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conniestims
Reviews
Car Masters: Rust to Riches (2018)
Unrealistic
I first watched this show a few years back, loving every second of it, seeing these builds come together. I made the choice to rewatch it now that I know more about cars, and I'm seeing a lot of things that slipped past my eyes the first time around.
The timelines are unrealistic, plain and simple. With the level of customisation they do to each build, and the relatively small team working on it, it's near impossible to get them done in the time they claim. Even with the cut corners that are clear on many of their builds, restoring and modifying cars isn't an easy task, and taking a gutted rustbucket to a show-worthy piece in a week or two? It just doesn't happen.
The first season definitely seems to be the most authentic of them, but even then it's clear that some things are happening that shouldn't.
As I mentioned, the build quality often ends up lacking. One notable one is the Splittin' Image build, particularly the canopies. Even from afar it's plain to see the atrocious gaps between the canopy and the body. Another one is the Mad Max bus, with the pre-rusted exhaust pipes and the atrocious look of the bare metal, which isn't helped by the complete lack of any protective layer. Rust, here we come!
Their lack of care with the cars is pretty clear when they have the "unexpected" issues. This is pretty clear with the COE build, where they just didn't bother to measure the engine and the holes in the COE floor before trying to drop it on, and then again on that same build with both the steering column and hydro-boost.
Another thing that really annoys me is Mark's way of going against what they need, and making drastic decisions on a whim. With the T-Bucket build, he simply ignored Shawn saying they needed a standard T-Bucket build, overruling him and forcing it into a fire-truck. And it was pretty clear he pissed the whole crew off making them rip apart the bus because he didn't like the engine. It simply doesn't make sense that he's doing builds this valuable with his selfish way of working.
And then we come to the deals themselves. In quite a few, you can see looks of pure disappointment on the buyers faces. Then, all of a sudden, they're all smiles, paying small fortunes for cars full of rust and shortcuts, or even giving away one-of-a-kind jewels for pieces of fiberglass crap.
The show's not bad, it's decent watching to kill time, but it's clearly catered more towards the casual viewer rather than someone in the industry. 3/10.
The Quest (2022)
Boring and uninspired.
Right off the bat, everything was PAINFULLY scripted. You could really tell that the contestants were told exactly what to say, and weren't given much of a choice as to what they should do. The writing is bland, generic and unimaginative, and takes wild leaps at times, showing that the original script must have been far more drawn out than the final product, and rather than rewrite it to be shorter, they simply cut out parts until it was good enough. What could have been a show with plenty of excitement, tension, and drama ended up as what is quite possibly one of the worst entries into the fantasy game show genre to date.