’s farm for that.
Regarding his earnings from the TV seriwa, it’s fair to assume Mike receives a salary from that, though other stars from the show such as Cassidy Mcewon and Sarah Ward affirmed that their income from the show is very low, especially when compared to the rest of the American entertainment business.
His First Business
Long before we got to know Mike Hall through “Rust Valley Restorers”, he was already well-accomplished in a field far from car restoration. His company Chimera Springs Rock Works focuses on fall mitigation in British Columbia, meaning that they ensure the roads are safe by securing and landscaping rocky outcrops on the sides.
According to an interview Mike gave in 2010, he’d been working in rock landscaping since around 1975, but always found new ways to get excited over his job, especially since it engenders lots of adrenaline. It was through this business that Mike gained the nickname Rasta Blasta, and considerable local fame, on top of making money to afford his massive car collection.
While Mike’s personality, striking blond dreads, uncommon professional field, and massive gearhead attitude turn him into quite a character, his status as a local celebrity wasn’t cemented until 2008, when his rock-blasting team saved a mountain goat which had fallen off a cliff. What made that one incident so memorable was that Mike performed mouth-to-nose resuscitation on the goat, making it to local headlines thanks to that.
Last but not least, Mike and his business Chimera Springs Rock were featured in one episode of the Canadian docuseries “Highway Thru Hell” in 2017.
Why Does He Have So Many Cars?
To say that Mike Hall loves cars would be an understatement. He’s dedicated most of his life to collecting cars, always showing a clear preference for old, toughened ones which need more than a little help to get back in shape.
Everything started during Mike’s youth living in Kamloops, where he moved when his father changed jobs. His house’s backyard was the first place Mike used to store cars, but his collection didn’t grow bigger than 15 before the city requested that he move them over.
It didn’t take long for Mike to rent a new place for his cars, and soon his collection passed from a dozen to over 50. Once again, that wasn’t welcomed by the city, leaving Mike no option but to move his cars to a then newly-bought 26-acre property, where his collection eventually surpassed the 150 mark.
Nonetheless, the complaints of his wife about filling the family’s farm with too many cars led him to buy the property he would eventually call his ‘field of dreams’ in Tappen, British Columbia.
Car Restoration & TV
Regardless of how much Mike Hall loves his cars, the truth is that his collection got out of his hands at some point. Before the premiere of “Rust Valley Restorers”, as Mike told the local news site Infotel in 2017, he was getting rid of a big part of his collection because he was afraid it would become a problem for his family if he were to pass away. That was a thought that often plagued Mike’s mind, as he had already seen the family of his late friends go through similar situations.
Back then, he was contacted by a production company which wanted to create a show around rock scaling. However, the show’s concept turned out to be too risky, instead bringing up the idea of creating a show about Mike’s car restoration adventures.
That led Mike to set up Rust Bros Restorations, with the idea of restoring his collection one car at a time, while also making some extra money out of it. Nevertheless, he admitted to Driving.CA that the show not only increases the restoration time, but also makes it hard to result in some financial gain out of them, though he keeps going because he ‘likes to fulfill people’s dreams’, even if it’s at a high cost.
What Happened To Mike’s Collection?
Even though Mike Hall’s idea was to restore most of the cars in his once-massive collection, in the past couple of years his plans took an unexpected turn. From 2021 to 2023, Mike auctioned-off a huge part of his collection, and was left with ‘only’ 50 cars out of the almost 500 he’d previously owned. In the process, Mike always made sure to know who he sold the cars to, and kept in contact with the new owners; apparently ensuring that they ‘went to a good home’!
Nevertheless, these changes in Mike’s life were short-lived. As Mike affirmed in an interview with Bodyworx Magazine in 2024, his collection of about 50 cars increased to 100 in a matter of months. According to him, some of these cars are to be restored in “Rust Valley Restorers”, although it’s unknown when exactly a new season of the show is set to premiere.
All in all, Mike Hall is still not ready to say goodbye to the biggest passion of his life, despite the obvious burden on himself, and presumably the rest of his family.
