“Rust Valley Restorers,” a documentary TV show created by the History Channel that showcases the restoration of classic cars to their former glory, became available on Netflix on 23 August 2019, thus greatly expanding its reach and popularity.
The series follows the adventures of Mike Hall, an eccentric collector of vintage automobiles, as well as his crew of versatile automotive experts at Rust Bros in their efforts to take on rusted and dilapidated vehicles and bring them back to life.
Based in Tappen, in Canada’s British Columbia, Mike’s 400-strong vintage car collection is housed on his five-acre property, where the televised Rust Bros Restoration shop itself is also situated. Among the team members is Mike’s only child, Connor Hall, who plays a pivotal role in the show’s restoration process. Although not as famous as his father, the younger TV star also has an enviable career and interesting beginnings.
Although most of his childhood remains a mystery due to the unwillingness of anyone from the Hall family to provide more details, it’s known that as a young boy Connor loved playing with all things mechanical, learning to use spuds and wrenches by the time he was 14 years old. Expectedly, Hall Jr. went around Mike’s garage and helped out with whatever he could, naturally growing his interest in the craft and business.
Upon reaching adolescence, Connor was already brimming with various ideas to take the business further, and ultimately became fortunate enough to have his father’s venture featured in a popular TV show, taking the opportunity to manage various aspects that Mike didn’t care for all that much, mostly financial viability of the business.
Since the father is mostly there to focus on his passion of repairing and selling cars, the many monetary concerns were put on hold and simply disregarded for the majority of the shop’s operational history, that is until Connor stepped in.
The two generations
Albeit a great addition to the business overall, the younger Hall’s financial management led to some interesting and at times rather dramatic developments, mostly owing to the fundamental difference in mindset between the two.
As Mike put it himself, ‘My relationship with my son is one hardest relationship I have to deal with. He’s young, he’s arrogant, he thinks he knows it all. He’s kinda made of Teflon, nothing’s ever his fault. I think that’s a family trait ‘cause my brothers seem to share it.’
Thankfully, the pair have a multitude of similarities as well. In Mike’s words, ‘Connor and I both like the old muscle. I like some stuff that’s a little older than Connor likes. He likes low profile tires, he’s into fuel injection and more of the modern upgrades. I still like the look of the cars as they were in the 60’s.’
https://www.facebook.com/HISTORYCanada/videos/713771632458921/
Overall, the father seems satisfied with the way Connor turned out, stating ‘I pay him a lot of money for what he does, and maybe I expect too much of him. But he does work hard, he’s a good kid. I could’ve done a lot worse. I’m proud of my son.’
Not all of the audience is familiar with the fact that Mike wasn’t a very present parent in the early days of Connor’s upbringing, mostly due to being preoccupied with the various day-to-day goings-on in the repair shop, as it takes more than one to manage a collection of over 400 vehicles, and yet Mike did exactly that for a while.
The two had a conversation that touched on the topic while in one of the cars, with Mike stating ‘I’m glad I finally got the shop built, Connor. Glad you can help us build some cars, and it’s nice hangin’ out with ya.’ The son replied ‘I guess better late than never. Is that what you’re trying to get at?’ Mike then warmed the viewers’ heart by saying ‘Yup. Better late than never, that’s right. I think so too. Sorry it took so long kid.’
If you are a fan of the hit auto show, Rust Valley Restorers, then you must be familiar with Connor Hall. Connor is the son of the famous Rust Brothers owner, Mike Hall. Click the link to know about life of Connor including his married life & net worth.https://t.co/w6xm0hzuik pic.twitter.com/bqj9PcE24n
— eCelebrityFacts (@ecelebrityfacts) January 15, 2022
Running with the old man
Connor became a fan favorite almost immediately upon joining the cast, captivating the audiences with his vibrant yet stern personality that came in as a stark contrast to his father’s nearly reckless work ethic. Of course, this difference provided for great television, which made the producers at History Channel very happy. As a result, Mike had to keep this preference in mind when arguing with his heir, and was thus probably nicer to him than he would’ve liked to be, on more than one occasion.
In his own intro, Connor revealed that he started working for Mike at the tender age of 15, which is actually virtually expected in most families whose patriarchs are as passionate about cars as the senior Hall.
However, the way that he actually got into the business, is slightly more complicated. Connor stated ‘Quite a long time ago, I was rock scaling. He’s owned his slope stabilization company since 2000. That would’ve been around ’04 or ’05 that I started working for him, and I’ve been doing it ever since.’
What some of the fans were disappointed not to see more of in the series was the son-father interaction that was naturally assumed to be the general form of communication between the Halls, but the reality of the matter was entirely different.
To clear up certain doubts and ease the viewers’ minds, Connor explained ‘I call my dad Mike lots actually, almost all the time. I get in trouble for it. The reason I call him Mike is ‘cause I’ve worked for him for so long that, you call him ‘Dad,’ he doesn’t listen. If you call him Mike, it’s like a business thing, like a work thing, and he listens better.’
To conclude, he said ‘So if you call him ‘Dad,’ oh, whatever, my kids yellin’ at me, but if you say ‘Hey Mike,’ he’s like ‘oh, must be more important.’ So, I just found Mike works better to get his attention.’
Many were also curious as to the state and history of the relationship between Connor and his father’s best friend Avery Shoaf, who is the third celebrity of History’s reality TV series. To that end, he stated ‘I met Avery when I was 19 years old. Me and my buddy actually just wanted to go rent some jet skis on the Shuswap, and Avery used to run a rental business there called Wild Man Rentals.’
As most would have assumed, it’s really easy to make friends with Avery, which Connor’s story also supported, continuing with ‘We went out there one day, and we just sat down and bull****ted with him, rented some jet skis off him, hung out, and that was just kinda the start of a long friendship.’
However, the most important bond in Connor’s life is, of course, the one with his father. In spite of intermittently arguing both on and off camera throughout work hours, the two seem to have a rather healthy parent-child relationship, which the younger Hall confirmed in the intro video.
He stated ‘As much of a hard time as I gave him, I feel very grateful for my dad. ‘Cause he taught me that, if you want something, you have to go out there and get it. No one will give it to ya, you can’t just sit back and expect it. So, if you want something, you get off your ass and you work. And that’s what I’m grateful for.’
The average routine of the younger Hall’s day of grueling work was also of great interest to the fans, and he revealed its more-or-less unexpected details. Connor said ‘My perfect day starts at about 10 o’clock in the morning. Roll out of bed after a nice long sleeping in, bacon and eggs, nice breakfast, and then wake surf all day, have a couple of beers, hang out with friends, have a good time. Go home and do it all over again.’
Petal to the metal
Finding love in the automotive industry often proves to be a daunting task, but not for the young and gifted Connor, who doesn’t cease dazzling the audience with his impressive undertakings in the business.
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It just so happened that a certain Jada Mazikeen Kovács caught Connor’s attention at some point in his career, causing them to quickly enter an apparently happy and loving relationship. Jada herself is no stranger to cars, being the director of communications at Dealer Intelligence Inc in British Columbia, Canada since May 2020.
Her being a versatile connoisseur of all sorts of vehicles obviously meant a great deal to the younger Hall, as the two have now been married for a while. Their wedding was held behind closed doors, befitting the generally private personalities that they both enjoy in one another.
They don’t have children thus far, nor have they announced any plans of upping their household member count, but fans should definitely stay tuned on social media in case any developments take place, as Connor is known to post a picture with Jada from time to time, revealing a detail or two about what they’re doing.
Due to Jada being even less fond of the spotlight than Connor, her Instagram page is set to private. Her description states that she’s ‘Mother to Hank,’ but this is most likely the name of the German Shepherd featured on the account’s profile picture right next to her.
Connor’s latest dealings
As February rolled around in 2023, the fans began expecting the fifth season of “Rust Valley Restorers” to be released, akin to the previous year. However, it seems that they will have to wait a while longer, as the series appears to be on a pause of sorts. It hasn’t been canceled, but History’s officials as well as Mike and his employees are yet to comment on the continuation.
In the meanwhile, Connor looks to be working hard somewhere in Canada, which can be concluded from his latest Instagram post from 15 February 2023. He uploaded a picture of Jada with a heartwarming description that lets the fans know business continues unimpeded, although most readers were left wanting further clarification.
The post read ‘Happy Valentine’s to my rock. Thanks for being there and supporting me and being so understanding when work takes me far away. I love you @jada.mazikeen.’ Whether he’s busy working on the fifth season of the TV series, or undertaking an entirely new project, probably even completely separately from Mike, remains to be seen in the coming months.
The official Instagram page of Rust Bros Restorations doesn’t offer much more context either, with their latest post being the celebration of Mike Hall’s birthday on 4th February 2023, stating simply ‘Happy birthday to the man, the myth, the legend! Here’s to another trip around the sun!’ in the description.
That said, even if both of the Halls are staying home with their feet on the table, it’s not like they aren’t actively making money. The Rust Bros Restorations store is widely available to the public, offering a range of merchandise that represents their brand, including hoodies, T-shirts, tank tops, hats, and even a mug.
An assumption as to what may be amiss is the fact that Netflix is the global distributor of the TV series, while Motor Trend on Demand was responsible for airing seasons three and four. The former media giant has faced backlash for its corporate decisions in the past few months, which may have created additional hurdles for various production teams.
Namely, users in the not-so-distant future will no longer be able to just share their account with anyone, or even use it themselves in more than one location. With Forbes magazine entitling their article “Netflix and Not-So-Chill: Where To Stream Now That Password Sharing Is Over In Canada,” it remains to be seen how the company proceeds to enforce its policies, and what sort of impact that may have on the viewership of its releases, including “Rust Valley Restorers.”
