Streaming Pick – Rust Valley Restorers
September 19, 2019
Your weekly streaming pick has arrived! Rust Valley Restorers is a Netflix original reality show about restoring classic cars. This feels a little off brand for So Wizard but with my recent Commute episode lamenting the lost days of the car movie and summer coming to an end I’ve been on a classic car kick lately.
Unlike the bulk of reality shows, especially those on TLC, this one focuses more on the cars themselves and less on people bleeping at each other. The few people on the show are insane characters which makes it a bit more fun to watch than a straight documentary style show would be. What really stands out above this car show over many other car shows is that the focus is on cars a normal person may actually be able to afford! It’s so frustrating watching something, impressive as their work is, where every car on the show is 120k plus. Seeing a Chevelle SS go for 18k is a lot more exciting. With a bit of extra work a middle class car fan, such as myself, could pull that off one day.
Mike Hall spent his life impulsively buying cars and parts simply because he thought they were cool. Now in his 60’s Mike spent the rest of his money, and more, on building a state of the art garage to start restoring these artifacts. He has the mentality that he’s been collecting his whole life he’s running out of time to restore. The problem with Mike being out of money is that he still buys impulsively and develops bonds with the projects, making it hard for him to sell anything.
Rust Valley Restorers is a Netflix Original
Mike’s best friend is Avery, an absolute cartoon character of a man. Avery put his own business on hold to go and work for Mike on his grand endeavor. The two bicker like an old married couple but ultimately have a lot of fun doing what they do. Avery is also an expert mechanic.
Connor, Mike’s son, gets in on the business as well. There’s some touching family moments in the show where Mike tries to make up some of the lost time he had with his son.
The cast of characters was not something I cared about in the show. I was actually looking for a show that was all cars. The race the clock elements sucked me in and delivered enough drama to make it interesting.
The reality TV format benefits hugely from being on Netflix. It feels like an hour long episode of reality TV on cable is only about 15 minutes of original content. By the time you get through the recap, intro, commercials, recap after commercials, flashback to previous episode, commercials… you get it. Without all that nonsense you actually get a solid run time of original content per episode. It makes the show a lot more tolerable to watch, even binge, and made the series fly by. The editors even managed to end a season of a show about restoring cars end on a cliffhanger!
If you can get past the horrible BC accent and like cars, this one’s for you.