Has anyone caught the Ant Anstead Master Mechanic series on Motor Trend channel? It is on Wednesday at 8:00 pm central. I've watched the first 4 episodes and think it's a lot better then most car building shows now on TV. So far no staged drama and staged time limits and all the rest of the bs found on Most of the other car building shows. He is building a "special" based on a MG TD chassis with Alfa engine trans and rear end to resemble a 1930's Grand Prix car.
I think I like it even better having seen the finished product first. I can't believe he built this from scratch:
I watched it as well; it's a very low key approach, I found it interesting.
Is the show different from wheelers dealers?
I watched it as the episodes came out on the MT on-demand platform a couple months ago. Much better than most of the contrived nonsense out there.
I watched the series on Youtube around new years (since been removed) and found it quite interesting. I wasn't too keen on how he welded the extra tubing around the chassis, it looked like he didn't cope/fishmouth the tubes and just filled the gap with weld. But other than that, it got me looking for a spare TD chassis.
mr2s2000elise said:Is the show different from wheelers dealers?
Yup, this is a one-off "between seasons of Wheeler Dealers" series of short episodes documenting Ant building an Alfa Romeo-inspired grand prix sports coupe from scratch.
It is an enjoyable series. I remember that there were details I wanted to know more about that were kind of glossed over, but that's TV for you. He seems like a fella I'd enjoy a conversation with.
My wife follows his wife on social media along with the HGTV shows she does.
My wife will watch Ant's show with me and likes him better than Edd China or Stacy David. She always complains about Stacy David's hair - shoot - it's what we wore in high school in the 70's.
She also won't watch HR Garage and doesn't find Lucky Costa's humor that funny but I think he's a riot.
nderwater said:mr2s2000elise said:Is the show different from wheelers dealers?
Yup, this is a one-off "between seasons of Wheeler Dealers" series of short episodes documenting Ant building an Alfa Romeo-inspired grand prix sports coupe from scratch.
AH OK. Thanks. That makes sense now.
He's kinda tolerable. Far from what I would call a "master mechanic", but that's my opinion. He is a decent parts replacer tho.
One of the better car shows, but every episode there are some things a master mechanic would not do. But overall very good, and enjoyable to watch.
I will have to give it a watch. I get complimentary Motortrend TV via Haggery, but other than Roadkill and Hot Rod Garage, the rest of the offerings are just the old "Time is running out, money is tight and tempers are flaring" shows that migrated from Discovery channel. Ass Monkey Garage sucked then and still sucks on the new venue.
I watched it the first time yesterday. It is entertaining, but I'm not sure about the "Master Mechanic" part of the story when I saw him using a crowbar to get the engine out of the Alfa Romeo Spyder chassis! ;-)
I've seen him do some fairly impressive stuff on WD, so I think he's a pretty good wrench overall.
Datsun310Guy said:My wife also won't watch HR Garage and doesn't find Lucky Costa's humor that funny but I think he's a riot.
Lucky is my spirit animal.
I like watching Lucky. I met him on Power Tour last year and he seemed like he was a really nice guy as well.
djsilver (Forum Supporter) said:I watched it the first time yesterday. It is entertaining, but I'm not sure about the "Master Mechanic" part of the story when I saw him using a crowbar to get the engine out of the Alfa Romeo Spyder chassis! ;-)
Funny it's called "master mechanic." In another series, he says he doesn't have any formal mechanic training...he just started modifying cars and eventually made a career out of it. I think his approach is a good mix of education/instruction & "good enough for the purpose." There are a handful of things I would have thought a master mechanic would have done differently, but also many clever approaches to problem-solving.
I bought a year's worth of commercial-free MT On Demand ($2/month) this winter and I've been pretty happy. Unfortunately, MT stopped supporting Xbox360 last month and I don't have another way to stream it on my TV.
The finished product looks very cool, this'll be a good one to watch. I was saying to my dad the other day that its a shame that there arent any prorams that show real fabrication or race car prep, as opposed to the "show car artificial deadline" kind of thing. He looked at me like I was crazy and said: "Who the hell would watch people like us trying to change out a bushing, or making the 23rd adjustment to a cardboard patch mockup?" Gotta admit, he has a point, seems like a pretty small potential audience...
My litmus for a good car wrench show is the relationship between the hosts. If they remind me of the people I like to hang out with I am happy. The group of Lucky, David, Mike, Steve, and Tony is a group I’d enjoy. No dumb conflict. Lots of dumb fun. And some dumb luck. . . .
ManhattanM (fka NY535iManual) said:"Who the hell would watch people like us trying to change out a bushing, or making the 23rd adjustment to a cardboard patch mockup?" Gotta admit, he has a point, seems like a pretty small potential audience...
That sounds like everyone that tunes in to watch Project Binky.
wawazat said:I like watching Lucky. I met him on Power Tour last year and he seemed like he was a really nice guy as well.
His personal YouTube channel with videos from his own shop is worth watching as well. I'm impressed with how many projects he can crank out on customer cars, working by himself.
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