David Grainger has seen his fair share of machines on wheels – what started as a hobby working on military vehicles during his successful career as an artist has forayed into a full-fledged (and equally successful) business restoring vintage cars and more. His work is profiled on the History Channel series “Restorage Garage,” and a new season begins tonight.
CraveOnline: What are viewers going to see this season on “Restoration Garage”?
David Grainger: People are going to find it has changes since the first season. I’m quite proud of the second season – as good as Season 1 was we raised the bar with Season 2. There’s a lot of amusing stuff – they played it up a bit but that stuff was actually happening. The projects are interesting, and overall the format changed a little – each show is a standalone rather than seeing the progression of the projects and I think that worked quite well.
Do you see the episodes before they air?
Yep, I saw all the shows and I’m really happy with them.
What tips can you offer to those who are looking to buy a classic car?
The biggest and foremost tip: Buy the very best car you can possibly afford. Don’t buy a cheap car thinking you’ll restore it – it will cost you four times more.
What car have you enjoyed working on the most?
As much as I’ve done high-power cars I keep gravitating back to old army jeeps. That’s where I started – with old military equipment. I’m finding in my dotage now (laughs) that at home I don’t have fancy cars but I have an old military jeep and a Land Rover.
What car makes you cringe when you see it on the road?
I had a thing about German cars for awhile – I owned a few and hadn’t had a lot of success with them. But I’ve gotten over that now. I’ve been a non-whaling advocate for years so more of a political thing avoiding Japanese cars.
What raises my blood pressure is when I see a school bus in front of me.
Is this something you’ve done in your whole life? Is it a family thing?
It’s actually something that started out as a way to relax. I was a fine artist for many years and used to do several gallery shows a year. After a long day of highly detailed work I needed to kick back… bang and crash and thump away on old military vehicles. I also needed to go into the bush to sketch and paint and I had to get there… and I had to learn how to not blow my eyebrows off in the process.
Photo: Pixcom Productions
