A Portuguese entrepreneur has built a luxury car restoration business that has wealthy customers waiting up to three years for a vintage Land Rover. Despite growing demand, he accepts only 12 to 14 clients annually, with each restoration project costing at least €200,000 (approximately $224,000).
Ricardo Pessoa, 47, is the founder of Coolnvintage (CNV), a Lisbon-based company specialising in restoring classic Land Rovers. His clientele includes company founders, CEOs and former executives who are willing to pay substantial amounts for a customised vehicle.
According to a CNN report published on November 12, Pessoa personally selects his customers and has no plans to expand production, even as demand continues to exceed the company's capacity.
From personal hobby to luxury business
Pessoa founded Coolnvintage in 2012 after years of restoring Land Rovers for his own travels across Portugal and African countries, including Morocco, Guinea and Angola.
{{/usCountry}}Pessoa founded Coolnvintage in 2012 after years of restoring Land Rovers for his own travels across Portugal and African countries, including Morocco, Guinea and Angola.
{{/usCountry}}What began as a hobby gradually developed into a business as people became interested in buying his restored vehicles.
Today, his company employs 17 people and has restored around 200 Land Rovers. Each project requires approximately 2,000 hours of skilled labour.
"A car takes 1,200 different parts, not counting bolts, screws, washers and all these consumables, so in total maybe 3,000," Pessoa told CNN. "We check every part three times."
According to an earlier NeoFeed report published in April 2026, the company's international clientele includes buyers from the United States, Japan and Europe.
Why does he accept so few clients?
Pessoa meets prospective customers before agreeing to restore their vehicles. He sometimes welcomes them to Lisbon by collecting them from the airport in his 1971 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow.
"I don't want to scale the business by any means," he told CNN.
The restoration process usually takes around a year, although customers may spend considerably longer on the waiting list.
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Pessoa also refuses to commit to strict delivery deadlines.
"The timeline is a kind of goal," he explained. "It will be ready when I think it's done."
Once a vehicle is ready, Pessoa personally delivers it or arranges a handover at a luxury retreat in Portugal or Morocco.
For him, the vehicles are meant to be enjoyed rather than displayed as expensive collectibles.
"Our Land Rovers are meant to be driven not collected. For me, that's the most important part of the company's DNA," he said.