Ramp truck road kill is out too. Just watched. Truck is sweet.
It was...but man, I've said it before, I really feel like they've lost the product management on all these series (brands). It's a cool truck but there was very little 'roadkill' about that.
In my ideal little motortrend world...
- Junkyard Gold - guy goes out through junkyards across the US, finds some cool stuff, and maybe a few things that could be worth, or able to be rescued. Series just shows neat junkyards and old iron with some history rolled in.
- Roadkill - bring that found junk back home, or on a mission. Show what's needed to get it back on the road, have a cool adventure with it, do a burnout when ya get there. I feel like that's what drew me to that show originally. More about the adventure than the mechanics. I don't even care if the guy ahead of time ran a compression test and that's scripted in the show, that's the whole point of having that Junkyard Gold dude out there, even if that part never makes TV. Just seeing that as something you'd do would be fine.
- Roadkill Garage - showcase that same junk from the last two shows, but actually fix it up properly and really highlight how to work on some of that old tech - carbs, ignition, brake systems, stuff we don't hear about much anymore, like what you'd do once you get it home. Maybe here is where you could do shit like Stubby Bob or the C-body, just weird projects that aren't meant to go down the road but use cool old junk to make a neat machine.
- Hot Rod Garage - take that same junk and use all the cool aftermarket (read: sponsored) stuff to make it more badass and maybe do the before/after drag race things here too. So they get handed a mostly sorted, recognizable, 'project' that people know and can really showcase how to make it faster.
I'd even let Roadkill take some of those finished cars out for drag week etc, because I'd really like that show to be more about the trials of being on the road than any of the more in-depth mechanical shows.
Just seems to me like everything is diluted, cars randomly show up here and there, it's 'Roadkill' but we don't actually drive it anywhere, or it's "Roadkill Garage" but we're just building the F-rod on a custom chassis with all high end components. A flow from finding it in a junkyard to bringing it home to fixing it then upgrading it would really appeal to me and give some connection, continuity, and relatability to each part of the process. I'd also think that would leave a nice progressive filming schedule for each part as the vehicles get handed off. Then some end-of-season big finale where they do a shootout.
(signed, ex-product manager of my old company)
With the staff and show changeups it will be interesting to see how they move forward.
