American restorations!

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rapidtransitric

rapidtransitric

LX/LC platform a body swap pioneer
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has anyone watched this program on the history channel. man what a shop of cobblers. i'm sitting here watching this on a non hd tv and i can see heavy duty orange peel and bad bodywork in there finished products. and the prices they quote must be for tv viewing $4500 to restore a pepsi cooler,$6000 for a cash register really but then i;ve seen alot of hacks and butchers
 
Might want to see it in HD. They do great work. And horrifyingly enough, a lot of that stuff actually goes for prices like that. Some collectors have too much money.
 
rapidtransitric said:
has anyone watched this program on the history channel. man what a shop of cobblers. i'm sitting here watching this on a non hd tv and i can see heavy duty orange peel and bad bodywork in there finished products. and the prices they quote must be for tv viewing $4500 to restore a pepsi cooler,$6000 for a cash register really but then i;ve seen alot of hacks and butchers
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yup and rattle can paint on a stove too! , sort of reminds me of desert car kings with their $2000.00 backlight and special mopar starter. BUT some of the things they do are nice like the scooter they did, the candy machine bodywork was ok and the cash register.(uuuhhhh no wait they paid a guy to fix the register and sent all the parts out to get nickel plated) . So I guess it's "yuh takes your chances and pay top dollar anyway "
I do have to admit I like watching it for the kid's screwups and the lazy brother? he goes scavaging with.
 
It's only worth that much because it was on TV.

I often wonder how well these shops did before they were on TV. Like those pansies on OCC or the dingleberries on "American Pickers".

Those shows are so scripted (and poorly so at that), that I can't watch 'em.
 
I've watched it since it debuted and have wanted to start a thread to see what ya'll thought of his pricing so I'm glad you brought it up rapidtransit. Unless you've surfed my whole Gallery, you might not know I do some of that same type of restoration work here. Seeing what he quotes people, I've just had to wonder ... some seems appropriate considering his overhead, but on other stuff he's just off the map. Is $25/hour reasonable?
 
Well is the $65- $90 an hour charged by most commercial auto shops reasonable? I'm a tight wad and wont pay it. David
 
I'd like to see a little more detail of their restoration work. A guy brings in an old 1960's Honda motorcycle, they show a couple of clips of them tearing it apart, and then 20 minutes later it's perfectly restored?!?! WTH?!?!
 
I just want to go off subject abit. Did anybody see the Cajun Pawn Stars with the General Lee. They were talking about it like they were experts, even saying it was one from the show.(The car they were showing had black inteior, there were a few other blunders also) The chick who owned it wanted 75k for it. yeah right! It did have the cool Dixie horn though.
 
I think they do great work.
You gotta remember that it's a t.v. show. The prices, scripts, etc. are all embellished for t.v.
Hey, it got us talking about them right?
Honestly, i watch all of these kinds of shows to see the cool stuff, and don't worry about the craftsmanship involved too much.
Lousy shows with terrible craftsmanship?
American Hot Rod with Boyd Coddington and Desert Car Kings are the absolute worst for both.
Oh, and a lot of the stuff that they restore on American Restorations is meant to have the orange peel, flaws, etc. because that is what they looked like when they were manufactured. It's like our beloved cars when they were new, the factory flaws were apparent like dull paint in spots, overspray, drips, bad welding etc. and to win gold certification at the nats, these flaws need to be on the car to make it authentic.
It all depends on the look you are going for, be it 100% authentic restoration, or over restored like most of us like to see.
Give 'em a break, would you rather watch ''dancing with the stars''?
Then change the channel.
Simple.
 
I think they do great work and the show is cool, sometimes I say "yea right" but for the most part it's a neat show. The prices are pretty high, especially the one where they sell a restored baby stroller from the 40's for $1500!

A little off the subject but have you noticed how American Pickers, Pawn Stars, and American Restoration are all linked together in a way? I know they are all on the same network....but have you seen on Pawn Stars where a guy brings in a US civil war belt buckle with a bullet lodged in it? Turns out to be a fake. Then, on an episode of American Pickers they find a place where the guy has the same exact belt buckle and they pay big bucks for it?? I love all 3 of these shows but this upsets me, I am starting to wonder how much is even real anymore???
 
The mechanical aspect of the show is good and the finished product looks good but you can't really tell unless you were there in person. As far as pricing, right now retro is big and its bringing a good price finished or unfinished and with shows like this its making people more aware of what they have in their back yard kinda like Barrett Jackson. If their not careful they'll price themselves out of work.
 
The well to do people or those with semimetal feelings take things there to be done. California rent is high and you have to figure in all the costs on a completed project to give a cost. There are more stranded costs that the normal viewer has no clue of that has to be added in. I think the work is pretty nice watching on a HD TV and I sure couldn't do it. I wasn't real impressed with the rattle can spray paint. Why wouldn't a company like that have a back up air compressor even if it was too small to run everything at once?
 
well. all that money he appears to slam's his customers for. and the he cries about the $2500.oo truck his kid wants. pickers, pawn stars and rick's restorations, yeah they're all from vegas. "CUDACHICK" $25.00 an hour how do you pay your overhead? out here, blasters charge $48.00 an hour and multiply the price of each bag of sand times four
 
I watch all of these shows and have watched the others mentioned as entertainment only, i do not care if they are butchers/hacks/over priced ect. i don't plan on ever having them do anything for me. But what they have done for us thanks to american hot rod,overhaulin,desert classics,televised auctions ect. the days of cheap classics in barns is all but gone,on the good side of the coin those of us who do restorations for less than the show guys charge will possibly get more busness.
 
rapidtransitric said:
well. all that money he appears to slam's his customers for. and the he cries about the $2500.oo truck his kid wants. pickers, pawn stars and rick's restorations, yeah they're all from vegas. "CUDACHICK" $25.00 an hour how do you pay your overhead? out here, blasters charge $48.00 an hour and multiply the price of each bag of sand times four
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Oh no, not me! I think Rick charges $25/hour from what I can make out on his vocal estimates. I've been a flat-rater since the outset. :-D
 
Since the subject of these shows is pretty close to what some of us actually do, either as a job, as a business, as a side line or as a hobby.....any press is good press, right.

OTOH, one of my friends told me this evening why he doesn't like "American Pickers"=
A guy drives up in an $80,000 Mercedes van and then (I quote) "Jews" another guy out of 5 dollars buying an old clock.
 
I like American Pickers, but I wonder how many places those TV cameras get them into that a normal "picker" couldn't. Show up at someone's door with TV cameras and tell them that you're with the History Channel and would like to give them money for their old junk. Cha ching!!! Come on in!!!
 
YY1 said:
Since the subject of these shows is pretty close to what some of us actually do, either as a job, as a business, as a side line or as a hobby.....any press is good press, right.

OTOH, one of my friends told me this evening why he doesn't like "American Pickers"=
A guy drives up in an $80,000 Mercedes van and then (I quote) "Jews" another guy out of 5 dollars buying an old clock.
Click to expand...

thats the thing make you feel bad and insult you for owning it and hopefully make you so ashamed for owning it you want to give it away:wack:
 
Well, a friend of mine was on the "American Pickers" show and I can tell you that it's all very scripted. He was the guy with the Lindburgh jacket and the Oldsmobile license plate.

First of all, they were there for more than 8 hours, setting up shots just right and staging everything. Then they would see another shot or angle and scrap the entire shot and reset with another. No one was allowed on the property while they were there, and even his wife was left out of the episode, not that she minded!! In the end, it's all entertainment and very little of it is real "picking", as they like to put it. This "pick" was set up month's in advance, not exactly how they put it out there on TV!!!

And worst of all...... no Danielle!!! Geof
 
I like the shows too, for educational purposes. I love old things and like learning about all the old stuff that comes into get restored - or get sold at the pawn shop. I find it funny that no one ever trys to negiotiate Rick down on his estimates - or say no and walk away .... Just like I find it "questionable" when the pickers buy some old junk bike frame for $200 and claim it is worth $500.... I'd like to see what some of that junk really sells for..
 
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