TV Shows #35

Flipping Bangers (2017-22)
Developed By: Just Might TV
Starring: Gus Gregory, Will Trickett

Certificate: PG Running Time: 43-50 Minutes per Episode (approx)

I'm not sure why but sometimes when I'm not feeling great, I end up watching something totally different to the kind of thing I would normally watch. As you might have guessed, just such an occasion befell me recently. I hadn't been feeling too good all day but I went downstairs at my normal time to pour a nice drink (usually bourbon and cola) and continue whichever streaming show I was in the middle of at the time. When I got there, however, I just... didn't feel like it. I toyed with the idea of just going to bed when I noticed a show being spammed on my Firestick's menu, so... I just clicked it. As it happened, it turned out to be a reality show - a genre I typically avoid like the plague - but it was one featuring cars which are of interest to me, so I gave it a try. And wouldn't you know it, it turned out to be pretty corking! I even continued watching it after I felt better again, and there were three seasons of it for me to get through. Naturally, when I finished, I figured I might as well burble on about it here!

For this review, I've decided to just have a general look at the whole show rather than breaking it down season-by-season as I normally would, since the format is basically exactly the same every episode, regardless of season. That format is: two friends, Gus and Will, both car enthusiasts, decide to quit their day jobs and start a business buying knackered old cars that no one else wants, fixing them up, and selling them for enough of a profit to make a living. They give themselves one week per car, so as you might imagine, each episode covers one week and its chosen car.

Since watching this show, I have discovered that it's not the first to try this type of thing, but it seems to be among the more popular examples, and it's easy to see why. Gus and Will are both relaxed and engaging in front of the camera and both seem like genuinely nice guys. They don't have an unlimited budget - they generally spend between £500 and £1,500 on their car of the week - and their aim is to double their money. Slightly oddly, rather than just looking to see which cheap cars happen to be available at the time and picking one, they actually decide in advance which car they want, then look for the cheapest example around. Going by memory alone, chosen models range from a Morris Minor and Citroën 2CV at the oldest, up to an Audi TT and BMW Mini at the more recent, but most are from the 80s or 90s.

Being a British show, most of the cars featured here are European or British (from back when there actually were British car companies) and it's nice to find that some of the cars I grew up seeing regularly are still around, albeit in tiny numbers in some cases. Some of them are in a sorry state too. They have to be for Gus and Will to be able to afford them! It's always interesting when they get a new purchase back to their workshop too, where they get to give it a proper look over. Have they got a bargain that they can basically just service and then 'flip' for a profit, or do they have so much work to do that they have to pick and choose which jobs to do and which to leave in order to meet their five day deadline?

Obviously, if a car is just a tool to you and you don't have any actual interest in them or affection for certain older models, this is not a show you should spend any time on, but if you do, there's a lot to enjoy here. Besides the nostalgia of the (classic?) cars themselves, it's interesting to see how the guys tackle the various problems. Rust is a common issue, as you might imagine, as is wear and tear on the interior. Overheating engines also seem to crop up regularly, and that's not always an easy fault to locate, never mind fix, as I've discovered. As you can see in the pic to the right here, sometimes the whole engine needs to come out! Indeed, there's a lot for dum-dums like me to learn, and with many of the jobs, we're shown by the knowledgeable and resourceful Gus and Will how to fix them, usually as cheaply as possible, and often including some important do's and don't's.

Although on the odd occasion they have to call in or visit a specialist, for the first two seasons, a majority of this work is done by the guys themselves in a fairly modern-looking workshop they're renting which is filled with lots of specialised equipment including a full-on car lift. For some reason, the third season sees them relocated to a less well-equipped workshop which appears to be in a junkyard amidst some old shipping containers (and an old BT phone booth, oddly). The reason for the change isn't explained but it doesn't seem to hinder them too much.

I did find myself wondering how realistic their business model is though. Let's assume they spend £1,000 on a car (buying it and the cost of fixing it up) and sell it for £2,000, that means they each get £500 in their pockets. That's for their mortgage, bills, groceries, and all other expenses, not to mention workshop/equipment rental costs. Could they survive on £500 per week, with all that in mind? Yes, I know, they will also be getting TV money, but that's only for a few episodes per year (ten, thirteen and twelve respectively) - this is supposed to be an ongoing business, TV or otherwise. Hmm, anyway, who knows? Maybe they're doing a roaring trade, who am I to say? Sadly, we do only get these three seasons, with enough time having passed since the end of the third to suggest there won't be a fourth.

What we do get is still well worth watching, though, even if you only have a passing flicker of interest in the subject matter, generally. Most of the examples featured here are interesting in one way or another and it's great to see the clapped out wrecks getting new life breathed into them. Some petrolheads have criticised the guys for 'bodging' a lot of their fixes, but with the budget and time constraints, what else are they supposed to do? The new owners can always do proper restorations if they really want to, right? I'd have quite liked a few of their bangers myself!

I may have discovered this show by chance, and I probably won't watch anything else like it, but I thoroughly enjoyed every episode of it while it lasted (except, maybe the Alfa Romeo one - why, guys, why?!), and I'd love to see more of the adventures of Gus and Will. They do still have an podcast ongoing, as I understand it - an attempt to keep momentum going, I guess - but I want more proper episodes, please!

RKS Score: 8/10