I am not generally one to fall prey to watching a reality television show. I just don’t like them. The drama is often contrived and the the flow of time is manipulated to create artificial stress. Not to mention the casts are generally an insufferable motley crew that make you want to throw things at the screen. Lately I’ve been on a tear of reviewing “motorsports related” programming that is available on streaming services and I stopped for a moment to watch the trailer for Netflix’s premiere season of “Car Masters: Rust to Riches.”
What really hooked me was the opening of Season 1 where the premise of the show is clearly explained. The idea is to mimic the “red paper clip – trade up” many of us might remember from a few years ago. Whereby a young man wanted to see how far he could take “the barter system” and see if he could find a way to start with a simple object (a red paper clip) and continue to trade/barter until he ended up with a house.
**[editors note] Looking for Car Masters: Season-2 review?, click here.
Welcome to Gotham Garage!
The Temecula, California based Gotham Garage’s new business venture was quite similar, start with a $1000 vehicle and build something worth trading for another vehicle, build, repeat, until finally having a vehicle worth $100k+ dollars – or what they refer to as “the 6 figure pay day.” Gotham Garage and its owner Mark Towle are no strangers to building custom cars and there are even other shows about their work. The show follows the journey of the Gotham Garage team for the better part of a year. They are a small crew: Mark (owner, lead designer), Shawn (the wheeler-dealer), Tony (the machinist), Caveman (the mechanic) and Constance (the engine builder).
From the first car they build – a 1964 Ford Thunderbird “rocket car” (above) to the last – an authentic 1955 Lincoln Futura replica (below); the show keeps you engaged the whole time. Some builds are split up across multiple episodes leaving you with a tinge of “cliffhanger” moments, but not really… let’s face it, I’m binge-ing this so it’s easy to plow through a few 30 minute episodes. It’s definitely not “couples cuddling time” programming, but my wife was able to watch with me and found the build process interesting and the results of the work impressive. From a “non-car-person” perspective, I think that speaks volumes.
Overall “Car Masters: Rust to Riches” doesn’t have the typical drama of a reality program but more of a documentary format with moments reminiscent of “the Office” and its breakaway monologues. The result is a lot of long hours dutifully recorded and compressed for the audience. Whatever was left on the cutting room floor during production doesn’t seem to matter, it probably would have taken away from the builds. The candid and simple nature of the format showcases some really creative, innovative and unique design and engineering work. For me, some of the work that Tony and Caveman were able to accomplish was incredible, and made me want to continue watching to see how they might tackle the next issue or set of requirements. I was pleased to see that the team gets along well personally and work together flawlessly, which made the viewing experience even better compared to other shows in this genre.
Splittin’ Image
Aside from the Futura (which you might also recognize as the 1960’s Batmobile), I would say the second most complicated build the team took on was a scale replica of the famed 1968 Hot-wheels “Splittin’-Image” toy (pictured above). I actually had one of these – in dark blue – as a “hand me down” so I was intrigued to see how they might scale up the toy. The team based their replica on top of a ’87 Corvette (C4) which by calculations had the same scaled-up wheelbase as the toy and nailed all the aspects and details of this concept car. It was even painted to match the rare hot-wheels magenta color as pictured above. In a more recent image of the vehicle (below), it looks as though it as has been repainted by the owner, along with the addition of some C6 wheels.
There are definitely some other really cool builds and projects in the show, but I don’t want to spoil the series for you. Moreover, since I’m not a TV or movie critic, I won’t be giving “Car Masters: Rust to Riches” an official view-o-meter percentage of pleasure-ability score. As a motorhead, I’ll leave you with this: The 8-episode run was worth the watch and I am looking forward to a Season 2 – if Netflix and Gotham Garage decide to continue on. Until then, be sure to check out…
