The show on Motortrend, not issues with my cars. This show is a great tutorial in how to buy a vehicle by showing what not to do. Time and again, Tyler Hoover buys another couple of used cars without having them inspected beforehand. He takes them to his favorite mechanic after he buys them, often with several problems that may have stopped his purchase. Last week, he bought a Saab Aero with a WRX drivetrain and suspension. There’s was a little white smoke, but the dealer said he checked it for breached head gaskets and there were none. Wrong. Big job, too, to remove and disassemble the engine to get at the problem. He ended up just selling it at a loss. He’s an experienced buyer ad should know better. Maybe he does this for added drama in the show. In any case it’s graphic evidence that having a prepurchase inspections is very important. The cars and trucks he features are a lot of fun too. Anyone else watch? What do you think?
Tyler Hoover is a very successful YouTuber with 1.3 million subscribers. Like more than a few other YouTubers, he buys cars sight unseen or the cheapest listed or similar and makes a series of videos about it.
This is done on purpose. It makes good video. It shows people the pitfalls of letting the “sparkles in the eyes” for that cheap WRX overcome due diligence in the purchase of your dream car. Hoovie makes the mistake and shows you the consequences!
Tavarish and Mighty Car Mods (MCM) are a couple more like this. MCM recently did a series on an uncompleted engine swap project on a Honda Civic. “All the parts are there” the seller said… “You just need to put it together” he said… Yeah, it turned into a project that cost more than just buying the correct Civic with the engine they wanted, PLUS a LOT of work. It was fun to watch.
I’ve been watching these shows on YouTube long before they wandered into mainstream TV. I prefer the more “organic” content on YouTube rather than the “directed” style on TV. TV forces the creators into a box to fit their timing and advertisers.
40 years ago a friend bought a used Saab that became a continual hobby keeping running. At least he got rid of his Karmann Ghia.
I used to watch a lot of TV car shows but became disillusioned over the rampant BS. Several times my wife was watching with me and would ask “Can they really do that…” meaning the repair or the amount of money involved. No; only on TV.
That Boyd Coddington AHR was one of the worst; especially with the incident involving a coolant leak on an open Ford Roadster. A shop full of experts could not see the obvious.
The only one I watch with any regularity is Street Outlaws and even that has flaws.
The only one I thought was worth a hoot was Fantomworks. At least the timelines, labor hours and costs they sometimes listed were honest. Instead of 2 weeks and 200 hours for a limited restoration, it was more like a year, 2000 hours and $50k in parts.
I usually find random episodes but i’ve been watching Hoovie’s Garage and the Wizard’s channel for some time. Doing a pre purchase inspection would prevent some of the issues but would make for a more boring TV show. Top Gear would take the cars they bought to a mechanic before shipping them to Africa or wherever they were starting the episode but usually worried more about wheels falling off than how reliable the car would be.
Fantomworks is so honest that they stopped production of their show because it was interrupting their real business and costing them more money than they were making. I do appreciate Dan’s personal values though. The prologue at the start of the show does seem to be real, and not just something to gain viewers. I used to enjoy Bitchin Rides, but that wore thin a season or two ago.
Boyd Coddington had a painter who said something normal. Oh great! Another black car.
Red or yellow probably would have been great for him now and then.
Wheeler Dealers is great. It’s possible to fix those mechanical nightmares if you know how they are made and what parts to get.
I last remember him at the 57 Plymouth disaster before he died and pretty much lost interest in most car TV. Who was the other guy Foose? Take the car down to bare metal and slather bondo all over it before painting. Boxes of parts just show up to put the old cars together. Magically found all these new parts for a '38 model to meet the deadline. Life is not that easy and finding old car parts. Just lost interest.
The worst TV car show of all was Desert Valley Kings; about that huge boneyard of old cars out in AZ. It had a one year run then dead and gone. It was an automotive travesty in polite terms.
They shut the yard down (allegedly) because there was a rattlesnake in an old car and had to call in a herpetologist to remove it. Rattlers in the AZ desert. Who would have thought.
Not to mention the staged breaking of the Barracuda rear glass and the hunk of junk GTO taken to Russo and Steele where all it got was stone silence and not one bid. Suddenly out of nowhere and to save them the shame some unknown people bid that rust bucket up to near 30 grand; which I’m sure was part of the stage show and never paid.
And they claim a well used mid 70s stock 351 Cleveland puts out 335 horsepower. The 335 was an engine designation; not power.
I’m a RoadKill guy, myself. That’s my favorite right now. It reminds me of working on cars with an old buddy of mine in the past. Of course we had less skill and worked on cars with less power. Plus, that Dulcich guy is a hoot. Quirky as hell, but seems pretty darn knowledgeable.
I like Road Kill and Engine Masters. The latter reminds me of real engineering tests. I’m always in favor of that.
Roadkill is my favorite food network show.
Try some roadkill chili. 
There’s a guy around here that specializes in roadkill. Every winter, he collects roadkill deer, butchers them and gloves the meat to the local food kitchens. The police know about him, and the first call they make after locating the kill is to him.
That Roadkill episode with the C Body Roadrunner was a blast.
I haven’t seen that one. I like it when they patch something up and try to drive it across several states…and fail…and patch it again!
Like the episode where they traded cars every day or so on the Power Tour. Some cars were better than others. The Mad Max Fiero was memorable though.
I’ve been to a few demolition derbies and it’s amazing how little of a car you have to have left to keep on driving. I’ve seen FWD cars with pretty much the whole car in back of the front seat gone and still competing. All you need are the basics, coolant, fuel, and power to the drive wheels, and maybe steering. The rest is just a luxury. Even tires are not mandatory as long as you have wheels.