Fantom Works

I know several here do not like the work they do. I do still watch the re-runs sometimes, especially the few with Mopars.

I watched (probably about the fifth time) the one with the '69 Super Bee 440 six pak A12 car belonging to a paraplegic. Dang that car is badazz and looked really nice when it came out of their shop. Spring relocation kit so nice wide meats in back, lots of tuning and got that car looking and running so good. I would love to have that car. The owner is really cool in the show, and you can tell he truly loves his car and going fast!

I liked that show back when it was on regularly. They show a lot of the hack work that goes on out there so it makes you feel for the owners who have been taken advantage of.

I also like the fact that they take the cars out for a test drive and make sure the mechanicals work properly so people get back a car that functions like it's supposed to.

One thing he does when he takes cars for drive kind of bugs me; does he have to flat spot the tires every time with a panic braking before he ever even checks the brakes? Check them, service whatever necessary, then try a panic stop.

The panic stops bug me too. You can better see how the brakes are doing by kind of ABSish stopping the car or getting it right to the point of locking the brakes. This way if you have one or two wheels locking and skidding then you fix those that are locking or the others that are not locking. But I sure did like the A12 bee restoration even with a few incorrect details like the Hemi and convertible only and not A12 torque boxes they added after they said they were "missing".

Right. That's how we were taught to brake prior to antilock systems

I did catch it when Bobby told Dan the Torque Boxes were "missing".

Like most of the shows, drama needs to go. Not a whole lot on this show. Sometimes he acts like the world is ending.

Like the A12 and the Fury? that was a 6pak as I recall.

Like most, it's tolerable for a bit.

Beginning to watch Roadworthy Rescues more and more. Is GYC on anymore?

I can’t stand that drama queen.

For all its faults, I miss FantomWorks.

Never liked the show too much hackery for me. What you get for what they charge seems crazy.

Always found the show too dramatic, with frequent historical errors and some misinformation, but some intriguing vehicles.
Really liked the building - I'm a sucker for old brick industrial structures.

The work seemed to be well done and a divers...but every time he came a crossed some POS workmanship/surprise element (which is typical in that industry) he acted as it were an insurmountable undertaking ...but that's the the business fortunately they always prevailed in the end I too was more intrigued by the building rather than the story line

Where was he located? I can only imagine what ‘800 hours’ cost. I liked the unpainted Studabaker truck.

I think the shop was in VA, maybe Roanoke area ? Seemed to be a fair amount of military clientele, usually Navy.

He is in Norfolk VA. I like the show but there is always the "surprise" issues that spring up. You really didn't know about this "big" issue before you quoted the job?? I like the stories behind the cars he does.

It was hilarious when he would add on costs to a job, Oh you will need a new fuel tank($2000) You also need new fuel lines($1000) and cant forget the fuel pump($1500). Ka ching, Ka ching, Ka ching. I wondered how the guys liked working in that old dungeon he called a shop?

Yeah, there is a bit of drama as you say but not the worst. He has these rehearsed conversations with his secretary and she can't help but grin through them.

I remember a 383 I thought, and a '70 Hurst 440 which was a pretty nice car. I think GYC is probably filming now and will return soon. I like Roadworthy Rescues also. I had to get use to Derek but he's okay now. I wish they wouldn't already be changing the premise of the show though.

I still wonder if some of the vehicles were not actually finished, but they filmed as if it were for deadlines

Filming isn't linear in time, especially for the car-building shows.
If you scan the backgrounds, you see cars from past episodes, future episodes, and in various stages of completion.
Sometimes, the subject vehicle can be seen in various stages as though the work has gone backwards.
Film time - meaning, cameras & crew & filming - is very expensive, so things are pretty much shot-gunned and edited later by topic/build/repair.
That explains how SOME of the drop-in cuts/edits can have inaccurate dialog or seem out of place - those are obviously shot at a different time.

Watch it once in a while. Seems like they prey on the quick turn around repairs for the big bucks.

Not sure what show you watched, but it wasn't fantomworks. Some of those projects they showcased took months, if not more than a year to finish.

How many times did Dan call the Fury a "triple deuce"? It was a 71 couldn't be.

Might not be factory, but that Fury had three 2bbl's,

There's a lot of weird stuff on that '71 Sport Fury, all of which the owner insists is original, including the 6bbl setup and the '69 fender badges on the C-pillars. FWIW, it is an original GY3 Curious Yellow car; the code is on the fender tag. It's an original 383 car.
He also owns the 300 Hurst that was done on the show, and the custom Cadillac hearse as well.

Yeah, that Fury was an oddball, someone messed with it for sure. Not sure if the owner was the original owner or not, but if not someone sold him an interesting car.

As far as zero dramatics, Chasing Classic Cars is the best. Only thing for me is that Wayne is interested in stuff that doesn't really do it for me although still interesting cars. I enjoy watching him every once in awhile. He sure likes his Concourse de elegance stuff lol.

I like that show but feel the same way about some of the cars. Still interesting. I also like Wheeler Dealers (liked it better with Edd/Ant, but Elvis is good), and I like Dennis Collins' Coffee Walks. I can do without his BFF though.

Yea…Wayne Carini…apparently he is very well known and respected in the vintage European automotive world. Hell of a lot of charitable work too (he has a disabled kid). He’s for real. Don’t know how he got his money. I think I’ll Google that.

Edit…his father owned a collision repair shop that he grew up in and inherited. It’s obviously done very well.

Yes I miss Edd too. I liked when they were in America better but I still watch.

When I got YoutubeTV, on Roku the Motor Trend channel is free, so I binged on Wheeler Dealer (a favorite), Chasing Classic Cars (yup good one), the Automotive Guild (really nice stuff and Dave is goofy enough to enjoy), Watching the Guild construct a Ferrari 250GT from scratch, or a Bugatti from scratch is mesmerizing. Wonderful to see true meatcraft. Bitchin Rides, nice builds, great looks, contrived drama that is a bit more obvious, but funny, and Dave Kindig is easy to like. Graveyard Carz gets old after a while but Mark Worman at least drives deep details on Mopars. Full Custom Garage, a one man show, is interesting at least to see how he creates some of his ideas. Same for Bad Chad, can be interesting at times just to see how he develops a build, but have to wonder about the details underneath it all. Bulldog and Leppo had to be the worst, that people would actually buy the "skinned customs" derived from salvage yard cut ups baffled me. But a lot of the rest are way to contrived and scripted. Certainly they all are scripted, as is obvious everytime it seems these automotive "experts" go to start a new build or a rebuild and "surprise", no one set the timing before they cranked it over. Gotta set some flames shooting out the intake for drama?

I like Wheeler Dealer (bring back Ed China) because they worked on cars, even the odd Brit or Italian cars, that seemed more like the work you or I would do. They strived to stick to a budget and reasonable parts sourcing, and the profits they made from resales were more realistic. And I could actually learn a few things from Ed as the rebuild progressed. But shows like Counting Cars, way too contrived, like all the motorcycle build shows that can only create expensive, dumb-ass useless butt jewelry that never really gets ridden. I would like to see a Bitchin Rides car up close to really take in the fine details of a truly custom, expert build. To me its the underside, the details under the sheet metal that define a true, well sorted, driveable custom.

I watch Restoration Garage sometimes too despite the co-owner Larry who I find very annoying. I'm with you; building that Ferrari from scratch was incredible. True craftsmanship. I mostly enjoy the everyday muscle cars that come in for maintenance and upgrades.

He seems like a very private guy which is good. I've heard him mention his wife MAYBE twice and I'm sure his daughter appeared in that episode for charitable reasons or he would not have had her on. Seems like a good down to Earth guy.

And then he gets all crabby when the customer balks. This killed that show for me.

Roadworthy Rescues started off good. The last 2 episodes have it sitting on a motorcycle staring at a ramp over a tank of sharks...if you catch the reference. He went from dragging a Mustang out of a field and fixing it (mostly) on-site to dumping thousands of dollars worth of adapters and a Porsche 6 speed into a DeLorean. I wonder if O Reilly Auto Parts sponsored that episode (rhetorical question). If they wanted that wagon from SD to ride like a mini truck in the '90s they could've done it without all the fancy new suspension parts.

All the shows that started off as "get old car running and drive it home" have rolled over into "push it into the shop and throw expensive parts at it".
Freiburger, Dulcich, Bieri, Fred Williams, Dave Chapelle..they all seem like pretty good fellas but I'm thinking the higher ups are pushing the shows in a direction that is not what made them popular to begin with.

^^^Agree.

The show has gone from 'make it drivable after sitting 30 years' to 'let's throw tons of $ at this pre-dug-out car'. Disappointing.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Stacey David.
I always liked watching "gearz" except for the amount of real content vs the amount of time spent away from the show, gone to commercial. Most of these shows ( not just this one) could be watched on 15 min with commercials deleted.
I also like " my classic car".

I've seen Stacy mentioned here before. He's good too. Yes a lot of commercials and he has to many non-car side projects for my taste but I still watch sometimes.

My Classic Car has been a good one for years.

Like Coldwarmotors out of Alberta. Old Mopars, French cars, MK1 Lincolns and guys having fun with old stuff. For rust repair, Fitzees Fabrications make
you rethink the way to do things, If you can get past the Newfie accent!