Is it me or is Wheeler Dealers a waste of time

Egginacup · 18-04-2015 7:10pm #1

I just watched an episode of Wheeler Dealers where this annoying clown buys vintage cars in need of work. His very skilled mechanic restores them and then they sell them.

In this episode he went to Turin, Italy and purchased a 1971 Fiat 500, those tiny little city runarounds. He paid 2300 pound sterling for it and then drove it back to England. The thing broke down half way home and his assistant had to drive out with a trailer to bring it the rest of the way.
The interior was perfect but the thing needed a paint job so had to be stripped down to the chassis and sprayed in a specialised chamber and "baked" overnight. It also needed a new engine which cost 1400 pounds.

So with the original price, transport costs, spare parts, new engine and 300 quid paint job the cost came to 5,700 pounds sterling. They managed to sell it for 6500.

That's a profit of a crappy 800 quid for days of hard graft between a few blokes. Is this a total waste of time?

I can't see the point.

Banjo String · 18-04-2015 7:14pm

If they're doing that as a hobby, as opposed to professionally, getting £800 isn't bad!

I like walking my dog, and like travelling.

Be great if someone threw me the odd £800 just for partaking in my two fave pastimes.

groucho marx · 18-04-2015 7:18pm

Blasphemy ed and mike are brilliant!!

Geniass · 18-04-2015 7:18pm

They don't count labour, so it's a bit of a nonsense really to use the word profit.

But if you do it yourself it's a labour of love, but there's still the opportunity cost.

corner of hells · 18-04-2015 7:19pm

I like walking my dog too.

artanevilla · 18-04-2015 7:19pm

It would only be a waste of time if nobody watched it or it wasn't entertaining.

cml387 · 18-04-2015 7:19pm

It's a television program.
It bears little as little resemblance to reality as the Haynes manual.

And did you notice the O'Connell St/Sraid Ui Conaill signpost at the back of the garage?

LDN_Irish · 18-04-2015 7:22pm

You're just desensitised by hearing "Oh my god! 5 garbage can lids! At 20 bucks a piece that's 100 dollars right there Sean!"

kneemos · 18-04-2015 7:23pm

Like that show in fairness.
At least there's no annoying back story where the car is being restored for a victim of one illness or another,with snots and tears at the end of it.

18-04-2015 7:24pm

Egginacup wrote: »

I can't see the point.

The point is to make an interesting and entertaining TV show. Mostly, it does this.

Junkyard Tom · 18-04-2015 7:27pm

Did you see that ludicrous display last night?

Guy:Incognito · 18-04-2015 7:27pm

Geniass wrote: »

They don't count labour, so it's a bit of a nonsense really to use the word profit.

But if you do it yourself it's a labour of love, but there's still the opportunity cost.

The whole point of the show is its a DIY exercise. Nonsense would be including labour because that wouldnt be you restoring a car, thats you paying a garage to restore a car

Geniass · 18-04-2015 7:28pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

The whole point of the show is its a DIY exercise. Nonsense would be including labour because that wouldnt be you restoring a car, thats you paying a garage to restore a car

Then don't use the word profit.

Guy:Incognito · 18-04-2015 7:28pm

Junkyard Cat wrote: »

Did you see that ludicrous display last night?

Ludicrous display of?

TrustedApple · 18-04-2015 7:30pm

Love watching Wheeler Dealers as you can find out quite a bit about some of the old cars and what problems they might have.

Yes they don't add in the cost of labour but anyone buying one of them cars after being restored by Ed are a extremely lucky person as the car would have been fixed to a tee with endless hours of labour put into it.

But with Wheeler Dealers you know what your getting its a show about resorting cars notting else and thats whats good about it.

Guy:Incognito · 18-04-2015 7:31pm

Geniass wrote: »

Then don't use the word profit.

Why? It is profit.
Your own labour is free.

If you buy a car for €100 and sell it the next day for €200 is that €100 profit?
If you spend 4 hours valeting and polishing it and get €300 instead, is that not €200 profit?

jayo26 · 18-04-2015 7:31pm

Its a pretty good show have watched it for years as with any tv show you dont take it as fact and it is from the point of view as a diy show and not as a business model to follow.

Junkyard Tom · 18-04-2015 7:31pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Ludicrous display of?

The thing about Arsenal is they always try to walk it in.

Geniass · 18-04-2015 7:32pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Why? It is profit.
Your own labour is free.

It's a saving, not a profit. He could be fixing other cars and make money, hence opportunity cost.

Firefox11 · 18-04-2015 7:35pm

groucho marx wrote: »

Blasphemy ed and mike are brilliant!!

Agree. Love watching the programme even though i'm not much into cars. They were on the saturday night show last week. They have 150 million viewers worldwide! Even the the....er....Taliban!

Guy:Incognito · 18-04-2015 7:35pm

Geniass wrote: »

It's a saving, not a profit. He could be fixing other cars and make money, hence opportunity cost.

Why did you leave out the 2nd part?

The point is not to give up your job and do what they are doing full time, its to do it in your spare time. Weekends and evenings.

Geniass · 18-04-2015 7:37pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Why did you leave out the 2nd part?

The point is not to give up your job and do what they are doing full time, its to do it in your spare time. Weekends and evenings.

Isn't Sean Ed a full time mechanic?

Mike buys the car and always goes lovely jubbly at the end with his €500 profit. Do you know many Sean's Ed's that work for free?

In fact he's not working for free the TV company pay him. Sorry, had to be said. But, the Easter bunny is real, okay?

Firefox11 · 18-04-2015 7:39pm

kneemos wrote: »

Like that show in fairness.
At least there's no annoying back story where the car is being restored for a victim of one illness or another,with snots and tears at the end of it.

Yeah I don't like the American shows. everything is exaggerated and hyped up as usual and overpimped.

Dubwat · 18-04-2015 7:41pm

I liked the programme in the beginning when they kept to cars sourced in Britain. Then, you could at least dream that someday you'd buy an old porsche or Merc and do it up. You could pretend it was educational and not wasting time watching TV, lol.

When they started going to America and continental Europe for their cars, I lost interest.

Egginacup · 18-04-2015 7:48pm

Firefox11 wrote: »

Agree. Love watching the programme even though i'm not much into cars. They were on the saturday night show last week. They have 150 million viewers worldwide! Even the the....er....Taliban!

The Taliban actually know a thing or two about automotive excellence. That's why they cruise around, 8 of them, with their Kalashnikovs in those Toyota pickups.....the ones that clarkson and his gang couldn't destroy.

Guy:Incognito · 18-04-2015 7:49pm

Geniass wrote: »

Isn't Sean Ed a full time mechanic?

Mike buys the car and always goes lovely jubbly at the end with his €500 profit. Do you know many Sean's Ed's that work for free?

In fact he's not working for free the TV company pay him. Sorry, had to be said. But, the Easter bunny is real, okay?

I cant believe you're finding this so hard.

The show in itself is a show. Forget that as a full time entity. Its showing you that you can buy a car for €5000 that needs to be fixed up with €2000 worth of parts that can then be sold on for €10000. You put those parts on yourself in your spare time and thats €3000 profit.

If Mike and Edd ran a corner shop 5 days a week , would it suddenly be more valid?

Ill go back and use the same analogy you deliberately left out above:

If you buy a car for €100 and sell it the next day for €200 is that €100 profit?
If you spend 4 hours valeting and polishing it and get €300 instead, is that not €200 profit?

Now, if your day job happens to be as a valetor, does that mean you haven't made €200 profit?

Geniass · 18-04-2015 7:50pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

If you buy a car for €100 and sell it the next day for €200 is that €100 profit?
If you spend 4 hours valeting and polishing it and get €300 instead, is that not €200 profit?

Now, if your day job happens to be as a valetor, does that mean you haven't made €200 profit?

Yes, if you do it all yourself... do you actually watch the show?

Guy:Incognito · 18-04-2015 7:54pm

Geniass wrote: »

Yes, if you do it all yourself... do you actually watch the show?

Yes, hes does the labour himself. Stuff he cant do is farmed out and is accounted for as cost.

If a car gets resprayed in a garage he doesnt just count the cost of the paint, he counts the cost of the job.

Geniass · 18-04-2015 7:57pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Yes, hes does the labour himself. Stuff he cant do is farmed out and is accounted for as cost.

If a car gets resprayed in a garage he doesnt just count the cost of the paint, he counts the cost of the job.

I'm talking about this show...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheeler_Dealers

Where Ed does hundreds of pounds of work for "free" for the purposes of the show.

This is highly unlikely to happen in real life.

It's a show, I get that, but the term profit at the end is disingenuous.

kneemos · 18-04-2015 7:57pm

We should have an argument forum where people can argue about nothing in particular.

Geniass · 18-04-2015 7:59pm

kneemos wrote: »

We should have an argument forum where people can argue about nothing in particular.

I think it's called boards.ie, must check up Wiki to be sure though.

dmc17 · 18-04-2015 8:00pm

It's a TV show! It's entertainment! If every show were to be 100% factual, they'd all be a waste of time. Most shows don't sell anything for any profit. Are they a waste of time?

Junkyard Tom · 18-04-2015 8:00pm

kneemos wrote: »

We should have an argument forum where people can argue about nothing in particular.

No we shouldn't.

evolving_doors · 18-04-2015 8:03pm

kneemos wrote: »

We should have an argument forum where people can argue about nothing in particular.

No we shouldn't.

Anyhow, I can just about change a tyre so in man terms it means I'm qualified to tune in turn off and drop out for an hour.. with beer.

Its not like therell be an exam at the end of the show.

Geniass · 18-04-2015 8:05pm

Gebgbegb wrote: »

No we shouldn't.

Anyhow, I can just about change a tyre so in man terms it means I'm qualified to tune in turn off and drop out for an hour.. with beer.

Its not like therell be an exam at the end of the show.

I'm guessing it took you longer than 3 minutes to post that :P

Guy:Incognito · 18-04-2015 8:05pm

Geniass wrote: »

I'm talking about this show...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheeler_Dealers

Where Ed does hundreds of pounds of work for "free" for the purposes of the show.

This is highly unlikely to happen in real life.

It's a show, I get that, but the term profit at the end is disingenuous.

Jesus, you're really struggling with this. The show is there to make money as a tv show (in that regard the content is irrelevant so we can separate the show and the work)show you what you can do yourself. Do you really think you'd benefit from being spoon fed? "Well if Edd charged us his hourly rate we'd only make €5 profit, but seeing as thats not the point of the ****ign show, we'll show you the profit you'd make if you did this yourself"

The show your looking for is the Garage or something similar where its a working business and shows customers getting jobs done and getting charged for it.

Geniass · 18-04-2015 8:07pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Jesus, you're really struggling with this. The show is there to make money an show you what you can do yourself. Do you really think you'd benefit from being spoon fed? "Well if Edd charged us his hourly rate we'd only make €5 profit, but seeing as thats not the point of the ****ign show, we'll show you the profit you'd make if you did this yourself"

Calm down, you'd swear you were producing the show.

But, you're still wrong...

Geniass · 18-04-2015 8:08pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

The show your looking for is the Garage or something similar where its a working business and shows customers getting jobs done and getting charged for it.

I like the show, I just dislike that bit.

Guy:Incognito · 18-04-2015 8:08pm

Geniass wrote: »

But, you're still wrong...

No, no im not. You're missing the whole point of it.

As a tv show it may as well be a cooking show. That is separate to showing how you can make a few quid doing up cars

Geniass · 18-04-2015 8:09pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

No, no im not. You're missing the whole point of it.

Okay then.

Guy:Incognito · 18-04-2015 8:12pm

Geniass wrote: »

I like the show, I just dislike that bit.

Make a show yourself so. Call yourself Tedd and stick a wig on. As long as you dont also work as a mechanic other days you can count anything you make as profit. If you do, well then ring revenue and send them a cheque for income tax, pay some PRSI and USC for the time you're working cos apparently a mechanic is like a Gard, never off duty.

Geniass · 18-04-2015 8:13pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Make a show yourself so.

I've already worked on a TV show.

Guy:Incognito · 18-04-2015 8:15pm

Geniass wrote: »

I've already worked on a TV show.

Thats great.

Did you add labour?

Geniass · 18-04-2015 8:16pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Did you add labour?

Are you just randomly tapping keys on your keyboard? You're not making any sense.

Kenny Logins · 18-04-2015 8:19pm

Geniass wrote: »

I've already worked on a TV show.

Was it Top Gear? :pac:

sonofenoch · 18-04-2015 8:20pm

Like the show but always bugs me they end up with about 500 quid profit after all the work done.........and the recent episode in the States, lets have some vintage American muscle car not some poxy little BMW :cool:

SEPT 23 1989 · 18-04-2015 8:21pm

Ed China works for free

Geniass · 18-04-2015 8:22pm

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Was it Top Gear? :pac:

Well, I'm glad I'm not in punching distance of Guy, if that's what you mean.

sonofenoch wrote: »

Like the show but always bugs me they end up with about 500 quid profit after all the work done

You just don't get it

Geniass · 18-04-2015 8:24pm

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Ed China works for free

Really, the TV company doesn't pay him anything?

Of course he gets paid. Of course your garage buddy isn't going to go on a bus man's holiday and work on your car for free.

Guy:Incognito · 18-04-2015 8:26pm

Geniass wrote: »

Of course he gets paid. Of course you're garage buddy isn't going to go on a bus man's holiday and work on your car.

That wouldn't be a diy restoration if your getting , and paying someone to restore the car. Thats just being a car salesman.

Its a simple premise that you making hugely complicated ny seemingly being incapable of separating it being a tv show from the message its delivering.

Geniass · 18-04-2015 8:27pm

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

That wouldn't be a diy restoration if your getting , and paying someone to restore the car. Thats just being a car salesman.

Its a simple premise that you making hugely complicated ny seemingly being incapable of separating it being a tv show from the message its delivering.

If Ed was doing the whole thing then yeah. But, it's Mike at the end of the show going, whoopee, profit. :rolleyes:

I don't understand how you don't get that.

Is it me or is Wheeler Dealers a waste of time

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