I really like watching the shows on Velocity and American Hot Rod is one of them. But, and this is a big but I can't stand all of the bickering and apparent lack of coordination of their projects. Obviously they are VERY talented. But after watching a couple shows I would think twice prior to giving a project to them. I think they need to take all of the positive they have and focus on that. Maybe business is way to good to bother with any criticism but I am just relating my thoughts after watching their show. Having said that, I think they are a group of very talented people.

American Hot Rod is/should be a TV series that is intended to show how to make a quality Hot Rod (or other type of car). This includes everything from the start (the design) to the finished car, and the drama between the employees.The positive is that we get to see some skilled employees doing their work, and see how cars like this is made (at this scale). But, unfortunately, there is a massive negative overtone over the whole show. I guess much of what I react on, is created to get more action or make it funny.This is what I react on or get out of the show:1. Bullying employees (or other people).2. Exploiting employees (massive overtime and pressure).3. Not building quality cars (cuttting corners).4. Running a business badly (lack of control and logistics).5. Boyd loosing a hard earned reputation.6. Destroying/chopping original classic cars.1. Employees is bullied (or shouted at) all the time, and sometimes to the extent that they have to leave or get aggressive. Had this happened in Norway, it would be highly illegal. Roy, an employee, was also made fun of all the time. He died, and still "funny" comments was made of him. No respect, what so ever! Bullying like fat jokes, stupid jokes and deliberately trying to make someone angry, is NOT what I call fun.2. Setting a time limit for a car (in almost every episode) that is almost impossible to reach, and pressures the employees to work overtime and weekends all the time, is not humane. And extremely stupid if you like to keep your employees and have a good atmosphere at the working place.3. Because of the short time limits, corners was cut all the time, making the quality of the car suffer. Yes, the cars looked fine outside, but underneath it was mediocre.4. How to not run a business. Not having the control of the build or making sure of that the parts arrive before the build, created delays and frustration.5. If Boyd Coddington had a good reputation in making quality cars, it's gone now. Quite simply said! Almost every build in this series show how little focus it was on making the best car possible. The employees commented on this all the time. If I wanted a HotRod, I would never have bought a car with his name on it.6. And this brakes my, and many others, heart, he destroys/chops good original classics. They have then, for ever, lost their value. I can understand it if it was a original classic that was so bad that it couldn't be restored, but here they destroyed good ones. Another reason to not respect Boyd.Many of the employees quit because of reasons I have mentioned.I know that Boyd Coddington has died, but I still stand by what I say. I wish he could have lived and tried to restore his reputation in future episodes of the series, and showed that he (and Dwayne) could treat people good and make high quality cars.I have followed the series because I like cars and mechanics, but many times at each episode, I strongly react on different elements (mentioned before).Therefore, I only give it 3/10

Well one of a few shows on custom build vehicle shops. Born and raised in the states and 12 years as a mechanic before getting a Masters degree and moving into the international business world. I must say this shop is poorly run. Sure nice looking results, but pathetic management, Boyd is a self righteous man who believes because he has a name making "pretty" cars he has some sort of insight into the rest of life. And if he makes a bad decision he is too pig headed to back down and get back on track, instead he makes people work insane hours and questions "teamwork" if they don't agree with him. As for Dwayne (or Duane who ever), a sad excuse for a shop manager. Lots of hot air and tough guy silliness. Basically the whole show gives us insight into nice looking cars being made but it would be much more interesting seeing them progress without half-wits making comments.

I've seen a few episodes of this and thought in the beginning that it would be like American Chopper, but I was severely disappointed. I won't be watching it again, after the episode I saw last night. The people in this are one dimensional and the mechanic I saw last night spoke in the same monotone the whole time. Comparing the two series American Chopper and American Hotrod, Boyd seems to have little or no interaction with work in the shop, unlike Senior who is always about the shop checking on the progress of projects and other bits and pieces. For people working with and designing engines, I find it hard to accept that in last nights episode for an Alumatub(?) they could make such a mistake as to mess up the dimensions of the manifold and have to have it welded to fill the gap. I just hope that the car was not going to a customer. Also there doesn't appear to be the same interaction between the team, that there is on American Chopper. Everyone in American Chopper has no problem with lending their specific talents to a project if they are needed, or indeed giving a hand out when required. In American hotrod they don't seem to interact at all, though there was the play fight to settle a dispute between two team members, one of whom later parted company with the workshop. The fight didn't really serve to do anything other than increase the animosity between the two.This series should be put out of our misery or come with a health warning.