DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA…Part II
The drama continues… It seems that every few weeks, a new TV car show pops up with a new cast and crew.
It looks like all the other TV car shows. They follow the same boring old pattern, but with different players. But the same old theme; six-man shop does all this work in an unrealistic “tv” period.
They buy some beat up rust bucket and in only 10 short days turn it into a beautiful classic! They buy the wreck for Three Grand and sell it for Seventy Grand.
During the build, they incorporate all this DRAMA, car has major rust issues, the motor is junk, the trans is no good, the suspension is crap, it needs all new wiring and interior.
For example, to replace a motor with a Crate engine might take a day, however, if you need to send out the old motor it may take weeks or months. Rust issues and body will take at least two weeks for body work and paint. The upholstery is at least a week. The interior is at least another week, unless you must order parts.
But they seem, with all these problems, to get the car done on time and under budget.
But in real life this doesn’t happen. There are issues when restoring a classic, there are major issues that take not days but weeks to overcome.
These shows in some ways have helped the classic car industry, but in the other ways have hurt it. They give a sense of unrealistic expectations that this could happen in such a short time.
I hope someday a realistic car building show will make its way on to TV with truth and show what really happens when you rebuild a classic.
“Chip Foose” comes the closest to that and “Wheelers Dealers”.
So, the Drama continues… Maybe the next car TV show will be more correct in its narrative.
Keep them Rolling!… Bill