1955 Buick Special

I just wanted to introduce myself and meet some fellow Buick fans. I own a 1989 Buick Reatta, that has been in the family since new, just love the car.

But my new pride and joy is a recently restored 1955 Buick Special. I produce HDTV programming for a living and we recently finished production on a new 12 part reality series called "Reality Rides." Carl Meredith and his great build team at Carls Custom Cars, under much production pressure did a frame off restoration of this car for our television audience. The car was completed in about 5 months, working 7 days a week, with a crew of about five. Click here for build pics:

http://www.greenehdtv.com/Reality%20...63/page63.html

I think we have created a totally new kind of automotive show, and this first season is all about this Buick. Take a look at demo and a few of the early episodes if you would like. And please post your comments, we are still editing and look forward to hearing feedback.

http://vimeo.com/14171239 <!--EndFragment-->

Very interesting trailer, will this be a broadcast series? If so, what network?

I saw parts of the show in Ames, the show and the car look great. Welcome aboard!

Very neat. Welcome aboard.

As the producer of the series and being new to the board, thanks for all of your comments!

We are trying to create a REAL automotive series that is entertaining, educational, and just plain fun to watch. Reality television is not very real most of the time, our series strives to be different.

For some reason broadcasters are under the impression that unless someone is fighting with a colleague or getting run over by a bus, then no one will want to watch the show. I disagree and it appears that I am not alone.

We need as many comments as we can get if you would like a television show that has some redeeming value. I am collecting the comments from this forum and others and forwarding them to my distributors. They need to hear from the public or we will continue to get fed garbage TV.

The cast of this series is a REAL build team, made up of real automotive enthusiasts like yourselves. The build on this Buick was all actual, no fake scenarios shot simply to justify the programmers false beliefs in what the viewers would really like to see. Cudos to Carls Custom Cars and all the great sponsors who believe in what we are trying to do.

So please speak up and let your voice be heard! If you would like to see a show like this on the air, without all the fake story lines then let me know. Current planned air-dates will be in the spring 2011 season. (Mid-January)

No fighting???

Yes please.

Let my voice be the next...

If your show is a creative as that trailer then I am in for sure...those shots of the flash light on the dash were chilling, the wiping of the trim piece...something we all do. The transition from the past to the present is really what we are all about in this hobby.

Reflect on the past while we live in the present!

I'm all in...I want to see this.

...back to watch that again

no fake scenarios shot simply to justify the programmers false beliefs in what the viewers would really like to see.

You mean like showing that you turned a 4 door donor car into a 2 door beauty.

Look I love the trailer you made and I am enjoying the other videos but you clearly show in that trailer, the parts car being restored into another different 2 door.

There is nothing faked in the series. That was our parts car for the build. In order to create the excitement and passion on the trailer, then we used both cars, it's not as if I was going to disassemble my finished Special again.

It would be impossible to create that transformation sequence in real time, the physics don't work. Nor were we going to go grab a random Special that we did not actually use as a parts car. There are plenty of parts from the Century in our completed car, in fact it would have been hard to complete the car without it.

So in reality there are parts of the "soul" of both those old cars in the completed 1955 Special. In the series we don't fake the build time, we don't create fake tension, nor do we manufacture arguments between the mechanics.

This show is real and the trailer is designed to create interest and excitement from the viewers and apparently it does that well from the responses we had. The build sequence in the demo is a special effect, nothing more or less

And if you knew Carl, you would know that his love affair with this car is real as well. Every time I bring the car back to the shop or out for a show and he is around it, he stares at it, polishes something, cares and adjusts something as if it's his child. That is what this show is about, the builders passion for his machine. Not about counting port holes.

I found this car and saved it from decay, I am proud of the show and my Buick that now enjoys a new life. Even the rusting Century had one last hurrah on film, it beats being crushed. I created this show around saving this car, not the other way around. For me too its a passion and a professional desire to create something that has an appeal to those who love cars.

Because of this real series, a Buick is back on the road, it attracts attention from young and old wherever I drive it. The car is driven several times a week and it's alive again.

Re: Rocker panel repair segment-

One would think replacing the rocker panel would have been quicker and better job than the two patch panels.

Not sure if I would watch the series if/when it airs.

Re: Rocker panel repair segment-

Not sure if I would watch the series if/when it airs.

yea me neither, I mean who cares about watchin a show about ugly ol fityfive Buicks. Now if it was fityfo's, I'd be poppin up some popcorn.

Just funnin with ol progoofoff Greene HD

I for one want to give my appreciation for YOUR apparent appreciaton of the old and classic car world and putting forth the time, effort and money to bring this show about. Believe me, on other shows I have seen some horrible scenes of perfectly good body parts just being chunked right into the dumpster and work staged just for a dramatic effect, so I see where StealthBob is coming from. I haven't had time to view all the trailers yet but from what I saw, I will likely put it on my watch list when it comes out. Just hope it don't come on at the same time as American Pickers.

Keep us posted on when and where it will be shown.

I have seen OCC use a grinder to widen freshly painted rear fenders before an unveiling. There are always odd things that occur during restorations/ fabrication.

I learned how to remodel houses and later make a good living doing it by watching Hometime and This Old House. I always said that if Monster Garage and OCC type shows had been on instead, I would have learned to weld instead of use a hammer. That said, I despise the fact that TLC and Discovery now have John and Kate. The L stands for learning! I don't care about seeing the bickering and unrealistic deadlines. I know these things exist, and I know a lot of people like seeing them, I would just prefer to see the actual work being done so I can learn.

My two cents.

I think any show that takes the time to do a full restoration while showing how it is done is a good thing. I normally stay positive but for some reason I chose to nit pick last night and posted a negative slant on an observation.

I look forward to future episodes....

Great trailer! Enjoyed the show. Go for it. Excuse my ignorance but what show is OCC and what network is it on?

American Chopper - Orange County Choppers

Greene HD - looks like a great show...good luck with it!

Looks like something I'd be pretty interested in watching. Of course if you show pieces being taken to the rechromer and being picked up the next day or your upholsterer sitting waiting for you to walk in the door so he can have those pesky door panels done by Wednesday I'll know there's a lot of "poetic license" being taken. But, it is just TV afterall and 99.7% of the viewers won't know or care. Good luck with the project. I do hope it works and you make some money with it.............Bob

Thanks, Adam. Keep posting on your 58 Limited project.

Isn't occ a lot like ocd but worse ? Or maybe likeadhd ? Whatever buit I stopped watching it when the arguments between father and son got to be the main part of the show.

Build bikes and shoow that, not the infighting. The same thing made me made aboutr AMerican Hot Rod or whatever Boyds show was called.

Teach us something, I dont need to see bickering and fighting.

PS, I liked the trailer and would watch the show when it come on.

I enjoyed the trailer and the video for the 4th episode, and would ask for you to include more detail on the work involved. I also presume additional editing is in store as I noticed in one segment for the Transmission part the segment centers on the 50 Ford Pickup that the company built.

And by the way, here is one other thing that may or may not provoke an argument. Can you really call the car "restored "when you cut the dash to add "vintage air A/C", and changed the color combination and pattern, and the interior colors too? I personally think it is a misnomer. But that's just me.

As for watching the show, I might consider it, but mostly because of the subject car. I don't know how much I would watch if it were something else being built. Just giving my opinion here.

And by the way, here is one other thing that may or may not provoke an argument. Can you really call the car "restored "when you cut the dash to add "vintage air A/C", and changed the color combination and pattern, and the interior colors too? I personally think it is a misnomer. But that's just me.

Many automotive writers don't know what the word restore / restored / restoration means either. Restoration - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

I liked it a few years back when the new "word" was "restification", implying that some artistic license is being taken with a restoration project, but the car retains essentially a stock look. So, for example, improving the brakes, adding Vintage Air, non-stock colour or at least non-original colour, etc. are things that fall into that.

Some of us are still somewhat of sticklers when it comes to the English language...JD, you aren't alone, at least on this one.

You guys are pretty fun to read! And I love getting the feedback for sure. Some of the hot rod crowd thinks it was not enough to leave the car so close to original. Then you have the Buick fans who would like to see it 100% original.

The show falls somewhere in between, which is where the reality of getting it on the air really lies. I wanted the car to look factory but have some realistic improvements for frequent use in Texas. Vintage Air was a necessity for 2 reasons. First, they were a sponsor. Second, I would never drive the car in this 100+ heat without it, life is too short.

We made a few other improvements, like modern rear shocks and safer brakes. We added seat belts because I have kids and took some liberties with the seating design. Although note that the cloth is from an actual 1957 Buick Special fabric bolt never used. Which was kind of cool to find.

But the heart of the beast is original. The rebuilt V8, the dyna-flow, and the rear end, all unmolested.

I guess my favorite part of the project is talking to the general public at car shows and cruise-ins. It seems everyone over the age of 60 has a Buick story from the 50's. And I get "thumbs up" and smiles from the current generation whenever its on the road. The bottom line is that it's fun and history is rolling down the road for others to enjoy as well.

I can see your point. I did like the way you improvised with the A/C Outlets. Could have looked that way if the manufacturer thought about it. I even like the colors you chose. And I'm sure those Hot Rod guys would only want to see a Chevy motor in there. Thanks for keeping the original drive train.

I'd be interested in how the Special performs with the vintage Air and more shots of how that was installed.

No matter what, it works better than the sorry factory air I have in mine!

The vintage air system works and cools like a modern A/C in any new car. The car has a huge cabin to cool off with only 4 vents, but it does its job well even when it's over 100 outside.

Fortunately it does not pull too much power from the old V8 nor does the car run much hotter because of the system. There is a little more heat and less acceleration, but nothing to write home about really.

We modeled the vent locations after where they were placed in a 55 Pontiac, to be as real as possible. The best thing was Vintage Air found a way to adapt the original vent and heat controls to work off the new system. So no additional switches were added. Very cool. They had not done this 54-55 control design before and it took them about 6 weeks to design a way for it to work. But the cables are gone and replaced by a modern circuit and switch system hooked up to the original switches. If anyone is interested, then I can pass on the contact info at Vintage Air, now that they have built a prototype it can easily be duplicated in any 54-55 Buick. It's very cool. I did not want to add any new switches to the dash and I wanted all the old ones to work as they should have.

We did lose a good bit of interior space in the glove box due to the dash cooling system, but it still holds the owners manual and a pair of gloves. lol

I will upload more pics soon. If you have not been to my website, there are lots of build pics there, but not too many at Vintage Air. So I will have to add those.

1955 Buick Build Pics

The bottom line, another old car saved from the crusher or God forbid a taxpayer funded 'Cash for clunkers" program. I just hope the show is on a channel in my "basic" satellite lineup---I just saved 25 bucks a month by getting rid of The Speed Channel. And a final note, the show should teach us Rookies (and perhaps oldtimers) something every episode, that is how we will save this hobby !

I just hope the show is on a channel in my "basic" satellite lineup---I just saved 25 bucks a month by getting rid of The Speed Channel.

I would love to drop down to the lower level of service, but they put all the women's channels in the upper tier. My wife would go crazy without her lifetime and oxygen crap!

Yeah my wife lost natgeo, so we are even !

What a great job you did to this great car!

How well does it run with the 4 barrel carburetor and which one did you use?

You negatory nabobs need this car behind you everywhere you go.

Dan

GREENE HD, I like the way that your trailer shows the parts car teardown and the building back up of the finished car. It conveys how a donor car is not wasted, that bits of it do live on.

Unfortunately, there's nothing that would convince me to start watching TV again. Life is just too short to spend it fast-forwarding through McDonald's commercials.

Loved the online episodes...found 1, 3 and 4 on vimeo. How can we see more?

Loved the online episodes...found 1, 3 and 4 on vimeo. How can we see more?

The series finally starts airing on October 5 @ 9a EST on Velocity and will run for 26 consecutive weeks. Both seasons 1 and 2 will air. Set your DVR's and please let us know what you think of the show. We created it for automotive enthusiasts just like you. It's actually real, no fake drama, no yelling, no BS. Just restoring cars and returning them to the road.

Enjoy and please spread the word, we need lots of viewers if this will survive!

Facebook page for latest info:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Reality-Rides/698284296855252

We got to hang out with Carl's son in Waxahachie last weekend. It sounds like a great opportunity and the no BS approach will be appreciated.