There are plenty of car shows on TV, and various streaming services around, like Netflix. And one of the shows that have managed to garner plenty of fans and interest is Rust Valley Restorers that has played out for three seasons on Netflix.
The main man behind the show is Mike Hall, a dreadlock-wearing Canadian living his life out in the small town of Tappen, British Columbia. He’s the man who loves cars so much, he basically turned a piece of his land into a junkyard and then began a restoring business that his son, Connor is also a part of, called Rust Bros Restorers.
From being on the History Channel, then on Netflix, and now with fans wondering when the next season will be out, here are eight things you still might not have known about Rust Valley Restorers and the cast of this hit car reality TV show.
8 Mike Hall Had Already Experienced Reality-TV
If you’ve ever wondered how Mike Hall, raspy voice and all, is such a natural in front of the cameras, it could be because Rust Valley Restorers is not his first rodeo. He first appeared as a high-danger-pay-scale rock climber on the show Highway Through Hell about the dangerous roads of British Columbia.
While he was on the show, the story broke that he was selling a five-acre piece of land with 340 junk cars on it. This got Matt Shewchuk, a producer with Vancouver-based Mayhem Entertainment excited.
7 The Turnabout Came Through A Price Hike
What made Mike Hall a minor sensation at the time is that, when there were no takers for his prime pieced of junk-filled Tappen property, instead of slashing the price, he increased it. Seeing his rather colorful personality, Shewchuk got interested and discovered that Hall also restored some of the more viable junked cars in his collection.
Shewchuk got Hall and his team on board and shot a pilot episode. It was accepted on Discovery’s History channel before making the move to Netflix the next year. Shot in the small town of Tappen, the show managed to reach 190 countries and has garnered plenty of hardcore fans.
6 Mike Hall Gives A Home To Every Junk Car He Can
Hall can never say not to any junk car. Not even after three seasons of Rust Valley Restorers, if his son Connor’s Instagram feed is to be believed. A recent post by Connor went with the caption, “Grrrr. Every. Damn. Day. another one comes home” because his father can never refuse to house a junk car, no matter how sad it looks, and no matter if it can ever be put to use again.
For Connor, it all comes down to business, but for Mike, there is a soul in old and junked cars and he’d rather add them to his collection than let them rot, abandoned.
5 Conflict Between The Team
With Mike, it’s always about the car and he takes up a restoration job more as a project than as a money-making venture. He once even took up a restoration job that he charged $15,000 for, but it ended up costing Rust Bros Restorers a whopping $50,000.
Connor called it a loss but Mike insisted this was an investment. The other half of the team, Avery Shoaf, also tends to take Connor’s side in such situations, creating a bit of strife in the team. Mike can go to any lengths to restore a car, so Avery and Connor have to become the ones to dissuade him from rash decisions.
4 Not All Who Can Fix Can Drive
One of the popular cast members is the young Cassidy Mceown, who adds quite the comic flair to the show with perfect timing. She is an avid disciple of Mike Hall who follows his every move to learn all she can about cars from him.
But that doesn’t mean that everyone on the cast who loves cars truly knows what to do with them. For instance, it took Cassidy a lot of tries to get her driver’s license, something the other cast rib her about. Goes on to show that some of the things in the series could be scripted for maximum mileage.
3 Mike Hall Does Not Plan To Restore All Cars
Mike Hall has a cartload of cars, but that does not mean that every car in his land acreage is going to be restored or even used for parts. Apparently, he’s keeping a lot of cars as is just for nostalgic value, because he likes looking at these old cars.
So, while restoring cars gives the Halls a high, some of the cars are in the junkyard just for Mike’s viewing pleasure. And to many in his team, this does not make too much business sense. But it is Mike’s business, and after a point, he is quick to clarify that it will be run his way, in at least some of the ways.
2 Connor Is Monetizing Rust Bros Restorers As Much As He Can
Connor Hall, Mike’s son, has also grown up to be quite a gearhead. And he learned his art from Avery, in matters of both business acumen and automotive engineering. Connor is also quite the fixer-upper, of not just the cars but also the business on the whole.
And while Mike can wax nostalgic about the cars, for Connor it’s a business and has to be run to a profitable end. With gentle nudging, it seems Mike is finally coming around to see Connor’s way is better and the show has also given the father-and-son enough mileage to run a tight ship.
1 There May Or May Not Be A Season 4
Rust Bros Restorers is going great guns and has managed to tide over the worst of the pandemic as well. But as far as Rust Valley Restorers is concerned, till now Netflix has not announced any news about Season 4, and whether there will be one or not.
Both Mike and Connor Hall as well as the rest of the cast and crew also seem to be keeping mum about it all, though fans keep reaching out to them to ask if season 4 will be aired soon. While this could be a tactic to generate publicity for the show and Netflix, for now, it's all limbo. And for all we know, the season finale already came and went.
Sources: Driving.ca, Distractify, Instagram