Edd China left Wheeler Dealers last year but he’s finally returning to the world of entertainment with a new YouTube show called Edd China’s Garage Revival.
In the pilot episode, China explains the premise of the show is “We’re going to be visiting people who’ve got stuck on a project, for whatever reason, and the plan is to try and revitalize, reinvigorate them to get that car” back on the road.
The inaugural clip sees China travel to Norway to help a 23-year old finish his 1983 Volkswagen Golf GTI MK1. He’s been working on the project for two years but he’s having problems with his plan to install a new engine in the car.
A promising idea that gets off to a slow start
After an odd sidestep into travel show territory, Edd meets up with a local Golf expect to learn more about Norway’s laws regarding customization. This is about as exciting as you’d expect and it’s doesn’t get any more interesting when it’s spoken in Norwegian.
We’ll skip ahead of bit and watch China install headliner. This also isn’t interesting and yet it goes on for nearly seven minutes.
About halfway through the 40 minute clip, they actually get to the engine that was the whole point of the episode in the first place. In essence, the vehicle’s owner wants to replace the standard eight value engine with a 16 valve engine which is significantly more powerful. The government doesn’t typically allow this but, because of a loophole, they can install the engine as long as the car’s rear brakes are also upgraded.
The rest of the program basically focuses on China and the vehicle’s owner finishing the project by doing a number of different tasks. The duo then completes the job and takes the Golf out for a short drive.
While it’s not uncommon for pilot episodes to be a bit off, hopefully things improve in the future as this episode is dull to say the least.