Ant Anstead Built His 1st Car Before He Could Even Drive
Many people fancy themselves as car enthusiasts. But not everyone who can afford high-end automobiles is a true fan. You know a real car enthusiast when you see someone who can take a car apart, put it back together, and handle most, if not all, customizations. Take, for instance, Ant Anstead, one of the stars of the reality TV series Wheeler Dealers. Before he could even drive, he knew how to build a car. With that kind of passion and expertise, it’s little wonder Anstead landed the TV gig.
Who is Ant Anstead?
If you’ve never heard of Ant Anstead, you probably have also never heard of Wheeler Dealers. The first edition of the popular British program premiered in 2003 and featured car restorers Mike Brewer and Edd China fixing up notable models and selling them to interested buyers. Brewer would begin the show by buying a fixer-upper, sharing details of the model’s history, and then giving it to Chinn to handle the restoration.
This format lasted until 2017, when Chinn left the show, and Anstead replaced him. He served as the series’ chief mechanic for the next three years before Marc Priestley entered. However, Anstead has made sporadic appearances on the program since then. Meanwhile, he’s been busy with other pursuits, such as his TV shows Ant Anstead Master Mechanic and The World’s Greatest Cars.
While working with Brewer as the lead mechanic of Wheeler Dealers, Anstead also made appearances on his then-wife’s show, Christina on the Coast. Married in 2018, he and Christina Haack appeared on her show in which she renovated homes — a skill she mastered while working with her first husband, Tarek El Moussa, on their hit show, Flip or Flop. However, by 2020, when Anstead left his full-time role on Wheeler Dealers, he separated from Haack and exited her show too.
Ant Anstead is a master mechanic
Despite his appearances on Haack’s home renovation show, Anstead’s specialty is automobiles. What exactly are his automotive bona fides that have landed him multiple gigs on shows about cars?
Anstead’s expertise stems from a childhood passion for vehiclees. In an interview with Influx, he noted he bought his first off-the-shelf car kit when he was only 16 years old, before he had a driver’s license.
Though he began a career as a police officer, he quit after six years to pursue a full-time job building cars. Now, he runs a commercial company that builds and restores them. When not juggling one of many TV gigs, he and his team build unique cars upon request.
And despite those gigs, much of his rising celebrity can be attributed to his marriage to Haack and romance with actor Renée Zellweger. Celebrity or not, Anstead has more than 15 years of professional experience building and restoring cars. But, of course, he first got his hands dirty much earlier.
Rising celebrity and wealth
With his TV gigs, celebrity relationships, and the exposure they’ve given his business, Anstead is no longer living on a rookie cop’s salary. His custom builds and restorations net him a pretty penny. But because the company is privately held, it’s unclear exactly how much Anstead’s equity is worth.
However, Wealthy Persons estimates Anstead’s assets at around $6 million, the same value as the house he and Haack sold when they divorced. Celebrity Net Worth puts that figure a little lower, at $5 million. It’s worth noting that his company, which specializes in restoring luxury autos, can pull down six figures before expenses at car auctions.
In fact, Anstead holds the record for the most expensive straight-six Aston Martin ever auctioned off. If his profit margins per car reach the high four or five figures, he’s likely a wealthy man indeed.
