I enjoy his show because he is winging it most of the time. No prebuild drawings or renderings, except for soapstone on the concrete floor. He tries something and if it doesn't work, he'll cut it off. Unfortunately, I just can't handle Victor and his "visions".
In red above...AGREED. He actually ruins the show many times. Even with Victor, and his other friends, there's no fighting, hassling each other, no dissenting . Ian keeps things running smoothly as far as arguments and other hassles. I don't always agree with his builds, but it's still interesting to watch his thinking process. Mike
There's alot of "TV shows" about car / hotrod/"fix-a junker and flip" BS . I cant even watch most , cause they are so stupid. There's one really really stupid show where they buy some junker trans am or what ever for way to much money, and they have to completely restore it in 36 hours so they can flip it at a auction. Think its in Mississippi or Georgia. .
To expand slightly on why I like it. No drawing to see what the finished project will look like. No $100,000 worth of tools. No agonizing over how something should be done. Envision it,cut and weld it and if not happy cut it apart and start over. No worrying if everyone will like it or if the finished product will conform to a set of rules on how it should look. I liken it to Roadkill only it's bodywork not the mechanicals.
I have been watching him since his Mav Tv days have to scratch my head on some of his builds but like the guy. He grew up in New York and got his start bending metal for a heating company he said on one of his shows.
That makes sense, cause there is a West Valley High School(internet stated that he went to) south of Buffalo NY. Plus he looks like a NewYorker rather that a Calif-er ,,, lol
I am a longtime fan as well. I am subscribed to his Utube channel. He has to many projects going now IMO. Looks like the TV deal in no more. He is probably making more money off Utube than he did with the TV series.
Really cool shows to re-see and motivating to me. Right now, I am jumping off the computer, to head outside to work on something vehicle related!
Agree. FWIW, I had a conversation with Ian one time at a car show. He admitted, off the record, that most of the later projects were chosen precisely for the weird-shite factor. Just building HAMB-friendly rods is boring to the TV audience. jack vines
Interesting to watch. Like some of his stuff, some of it not so much. Definitely creative and resourceful. I fear a lot of the quick and dirty style is covered by a LOT of bondo.
I like the show too... I've been inspired to get out into the shop and make stuff happen. Not into all the builds, but really dig others. The cat is imaginative, talented, high energy and fearless.
I don't see how some of his creations could pass a DMV inspection. But his innovation is off the scale.
Nice guy. Moved into my old haunts, right after I left CA. Right down the road from Gene. He was over at my buddy Shawn's shop awhile ago..Honest, super nice, down to earth guy.
Same comments here that I also feel. I like his work, but not many of the builds. His show is much easier to watch than the vast majority of car shows with all their nonsense and OT crap.
Ian is for sure a cool guy. He was part of,,many years ago,,a web site were I talked with Ian a good number of time,great feed back n cool ideas. with a lot of other cool builders as well. Old site was called "Ruffrodders" long gone now ,but was a very good group of hotrod nuts,with builds from wild to mild. Ian mostly on the cool wild side.
I really enjoy watching his shows, He has a great sense of humor and really reminds me of Ed Roth, both with his building styles and his damn the torpedoes full speed ahead attitude approach to making everything seem to fall in place. As far as his show, Victor hasn't presented Ian with any crazy build he wasn't able to knock it outta the park, Victor has the money to back up his dreams. Ian is a amazing builder that has vision that exceeds most builders, he is a master of the odd and unusual hot rods & customs. HRP
The one show I ever had time for, was Phantom Works. Until I hear of him returning, I'll not bother with the nonsense. The TV in this house is driven by her. ( I'm an entertainment snob ) My Claim to fame is I went from 1962 to 1982 and watched no TV. The second wife insisted on having one.
I like Johnny Jelopy. The other dude he did the International and the Ford, he’s on FB and I think he’s a flipper. The older gentleman, who Ian did the Jeep he seems to be a pretty good Joe.
The guy on the left is Mike one of my first students when I started teaching high school Auto mechanics in 1978. He is having a battle with cancer now and Ian took the time to have his photo taken with him (not my camera). If he brightened Mike's day he is a world beater. My wife and I have watches his shows in the past and both like it simply because he always sounds like he is just talking to who ever is watching and not putting on a big show. Just explaining what he is doing as he goes. Jean has been around my hot rodding for 55 years and she can tell the BS artists from the real deal guys and for her he is the real deal. True I don't always agree with what he builds but always understand why he did it.
As many said, he has his own style, not everybody's cup of tea but you can tell a Roussel creation apart. Am waiting to see what he does with his 37 Zephyr which he avided cutting so far, to me it's a perfect candidate for an Aston V12 transplant (Tony Angelo from Stay Tuned has one but is stuffing it into a Fox Mustang ) which is, really a kind of a Ford engine (2 Duratecs). I did like the Packard he did and the 38 Caddilac too.
I look at the guy as an automotive artist. Talented and seems down to earth. His creativity makes the show interesting.
I like watching his shows, not always my style of vehicle but I love his style of building. He never sees a problem he can't overcome, his vision is always what drives him and when a problem pops up instead of becoming discouraged he thinks a little further outside the box and moves on. He accomplishes more in 1 week than most do in 6 months and you can see he sees things as a challenge and he enjoys that. I'm sure some of his stuff may be a little bondo heavy but at least he gets his jobs finished which is more than I can say after 5 years !! ...
I'm not much into hero worship, but, I'd like to meet Ian. Hell I'd like to build with him. Everybody that comes in my shop says i build like him lmao! And Mike Finnegan, I'd like to meet him and Steve Dulcich.
It was hard to take on occasions but it did show what some unsuspecting bidder got at an auction… It also showed what the bill was….. no other show will do that for sure.
The Jalopy Journal
