Chasing Classic Cars

Wayne Carini knows cars. It is his business to know about them. There are no pretensions.

Wayne owned his dealership/restoration shop way before he got a TV show, so the reviews here dissin' him and his agenda are foolish and inaccurate.

Wayne is not always financially invested in every car we see auctioned off, nor does he chase after widows whose husbands left behind expensive automobiles. They come to him learning or knowing of his expertise in moving a car to a new owner. Sure he probably collects a fee, but that's part of his business.

The show is well done and shares his love of the automobile and many types of vehicles, including trucks and motorcycles.

I especially appreciate his sharing of the restoration process, which seems to be happening less and less on the episodes. Roger, his main mechanic is great, with a sense of humor that is not to be missed. He usually steals the show when he's on.

When I first watched Chasing Classic Cars, I really wasn't interested in it. I love classic cars, but I'm not super into the high-brow world of specialty cars (i.e. numbers matching, ultra rare etc etc). I am interested in them for their history, but I find the circles that are involved seem to be not so much in my interest. Upon first watching, I assumed that would be the case. While Wayne is interested in unique and rare cars, he has a true passion for automobiles in general. On top of that he wants nothing more than for those cars to be on the road and driven. His knowledge of cars is amazing in its own right.

His lead mechanic Roger Barr is also an amazing watch. No nonsense straight shooter with some great commentary. I would love to spend some time wrenching on some of those cars with him.

Finally, to Newjunkees review. What did you expect? He's in the BUSINESS of making money off of automobiles.

Those posting reviews trying to suggest that Wayne isn't a car/motorcycle enthusiast or that he's just in it for the money are a)completely wrong and b) completely missing the point. First let's get one thing straight; he's running a business. Of course he's trying to make a profit if he didn't there would be no business to have a show about. Second regarding his validity as a car enthusiast I would love, love to see any of you try and match your car knowledge to Waynes. No one knows as much about a subject like Wayne knows cars and motorcycles that isn't dedicated and passionate about it and if you think otherwise you're only fooling yourself. Wayne's passion for cars and bikes is what drove him into this business and again if you aren't profitable you aren't in business.

Now with that said as a fellow car enthusiast I find the show informative, entertaining and a true joy to watch.

Great show. Love to see how long it will take him to touch the car he's looking at. Besides that Wayne is very knowledgeable about the cars he touches.

I have watched this off and on for years. Compared to much of the other appalling crap the Motor Trend channel currently shows, it is worth watching to see some truly interesting and often unusual cars. Carini's dealing with them is another matter. He does tend to be a flipper at times, but in fairness, he's in business to buy and sell cars. Others have questioned his ethics, so nothing more is required from me. However for a guy who has been doing this forever, there are times I question his auction acumen, at least when on the selling side. I have seen him fumble with reserves (having one or not having one) and then have a bad outcome. He generally explains it away with "that's the way auctions work."

In a 2020 episode, he covers a client who has an AC Ace-Bristol, and a Jaguar E-type, late Series 1. He opens with the assertion that he previously tried to buy them both, but the owner didn't accept his offer and wanted more. So in this episode, he has reached an agreement to act as the owner's agent to prepare them for auction, and then take them to the auction for sale. He selects a Mecum Auction in CA, and the show follows the unfortunate action and outcome there.

Mecum? You must be joking. Taking a super rare AC to Mecum (for which the owner was trying to get $400K), the home of the endless '60's American car sales with occasional imports dropped in, was doomed from the start. Who the hell among their normal bidders even knew what an AC Ace is? Even the much more common E-Type was "exotic" compared to the other lots being sold. Naturally, the bidding did not come close to the owner's reserve for either car, and neither sold. The upset written on the owner's face was palpable.

I left that episode thinking about the cost the owner paid to Wayne for the prep work, and the cost to ship the cars plus traveling expenses for everyone involved, only to have to ship the cars back. Was this incredible lapse on Carini's part deliberate? Surely Bonham's or Gooding would have been better auction options for those cars, and Carini has taken cars to these auctions before. I wondered if Carini deliberately sandbagged the guy so that he could follow up with his own offer again. Of course we don't know what the final outcome was with the guy's cars, so who knows? Either way, as one of the later episodes, it seemed a surprisingly knuckleheaded narrative.