mijbril

And that's just fine in my book. There is no way the premise of this show is anything but just some idea that Richard had to keep the glory of Fast n Loud on it's new market as the show moves into a higher bracket of car build, but still keep touch with that initial work that Gas Monkey started with but generally don't go near (or show at least) now.

1. Thomas & Richard have known each other for years, if there is a car wheeler & dealer that Richard can trust to make good deals, it's Thomas (he wouldn't ask Dennis, he's already a millionaire & would just look for Holy Grail cars). 2. Tom & Jordan know their way around a car inside & out and Jordan always showed himself to be a conscientious employee on Fast n Loud putting in the long hours to bring a build home. 3. Tom was ridiculously popular with the viewers. How to utilize that? Give him his own show & let him shine. 3. Tom & Jordan (or Scott) don't have the bearded wonders hipster cred. 4. The format with Sue is exactly the same. 5. Richard is always coming around to see his "tenants", he does this because he's the puppetmaster pulling the strings.

If you make comparisons with Fast n Loud & expecting the same, you're making a mistake & will be disappointed. If you're taking it as a spin-off / extension from Fast n Loud that's entertaining in its own right & does all those things that Gas Monkey used to do, you'll love Misfit Garage. The guys put their heart & soul into each build, Thomas brings the market nous & it seems to be working for them, plus they have the naivety of Soup Bone to keep you amused, he's the Fire Up Garage version of the shop cat.

Very entertaining & recommended viewing.

For all the haggling and worrying about money etc, Richard apparently receives $50k per episode from Discovery and if celebritynetworth is even remotely accurate, he's also worth about $15m, so he's scarcely on the breadline.

So to retain the Discovery contract, he needs to keep the viewer entertained and that doesn't happen by looking at the intimate aspects of a car build and the shop usually farms out work that they can't do anyway. So you don't watch the show to take notes as to what to do for your own '67 Fastback restoration job, no you watch the show to see the interaction between the people and be entertained. Christie & Sue are the real stars of the show. Christie never takes a backward step in front of the boss and Sue is just hilarious, "why you always bring me junk?"

You get the usual formulaic car show things, ie., check out the car, detract its worth, haggle on the price etc but the episodes zip along at a good pace and sometimes throw in some very clever spins (such as the Smokey & the Bandit episode) and the few cameo's the show has along the way.

Richard is actually quite an astute businessman though & the show has followed the growth of Gas Monkey from a rented space at Phipps Automotive to his own premises, to opening his own restaurant & then taking Tom Smith, his most engaging employee/star (outside of Aaron), "firing" him, and hey, look, Richard's producing a show called "Misfit Garage" about Tom & Jordan's rival set up, "Fired Up Garage", who, surprise surprise, are renting the space at Phipps' once more....

Richard's no dummy and as long as he keeps me entertained with whatever show he has, I'll keep watching and laughing.

If you want a serious car show, I'm sure they exist somewhere but this isn't it.

Now, where's my beer assistant?

I hope Steve's insurance is up to scratch because the show portrays a custom rat rod shop that is a complete Occupational Heath & Safety nightmare. How someone has not lost a finger, toe or eye, I've no idea.

But perhaps that part of the idea, the notion of customizing the cars to give them the Mad Max / steampunk / post-apocalyptic feel of a rat rod also requires a certain level of commensurate potential disaster in the shop as well.

The show itself is entertaining, focusing on just one car per episode and also being about 40+ minutes per episode allows a lot of interaction with the staff & shows what happens on the build & how they get their parts etc. However, OH&S issues aside, the crew at Welderup seem to take great pride in building a safe to drive rat rod.

You watch a show like this, not to be inspired to build a rat rod in your kitchen, but to be entertained with people that are not boring & cars that are not being (although if you're a hot rod purist, you may be horrified). And on this level, Vegas Rat Rods succeeds.

Are rat rods just a phase or here to stay? No idea, but Steve Darnell does rightly call himself the Picasso of the car world, so if you want a Picasso for your car, Steve Darnell's your man, if you want a pre-Raphelite, go see Danny Koker at Counts Customs ("Counting Cars", an interesting show in its own right).

Though I'm waiting for the day when they customize a Telsa Model S, now that would be a challenge....