Which would you pick
 

If you had a choice between Fantom Works restoring your car or The Guild, which would you choose?

Neither. Both shops seem disorganized and unfocused.

The Guild. Did you see that 1935 Bugatti they built from scratch? Unreal. Not impressed with Fantomworks, although I liked the show. $18,000 C1 interiors and cars overheating and 'boiling over' at 180 degrees (22 degrees under the actual atmospheric boiling temp of water) are not for me.

The Guild. I wouldn't let FantomWorks change the oil in my lawn mower.

Depends on your definition of "restore".
To me "restore" means exactly that. Return it to its AS BUILT original configuration to NCRS Top Flight, Duntov, and/or Bloomington Gold standards. Not to a 3,2,1 slam on the brakes to flat spot the tires level
There are better places: Nabor Bros., Kevin MacCay, or Bob "Stretch" Zimmerman. These are three that I know and would trust.

Its my understanding that Fantomworks is airing its last episode this season - or I at least saw something to that effect...

Already aired. Watched it. Always enjoyed the show, regardless of the drama, etc.

If you have your restoration done at Fantomworks you will need to budget for two sets of tires. The first set will be flat-spotted by the "brake test". At least the owner of The Guild has got that kickass head of hair to distract you.

Ray

I would choose Martin Brothers Customs from Iron Resurrection or Dave Kindig @ Kindigit Design.

I know nothing about Guild but I wouldn't let FatomWorks look at my car much less touch it.




:flag:

Yup - they have Amanda! :thumbs:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...b315c54c05.jpg

Amanda is the reason I watch that show. :thumbs: That and the minimum of manufactured drama.

Heather is a close second on Garage Squad. I still don't believe her real age.

Odd end of season Fantomworks episode where the guy absolutely has to have a no-budget big block '67, then makes up a story not to take it. Weird.

I guess it really depends on your budget and the direction you want the project to take.
If I were looking regardless of the budget I would be looking at other possibilities.

I guess the guy saw that the "original 427-435 Block" they put in the car was two bolt main motor. watch the re-runs the camera just catches the single pipe plug in the side of the block above the oil filter housing..

Neither. I restore cars for customers, so I have no need for a Hollywood trained drama queen to work on my own cars.

Dilly dilly

Why Dan Short quit:
https://www.fantomworks.com/14385/why-drs-quit/

Phantom Works
 

dont know why u guys re so down on Dan Short and Phantom Works?????? i thought it was one of the better car shows on tv. Dan always tried to do a job the right
way with no Joe Mcghee short cuts. He would always try and do the job the way he would want it done himself. His builds were very pricey but he put in a lot of hours
and time on his builds. i will miss the show,

again i am not a fan of Richard Rawlings or the Texas guys. i agree with most of u that the best car show on now is Iron resurrection. Joe Martin is a incredible and
amazing fabricator. can do anything with a piece of metal. and Amanda is not to hard to look at. Not much of a Kindig fan but the show is ok sometimes. Also
really enjoy Garage Squad. Not many good or great car shows on. i guess it just depends what u like??

The OP asked a very specific question, he didn't ask which show is best.....

My vote, if you feel compelled to choose between the two TV shows, would be "The Guild" as they sure seem to restore some high end stuff and fabricating the Bugatti demonstrated some real craftsmanship. If you want to change the channel a bit my car was done by a shop in Grand Island, NE called Sloggetts which did an exceptionally good job on the car. The car has won several first place trophies including the best paint in the entire show at the Houston Autorama. The painter on the car was a Dave Kindig trained painter so my car has that partial connection to television. It's a little off topic to your initial post but, in my opinion, if I was going to restore a car I would focus on the craftsmanship of the shop and not the entertainment value of the program.

Here's another new one you might want to try - "Love, Live, Wrench" - no fat, greasy, long-haired backward baseball cap types and no manufactured drama; just a normal married couple working in their own shop. "Emily" is beautiful, well-spoken, car-smart and tool-smart.
Heather, Amanda, and Emily keep me tuning in to their shows. :thumbs:

The Guild hands down. Great attention to detail. Fantomworks seem to make a lot of silly mistakes that a backyard mechanic wouldn't do.

Of course it was easy by then after racking in big sums of money. Wonder how much his workers got of Dan's take ? Easy to act like a hero after your bank account is stuffed with dollars

Serious Eye Cabdy
 

On Motor Trend/Velocity, check out Live, Love, Wrench. Emily Reeves I believe is a professional model as well as a very competent mechanic.
Her husband Aaron is an aspiring airline pilot so I take special interest in their show. I offered to mentor him. I'm old enough to be Emily's grandfather but I could watch her forever.

Neither.

To the OP's question.

Let advertisers pay for manufactured drama. I have enough real drama in my life, don't need any fake additives.

I agree. These have great fabrication skills. I might be able to afford Martin Bros but Dave is way too expensive for my meager funds.

Pick
 

I would never let Fantomjunk touch any car that I care about. The funny comment on them not cutting any corners....the C3 they did was a rusted hulk of a birdcage that should have been thrown to junk. They continued to suck money from the customer to splice new metal into rust, never getting all of it so he could keep sentimental value.

His brake check should be a example of his fine work.

I also have to agree with John Z.....

Watch that C3 episode again....Dan does his best to talk the owner OUT of spending stupid money on that Vette. But the owner said “I don’t care what it costs, I want my father’s car restored”. The owner was clearly advised of the massive amount of $ it was going to take, and he was advised that the car simply isn’t worth it. But the owner said he “didn’t care about the money”.

That Live Love Wrench show is painful to watch. They clearly don’t know what they are doing, and the production quality is amateurish. I suspect that show is cancelled in a few weeks.

Back to the OP question: find a restoration shop that specializes in Corvettes, one that isn’t on TV. There are numerous shops that do great work, and do it without fabricated drama.

I did a tour with some friends from NC last August of Fantom Works. The 67 big block car was sitting in the back with the top down. Several of us asked about the 67 and our tour guide said “it’s a long story” and didn’t want to talk about it. It was a nice car but had a very heavy layer of shop dust inside and out. I watched the episode about this car and now it makes more sense why it was just sitting there collecting dust. Dan is a nice guy in person. We see him at local car shows and he did a pre inspection on a friends 65. This last tour was in August and it was over 90 degrees. When we arrived Dan was in the shop which is not air conditioned. He came into their break area soaked with sweat to talk to us.

I may be the only one who doesn't know "the long story" about the Fantomworks '67 BB. Can you fill me in ?

Ray

Ray, if I said any more about the 67 BB I would be guessing. The car may be gone now for all I know. As we were walking through last August, the explanation didn’t make much sense. Why would you let a nice car like that sit in that shop exposed to all that shop dust. It should have had a cover.

Okay, I was mistaken in thinking that maybe that '67 BB that you saw was featured on one of their episodes and it had some wild "reality show" backstory to it.

Ray

Ray, after thinking about this, I am not 100% sure The car I saw last August was the same car in the episode. Same color, interior and engine but I have no way of knowing it’s the same car without confirming with Fantom Works.

How ap-pro-po that it is named "Phantom Works"...as the entire shop only exhibits a "shadow of talent"...

The ONLY show/person I would personally have to restore/work on any of my cars is Chip Foose.

The reason being with the other two shows...the guy with the handle less mop on his head ( Guild) has NO on-hands talent...other than writing checks...
and the guy at Phantom Works is a consummate HACK!!!..

Chip Foose is Extremely Capable in ALL aspects of Design and Fabrication...from welding...to shaping with an English Wheel...to assembly...to paint...etc..etc...
You could leave your car to be restored with Chip Foose and ONLY have Chip work on your car with NO other help nor hands touching that car...and the finished car would be a "Work of Art"....
NOT so...with the other 2 !!!!...Mark

The standard Foose creation would have a light color on the top area followed by a darker side color, perhaps fading into a silver bottom area paint. There could even be a stripe on it. An Edelbrock crate engine, oversized shiny wheels, a magnaflow exhaust system and a tuck & roll interior. Your bumpers would be shortened and refinished to better match the body lines. Almost forgot the huge speakers for the boom car effect.

I’m not saying you are misguided on your rating of the two shops the OP asked for response to.

If it’s the maroon car recently featured on the show, it supposedly belongs to Dans brother. This oddball customer wanted a no-budget 435 horse roadster ‘67, and Dan talked his brother into selling the car to this guy and sprucing it up. There was some story about the original motor being gone, but being returned to the car in some way that I never understood. The office girl offered her opinion that it was too much car for the old guy. Old guy goes for a test drive and tell Dan he will take the car. Later, he calls back reportedly with some weird excuses of why he won’t take the car, and Dan says he’s not sad the car is staying. Huge, huge gaps in the story.

To reduce or minimize the talents of Chip Foose into the list of customizing as you have done...is to negate or dismiss the FACT of Chip Foose as being the Youngest member of the Hot Rod Hall of Fame and a member of the SEMA Hall of Fame!!!...but then again...you may consider Michael Schumacher as an "Ordinary Driver":steering:...Mark

https://www.chipfoose.com/blog/sema-...e-new-members/

I hadn’t planned to enter into a urinating contest with you or anyone else. My statement is an observation of what he (Foose) puts forward every week on the television show he stars in.

Foose is known to be talented and personable. As far as Schumacher goes, I grew up in the time of Jim Clark being world’s greatest Formula 1 driver.

Both persons mentioned were/are the “man of the hour” in their time. Their “hour” will be equalled or surpassed by someone else when the time comes. I’m not into hero worship.

How about we get back to the question asked by the OP? Given the option of having your car restored by Fantom Works or The Guild which would YOU choose? There are no other options. Make a decision. Get off the X.

Cheers

I wouldn't let Fantom works touch my bicycle.

Wow that's like saying would you rather eat a dog turd or get poked in the eye with a sharp stick:rofl:

Just admit it John, you're an ole horn-dog like the rest of us. :thumbs:

These threads always crack me up.....has anyone who's commented above actually had any interaction or real work done by either shop? I'm not defending them one way or the other, I'm just saying that writing a shop off, or supporting another one based on some over produced reality television show is a little ridiculous.

Additionally, to say the only person you'd allow to restore your car is Chip Foose would be like me saying that I'm only willing to take guitar lessons from Stevie Ray Vaughn (assuming he was still with us).

Now I have absolutely zero first hand experience with Fantom Works, but they are local to me, and I do know a few of their prior employees. All of them echoed what Dan said in his statement about the stresses filming that show placed on the shop. In talking to a few of their customers I have run into at local events, the general consensus is that they do excellent restoration type work....metal work, paint, body, interior, etc. but if you are looking for mechanical work like engine/trans/rear end building, you probably could do better elsewhere.