From TV into reality...
July 10, 2006 12:37 PM   Subscribe

Have any of you ever seen any of the vehicles refurbished on shows like Trick My Truck, Monster Garage, or Pimp My Ride out in public or in real life? Not just at a car show or special appearance, but actually out driving around somewhere.
posted by drstein to Society & Culture (21 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
I've seen a couple on eBay.

here

and here

and here
posted by jimmy0x52 at 12:40 PM on July 10, 2006


I've seen several of Boyd Coddington's cars that were shown on Discovery Channel's American Hot Rod. Most of Boyd's upholstery work is done by Gabe Lopez of Gabe's Custom Interiors in my hometown (Bloomington,CA). I get back to Bloomington a couple times a week and always make a point of stopping by Gabe's at least once a month or so.
posted by buggzzee23 at 1:04 PM on July 10, 2006


Dude, that Land Cruiser was one of my favorites- I loved the bamboo flooring and the high vent for the engine! That's a shame...

I know on shows like "Extreme Home Makeover" they apparently have contracts or some such preventing the owner from selling the place within X period of time, as well as financial assistance in the short term, if the new property taxes on the place are crazy expensive.

However for something like Pimp My Ride or their ilk, the total investment in parts and labor is a pittance, in TV dollars; once the cameras are off, they probably don't care what happens to the car since the cost of the show was probably paid for after the first commercial break. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these vehicles get sold as the novelty wears off, and you have a power-guzzling, tricked-out, LCD- screen- loaded insurance nightmare that no college kid can actually afford to drive.
posted by hincandenza at 1:05 PM on July 10, 2006


I forgot the link: American Hot Rod
posted by buggzzee23 at 1:05 PM on July 10, 2006


I've never seen them driving down the streets, but yeah, people tend to turn them over on ebay pretty soon after the show airs, which makes sense because if you're a dirt poor college student with a sick mom you have to drive around and someone gave you a $30,000 custom car, why not sell it, buy a corrolla and pocket $15k for school?
posted by mathowie at 1:18 PM on July 10, 2006


Not to mention that most of what comes out of pmr is ugly and largely funtionless. As a 25 year old I dont think I can yet say "Kids these days" but jeez "kids these days" where is the appreciation for minimalism. I would take overhaulin over any of those any day of the week.
posted by BobbyDigital at 1:26 PM on July 10, 2006


In ten years when all of the Reality TV buzz has (hopefully) faded I would love to see a "where are they now" type show for pimped cars, renovated homes and nipped and tucked patients. I always thought it would be funny to see how those sloppy owners re-damage that which they were once so proud of.
posted by linklog at 1:30 PM on July 10, 2006


How about any of the cars Foose and company do on Overhaulin'? I tend to like most of those a lot more than the Pimp My Ride toys and the "Boydsters" that Coddington's shop spits out on their show.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:27 PM on July 10, 2006


I lost all respect for PMR when they painted a 1973 VW Thing bright green and put a snake cage in the back seat.
posted by camworld at 2:37 PM on July 10, 2006


I live in a town that has an art car museum and it's not unusual to see some of the people that are into this driving around the neighborhood. Not on the freeway or anything like that but definitely out on the town or simply going to the grocer. Not exactly the same thing as PMR, but related to seriously modified autos.
posted by dog food sugar at 2:53 PM on July 10, 2006


Halifax, where I used to live, evidently has an antique car enthusiast club of some sort, because every now and again (generally on the weekend) you'd see a long line of really old, or really weird, or both, cars driving downtown.

Never saw anything specifically from those shows, afaik, though.
posted by joannemerriam at 3:37 PM on July 10, 2006


For "Trick my Truck," go hang out around Joplin, Missouri, and you might catch a glimpse of some of their work. Though, I say this despite having moved from Joplin three years ago. I enjoyed it there, though.
posted by Atreides at 4:19 PM on July 10, 2006


Not exactly what you're looking for, but I live across the street from a home that was "Extremely Made-Over." I can tell you a few things:
  1. The house was really built in 5 days. For real.
  2. Money was no object because most of the stuff was donated by sponsers for their 2 seconds of advertising on the show.
  3. Related to #2: when you normally contract something to get done for you--whether it be to install a new driveway, or patch up a leaking roof, or replace the brakes in your car, or put in a new engine--the limiting factor is money. So you shop around for the cheap guy, and you wind up with someone who takes months to finish what they start. In a situation like Extreme Makeover, Home Edition, it works the opposite direction: the network waves a big fat check around to anyone in the area and says, "OK, here's a shitload of money. Who can do this [insert big job] in [insert crazy timeframe]." Just for example, the 100-ft. driveway was paved in 3 hours, with twice the normal amount of asphault you'd get from Joe Driveway down the street.
  4. Large parts of the project were pre-assembled off-site before the show (they have the person picked out for months in advance) so that they can be quickly bolted together. But make no mistake: the craftsmanship is anything but shoddy. It's just that you never actually get to see all the prep-time involved.
  5. The owner is not allowed to even change the house for a year. It has to be kept in immaculate condition for all the photo-ops you get signed up for when you accept a gift of that size.
  6. The owner only has to pay property taxes on the old home.
  7. The owner can sell all the extra toys (cars, boats, helicopters, whatever...) as soon as they like, but they can't sell the home for at least two years.
  8. Finally, if anything goes wrong with the house--leaky roof, flooded basement, lawn fire, you name it--the network picks up the tab. It's like a auto manufacturer's extended warranty, except it's free, and they don't pull any "except for oil changes and brake pads" bullshit like your local BMW dealer will.
Not exactly the same thing as the car shows you mention, but I'd guess there's a lot of the same kind of stuff going on.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:05 PM on July 10, 2006 [21 favorites]


Civil_Disobedient that's really interesting!
posted by dog food sugar at 6:53 PM on July 10, 2006


Civil_Disobedient writes "But make no mistake: the craftsmanship is anything but shoddy. It's just that you never actually get to see all the prep-time involved."

This is the part that bothers me, some stuff you can't rush. Strip the forms off of concrete too soon for example and you've got weak, unhydrated concrete. The general minimum is 7 days and good builders leave the forms on for 28.
posted by Mitheral at 6:37 AM on July 11, 2006


Civil_Disobedient writes "the craftsmanship is anything but shoddy"

I actually remember an NPR story that stated the opposite...ah, here we go: Some Reality TV Home Makeovers Not So Free
posted by youarenothere at 7:27 AM on July 11, 2006


Strip the forms off of concrete too soon for example and you've got weak, unhydrated concrete.

That part raised my curiosity, too, so I asked one of the contractors that very question. His response was that, first off, they try and use the existing foundation, or at least part of it if the newer house is going to be larger. That saves a shitload of time.

In the particular house I saw built, the existing foundation amounted to about 50% of the new house's footprint. So they still had a lot of concrete work to do. AND it rained! How could they possibly have the concrete set fast enough, right?

They brought in some huge-ass fans and heaters, that's how. I mean like Boeing-turboshaft-sized fans. HUGE. They really plan for everything.

I actually remember an NPR story that stated the opposite...

That report (I haven't listened to it, but I'm guessing) is mostly about shows like While You Were Out or Changing Spaces (both TLC productions). In these cases, the whole point of the show is that they have extremely limited budgets. I don't know if it's because they have lower production costs per show, or if they're tailoring the shows to appeal to the average viewer ("Yes, you, too can completely remodel your home with just $5 and some wicker!").

IIRC, there were more than a couple of lawsuits that followed.

But the house I saw put up is phenomenal. And nearly a year after it went up, it's still getting visits from the contractors who use it as a showcase of their work to prospective buyers (one of the things they don't mention you have to put up with).

Seriously, though, they go completely overboard when it comes to hardware. If you're a home-renovation junkie, you'd drool at the kind of stuff they just casually throw into the mix. For example, they installed an oil-based heating system in the house. OK, so what's a "normal" sized oil tank? Maybe 500 gallons? 1000?

Yeah.

When I went over to visit for the first time, I asked about the heating system. He laughed, then took me downstairs, around a corridor, and led me to a door. "Open it and look to your left." I did.

The door opened to a narrow room that ran the entire length of the house, and inside the room, an oil tank that ran the entire length of the house. It was the kind of unit you'd install in a 10-story apartment building. Complete. Overkill.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:03 PM on July 11, 2006 [3 favorites]


I saw the pink Cadillac from PMR in someone's driveway in Palo Alto a while back.
posted by trevyn at 10:22 PM on July 11, 2006


My father works in the automotive industry, and is good friends with some high level people at Galpin Motors.

He recently told me that the show 'Pimp My Ride' never really focused on the mechanical problems of the cars they were pimping, it was mostly about how many xbox's they could cram in the thing. That's why you see so many on ebay.

Pretty recently, Galpin became the home of the show - 'Pimp My Ride' gets Ford tough - USA Today, and for a few months before the press release and news posts, they had been recalling the cars previously pimped to actually repair and get them running again.
posted by Lizc at 3:54 PM on July 12, 2006


It's A-to-tha-L Alvin! doesn't have quite the same ring to it, now does it?
posted by evariste at 12:59 PM on October 8, 2006


There was a WaPo article probably a few months ago about a local family (in Arlington, VA, I think) that went on two TLC or HGTV shows and had landscaping work as well as some interior redecoration done. I distinctly remember the article discussing that the homeowners were on the hook for taxes.

They were also applying for a third show. Does anyone else remember this?
posted by wildeepdotorg at 3:32 PM on October 8, 2006


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