Hot Rod Garage

So it is officially the last day of Hot Rod Garage. T Alright, final wave off! Alright guys! So, we may rejoin at some point, but in the meantime, follow Lucky's YouTube, follow Wiley's. . . Hot Rod Garage was a staple of Gearheads worldwide, a wild ride of engine swaps, crazy builds and ultimate American muscle. But fans of t What happened? How corporate upheaval at Motor Trend and Warner Brothers Discovery led to the show's abrupt end. And what it all means for the legacy of t If you're new here, make sure to hit that subscribe button and In mid-November 2024, the unt Roadkill co-host Mike Finnegan took to social media to drop a bombshell. After season 13, Motor Trend would film no new episodes of Roadkill or any of its sister shows. I just learned that it's over. Motor Trend Production Company is shutting down. He wrote, bluntly confirming the end of an era. Overnight, the industry realized it wasn't just Roadkill on the chopping block. Spinoff series As Finnegan warned, Motor Trend's own be The confirmation came quickly and dramatically. Wit The r Newburn wrote, he stated that Motor Trend Studios would halt production in 2025, though he clarified that already completed episodes would still air. Importantly, he explicitly named Hot Rod Garage among the shows affected. Faster with Newburn and Cotton, Hot Rod Garage, Roadkill Garage, and Roadworthy Rescues will all have new episodes coming out next year. We're just not making new ones. In other words, any Hot Rod Garage episodes filmed in 2024 would air on schedule in 2025. But no new season would ever be shot again. An automotive workhorse, Hot Rod Garage featured wild engine builds As recently as late 2024, crews were completing episodes, but a corporate decision meant no new shows would be made. The final nail in the coffin came from Hot Rod Garage veteran David Freiburger On November 18th, 2024, he uploaded a YouTube video s Freiburger revealed that Motor Trend had officially announced it would no longer produce any of He spelled it out in stark terms. Motor Trend announced that my TV shows would no longer be produced. That means Roadkill, Roadkill Garage, and the spin-offs were also ceased, including Hot Rod Garage. Television shows have been canceled. That includes Roadkill and Roadkill Garage and of course Engine Masters has actually been gone for a w And Motor Trend has also ceased production on Fast Earth, New Bern and Cotton, roadworthy rescues, and Hot Rod Garage. In one fell swoop, the founder of Hot Rod Garage publicly confirmed what fans feared. The show was finished. Be In late 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery completed its merger, bringing Motor Trend Group and all its channels under the large WBD The official spin was that the s As Freiburger's post suggests, the end of Motor Trend Studios meant the end of these shows. In Motor Trend's own words, Motor Trend Studios, the production company responsible for Hot Rod Garage, brought into Warner Bros. Discovery and now those shows are taking their final laps. In other words, t Dave New Bern described attending the final Hot Rod Garage event as a poignant farewell. In late 2024, the crew gathered one final time at Holly's Holly Days Car Festival, an unscripted last shoot day, before the show's garage doors closed forever. Under the hood of the industry, production shut down on Motor Trend's in-house garage. Technicians and builders, W Dozens of unerred episodes already in the can would still reach viewers. Fryeburger's update made clear that every finished Hot Rod Garage episode would be released on streaming or television in 2025. In fact, he said n Before the credits roll for good, t A final, lucky 13th season of Roadkill is scheduled to premiere in early 2025, with Roadkill Garage episodes following. Hot Rod Garage had already just completed its 11th season, premiering September 2023, but it now effectively ended on that With Motor Trend Studios closed, no new season 12 will follow. Hosts emphasized that they were simply contractually obligated to finish the work they'd started. As Newburn put it, we have new episodes coming out next year. We're just not making new ones. After that, Hot Rod Garage, Before the end, Hot Rod Garage enjoyed a strong run. Launched in 2014 from the pages of Hot Rod Magazine, it quickly became the ultimate gearhead TV workshop. The show's format was pure shop floor. Hosts and guest experts would fix up classic muscle cars, install insane engine swaps, and test their work on the drag strip. Over the years, Hot Rod Garage developed a loyal following by teac The show's most famous era came when Formula Drift champion Tony Angelo joined as host in 2016. Over six seasons and 97 episodes, Tony injected In a 2022 farewell interview, Motor Trend noted six years and 97 episodes of Tony's tenure. But at the end of 2021, Tony abruptly left Motor Trend to pursue other projects. As Tony The show's producers promised fans that w Indeed, Hot Rod Garage carried on into 2022 and 2023 without him, with co-host Lucky Costa and Hot Rod Magazine editors Despite changes in cast, Hot Rod Garage kept churning out builds. In its decade on air, the team created dozens of memorable project cars, from a supercharged 1969 Camaro to a 1955 Plymouth Savoy race car. The show was known for wrenches to road trips and an authentic love of old-school hot rodding. It even spawned fan events and swap meets, including the yearly HRG day celebrating the community of builders. So for those that haven't seen the show, host Hot Rod Garage on Motor Trend and we do Hot Rod Garage. It started three years ago, we declared a national holiday and we started out by just bringing out our friends and our family and we ran all of our show cars here. And we just had a good time. So what happens now to Hot Rod Garage's legacy? For one t Host Tony Angelo revealed in late 2024 that he personally acquired at least three of the iconic cars built on the show. Other partners and fans have taken custody of the remaining builds, promising to preserve and even finish them. T Perhaps most importantly, the hosts themselves have not disappeared. Co-host Lucky Costa started a personal YouTube channel to continue talking shop. Mike Finnegan and David Fryburger have returned to their roots and print and online content with Roadkill Magazine and their YouTube channels. The spirit of the show lives in dozens of new independent car build channels inspired by Motor Trend's path-breaking style. In a sense, the curtain falls on Hot Rod Garage as part of a broader s With Motor Trend's production model gone, the car culture community is splintering into many smaller, creator-driven outlets. For viewers, the end of Hot Rod Garage is bittersweet. One hand, it marks the end of an era for classic muscle car-focused television. The Hemings obituary notes that Hot Rod Garage's finale has left many car lovers with end-of-an-era feelings. Yet the fans' passion is undiminished. Social media is buzzing with nostalgic clips and memes celebrating the show. Many influencers argue that Motor Trend's loss is the DIY community's gain, now free to explore projects without a corporate filter. The immediate takeaway is clear. Any hope of new episodes of Hot Rod Garage has vanished. What remains are the episodes that were already filmed, w After that, Hot Rod Garage as a TV production is officially dead. There are no contractual plans for revivals or network pickups announced. Motor Trend's recent statements make it plain that the brand focus has shifted to events In effect, Hot Rod Garage joins other beloved shows, Roadkill, Faster with Finnegan, etc. , in the TV graveyard as a victim of corporate reorganization. The silver lining, if any, is that the personalities and cars can continue. Hosts are free to make independent content, as many are already doing, and fans can still access unerred episodes online. The engines built on Hot Rod Garage will live on in new shops and personal channels. As Fryeberger A chance for enthusiasts to share their passion without corporate shackles. Even though we've seen the last of Hot Rod Garage on cable TV, its influence on car culture is permanent. Every wrench, twirl, and burnout lives on through the cars themselves and through the community it built. So hold tight to that last season of episodes, spread the word to fellow gearheads, and above all, keep the Hot Rod dream alive. Okay, as always be happy, go fast, and stay pretty. I will see