FTO AUSTRALIA

Hey guys,
just wondering if anyone watches the TV Show Wheeler Dealers?

I find it very entertaining and they have some awesome tips. The mechanic they use (Ed) knows pretty much everything. It's mostly older classic cars but things such as restorations, services etc. all apply to modern cars.

You can watch all the episodes online here:

http://watchseries.eu/serie/wheeler_dealers

Watch it every night, learnt a few good tricks from the show.

Some things they do I kind of cringe at and wonder why not spend the extra couple of dollars (pounds) to fix, but in the end they get decent results and do follow ups with the cars to see how they're still going.

Only 1 so far became a bomb afterwards which was the Alfa Spyder, but that's like saying, (OMG, my governemt screwed me over and I never saw it coming)...

Yeah the only thing I don't see them doing is changing the oil, spark plugs, wires and especially the hoses. Not sure why, but yeah...

Only time you will see them do that is when they don't have much to do on the car, from memory they did change the spark plugs one of them. (shown)
Oil changes they've shown a few, and leads I believe they also changed once.

They class those things as part of their 'service' and so don't show it as the majority is the harder stuff most people won't tackle.

Ball joints, changing coils, mufflers, etc.

Majority of the time they report the car as having a full service done, and that includes the oil, sparks, leads, filters etc.

Love that show very interesting.

Astron_Boy wrote: Majority of the time they report the car as having a full service done, and that includes the oil, sparks, leads, filters etc.

Strange, they never seem to mention changing everything over. By the way it's filmed the guy spends $2000 on fixing the engine then leaves 20 year old pipes on there that are clearly worn and have sludge

Love this show, watch it all the time!
I am in the current season (10) and looking forward to the E39 M5

My favorite ep, clearly the DeLorean.
I ended up saving that one in my fox box.

-Nighthawk- wrote:then leaves 20 year old pipes on there that are clearly worn and have sludge

Ehhhh, depending on the cooling system the pipes can be ok.
I wouldn't say 20 year old pipes, even the FTO hasn't had the top pipe replaced, it's 5 years old for us with the car really barely driven, been through 3 coolant changes and the hose is perfectly fine.

Yes, you should replace hoses, however the aim of that show isn't to put the cars back to A1 spec, it's about getting them from being a sometimes MOT failure to a great car on the road.
The MOT system is rather stringent and goes over a fair bit. If Ed doesn't think it will pass he will change it.

Both the guys have a very indepth background with Ed having done many car shows prior and being a mechanic nearly all his life.

My absolute favorite thing about the show is how Mike interpruts something wrong with the car and reckons it's going to be a 5 second job to fix. I know he does this on purpose, but it really does show the mind set of what some people think is involved in maintaining a car.

Yep, there is always a hidden cost. I'm quite impressed how they manage to find cars that I wouldn't look twice at yet they fix them for relatively cheap.

Interesting seeing the budget increase year on year also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheeler_Dealers

Year:

1. 6,000 pounds
2. 12,000 pounds
3. 18,000 pounds
4. 26,000 pounds
5. 30,000 pounds
6. 55,000 pounds
7. 50,000 pounds
8. 83,000 pounds

-Nighthawk- wrote:Yep, there is always a hidden cost. I'm quite impressed how they manage to find cars that I wouldn't look twice at yet they fix them for relatively cheap.

Interesting seeing the budget increase year on year also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheeler_Dealers

Year:

1. 6,000 pounds
2. 12,000 pounds
3. 18,000 pounds
4. 26,000 pounds
5. 30,000 pounds
6. 55,000 pounds
7. 50,000 pounds
8. 83,000 pounds

It also seems that buying selling cars and parts in the UK is dramatically cheaper than over here.
I think anyone would struggle to do that in Aus.

I buy near all my Merc and smart parts from the uk.
Even after shipping its still cheaper.

Car ownership is so different over there.

Theres another brilliant engineering show by a guy called Mark Evans who restores MGBs, builds mud plugger Land Rovers and even built a helicopter following plans he bought.

It's called A Car is Born, or a Chopper, or a Racing Car, you get the idea.


And he also found time to be the Chief Vet for the RSPCA!

http://www.markevans.co.uk/mark-evans-t ... uction.php

The 'Is born' series, I also quite like.
I remember Dwayne and myself talking about it some years ago.

Great guy, and I quite enjoy his shows.