American Car Prospector
 

Anyone ever watch this show? What do you think of it. I'm curious as to whether I'm the only one that has a specific problem with the show's format.

It's very hokey. I tried watching a few episodes. The "prospector" gets on my nerves, I would not sell to him.

It's a scripted show, just like every other 'reality' show. I watched a couple episodes, that was enough.

Its flat out stupid. He would be shown the door if he showed up around here.

I hate how he talks in the 3rd person sometimes.

'long shot' scenarios at best. Dude's a bore

The guy doesn't seem very knowledgeable about cars, has interest in and makes a big deal about things like a "real Grande" and or a lincoln conv. that they made a billion of. When I watch it I just think ,I wish he would stop over my house. I might sell him something. All these reality shows are putting unrealistic expectations in peoples heads about things. :2cents:

I'll stop & watch just about anything automotive. My wife doesn't care for any of them.

I've stopped to watch American Car Prospector a few times. Last night, I stopped in it and my wife announced that this show is the worst, the guy is just creepy/annoying. I agreed. Tough to watch and the cars he seems to go gaga over are not very special so it just isn't very interesting.

Chasing Classic Cars is similar in concept. Except the cars Wayne Carini finds are actually interesting and although he sometimes seems a little too full of himself for my taste, he comes across as knowledgeable about very special cars.

The ACP doesn't seem to know much about the most pedestrian of cars.

Sounds like Pawn Stars out of Las Vegas. They're a bunch of cheapskates too.

I agree on all counts.
One note about the "hokeyness" of ACP- one show I saw, he was driving up to an "abandoned" garage in the middle of nowhere to look at a car that "had been sitting forever" and he worried that it wouldn't start. What struck me though was the fresh tire tracks in the snow out side the garage that went right in to where the car sat.:rolleyes:

There all suck IMO...They must be created/scripted by Geeks/Nerds rather than Gear Heads..A few are OK..The same disease that has taken over the auto industry..
Something for air time no matter what.:mad:
Now all I see are Lucas Drag Boats and other such stuff. MAVTV has assorted junk on it too..Better than nothing but could and should be much better programing.
Would love to see some formats with the Grass Roots racers..at least once in a while.
All this Top Fuel & Funny Car stuff is out of reach of most of us anyway..throw in some TS/NSS.ProMods,....and more down to earth racing...I'll watch it. I hardly watch the NHRA stuff anymore...Boring !!:censored::2cents:

I agree, I use to watch TV on sat. & sun for the power block TV on spike but now thats gone for a bunch of football & other sports so now I have to look all over the channels to find a car show every once in a while. Horsepower is now on ccsbn?? I think & it's a different name along with what use to be trucks. All the shows we use to watch are now spread all over the channels & it's very hard to find anything worth watching. The ACP is a bunch of garbage, no one will let just anyone come in & make an offer fro your car flat out like that. Also how hard is it to see the camera behind him when he walks up to someone or you. He make me real uncomfortable with his jerking around & the way he is always shrugging his shoulders like he's about to explode. And that stupid cowboy hat. Maybe that works in CO. But here he'd be shown the door. Plus I don't think he ever goes outside of CO. The cars he finds to are just plain old drivers, the closest good car I've seen was the corvette he bought. But he does go a bit over the top on cars that are just every day drivers. I wouldn't have paid anywhere near what he did for the Grande' mustang, it wasn't a car that is/was preferred at all. It definitely wasn't worth what he paid for it. To much staging & no were near rel life when it comes to buying a car. He needs to go to some cruise nights & try that approach to buy some cars & he will see what real rejection is. He's kinda creepy.

I was flipping channels last night and saw that. I kept watching thinking that someone would be confronting him with a shotgun pretty soon. (I sure would if someone opened my garage at night and popped the hood.)

All these shows are obviously written by non-car guys. For example, here's a recent exchange on Count's Customs:

Customer: "I'm looking to get a hot rod built - something that's really unique; that not a lot of people have."
Actor: "How about this '67 GTO?"
C: "That's too big - I'd really like something similar to my old '64 Impala." (and the GTO's too big?)

So... the "original" car they build for him was a.... '71 Nova with Yenko stickers on it. Hmmm....

Agree. In fact I agree with just about everything that has been posted in this thread.

Now thats funny, I would have doubled over if I'd heard that. To big.... HA HA !!!!! Makes me wonder if people actually listen to themselves when they speak. Or are they really that stupid.??

Ok, you guys have about the same reaction to it as I have. I can take the scripting. What I want to see is some decent work on the cars and some interesting cars.
My main complaint about ACP is that, I might find it interesting to watch a show about old cars being found in barns and etc....What I don't want to watch is a show about a guy who finds old cars in barns and etc.
THEY NEVER SHOW THE CARS. It's always about HIM. You get a roof line here, a fender there but the camera is always focused on his face and his reaction to the car. Then the owner's face and his reaction to the guy who's looking at his car.
Also, the host has this irritating habit of pronouncing whatever piece of crap he's looking at as the 'probably the finest example available in the state of Colorado'. Like that '66 Charger he paid $10,000 for last night.

Not only that, but he's a huge doofus too!:bolt:

Awful show. I actually gave it a chance and watched a little here and there. The final straw was the POS 1970 442 with the column shift that looked like it was setting in a scrapyard for 10 years and he didn't stop drooling over it and saying how great the condition was. Total bunch of BS and he's a jackass.

I stopped watching the car prospector, i now watch the hollywood hillbillies





not

That was my last episode too... It looked like a decent 'rough' project car from what I could see of it...but they never really showed it. Just his goofy face as he's looking at the car.
The one that really got me was $10,000 for that '66 Charger that had been sitting for many, many years from the look of it. At least the 442 was a driver and he paid just over half what he paid for the Charger. I think he estimated the finished value of the Charger at $40K (or maybe that was the 442)....right.
Even if true, what they didn't mention is that it would take at least that much to restore it.

Watched it once, and done. It's one of the worst on TV.

all those car shows stink..and give people that arent in the car hobby unrealistic expectations and fill their heads with nonsense. its all about making money; not the love of the car or the hobby...i seen some show a while back where some old guy in the desert had some sweet clean 60s cars...like el caminos, etc..and some jackass from one of these shows calls him up to buy some bodies and is like "im gonna offer you a price, the next time i offer you a price it will be lower" i would have told him to f-off and hung up--id rather see em crushed than to sell them to an azzhole like that.

X3 Wife thought he was creepy too

Meh, its a reality show so I take the information the show gives with a grain of salt. I watch just about anything car related and happy to see shows about cars on TV.

I, too, watched only 1 episode. It was all I could take!

My wife wanted to puke when she heard that creepy guy say "Hello Gorgeous". I want to puke when he says " the American Prospector is on the prowl" or in some episodes he places an ace of spades under the wiper blade. Sheesh, beyond cornball! That show shouldn't even be on one of those public access channels lol.

That's exactly what my problem is with this particular show. I will watch just about any of them...even that one about the Father and Son guys in the junkyard...and it's pretty bad.... But this one is not about cars. It's about him. Like I said, they barely even show the cars. 90% of the show is him talking to the camera or just his face on the screen looking at a car that you, the viewer, can't see.

[QUOTE=Greg Reid;5108150
The one that really got me was $10,000 for that '66 Charger that had been sitting for many, many years from the look of it. [/QUOTE]

I just watched my first (and last) full episode of the show, and that one took the cake. He bought it for "only" $8,000, and it had nothing! (destroyed interior, not even a carb, no dashboard, windshield (so it's been exposed to the elements.) He claimed that he'd sell that car to his buyers for $11,000. Yeah, right!

That one's really going to make people think the rusty P.O.S. in their weeds is a goldmine!

Beat me to it with the "Hello Gorgeous" nausea. Rolling up to anyone with a Vette (or insert other vehicle) in their open garage with a camera crew isn't pre-staged right?

Just like the episode with the husband and wife "fight" staged when he bought both (Porches?) and she b!tched and complained, then at the end stuck her head out upstairs window with a big smirk on her face, in a bad attempt at hiding her "You're a Sucker!" smile.

The gaga over the Grande episode...yuk!

I've watched too many episodes in the past in the hope the ACP show would improve...waste of time.
CCC seems to be the most real of the the scripted automotive shows presently broadcast IMO.

P.S. as mentioned the ACP "barn find" car tracks in the snow into the garage was over the top.

My favorite is Graveyard Carz.

I think it's funny how these "reality shows" have the host(s) "finding" a place or making a new contact but when they knock on the door and it opens, we the audience are looking at the host(s) from behind the person answering the door/inside the house.

Like any of this could ever happen anyway without a stack of legal papers and releases being signed first. I can just imagine how far ahead these "spontaneous" episodes are created for the shows.:rolleyes: Probably months at least.

I also think the prices for these POS are unrealistic !!!
I'm thinking about selling my 60 and probably couldn't get what Danny(aka-The Count)pays for some of the incomplete hulks he drags back to his shop..:rolleyes:
Having said that I think Danny is entertaining...:)
My biggest bitch is they are mostly repeats all year long..:(:(

TROY, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!!!! I know, you want on one of these shows.

Stranger things have happened Bob..:)
Corvair is on Hemmings too....

"MOpars & LESS Bull"
 

I like 'Graveyard Cars' pretty good just based on the fact that the cars are nice. I could do without all the 'plots' and jokes but still, not too bad.

I saw one episode of a show called 'FantomWorks' and the same there...The quality of the work shown and the difficulty and time required was so much more realistic than the typical 'reality show' stuff you see on 'Desert Car Kings' and that type of CRAP.

I also like the "Chasing Classic Cars" show pretty well. He finds some interesting things and they at least feature the cars themselves more than just his thoughts, etc...

I mean, they are all somewhat crappy to a certain degree but 'Desert Car Kings' and 'American Car Prospector' have to take the cake.

I can't stand that a hole on Graveyard Cars. Cars are great but because of him and his wannabe tough attitude I turn the channel.

Nailed it!

Yeah, he comes off as an a-hole but based on everyone's reaction to it, nobody takes it seriously. In fact, they seem to enjoy pushing his buttons. Because of that, I figure he's joking and just has an abrasive, weird sense of humor. Kind of an adolescent locker-room sense of humor. 'Playing the Dozens'.

On Graveyard Cars it seems the four of them do not do too much heavy lifting. Must have a big crew behind the scenes. I like the A hole though and his mugging etc.. Reminds me of A holes from work lol
I do respect his knowledge of details in MoPars though and he knows how to capitalize on product placement to get lots of neat equipment for the shop. I assume he gets them for next to nothing from the companies to show their products being used.
The son on Desert Valley has a whiney quality to his voice that I could fix for him with a well placed slap. Probably I'm just jealous of his setup and huge rust free metal access... Yeah that's probably it lol

There are some really bad car programs right now, ACP and graveyard cars in particular. ACP was looking a 70 Cutlass convert, said it was a unibody with leaf springs, what an idiot! The clown at GYC needs a punch in the head, what a jerk!

The new program with Ray Evernham coming out might be better we'll have to wait and see.

+1.

I like "Chasing Classic Cars", but my current favorite reality car show is Wheeler Dealer. Scripting is at a minimum, and they actually show the mechanic doing some work on the cars they buy.

ACP standard negotiations procedure - upon 1st view of any vehicle proclaim:
"Wow! Holy Cow! These are extremely rare and Really Valuable!"
"Mind if I have a closer look?" "Well Hello Gorgeous!"
Then in a passive voice ask: "Would you be willing to take my money?" :pound:

I like Wheeler Dealer, very good with hands on repairs. Nothing over the top other than sell at the end of the show!

The ACP guy is a real dink! I love how he talks about his "investor group".

Nobody is paying what he claims they are paying!!!

I can't stand him & won't watch him.

American Prospector Reality Shows
 

The Prospector was a bit of a stretch, in the couple episodes I could stomach. Did you hear him talking about his foreign buyers who apparently are waiting to give him more than the cars were worth???

The only show I find remotely funny or somewhat interesting is Fast N Loud, they did a cool show about a Bandit TA everything was far fetched but the show with Richard dreaming he was Burt was done very well.
The quality of their car work seems sketchy, they have not figured out how to break in a cam. The inflated prices they get for stuff is just crazy. But overall the show is tolerable and you can get a few laughs, without looking at some duffis acting like he knows cars and some moron with a rag on his head.

Turn the idiot box off.
Realize ALL the reality TV car stuff is a bunch of crap!!
Get out in the garage, down in the basement, out on the driveway & get some dirt under your fingernails!

Good Bye!

Ok we all agree these shows are crap. Let's get together at Norwalk this year and shoot some real footage!

Bounce around some ideas before we get there, get some of our knowledgeable people to talk or be talked to and come up with a few concepts.

Maybe interview a couple of our Legends a Q&A, whatever. A few special interest cars. A flea mkt crawl etc. mix it up with some scheduled stuff and some walk arounds.

I can bring some equipment (cameras microphones lights etc) and clean it up a bit afterwards. Let's see if we can come up with something worth watching.

Any interest?

I actually like 'Wheeler Dealer' myself but couldn't remember the name of it. I think part of it is that the little Brit that does the buying actually seems a likable guy. Also like the fact that they actually show the mechanic doing realistic troubleshooting and repair.

Someone has to be watchin' this krap, or the show's wouldn't be on.

Grave yard cars , I would take about 5 min.'s of that fool talking to me the way he talks to those guys & pow I deck him. He may know a bunch about the cars but he's an ASS.