Unrealistic Car Programmes

ejmaztec

I've seen several of those "Wheeler Dealer" programmes on the digital channels. It seems crazy! Mike Brewer goes off and buys some old nail for a few hundred quid and takes it off to Ed China's workshop for a bit of restoration. At the outset, it is decided that they're going to sell it for a couple of thousand, or whatever. At the end of the programme, they add up the cost of the materials, which usually totals a couple of hundred short of the expected selling price. The car is sold, again, usually for less than the target, for a profit of about a hundred. Mike Brewer then pats himself and Ed China on the back, telling the viewer what a wonderful deal they just had.

Not one of these programmes ever takes into account the God knows how many hours labour costs of the job, or any other incidentals. If this were reality, the pair of them would die of malnutrition within a week.

Masada

whole point is though, their showing you the deals that can be had if you dont mind doing some work yourself., Ive bought cars that were pieces of cr*p and after a bit of work they were perfect., i may have spent some time on them but i dont have to pay myself.,:)

mike65

Brewers programmes are low rent "education" and a bit of fun, if you want rather more depth on resortation and mechancial technique the "XXXX is Born" series by Mark Evans is much better as its about 8 hours per project.

Mike.

Masada

yeah i love that series., he makes some really nice stuff and goes into detail about what hes doing.,
the best has to be "chop shop" though., ., kidding.,

Rory123

well I often think about this myself.
Thing is that it can be a hobby in itself even if the profits are minimal.
In July 06 I bought a '76 beetle for €4300.
Spent hundreds of hours tidying it up and spent €1000.
Put it on the road in September and drove it til December 06 and then sold it for €5600.

I was only €300 in the green, I had great craic driving it for a few months and even better craic wire-brushing floor pans at 3am! But above all else I learned so much in fixing it up myself. I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the experience and would recommend it to anyone. I also like the thought that I'll be keeping a good (in my opinion), classic (also in my opinion!) car on the road for another 10 or 15 years.

That's what Wheeler Dealers is about to me and I think Mike Brewer is just happy not to be in the red... He never intimates that he and Ed are going to become millionaires from the projects.

Masada

the one that gets on my nerves is "pimp my ride", there is no way in hell that those cars are actually in that condition before the show., its funny how many of them have loads of grey primered panels., the show do that just to make the car look worse imo., then tey spend 15grand on something that looks like they got it in a cereal box.,

Rory123

I agree with vtec... You can polish a dog ****e. They take a car thats probably bunched, do nothing to the mechanical end of it and make it as impractical as possible. From what I've seen of L.A., your car wouldn't last very long if it had tvs in the bumpers or diamonds on the feckin exhaust pipe!

eamon234

I think it's a great show although Edd China makes the mechanics bit look way too easy! Funny I caught a glimpse of his Brewer's old "Deals on Wheels" show a few nights ago he's lost a bit of weight since!

Just noticed the MGB GT they did is up for sale!

ejmaztec

There are hobbies (I'm glad it's dark now cause I can't see the 7 or 8 Opel/Vauxhall Novas/Corsas etc etc in our front garden where there used to be flower-beds) and then there's financial suicide.

I see that Ed China's has had his own website for some time, specialising in "vehicles" used for promos. The name of the website gives you a clue as to what he gets up to when he's really trying to earn a crust.:D


http://www.cummfybanana.com/cars/cars_homepage.htm

I don't know what Mike Brewer does, apart from sign on and live in the park.

BanzaiBk

ejmaztec wrote: »

I see that Ed China's has had his own website for some time, specialising in "vehicles" used for promos. The name of the website gives you a clue as to what he gets up to when he's really trying to earn a crust.:D


http://www.cummfybanana.com/cars/cars_homepage.htm

Haha, would you believe I met good ol' super mechanic Ed in Cork with one of his "business products" advertising for Vodafone. He was driving around in a sofa esque looking thing for hours. He nearly died of embarassment when I told him I'd been watching Wheeler Dealers the night before:D