Practically Classics Forum

Thanks for clearing that up, what a con!

My wife watched the MGB one and enjoyed it, as she has no interest in cars whatsoever i think that probably sums it up nicely...

I wish I'd carried on watching the series now- it sounds like top entertainment I have to admit I only watched the Jag one which was such a load of old cobblers I didn't bother to watch any more.........

Its on catchup if you're desperate!

Ok - who's going to admit to watching the latest episode

They went to visit the amazing Steve Plunkett Cadillac Collection in Canada - have a look at how many cars he has here http://www.fleetwoodcountrycruizein.com ... ction.html

They are all in a purpose built building shown here
http://www.fleetwoodcountrycruizein.com ... salon.html

As for the car they restored, this had the usual comedy turns and swearing although there wasn't a walk out this time. How could they spend so much time on the paint work and then decide that it was the wrong colour. Were they smoke pellets up the exhaust or was it really burning that much transmission oil - must admit that I learnt something there about the vacuum switch. Was it just me or when they were stripping out the interior, the seats removed were different to the ones in the original car - they seemed to be similar to the two tone replacements yet the original wreck had plain seats - was this another case of buying two cars - and to 'find' a perfect front grille and bumper complete in very good condition at the bottom of a pile of junk - how long had that been there - 10 minutes?

Technical question from a beginner to the experts - they used a chemical paint stripper before sanding back the paint - is this better/quicker/easier - or what? Any thoughts as you still need to sand back to remove any residue?

Mike

Hello chaps

The thing which really got me was how you can remove a webasto and sew in a piece of flat sheet steel using Mig and say that with a little filler it will be a lovely job. This would be a very skilled and time consuming job as the that metal is going to be 'a life on the ocean waves' as soon as the torch hits it. You couldnt fill it without tensioning the panel on the hammers first. And why would you use a Mig welder? Tig would do better as it allows some hammer welding as you go along.
And what would this cost?

Add to this a bare metal respray and the budget is gone.

And we all know that if the chassis was falling to bits ( even without cutting it off) then the shell is a goner.

The show seems to have the same story each week, the sums dont add up and the characters are silly. But none of this matters. What really matters is that this program shows nothing about car restoration. Which after all was meant to be its subject

No, it's not intended to be about restoration, at least not in an informative way. Bernie is a fairly well established slapstick comedian, the show is in the comedy/farce genre and its real raison d'être is to provide some interest in the channel's current trend toward giving away cars as prizes. If you doubt that this is comedy, just watch the mini edition when that comes on next week. It's the funniest thing ever, far funnier than the Mustang or the Cadillac and does show exactly how not to repair those scuttle to wing joins, floors and rear valance, which they show being welded on in the show in spite of the fact that, until MK4, that's actually the only bolted on panel in a mini and made that way to ease rear subframe fitting.

They're not selling them but offering them as prizes in their competition!
I stopped watching it after the usual stage managed "arguments" and although I know most of these programmes are scripted, this is by far the worst one. Have I entered to win any of their cars? NO!. Will I be entering any in the future? NO, will I be watching any more? NO - what a complete load of drivel.

Who said they were selling the cars?

m.thaddeus wrote:Hello chaps

The thing which really got me was how you can remove a webasto and sew in a piece of flat sheet steel using Mig and say that with a little filler it will be a lovely job. This would be a very skilled and time consuming job as the that metal is going to be 'a life on the ocean waves' as soon as the torch hits it. You couldnt fill it without tensioning the panel on the hammers first. And why would you use a Mig welder? Tig would do better as it allows some hammer welding as you go along.
And what would this cost?

Add to this a bare metal respray and the budget is gone.

And we all know that if the chassis was falling to bits ( even without cutting it off) then the shell is a goner.

The show seems to have the same story each week, the sums dont add up and the characters are silly. But none of this matters. What really matters is that this program shows nothing about car restoration. Which after all was meant to be its subject

That's because they used a second shell, I suppose a glaringly obvious sunroof on one and none on the second shell had to be cunningly disguised somehow!

Quite why there has to be some major disaster in each episode is beyond me, Cadillac painted the wrong colour, a smashed modern screen with the Mustang, along with issues such as clouds of smoke billowing out the exhaust due to oil being sucked out the carb/faulty transmission valve etc etc it's like a pantomime farce. (I would say comedy farce, but I've not yet laughed at it!)

I'd be the first to admit that comedy usually works best when it's funny, but go on, admit it, the ground off rear springs falling out of the MG was quite amusing, in a shameful sort of way.