A content creator who restored Marcus Rashford's damaged Rolls Royce has become one of the UK's most popular automobile influencers after leaving behind his full-time job at an Indian restaurant.
Mat Armstrong, from Leicester, has gone from strength to strength since purchasing Rashford's custom Mansory Black Badge Wraith for £184,000 at auction.
After restoring numerous expensive cars prior to buying the Rolls Royce in early 2024 – including the Lamborghini Countach used in the film The Wolf Of Wall Street – he built a following of around 2.7 million subscribers.
But his decision to document rebuilding Rashford's old vehicle was a stroke of genius. At the time of writing, Armstrong has more than 5.1 million followers on his YouTube channel, with the Rolls Rolls project helping to elevate his brand.
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So, what has he been up to since? The 32-year-old has worked on a flood-damaged Aston Martin DBX, as well as a £600,000 Lamborghini Revuelto; a video that picked up over 6.5 million views.
Armstrong's journey to YouTube fame
At the age of 16, Armstrong dropped out of school to pursue his dream of becoming a professional BMX rider.
He made it as far as the World Championships, but when things didn’t work out following a lack of funding in the sport, he found himself working jobs at his local car garage and the Indian restaurant, Spice 45.
Armstrong often worked up to 13 hours a day, but in his spare time, he would rebuild cars. In fact, his big break came during the COVID pandemic, when his girlfriend crashed her Audi TT.
At the time, he was furloughed from his two jobs, which proved to be the catalyst that changed Armstrong's life as he worked relentlessly on rebuilding the Audi – all while documenting his journey with the video editing skills he’d learnt as a BMX rider.
He soon built a significant following on YouTube. In fact, when his employer asked him to come back five weeks after being furloughed, he decided to take a leap of faith and become a full-time content creator.
Now, the man himself lives a hectic lifestyle, which includes rebuilding cars from any time between 11pm and 1am on four days of the week.
Topics: Marcus Rashford, YouTube
Jack Kenmare