"Viewers' cars are really important to them," says Lois Curren, executive vice president, MTV series entertainment. She says MTV research shows that viewers go out of their way to customize different areas of their lives, from downloading music to shopping, and "we noticed they started doing this with their cars."
In 2003, car owners spent more than $3 billion on specialty accessories and performance features, up from $295 million in 1997, according to the Specialty Equipment Market Association, a trade group representing the custom automotive industry.
The team from West Coast Customs in Inglewood, Calif., puts the finishing touches on Krissy Miller's 1960 VW Baja Bug for MTV's vehicle makeover show.
(Photos Jeffrey Marcus -- Washingtonpost.com)
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Miller, 23, depends on her Baja Bug to go to school. She studies adolescent psychology at Long Beach State and wants to help teens avoid the pitfalls of drug addiction that once plagued her. Miller started using drugs as a teenager and says a string of bad experiences overwhelmed her life. The car, which she bought on the street for $1,000 after she got clean, holds a special place in her heart.
"It has personality, it has spunk," she says after waiting two weeks to see her made-over car for the first time. "I'm afraid it's going to be too nice to take it off-road."
Predictably, the show is popular among male viewers attracted by hot rods. But surprisingly, the show also appeals to young female viewers. Episodes alternate between male and female subjects to give the show broader appeal. Forty-five percent of the audience is female, according to MTV.
"I knew we had something, but I thought it would be more of a slow burn," says Hurvitz, who created the show with his business partner, Bruce Beresford-Redman. Instead, the show quickly found an audience.
It attracts an average of 2.6 million viewers for an original telecast, according to Nielsen Media Research. The show's highest-rated broadcast, which aired May 2, was watched by almost 3.2 million viewers. By comparison, more than 9 million people watch "The Sopranos," the highest-rated show on cable. Last week, MTV's highest-rated show, the "Real World-Road Rules Challenge," had almost 4.5 million viewers.
MTV moved "Pimp My Ride" from Thursday to Sunday nights after seven weeks and added five episodes. Two episodes remain; the season ends June 13. The show, which has been renewed for a second season, has been featured on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live."
"Pimp My Ride" is filmed on location at West Coast Customs in Inglewood, Calif. It's where rappers such as Ludacris and NBA stars such as the L.A. Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal take their cars to be souped up. It has been featured in Dub, a popular magazine for hard-core tuners.
At West Coast, tattooed and pierced grease monkeys turn junk into funk. The mechanics smoke cigarettes and horse around as if they're still in high-school auto shop. But they are modern-day artisans and automotive engineers who can rewire the electrical system of a $50,000 Hummer H2 to support a 11,800-watt sound system with 8 subwoofers, thundering bass and enough speakers to blow away the Hollywood Bowl.
On one episode, the team added a flamethrower to the back of a Ford Mustang (the idea, hardly street-legal, was eventually scrapped). They put a fake tailpipe that disguised a bubble-blowing machine on another Mustang so a trail of bubbles could follow the car as it cruised the streets. They installed a fish aquarium in one car, an espresso maker in another, and a karaoke machine in the trunk of a third. The back of a pickup truck was converted into a gaming center, including a Nintendo GameCube and a ping-pong table that fit over the truck bed. A Nissan station wagon was outfitted with a professional-quality DJ set, complete with turntables and a mixing board.
"There's no reason to do it other than it's funny and cool," Hurvitz says. "We're always trying to entertain ourselves."
Funny and cool drives the show. The West Coast mechanics are genuinely amused that their antics are being recorded for television. They ham it up whether or not the camera is rolling. They spare no one -- the MTV crew, a visiting journalist -- with their gibes. Getting everyone to stand still or dress in the proper colored shirt for a scene is like trying to organize a class of hyperactive preteens.
"We let them go," says Hurvitz. "This is a living set, it's a real garage." The team often works 12 hours a day to turn a car around in under two weeks.
