Wheeler Dealers 2014/2015 - New Series

[covmutley]

sandman77 said:

Yeah, finally after about 12 years they have realised that time = money.

+1! Not only can you then determine if doing the restoration was 'worth it', but you also get an idea of how long what you are seeing actually took them.

[richtea78]

BlueHave said:

Can't believe how Americanised they have made Wheeler Dealers. I know it's produced by Velocity now but it's just not as good since they started doing them from the US of A

Every element of production is straight out of American TV Presenting for Dummies.

I preferred it when they were doing rusty old British Classics from a dingy rural industrial unit up a muddy dirt track.

Another show the Yanks have ruined. Can you imagine Fast N Loud coming to the UK and doing it the British way, of course not.

We now get 2 series of Wheeler Dealers a year. One is the UK one and the 2nd is the US based one that has just started.

I don't mind it as much as you do, it's not as good but it's better than repeats

[Winky151]

Decent episode but its lost its 'man on the street shoestring budget' ethos me thinks. Who would ever imagine MB going to MB & paying for brand new bumpers & NOT blagging some kind of deal. & Ed dropping the front section to do the springs & bushes - of course every home mechanic an do that.

[BigBen]

Winky151 said:

& Ed dropping the front section to do the springs & bushes - of course every home mechanic an do that.

As above I did exactly that.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

David87 said:

Format changes are for the better I think. Not sure what they've done with the filming, though - it looks different on my TV, and not in a good way. Kind of jerky, maybe? Hard to describe!

Ah - that'll be the NTSC format filming they used. It looked awful to me as well.

[FourWheelDrift]

It's ATSC digital now.

[Chris_H]

I enjoyed it. I was especially pleased that they've got rid of that annoying jingle they had!

[ClockworkCupcake]

I watched it last night.

I wasn't the least bit bothered by it being in US dollars, given that they they are based in California for this series and are buying the cars and parts in local currency and selling in local currency.

One thing that did strike me is that Edd had even more access to specialist tools than ever, and they also glossed over a lot of the work they did. Although it did amuse me to see him not even mentioning that he had put the nut back on the steering when when pulling it off, or cracking the taper on the ball joint with two hammers. It was almost a nod to regular viewers as if to say "you've seen me do this enough times before that you know why I'm doing this, so I'm not even going to remark on it".

[wseed]

lewisco said:

I liked them including the man hours it took. Was a good episode.

Yep I was glad they did this too. Unfortunately to do that lot would have taken me considerably longer than the 44 hours they did it in:-(.

[Shakermaker]

lewisco said:

I liked them including the man hours it took. Was a good episode.

I am claiming this as my idea since I put it on their Facebook page about 3 years ago, clearly, I am the catalyst for this revolution and deserve to be lauded with praise for it.

Or not.

Didn't seem to be as exciting watching them do the SL this week, especially because I was watching on catch up and when it ended, my tv went back to Discovery Turbo and a really old episode doing the 80s Saab, and how they really were doing it all on a budget and only trying to spend £500-1k per car. Also Edd's hair back then was hilarious.

[Terzo123]

I enjoyed the latest episode. It's certainly moved on in production values from when they first started out.

I loved the finished SL. I had a quick look at the classifieds, an interesting range of values for these. Low mileage ones going for 15k to 38k.

[TEKNOPUG]

Replace all the dash, wood trim and leather seats but leave the nasty worn steering wheel & gear shifter in place

[Doofus]

Shakermaker said:

Didn't seem to be as exciting watching them do the SL this week

I agree. Money was no kind of an issue for them this time, and the programme lacked some of its chaeacter as a result. Mike saw an SL. Mike bought the SL, regardless of condition. Mike then bought parts, irrespective of cost (the chap in the Mercedes Classic Center even said "The bill's all taken care of, so you're good to go", suggesting an element of corporateness (?) which hasn't existed before. Edd has any and every tool at his disposal (another cost not included in the final tally - vehicle-specific tools needed to do a job).

As always, I enjoyed it, but I just think it lacked character.

[ClockworkCupcake]

Doofus said:

I agree. Money was no kind of an issue for them this time, and the programme lacked some of its chaeacter as a result. Mike saw an SL. Mike bought the SL, regardless of condition. Mike then bought parts, irrespective of cost (the chap in the Mercedes Classic Center even said "The bill's all taken care of, so you're good to go", suggesting an element of corporateness (?) which hasn't existed before. Edd has any and every tool at his disposal (another cost not included in the final tally - vehicle-specific tools needed to do a job).

As always, I enjoyed it, but I just think it lacked character.

I find it hard to disagree with you there.

[Marty Funkhouser]

How big is Wheeler Dealers in the US? Presumably they are trying to appeal to that market now??

[ClockworkCupcake]

Marty Funkhouser said:

How big is Wheeler Dealers in the US? Presumably they are trying to appeal to that market now??

Unless all the people queuing up at the book signing were paid extras, I'd say that they have some kind of following over there.

[FourWheelDrift]

US TV website Variety talking about new series of US Car shows coming in 2015 “Dallas Car Sharks,” “Fantomworks,””What’s In The Barn,” “Graveyard Carz”, “Chasing Classic Cars” and “Overhaulin’.” But Wheeler Dealers is the title programme.

"Velocity will launch a U.S. version of one of its flagship series, “Wheeler Dealers.”

http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/velocity-to-contin...

[BigBen]

I know a few US guys who watch it including the English series and consequently ask me about MOT tests and other UK related motoring related terms.

[irocfan]

Terzo123 said:

I enjoyed the latest episode. It's certainly moved on in production values from when they first started out.

I loved the finished SL. I had a quick look at the classifieds, an interesting range of values for these. Low mileage ones going for 15k to 38k.

go on then...



http://bringatrailer.com/listing/1979-mercedes-ben...

[Adam B]

apparently this is up for £125k

http://www.jdclassics.co.uk/showrooms/Mercedes-500...


Enjoyed that episode, per others adding man hours is much more realistic - 44 x $100 say adds $4400 to the cost and turns profit into loss.

Liked what the did with it removing revolting US spec bumpers (is that legal after a certain time has passed?) and chrome wheel archs, though not sure the alloy change was worth it - didn't really see a side by side comparison though they looked similar.