69 replies to this topic

[sonscar]

You have summed it up nicely,you are a car restorer,a minority that most people are totally unaware of and long may it live.Television is for advertising and appealing to the masses.I have had classics since they were everyday cars and I find all car shows fairly boring.Steve..

[Aly-g]

Apologies in advance to our Non-UK members as most of what I will say will be based on UK TV and UK content

 

I watched the first three episodes of RHW on YouTube and to be honest I thought there was less actual workshop content than some of the other "car" shows which is ironic as it include the word "Workshop" in the title. Depends what you want from a car show.... less interesting to me personally as I don't really care that Richard Hammond's wife mucks out her own horses and that he couldn't find gherkins in his fridge......of course I would probably still rather watch this than Eastenders or about 75% of the rest of what's on TV. 

 

Yes I recognise car shows now are entertainment shows first (Horse dung and missing gherkins?) and tech/information comes (a poor) second and I am realistic that a car show that spent an hour showing you how to shim the ball joints on a mini (or the equivalent task on A.N Other car) would only be interesting to the fans of that particular marque and a limited number of other car guys but unfortunately that number of people wouldn't pay for the airtime (of course I realise that its actually the advertisers that pay for the airtime mainly)

 

"Campervan Crisis" or "An MGB is born" anyone?...... Not a hater - actually watched all of both but I doubt that format would get anywhere near the TV now (not in the UK anyway - maybe other countries have better public broadcasting services?)

 

Not trying to justify it just stating the obvious I guess - probably why I like to watch amateurs and semi-pro's doing their stuff on YouTube as its more realistic and focused - I can just look for mini stuff although there are a couple of others I like (retropowercars if you've seen it)

 

Without trying to hijack the thread I would love to see a list of all the TV car shows people watch/have watched - how about a new thread stating favourite and worst show and generating a list of car shows (in case there are any I've missed) - what WAS the first car TV show in the UK? Maybe First Generation Top Gear? (again apologies to our Non-UK members) 

(I have watched some episodes of some shows and decided they just aren't for me - "Diesel Brothers", "Iron Resurrection"  and "Speed is the New Black")

 

My favourite is hard to decide - I actually really like the high quality and technicality of the workmanship on Bitchin' Rides/Kindig Customs but it's wrapped up in quite a lot of carp which I don't care for.

My personal worst is Fantomworks - I have never seen such fake over acting/reacting to normal issues (think this is finished now anyway, just the re-runs) 

 

As mentioned - depends what you personally want from a Car show on TV - I tend to prefer the actual car fixing stuff but some people must like the carp that people do around it otherwise the shows wouldn't keep going - or maybe like me you watch them and put up with the carp to watch the 15-20 minutes of actual interest (my fast forward button is quite well used....)

 

Also why are the car shows predominantly US and UK (in the UK) - aren't there any other countries providing car shows to Discovery or whoever (and I'm happy to read subtitles so it doesn't have to be English speaking)

I saw one that was based in Cuba I think, which was interesting how they did repairs when they couldn't get parts 

totally agree with all this ,the car show in Cuba was quite good with all the workarounds they had to do especially the home built Healey  3000, Car sos was watchable as well.

 

Allan

[Spherix]

I think it's nice that they've been showing the effort involved in actually building a shop like that. Open on the cost of investment, getting new clientele not being that easy even if your face is known, etc. I think it has great potential to continue as a nice restoration show once he actually has his premise sorted out and some clientele has been helped.

[Spherix]

Episode 4:

[Aly-g]

thank you Spherix

[cooperd70]

Surprising, I've enjoyed these so far...yes they are not mechanic-minded, how-to episodes and are aimed at the masses, but they are about the cars that we all love.
Personally I had always thought that Richard Hammond was a bit of a tool, but am warming to him in this. In this latest episode seeing him sell off cars and bikes he loves so much to pump more funds into the business shows dedication to the cause of saving many more classics, even if he doesn't own them. As well as the liveihoods of the father/son mechanic duo.
You can tell it's been scripted in parts (the head scratching scene in this latest episode),but on the whole enjoyable.
Oh, and folks, keep the links coming to new episodes as I don't have Discovery+ 👍👍

[Plumber]

I enjoyed the series “the garage” it was about a Scottish guy, Jock, who ran a garage in Marbella, he had a few mechanics and his daughter was the apprentice. This had a high % of actual work being done on various cars, not restorations but just repairs, changing clutch, gearboxes etc. Mainly ex pats who wanted their car fixed by a brit. It ran for about 4 series and was available on sky till recently but think it has disappeared. You might be able to find it on YouTube.

[Spherix]

Episode 5:

[johnv]

It’s OK but I do wish they’d lay off the false jeopardy once in a while. Everything has to go right to the wire, with the last nut being tightened as whatever it is gets driven into the trailer with 2 minutes to spare …

[cooperd70]

Episode 5:

Fantastic....thanks Spherix 😁

Damn, decided to save watching this until last night to watch whilst eating dinner and they've taken it down already. Should have watched it as soon as Spherix posted it!!

Edited by cooperd70, 20 November 2021 - 05:30 PM.

[AlexHealey1993]

Slow reply from me, but yeah, I echo what other people have said. It has legs, but

 

A) Having seen Hammond build a car in a desert with James May on The Grand Tour and do multiple road side welds to keep his cars on the road in the various TG/TGT specials the "I don't know what I'm doing in a workshop" act is slightly odd. 

 

B) They could have shown a bit more with that Mini. Hammond sanding a panel and a bit of welding wasn't all that exciting. 

 

All in all though it's not terrible compared to some of the stuff on Discovery (those American ones where everything is on a deadline and they're "going to lose the shop"). 

 

If you're looking for something that is proper and a good mix of racing, wrenching and unplanned disasters give Roadkill a look. 

 

Cheers

[Spherix]

Episode 6: https://youtu.be/7fIhUvpCiUQ

Youtube does seem to be banning channel owners now, doubt itll be around long :)

[Icey]

If you're looking for something that is proper and a good mix of racing, wrenching and unplanned disasters give Roadkill a look.

Roadkill was great until first they took it off YouTube (understandable, it’s not cheap to make these shows) but then they blocked non-US from Motortrend. I stopped following the whole lot when they did that (I miss Dirt Everyday, Hotrod/Roadkill Garage and a few others), just a cash grab from Discovery.

The MCM family (MCM, Benny, Skid Factory) and Hoonigan are the best on YouTube at the moment, most of the others just don’t get the balance right (either trying to become a ‘celebrity’ or as dry as reading a Wiki page).

[AlexHealey1993]

 

If you're looking for something that is proper and a good mix of racing, wrenching and unplanned disasters give Roadkill a look.

Roadkill was great until first they took it off YouTube (understandable, it’s not cheap to make these shows) but then they blocked non-US from Motortrend. I stopped following the whole lot when they did that (I miss Dirt Everyday, Hotrod/Roadkill Garage and a few others), just a cash grab from Discovery.

The MCM family (MCM, Benny, Skid Factory) and Hoonigan are the best on YouTube at the moment, most of the others just don’t get the balance right (either trying to become a ‘celebrity’ or as dry as reading a Wiki page).

 

Hey

 

Yeah it's been pretty crappy from Discovery the way they've handled it all but I pay the 4 quid on prime for the Motortrend Add On (which is less than I was paying Motortrend On Demand) and get all the shows. The most recent Roadkill Garage episodes have been reverting the General Mayhem back to 440 power which has been brilliant to watch, and Roadkill is getting back to it's original magic. 

 

I caught up on Hammonds thing today and it was getting a bit better. The balcony rail made from Mini parts was pretty cool! 

 

on a side note: another program started the other night on channel 4 called Guy's Garage with Guy Martin, and although the actual mechanics was lacking for a mechanic of his calibre it still featured more than a lot of other programs. 

 

Cheers

Edited by AlexHealey1993, 25 November 2021 - 11:25 PM.

[cooperd70]

Episode 6: https://youtu.be/7fIhUvpCiUQ

Youtube does seem to be banning channel owners now, doubt itll be around long :)

Thanks S, tho' it's been marked as a private video, can't see it even if I log into YouTube.

Think I'll just wait for the series to be rerun on regular Discovery channel at a later date.