FantomWorks

When fabricating a soft top for a 1953 Morgan, Dan shattered the car's windscreen trying to cut a notch in it. He made a great fuss about 'someone' wrongly using tempered glass and the hazards to the occupants if hit by the pieces. Pretty well ALL European volume cars were fitted with this glass back then (we call it toughened glass) and it was known as safety glass because, when broken, it shattered into tiny rounded pieces that had no sharp edges. I had several of these go on me in the '60s, and never got a scratch. How come this automotive 'expert' didn't know that?

I don't generally watch too many car shows. I'm a sports nut but was off tuning between football games and saw these guys building cars and figured what the heck, I'll see what's up. This was the first car show I've ever watched that captured my attention. I found myself wanting to see the rest of the story and what the car was going to turn out like. I found myself being drawn to the show and with the exception of the interviews with the characters, those were too drawn out and frequent, I genially liked the stories. After I saw the first one (three ran in a row) I watched the other two. There were a few moments on one of them the drama felt contrived. Friends of mine have had high quality restorations done and this shop show to be focused on the quality of the build and they generally had well over 100K in each build so as much as some of these reviews are banging the prices, they haven't priced real restorations or they wouldn't. I'll keep watching and hope they get rid of the all too often interviews and just show us the work.

First off, I love cars and bikes and I have done restorations myself in the past. The premise that these cars are 'better than new' is ridiculous in the extreme. Whilst there are definitely talented people in that shop, for sure the outcomes are largely fudged and disguised by layers of 'bog' and thick paint (and the cost? WOW) Some of the mistakes they make and the owners curious fixes to rectify said mistakes are mind boggling. If you paint a customers car when they did not ask you to paint the car, it is YOUR mistake and you should not wing a deal to split the loss. Remember, the starting blurb for the show claims that they are all about the satisfied customer and stopping at nothing to do the job right... The curious patriotic angle is a bit off putting for non-American viewers and not really relevant other than perhaps being useful as an excuse for poor workmanship (don't criticise my work or you are criticising America?)

It makes for brain off viewing and is entertaining if only for the cockups, so enjoy.

All car shows are predictable. If you're going to spend an hour of your life, at least watch the best of the genre.

I think the use of curse words mostly by Dan is really childless ,what does he expect to accomplish by using 4 letter words .I think the producers should let him know it is not becoming of a so called professional .Some of the work should come under question ,it seems they are always running into problems ,and some of the ways they repair things should certainly come under question .The meetings with the car owners are sicking ,they treat the cars as if they were dying family,I mean how much could you really be emotional attached to a car ?I think it is the only show on the air that actually does not teach some thing to people who are looking to better them selves on auto restoration