Rev Up Your Engines! The 20 Best car restoration shows Ever!
From YouTube Gems to Classic TV: A Look at the Best Car Restoration Shows
The world loves Cars! And those amazing car restoration shows really capture that love; showcasing those incredibly satisfying transformations from rusty heaps to gleaming beauties! It's been a hot genre since the '90s—and it's only gotten better! We're not just talking about basic makeovers; we're discussing engine upgrades, interior and exterior restorations – the whole shebang. Some shows focus on specific car models; others feature that unique cast chemistry that becomes as much of a draw as the awesome cars. Get ready for a wild ride!
We are covering everything, those wildly diverse shows and production strategies – highlighting some incredibly popular and much-loved examples from All different production teams, and different channels, including a deep look at their specific appeal to certain audiences and explaining why these things generate such high viewership and why these things truly have become so impressive.
Top 20 Car Restoration Shows: A Mix of YouTube Sensations, TV Classics, and Everything In-Between
20. Project Binky (2013-2023): A Decade-Long Mini-Cooper Masterpiece
This YouTube series from Bad Obsession Motorsport is unlike any other show on this list. It only focused on building one car – a Mini they named Binky. The goal? Build one of the world's fastest Minis! This low-key, drama-free show's been going since 2013, ending in 2023 with the car finally (mostly!) completed and some viewers even note the creation of its specialized trailer "The Escargot". Even without a conclusion and with all that hard work – this earned over 424,000 subscribers and it really demonstrates what you might call “slow television,” something only possible because of those YouTube views which is something many might find extremely appealing.
19. M539 Restorations (2016-Present): A BMW Lover's Dream
Sreten Milisavljevic's YouTube channel focuses on restoring BMWs. He's not a professional mechanic; he's just a regular guy with a passion, making it hugely relatable! The channel’s popularity continues today; its enormous success attracting over 565,000 subscribers. The most popular episodes highlight massive projects— like the 16-year restoration or building a BMW 365 V8 from scratch!
18. Roadkill (2012-Present): High-Octane Mayhem with a Touch of Destruction
MotorTrend's Roadkill is a wild ride, and this is where the show initially started from before moving on. Hosts David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan (with appearances from Hot Rod Garage) build and test-drive crazy machines – not merely restoring; but intentionally pushing limits. They have 12 seasons and 154 episodes. Their enormous success with those amazing millions of views allowed them to move to MotorTrend On Demand and Discovery+, spawning spin-offs!
17. The Skid Factory (2017-Present): DIY Car Building With an Unexpected Departure
This YouTube series, hosted for several years by Woody and Al, features great, inexpensive DIY car building projects. With its move away from the parent MCM2 channel in 2019; it generated another success on YouTube alone, it generated over 280,000 subscribers and 35,000 average views per episode. Unfortunately, Al's recent departure marked a big change – losing a long-time crew member and experience however that doesn't minimize their ongoing impact!
16. Top Gear (2002-2022): A Hilarious Car-Loving Journey With an Unfortunate Ending
Top Gear was legendary, perhaps one of the biggest reasons this car restoration genre itself exists! The iconic BBC series reboot (2002), featuring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and Jason Dawe (and countless celebrity cameos) generated a very wide appeal across demographics. That formula however became unsustainable after the core staff decided to pursue another opportunity; leading to new staff unable to recreate that original energy.
15. All Girls Garage (2012-Present): Empowering Women in the Automotive World
An all-female cast focusing on those empowering elements involved! This MotorTrend show features Sarah "Bogi" Lateiner, Faye Hadley, and Cristy Lee; including the sadly departed Jessie Combs (for four seasons). It offers entertaining content, instructional material and demonstrates why this is so successful – showcasing that empowering messaging that created the huge following, something often missing in other titles which focuses heavily on car restoration.
14. Pimp My Ride (2004-2007): Over-the-Top Customization with Some Amazing, Hilarious Moments
Hosted by rapper Xzibit, MTV’s Pimp My Ride transformed beat-up rides into wildly customized machines! This generated those outlandish modifications combined with those awesome reality moments to deliver what made this title stand out for people at the time of release! It was insane; featuring West Coast Customs and Galpin Auto Sports. It’s over-the-top; intentionally absurd! Yet wildly popular–even spawning spin-offs!
13. Downey’s Dream Cars (2022): Robert Downey Jr.'s Eco-Friendly Tweaks
Who knew Robert Downey Jr. was such a car guy? His Discovery+ series sees this beloved actor modifying sports cars and muscle cars–transforming classics into eco-friendly machines! This displays the incredible combination between his skills, both on and off the screen, and really combines this interest, adding unexpected twists which appeals to audiences for another specific subset.
12. Overhaulin' (2005-2008): Secret Makeovers and Emotional Reunions
Overhaulin' featured designer Chip Foose and Chris Jacobs. It had secret car makeovers! Friends nominated those unsuspecting people to get those huge, total surprises – including all the detailed rebuilds and awesome reveals, showing real passion.
11. Counting Cars (2012-2021): High-Energy Restoration with Great Personality!
A Pawn Stars spinoff, this History Channel show showcases Danny Koker and Count's Kustoms, This features restorations and a fun cast that really drove the show and created the popularity and helped cement its reputation. While its early seasons showed off amazing car work; later ones lacked this balance of character development; those humorous moments; those amazing personalities ended up outweighing all other production efforts, eventually overshadowing the entire car restoration aspects of the show. This is very noticeable at the very end.
10. Fast N Loud (2012-2020): High-Stakes Deals and Awesome Builds
Discovery Channel's Fast N Loud featured Richard Rawlings and Aaron Kaufman (Gas Monkey Garage), who brought in this thrilling combination: awesome car builds + those high-stakes business deals, This became enormously successful and delivered something entirely original, creating many new concepts and techniques to achieve a high-end end-product from lower starting points, This also became wildly successful!
9. Wheeler Dealers (2003-2022): The Practical Approach to Restoration
This British Discovery series (over 17 seasons) stars Mike Brewer, Edd China, Ant Anstead, and Marc Priestly. The practical emphasis on this project delivers a ton of great educational value: buying advice, smaller repair strategies which are easily achieved at home. It remains seriously beloved by those viewers into that specific do-it-yourself element which remains relatively difficult to accomplish in some of the previously mentioned titles and these techniques are often explained more clearly!
8. Chasing Classic Cars (2008-2021): A Collector’s Passion, Full of Classic Automobiles
Wayne Carini, a classic car expert and restorer, hunts for gems; restoring Cars and putting them in auctions, demonstrating exactly what is happening behind-the-scenes, within auctions and across various unique, extremely important automotive markets. This showed both the business and restoration sides!
7. Graveyard Carz (2012-Present): A Mopar Muscle Car Specialist
Set in Springfield, Oregon, Graveyard Carz focuses on Mopar muscle cars, using an assembly approach to their restoration, rather than presenting the end-product dramatically—creating additional suspense and intrigue. It might be quite niche–but also quite amazing! The show truly focuses on the extremely intricate, very involved restoration aspects, far exceeding typical other approaches seen before. This makes its episodes slightly longer but still extremely engaging.
6. Iron Resurrection (2016-Present): Hot Rods, Motorcycles, and Awesome Teamwork
Set in Austin, Iron Resurrection shows off the team from Martin Bros Customs – finding those mechanical gems and totally restoring them. The fun and creative team aspect really makes this unique – featuring Amanda Martin, this very talented, prominent figure really highlights that successful collaboration is also something worthwhile and extremely enjoyable.
5. Flipping Bangers (2017-Present): Low-Budget Restorations With High-Energy Chemistry
Will Trickett and Gus Gregory combine Wheeler Dealers' early-season simplicity with Vice Grip Garage's DIY focus! Their energetic chemistry really boosts those great automotive-themed restorations with very unique methods of resolving specific issues in order to rebuild automobiles within this very low budget approach.
4. Rust Valley Restorers (2018-Present): Canadian Charm and Classic Car Magic
Set in British Columbia's Rust Valley, Rust Bros Restorations (Mike Hall, Connor Hall, and Avery Shoaf) find amazing old cars to bring back; showcasing great relationships, avoiding unnecessary drama– the chemistry makes this Canadian series popular around the world, unlike those others who intentionally build conflicts within their reality show concepts.
3. Vice Grip Garage (2018-Present): Raw Passion and Authentic Restorations
Derek Bieri’s Vice Grip Garage is raw; showing off tons of authenticity from the automotive world, completely highlighting his deep-seated passion for restoring and bringing vintage vehicles back. His journey goes from Minnesota to Tennessee— he uses this project to also move! Those low-budget repairs and those practical insights provide tons of great instructional value which viewers from around the world eagerly absorb.
2. Lost Car Rescue (2022): Canadian Backcountry Adventures and Unique Car Restoration!
Matt and Steve Sager fly across Northern Saskatchewan hunting abandoned vehicles, providing great, rare glimpses of automotive treasures forgotten to time! Their approach differs, bringing a personable touch that's also very unique in showcasing those specific parts of Canada.
1. Street Outlaws (2013-2019): Illegal Street Racing and Custom Car Builds!
Discovery Channel’s Street Outlaws is unique, This does a very interesting, albeit somewhat dangerous and incredibly unique combination; It brings car restoration with high-stakes illegal street racing in Oklahoma City! It's thrilling—showing those insanely creative car builds, those intense competitions, emphasizing its reality element by making this incredibly high risk and emphasizing the unique risks and danger which adds to the incredible appeal of the show.
Conclusion: There's a Perfect Car Restoration Show for Everyone!
This list shows off just a glimpse into this crazy popular genre. From meticulous restorations to intense races, these projects reAlly encapsulate those exciting facets surrounding our shared love of those amazing, impressive automobiles! That popularity continues to grow and will continue even in years to come; as many creators recognize the immensely successful efforts of previous teams, trying to continue and evolve this very successfully generated category of programs! These are a just small selection and it really demonstrates this passion surrounding various automakers, their restoration methods, unique racing techniques – all these themes combined within one show in incredibly exciting ways! So dive in!
