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I've been watching some car reality shows lately and am wondering if the builds have to pass inspections, go through local DMV, etc. before being released to clients and deemed safe/legal/drivable? Large car manufacturers I would imagine have to submit models/designs for this purpose, and even then there are lawsuits, recalls, etc.
One show in particular (Car Masters on Netflix) shows the shop welding frames and parts from different vehicles together, manufacturing their own wheels, bodies, suspensions, steering wheels, etc. On one of the latest episodes cast member Tony Quinones takes his uncle's badly burned motorcycle, salvages what he can, uses a "donor bike" with good parts to complete the build, and builds his own wheels out of bullet proof glass.
Just considering the bike wheels alone, will they remain stable at high speeds, hitting potholes, etc.? Can his uncle just bring this bike down to DMV and register it...
TVshows have lawyers. I imagine they have to follow regulations - or just pretend they’re going to use a bizarre rebuild but really don’t - or play with it on private property, etc.
Everything on tv has one or more lawyers and legal consultants. Maybe they have a website community you can check out?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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It depends on the state, and what the car will be used for. A build that's for racing will be subject to the rules of NASCAR or the drag strip where it's going to run. Here in our state of WA there are no inspections except for Vin# on cars brought in from another state. Any vehicle 25 years or older is "classic" and not subject to the laws that require all manufacturer smog and safety equipment to be functional to be sold by a dealer. So here just about anything goes if older than 25 and the Vin# remains the same. We don't even have annual smog tests any more, and if staying within the state no need to take it to DMV, just take the title. Other states may vary, but from what I see on these shows from Texas, it may be even easier there.
Now in the City of Seattle they do have inspections for cabs, rideshare and network cars, some other cities may also. There is also the opportunity for any law enforcement officer to note an unsafe condition and stop them, but the builds you see on those shows will not result in anything obvious.
I've been watching some car reality shows lately and am wondering if the builds have to pass inspections, go through local DMV, etc. before being released to clients and deemed safe/legal/drivable? Large car manufacturers I would imagine have to submit models/designs for this purpose, and even then there are lawsuits, recalls, etc.
One show in particular (Car Masters on Netflix) shows the shop welding frames and parts from different vehicles together, manufacturing their own wheels, bodies, suspensions, steering wheels, etc. On one of the latest episodes cast member Tony Quinones takes his uncle's badly burned motorcycle, salvages what he can, uses a "donor bike" with good parts to complete the build, and builds his own wheels out of bullet proof glass.
Just considering the bike wheels alone, will they remain stable at high speeds, hitting potholes, etc.? Can his uncle just bring this bike down to DMV and register it...
The only thing you need to register the vehicle is a serial number, valid driver's license and proof of insurance.
Believe it or not a lot of those modifications don't interfere with the function of the vehicle.
So they started with a friend of a car that was at one time legally registered then it can be legally registered again.
Thanks for the responses! It appears the general consensus is that these builds are likely safe and legal or that no one is really checking/looking that hard regarding vehicle registration.
These shows don't give enough info/detail as to whether or not the builds will be used on public roads or kept as an off road novelty vehicle. One build involved doing a stretch limo type build on a VW microbus and dropping a 1,500 horsepower speedboat dragster engine into the middle of the inside of the bus, seemingly completely exposed to the driver and any passengers.
They actually had to call in an expert on these engines to help them, who told them these engines are not designed to operate at variable speeds. It in essence was designed to operate either at idle, or full throttle open (it's a dragster engine after all).
Is it a race van, street van, all they need is vin and serial for DMV....
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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For example: When I bought the '63 Ranchero and had it shipped from Spokane, it was delivered to my work. I had to do a tune-up to get it running and drove it home 11 miles with bald old tires, smoke billowing out the exhaust, no brakes, gas dripping out of a leak at the top of the tank, several lights out, and when I got home there was small fire under the hood. I had the title from the seller, and registered it the next day, no inspection or questions asked. I did replace the engine and all new brakes, bearings, shocks and springs and more before I drove it again!
Most of the "restore a car" shows that I'm familiar with, are based on the west coast, except for 'Garage Squad', which I believe is based in Chicago. The western states are notorious for stringent vehicle inspections, and usually at the end of the show, the owner is shown proudly driving down the street, in his/her newly reconstructed car. Therefore, I think it's a safe assumption that these cars are registered, insured, and road legal.
Having restored a number of cars, i've seen some shoddy work that really shouldn't be out on the road. However, they are registered and driving. Now this isn't because they passed inspection, but rather than nobody looked at the repairs and deemed the vehicle unroadworthy. For car enthusiasts, it can be somewhat easy to get around various rules/regulations mostly because inspectors simply aren't trained to look for certain things, or don't care. As someone who has installed "illegal" mods to cars in the past, it was always easy to get them past inspections.
In terms of poor craftmanship, this also falls into that bucket. I know of one popular vehicle that folks will pay big money for a restored example. As such, there is incentive to save rusted out versions. One problem area is the front strut towers/frame rails like to rot out leaving the engine cradle barely supported by 2 bolts (out of 6 total). I've seen the rot so bad that if you pulled a wheel off, you could disassemble part of the engine through the hole in the towers.
Anyway, i've seen these repaired in some interesting ways, mostly by at-home DIYers with little to know experience in sectioning cars. They just grab whatver steel is laying around and start burning metal. Poor welds? Just grab the grinder and bondo. Slap on some paint and make the car look shiny and none is the wiser for it. They don't pay attention to how the loads get transmitted through the body of the vehicle and how their repairs will be affected. Now how would you feel about doing 80MPH in a car with a shoddy frame repair and hitting a big pothole? I've seen some of these repairs crack down the road forcing the owner to seek out a rolling chassis and swap everything over.
In the above case, the car is road-legal simple because the inspector didn't look too closely, or didn't know what they were looking for and/or out of scope with regards to what they are inspecting for. Now, the inspections for returning a totaled vehicle to the road are a lot stricter, but in the above example, a non-wrecked clean title vehicle would not be required to undergo this stricter inspection as there is no history of any major damage nor any record of an accident. Rust, unfortunately, isn't characterized and reported to any agency to trigger such an inspection.
For the most part, many states, including CA, don't allow for non-OEM modifications at all. So how do such TV shows get away with it? Easy. it's all for show. Very rarely does a vehicle make it out onto the public road in the condition you see it on the show. I've seen some of these show vehicles "de-modded" to pass inspection, especially when they have features that don't really meet the state's safety inspection. Other times it's for the lawyers. In your example with the bike with glass wheels, i would be surprised if the bike left the show in that condition. They might show the owner going on a few rides, but i wouldn't be surprised if there was a legal clause stating the bike wouldn't be ultimately released with glass wheels on it and standard wheels would be swapped on instead. Stuff like that happens all the time.....remember. it's TV.
In Justin Dearinger’s Reddit AMA, he claimed that “they actually take out a lot of the stuff that they showed on TV,” such as in his case, a “pop-up” champagne contraption and a “drive-in theater.” Further explaining to HuffPost, Dearinger said that they removed the champagne part because the show didn’t want to condone drinking and driving. The theater was removed for not being street safe.
Some of the crazier modifications such as the flaming tailpipes that were added to the 1967 Ford Mustang in Episode 106 had to be taken off as they were against the law.
Last edited by BostonMike7; 08-27-2021 at 10:53 AM..
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,225,683 times
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Yes, California Code 27153 says that: “No motor vehicle shall be operated in a manner resulting in the escape of excessive smoke, flame, gas, oil, or fuel residue" but in some states even with a similar law, such as here in WA state there are no inspections, of any kind, so would only be caught if witnessed by a cop. There are people with exhaust cutouts, even on newer cars such as Challenger. The law is written to control the sound, not the equipment: "cannot exceed 72 decibels when traveling 35 MPH or under when measured from a distance of 50 feet from the lane they are driving in." There are no laws preventing engine modifications, except for a few cities or counties that have smog testing and don't allow that equipment to be altered. In our county/county we no longer
have to do smog tests, which used to be every other year on any cars over 5 years old and less than 30 years old.
I suspected that many of these vehicles were "reverse engineered" or "de-modded" off of the work done for TV purposes before they were street legal. Yes, a TV show's first obligation is to create interest/attract viewers and an audience.
My area (Long Island New York) is likely the opposite of Spokane and I don't think I would get five miles with the situation described before being pulled over by police or "phone videoed" by a "Karen" (or a "Karl") who would then report to police. New York has reasonably stringent vehicle safety/inspection laws but Pennsylvania has us beat. I actually drove three hours to a Ford dealer in rural PA to buy my used truck. It was sold cash, in "as is" condition because anything with over 100,000 miles has to be sold that way by law In PA.
Everything on Long Island seemed like it was an overpriced piece of junk with lousy, incomplete carfaxes, accidents/multiple owners/etc. (yes, even with the dealers, including Ford).
Three hours from home at a PA Ford dealer got me a creampuff with a stellar dealer serviced carfax, country miles, just passed PA inspection (which my salesman told me was nearly as good as a mechanic's inspection), etc.
Just celebrated one year of ownership without a minute's problem so the salesman told no lies...
Last edited by ShouldIMoveOrStayPut...?; 08-28-2021 at 07:37 AM..
Reason: Typo
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