Wheeler Dealers

it always cracks me up when he gives a buyer a hard time for haggling yet he haggles the crap out of people when he's buying.

It reminds me of classic This Old House episodes when Bob Vila was the host but everybody knew the Norm was the guy with all the knowledge.

Some of the decisions must be staged to get the audience going- for example, the Porsche 928 project, where they complained about how dated and unattractive the multi-piece BBS's that came with the car were, only to replace them with some factory "tele dials" which they claimed were much better looking.

TucoRamirez wrote: I cringe when they replace only 1 axle's shocks or bushings. Funniest word I heard was decal.

I've never noticed those shortcuts. Usually, Edd will do one side in detail and then say "onto the other side" and do the quick-cut version of the same thing.

I mean, Edd's rattle-canning and bondoing is ghetto, for sure, but that's on a cheap-ass car. The rattlecan roof for the Vette was sketch, though.

DEEcul

the episode on right now is the world famous mazda mx-5

gamby wrote: Usually, Edd will do one side in detail and then say "onto the other side" and do the quick-cut version of the same thing.

One thing to remember when watching this show is that it is heavily edited for US commercial TV.

It looks like the magical rust-convertor Edd uses is the same gel stuff Eastwood sells.

Didn't see this post-was looking for the old HF coupon link na dran inot this. I love Wheeler Dealers. I still watch the same episodes repeatedly on youtube. Watching the show actually gave me more confidence in trying out things for the first time, like sanding and painting. I haven't strated welding yet, though. I apparently haven't started spelling yet either, but there is always time.

I do not have this channel so this is the first time that I saw this show. I first watched the 944t episodes in their entirety then the E30. I like the show. There are a few creative licenses taken. On the 944 they "profited" about 1k but I bet they had 100 hours into the job.

Overall, I like the format. Seems that GRM/Classic could do an easy rip-off for US audiences. What amazed me most was that the whole thing was not a gigantic commercial similar to Gears with Stacy Whatever. Quite the opposite, I noticed they were pretty vauge about brands and stores even going so far as to hide the names.

jrw1621 wrote: I do not have this channel so this is the first time that I saw this show. I first watched the 944t episodes in their entirety then the E30. I like the show. There are a few creative licenses taken. On the 944 they "profited" about 1k but I bet they had 100 hours into the job. Overall, I like the format. Seems that GRM/Classic could do an easy rip-off for US audiences. What amazed me most was that the whole thing was not a gigantic commercial similar to Gears with Stacy Whatever. Quite the opposite, I noticed they were pretty vauge about brands and stores even going so far as to hide the names.

I appreciate Wheeler Dealers' lack of commercial advertising, but I really do like Gears. Mike doesn't really need the advertising and donated parts to do his bit; the cars and repairs are relatively cheap and he is selling them off. But Stacy's builds are expensive. Probably much more than the network wants to shell out and more than he is probably able to shell out. I can see how you'd have to plaster up the sponsor's names to get the money for things like Sergeant Rock or the V8 Miata builds.

I trip out when he's happy to have made $200 profit, but they never include all the hours of labor into the cost of repair. I guess a few bucks profit is great when you have "free" labor...

Ed China is a god.

Cone_Junky wrote: I trip out when he's happy to have made $200 profit, but they never include all the hours of labor into the cost of repair. I guess a few bucks profit is great when you have "free" labor...

I think they are trying to prove you can buy cars fix them up a bit and make a few bucks. Not make a living at it.

jrw1621 wrote: I noticed they were pretty vauge about brands and stores even going so far as to hide the names.

I'm pretty sure that is a BBC requirement.

If anyone needs all the episodes I have them, via torrent.

Andrew

OK, I finally recorded some of these and watched them.

The 928 episode was good. I love those old cars. But British taste must be a little different. They loved the chocolate brown color. Not my thing, but ok. They hated the gold BBS wheels. I was thinking they were pretty cool, period correct and offset the brown paint nicely.

In the Miata episode they welded and rattle canned around the windshield. I'd like to have a close look to see how that ended up.

The British seem not to care too much about two of the greatest American fears - oil leaks and rust. I kind of agree about a couple of drips of oil, but rust scares me.

I like the show. I still prefer Top Gear, but Wheeler Dealers shows them restoring older cars, which I like. Where Top Gear mostly destroys older cars. YMMV.

With reguard to the BBS wheels, I though it was very telling that the guy with the Porsche shop traded straight up for the BBS wheels, that should have told those guys something.

I thought they looked great on the car.

In reply to 81gtv6:

Yeah, the guy seemed really eager to make the trade, probably because old phone dial wheels are dirt cheap and BBS wheels, not so much.

Otto_Maddox wrote: In reply to 81gtv6: Yeah, the guy seemed really eager to make the trade, probably because old phone dial wheels are dirt cheap and BBS wheels, not so much.

The parts guy's situation is different. He's a parts dealer and can sit on the wheels until he finds a buyer for them and turn a profit - especially since he probably got the OE wheels for next to nothing.

Whereas when selling a car, stock wheels are always a safer bet. I can't say how many times I've looked at used cars for sale that had aftermarket wheels on them and said, "oh yeah... those wheels would have to go immediately..." It's money I'd have to put into the car right away and is therefor a negative on the car.

Yeah... the British don't seem to be as paranoid about rust... but at the same time, it's more of somethign they have to live with. It's not as practical for them to "buy a rust-free car from the West coast" like we can in the U.S. Especially with the RHD requirement, their "west coast" is on the other side of the globe in Aus/NZ.

Ian F wrote: Whereas when selling a car, stock wheels are always a safer bet. I can't say how many times I've looked at used cars for sale that had aftermarket wheels on them and said, "oh yeah... those wheels would have to go immediately..." It's money I'd have to put into the car right away and is therefor a negative on the car.

I agree. Aftermarket wheels are the automotive equivalent of "dating" a woman who has another guy's name tattooed on her. Those wheels are an expression of someone else's taste.

Stock is always king in that situation.

Watched the 944 episode. He could've turned around and sold the car for 4500 right away. Instead of realizing a 900-pound "profit," he'd get a 1700-pound real profit. Even if he replaced a few wear items, he'd still see 1500 extra at the end.

Also would be nice if they actually got someone who could drive the car to do the track test. That was pretty appalling. The wheels were a grave error as well.

It reminds me of my driveway. Not sure if that's good or bad?

Is everything in England Filmed by the same guy? Do they only have one T.V. show Idea and just keep re hashing it?

(much like the U.S.s reality tv I guess)

Per Schroeder wrote: It reminds me of my driveway. Not sure if that's good or bad?

If you're talking about the "track," they were supposed to be at Silverstone. However, I didn't see any F1-type curbing. They could be on some small off section of the complex, much like Streets of Willow is adjacent to the real Willow Springs track.

I was more talking about the process of buying a cheap car, fixing it without regard to labor value and then selling for a marginal profit.