Anybody else been watching this? I saw the finished '56 Chev at SEMA, so that's probably heightened my interest.

I know it's easy for some to take pot shots at Coddington, but those that have been around a while know he came from the trenches. He's worked hard and earned his reputations.........both good and bad!

Just some observations:

-Glad they haven't turned it into as much bickering as American Chopper, but then the Pauls' are big time "stars" now, even have AOL commercials. Of course if AOL had put the millions into customer service/product quality instead of advertising they might not have lost 850,000 customer in the 4th quarter of 2003.

-I'm not surprised Coddington doesn't have any of this old employees working for him anymore (with the exception of Roy the old metal man), the few attaboys he dispenses don't seem very sincere most of the time.

-The first '56 body they dragged in and tore apart shows that even the "pros" can buy a blivit.

-The reality of body work is, if you want them really "flat", you're gonna end up skim coating most of it.

-How does that geeky kid with the ball cap and black framed glasses talk without moving his lips?

-Charley, the body/paint guy, is an employee to die for. Dedicated, honest, hard working, doesn't whine, and knows what he's doing..........must be that Idaho upbringing. If I were to get back into that business again I think I'd hire him away.

-Discipline and morale must be a problem around there, half the time some of the workers don't show up. Might go back to why there aren't many old timers there.

-Seems weird to have the ex-wife as the bookkeeper, and the trophy wife working there too. Maybe that's the only way the ex can get the money they settled on.

-Speaking of money and bookkeeping, notice how they need a check each time something's delivered? Could it be that when he went banko last time he burned too many bridges? Or do they just recognize they're not too good at managing the business so they control spending by working on a cash basis?

-Nice to see them throw a birthday party for the mentally retarded cleanup guy. Looked like he had a blast. Shows there probably is a heart under those Hawaiian shirts.

-Lookin' at some of the cars in the background there are some nice rides comin' down the pipe. Although I'll bet their owners don't like seeing them just sitting there while the whole crew focuses on the show car...................especially if they think they're ahead on their progress payments.

-For all the whining we hear about the economy there are a lot of high dollar cars in there. Oh I forgot, this is an election year, so it's mandatory for about half the people to believe EVERYTHING is terrible no matter what reality is.

-For anyone who pays attention there is a lot to learn in this show even though the process is highly edited, and the producer's main goal is entertainment. For all that the film people probably aren't true car guys, they've managed to mix in a balanced dose of real world fabrication "problems" that even a pro shop runs into.

-That machined banjo style rearend in the Model A coupe is really something! (Ooops, that may have been on my buddie's local TV show that you guys don't see, can't remember now)

-No matter what you think of the guy, Coddinton's got "the eye"! (Although I really hate that yellow and blue color combo he did on the GG giveaway roadster)