In 1970, a young man in Bedfordshire was driving to Enfield twice a week to buy cars at trade sales, then selling them himself off a forecourt. Fifty-six years later, that same man runs a classic car auction house watched by three quarters of a million people a week. Mathewsons Classic Cars is the business behind Bangers & Cash, and its story is far stranger and more interesting than the television programme has time to explain.

Mathewsons Classic Cars: Quick Facts

Registered name	Mathewsons Classic Cars Ltd
Company number	13388081
Incorporated	11 May 2021
Registered office	Unit 10 Enterprise Way, Thornton Road, Pickering, YO18 7NA
Showroom	Roxby Garage, Pickering Road, Thornton-le-Dale
Status	Active
Filed activities	Sale of used cars and light motor vehicles; vehicle maintenance and repair
Founded by	Derek Mathewson, in 1970
Moved to Yorkshire	1988
Auctions began	2011
Directors	Paul Mathewson and Dave Mathewson
On display	Over 100 cars, motorbikes and automobilia

How It All Started in 1970

Derek Mathewson began trading in 1970, and the early business was nothing glamorous. He bought ordinary cars and commercial vehicles at trade sales and sold them on to retail and trade customers, running a site in Bedfordshire and driving down to Enfield twice a week for stock. The firm later branched into vehicle contract hire and leasing, supplying vehicles across the UK. But even then, according to the company’s own history, the showrooms were always full of Derek’s real passion: vintage and classic cars. Our profile of Derek Mathewson’s net worth and career follows that journey in more detail.

The Move North in 1988

The Yorkshire chapter began almost by accident. The family had connections in the north and had spent years holidaying in the area, and in 1988 they made the move permanent. Thornton-le-Dale, a picture-postcard village on the edge of the North York Moors, turned out to be ideal for a motor museum. Picture that decision from the outside: leaving an established Bedfordshire trade to set up a car museum in a village of stone cottages. It sounds like a gamble. Nearly forty years later it looks like the smartest thing the family ever did.

Why the Auctions Began in 2011

The auction house exists because of a recession. After the 2007 to 2009 crash, Derek found ordinary retail selling had become miserable, with customers growing cynical and difficult. He faced a straightforward choice: close the business or change it. In 2011 he chose to start holding classic car auctions at the museum and showroom premises instead. It was a rescue plan, not a masterstroke, and it accidentally created the format that would later make the family famous. Anyone who has had to reinvent their work to survive a bad year will recognise exactly what that decision felt like.

The Company on Paper

Mathewsons Classic Cars Ltd was incorporated on 11 May 2021, company number 13388081, registered at Unit 10 Enterprise Way, Thornton Road, Pickering, North Yorkshire, YO18 7NA. It is an active private limited company. Its filed business activities are the sale of used cars and light motor vehicles, and the maintenance and repair of motor vehicles. Those two lines describe the operation neatly: one half sells, the other half fixes. The active directors are Paul Mathewson and Dave Mathewson, with Angela Mathewson having served from incorporation until March 2025.

What the Showroom Is Actually Like

The showroom sits at Roxby Garage on Pickering Road in Thornton-le-Dale, and it holds more than a hundred cars and motorbikes plus a serious collection of automobilia. Since the show began, it has quietly become a destination in its own right. There is a car and coach park with room for over three hundred vehicles a few hundred yards away, which tells you everything about how the visitor numbers have changed. People plan days out around it now. A business that once served local buyers is now on the map for enthusiasts from across the country.

How Television Changed the Business

Bangers & Cash first aired on 18 April 2019, made by York-based producer Air TV for the Yesterday channel. The effect on the firm was enormous. Series 7 was averaging 744,000 viewers an episode, and in 2023 UKTV ordered 46 new episodes across four series plus twelve more of the spin-off, the biggest single order the network had ever placed for one programme. Suddenly a Yorkshire auction house had a national audience of potential bidders and sellers. Very few small businesses ever get marketing like that, and fewer still are ready for it.

What Actually Sells at a Mathewsons Auction

This is not a supercar house. Mathewsons built its reputation on entry-level classics, the cars ordinary people actually owned and remember. A tired Ford, a Morris, a motorbike that has sat in a shed since the eighties. That is the whole appeal. Buyers here are chasing a memory rather than an investment, which is the same emotional logic that drives collectors of personalised number plates in the UK or viewers of dealing shows like Rick Harrison of Pawn Stars. Nostalgia has always been the strongest currency in this trade, and Derek understood that early.

Three Generations, One Yard

What makes the business unusual is not the cars. It is that three generations genuinely work in it. Derek founded it, Paul and Dave run it, and the grandsons including Charlie Mathewson are now learning it. Most family firms do not survive the second handover. This one is managing the third on camera. Our full breakdown of the Bangers and Cash cast explains who does what. Derek, now past fifty years in the trade, says he no longer hunts for cars, because the best ones turn up by accident.

Derek’s Own Collection

You cannot understand this business without understanding that the man who built it is a collector first and a dealer second. Derek owns around five Aston Martins, including a DB6, a DB MkIII, a DBS, an AM Vantage and a DB9 Volante, plus four Bentleys: a Continental S3, two MkVIs and a 4½-litre. Add British commercials and pre-war machinery on top. His first DB6, bought in the late 1980s, was a stolen and damaged car from a salvage yard that he repaired and then simply used every day. That tells you the attitude the whole firm inherited.

Why Honest Descriptions Built the Reputation

There is a reason this firm insists on straight talking, and it goes back to a bad experience. Derek walked away from classic car trading for a period in the 1990s after being badly let down by a misdescribed Healey 3000, having grown tired of vehicles being sold as far better than they were. When he came back and later built an auction house, that memory shaped how the business describes its stock. In a trade where optimism is the default setting, being trusted is the entire product. It is the same instinct viewers recognise in Dave Mathewson every week.

What Bidding at Mathewsons Is Really Like

If you have only watched auctions on television, the real thing moves faster than you expect. Lots come through steadily, the auctioneer keeps the rhythm going, and a car can be sold in under a minute. Buyers are advised to view in person beforehand, read the catalogue description properly and decide a hard limit before the bidding starts, because the room has a way of talking people past it. Registration and buyer fees apply, as at any auction house. It is the same discipline collectors apply when chasing personalised number plates in the UK or watching dealers haggle on Rick Harrison of Pawn Stars.

Final Thoughts

Mathewsons Classic Cars is not a television creation. It is a real business that started with one man buying cars in Bedfordshire in 1970, moved north on a hunch in 1988, survived a recession by reinventing itself in 2011, and then happened to be exactly the right story at the right time. That order matters. The success came from the work first, and the cameras second. If you are ever near Pickering, the showroom is worth the detour.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Mathewsons Classic Cars based?

The showroom is at Roxby Garage, Pickering Road, Thornton-le-Dale, North Yorkshire. The company is registered at Unit 10 Enterprise Way, Pickering.

When did Mathewsons start?

Derek Mathewson began trading cars in 1970 in Bedfordshire. The family moved to North Yorkshire in 1988 and started classic car auctions in 2011.

Who owns Mathewsons Classic Cars?

It is a family business. Companies House lists Paul Mathewson and Dave Mathewson as the active directors of Mathewsons Classic Cars Ltd.

Can you visit the Mathewsons showroom?

Yes, it has become a popular destination for fans. Over 100 cars and motorbikes are on display, with a large car and coach park nearby.

What kind of cars does Mathewsons sell?

Mostly entry-level classics rather than supercars, including everyday British cars, commercials and motorbikes that buyers remember from their youth.

What is Mathewsons Classic Cars’ company number?

The registered company number is 13388081. The company was incorporated on 11 May 2021 and remains active.

Disclaimer: This article is for general information. Company details come from Companies House filings and the Mathewsons company website, and business information can change. Please check the company’s own website for current opening times and auction dates before travelling.