46 replies to this topic

[Compdoc]

I don't know why everybody is slagging off Mike Brewer. He's a real car fanatic, a cockney "Cheeky Chappy", an entrepreneur, (car dealerships in the UK) and an "American" TV show host. So what do you expect?

The American public love him and that's all that matters to Discovery channel. He's no worse than most of the TV hosts and 1,000 times better than Tim Shaw. He's just creepy!

Ask yourself, would you want Tim Shaw to marry your daughter?

[Curley]

I don't know i'd choose Tim Shaw. At least with Tim he knows he's acting the prat (he's an engineer), Mike has no idea he's a prat; yet the Americans like him like they like Piers Morgan.

Edited by Curley, 21 August 2019 - 10:32 PM.

[mab01uk]

I am not American......however I much prefer the days Piers Morgan presents 'Good Morning Britain' rather than that very dull and boring PC programme they call BBC Breakfast !

Edited by mab01uk, 21 August 2019 - 10:10 PM.

[MrBounce]

I just remember when Mike Brewer was a guest at MITP back when it was in Oxfordshire, and he gave a little talk on buying 2nd hand Minis. When he stated "The first thing to check is for rust on the chassis" I gave up and walked away. As a tv presenter surely the first thing is to know your audience. If he had said subframe I might have listened, but that small lack of attention to detail made my mind up that he was a know it all blagger with not much discernible talent.

He does have a nice Mini though...

Edited by MrBounce, 21 August 2019 - 10:11 PM.

[DeadSquare]

In yesteryear, when buying a Mini, the first thing I'd do was open the boot.  You can gauge a lot by what, if anything, hasn't been cleaned in there.

 

Then I'd crocodile clip a long piece of wire from the battery to a volt meter  (more impressive than a 12volt bulb), and strike the wire from the other side of the meter, in turn against the suspension trumpets to see if the nylon cups had worn through,

 

A couple of long intakes of breath through pursed lips, usually dispelled the seller's hopes of a high price.

Edited by DeadSquare, 22 August 2019 - 06:43 AM.

[beardylondon]

Please explain about the volt meter trick, never heard of this, not sure what you are on about?

 

In yesteryear, when buying a Mini, the first thing I'd do was open the boot.  You can gauge a lot by what, if anything, hasn't been cleaned in there.

 

Then I'd crocodile clip a long piece of wire from the battery to a volt meter  (more impressive than a 12volt bulb), and strike the wire from the other side of the meter, in turn against the suspension trumpets to see if the nylon cups had worn through,

 

A couple of long intakes of breath through pursed lips, usually dispelled the seller's hopes of a high price.

[DeadSquare]

The steel or aluminium trumpets are held between the rubber doughnut at one end, and the nylon cup on the ball joint at the other.

 

The trumpets are therefore insulated electrically from the subframes, which are either bolted straight to the body or connected via the brake pipe.

 

If the nylon cup is worn through, electricity will flow from the insulated terminal of the battery, through the meter (bulb), via the trumpet and complete a circuit.

[beardylondon]

Ah got you, thanks!

 

The steel or aluminium trumpets are held between the rubber doughnut at one end, and the nylon cup on the ball joint at the other.

 

The trumpets are therefore insulated electrically from the subframes, which are either bolted straight to the body or connected via the brake pipe.

 

If the nylon cup is worn through, electricity will flow from the insulated terminal of the battery, through the meter (bulb), via the trumpet and complete a circuit.

[r3k1355]

 

 

The other thing I think is funny is when they have a car without the engine having ever run, no interior and a load of wiring to be done and just a few hours to do it before the 'reveal'. Then, as if by magic, the restored car is presented the next day fully completed and, presumably with an MoT, driven on the public roads by the owner and his/her family. In all the restorations I have ever done, there are always a few small snags to be ironed out once the resto is complete and the car is running.

 

FantomWorks is quite good with project timescales, they'll often have people who've waited a year or so for their car to be finished, even if appears it was all shot in one episode.

 

 

Anybody watch/like Kindig Customs (or Bitchin' Rides as it maybe is/was called) - i think possibly we haven't had all the episodes so far on UK cable?

 

 

 

 

Is that the one in Texas where they mostly do massive trucks and SUV's??

 

The vehicles mostly look horrible but the work they put into them is mighty impressive, the main guy there is pretty decent as well.

[Compdoc]

I watch any TV show about cars. (Even car SOS). Kindig and Fantomworks do some incredible custom body work. I went onto Kindig's website to see what the cost was of a pair of their custom door handles. that a lot of the other customisers seem to use. Took a gulp when I found they start at around $600 plus postage. So I decided that we needed to eat this month and went for the standard Minispares ones instead.

https://www.kindigit...kindig-it-parts

[stevewes]

 

 

I was 21 when in the Autumn, the A suffix was added to the registration plate.

 

It was assumed by an awful lot of people that this would mean that all the previous combinations would be re issued, followed by "A", and presumably, in due course the same thing would happen, followed by "B" .

 

We were quite surprised to find that in January, new cars were carrying "B".

The prefix letter started in August 1983 and the "A" plates only lasted until January 1984 when the "B" plate was issued. I must admit, using all the available combinations before moving to prefix "B" would seem like a good idea. But by then the car manufacturers had seen the advantages of showing the year of manufacture and that your pride and joy wasn't new any more.

 

 

That's not correct. The prefix letter started with A in August 1983, B in August 1984, and so on every August until the change to the current system in 2001.

 

That's also not correct.  The 'S' prefix was the last to be issued in August, they then moved to March / September - so S ran from Aug 1998 - Feb 1999, T from Mar 1999 - Aug 1999, V from Sep 1999 - Feb 2000 etc. until Sep 2001 when the Y prefix was replaced by 51 in the current format.

[scrumpix]

 

The other thing I think is funny is when they have a car without the engine having ever run, no interior and a load of wiring to be done and just a few hours to do it before the 'reveal'. Then, as if by magic, the restored car is presented the next day fully completed and, presumably with an MoT, driven on the public roads by the owner and his/her family. In all the restorations I have ever done, there are always a few small snags to be ironed out once the resto is complete and the car is running.

 

FantomWorks is quite good with project timescales, they'll often have people who've waited a year or so for their car to be finished, even if appears it was all shot in one episode.

 

The three series of Fantom works was shot in one go over an 18 month period in 'one' go. You can see cars from series 1 & 2 in the background of series 3. Dan short has said there will be no more fantom works on TV

[cooperd70]

Mr Brewer's ears must be burning reading this thread! ???

[Curley]

Good! The ex Marine Army owner of Fantom works 'did not come across very well' (self regulating to avoid sensitive sensors), I suspect the audience feedback put end to any further commissions.

 

The show I'd like to see another series off in the UK is Graveyard Carz.

Edited by Curley, 23 August 2019 - 03:35 PM.

[the.stroker]

Good! The ex Marine owner of Fantom works 'did not come across very well' (self regulating to avoid sensitive sensors), I suspect the audience feedback put end to any further commissions.

The show I'd like to see another series off in the UK is Graveyard Carz.

http://fantomworks.c...5/why-drs-quit/

Dan Short served in the United States Army, both as a green beret and an Apache army aviation pilot .
The link above gives an interesting view as to why he decided to pull the plug on fantom works the TV programme. The business however continues to go from strength to strength.