I know a bunch of guys, who hang out on a forum.  They get together about once a year or so; (for me it's three.)   They all have a bunch of nice Mustangs and Fords in their garages and shops.   They are all pretty cool to talk to about all things Ford. 

RR could never put a price on that!

Don't like 'em..
Cool Ford though
6s6

TKOPerformance wrote:

IMO that guy is a tool.  In fairness I've never met him, and that could just be the way he is portrayed on TV to inject mock drama into the show, but the only reason to watch that show was Aaron.  When he left that was it for me. 
 

Totally agree.

6sally6 wrote:

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....survey SEZ......
Richard Rawlings will NOT be invited to a MustangSteve Bash in the future !!!  (Sounds like he is uanimously disliked)
Richard Rawlings------Dick for SHORT..........
6sally6

He probably already was.   Some of y'all are forgetting history of this forum and the tale of the Honda vs. The fastback.   And the repair.   If I am remembering correctly he got involved to try and help out a very dark situation.   

Of course I could be remembering it wrong.
 

Ron68 wrote:

BobE wrote:

TKOPerformance wrote:

IMO that guy is a tool.  In fairness I've never met him, and that could just be the way he is portrayed on TV to inject mock drama into the show, but the only reason to watch that show was Aaron.  When he left that was it for me. 
 

Totally agree.

Yup. It's all about the drama. Boyd Coddington was the same way. Gotta have the contrived drama. And the Orange  County Choppers show with the dad and son who were always at each other's throats. Why is it that every time they take on a job, they are always under the gun to get it done in a ridiculous amount of time. They're always running late, yet the build always gets done on time. Drama, drama, drammmmma.
 

That  template is used in so many shows now. Real estate, house renovations, vehicle restoration, Street Outlaws, etc, etc, etc. For once I wish they'd have a series that showed a years long restoration/build and no fighting. It'd probably have no ratings, but seeing "real world" would be nice.
 

Raymond_B wrote:

Ron68 wrote:

BobE wrote:

Totally agree.

Yup. It's all about the drama. Boyd Coddington was the same way. Gotta have the contrived drama. And the Orange  County Choppers show with the dad and son who were always at each other's throats. Why is it that every time they take on a job, they are always under the gun to get it done in a ridiculous amount of time. They're always running late, yet the build always gets done on time. Drama, drama, drammmmma.
 

That  template is used in so many shows now. Real estate, house renovations, vehicle restoration, Street Outlaws, etc, etc, etc. For once I wish they'd have a series that showed a years long restoration/build and no fighting. It'd probably have no ratings, but seeing "real world" would be nice.
 

Yep, I've often wondered why we never seem to get that.  Well, there are some shows like that, but they seem to skip large portions of the build (like how they never paint anything on 4 Wheeler), or they never seem to truly finish the project (Hot Rod Garage comes to mind).  Occasionally I find such shows interesting, but my favorite is probably Wheeler Dealers.  That British sensibility and low drama is just so appealing.  They also explain things a lot better than most shows, and work on a wide variety of vehicles including ones never sold in the States. 
 

RCodePaul wrote:

Not a fan of that guy. The only good part of that BS show was when the upholstery gal would call him "a$$ monkey" and tell him to beat it. Flippers just seem like a scummy part of this hobby. 

Hah, I forgot about her!  She was great.  The problem with flippers is that they aren't part of the hobby.  They've monetized our hobby.  Then people with more money than sense bid their junk up at auctions making these cars even less affordable to the average hobbyist. 
 

Quicksilver wrote:

Well, I used to like" Counts Customs", Even saw a complete 69 camero he did at a local car show over here. Nothing done Mickey mouse on the car.

Yeah, Danny seems like a solid dude. 
 

RCodePaul wrote:

TKOPerformance wrote:

Hah, I forgot about her!  She was great.  The problem with flippers is that they aren't part of the hobby.  They've monetized our hobby.   

That's a better way to say it. They are present, they think they are part of it. But it's really entities that drive the hobby - suppliers, innovators, tech boards - all aspects of the hobby that are additive. These are vital and while money is a part of it, it's not all of it. The flipper thing is that they are interlopers gouging away at the hobby getting in the way of true restorers, hot rodders, restomodders. 

Correct, and its the same in most every industry as well.  Almost all the flip houses I've ever looked at for people are exactly the same.  Shortcuts are taken, things are done wrong, and they don't care because when these "fixes" fail they will be long gone.  People who don't know any better just look at the shiny exterior.  People like us are smart enough to bring a magnet. 
 

RTM wrote:

I'm watching Gas Monkey now. He just bought a 65 Shelby for $300k and sold it for $400k.

Yeah, the car you used to be able to buy for $30k.  Thanks a lot @$$ monkey!
 

My two cents on these shows. They are all manufactured drama shows. And they just aren't in our Hobby line. Cooking shows, House rebuilding shows, motorcycle rebuilding shows. Gas Monkey was one of many. TV money grubbers saw the opportunity to make money and went with it. The model is almost always the same. That this thing, it has to have this ridiculous modification stuff done to it in this ridiculously short amount of time or something bad is going to happen. All manufactured drama. Cookies, cars or houses were the way to push a perceived drama to get the actors to have drama blow ups and then have to hug it out. Emotions. Tucked in all of that meshing hot mess of dramedy can actually be some nuggets of useful information. Some of the main players of the shows got disgusted with the way they were being manipulated by TV money grubbers and they punched out. Welder Up is a great example. Out of Las Vegas. Read his story and why he chose to pursue his passion for cars and hot rodding over the TV cash. Richard Rawlins I think finally he got fed up with the TV angle but he punched out as well. He was able to outfox and out money grub the money grubbers. He expanded his presence on YouTube and only does show for his brand. He keeps trying and innovating ways to make more money. I have two types of Gas Monkey beers sitting in my shop right now. He used to drink Miller lite no he only promotes his own beer label. Love him or hate him, money flowing is only what keeps our hobby with enough oxygen to keep breathing. Gas Monkey and shows like that finally got me off my fat @$$ and ignited something that said "I want that, I can do that" 

OK that was more like 4 or 5 cents worth. 

Yeah, that aspect of it hasn't changed since they first put This Old House on TV.  I remember watching that with my dad and him laughing whenever they talked about "the budget".  He had mad respect for Norm though, and the show we really liked twas The New Yankee Workshop.  That was basically entirely informative, and you could get the plans for anything they built if you wanted to duplicate it at home.  Of course, none of us have Norm's shop, which was just awesome, or in truth probably Norm's skill, though I've built some nice stuff over the years and know a few guys who are hobbyists that churn out some amazing stuff. 

The Woodright shop was another great one.  He used all old tools.  That was really cool to see how it was done before industrialization. 

Maybe public access should do some car shows.  Or maybe the problem is just that the majority of shows dealing with muscle cars are just too close to what we all own.  I will say that Chasing Classic Cars was a decent show, because they mainly fixed up stuff I'd never have any interest in personally, but it was fun to learn about Cords and Packards and a bunch of other also ran manufacturers who were all but gone by the '60s. 

However, in really thinking about it I think what most of us don't like about guys like Gas Monkey isn't that they make money off the hobby; its that we don;t think they are really car guys at heart.  They're like that guy you meet at a party that knows all the specs of a car out of a magazine, but hasn't a clue when you start talking about repairing or modifying a car.  Its the same reason I never really read magazines like Motor Trend.  Anyone with enough money can buy a shiny, fast new car.  Not just anyone can rebuild a wreck, make a worn out musclecar handle like its on rails, or turn a boat anchor into a strip hero.  Guys like Richard Rawlins pay guys like us to do that stuff, so we respect the mechanics and techs but not so much the guy who just writes the checks.

Mochaman, I LOVE me some Diesels, so I really did like everything Welder Up ever did.  Proof positive that a Cummins swap is never wrong.