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With three seasons of National Geographics Car S.O.S under his belt, Fuzz Townshend has had his hands full with restoring some well delapitated classics. Partnering up with Tim Shaw and the crew at Westgate Classics the past months have had Fuzz working hard on the fourth series of ten cars. The first episode of the show airs tonight and Classic Proof caught up with Fuzz to get some insight on the man wielding the spanners.
Regular viewers of Car SOS might know that Fuzz is more than just the average mechanic. Townshend has built a career for himself as a journalist working as the tech-editor for Practical Classics Magazine and Classics Weekly and he has an impressive resume as a musician playing drums for Bentley Rhythm Ace, Pop Will Eat Itself and The Wonder Stuff, and providing soundtracks for Hollywood productions ranging from Malcolm in the Middle to Jackass and Sex and the City. Fuzz truely is a talented individual.
So that beckons the question, what came first. Music or cars?
“Well, they both started at the same time I guess.. I started making drums out of cardboard boxes when I was seven years old and I got my first proper drumkit when I was 11. Around that time I also started helping out in my cousins garage during the holidays. So I’d go up to Scotland, help out all summer and I’d get home with my first ten pounds in my pocket. I played my first paying gigs as a drummer when I was 13, in 1977 and I’d make some money there as well. Then I left school in 1980 and went straight into an apprenticeship at a bus garage but in the meantime I was gigging as well. So I guess you could say they sort of went together. I started working as a journalist for Practical Classics magazine and I soon became their Tech Editor. Then I did the same for Classics Weekly and then one day I got the call if I wanted to make a car show.”
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Making a car show definitely hasn’t been the easiest job Fuzz had ever had. The deadlines are strict and sometimes that means putting in a lot of extra hours.
“It’s a killer. The car simply needs to be finished in time for the reveal. No way around it. The stress you see on the show is all real. It’s a lot of late nights and early mornings. And we do 10 cars in 24 weeks. What happens is that we get a car in, we work on it for maybe 10 days, and get it ready for paint. We then send the car to paint and get working on the next one. So we get sort of a production line going. We try to spend between 500 and a thousand manhours on each of the cars we restore, although sometimes we do go over. The Volvo P1800 we did (for season 4 ) took about 1200 manhours, so the production company won’t like me for that one.”
“The setup of the show is quite simple and it makes a lot of sense. Basically there is a production company that pays for the people at the garage to restore the car. There is a budget of sorts and we try to stay within that budget. But we do whats necessary and if that means going over, well there’s no helping that. Of course in the end I have to do the explaining… The Volvo P1800 is a prime example of that.”
Car SOS as a show has taken some interesting standpoints about the way cars have been restored. Over the past three seasons the show has featured cars restored to pristine original condition, but also some severe modifications and even a very understated oily rag resto on the Austin 12. And in the show it’s usually Fuzz that is most vocal about how the restoration should be carried out.
“Yes, generally, what we do on the car is decided by what I find needs doing. What happens is I go and make a reccy of the car before we start out and I base my decisions on that. Of course there’s some things that always need to be done. You always have to do the brakes, and the tyres and the suspension. The standard things.”
“You never know what you’re going to run into when starting a restoration. We’ve had all sorts of problems with the cars on Car S.O.S. The Zodiac from season one was interesting. The Lancia from last season was a work of art. It had expanding foam, newspapers, fibreglass. It even had outriggers made of wood. Actual wood, painted over. It looked really good! You just never know whats beneath a layer of paint, so you have to be careful.”
Car SOS also had Fuzz partner up with Tim Shaw. The duo work well on the screen, but they had never met before starting on the show.
“Well, I knew who Tim was, off course. His reputation was pretty strong. I mean he has been sacked from more jobs than I ever have. He is very different from me but we do get along. Tim is very much larger than live, very inquisitive. Some people might not get along with someone like that, but I can work with him. It’s great. Tim is like the kid at school who never was at school because he would be out playing with his dog or something. He’s great.”
Despite the many hours taken up by Car SOS, Fuzz has managed to introduce two new concepts to the classic car industry. The first one being Classic Friendly, the second being Classic Aware. Fuzz explains:
“Classic Friendly is basically a small group of garages that are able to, and are enthousiastic about fixing Classic Cars. It’s like a figure head for people that want to get into classic cars, so they know where they can go. With Classic Aware it’s a bit different. You see, what’s happening across the EU is that most cars over 30 years old no longer need a safety inspection. So what happens now is that someone finds a car that’s been sitting in a barn for 30 years, they put some air in the tires, put some petrol in the tank, drive it around the block and get it insured. They can run their car on tyres that are 30 years old and there’s nobody to check it over. What Classic Aware is about is that we’re trying to raise the awareness that a classic car needs to be checked regularly, just like any other car. I’m a classic car restorer by trade and even I have someone check over my work. Just in case I’ve missed something. It’s just good practice. The Classic Aware moniker is free for anyone to use. It’s just a phrase we introduced to make people understand the need for safety. ”
Every classic car enthousiast we’ll be interviewing at Classic Proof will get to answer two standard questions: whatever got them into classic cars in the first place, and if they have any tips for people that want to get into restoring classic cars. Here’s what Fuzz had to say on the matter.
“Well, my passion for cars probably originates from when my uncle would visit. He was into his cars and everytime he would visit he’d have a different car. A Wolseley one day, then he’s be in a Volvo, then it would be a Transit van. They’d all be high spec with leather seats and what not. And he’d smoke a pipe, so there would be that smell and the smell of oil. I loved that. And of course from busses as well. I love busses!”
“As for restoring a classic car? Just don’t do it! Really, don’t! You’re on a road to ruin! No, but seriously. If you want to make a start restoring a Classic car, simply buy the best car you can afford. Restoring a car takes a lot of time and effort and when you do it for the first time it’s very easy to lose hope. It’s better to start off with an easy fix to build up your confidence and you van always take it from there.”
So with Season 4 well and truely dusted, we off course want to know if there are any plans for a Season 5
“We never know if we get to do another season of Car SOS . That’s completely up to National Geographic. If they have the budget, and if we get enough viewers we get to do another series. So if you like our show, please let the people at National Geographic know. The more vocal you are, the bigger the chance is we get to do another series.”
Car SOS premiers tonight at 8PM on National Geographic UK.
Elsewhere on Classic Proof:
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