American Car Shows on UTube

[MartinH]

Having recently been introduced to some American UTube car shows, Roadkill, Roadkill Garage, Vice Grip Garage, Junk Yard Digs, etc I am in danger of becoming hooked. A few observations

1, American 60s, 70s cars look to be very easy to work on with loads of space around everything in a direct contrast to our elans.

2, There seems to be a car parts shop/store in every town, O'Rielly's, who seem to stock everything fo the cars of that era. Or they can get it in hours

3, Cars don't seem to rust the way they do in northern europe. I appreciate a lot of the Roadkill stuff is in California but even cars in the North seem to be largely free of rust

4, It seems you can drive anything in any condition without hassle on American roads. Is there an equivelant of the Control technique, MOT, TUV, etc ??

In the main some of these shows are entertaining and interesting. I enjoy the prospect of someone trying to start and drive a car that has sat in a field for 20 years. I just can't imagine being able to do it in the damp climate of northern europe. Everything would be siezed, rotten and all the electrics would be corroded beyond repair.

Some of the events for these old cars look great where you race your car then have to drive several hundred miles in the car and race again for 4-5 consecutive days.

I could be tempted to find an old American car to spend time reviving but we don't have O'Rielly's over here.

Martin

[Fred Talmadge]

Rust is a problem in the USA, where ever they salt roads and at least on the west coast near the ocean, where it can also be very humid Pacific Northwest. Probably the same on the Atlantic and Gulf coast.

American cars are common here, (duh) unlike British cars and Lotus. Most are well supported, just not at places like OReileys

Also all the shows, skip a lot of the boring stuff, like ordering and waiting for parts. They probably get better service too for the publicity.

ps There was a show called "Fixing Bangers" or something like that. They worked on British cars which was interesting to me probably for the same reason the American car shows are. We also got some British episodes of Wheeler Dealers

[Bud English]

.. and as to the Control technique, MOT, TUV, etc., it depends on the state in which you live and places you travel. Some states have tight regulations and others not much at all. Kalifornia has recently started to stop and inspect out of state registered large trucks and RV's to make sure they comply with their regulations. That started recently and I'm not sure if it's been challenged in court yet, but I'm thinking it will be.

[h20hamelan]

BC Canada sees itself as a mini Kali
Rules are sort of crazy, but. Our nearest Province Alberta is like the wildest USA state. Guns and lawlessness abounds. Many people show up in triple trailers, and strange contraptions. Expecting the narrow single lane switchback mountain roads of hill billy BC will take it.

Most of USA BoobTube lacks international norm, like their large uninspiring vehicles.

My brother had a 1969 Nova SS, big block and was sort of cool. I might say a few, like any Shelby or RS Camero would be fun. I also get the Mopar cult following, though most are huge. Like most of N America. Where I live, our electoral area is as large as Ireland.

[disquek]

Here in the north east part of the US, a show like Roadkill would be much harder to create for exactly the reason you list. Rust. Can you find rust free or limited rust cars here? Sure. But they're very hard to find and very expensive.

I also have a '65 mustang and I've found that most local autoparts stores stock very little for it. They stock parts for what you see on the road (and that's not 58 year old Fords). I've been equally impressed with how easy they make it look. I guess when you have a van full of young guys with phones, they can cover a lot of ground quickly finding parts.

They also really benefit from social media. They post things on social media asking for help and often are overwhelmed almost instantly with folks who have exactly what they need. I remember them being near me and needing something I had. I replied to their post within 15m, and they said they already had multiple people enroute to them with the same stuff.

I also really enjoy those shows and have to suspend disbelief at times.