Started watching Vice Grip Garage a few weeks ago, I like it. Finnegan is high dollar but entertaining and you can learn stuff. Do need to check out Cletus. These people who buy a $100,000 car and trash it because they are rich and can do whatever they want don't deserve the attention of real car people. If we stop clicking they will go away at some point.
In reply to 02Pilot :I can relate to those guys. Completely unpretentious and just being themselves enjoying car culture, but with some really interesting stuff going on. Mini Cooper, big block beaters, fury, Wagneer, Le Car, vintage bikes and sleds, Ltd's, Continental, dodge trucks, old cop cars.....plus beer darts and weed. Lol. I would pass on the darts and weed but other than that it could be my shop.
In reply to ShawnG :
I didn't know Paul Brodie had a channel. Checking that out. An early Kona is one of two vintage mountain bikes that are on my want list.
I want to know who said hack job builder is though.
Tbh the only channels I watch are Bad Obession and Mighty Car Mods (and I dont watch all their car series to be honest). Also the occasional Hoonigan Autofocus when something catches my eye.
In reply to 93EXCivic :
From what was described to me, this is the guy: https://youtu.be/eF34t9_LZUU
I'd love it if my channel would take off and grow in spades, but I'm honestly not at all willing to put in the hours and hours and hours to produce content, and produce content solely for the purpose of views/clicks/etc.
Other than videos I do for my students, the majority of my videos are just me inviting you into my hobby: a time-lapse set up in the corner if I remember, and a voice-over when it's over. The moment my "hobby" becomes "work," it's the death of my hobby (and I only have one hobby).
So far, I don't have the "magic" that brings in bucket loads of money.
Got a buddy who seems to make money if he would just stand still long enough. Money just seems to fall into his pockets.
In reply to BoxheadTim (Forum Supporter) :
Not sure about Tavarish. Hoovie and WatchJR are both full time YouTubers. Obviously Hoovie had money to begin with, you don't own a house like his in your early 30's without having a large bank account to start with...
I thought Cleetus went silent after the driver boiled himself at his track. I just saw him post a vid yesterday of him touring a mansion another youtuber is refurbing.
I liked Hoovies Garage, but now he's just another youtuber that buys Italian exotics. Yawn.
In reply to lnlogauge :
Tavarish caught COVID. That's why there hasn't been videos from him.
bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) said:The only two I keep up with are Cold war motors and Bad obsession. Most of the rest seem to concentrate on completely unaffordable super cars or doing really dumb things with ordinary cars.
If only there was a channel that plays with cars in an ordinary and affordable way...
In reply to SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) :
What's your channel?
Nivlac57 is the only channel I watch. I can't stand the rest of it, although I will confess to liking cletus' drag racing videos once in a while.
I try to refrain from clicking on majority of the cringe automotive stuff out there, mostly because I don't find destruction for the sake of destroying to be entertaining. I watch Mighty Car Mods, Bad Obsession, Nivlac57, and anyone that seems to show more of the process of the building.
I remember wanting to be big on YouTube, but now I treat my channel as more of a video build thread as someone mentioned here, a single video is easier to share to multiple places / with multiple people.
I went from trying to 'create' content to a more documentive approach for the majority of my stuff I work on. And try to make it both entertaining / informative, pass along information to those watching that maybe want to attempt things themselves but may not have the confidence to do so yet.
I blame it first on Top Gear, then on Roadkill. Lets take something and do it poorly, causing destruction. No.
Hoovie is getting a bit old, but I still enjoy most of his stuff. He doesn't wreck things. Well, other than burying a rusted out K car in the back yard. He might have done a Rover as well, but they both deserved it. I enjoy some of the lessons- "I bought this cheap Merc wagon, after the previous owner spent a fortune, and it still breaks all the time because old, complex and German." is a lesson many people should learn.
Binky, well, its just fine other than having a level of patience that I can only dream of.
The Vinwiki car stories can be entertaining, or cringe worthy, or used as evidence in a court of law. I generally click past when the lawbreaking stuff comes on, but some are worth watching.
Hoovie buys interesting cars and I enjoy being shown around interiors, engine bays, etc which he does a good job with. His "I'm an idiot about cars" schtick is all a front, though, and he's a bad actor so that doesn't help. I would enjoy the videos more if he dropped that. He did own (or still owns?) a few franchises of a burger shop, and I get the feeling (he's a second-degree connection of mine through a friend, this is not just "vibez") that there was some family money to help him get started with whatever his first business ventures were.
Vinwiki occasionally has an interesting story to be shared, but given how much they glorify excessive speeding/law breaking, I can't get too excited about it.
I follow some channels that do new and used car reviews - Doug and others - and I still enjoy Doug. He's a little quirky himself but he's authentic about it.
And I run my own channel (Out Motorsports) with a few friends. We cover new cars, old cars, refurbing of old cars, and motorsport stuff, with the goal of getting more LGBT+ folks and advocates/allies to join in the fun and share what they are up to. Check us out and subscribe if you're feeling saucy. I'm cutting a video now where I tow my enclosed trailer behind a Jeep Gladiator. Got some other fun vehicles coming, including the new Defender next week. Trying to do reviews featuring the stuff that other channels miss, including a lot about towing.
VinWiki has some really good car stories. Like when you were a kid and you'd sneak into the garage and listen to the old man and his buddies swapping lies.
The exotic car stories I generally skip. I have no frame of reference. But "The KKK Tried to Kill Me" story, all day long. Randy Pobst has a few good ones as well.
I've been trying to decide if B is for Build has gotten worse or if my expectations if what 3 guys who are Full time should be capable of. I enjoyed his early builds and the ones where he realized his vision FAR exceeded his capabilities, but anymore it seems like he is making half asses projects just did the clicks.
Casey Putsch is one I've watched a bit of lately because the King Zero build is pretty neat but he spends way to much time complaining lately (which probably just drives the algorithm).
I try to watch shows that just have people building stuff, and using it when done. The woodworking and home renovation and Maker space seems to have a lot more people just building things without as much "over the top" to drive eyeballs.
I've started a channel with no intention of it ever going anywhere. I mostly just am treating it like an extension of the build thread. Though my 8 yo son who is big into gaming youtubers thinks I'm a big deal and is very supportive of my channel. I've gotten nearly 100 subscribers though!
I'd like to see a community grow that shows what it really takes to do a decent job on a custom fabbed car build. Channels like Urchfab and Mike Festiva who seem to do things the right way and show how long it takes. Channels like Retropower with their weekly walkthroughs who show what excellence looks like and how big of a project it really is to do a good job.
I will say that producing a good youtube video is a completely different set of skills than actually building a great car.
Youtube rewards video production skills (with a lot of clickbait skills mixed in), not car building skills.
I posted a youtube video once, I think about 2.5 years ago. As of this morning it had 227 views! I'm still waiting for my check.
In reply to nocones :
Ive watched B is for build for 18 months. He's since built the Burnticon, which small details aside an amazing build. He swapped a 69 mustang on a 2015 GT, and had it 80%? finished before getting screwed by lawyers. They built Oscar's mustang, Kyle's 330i, in the process of LS swapping a boat, 40%? done with the jumpicon. If I accomplished that much in 18 months I'm sleeping just fine at night.
As for the quality, I saw burnticon at Sema. there were some paint issues, and rough around the edges, but the push to get that to SEMA was insane. You're not going to get show pieces from youtubers. there's a line between quality fabrication and quality vidoes you have to toe. You have to make a living putting out videos, and you have to get people engaged for the 15 minutes. if you're doing one thing extremely well but tahts all you do in that video, you're not going to be successful.
I like the fact that Mike (StreetSpeed717) enrages cranks by smashing up his brand new TRX. I dont understand why anyone thinks they can tell a guy what to do with his own property (actually, I do understand but thats another discussion entirely). I think Mike is a genuinely good person. He's clearley smart and ambitious and alot of his content his very good/entertaining.
I remember reading a Corvette board a few months ago where a bunch of old dudes were raging over the fact the Emelia Hartford was modifying her C8. I dont care if a bunch of old E36 M3birds are offended, I am absolutely fascinated by the progress and developments she is making on her car.
Im glad most of these folks are on youtube. I enjoy watching them and I learn alot from them.
For actually learning, I really like Eric the Car Guy, South Main Auto, Brian's Mobil, and a couple of other channels that are very informative and technically sound.
Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:I posted a youtube video once, I think about 2.5 years ago. As of this morning it had 227 views! I'm still waiting for my check.
my most-viewed is a drag pass pitting my V8 944 vs dherr's 2.3T Spitfire at the $2008 Challenge, with 1.2k views. I have 6 subscribers. Also still waiting on that check. 
my video has 94k. I made 250$ from royal caribbean using it to sell diamonds. Im happy with that.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:I posted a youtube video once, I think about 2.5 years ago. As of this morning it had 227 views! I'm still waiting for my check.
my most-viewed is a drag pass pitting my V8 944 vs dherr's 2.3T Spitfire at the $2008 Challenge, with 1.2k views. I have 6 subscribers. Also still waiting on that check.
I hit 1,000 subscribers at the end of December, which is the minimum to monetize. I got an aggregate of 10,000 views total over the course of January and made $30. It cost me $50 to send a pair of boxes to overseas viewers, so so far I'm negative $20 (plus the cameras and editing software and computer etc etc) for two years worth of work. Also, you don't get paid until you hit at least $100 in revenue, so at this rate I'll see my first check in April/May.
Driftworks is actually a decent number of guys building stuff.
A fair number of Phil's projects are on the higher tier end of things (E30 M3, v10 E46, Murcielago). But Jay is really down to earth to watch wrench on things, and running to Dyno Torque (a shop over) to ask Craig 'can you just' is always fun. They have started filming attending open track days they attend with Clio's and such. It's a good watch since any 'drama' is only evident when they cut back to them after hours of working on something not on camera and you can see how tired they really are because it should have been an easier job OR when incorrect parts arrive and holds things up.
The channel is more an extension from their store tho, and some of the stuff may seem to be for clicks, it's just Phil building the toys he wants to build and use and drive.
In reply to docwyte :
Really though, It's Andover, KS. I would bet the house I had in Austin at 31 was worth more than that. Not nearly as nice but things in KS are cheap
Here is an interesting article that talks a little bit about his rise.
https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article213617609.html
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