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Reality TV


Bill Stoneberg

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I was flipping and on some dumb show they were making a gasser out of a 65 Riv. They already has replaced the GS engine with a small block.

 

what a waste of brain power whoever thought that scheme up.  Wife flipped to Bachelorette, that was better.

 

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I hate those shows with a passion. Taking classic cars and turning them into junk. I also hate shows like counting cars which are obviously staged and not based on any form of reality.

Jay Leno's show is good though. There is also a show in Australia called Man & Machine which isn't bad.

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Watched a show the other day, had a Firebird they took the engine out of.  When they drained the oil, fresh clear water came out and they said the block was ruined.   I have never seen clear water come out of an engine from any hole.  This was supposed to be old water from a fire years ago that got in the crank case.....still not even sure how plausible that was.

 

I know Redneck Robbie from Animal Planets Tanked....he tells me all the fake crap they make them do to add drama to the show.

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The TV show Love It or List It is being sued for the same thing.  Apparently the home owners are just "actors" in the renovation of their own home.  Every word and reaction is scripted and rehearsed.  The home owners are suing because only enough was done to make the show, and the deposit they had to put up up front was not used as was contracted. Reality isn't reality.

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I saw the same show with the 65 made into a Gasser. I think its called Fat and Furious, really it's about a bunch of rotund boys redoing cars. The challenge was to turn a Riv into an 11 second Gasser but it turned 13.11. They claimed it was way too heavy even though they gutted the whole car, added a SBC, two big carbs with velocity stacks and nitrous. Ironically, those boys know what "too heavy" means. Frankly, it was sad to see a modified (straight axle, gutted, re-motored, big n littles) Riv hustling down the 1/4 mile track with it's nose in the air and wheels splayed out. Just seemed wrong. As other has said, even the most reputed builders like a Chip Foose are creating drama for TV rather than quality cars. PRL

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                 I googled Fat and Furious 65 Riviera and the video came right up.....I was only able to watch about two minutes of it and it made me nauseated what they did to that car and I had to turn it off......the owner of the car loves what they did to it and  I'll say right now that he has no business owning a classic car of any kind. People like this guy is why I've never sold my GTO that I've owned for 45 years. I was always afraid someone  like this guy would get his hands on it. I'll wager that all the original parts like the front seats that were removed from the car were tossed in a dumpster. The car had Gran Sport emblems on it before they made it into a Gasser......I sure hope that wasn't a real GS.....that would be a real tragedy.  

Edited by Seafoam65 (see edit history)
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I'm sorry, but gassers are just about the dumbest-looking cars in the universe. Apologies to the guys who were there and appreciate the look, but if you want to take a car with value and turn it into a $0, making a gasser is the best choice. Stupid looks, spooky handling, questionable performance gains, and did I mention how stupid it looks? I haven't seen the car in question, but I'm glad about that.

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Back in the 60's when the Gassers were the small bodied Willys, they were quite the thing.  When guys started trying to make gassers out of later model cars running small blocks, the passion was lost.  Here's a picture that exemplifies what went into building a gasser that was meant for business.

 

  Doug Cook wayne arteaga garage

Here, John Hellmuth and Doug Cook look over the disassembled Chrysler hemi in the SWC '41

Willys.  John informs us that the hemi started life as a 392, but was enlarged to a whopping 454

cubic inches.  Note the aluminum fuel tank, the magneto still installed in the block, and the team

signage on the cars's door.

 

Perhaps there are others out there who have some more knowledge on the subject.  

 

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It takes about 750 hp to get a 3600 pound car up to a speed of 135 mph. No SBC  with carburetors can achieve that amount of hp unless it is supercharged or on nitrous. To get an eleven second et, the tires, suspension, transmission, etc. must be setup for drag racing. None of this was done. Complete joke!

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Not sure why anyone would take a personal luxury car and build a gasser. And a rare car makes less sense. Some can be good looking show or drag cars, but handling is questionable to say the least for a street car, For those still wondering what a gasser is, here are a few pictures.

 

154184.jpg

DSC_45391.jpg

IMG_068.jpg

IMG_5781.jpg

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The cars of Willys of K S Pittman, Stone Woods & Cook, Arteaga and Hellmuth, Big John Mazmanian are from the era and configuration that I'm thinking of.  Anything built in the 50's or later was just too heavy to really hauls a$$.    Then if you really want to get crazy, get into something like the Winged Fury AA/ fuel altered car driven by Wild Willy Borst.

4_willys.jpg

a35b894f4330bef3ac6797fc8bb8c5d2.jpg

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IMG_3882_zpscdf342a2.jpg

wild+willie+b+w1286482709.jpg

 

No crate motors and jig welded chassis, Take a stock bodied car and drop in a big stocker motor, put on a blower, stick in a big cam, and top it off with some nitro.  Turn 9,000 RPM's and shift through a B&M modified Hydro.  9.8 seconds @ 140+ mph for the gassers, 7 seconds at 180+ for the altereds. 

Real men, real machines.

 

Ed

Edited by RivNut (see edit history)
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Ed, thanks so much for the nostalgia photo of the Stone, Woods, Cooke 41 Willys. Such a natural, unposed picture of two guys working out the next step in the project. Classic. Tnx

 

Was probably 12-13 years old, into building model cars and this was one I did. Used to draw this shape all the time at school during lessons, so must have influenced my choice.

 

Of course, I painted mine PINK, left the decals and some of the racing paraphanalia off, but I liked it! Was never one to follow the instructions, had to be different. Which is why I chose a Riviera.

 

"Photos are worth a thousand words, but a model is worth a thousand photos" Quote from Motorama, GMs Legendary Show and Concept Cars by David W Temple.

 

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There was only one reality show, the first one. It was so bad the producers thought they would make a parody of the lame attempt. The parody was worse than the first lame one so the next guy made a parody of the parody that was so bad. Well, we're are in the umpteenth iteration of parodies of lame parodies and it ain't lookin' good.

 

I know a guy working on a degree in movie production and I am trying to enlist his help in making one that out-stupids them all. He won't touch it. To him it has all the stigma of a being young lawyer taking a job with a accident claim law firm. My Mother used to say "Don't come into the house until you scrape your shoe off." It's that kind of stigma.

 

Anyone see the collection of jackasses with a deadline to restore the Grandmother's Lincoln for the Veteran's Day parade. I bet their rain gear comes in sealed foil packages. I'm still not sure if the vet was in the VFW or the WTF. I know that no one would be waiting for the MTA to give them sandwiches.

Bernie

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm in the marketing business and can confidently tell you that the reality TV phenomenon is driven by a few important factors: 1. It is relatively cheap to produce which is appealing to networks facing diminishing viewership, steep overhead costs etc. 2. Reality programming spawns countless spin-off opportunities which also translates into low cost, low risk, high margin offerings for networks. 3. Reality TV mirrors social media activity so popular today so it is stoked by cultural habits. 4. Culturally speaking Americans have a strong appetite to see people more wealthy, eccentric, flamboyant or screwed up than themselves and will dedicate endless hours watching others do extreme things. 5. Reality TV appeals to a strong current sentiment among average Americans that almost anyone could be a star. 

 

No matter what you see, remember none of it is real. None of it. Not even the nightly news. It is a revenue based model. More viewers =more ad revenue so they'll do anything to get more eyeballs. It is designed to provoke reaction, emotions and stimulate viewership. A completely factual car restoration would be boring and nobody would watch it. The more hyperbole, the better. We are all bent out of shape and emotional because they tore up a nice Riv. We watched it. Their plan worked. PRL

 

 

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17 hours ago, petelempert said:

I'm in the marketing business and can confidently tell you that the reality TV phenomenon is driven by a few important factors: 1. It is relatively cheap to produce which is appealing to networks facing diminishing viewership, steep overhead costs etc. 2. Reality programming spawns countless spin-off opportunities which also translates into low cost, low risk, high margin offerings for networks. 3. Reality TV mirrors social media activity so popular today so it is stoked by cultural habits. 4. Culturally speaking Americans have a strong appetite to see people more wealthy, eccentric, flamboyant or screwed up than themselves and will dedicate endless hours watching others do extreme things. 5. Reality TV appeals to a strong current sentiment among average Americans that almost anyone could be a star. 

 

No matter what you see, remember none of it is real. None of it. Not even the nightly news. It is a revenue based model. More viewers =more ad revenue so they'll do anything to get more eyeballs. It is designed to provoke reaction, emotions and stimulate viewership. A completely factual car restoration would be boring and nobody would watch it. The more hyperbole, the better. We are all bent out of shape and emotional because they tore up a nice Riv. We watched it. Their plan worked. PRL

 

 

When "scripted reality" shows started I was amazed that people ate it up.  I was somewhat offended that I was expected by the producers to accept this as reality.  I know you have to suspend your disbelief a little for most movies and shows, but this was too much.  I just can't watch any of it.

 

From my memory Orange County Choppers was the near the start of it all.  I liked the premise - getting to watch a bunch of guys build a custom bike - but it quickly devolved into grown men acting like little kids.  It was obvious that they were prodded to act this way.  That was the end for me.

 

The "news" is the most offensive of all...

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I file this under the heading: "If you say/see/hear something frequently enough, it becomes 'truth'."  The TV producers have just recently discovered what politicians have known for a long time -- "tell people what they want to hear"...

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The closest thing to reality I have seen in the media is reruns of The Music Man, Makes me remember selling cars and meeting my wife.

 

Yep, she's a librarian. And I'm kinda......

Bernie

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