Graveyardcarz is restoring a 71 Demon 340
autoxcuda... wow... i didn't know my comment about mark worman car's looking nice was such a controversial thing to say! OK... i don't have any "dog in the fight" over mark worman. i don't know that guy, i've never met the guy, i've never been to his shop AND i've NEVER seen any of the cars featured on his TV show up close. however, from "viewing" the progress of the cars in the various shows, it "appeared" to me that the restoration work was done very well. there are lots of times in the TV show where the cameraman is under the cars showing the final assembly of all the component parts. the parts always "look" pretty nice. and there are lots of shots in the varioius assembly areas that show the same detailed work. finally, when the cars are completed, they look very nice.
but there is one other thing that gives me "confidence" that worman is restoring these cars to "some" level of competence - he is still in business and the TV show is now in the sixth (i believe) season. if worman was a complete "hack" and did as poor of a job on these cars as you suggest, i'm sure the resulting numerous lawsuits would have put him out of business by now - at least the TV show would have been cancelled.
i live in Pittsburgh, Pa. i've never heard of any of the shops you've mentioned above. i do have 4 barracudas and have considered having one of them professionally done. i would be interested in knowing where the shops are that you mentioned. i might want to contact them for an estimate. maybe you live in an area of the country where there are a lot of competent resto-shops. there are a number of very good "body shops" around Pittsburgh, but no shops specializing in "restoring old mopars" that i have ever heard of.
as to the "Q5 Hemi Road Runner" what "careless and uneducated mistakes" were made on that car? if you know, please share. Worman certainly seems to have a lot of knowledge about old mopar muscle cars. and i know tony diagostini (Tony's mopar parts) knows a lot about mopars. it would seem strange if there were a number of "juvenile" mistakes made on any of the cars worman works on.
And totally understood.
The mistakes are not juvenile. He is not a total hack. Not a even a partial hack. But you made the statement Worman appeared to be the best in the country. There's are a BIG gap between juvenile mistakes and #1 in the U.S. for concours level resto.
The mistakes are upper level concours type mistakes. But some are sort of basic for those restoring Hemi cars. The steering pulley did not line up. Hemi cars have a thicker crank balancer so many of the pulleys are special to them. So the pulley was not pressed on all the way to make up for the difference. That can lead to mechanical failure and it's just a uneducated short cut.
It also had the wrong brand tires. Wrong master cyl. I'm not going to bash this owners car. IT IS VERY NICE. But the owner expected more.
Tony D is not there restoring those cars day to day. Pretty hard to train someone to be #1 in a profession over emails and phone calls.
Careful with "experts". Experts who rebuild top level concourse wiper motors or concours hood latches or concours gauges often are not top level at
restoring a whole car. Parts experts are parts experts. It takes more than one specialty to do a whole car to a top level. It's a lot of utilizing and executing the right and appropriate specialized resources.
I think you need to go to a Carlisle or Nationals in your area and look at the cars that show being judged for top flite categories. Honestly more of those will be B and E bodies. Not to say there are not A-bodies restored to that level, but just fewer and harder to seek out. Get out and talk with the owners face to face. And do back research too. Many owners will claim to have had a car restored at a shop, only to actually find out they did part of the work or just minor things.
Kohr's Kustoms and Totally Auto (forgot to mention) are in PA.
PLEASE remember this is T.V.... Does the show state it is a 100% Documentary?
I live in LA. I know people who work on reality TV shows. Things are not what they appear....Storage Wars. Fake. A friend was asked to be an expert consultant on that show for a Nascar pit crew air gun. The air gun was HIS. They paid him to use the PROP in the storage locker AND to speak on the show. AND HE GOT HIS AIR GUN BACK.