Driver Seat // March 2008
It's Not That Easy
So what is your favorite TV car show - Overhaulin’? American Hot Rod? Hard Shine? These shows are fun to watch, the personality conflicts are often entertaining and some really cool cars get built; some with one-off custom billet wheels, hand fabricated grilles and perfectly sculpted leather interiors. All are built by professional car builders. Yet, of the thousands of real car enthusiasts I have met over my lifetime, less than 1% are professionals. The rest of us are enthusiasts that must do things the hard way. Few of us have access to $1M CNC machines where we can punch in a computer program and out spits our custom parts. In addition, all of the cars seem to come together in a matter of a few days or at the most a month or two.
The last time I checked, the fastest I could put a so-so basic driver car together was about nine months to a year! Many nice cars take six to seven years or more to complete. So how do the TV shows do it? How do they make it look so easy? How can they build a nice car in a week? If you are like me, just the average car enthusiast, it can be a bit discouraging to know a car can be done this quickly when it takes me a week just to get a single door in primer. Well, don’t lose heart. Consider these reasons the professional TV guys can do it faster:
Fifty to Sixty People Are Working On It – Don’t be fooled, there are more than just the seven or eight people you see on the screen working on the project. When I get to see behind-the-scenes at the filming of the Overhaulin’ show each year at the SEMA event in Las Vegas, the set is busier than a beehive. There are literally 30-40 people performing various specific tasks to get it all done. Imagine if all you had to do was repaint the dash and restore the gauges while someone else (many someone else’s) did the rest for you. Makes the task less daunting to see it that way, huh?
Unlimited Budgets – Unless you are wealthy or just plain foolish, you are working with limited funds to get your car or truck done. You realize how unpopular you would be (with your spouse) were you to drain your bank accounts and maximize your credit cards just to get “THE CAR” completed.
They Are, After All, Professionals – The guys and gals you see on TV get paid to do this. They don’t work 8-5 somewhere and then build cars after dark at home in their 2-car garage. They have done hundreds or even thousands of cars, so they become very good and very efficient at what they do. Most of us have built 3-4 cars at best and many of us have only built one!
You Only See The Good Stuff – The real popularity of the shows stem from the drama and conflicts between the people. So-and-so does not like soand- so and he thinks the other guy’s work is substandard and he shouldn’t even be working in the shop. The requisite argument ensues. Of course a few areas of the car may indeed need to be redone due to soand- so’s substandard work. But, somehow, the job always gets done and the completed car comes together. Off-screen, there are many folks there to handle the really ugly dirty work and make 100% certain that the TV deadlines are met. So, next time you are out in the garage at 11 pm, take a look behind you. Where is your backup crew? If they’re like mine, all are in the house fast asleep!
They Can Pawn It Off On The Next Guy – How many times have you seen the painter on the show get mad at the bodyman or the interior guy get mad at the painter because they halfway did their job and made the next guy’s job difficult? In your case, you are the next guy! You must answer to you…
Sometimes, Their Cars Aren’t Really That Nice Anyway – Some of these show-built cars are truly spectacular works of art, I will give them that. Yet, some I have seen really look like they were thrown together in a week. And you know if these cars have multiple cosmetic problems visible to the naked eye, imagine the mechanical issues they must have! My advice? Remember that you are doing this for fun and not for a living, so relax and enjoy, have a plan, realize your project will not go quickly, accept that you will have to back up and redo stuff, don’t be too picky, remember the more you do the easier it gets. Do something every day and you will get it done with a smile on your face!