Desert Car Kings

[Danno]

Am I the only one following the TV show "Desert Car Kings" on Discovery Channel?



Its premise is that a father/son team own & operate the largest classic car salvage yard in the West; they have a rehab shop; they take rusty beaters (sometimes from their yard, sometimes ones their towing business drags in as abandoned or purchased); they 'restore' them; then they sell them at their auction.

DVAP's yard and its shop and its auction site (different locations) are located near Deer Valley Airport; not far from my residence; I've been to their yard and their auctions ~~ but long before this TV series was filmed.

It's an amusing program and kind of interesting to see all the local stuff.

They've run 4 episodes so far ... they've restored a '65 TBird, '62 Galaxie, '55 F100, and a '64 Barracuda.

Anybody else following it?




www.dvap.com/

[tuffone20]

Yeah I'm watching it too!! Did you see the one where they restored a '55 F100 and didn't paint the bed black? Did you call them and tell them it wasn't done right?

[Danno]

Mar 1, 2011 8:06:26 GMT -8 @tuffone20 said:

Yeah I'm watching it too!! Did you see the one where they restored a '55 F100 and didn't paint the bed black? Did you call them and tell them it wasn't done right?

I did communicate with DVAP, but that's another story.

But it wasn't about the F100 ...

Regarding the F100, I took into account that they did not restore it to 'bone stock' or any other kind of allegedly 'stock' configuration (the motor was swapped in from a later model Galaxie, the exhaust was custom, and the interior was entirely custom including bucket seats). They were rehabbing it to make it attractive for quick sale, and they made no bones about it. So exercising their customization options, such as installing a custom, clear-treated bed with stainless rubrails was A-Okay!

And, it turned out nicely.

Besides, it wasn't a Malibu, Camaro, or MoPar.

But I KNEW if you saw that episode, you would be CERTAIN to point it out to me!!!! ;D ;D


Glad to see you're watching! It's kind of a fun show.


PS: I'm really looking forward to them rehabbing the Corvair ... if they do.

[moonmodler]

I saw the episode with the T-Bird. I was mildly surprised they did the resoration in two weeks. Final price excapes me but it was very low. But I guesss that reflects the level of detail that is lacking in a two week restoration. All in all it's a fairly entertaining show.
Bernie

[lannyhaas]

I liked the one that had 5 rattlesnakes in the Chevlle

[darkrapid]

I havn't seen any of these. I'll have to look for them!!

[lannyhaas]

I was watching the other night, and they were building the 55 ford pickup, and looking for a grill in there yard for it. They walked up to a 56 ford F100, and said Oh Here is a 55, and it has the right gril.

[Danno]

Mar 8, 2011 14:19:45 GMT -8 lannyhaas said:

I was watching the other night, and they were building the 55 ford pickup, and looking for a grill in there yard for it. They walked up to a 56 ford F100, and said Oh Here is a 55, and it has the right gril.

They do a lot of little goofy things like that. I think I'd want to get my own parts and not count on them! They had a '64 Barracuda that had no V8 emblems on it until they were finished and ready to sell it. They kept crowing about its 273 V-8 engine, but when they unloaded it from the carhauler and lifted the hood, it had a slant-6 big as life. Next thing you know, it's got a 273 and they're talking about how nice it is, being an original V-8.

Of course, then the owner told them the rear window was worth $2-3k and warned them not to break it. SO they promptly broke it. You'd a thought they'd have taken a little better care ...

Oh, well. It's entertainment.

I just wonder how good ... how thorough ... their 'restorations' are when they slap them together so fast and don't always seem to know what they're dealing with.

[plastickits]

Just watched the Cuda episode EVERYBODY who whs ever worked in a shop or any other place KNOWS you DON'T lean a round object on a ROUND object!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also did you see any car/s poeple you know?? Enquiring minds want too know!!! PK

[darkrapid]

A good friend of mine works close by and he told me that the Barracuda episode was a switch. The first car they show with the 6 is at another shop close by. They filmed that one then finished the other one that is an original V8 car.

[Danno]

That's interesting, Raoul. Good to know the facts of the switcheroo.

I DVR'd that episode and ran it back several times to make sure I was not hallucinating. The early clips clearly showed a Slant 6 but they talked all the way through the episode ... including talking over the video of the Slant 6 ... as though it was an original V-8 car. I was certain I was right, and they never once indicated there were two cars.

Of course, they've obviously pulled some 'dramatic license' shennanigans in most of the episodes.

For example, the GTO episode. Interesting how they took a picked-apart GTO hulk and managed to turn it into a $22,000 prize in two weeks. It didn't have a front clip, seats, hood, or much of anything, actually. After searching through their yard so thoroughly, they still came up short of much of the car. But, miraculously "discovered" all the parts they needed ... salted away in dad's "private yard."

Anyone else think it interesting that the big pile of parts was stacked all together, and happened to match the hulk? You don't suppose the "miracle" parts came off that same GTO in the first place do you? Oh, no, say it ain't so.



Seriously, it's still a fun show as long as you don't get too wrapped up in the staged drama and as long as you don't start thinking all restorations are done like that.

[davewilly]

I saw the t-bird show it was cool to see it here locally. it was fun to watch what they did and what they were trying to do. I will have to add it to my DVR list to get recorded so i can watch them though

[danschevelle]

I wanted to like this show, but it jumped the shark for me with the Charger episode. They built it and took it to Speedworld to compare it to a 2010 or 2011 Charger, I forget which. The new one ran 14s, and the one they built ran a 19 something. And they were happy with that! It should have run better than that at half throttle! I don't get who the target market is supposed to be for this show. People that aren't into cars won't watch, and people who love cars will see so much wrong, they can't watch! Just my $0.02.