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Automotive-Themed TV Shows and Episodes
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By Counterman
With the recent announcement that MotorTrendTV has ceased production of its automotive enthusiast programming, including Hot Rod Garage, Roadkill and its affiliated titles, as well as Garage Squad, my social media (and the internet in general) has been filled with doomsday prophecies about the end of automotive programming everywhere.
At a time of the year when I normally spend a lazy Sunday flipping channels rather than turning wrenches, the idea of not riding along virtually with Finnegan and Freiburger every week certainly caught me off guard. Fortunately, many reports of MotorTrendTV’s death have been greatly exaggerated, and none of us gearheads will be forced to interact socially with actual people rather than watching car shows in our off-hours. Here’s why…
The MotorTrend network is currently part of the Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) family of media channels. Warner Brothers merged with Discovery back in 2022, and in the spring of 2024, all existing MT streaming content was moved from its own platform to Discovery+ and Max. MotorTrend Studios was a separate division of WBD, responsible for producing content that appeared on MotorTrendTV. In November, content creators Joe Zolper (Garage Squad), David Freiburger (Roadkill), Alex Taylor (Hot Rod Garage) and Ian Rousseau (Full Custom Garage) have all taken to social media, confirming the rumors that production has ceased on those shows formerly produced by MotorTrend Studios.
Production had already wrapped on some of these affected shows, so there are still completed episodes that have yet to air. According to motortrend.com, “new content” from the cancelled MotorTrend Studios shows will be released throughout 2025 and into 2026. In the interim, many of the former MT hosts and other on-air talent are migrating back to the YouTube channels that originally spawned many of MotorTrend’s most popular programs.
It appears that the majority of MotorTrend programming for the near future will consist of re-runs of MT properties, as well as shows produced by companies not owned by the MotorTrend Group. Brenton Productions, headquartered in Tampa, FL, is currently promoting new episodes of Two Guys Garage, Build for Off-Road and TruckU, although no new information exists officially from Brenton regarding new episodes of All Girls Garage, Car Fix or Four Wheeler. With Ian Johnson scheduled to host Build for Off-Road, as well as his own YouTube channel (Big Tire Garage), it looks as though we’ve seen the last episode of Four Wheeler.
In Springfield, OR, Mark Worman and The Division Productions have already dropped Season 20 of Graveyard Carz, and across the pond, UK presenter Mike Brewer has confirmed that his long-running series Wheeler Dealers will return in 2025, although spinoff series Wheeler Dealers Dream Car is officially cancelled. Restoration Garage, a series following David Grainger and his shop in Ontario, Canada, as well as Dan Short’s Norfolk, VA-based show Fantomworks were both cancelled prior to the recent MotorTrend upheaval, but are enjoying new life on their respective YouTube channels.
Time will tell how the future of shows like these will play out, but for now, it looks like those of us who can’t get enough of cars and parts during the work week still have something to look forward to on weekends!
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By Counterman
PPG’s 2021 Automotive Color Popularity Report highlights increased demand for two-tone finishes, personalized colors and other emerging trends among car buyers.
The rise of two-tone finishes reflects consumers’ desire for personalization, PPG explains. Considerable progress in color science and application technologies provide an opportunity to bring these styling choices to the masses in a more practical and sustainable manner.
“It’s fitting that two-tone finishes would come back into favor during this time when we as a society are looking to the past,” said Misty Yeomans, PPG color styling manager, automotive OEM, Americas. “Along with special-order colors, tinted clearcoats, tri-coats and matte finishes, two-tone finishes better reflect vehicle owners’ individual preferences and personalities.”
Although two-tone finishes were common in the 1950s and 1960s, conventional color development and application processes made them increasingly impractical in mass-production environments. The traditional process for achieving a two-tone finish requires labor-intensive masking of the vehicle body and multiple runs through the paint shop. PPG has helped global OEMs overcome this challenge through a breakthrough application technology that produces crisp paint edges without the use of masking and other time-intensive steps.
PPG’s precision application process can reduce paint-shop application time by approximately 50 minutes per two-tone vehicle, according to the company. It supports sustainability goals by reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and eliminating the need for energy-intensive air-filtering systems to handle overspray. Color personalization also is enabled through PPG advancements in digital color styling, which dramatically reduces the time to market for new colors, according to PPG.
Other trends highlighted in the PPG report are rising popularity of grays, blues, greens and violets, with vibrant new colors more likely to debut on sporty models rather than SUVs and pickups.
Green, with its connection to nature, sustainability and inclusiveness, remains strong worldwide. This will continue to be an important color space for the automotive industry.
“Green is also seen as a ’traffic light’ color, acting as a signal for everyone to go forward – it’s safe and we can trust this color,” Yeomans said. “Green has two directions. One is sporty, fresh and vivid. The other is organic and darker, with deeper tones developed or designed as dark luxury greens yet still with a sporty and fresh attitude.”
From a global perspective, white (35% of vehicle builds) and black (18%) continue to be the predominant choices of car buyers, while demand for grays has increased 2% in each of the past two years. Blues remain strong at 8%, while reds dropped to 7% of builds. This was led by a 1.5% drop among North American consumers.
PPG also sees increased emphasis on taking a holistic approach to vehicle styling.
“We consider all surfaces and features of the vehicle as part of our color styling process,” said Yeomans. “As one example, we’re seeing increased use of specialized wheel coatings and colors to complement the styling cues of the vehicle body.”
PPG’s unique position as a global color leader enables the company to observe and translate emerging color trends for customers’ applications – from consumer goods to automotive color and residential to commercial and industrial design.Using this fact-based approach, PPG color experts help customers generate color ideas based on cultural and demographic trends. The resulting color technologies coat a wide range of materials and surfaces, shorten development cycles and bring more desirable and better-looking products to market faster.
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