Car SOS Timescales

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pbar
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Car SOS Timescales

Post by pbar »

I've always been very skeptical about TV car shows and the usual can-they-finish-it-in-time-with-all-these-problems thing they have going on, they are filled with TV magic, interspersed with carefully chosen added in after interviews and edited carefully, of course.

But in a recent interview I read in Practical Classics with Fuzz Townshend he stated that each car on Car SOS takes around 750-800 man hours to complete.

That seems an awful lot, as 800 hours equates to about 13 weeks (working a hefty 60 hours a week). But that is of course just one man. Still, that's good going to restore a car isn't it?!

Who on here can restore a car on their own in 13 weeks?

But, assuming they have a team of 7 people working away, that brings it down to just under 2 weeks per car. And of course they send a lot of stuff out (gearbox overhauls, resprays, etc.)

So, I suppose it is very viable, that the timescales in Car SOS are probably legit?
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Re: Car SOS Timescales

Post by andyd »

:agree: Paul.
If you have a team of people working on a car then it will cut down the length of the job but still work out at many man hours.

How many unfinished cars have you seen in the background that were handed back in previous episodes?!
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Re: Car SOS Timescales

Post by stevemarl »

Paul,
to be fair to `Fantom Works` they also at the end of a restoration quote many hundreds of hors (and 5 figure charges) for the job, so I`m sure Fuzz is being realistic. That`s the thing that pisses so many people off, the fact the hours and hours of laborious grinding etc is not shown. But then who`d want to watch all of that? Despite the tall blokes `blagging` crap, I still like SOS, some are really moving human stories too!
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pbar
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Re: Car SOS Timescales

Post by pbar »

Yes, that's what I was trying to confirm, that the 1-2 week timescales given in Car SOS, are actually probably legit. As unlikely as it seems. I agree, the human stories are a nice, and unique angle for a car show.

Seen Fuzz at local car shows, he seemed very happy to spend time and talk with people.

Andy - interesting point about the unfinished cars, everything on the show isn't quite as it seems ;)
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Re: Car SOS Timescales

Post by 2litreScapri »

Nothing is filmed in the order you would expect it, it's logical. Film crew has everything in place for one car (or one area), and the filming (if done in one take) will probably be about 10 minutes. They would need to be able to move the car or film equipment to another area to carry on filming. Anybody that's done basic film editing knows that out of 10 straight minutes of footage you use maybe seconds of it. So, with these garages, film in a day & jump from car to car.
Certainly speaking from personal experience, when they filmed the meet for "For the Love of Cars" Mk1 Escort Philip Glenister was picked up by Becky in a Mk1 Escort to go to the Greyhound in Crawley (Glenister interviewed me in my car but they never used the footage). 2 months later, when OldSkoolFord had got them banned from the Greyhound the film crew turned up at the Jolly Farmer in Horne near Godstone, minus Glenister but interviewed some people about their cars. 6 years ago that was!
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Re: Car SOS Timescales

Post by pbar »

2litreScapri wrote: Mon Jan 13, 2020 10:13 am Nothing is filmed in the order you would expect it
Yes very true. That's totally apparent in early Wheeler Dealers, you get Mike test driving a prospective car and telling us how it's pulling to the left, or doing this and that. Then a quick change of jacket and camera angles and he's off again, wow Edd has done a great job on this car, it's driving great now, etc.

That's before any work had been done of course.

Production values are everything, it is a business like any other, it's all done to a budget.
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