Morris Minor Owners Club

Have you bitten off more than you can chew with your restoration? Is it taking an age, draining your finances, or causing strife at home?
"What restorations don't" we hear you say?! But if you are in need of help, a new television series looking to come to the aid of restorers whose projects are causing a sever headache. Drop kate.owen@indusfilms.com a line to find out more.

Is this a new series of the Mark Evans programme?

No I am afraid not. We are in the early stages of putting together a new potential series about the restoration of classic vehicles, boats and planes etc and we are on the hunt for real labor of love projects that have begun to cause sacrifices outside of the garage be in financial, time away from family or simply taking up to much room in the garage/home. The premise of the series would be to help these people finish their projects, see their restoration realized and hopefully restore peace to the house. We are therefore on the hunt for stories to potentially feature.

All these programmes be them USA or British made focus too heavily on the abandoned projects ,loss of interest or people not knowing the first thing about what they have taken on.
We are not all a bunch of lazy people with cars under sheets waiting for a miracle to happen

A far more positive approach to this fantastic hobby of ours should focus on the .....

Determined owners who restore their vehicles with military prescision and planning.
Have an artistic flair to visualise the finished project.
Are out in their workshops or garages every evening working on their projects.
Honing their engineering,paint spraying and upholstery skills.
Travel around the country looking for parts at autojumbles,scrapyards or fellow enthusiasts properties.
The skills they have taught themselves or small one man businesses that have set up in the last ten years or so,who can help in carrying out parts of the restoration.
The holidays,trips,evening get togethers or rallies people take part in once the project is finished.

We are not all a bunch television watching,coach potato`s,who have abandoned cars on our front lawns,who have purchased a restoration project and have no inclination or get up and go to start, never mind finish the project.

Over the last 30 years I have restored more cars than I can remember,have truly enjoyed my hobby and travelled all over Europe in my finished works of art,attending rallies,shows or events.

Restoring vehicles to a high standard and then getting a pat on the back afterwards,has given me confidence in life to take on other challenges that I thought impossible.and a lot of character building that no self help group could never achieve.

Please focus on the positive people and positive side of our hobby not the doom and gloom aspect,or negative back story aspect

M M

^^^^^^^ SPOT ON COMMENT

I agree but that don't make good viewing

All very true but you are confusing television with reality.
I guess they think there is still a little mileage in this hackneyed show format where TV show comes to the rescue of your car/house renovation.

no I am not

I agree we don't all abandon projects but keep your eye on the ads on this site as there are just as many who do! Maybe some have genuine reasons but many just give in.

This is how I got my truck project, now finished. The previous owner had started, but got the hard word from inside that "you're spending too much time out there in the garage." His partner was really happy with me when I bought the unfinished project and took it away. I think he was resigned to the fact.

If you do appear on one of these program's make sure you get paid. Industry standard for film / tv work is £100 per day fee plus expenses (40p a mile travelled for your return journey to the shoot, plus a meal, plus tea / coffee on set ) and more money if you speak or act on camera. Don't fall for the " chance to get your car on TV " old line.

I agree with the above comments, this series sounds like a media propaganda excercise designed to put restoration and classic cars in a poor light.

Do you really want someone else`s abandoned project.?
I have been to inspect some of these cars over the last 35 years.....

Sills welded on with the doors removed...doors do not fit afterwards,rubbing on sills.
Engines taken apart,and I mean every nut and bolt and put in cardboard boxes....you only take an engine apart as you rebuild it.
Welding repairs carried out by someone who has never seen a mig welder before.
Primer paint applied over a rusted shell,to just make the project look more saleable.
Welded on body panels that a first day factory operative could have fitted blindfold.
Rebuild gearboxes that have just had the oil changed.
I could write a book at some of the lass ups.

One of the golden rules any restorer worth his salt will tell you is,never buy a vehicle that has been got at by a muppet .

Going back to the topic in hand...I think there is a good programme in the making for interesting people to be shown carrying out restoration projects,showing the skill base out there,the friendship a classic car can bring etc.
The fantastic fun they have afterwards with their creation.The club aspect of owning a classic car or the person who prefers to go it alone.
The person who races his car,rallies his car or polishes it for a week before taking it to a concourse event.

I know some real characters who would make very good TV viewing.....The Fred Dibnagh`s of the vintage or classic car world,who could easily entertain you for half an hour or more. You meet them every weekend at steam or vintage rallies.

The droll folk who have a car restored for them by the TV companies never seem very thrilled at the end of the programmes anyway,hardly a tear shed,a hug or a thank you directed at the camera,no personality,just boring lazy loafs.
.
Grand Designs for instance focuses on peoples determination to either restore,build new or oversee a vision they have,at the end of the programme they show the completed project and the people mostly have found that during the challenge it has perhaps changed their lives forever. And people watch the show.

They do not abandon the project two weeks in, for Tommy Walsh or similar TV builders to come along and nail tin cladding over an Oak framed building,just to get it finished.

Come on MR TV Executive show us in a positive light for once.

M M

Very interesting comments chaps (and chapesses). As an MMOC member as well as being a documentary film maker I have already flagged up a doco series on this very forum, not that long ago. My version is to rescue a sad and neglected looking Moggy and hand it over to a group of apprentices and under assistance of experts, with varied restoration skills - restore said Moggy. As with all resto projects - all sorts of 'nasties' will be discovered along the way and that becomes interesting TV finding the remedies for the problems encountered. Plus - it will give some youngsters an interesting project that they can be proud to be part of. So any commissioning editors out there???

I would hope this new show idea would not be geared towards the Jeremy Kyle fan rather than car resto fan.
Documenting the story of someone who bought a needy classic, thinking it was cheap and easy - never had the time, never the money in the first place or just couldn't be arsed to do it after they'd told their mates they'd bought a classic and then getting earache from the wife about how it was another stupid idea of her no good husband...bla bla bla...
Jeremy Kyle gets better ratings than, lets say 'Wheeler Dealers' or 'Beetle Crisis' and is why it has prime time viewing on a major channel.
Granted, car enthusiasts have a their very own channel to see these programmes which are dedicated to the resto' of classics but watching the stress and raging on screen arguing and falling out and name calling and finger pointing in a relationship, edited to make it look like its imminent divorce, whether it be due to a 'shed' of a car parked outside or the house falling to pieces or 'he got his daughter pregnant on his stag do' is far more interesting viewing to a lot of people - unfortunately - this is the world we live in.

I do like the idea of getting a bunch of young lads and lasses with not a lot of prospects trained up and doing car resto' with a couple of experts.

This thread seems to have dried up?? I sent a PM to the initiator, to see if we could discuss a suitable programme format - but have not heard back. Maybe they have had better luck with a different marque car club.

I feel that it's generally bad manners not to acknowledge a communication, it does, at least, show its been received.

I still think a good programme could be made showing the actual owners carrying out the work,never mind third party operatives.
I know of some fantastic restorations being carried out in peoples garages as we speak.

And carried out a lot better than the cars on these TV programmes.

............

On another point,there are many American programmes out there restoring American cars but have you noticed something.

They never restore,modify or customise a British built car....we exported thousands out to the states in the 1950`s/1960`s.

Why is this.?

Jaguar.
Austin.
M G
Morris

Just to name a few.

M M

Why is this.?

Because thousands of cars was a drop in the ocean of American iron being bought at the time.
The audience for classic car programs will be small, for imports, tiny.
No ratings = no programs, simples

Most commissioning editors (the people that sometimes give a 'Green Light' to new programme ideas), will be looking for;

Unique
Different
Controvertial
Sexy
Dramatic
Ground breaking
Off the wall
Quirky

and, preferably all of the above - presented by someone with........ a persona representative of all the above.

A standard restoration project, although very interesting to all of us - sadly would not cut the mustard for even daytime TV.

----and if the person who presents it has a loud mouth! Some tattoos would be nice. Ahh show business.