My top ten car shows in no particular order

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So you all know there are a LOT of car shows on TV these days. You also know they are somewhat contrived and edited as the sexy custom build muscle cars and trucks are purchased, fixed up and sold in pretty quick time, unrealistically so. Some shows are jokier than others whilst some are more detailed and stick to the building of a car than selling the show logo and T-shirts. Imagine that. The haggle of buying and selling is often agreed before they are on camera with a client for legal reasons and all entertainment TV needs jeopardy, right, the time pressure always added to the builds for no real reason other than tension. It takes a hell of a lot longer than 6 weeks to build these cars let me tell you. Fast n Loud (2012-2020) Richard Rawlings of Gas Monkey Garage is probably the loudest and brash of the car show guys and who knows what is real on his show but the cars are cool, the guys are funny and you actually learn about sexy vehicles and feel entertained at the end of it. This is the entertainment industry after all. It’s based in Dallas, Texas and Rawlins was the first to really merchandise his TV success and build a strong brand. It had a ten year run but didn’t make it past Covid as Discovery dropped them. He had spin off shows that were good and now a very strong YouTube channel/ Counting Cars (2012-21) This one was based in Las Vegas and like the town it was rather crass at times, as were the heavy metal builds at Kounts Customs. It was more a mix of bikes, cars & vans customising show rather than classic car rebuilds and some whacky builds to. It orbited in the Pawn Stars universe but another one that didn’t make it past Covid shutdowns, History TV pulling the plug in 2021. The rather greasy Count, Danny Koker, heads it up in his familiar oily headband (hiding his bald patch no doubt) and a guy that had a B-List movie/TV career before the show, clearly investing his winnings in building cool cars. It’s fun as you learn about the muscle trucks, cars and bikes but it does feel contrived as far as the type of people who bring in cars to be built and the budget the shop have. It features a few celebrities getting their cars done and also likes to promote Pawn Stars with Rick and the guys popping in a few times but Danny is likable guy and you just go with it and that’s all that matters, right. They also shift some serious merchandise. Kindig Customs (2014...) This is a more technical show with the build more important than the clowning around to the guys, the UTAH location giving it a more conservative feel. The company is named after the owner Dave Kindig and a really nice family guy to. His number two ‘Kev Dog’ is the comedy turn but this show always feels like these guys are 100% about the build and not showing off so much. Yes, they do the ‘merch’ at the car shows but its more about promoting their car building brand than the people in the show. I suspect that’s the reason why this one is still going strong. Lords of the Car Hoarders (2014-2015) Another one from the Discovery TV stable but different from most of them. The idea here is ex wrestler Chuck Polumbo and car custom royalty Rick Dore run a company where they approach car hoarders out in the sticks or wherever and somehow persuade these guys to abandon their hoards and in return the boys build them their dream custom car from selling off the old rusty cars and parts. It’s one of those shows that feels like it was simply created by a production company to promote the guys and their ‘personalities’. It just feels unrealistic for hoarders to give up their lifelong collection for these two grease balls to fix up. But that’s what they do and the show somehow works as, like all of these shows, emotional levers are pulled and beautiful cars appear. The show lasted as long as the idea and just two seasons delivered and never to return. Wheeler Dealers (2003...) Perhaps the longest running car show of this genre is in its 20th year as the likable car dealer Mike Brewer wheels and deals on all manner of cars, joined by various lead mechanics over the years doing the hard work building the cars so Mike can sell them on. Although Brewer is enthusiastic and a very good salesman one of the joys of this show from day one is you actually learn how to fix your car. They explain repairs in a very simple and knowledgeable manner and the actual costs of parts and labor. Classic car shops can charge up to £90 an hour for labor. Looking back at the earlier episodes the show has looked dated and un-glamorous in the early days as they bought and did up very ordinary motors. But the chemistry is good between Mike and the mechanics over the years and a very soothing TV experience. Misfit Garage (2014-16) This is a spin off from ‘Fast n Loud’ as employers from there were fired or leave to set up a new garage across town from Rawlins in Texas. The contrived rivalry between the two garages is exactly that as the show is part funded and produced by Rawlins. There is a lot of goofing around in the garage with a big fat bloke called Tom Smith the center of that as the rednecks create beautiful custom cars on a tighter start up budget. It’s funny and good wholesome wind down relaxing TV after work and lasted 6 seasons before being cut , presumably as the popularity was beginning to detract from Rawlins in viewing figures. Again, the budgets to make these cars in such a short timeline is ridiculous but that illusion key to why these shows work. Salvage Hunters: Classic Cars (2018...) This British show sees antiques star Drew Pritchard branch out and do a show on classic car restoration. The U.K being in Europe means Americans cars don’t feature much on the show and so a more eclectic European and British mix to be tinkered with. Drew has a love of design of old things where as Paul Cowland is the car expert and together the pair buy up classics and subtly do them up enough to turn a buck, more runners than concourse class cars turned out here. Of course they never really make a profit as they deduct certain costs from the build, and the presenters no doubt get paid a hefty fee themselves for being on the show. But the cars are European cool and that means Italian classics and we all love those don’t we. Chassing Classic Cars (2008-2021) Wayne Carini is an old geezer that has been in the business a while and feels like a car guy who was the general respect of the community. He was another one who didn’t make it pass lockdown and into that Joe Biden age, where, perhaps, the time was right to step back. Everything about the show is old. The cars he really loves are old, his mechanics are ever older and the people who come to see his rare classics at the top car shows are also old. He is a much more specialist builder, buyer and seller as he goes after those very rare classics where the profits are big, often barn finds. This show features a lot of auctions and interaction in the elderly and extremely rich car community and you learn a lot about those interesting and aged classics. Wheeler Dealers: Trading Up (2014-2017) So back to Blighty and Mike Brewer, this one of his many spin off shows. The idea here is a worthy member of the public is selected to take his or her original everyday car and trade it up to be their dream car, sometimes throwing in cash to top up their old banger fund. It seems unlikely but Mike’s, wheeler dealer skills and mechanic Marc ‘Elvis’ Priestly manage to achieve that every episode somehow (well they have to or they have no show, right?) and the punter drives away their motor, from Ford Focus to Subaru’s, Minis to Landrovers. Another version of the show preceded this where Mike and his then mechanic Ant Anstead did the same thing across places like Europe, America and Australia but lacking that emotional aspect of the average Joe ending up with the car and so that was also cut by Discovery. Top Gear (2022....) Another show that passed two decades is the mighty Top Gear, this one more about middle aged men messing around with the world’s most glamorous super-cars in likewise locations than actually doing any mechanics on them. This one is more about glamour and no real budget issues as the cars in Bond movie locations to be road tested and cherished. In its early days it was a rather dull magazine show that road tested average cars and soon died a death. But it was re-launched as a more ‘laddish’ show in a bigger studio with bigger star guests and became the most syndicated car show around the world, the expensive Top Gear Specials seeing presenters Clarkson, May and Hammond do crazy car challenges around the world. The guys got too big for their boots at the BBC and the new woke culture saw them reigned in and eventually booted off to Amazon to do another version of the show. Their replacements tried to mimic the show and chemistry but was not to be, the show currently in hiatus after yet another big crash nearly killing a presenter.