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Rev Up Your Engines! The 20 Best Car Restoration Shows Ever!
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.
ThisYouTubeseries fromBad Obsession Motorsportis unlike any other show on this list. It only focused on building one car – aMinithey namedBinky. The goal? Build one of the world's fastestMinis! This low-key, drama-free show's been going since2013, ending in2023with 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 over424,000subscribers 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.
Sreten Milisavljevic'sYouTubechannel focuses on restoringBMWs. 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 over565,000subscribers. The most popular episodes highlight massive projects— like the16-yearrestoration or building aBMW 365 V8from scratch!
MotorTrend's Roadkillis a wild ride, and this is where the show initially started from before moving on.HostsDavid FreiburgerandMike Finnegan(with appearances fromHot Rod Garage) build and test-drive crazy machines – not merely restoring; but intentionally pushing limits. They have 12 seasonsand154 episodes. Their enormous success with those amazing millions of views allowed them to move toMotorTrend On DemandandDiscovery+, spawning spin-offs!
ThisYouTubeseries, hosted for several years byWoodyandAl, features great, inexpensive DIY car building projects. With its move away from the parentMCM2 channelin2019; it generated another success on YouTube alone, it generated over280,000subscribers and35,000average views per episode. Unfortunately,Al'srecent departure marked a big change – losing a long-time crew member and experience however that doesn't minimize their ongoing impact!
Top Gearwas legendary, perhaps one of the biggest reasons this car restoration genre itself exists! The iconicBBCseries reboot (2002), featuringJeremy Clarkson,Richard Hammond,andJason 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.
An all-female cast focusing on those empowering elements involved! ThisMotorTrendshow featuresSarah "Bogi" Lateiner,Faye Hadley,andCristy Lee; including the sadly departedJessie 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.
Hosted by rapperXzibit,MTV’s Pimp My Ridetransformed 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; featuringWest Coast CustomsandGalpin Auto Sports. It’s over-the-top; intentionally absurd! Yet wildly popular–even spawning spin-offs!
Who knewRobert Downey Jr.was such a car guy? HisDiscovery+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.
Overhaulin'featured designerChip FooseandChris 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.
APawn Starsspinoff, thisHistory Channelshow showcasesDanny KokerandCount'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.
Discovery Channel's Fast N LoudfeaturedRichard RawlingsandAaron 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!
This BritishDiscoveryseries (over17seasons) starsMike Brewer,Edd China,Ant Anstead,andMarc 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!
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!
Set inSpringfield, Oregon,Graveyard Carzfocuses onMopar 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.
Set inAustin,Iron Resurrectionshows off the team fromMartin Bros Customs– finding those mechanical gems and totally restoring them. The fun and creative team aspect really makes this unique – featuringAmanda Martin, this very talented, prominent figure really highlights that successful collaboration is also something worthwhile and extremely enjoyable.
Will TrickettandGus GregorycombineWheeler Dealers'early-season simplicity withVice Grip Garage'sDIY 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.
Set inBritish Columbia's Rust Valley,Rust Bros Restorations(Mike Hall,Connor Hall, andAvery 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.
Derek Bieri’s Vice Grip Garageis 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 fromMinnesotatoTennessee— 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.
MattandSteve Sagerfly acrossNorthern Saskatchewanhunting 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.
Discovery Channel’s Street Outlawsis unique, This does a very interesting, albeit somewhat dangerous and incredibly unique combination; It brings car restoration with high-stakes illegal street racing inOklahoma 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.
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!