For me, TV became sterile. Every show feels the same. Then the ad breaks slowly got longer, turning a 30 minute show into a 15 minute show, with maybe 5 minutes of content, with the rest being intros, outtros, and replays to catch up new watchers. It feels like most large companies are run by rich zombies.
I taped an episode of Fast and Loud and fast forwarded through anything that wasn’t working on the car. Done in 6 minutes, so maybe 3-4 minutes of actual content was about the car. And never watched the show again.
Funny you mention the ads interrrupted by alleged programming. In the 80's, I think 60 Minutes had something like 36 minutes of content. I don't know what it is today: 27? I have also noticed radio space getting desperately polluted too: what used to be 6 minute breaks at the top of the hour are now stretched to 8-11 minutes. As content effectively disappears, then nothing is being sponsored, and audience will just... disappear. I'm thinking ad agencies are smoking crack: the model today cannot continue. In fact, I feel the impending doom of yt forming in the distance, as ads have arrived without a skip feature - using the same ad production wizards [like big pharma] that nailed the lid closed on cable tv, with a handful of boomers inside. I find some instruction in the old magazine model: because of the permanence of layout, advertisers felt effectively wedded to the publication - a part of the crew, not interlopers. New Yorker, Time, Car Craft - whatever. As for modern equivalents, even the once proud & readable Breitbart is now junked up: the ad clutter is so immense, any enjoyment of reading is nuked. Also... magazines had a table of contents. Is there a website today that even bothers? Maybe Drudge came close. Instead of knowing where to go, its scroll like a madman, point & click, scroll mode again and its just... opaque. Anyone recall The Economist? That was well sorted: no stupid jump page tricks, and the bulk of any page where a story began was clearly content - not an ad spread with 15 lines of copy sprinkled in three places to fill format. I think they still print, but who has a magazine rack anymore? Those disappeared from grocerystores and gas stations almost completely.
I watched the car shows on TV back then not because they were good, but because it was all we had. Now we have youtube, and you content creators are much more fun to watch than the old stuff ever was.
Anyone remember the original Speed Channel? They had everything. Airplane racing, hydroplane, off road, motorcycle and auto. Roaring Glory warbirds. I couldn’t get enough.
@@Carcrafter7165 very true. I was a big Tommi Makkinen fan. I'm a Subaru guy so I was happy when he came over. That Peugot 206 with Gronholm at the wheel was impressive on any surface though.
Those shows drummed up more interest in old cars, then places like Mecum and these classic car dealers ruined the classic car market for the little guy by jacking prices to the moon.
@@quademasters249 Now it’s a question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. These shows whipped up an interest in classics, and Mecum and classics dealers were the vehicle, so to speak, to jack the prices to the moon. Yes dumb money played a part in it too, but the cable shows lit the match, and auctions, along with classic car dealers, fanned the flames. I avoided the mania and bought a nice Mopar from a private owner at a fair price. Others should do the same, do the research and footwork yourselves, the cars are out there if potential buyers take the time to hunt for them. These big companies have employees whose job it is to scour the internet looking for classics cars to snap up, you just have to beat them to the punch. You have to know what you want, and be ready to jump when the opportunity presents itself.
@@fratzogmopars You're putting the cart before the horse. Even if dealers are snapping up cars it's because someone with money is going to buy it from the dealers. Classic cars is a classic bubble. Someone got in early, waited for prices to climb then got back out with profits. At some point prices will fall back to their natural level and some people will be left holding the bag.
I would agree with this too!! I don't know HOW MANY TIMES I heard some idiot tell me "I saw the same car sell on Barrett Jackson Auction for $50,000!", thinking that the rust pile of crap in their own backyard was magically automatically worth $40,000 suddenly!!! Never mind that their pile of junk has NOT RUN in 30 to 50 years, needs $40,000 in parts and labor just to make it into a functioning car again, and refuse to understand WHY you are only offering them $500 to $2000 to take it off their hands!!! And those guys who claim "I know what my car is worth!" NEED to take a serious step the F back, look at the condition that rotting piece of SH!T is in, and think to themselves "AM I being realistic here for a moment???!!!"!!! A 1964 Buick Skylark is a cool old car.....BUT in 1964 IT WAS NEVER "RARE" and the car wasn't really that "sought after" by collectors or other car guys, even when it was 20 years old for a reason!! After all it wasn't a Buick GSX or a loaded Grand National, and it certainly was NOT a Petty owned Superbird either, or a K Code Mustang!! I had one kid tell me that his Oldsmobile Cutlass S was actually a "442" because it had fake chrome vents in the hood!!! I tried to explained to him that, that wasn't the case....because I have own a bunch of Oldsmobiles in my life...BUT INSTEAD of listening to logic and reason.......he only got mad and me and began calling ME NAMES instead!!! Acting as if I didn't know what I was talking about!!! Literally people today are stupid.....and according to these idiots "EVERY CAR IS A RARE CAR" somehow!!!
85% ads and sponsor plugs with 15% of actual content. People got tired of it. It's why I stopped watching Stacey David and all the other hot rod shows.
Remember the TNN Network? PowerBlock TV? I started with ShadeTree Mechanic (Bowman & Memmelo). Stacey David was 1st on Trucks TV before Gearz. Horsepower TV and the rest were too focused on selling you a product. But those were the good old days. SpikeTV and TNN on Saturdays and Sundays!😊
As a 51yo, those replaced my warner bros Saturday morning cartoons. Some things don't change though,I'd watch em with a bowl of cereal while in my undies 😂😂
Well Scotty kilmer is STILL wearing his on the road hideous jean shirt from 40 years ago.. apparently it was a little segment he did on the evening news
The issue is that cars an average person can repair and maintain or modify died about 15 years ago. This killed the DIY car culture for people who came of age in the last 10 years. Those of us who are left are aging out of the hobby as it becomes more physically difficult to do the work. Plus, modern cars are crossovers and no one cares about them. They are just minivans with conventional doors. There is nothing exciting about them that would make anyone want to fix up an old one.
people were saying this 5 minutes after they introduced fuel injection and ABS in the 80s. that said, FWD transverse layouts = nightmare for engine work. but i still see plenty of classics and treasure troves of 80s and 90s f150s, 4runners etc
@@polymetric2614 The thing that is killing diy, and even some professionals is computers that you can't get access to. Why do we need a $1,000 + computer just to talk to our car computer now? Companies are locking everything down just so you are forced to go to them. Everything is turning into lets make the most money, not lets be interesting and get people excited.
@@snoopdogie187Glad that I bought a 2012 Ram . Because the newer ones require you to go to a dealer or buy a whole new brain in order to put a tuner on it. I recently bought a Diablosport Trinity Platinum tuner and I'm really happy to override the restrictions set by the manufacturer without having to go to them.
@@Oldschoolrules123 your Ram will still fail on its own and messing with it will just make it worse. Most Rams don't survive after 15 years without a truck load of cash! Enjoy!
Most "car shows" are just the same fake reality TV drama but in a garage. Roadkill and the others you mentioned were great because they were actually about cars, but that's a much smaller audience...
Yep. The whole fake surprise thing when something goes wrong. Or the number of times they'd have some deadline build and the engine wouldn't run right. You could hear it and be like "well it's out of time/spark plug wires on wrong cylinder". Or the fake "we have to take care of this item"...guess what happens, later in the episode that one item gets broken. So damn annoying and fake. Then the older car shows weren't fake reality tv drama, but were just ads for Holley, MSD, etc. They would have this big build and see 2 minutes of work and 20 minutes of ads. Also, they would have "budget builds". Then you'd see a brand new crate engine come in. lol.
Best thing about roadkill (especially early on) was that it was just car guys making anything work. They would rather have fun in a beater than spend months and months trying to make a car a perfect beauty queen. Just go out and have fun with it.
There in lies the problem behind all of this. Car people are a very small percentage of the population. And they always were, even at the height of hot rodding in the 50s and the height of the muscle car era. Then pair that down to the hot rodders and DYI’ers (as opposed to the new car people and the various different types of racing people) and you’re in the less then .5% of the population sector with very little overlap. That’s why they had to add the drama and fighting because that appealed to a slightly larger audience. The hot rodder and the DYI’er segment is getting ever so smaller with the rules and regulations and the new cars and the future mandates. Your audience is incredibly limited and therefore so are your sponsor pool and how much they are willing to spend on advertising on your channel or show. So all that combined means you’re making less money, even to the point it’s loosing you money. And they aren’t in the business to loose money.
I gave up on television due to the commercials. No need to pay $150 a month for cable to watch 40% commercials. RUclips is around $10 a month for no ads.
I used to watch Shadetree Mechanic as a kid and loved it, also lived watching Horsepower TV/Trucks/Extreme 4x4 and the other Spike TV auto shows. My biggest issue is that it started to become all the same, v8 powered muscle cars and offroad trucks, and less and less of the average daily drivers. But at least now with RUclips i get any type I want, from the tuner scene Mighty Car Mods, to the car repairs like ChrisFix and ETCG, to just chill cleaning videos like the Detail Geek. and if i want the old shows, Horsepower TV and such are on youtube, along with Stacey Davids Gearz.
It was the same Chevy swapped thing. Some type of "budget build" that ended up having an expensive crate engine. And worst of all, most of those shows were filled with ads. Yeah, we all watched it because it was the only thing, but it could have been better.
Sorry BUT Scotty Kilmer is an idiot!! He don't know crap about cars!! And I refuse to list here all the things I have heard him say, that just are NOT TRUE AT ALL about cars!!!! I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, graduating high school in 1982!! I was trained as an auto mechanic in a vocational school and have loved cars since I was 5 years old!! My grandfather was a mechanic too, plus as a kid I hung out with old guys who all worked in or owned their own repair shops!!! SO I very literally have been around shops and mechanics most of my life!!! And like I say.....Scotty Kilmer is full of s**t!!!
Good riddance to some of those shows that were just thinly veiled reality shows with cars in the background and fake drama. "We've gotta get this car done by next week!" Do you? Do you really? Those can ALL go away.
I specifically remember an episode of 'Hot Rod TV' that went over in-depth how to use a torque wrench. One of the most powerful educational segments I've ever seen, still remember and use it to this day.
I still watch ETCG, ETCG1, ChrisFix and several others that have proven trustworthy. Thank you for your edumotive content. I’ll keep watching until such time
I wonder too if rapidly inflating costs are a factor? In the old Top Gear stuff, you'd see the boys buy something for 1500 quid (20+ years ago). Nowadays, used cars are all hyper-inflated in costs, just like real estate. The premise of getting some super-cheap thing, fixing it and going on an adventure is no where near as affordable as it used to be. Of course, that plays into what you're saying too with the bottom falling out of advertising income.
@davidbartch8917 yes,very true. I lost interest in them when the shows weren't informative anymore. Plus, some of the people in them were just loud& obnoxious. My 2 cents..
@@billneistorowich6801 Not only that but it seemed as if I was watching a comedy show. Road Kill started that trend and when others saw it was successful, a rash of new shows copied the format. All of the Road Kill spinoffs were comedies, except maybe for Engine Masters.
@@hubertsteenbekkers1522 Most I have to agree I was approached several years ago to be in one. As soon as they found out my sons didn't work with me that was it. NO big deal looked up the shows they made they all sucked
We still have MotorWeek John Davis, R.I.P. Pat Goss. I miss Fast Lane Daily, but this was the first internet base show that took the hit, and they predicted exactly whst you said. I sure do miss Road Show with Cooley.
They are all on youtube, my friend! Mighty car mods Vice grip garage And of course, EricTheCarGuy (but he's slacking off a little)😂 I haven't had cable tv since 2012. My wife subscribes to netflix and amazon prime but i just pretty much watch RUclips PS. Those guys are also on youtube. James may, Richard Hammond, sometimes Jeremy Clarkson
I love VGG, he and others have shown that you don't need an ultra-rare or super-expensive car to have fun and get the satisfaction of reviving. He routinely revives old junkers, something the common man can do.
@kman-mi7su from watching all this youtube, I just picked up a 1996 Honda Del Sol that's been parked since 2002! I feel like I should at least document the journey with it. Probably not going g to make a youtube video about it. Not much good at making videos. 😂
@@sunsetoriginals7320 Yeah, I thought about making some YT videos but I'm not tech savvy, I don't know about cameras, editing with a computer, etc. I'm currently working on a 1988 Ford F250 7.3 IDI diesel pickup I'm putting back on the road.
I look forward to every Saturday at 4pm for Scott and the "agents" at Cold War Motors. He only has 67k subs, but has been doing YT for over 10 years. Then Sunday mornings with Mustie1. Then there's Eric O. at South Main Auto. All excellent channels. Missed seeing you, but understand the circumstances.
Damn, I've been working in the Same garage for twenty five years and i'm nowhere's near retirement. I'm gonna go feel bad about my decisions for a few, then get back to work. 😅. Jokes aside we grow up watching those shows sunday mornings in the nineties. Always looked forward to those mornings. God Bless friends
Back in the day '90's there were some good auto repair shows on the then TNN. You can actually learn something Road Ready, Shade Tree mechanic another good one where the DIYer can learn something. Now most shows are 10% instruction and 90% advertising sponsor products. Of course the advent of excellent RUclips channels like yours and South Main Auto and the like, why look elsewhere?
Shade Tree mechanic was an amazing show. Motorweek, great show. There also was a short lived show in the early 90's in which they were restoring an early Mustang Convertible. Forgot the name of it.
Besides the cost of production, people and infrastructure required to make almost any car show for mainstream TV, I think the on-camera personalities have a lot to do with how those shows succeed or fail with viewers. It’s not enough to just have some catchy segments or episodes or even the vehicles, it’s how the package is presented and who’s doing the presenting. Personality - or personalities - that people can relate to. That’s why the OG Top Gear worked so well, because Clarkson, May and Hammond were likable and distinctive who had their own individual fan bases. Sort of like the Beatles of car shows. You could like the Asshole, the Nerd, or the Enthusiast - or love all three. You couldn’t go wrong. The American versions of Top Gear? Not so much. Eric, your advantage on RUclips, as I see it, is your personality and relatability, but also with your presentability in front of the camera. I’ve always considered you to be the George Clooney of RUclips - photogenic, knowledgeable, relatable. That’s your strength and success. You’re not related to Clooney - even distantly - are you? I’m surprised that a mainstream cable TV network or company hasn’t made you an offer work for them. But I wouldn’t be surprised if you turned them down, because you’re that kind of guy who wants to do their own thing.
Pretty sure theres going to be enough internal combustion cars left on the road to support the industry for years and years and years to come. I mean we're all still drooling over cars from the 60s! They're just not the getting the ad dollars they were because of cord cutters. People are tired of paying $150+ a month for cable.
Thanks, Eric! A lot of the shows have contracts, and if it is a hit, the contract gets extended. If it's not a hit, it gets get cancelled! As you said, "It's all about the money!" Thank RUclips for reruns! I remember a television show that went all around to local car shows and automotive shops in New England, long before the internet!
I’m not sure that EVs are the primary cause, so much as it is a societal shift away from “sitting on a couch at a TV” toward “watching on your devices”. The convenience of on-the-go, ad-free*, selectable content when you want, has made TV much less relevant to younger people.
I'm 64 and retired, and view my tablet a lot. I watch everything from politics to farm channels and in between. For 94 dollars a month for my tablet and cellphone it's a bargain for entertainment and my tablet is good anywhere that I go through Verizon. My cellphone is just a flip phone. I have antenna TV which I watch and haven't paid for TV in over 4 years at the cost of 105 a month. I imagine that it would be closer to 150 by now.
I would have to agree and that makes me sad 😥 But, shout out to Power Nation!! Especially the guys on Detroit Muscle. They're still making car shows. (This is one of those free channels, I get it off my Samsung TV but Roku should have it too). Barn find Hunters is another good one from the Hagerty channel.
Hey, I missed ETCG1 and I'm glad to see you're back. BTW, I bought your video on how to replace a timing belt on my integra! I know that business venture didn't work out, but I liked that product.
I think the TV car-fix show projects were based on sponsorships. So a 30 minute show had 5 minutes of proper ads, plus 25 minutes of stealth advertising with your favourite hosts. Traditional TV and print media advertising dollars dried up and moved to Google, so there is no money to make the TV shows.
Eric we need to thank you for all your wonderful entertainment love watching your videos even the re runs please keep the entertainment coming watching from South Africa
As much as those shows were fun, I actually enjoy their individual RUclips channels more. The RUclips channels tend to be more personal, "behind the scenes", and authentic without the ginned up controversies and contrived story lines. Those shows were edited for TV with a limited number of minutes that each episode could be. So shows like yours will always be my first choice.
I think you nailed it with RUclips. It's cheaper for them to advertise on here and still get the reach. I'm an optimist so I don't think that 2035 is going to happen the way they say it's going to happen.... we just aren't ready to make the hard flip to Zero.
a few thoughts on this, and it's really good to see you back with your commentary! first, you are right that these shows were and are about the money. however, you can have all the sponsors and advertisers in the world, but if you have no viewers to consume them, you will still not make any money in the long run. these car shows, as most here have eluded to, are nothing more than manufactured drama. my favorite show growing up was "How it's Made". it was straightforward, interesting, educational, entertaining, and without drama. your content is much the same, but maybe in a deconstructive way. i think a lot of viewers prefer that. if i'm going to spend time watching something, i don't want to just be entertained. i want to learn something and apply it. second, with regard to EVs, i think we are still in the nascent period. i prefer to stay optimistic with this one. i own an EV and i love it. i can see that once they are more widely adopted, there will be more customizations and third-party manufacturers will produce parts for the cars. there are already RUclips channels about repairing EVs and their unique systems. we are starting to see EV adoption with NASCAR and Formula One. when Ford introduced the Model T, there wasn't any customization whatsoever. it takes time. owners of EVs will eventually be able to tune them with custom software and parts. i see no reason this cannot happen. third, even with a 2035 mandate to move to EV production only, there will still be ICE vehicles around for another 50 years at least. i have 2 ICE vehicles in my possession awaiting restoration. a 1999 Honda Civic EX Coupe (a main reason i ran into your channel years ago), and a 1971 Buick Electra 225. that Buick is nearly 54 years old and i can still get parts for it! even if the third-party manufacturers stop making parts for these things, there are amazing technologies that are also nascent at this point. namely, additive manufacturing 3D printing. in the next 10 years, this stuff will be much more mainstream and allow for anyone to just make a part if they need it. obviously, there will be limitations, but who know how good or bad it will be by then. metal 3D printing has been around since the 80s in industrial form, but has yet to make it onto mainstream consumer markets. but it was only within the last 10 years that poly 3D printers really made it to consumers and they are exponentially cheaper and better each year. the same will be true of metallic 3D printers. i can't wait. scan your bad part, tune the dimensions to spec, and hit print. in a few hours, you have your part ready to install! these things will exist for the rest of my life, as is the case with many here. i welcome the change. while i like my ICE cars very much, there is definitely things i don't like. dealing with oil and gas isn't something i will miss. don't forget, there are some interesting things you can do with EV conversions of older vehicles. i don't know, we'll shall see.
I remember watching Shady Tree Mechanic on TNN in the mid-90s. It was a great show because it taught DIY using tools one would have at home. The modern shows are filmed in million dollar garages with million dollar equipment that no DIY person would ever have or need to have. The shows that stayed on the air a long time also evolved into less about teaching and more vague information. Goss’ Garage on Motorweek used to be very technical in nature. In the last 5-10 years of that segment when Pat was still around, they would give more general information and always suggest taking your car to a professional technician. Best shows now are on RUclips with people repairing ordinary cars using tools the average DIY guy would have at home. Nononsenseknowhow is at the top of my list.
The early 2000's until now were a great time for car tv. Top Gear was a phenomenon that I'm happy to have watched from the start progressing in to shows like Roadkill and the like it was endlessly entertaining and like yourself I can re-watch many of them over and over. Thankfully host like David Freiburger, and Mike Finnegan have great RUclips channels so along with yourself I don't have to go cold-turkey
What i see happening currently is people building a huge new sub economy around rebuilding older vehicles for use as daily drivers. Several factors are pushing this: 1) new vehicle cost, 2) EV mandates limiting supply, 3) low quality and through away vehicles designed to fail after 100,000 miles. This started with work and farm trucks and has moved to family cars. Many youtube channels now revolve around this new economy.
spot on my friend but no one is rushing to Ev’s today. I really miss the old 2 guys garage but realize that one of the original host sadly passed. Fortunately or unfortunately I am in my late 70’s. 78 as of 12/9 so you were a day late with the birthday cake😅 Keep doing what you are doing and please do more stuff with the Element as I have an 04 like you. Supercharge it😅❤
Top Gear and the Grand Tour were in an entire different league. The trio basically made documentaries with lots of comedy that focused around cars. That combo attracted an audience beyond the car enthusiast. A lot of the other car shows were more just big advertisements, hence why I believe RUclips took off so much.
a lot of car shows were just access media mixed with straight up sponsored with cash stuff. which becomes incredibly boring after a few years - it also has an affect of car reviews they do becoming carbon copies of each other.
I am wanting to say that Speedvision and later just Speed Channel ran from 1996-2015. I remember Unique Whips; that Castro guy was difficult. Wrecked: Life in the Crash Lane with O'Hare Towing in Chicago. I still enjoy "Highway thru Hell," and I thought I saw Derek with Vice Grip Garage the other night. I've been watching Motorweek since it went on the air in 1981. I think Marc Christ is still on Music City Trucks, but, that is also on You Tube. Like has been mentioned, all you need is a camera and you can produce what they can produce on television. GREAT VIDEO!
Derrick from the Vice Grip Garage RUclips channel just got a show on Discovery Plus. I haven't checked it out yet but it's exciting to see a host that did his own thing and it was popular enough to warrant a show.
I remember growing up and watching wrenching shows that just specifically talks about engines. I forget the name but I was hooked. I eventually went into automotive school because of it. With electric cars I'm sure the same enthusiasm will exist but man, what a time. I know we must progress but I will truly miss ice engines.
What happened is that a lot of shows were/are drama based on TV and that’s boring to watch as a car enthusiast. Give me more of shows like Full Custom and I’ll be watching! RUclips has the wrenchers now and that’s more fun to watch.
I'll agree with you. It's 100% about the money. TV costs a lot to produce, it takes forever to film complete cars being crafted, and the ad revenue isn't there. I recently watched a video on Facebook that Automotive TV is going to be just re-runs for the next few years as media outlets rake in dollars as best as possible without the costs for new shows. Seeing content creators off RUclips being on TV is probably a sign that you can do a lot to entertain people with far less production value. I would bet that most automotive content is streamed rather than on a TV channel anyway.
I think you are mostly correct but I believe the downfall was TV networks overpricing their channels to providers like your local Cable TV provider, Dish network, Sling and other paid live TV streaming services. I primarily watch RUclips now which in my experience came from my Cable Company and then Dish Network not allowing customer to buy programming A la carte and forcing unwanted packages and charging huge fees for these packages. Once Roku came out and I could buy those channels on Sling for $30/month, I cut the cord but eventually Sling raised their price to $45 so I dumped them as well which caused me to really watch RUclips and Netflix again. All the shows I really liked on Velocity like FantomWorks, Last Stop Garage and Rust Valley Restoration all ended. I found most of the remaining shows I used to like such as Garage Squad, Bitchin Rides and Two Guys Garage had either changed cast members or just gotten stale over time where I loved the chemistry of the old cast or the scripts didn't change much. I guess I watched these shows not because of the projects they were doing but for the chemistry the cast had. Once I started watching folks like you, Vice Grip Garage, South Main Auto and many others.. I really lost interest in network TV.
I use an antenna and my tablet is from Verizon along with my cellphone and I pay 94 a month. My last cable bill was 105 and that was over 4 years ago. My tablet and cellphone bill has never gone up in 4 years. And having Pluto you have more to watch than on cable. Plus cable you still have to watch commercials which doesn't make sense if you have to pay for the channel.
Eric, Happy holidays to u and ur loved ones. I was 🤣🤣🤣 at all the facial expressions on ur face as u pretended to switch TV stations. I'm not a big TV program watcher. I didn't hv cable maybe that's why. I'm a big Netflix fan however. There was a short clip of u talking about using cat clean or some type of additive in ur engine, well I tried it today. The cataclean bleeping worked!!! My 3rd cat in this HE, I was not going to spend more money on a new catalytic converter, if I can help it.🤞🏽 I hope this will fix the chk engine like for good. 🙏🏽 I may have to put more cataclean in a few months to maintain it, time will tell.
I have one, but I don't see the point of using it for a 30min video shoot in my storage unit. Besides, they might have issue with that. Thanks for the comment.
It costs money to make these shows. Indeed it does. There's a place where they invest in such a show. It's show produced in The Province of Quebec, however it's in French. It's called RPM. It's a one hour weekly show hosted by two auto journalists. Every week they showcase a new vehicle (trucks, IC, EV, Hybrids etc.) Each show starts with the exterior's design, quality of construction, paint...Then the interior, seats, dash, controls, visibility, cargo space...Then it's at the track, acceleration (0 to 100 k) and braking (100 to 0), then slalom narrow then wide cone placement, emergency stop and auto braking for an object...then a road trip evaluation ending with fuel consumption numbers accrued during their tests. After that they go over number of service bulletins and recalls to get a predicted reliability. The camera work is great (from the inside and outside) All their programs old and new are available on the web. Search RPM TV. Extremely popular in QC.
The shows like HorsePower TV eventually stop showing actual work. It was a 5-10 minute montage of the work being done, then the reset of it was sponsor advertisements. I got tired of watching it. Loved the days of Chuck and Joe on Hot Rod TV.
Hi Eric, next could you do a clip on what you forsee where classic car motoring will be in the future.🐞 Back in our days there were a number of fine cars(and trucks) we loved and coveted, we spent countless hours building them up and drove them and looked after them proudly. Parts were available and some we made ourselves. All this is slowly dying out in a throw away society.🦋
Alright it’s Eric!!! Yea, I don’t think anyone wants to see an EV “hot rod” show either. Btw, Thanks for the help on the ‘97 Honda accord a couple years ago. I used to watched him just for the hell of it and then I actually needed some info one day and Whatya know, the exact issue I had was resolved by one of his posts.
That's why we are all waiting for your return to normal car videos. Maybe you could partner with Jegs, Summit, Rock Auto, and others to help them advertise and you can get some income. You need parts for your repairs, and what better places to get those parts.
Ive worked around the reality tv production on a show that still have top ratings they are making money hand over fist but the tallent expects more as the show gains popularaty. The top management doesnt like that as they only believe their only responciability is to the shareholders
TV show don't take an army. It takes 6 people max. Star/host, Producer, Editor, Director, PR person and Cameraman. TV networks need to make money on kick backs due to embezzlements.
Started watching Wheeler Dealers years ago when I was stationed overseas. I believe it's still around even though Ed moved on, but he has his own channel here in Utube. I love wurkin on old cars but I'm also into more of the heavy duty wrench turning channels like Bus Grease Monkey and several others, too. Gave up on all the high priced reality TV builds; just didn’t seem genuine. Much better material from the locals here in Utube👍💪 I will say this: the proliferation of the, "will it start?" videos seems to be the current thing now.
If you have the money creating another tv show known as ETCG1 Could be a great next step for you😂 well is not easy But we love you papaa Eric Far away from Cameroon is your favorite fan😅
I just had my hybrid Ford electric motor fail at 4 years age with 41000 km on the odometer. No individual parts available and it sounded very much like a bearing failure. Price on part 7500€ and labour was 23 hours worth of work. Thank god it was about to become a campaign and manufacturer paid for it. Still, it was initially already out of warranty and it almost costed half the price of the car to repair it. This is not sustainable for a car owner
A lot of those countries are backing off the "zero emissions by 2035" - the UK in particular and Germany as well. They are realizing that the charging infrastructure will not be there, and a LOT of people in the UK do not have a garage to charge their EV, and they are not allowed to charge on the kerb.
I prefer watching RUclips videos, over watching television. There are fewer advertisements on RUclips and I can find stuff that interests me; which also increases my knowledge. I also create videos of stuff I do, like working on my cars and finding old bridges. By 2035 I will be 63 years old (64 in September 2035) and I doubt if I will still want to work on my cars (unless for some reason one of my RUclips videos goes viral and my channel bursts with subscribers etc...), so having a newer (less than 12 years old) car might be appealing to me. One thing I hate about the auto industry is how the banks/politicians are involved and it's obvious where the banks/politicians are investing, and how the auto industry is bending over backwards to appease them. Electric vehicles aren't "New Technology"; they had them in 1909 (Baker Electric) and they had decent range (but it wasn't where banks were investing). Anyway, thanks for the Warm Video!
Even the shows that were on Discovery (Fast n' Loud, and various spin-offs) can be found on RUclips. In my opinion, there is more creative freedom not having to perform for rating's hungry executives and sponsors. The trade-off is less available money to create content.
Change is the only constant. I miss the old three-speed column shift. Change is an opportunity, and you ( and the rest of us old car guys) have the background and knowledge to take advantage of those opportunities. Let's make it happen. Take advantage of every avenue to exploit the freedom of all forms of personal transportation.
I dropped TV in all it's forms more than a decade ago. RUclips took over that for me by providing better content with less corporate profiteering. That balance has shifted a bit but I'm still here. I pay for premium to eliminate the ads. I have Prime and watched with a tear in my eye as the Grand Tour wrapped up. I'm eagerly awaiting another season of Clarkson's Farm. There are tons of channels here on RUclips that do Bolt-on stuff, but better than that are the folks making cool car content without all the huge sponsors. As long as there's a person in their garage doing cool car content, I'll be there. As they grow and finally give in to corporate sponsorship, I'll move on the the next up-and-comer.
I get actual automotive news from RUclipsrs like Scotty, Zach and Ray, Brandon CQS, Lucky Lopez. They don't have to worry about upsetting advertisers, so they can give true opinions.
Thatdudeinblue mentioned a facet on that: as every auto maker is pushing real hard their consumers into EVs, nowaday EVs are basically the same: nice torque, silent, heavy machines with lots of infotainment and gadgets. Besides that, they are pretty much the same so there is no engagement the end user will get. Because of that and purchasing habits rapidly changing on new generations, there are not as many car enthusiasts. As you can imagine, if TV companies cannot see some way to get profit from a demographic, they will not waste time on that. I hope I will be wrong, and within 10 years interesting cars will have a rebirth in some kind of shape, but now it seems cars for most of the people are just appliances to go from A to B as efficient and cheap as possible.
RUclips channels can be more direct in the topics/content they cover in each video. For example, if you watch Motorweek, which is a good show, but if you are looking for the specific car review of that week, you have to sit through a couple of segments before you get to the car review. But on RUclips, you can search for that particular car, and a bunch of reviews will pop up. They’re not all good, in fact, most of them are terribly produced by RUclipsrs and influencers who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about, but the fact that you have a ton of choices make it very appealing to people.
Once my Discovery+ subscription expires it will NOT be renewed. The hosts of Roadkill, HRG, Roadworthy Rescues Faster with Newbern and Cotten all have RUclips channels. I will miss these shows, Thanks for the memories. Where you been Eric? Hope you post more content.
There have been some good show pop up to fill the void. Car Trek comes to mind. Not expensive to shoot, not trying to be BBC quality, just three friends that grew up watching Top Gear getting to live their dream. While it was much move scripted, I also loved Tex Mex Motors as well (RIP Rabbit).
I think television in general is on its way out - going the way of the horse and buggy. I haven't owned a working TV in over 7 years, and with RUclips & the rest of the net, I haven't missed it one bit.
Advertisers don’t have to equate to commercials. Most of the car shows that I’ve been watching for the last 30 years, have been on cable channels. Cable channels are paid by subscription, so any advertisement is extra for them, not the consumer. It all boils down to corporate greed.
Content on ev's is awesome. Content behind paywall is why motor trend ended. And there are so many streaming services, so the spread is wide. Could you make EV reviews technical?
For me, TV became sterile. Every show feels the same. Then the ad breaks slowly got longer, turning a 30 minute show into a 15 minute show, with maybe 5 minutes of content, with the rest being intros, outtros, and replays to catch up new watchers. It feels like most large companies are run by rich zombies.
Same here. That's why I never replaced my TV when it broke in 2017. Haven't missed it a bit!
I taped an episode of Fast and Loud and fast forwarded through anything that wasn’t working on the car.
Done in 6 minutes, so maybe 3-4 minutes of actual content was about the car.
And never watched the show again.
Funny you mention the ads interrrupted by alleged programming. In the 80's, I think 60 Minutes had something like 36 minutes of content. I don't know what it is today: 27? I have also noticed radio space getting desperately polluted too: what used to be 6 minute breaks at the top of the hour are now stretched to 8-11 minutes. As content effectively disappears, then nothing is being sponsored, and audience will just... disappear. I'm thinking ad agencies are smoking crack: the model today cannot continue. In fact, I feel the impending doom of yt forming in the distance, as ads have arrived without a skip feature - using the same ad production wizards [like big pharma] that nailed the lid closed on cable tv, with a handful of boomers inside.
I find some instruction in the old magazine model: because of the permanence of layout, advertisers felt effectively wedded to the publication - a part of the crew, not interlopers. New Yorker, Time, Car Craft - whatever. As for modern equivalents, even the once proud & readable Breitbart is now junked up: the ad clutter is so immense, any enjoyment of reading is nuked. Also... magazines had a table of contents. Is there a website today that even bothers? Maybe Drudge came close. Instead of knowing where to go, its scroll like a madman, point & click, scroll mode again and its just... opaque.
Anyone recall The Economist? That was well sorted: no stupid jump page tricks, and the bulk of any page where a story began was clearly content - not an ad spread with 15 lines of copy sprinkled in three places to fill format. I think they still print, but who has a magazine rack anymore? Those disappeared from grocerystores and gas stations almost completely.
I watched the car shows on TV back then not because they were good, but because it was all we had. Now we have youtube, and you content creators are much more fun to watch than the old stuff ever was.
Not to mention, for the most part, more realistic and you can appreciate the real work that is involved
Ditto
Yep
True fact👍
Much cheaper to produce.
Anyone remember the original Speed Channel? They had everything. Airplane racing, hydroplane, off road, motorcycle and auto. Roaring Glory warbirds. I couldn’t get enough.
I got Speed TV stickers at the Barrett Jackson Auction years ago when they were the 1st to air the Scottsdale auction.
I remember when Speed Channel was Speed Vision. I never missed a WRC event. 2 hours Friday, 2 hours Saturday, 2 hours Sunday. The coverage was great!
@@salspec3381when it comes to WRC one person comes to mind
Marcus Gronholm the Swede from hell. He was one hell of a driver.
@@Carcrafter7165 very true. I was a big Tommi Makkinen fan. I'm a Subaru guy so I was happy when he came over.
That Peugot 206 with Gronholm at the wheel was impressive on any surface though.
@@MCW1955 They also had Speed Racer.
Those shows drummed up more interest in old cars, then places like Mecum and these classic car dealers ruined the classic car market for the little guy by jacking prices to the moon.
They didn't jack the prices. Rich investors jacked the prices.
@@quademasters249 Now it’s a question of which came first, the chicken or the egg.
These shows whipped up an interest in classics, and Mecum and classics dealers were the vehicle, so to speak, to jack the prices to the moon. Yes dumb money played a part in it too, but the cable shows lit the match, and auctions, along with classic car dealers, fanned the flames.
I avoided the mania and bought a nice Mopar from a private owner at a fair price. Others should do the same, do the research and footwork yourselves, the cars are out there if potential buyers take the time to hunt for them.
These big companies have employees whose job it is to scour the internet looking for classics cars to snap up, you just have to beat them to the punch. You have to know what you want, and be ready to jump when the opportunity presents itself.
@ The classic car dealers are snapping up cars and jacking up prices, the cable shows and places like Mecum just fan the flames.
@@fratzogmopars You're putting the cart before the horse. Even if dealers are snapping up cars it's because someone with money is going to buy it from the dealers.
Classic cars is a classic bubble. Someone got in early, waited for prices to climb then got back out with profits. At some point prices will fall back to their natural level and some people will be left holding the bag.
I would agree with this too!! I don't know HOW MANY TIMES I heard some idiot tell me "I saw the same car sell on Barrett Jackson Auction for $50,000!", thinking that the rust pile of crap in their own backyard was magically automatically worth $40,000 suddenly!!! Never mind that their pile of junk has NOT RUN in 30 to 50 years, needs $40,000 in parts and labor just to make it into a functioning car again, and refuse to understand WHY you are only offering them $500 to $2000 to take it off their hands!!!
And those guys who claim "I know what my car is worth!" NEED to take a serious step the F back, look at the condition that rotting piece of SH!T is in, and think to themselves "AM I being realistic here for a moment???!!!"!!! A 1964 Buick Skylark is a cool old car.....BUT in 1964 IT WAS NEVER "RARE" and the car wasn't really that "sought after" by collectors or other car guys, even when it was 20 years old for a reason!! After all it wasn't a Buick GSX or a loaded Grand National, and it certainly was NOT a Petty owned Superbird either, or a K Code Mustang!!
I had one kid tell me that his Oldsmobile Cutlass S was actually a "442" because it had fake chrome vents in the hood!!! I tried to explained to him that, that wasn't the case....because I have own a bunch of Oldsmobiles in my life...BUT INSTEAD of listening to logic and reason.......he only got mad and me and began calling ME NAMES instead!!! Acting as if I didn't know what I was talking about!!! Literally people today are stupid.....and according to these idiots "EVERY CAR IS A RARE CAR" somehow!!!
85% ads and sponsor plugs with 15% of actual content. People got tired of it. It's why I stopped watching Stacey David and all the other hot rod shows.
You hit the nail on the head. Go watch anything Stacy has done in the past 5 years. He doesn't DO anything! It's a far cry from how he started out.
I think you're being a bit generous with the 15%. Truck U was the worst of them all, I'd say 3% content, two guys garage a close 2nd.
@@BigMOBBOB Stacey David never did anything but collect a paycheck from the advertisers.
And, all the sponsored parts. Sure makes it easy when you can just throw $30,000 in new parts at something.
@@FBWJX crazy horse, copperhead, sgt rock, v8 interceptor, and banshee say otherwise. But what has he built recently? Nothing...
Remember the TNN Network? PowerBlock TV? I started with ShadeTree Mechanic (Bowman & Memmelo). Stacey David was 1st on Trucks TV before Gearz.
Horsepower TV and the rest were too focused on selling you a product. But those were the good old days. SpikeTV and TNN on Saturdays and Sundays!😊
Stacey built some awesome vehicles
Remember motor trend and autoweek
Stacey David was a walking advertisement I cant take anything he built seriously. It was like HGTV for cars.
As a 51yo, those replaced my warner bros Saturday morning cartoons.
Some things don't change though,I'd watch em with a bowl of cereal while in my undies 😂😂
I remember watching all those when I was growing up in the 90's.... Damn I'm getting old, LOL!
Thank you to Mr. John Davis of Motor Week. He's been faithfully bringing us the latest in cars since 1981 and is still doing it.
RIP Pat Goss
And they took Constructive Criticism about their current content and brought back more audio of ICE sounds.
Motor Week is funded primarily through PBS, not cable TV, WB or Motor Trend.
exactly. This was the only automotive related TV show I liked. All the others were too fake and scripted.
Well Scotty kilmer is STILL wearing his on the road hideous jean shirt from 40 years ago.. apparently it was a little segment he did on the evening news
The issue is that cars an average person can repair and maintain or modify died about 15 years ago. This killed the DIY car culture for people who came of age in the last 10 years. Those of us who are left are aging out of the hobby as it becomes more physically difficult to do the work. Plus, modern cars are crossovers and no one cares about them. They are just minivans with conventional doors. There is nothing exciting about them that would make anyone want to fix up an old one.
people were saying this 5 minutes after they introduced fuel injection and ABS in the 80s. that said, FWD transverse layouts = nightmare for engine work.
but i still see plenty of classics and treasure troves of 80s and 90s f150s, 4runners etc
@@polymetric2614 The thing that is killing diy, and even some professionals is computers that you can't get access to. Why do we need a $1,000 + computer just to talk to our car computer now? Companies are locking everything down just so you are forced to go to them. Everything is turning into lets make the most money, not lets be interesting and get people excited.
@@snoopdogie187Glad that I bought a 2012 Ram . Because the newer ones require you to go to a dealer or buy a whole new brain in order to put a tuner on it. I recently bought a Diablosport Trinity Platinum tuner and I'm really happy to override the restrictions set by the manufacturer without having to go to them.
@@snoopdogie187 and its not just one computer, some cars have up to 5 computers!
@@Oldschoolrules123 your Ram will still fail on its own and messing with it will just make it worse. Most Rams don't survive after 15 years without a truck load of cash! Enjoy!
Most "car shows" are just the same fake reality TV drama but in a garage. Roadkill and the others you mentioned were great because they were actually about cars, but that's a much smaller audience...
Bingo
Yep. The whole fake surprise thing when something goes wrong. Or the number of times they'd have some deadline build and the engine wouldn't run right. You could hear it and be like "well it's out of time/spark plug wires on wrong cylinder".
Or the fake "we have to take care of this item"...guess what happens, later in the episode that one item gets broken. So damn annoying and fake.
Then the older car shows weren't fake reality tv drama, but were just ads for Holley, MSD, etc. They would have this big build and see 2 minutes of work and 20 minutes of ads. Also, they would have "budget builds". Then you'd see a brand new crate engine come in. lol.
Best thing about roadkill (especially early on) was that it was just car guys making anything work. They would rather have fun in a beater than spend months and months trying to make a car a perfect beauty queen. Just go out and have fun with it.
Fabricated “reality” is the worst with their fake problems and time crunches. All these home renovation shows do it, too.
There in lies the problem behind all of this. Car people are a very small percentage of the population. And they always were, even at the height of hot rodding in the 50s and the height of the muscle car era. Then pair that down to the hot rodders and DYI’ers (as opposed to the new car people and the various different types of racing people) and you’re in the less then .5% of the population sector with very little overlap. That’s why they had to add the drama and fighting because that appealed to a slightly larger audience.
The hot rodder and the DYI’er segment is getting ever so smaller with the rules and regulations and the new cars and the future mandates. Your audience is incredibly limited and therefore so are your sponsor pool and how much they are willing to spend on advertising on your channel or show. So all that combined means you’re making less money, even to the point it’s loosing you money. And they aren’t in the business to loose money.
I gave up on television due to the commercials. No need to pay $150 a month for cable to watch 40% commercials. RUclips is around $10 a month for no ads.
I might just look into paying the 10 dollars a month. The ads on RUclips are becoming more and more especially when watching a movie.
We get much more useful information from the net, like your channel.
I used to watch Shadetree Mechanic as a kid and loved it, also lived watching Horsepower TV/Trucks/Extreme 4x4 and the other Spike TV auto shows.
My biggest issue is that it started to become all the same, v8 powered muscle cars and offroad trucks, and less and less of the average daily drivers. But at least now with RUclips i get any type I want, from the tuner scene Mighty Car Mods, to the car repairs like ChrisFix and ETCG, to just chill cleaning videos like the Detail Geek. and if i want the old shows, Horsepower TV and such are on youtube, along with Stacey Davids Gearz.
It was the same Chevy swapped thing. Some type of "budget build" that ended up having an expensive crate engine. And worst of all, most of those shows were filled with ads. Yeah, we all watched it because it was the only thing, but it could have been better.
All we had WAS TV.
For many years, I was more than entertained by the guys at Cartalk on NPR. What a great way to spend an hours on Sunday mornings.
Sorry BUT Scotty Kilmer is an idiot!! He don't know crap about cars!! And I refuse to list here all the things I have heard him say, that just are NOT TRUE AT ALL about cars!!!! I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, graduating high school in 1982!! I was trained as an auto mechanic in a vocational school and have loved cars since I was 5 years old!! My grandfather was a mechanic too, plus as a kid I hung out with old guys who all worked in or owned their own repair shops!!! SO I very literally have been around shops and mechanics most of my life!!! And like I say.....Scotty Kilmer is full of s**t!!!
I all started when Edd China quit
Man, Wheeler Dealers was a sweet show indeed!
Edd was awesome. Super likable, informative, had great skills. Mark…, not so much.
Good riddance to some of those shows that were just thinly veiled reality shows with cars in the background and fake drama. "We've gotta get this car done by next week!" Do you? Do you really? Those can ALL go away.
Which means you didn’t plan properly so you shouldn’t even own a business.
"We're gonna lose the shop!!" 🤣
if we dont get to port we will have massive deadloss! lol
@@AllThingsMech😂
"oh no we installed the distributor 180-out, big fireball out the carb, imply we won't meet the fake deadline, drama, aaaand cut to commercial!!!"
I specifically remember an episode of 'Hot Rod TV' that went over in-depth how to use a torque wrench. One of the most powerful educational segments I've ever seen, still remember and use it to this day.
I still watch ETCG, ETCG1, ChrisFix and several others that have proven trustworthy. Thank you for your edumotive content. I’ll keep watching until such time
I wonder too if rapidly inflating costs are a factor? In the old Top Gear stuff, you'd see the boys buy something for 1500 quid (20+ years ago). Nowadays, used cars are all hyper-inflated in costs, just like real estate. The premise of getting some super-cheap thing, fixing it and going on an adventure is no where near as affordable as it used to be. Of course, that plays into what you're saying too with the bottom falling out of advertising income.
There is NO way on Gods green earth,,Are they gonna be able to phase out ALL gas powered vehicles
California and New York are already doing this!!! AND I live IN New York State and can't afford to move to a place like Georgia or Tennessee!!!
@@gregbenwell6173 It`s cheaper to live in the south then it is in Ca or N Y
They were too scripted and boring at the end
This.
Yea the awkward forced lines fed to the talent by producers is cringeworthy.
I had to get rid of my cable cuz it got too expensive so I've been watching RUclips for the last few years
Too many high-end resto's/ builds, every build had to be slammed,on air bags. Fake weathering ran its course.
AS much as we enjoyed them that didn't help the industry they were way out of the budget for most of us but sold parts!
@davidbartch8917 yes,very true. I lost interest in them when the shows weren't informative anymore. Plus, some of the people in them were just loud& obnoxious. My 2 cents..
@@billneistorowich6801 Not only that but it seemed as if I was watching a comedy show. Road Kill started that trend and when others saw it was successful, a rash of new shows copied the format. All of the Road Kill spinoffs were comedies, except maybe for Engine Masters.
The are all fake drama shows
@@hubertsteenbekkers1522 Most I have to agree I was approached several years ago to be in one. As soon as they found out my sons didn't work with me that was it. NO big deal looked up the shows they made they all sucked
We still have MotorWeek John Davis, R.I.P. Pat Goss.
I miss Fast Lane Daily, but this was the first internet base show that took the hit, and they predicted exactly whst you said.
I sure do miss Road Show with Cooley.
Fast Lane Daily with Derek D was awesome. It’s too bad it ended the way it did
They are all on youtube, my friend!
Mighty car mods
Vice grip garage
And of course, EricTheCarGuy (but he's slacking off a little)😂
I haven't had cable tv since 2012. My wife subscribes to netflix and amazon prime but i just pretty much watch RUclips
PS. Those guys are also on youtube. James may, Richard Hammond, sometimes Jeremy Clarkson
I'm working toward less slacking in the future 😉
@ETCG1 haha. That sounds awesome!
I love VGG, he and others have shown that you don't need an ultra-rare or super-expensive car to have fun and get the satisfaction of reviving. He routinely revives old junkers, something the common man can do.
@kman-mi7su from watching all this youtube, I just picked up a 1996 Honda Del Sol that's been parked since 2002! I feel like I should at least document the journey with it. Probably not going g to make a youtube video about it. Not much good at making videos. 😂
@@sunsetoriginals7320 Yeah, I thought about making some YT videos but I'm not tech savvy, I don't know about cameras, editing with a computer, etc. I'm currently working on a 1988 Ford F250 7.3 IDI diesel pickup I'm putting back on the road.
I look forward to every Saturday at 4pm for Scott and the "agents" at Cold War Motors. He only has 67k subs, but has been doing YT for over 10 years. Then Sunday mornings with Mustie1. Then there's Eric O. at South Main Auto. All excellent channels. Missed seeing you, but understand the circumstances.
Mustie1 is the best part of Sunday morning.
Cold war motors is the best show.I never miss it.
Damn, I've been working in the Same garage for twenty five years and i'm nowhere's near retirement.
I'm gonna go feel bad about my decisions for a few, then get back to work. 😅.
Jokes aside we grow up watching those shows sunday mornings in the nineties. Always looked forward to those mornings.
God Bless friends
Basically all we had was the TV back then. I remember watching the car and truck shows.
Back in the day '90's there were some good auto repair shows on the then TNN. You can actually learn something Road Ready, Shade Tree mechanic another good one where the DIYer can learn something. Now most shows are 10% instruction and 90% advertising sponsor products. Of course the advent of excellent RUclips channels like yours and South Main Auto and the like, why look elsewhere?
I loved Shade Tree Mechanic.
Sam Memolo and Dave Bowman taught me so much as kid on shade tree mechanic!
Shade Tree mechanic was an amazing show. Motorweek, great show. There also was a short lived show in the early 90's in which they were restoring an early Mustang Convertible. Forgot the name of it.
Besides the cost of production, people and infrastructure required to make almost any car show for mainstream TV, I think the on-camera personalities have a lot to do with how those shows succeed or fail with viewers. It’s not enough to just have some catchy segments or episodes or even the vehicles, it’s how the package is presented and who’s doing the presenting. Personality - or personalities - that people can relate to. That’s why the OG Top Gear worked so well, because Clarkson, May and Hammond were likable and distinctive who had their own individual fan bases. Sort of like the Beatles of car shows. You could like the Asshole, the Nerd, or the Enthusiast - or love all three. You couldn’t go wrong. The American versions of Top Gear? Not so much.
Eric, your advantage on RUclips, as I see it, is your personality and relatability, but also with your presentability in front of the camera. I’ve always considered you to be the George Clooney of RUclips - photogenic, knowledgeable, relatable. That’s your strength and success. You’re not related to Clooney - even distantly - are you? I’m surprised that a mainstream cable TV network or company hasn’t made you an offer work for them. But I wouldn’t be surprised if you turned them down, because you’re that kind of guy who wants to do their own thing.
Not related to Clooney, but I get that a lot. I don't see it as a bad thing. Thanks for the comment.
Fake drama is what happened to all the car shows! The ones that survived, not many unfortunately, are without the made up s**t!
WE'RE GONNA LOOSE THE SHOP!!!!! 🤣
Pretty sure theres going to be enough internal combustion cars left on the road to support the industry for years and years and years to come. I mean we're all still drooling over cars from the 60s! They're just not the getting the ad dollars they were because of cord cutters. People are tired of paying $150+ a month for cable.
Thanks, Eric! A lot of the shows have contracts, and if it is a hit, the contract gets extended. If it's not a hit, it gets get cancelled! As you said, "It's all about the money!" Thank RUclips for reruns! I remember a television show that went all around to local car shows and automotive shops in New England, long before the internet!
I’m not sure that EVs are the primary cause, so much as it is a societal shift away from “sitting on a couch at a TV” toward “watching on your devices”. The convenience of on-the-go, ad-free*, selectable content when you want, has made TV much less relevant to younger people.
Excellent point.
I'm 64 and retired, and view my tablet a lot. I watch everything from politics to farm channels and in between. For 94 dollars a month for my tablet and cellphone it's a bargain for entertainment and my tablet is good anywhere that I go through Verizon. My cellphone is just a flip phone. I have antenna TV which I watch and haven't paid for TV in over 4 years at the cost of 105 a month. I imagine that it would be closer to 150 by now.
I would have to agree and that makes me sad 😥 But, shout out to Power Nation!! Especially the guys on Detroit Muscle. They're still making car shows. (This is one of those free channels, I get it off my Samsung TV but Roku should have it too). Barn find Hunters is another good one from the Hagerty channel.
Honestly, I've always wanted a digital confection from you on my birthday. Thank you!
Happy Birthday!
Hey, I missed ETCG1 and I'm glad to see you're back. BTW, I bought your video on how to replace a timing belt on my integra! I know that business venture didn't work out, but I liked that product.
Eric
I cancelled my cable (Comcast)
a long time ago , it just got too expensive to watch a bunch of commercials every 4-5 minutes
I think the TV car-fix show projects were based on sponsorships. So a 30 minute show had 5 minutes of proper ads, plus 25 minutes of stealth advertising with your favourite hosts. Traditional TV and print media advertising dollars dried up and moved to Google, so there is no money to make the TV shows.
Eric we need to thank you for all your wonderful entertainment love watching your videos even the re runs please keep the entertainment coming watching from South Africa
The motors may change, but they will still break. We need you Eric and those who can use their hands and heads. Thanks
So good to see there are some like you, keeping the love for these machines. For as long as possible.
from 2014 to 2019 were some of the best "car guy" years ever.
With all due respect ETCG was better than most of what was on TV. Hope you get back at it soon!
As much as those shows were fun, I actually enjoy their individual RUclips channels more. The RUclips channels tend to be more personal, "behind the scenes", and authentic without the ginned up controversies and contrived story lines. Those shows were edited for TV with a limited number of minutes that each episode could be. So shows like yours will always be my first choice.
I think you nailed it with RUclips. It's cheaper for them to advertise on here and still get the reach. I'm an optimist so I don't think that 2035 is going to happen the way they say it's going to happen.... we just aren't ready to make the hard flip to Zero.
a few thoughts on this, and it's really good to see you back with your commentary!
first, you are right that these shows were and are about the money. however, you can have all the sponsors and advertisers in the world, but if you have no viewers to consume them, you will still not make any money in the long run. these car shows, as most here have eluded to, are nothing more than manufactured drama. my favorite show growing up was "How it's Made". it was straightforward, interesting, educational, entertaining, and without drama. your content is much the same, but maybe in a deconstructive way. i think a lot of viewers prefer that. if i'm going to spend time watching something, i don't want to just be entertained. i want to learn something and apply it.
second, with regard to EVs, i think we are still in the nascent period. i prefer to stay optimistic with this one. i own an EV and i love it. i can see that once they are more widely adopted, there will be more customizations and third-party manufacturers will produce parts for the cars. there are already RUclips channels about repairing EVs and their unique systems. we are starting to see EV adoption with NASCAR and Formula One. when Ford introduced the Model T, there wasn't any customization whatsoever. it takes time. owners of EVs will eventually be able to tune them with custom software and parts. i see no reason this cannot happen.
third, even with a 2035 mandate to move to EV production only, there will still be ICE vehicles around for another 50 years at least. i have 2 ICE vehicles in my possession awaiting restoration. a 1999 Honda Civic EX Coupe (a main reason i ran into your channel years ago), and a 1971 Buick Electra 225. that Buick is nearly 54 years old and i can still get parts for it! even if the third-party manufacturers stop making parts for these things, there are amazing technologies that are also nascent at this point. namely, additive manufacturing 3D printing. in the next 10 years, this stuff will be much more mainstream and allow for anyone to just make a part if they need it. obviously, there will be limitations, but who know how good or bad it will be by then. metal 3D printing has been around since the 80s in industrial form, but has yet to make it onto mainstream consumer markets. but it was only within the last 10 years that poly 3D printers really made it to consumers and they are exponentially cheaper and better each year. the same will be true of metallic 3D printers. i can't wait. scan your bad part, tune the dimensions to spec, and hit print. in a few hours, you have your part ready to install!
these things will exist for the rest of my life, as is the case with many here. i welcome the change. while i like my ICE cars very much, there is definitely things i don't like. dealing with oil and gas isn't something i will miss. don't forget, there are some interesting things you can do with EV conversions of older vehicles. i don't know, we'll shall see.
Thank you for that input.
Thanks for the lovely cake as it is indeed my birthday today! Finally it lined up
Happy Birthday!
I remember watching Shady Tree Mechanic on TNN in the mid-90s. It was a great show because it taught DIY using tools one would have at home. The modern shows are filmed in million dollar garages with million dollar equipment that no DIY person would ever have or need to have. The shows that stayed on the air a long time also evolved into less about teaching and more vague information. Goss’ Garage on Motorweek used to be very technical in nature. In the last 5-10 years of that segment when Pat was still around, they would give more general information and always suggest taking your car to a professional technician. Best shows now are on RUclips with people repairing ordinary cars using tools the average DIY guy would have at home. Nononsenseknowhow is at the top of my list.
The early 2000's until now were a great time for car tv. Top Gear was a phenomenon that I'm happy to have watched from the start progressing in to shows like Roadkill and the like it was endlessly entertaining and like yourself I can re-watch many of them over and over. Thankfully host like David Freiburger, and Mike Finnegan have great RUclips channels so along with yourself I don't have to go cold-turkey
What i see happening currently is people building a huge new sub economy around rebuilding older vehicles for use as daily drivers. Several factors are pushing this: 1) new vehicle cost, 2) EV mandates limiting supply, 3) low quality and through away vehicles designed to fail after 100,000 miles. This started with work and farm trucks and has moved to family cars. Many youtube channels now revolve around this new economy.
Also because nobody likes the technology in newer vehicles
@Drewcardello I agree
lol I thought the thumbnail of this video was a picture of George Clooney from O' Brother Where Art Thou? where he sings with the fake beard 😂
Glad it wasn't just me!
spot on my friend but no one is rushing to Ev’s today. I really miss the old 2 guys garage but realize that one of the original host sadly passed. Fortunately or unfortunately I am in my late 70’s. 78 as of 12/9 so you were a day late with the birthday cake😅 Keep doing what you are doing and please do more stuff with the Element as I have an 04 like you. Supercharge it😅❤
Happy belated birthday!
Top Gear and the Grand Tour were in an entire different league. The trio basically made documentaries with lots of comedy that focused around cars. That combo attracted an audience beyond the car enthusiast. A lot of the other car shows were more just big advertisements, hence why I believe RUclips took off so much.
a lot of car shows were just access media mixed with straight up sponsored with cash stuff. which becomes incredibly boring after a few years - it also has an affect of car reviews they do becoming carbon copies of each other.
I am wanting to say that Speedvision and later just Speed Channel ran from 1996-2015. I remember Unique Whips; that Castro guy was difficult. Wrecked: Life in the Crash Lane with O'Hare Towing in Chicago. I still enjoy "Highway thru Hell," and I thought I saw Derek with Vice Grip Garage the other night. I've been watching Motorweek since it went on the air in 1981. I think Marc Christ is still on Music City Trucks, but, that is also on You Tube. Like has been mentioned, all you need is a camera and you can produce what they can produce on television. GREAT VIDEO!
Derrick from the Vice Grip Garage RUclips channel just got a show on Discovery Plus. I haven't checked it out yet but it's exciting to see a host that did his own thing and it was popular enough to warrant a show.
That show got cancelled, at the same time as Roadkill and hot road garage🤷🤷🤷 discovery plus owns the rights for the shows so you can still watch it.
I remember growing up and watching wrenching shows that just specifically talks about engines. I forget the name but I was hooked. I eventually went into automotive school because of it. With electric cars I'm sure the same enthusiasm will exist but man, what a time. I know we must progress but I will truly miss ice engines.
What happened is that a lot of shows were/are drama based on TV and that’s boring to watch as a car enthusiast. Give me more of shows like Full Custom and I’ll be watching!
RUclips has the wrenchers now and that’s more fun to watch.
The fireplace is a nice touch. I vote we keep it!
I'll agree with you. It's 100% about the money. TV costs a lot to produce, it takes forever to film complete cars being crafted, and the ad revenue isn't there. I recently watched a video on Facebook that Automotive TV is going to be just re-runs for the next few years as media outlets rake in dollars as best as possible without the costs for new shows. Seeing content creators off RUclips being on TV is probably a sign that you can do a lot to entertain people with far less production value. I would bet that most automotive content is streamed rather than on a TV channel anyway.
I remember American sports cavalcade on TNN, Speed vision, Speed, velocity, Motortrend
I think you are mostly correct but I believe the downfall was TV networks overpricing their channels to providers like your local Cable TV provider, Dish network, Sling and other paid live TV streaming services. I primarily watch RUclips now which in my experience came from my Cable Company and then Dish Network not allowing customer to buy programming A la carte and forcing unwanted packages and charging huge fees for these packages. Once Roku came out and I could buy those channels on Sling for $30/month, I cut the cord but eventually Sling raised their price to $45 so I dumped them as well which caused me to really watch RUclips and Netflix again. All the shows I really liked on Velocity like FantomWorks, Last Stop Garage and Rust Valley Restoration all ended. I found most of the remaining shows I used to like such as Garage Squad, Bitchin Rides and Two Guys Garage had either changed cast members or just gotten stale over time where I loved the chemistry of the old cast or the scripts didn't change much. I guess I watched these shows not because of the projects they were doing but for the chemistry the cast had. Once I started watching folks like you, Vice Grip Garage, South Main Auto and many others.. I really lost interest in network TV.
I use an antenna and my tablet is from Verizon along with my cellphone and I pay 94 a month. My last cable bill was 105 and that was over 4 years ago. My tablet and cellphone bill has never gone up in 4 years. And having Pluto you have more to watch than on cable. Plus cable you still have to watch commercials which doesn't make sense if you have to pay for the channel.
Eric, Happy holidays to u and ur loved ones.
I was 🤣🤣🤣 at all the facial expressions on ur face as u pretended to switch TV stations.
I'm not a big TV program watcher. I didn't hv cable maybe that's why. I'm a big Netflix fan however.
There was a short clip of u talking about using cat clean or some type of additive in ur engine, well I tried it today. The cataclean bleeping worked!!! My 3rd cat in this HE, I was not going to spend more money on a new catalytic converter, if I can help it.🤞🏽 I hope this will fix the chk engine like for good. 🙏🏽 I may have to put more cataclean in a few months to maintain it, time will tell.
I guarantee gas prices are going to be insanely high, like $20 a gallon for 85 octane around 2035. Google "how many years of oil are left".
I have similar thoughts.
It started with Click & Clack retiring, then TopGear/GT, and by then automotive entertainment went the way of ad revenue fodder.
Loved watching Stacey David build trucks every Saturday morning
Wow…being able to retire after doing something for 20 years would be sweet. I’m on year 25 now…no retirement in sight unfortunately.
Eric, get a vevor diesel heater, it's 100 $ and puts out a lot of heat in your shop. Keep up the good work!
I have one, but I don't see the point of using it for a 30min video shoot in my storage unit. Besides, they might have issue with that. Thanks for the comment.
Im still pissed that my favorite magazines were cancelled.
Throttle House has been doing a good job putting out some videos similar to the style of Grand Tour / Top Gear.
Good to see you again, God bless!
It started to go downhill for broadcast shows when Stacey David left Trucks. Internet has slowly taken over since then.
It costs money to make these shows. Indeed it does. There's a place where they invest in such a show. It's show produced in The Province of Quebec, however it's in French. It's called RPM. It's a one hour weekly show hosted by two auto journalists. Every week they showcase a new vehicle (trucks, IC, EV, Hybrids etc.) Each show starts with the exterior's design, quality of construction, paint...Then the interior, seats, dash, controls, visibility, cargo space...Then it's at the track, acceleration (0 to 100 k) and braking (100 to 0), then slalom narrow then wide cone placement, emergency stop and auto braking for an object...then a road trip evaluation ending with fuel consumption numbers accrued during their tests. After that they go over number of service bulletins and recalls to get a predicted reliability.
The camera work is great (from the inside and outside) All their programs old and new are available on the web. Search RPM TV. Extremely popular in QC.
The shows like HorsePower TV eventually stop showing actual work. It was a 5-10 minute montage of the work being done, then the reset of it was sponsor advertisements. I got tired of watching it. Loved the days of Chuck and Joe on Hot Rod TV.
Hi Eric, next could you do a clip on what you forsee where classic car motoring will be in the future.🐞
Back in our days there were a number of fine cars(and trucks) we loved and coveted, we spent countless hours building them up and drove them and looked after them proudly. Parts were available and some we made ourselves. All this is slowly dying out in a throw away society.🦋
Excellent idea!
Alright it’s Eric!!! Yea, I don’t think anyone wants to see an EV “hot rod” show either. Btw, Thanks for the help on the ‘97 Honda accord a couple years ago. I used to watched him just for the hell of it and then I actually needed some info one day and Whatya know, the exact issue I had was resolved by one of his posts.
That's why we are all waiting for your return to normal car videos. Maybe you could partner with Jegs, Summit, Rock Auto, and others to help them advertise and you can get some income. You need parts for your repairs, and what better places to get those parts.
Regarding Top Gear reruns, there is a PlutoTV channel that streams reruns of Top Gear 24/7.
Ive worked around the reality tv production on a show that still have top ratings they are making money hand over fist but the tallent expects more as the show gains popularaty. The top management doesnt like that as they only believe their only responciability is to the shareholders
TV show don't take an army. It takes 6 people max. Star/host, Producer, Editor, Director, PR person and Cameraman. TV networks need to make money on kick backs due to embezzlements.
All those shows are going away because NOT ONE of them gives us digital confections on our birthdays. Seems clear to me.
Started watching Wheeler Dealers years ago when I was stationed overseas. I believe it's still around even though Ed moved on, but he has his own channel here in Utube.
I love wurkin on old cars but I'm also into more of the heavy duty wrench turning channels like Bus Grease Monkey and several others, too. Gave up on all the high priced reality TV builds; just didn’t seem genuine. Much better material from the locals here in Utube👍💪
I will say this: the proliferation of the, "will it start?" videos seems to be the current thing now.
If you have the money creating another tv show known as ETCG1 Could be a great next step for you😂 well is not easy
But we love you papaa Eric
Far away from Cameroon is your favorite fan😅
I just had my hybrid Ford electric motor fail at 4 years age with 41000 km on the odometer. No individual parts available and it sounded very much like a bearing failure. Price on part 7500€ and labour was 23 hours worth of work. Thank god it was about to become a campaign and manufacturer paid for it. Still, it was initially already out of warranty and it almost costed half the price of the car to repair it. This is not sustainable for a car owner
@ETCG1 I Luv Elbow Job, Luv Fixing Cars, It Sad To See It Into The Sunset, However Thank You. ✌🥂
A lot of those countries are backing off the "zero emissions by 2035" - the UK in particular and Germany as well. They are realizing that the charging infrastructure will not be there, and a LOT of people in the UK do not have a garage to charge their EV, and they are not allowed to charge on the kerb.
I prefer watching RUclips videos, over watching television. There are fewer advertisements on RUclips and I can find stuff that interests me; which also increases my knowledge. I also create videos of stuff I do, like working on my cars and finding old bridges. By 2035 I will be 63 years old (64 in September 2035) and I doubt if I will still want to work on my cars (unless for some reason one of my RUclips videos goes viral and my channel bursts with subscribers etc...), so having a newer (less than 12 years old) car might be appealing to me. One thing I hate about the auto industry is how the banks/politicians are involved and it's obvious where the banks/politicians are investing, and how the auto industry is bending over backwards to appease them. Electric vehicles aren't "New Technology"; they had them in 1909 (Baker Electric) and they had decent range (but it wasn't where banks were investing). Anyway, thanks for the Warm Video!
Even the shows that were on Discovery (Fast n' Loud, and various spin-offs) can be found on RUclips. In my opinion, there is more creative freedom not having to perform for rating's hungry executives and sponsors. The trade-off is less available money to create content.
Change is the only constant. I miss the old three-speed column shift. Change is an opportunity, and you ( and the rest of us old car guys) have the background and knowledge to take advantage of those opportunities. Let's make it happen. Take advantage of every avenue to exploit the freedom of all forms of personal transportation.
I dropped TV in all it's forms more than a decade ago. RUclips took over that for me by providing better content with less corporate profiteering. That balance has shifted a bit but I'm still here. I pay for premium to eliminate the ads. I have Prime and watched with a tear in my eye as the Grand Tour wrapped up. I'm eagerly awaiting another season of Clarkson's Farm. There are tons of channels here on RUclips that do Bolt-on stuff, but better than that are the folks making cool car content without all the huge sponsors. As long as there's a person in their garage doing cool car content, I'll be there. As they grow and finally give in to corporate sponsorship, I'll move on the the next up-and-comer.
Thanks for what u do
I get actual automotive news from RUclipsrs like Scotty, Zach and Ray, Brandon CQS, Lucky Lopez. They don't have to worry about upsetting advertisers, so they can give true opinions.
We still have Top Gear Australia..........granted its not good but Moog from MightyCarMods is the only reason I watch it. 🤣
Shade Tree Mechanic was the OG!
Thatdudeinblue mentioned a facet on that: as every auto maker is pushing real hard their consumers into EVs, nowaday EVs are basically the same: nice torque, silent, heavy machines with lots of infotainment and gadgets. Besides that, they are pretty much the same so there is no engagement the end user will get. Because of that and purchasing habits rapidly changing on new generations, there are not as many car enthusiasts. As you can imagine, if TV companies cannot see some way to get profit from a demographic, they will not waste time on that. I hope I will be wrong, and within 10 years interesting cars will have a rebirth in some kind of shape, but now it seems cars for most of the people are just appliances to go from A to B as efficient and cheap as possible.
RUclips channels can be more direct in the topics/content they cover in each video. For example, if you watch Motorweek, which is a good show, but if you are looking for the specific car review of that week, you have to sit through a couple of segments before you get to the car review. But on RUclips, you can search for that particular car, and a bunch of reviews will pop up. They’re not all good, in fact, most of them are terribly produced by RUclipsrs and influencers who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about, but the fact that you have a ton of choices make it very appealing to people.
Once my Discovery+ subscription expires it will NOT be renewed. The hosts of Roadkill, HRG, Roadworthy Rescues Faster with Newbern and Cotten all have RUclips channels. I will miss these shows, Thanks for the memories. Where you been Eric? Hope you post more content.
There have been some good show pop up to fill the void. Car Trek comes to mind. Not expensive to shoot, not trying to be BBC quality, just three friends that grew up watching Top Gear getting to live their dream. While it was much move scripted, I also loved Tex Mex Motors as well (RIP Rabbit).
I think television in general is on its way out - going the way of the horse and buggy. I haven't owned a working TV in over 7 years, and with RUclips & the rest of the net, I haven't missed it one bit.
Advertisers don’t have to equate to commercials. Most of the car shows that I’ve been watching for the last 30 years, have been on cable channels. Cable channels are paid by subscription, so any advertisement is extra for them, not the consumer. It all boils down to corporate greed.
I'm sorry to say that combustion engines might only be discontinued in US, Canada and Europe... 😅
Great video !!!!
Content on ev's is awesome. Content behind paywall is why motor trend ended. And there are so many streaming services, so the spread is wide. Could you make EV reviews technical?