The bottom has fallen out of the box of blog views. Seemingly every day with a post is garnering fewer and fewer views.
Maybe this blog has just run its course after 45 months and more than 1,200 posts. Once again, those who are no longer reading cannot tell me why they stopped. Of course, with many fewer readers maybe I’ll just remove any vestige of muzzle.
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Interstate 83 only exists in two states: Maryland and Pennsylvania. Like many such roads, I-83 has become a commuter pathway, or at least it did before the damn virus. Since I don’t live there anymore I don’t really know for sure.
When I lived in northwest Baltimore, where I was born and raised and lived until I was 25, I-83 was my usual route to downtown Baltimore, which is its southern terminus. (Of course since I don’t own a bulletproof vest, I would never go to downtown Baltimore anymore, anyway, even if I still lived in the mid-Atlantic.) In my junior and senior years of high school, I would use I-83 as part of my route home from school so I could use more of the horsepower in my 1967 Pontiac GTO. In Baltimore, I-83 is called the Jones Falls Expressway. Originally, the plan was to have this road connect to an extension of Interstate 95 in south Baltimore, but between community opposition and funding issues, the plan never materialized.
It is a virtual certainty I will never drive on this road again. The number on today’s Monday Musings title led me to think of I-83 and all of the time I spent driving on it.
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How many of you have ever watched a show called Flipping Bangers on Motor Trend? The premise is that two motorheads have given up their regular jobs to attempt to make a living buying and flipping cars at the bottom of the market, which are called bangers in the UK. Supposedly, they give themselves only five workshop days to spruce up the cars, although in one episode they acknowledged they needed the morning of a sixth day in order to finish.
I really like this show, especially when the featured car is something interesting to me, like this:
This is a second-generation Toyota MR2, also known as a Mk II. In general, my interest in automobile restoration shows is dependent on the featured car(s). As much as I like looking at Cristy Lee, if All Girls Garage or Garage Squad featured something like a pickup truck, then odds are I wouldn’t watch the episode.
Flipping Bangers is entertaining to me because the two presenters, Gus Gregory and Will Trickett, seem to be quite knowledgeable about cars, seem to be pleasant fellows and the show contains quite a bit of humor, most of which seems genuine. In that way, the show reminds me of another one of my favorites, Salvage Hunters: Classic Cars, which is also shot in the UK with two British hosts.
I assume at least some of you watch automobile-related programming. What do you like?
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Disaffected Musings 
My, formerly secret, guilty pleasure show is Roadkill with Finnegan and Freiburger. It’s kind of a goof, but there is some serious talent between those two. Bonus is, it’s not some made up “unreality” show like 90% are.
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Thanks for sharing, DDM.
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Motor Trend TV is my cable connection to car shows. My favorites on this channel are Overhaulin’ with Chip Foose and Chasing Classic Cars with Wayne Carini. I like Foose’s style of design and he works on a variety of car styles. I do not like the tricks they play on owners. Wayne’s selection of cars is also extensive and enjoyable to watch. Motor Trend TV has a wide variety of shows and if, as I am channel surfing, something catches my eye I’ll watch. I have seen Flipping Bangers. Don’t get me started on the Bitchin” Rides and the horrible beard.
I knew of Chip Foose before cable TV shows. In fact I knew of his father, Sam, from reading the old Rod and Custom Magazine in the 1970’s. My favorite Overhaulin’ episode was when they took Chip’s old Ford pickup and overhauled it for him with the help of his father.
One of the best cable car shows is hard to get is Stacey David’s Gearz which is on MAV TV. He actually gets project cars built without all of the reality TV drama.
Freiburger is a classic old school hot rod journalist. I could watch him all day long and learn something every day. He is one of those who will do the most with what he has, classic hot rodder.
I’m sorry I haven’t commented more, as we have been preoccupied with important issues.
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Many thanks for sharing, Philip. Your comments are most welcome regardless of frequency.
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On the British side, I’ve enjoyed Wheeler Dealers, even when they moved to California. I haven’t seen them in a while, though. Not sure of the status of the program, but it may have run its course.
I also watch Jay Leno’s Garage which runs a much wider gamut of automobilia.
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Thanks, JS. Wheeler Dealers is once again being produced in the UK and the first episode of its new iteration–sans Ant Anstead–is supposed to premiere on Motor Trend later this month.
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Here in Canada we have Velocity (I don’t believe Motor Trend is carried as a channel) and then History and some other channels carry a show here or there.
To be honest, I’ve grown very tired of pretty much all the car shows. Some it’s the show premise – Roadkill holds no interest for me, Hot Rod Garage just wants to drop an LS in everything. Other shows, it’s the personalities… like every show, the Count’s mind is blown by Ryan’s super awesome paint, or Graveyard Carz guy acts like King Mopar, or Mike at Rust Valley Restorers is forced to sell a car only to go and buy 3 more wrecks to drop in his yard. Even Overhaulin and Garage Squad, sometimes it’s too much back slapping and kibbitzing. And some are just kind of boring, like Hot Rod garage they just want to drop an LS in whatever they have and call it a day.
Back in the day I used to enjoy the Powerblock on TNN/Spike, so I still like some shows in that vein like All Girls Garage, kind of more straightforward install (that I know are really just commercials for parts from Summit or Rock Auto). But even those are mostly all repeats now. Same with Wheeler Dealers, Guild Garage, Chasing Classic Cars… they don’t annoy me so much but I’ve seen pretty much all of them.
I do still watch the auctions, mostly for the variety of cars. Even them sometimes… if I hear Mike Joy say “the price goes up when the top goes down” any more, I’ll probably retire to bedlam.
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Many thanks, Mark. I agree with many of your comments. Despite my obsession with automobiles, I find most Motor Trend shows unwatchable at least some of the time and some of them unwatchable most of the time. In the interest of politeness I will refrain from calling out those shows that I wouldn’t watch if you paid me $10,000 an episode. Let’s just say I have zero interest in slammed trucks and celebrity pimpmobiles.
I don’t know if you can watch the Mecum broadcasts in Canada. I find them much more enjoyable than the Barrett-Jackson telecasts, plus there are many more of them.
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I’m not sure anyone carries the Mecum auctions here. Which is a shame. When I read auction coverage on Hagerty’s website I often though it’d be great if auctions like Gooding or Mecum were on tv.
One tv show I used to watch was called Dream Car Garage, Canadian production with Peter Klutt and based at Legendary Motor Car’s facility. I liked it because they’d show restoration work on some cars, they’d talk to old car guys or visit old tracks, and usually Klutt would go for a boot in an old muscle car. I think there used to be a similar show on TNN. I think I’d be interested if something like that or My Classic Car were to come back.
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Peter Klutt’s show was aired in the US for 2-3 years with the title Legendary Motorcar. I liked it, although it was almost always about very high-end cars.
I love watching the Mecum auctions. Maybe you should see if there’s a way to get the Peacock (NBC) app in Canada, or its Canadian equivalent.
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