There are a lot of major car TV shows out there. The Discovery Channel’s Fast N' Loud has been showcased as one of the biggest of them all. The concept is simple but effective, as Richard Rawlings and his Gas Monkey Garage crew look for some classic cars. They get their hands on one, rework it, and then flip it for a profit. The show is built around the “Monkeys” as they handle these jobs and often get into some wild escapades. The series has turned Rawlings into one of the richest guys in the business and he's now the head of his own empire and has even spawned several imitators. That includes some spin-offs and a variety of other projects, with Aaron Kaufman also becoming a popular figure.
Updated February 2022: If you're a fan of Richard Rawlings and his Gas Monkeys from Fast N' Loud, you'll be happy to know that we've updated this article with more details surrounding both the fakery and the weird truths.
But like a lot of reality TV shows involving cars, there’s a lot about Fast N' Loud to complain about. It’s become more obvious just how much of the show is based on trickery, from editing to flat-out falsehoods delivered to the viewers. They manufacture drama and make things look tougher than they really are while also spreading the idea that they’re still a small business just getting by. At the same time, there are some surprising facts about the show from personal touches of the cast to a couple of their bigger jobs. Some are well known but others may be more surprising for even longtime viewers. Here are 10 times Fast N' Loud was totally faked and 10 strange but true facts to remind fans that “reality” TV may not be 100% authentic.
20 Fake: The “Random” Clients
Here’s a major bit of the show which was real when it began but has faded as time has gone by. The series will usually show Rawlings finding a car on his own. It’s moved on more to the Gas Monkeys being approached by a client with a major job that has to be done in a specific timeframe.
This often leads to two-part episodes because they have to finish the job fast. It’s become more evident that many of these “random” clients have been chosen by the producers or even Discovery Channel executives for specific jobs. That includes a real-life Hot Wheels car for the company’s Red Line party.
19 True: How It All Began
Richard Rawlings had a lot of odd jobs before his success with Gas Monkey Garage and Fast N Loud. He was a cop, a fireman, a delivery guy, and ran a printing business. In 1999, Rawlings and a partner took a $100,000 loan to open up their own printing business, Lincoln Press. It did well, but Rawlings had conflicts over the management and wanted to expand things more. Rawlings bought out his partner in 2000 and took on a new associate. However, the economic issues of the time led to the entire company almost going under by 2004.
Rawlings was living paycheck to paycheck when he came up with the idea of offering a new Lamborghini Gallardo as an incentive to the first client to spend $1 million. It didn’t save Lincoln Press but it did earn Rawlings a few million which he used to open GMG.
18 Fake: Totally Unscripted
Here’s a brutal truth of “reality” television: they employ just as many scriptwriters as any TV drama or sitcom. To be fair, the chemistry of the Gas Monkey crew has been critical to the show’s success and impossible to replicate. However, the banter between them has clearly been scripted more and more as the series has gone on.
The early days did show them more as themselves yet it’s become blatant how many situations, from “conflicts” in the garage to some of the daunting jobs, are all planned out. It’s truly obvious when some dramatic moment occurs that it’s somehow been planned out and the editing helps enhance the drama. The crew may be real people but the majority of Fast N' Loud is as artificial as any other show on television.
17 True: Christie’s Husband Is Richard’s Hairdresser
Amid the various men of the garage, Christie Brimberry stands out. She’s more than just the “token gal” as she has a sharp mind for engines and helps keep order. In fact, she’s openly nicknamed the “Zookeeper” on the Gas Monkey website for how she has to be the level-headed one amid the madness and her sharp mouth has led to some funny lines on the show.
How she got the job is interesting, as her husband happens to be Richard’s hairdresser and pressed him to get his wife a job. Rawlings agreed to audition her just so the guy would stop bothering him. Rawlings quickly realized Christie’s skills were valid and hired her on.
16 Fake: Richard Stunned Kaufman Left
The departure of Aaron Kaufman from the series was a huge blow to fans. With his massive beard and fun manner, Kaufman was as integral to the success of the show as Rawlings has been. Kaufman was a car genius who handled almost any rig and dealing with the nutty antics of his partner. He truly loved the garage and enjoyed the promotional aspects. In 2017, Kaufman decided it was time to go and seek his own path. On the show, he breaks it to Richard, who’s rocked by this and almost begs Kaufman to stay onboard.
It should be little surprise this entire “sudden meeting” was totally scripted. There’s no way Rawlings could not have known long in advance of Kaufman going as rumors of his departure had been building for years.
15 True: The Gas Monkey Brand
Today, Richard Rawlings isn’t just a boss of a garage; he’s the head of an entire huge brand. Gas Monkey has become a huge success thanks to the show and the garage is constantly busy. Rawlings has also produced spin-off shows, Misfit Garage and Garage Rehab.
He also began a series of Gas Monkey restaurants, although they hit problems involving health code violations. There’s also the scores of merchandising sales of t-shirts and various tool kits. The most successful venture has been Gas Monkey Energy, a major energy drink. He even made the cover of Entrepreneur magazine who noted how he built a “billion dollar empire from nothing.”
14 Fake: The Misfit Garage “Rivalry”
Discovery Channel loves to spin-off their hit shows and Fast N' Loud is no exception. The network wanted to expand on the success of the series with a spin-off and real life gave them an excuse. After Tom Smith was legitimately fired from Garage Monkeys (he and Rawlings had a huge blow-up after Smith allowed a customer to pose with a Rolls-Royce), Discovery figured he was perfect for a spin-off. Misfit Garage follows Smith and his own pack who own a garage a few miles from Rawlings and do their own jobs.
The show makes Rawlings a villain who’s constantly undermining the Misfit Garage crew and they often challenge him for who can do the better buys. What the shows don’t tell viewers is that Rawlings happens to be the landlord for Fired Up Garage and got a producer credit for the series.
13 True: Tony Cano Is A Painter
Tony Cano was a rookie among the Gas Monkey Garage pack but still a good worker. He has a good exuberance and takes well to the fast-paced world of the Monkeys and the jobs they handle. Growing up in Texas, Cano was always drawn to cars and not just the mechanicals. Rather, he enjoyed painting them over and became the guy the team turned to when figuring out the right color and design.
Cano is a self-taught painter, having learned the tricks from a book his dad gave to him. He did well and his talents are on nice display with the paint jobs for the various cars. Cano gets needled a bit by the other Monkeys for his youth yet they respect his artistic eye and how he can give a car just the flair it needs to stand out.
12 Fake: Firebird Prototypes
This got Rawlings and the show in some hot water with fans when it aired. In the fourth season, Rawlings brings the guys to a barn where he has made a discovery that’s an automotive Holy Grail: two prototype Pontiac Firebirds used as a “proof of concept” for the classic model.
Rawlings boasted of how amazing this was as these things were worth $325,000 apiece and would be even more expensive once they were cleaned up. But when the episode aired, fans immediately cried foul. It turned out these “expensive” cars had both sold for just $30,000 on Ebay a year earlier. Plus, there were merely stored in this barn, not abandoned there. Few things have exposed the “unreality” of Fast n Loud like this contrived scene.
11 True: Rawlings Set A World Record
Contrary to belief, the Cannonball Run is not just a wacky action-comedy movie. It was based on a real cross-country race run by maverick drivers in the 1970s. When the movie became a hit, it inspired more races with a few drivers out to break the record for the Run. In 2007, Rawlings and his buddy Dennis Collins set out to break that record, driving from midtown Manhattan to Redondo Beach, California, in just 31 hours and 59 minutes.
That got them major attention and a spot on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno (which aided Rawlings in promoting Gas Monkey). Some argue whether or not this was actually for real, but is did provide Rawlings with some serious credentials for making such an impressive run.
10 Fake: Car Buys Are On The Spot
Now, one bit that is real is that Rawlings does indeed have a wad of cash on hand at all times. He says he never knows when a deal will present itself and that he has been able to purchase a $20,000 car with only five grand. That said, the supposedly "on-the-spot: car buys the show features are almost always faked. The series makes it appear as if all it takes is Richard showing up (or at least making a phone call first), talking to the car owner for a few minutes, and then the deal is done.
These deals are actually worked out long before filming ever begins and most of the “sudden sales” are planned out. So while Rawlings having so much cash is true, the “sudden car buys” aren’t.
9 True: Richard’s Dream Car
Rawlings loves to boast about how he can get just about any car he wants. Sure, a few times on the show he can’t quite close out the deal but his successes outweigh his failures. Yet one car has eluded Rawlings’ grasp: a Lamborghini Miura that has been owned by a man in Florida since the early 70s. Rawlings has made numerous incredibly generous offers, but the owner refuses to sell. Rawlings is still determined to add this beauty to his collection.
Besides that, Rawlings also cites his dream car as being a 1932 Ford Roadster. Since there were only 12,000 of these made, this classic car is one of the rarest for collectors.
8 Fake: How Much Work Is Done
The series gives the appearance of how the Monkeys work non-stop on a single car through thick and thin. To believe the episodes, you’d think these guys push aside any rest in order to get the job done. The reality is far different. It sounds as if it takes the crew about 120 hours to get these cars done in time for their owners. The show obviously edits a lot of that down to make it seem as if the work is completed in only a fraction of that time.
Even with cuts and time clocks, it still appears as if a three-day job can be performed in a single afternoon. As with so much on the series, a lot of the “reality” of the work done isn’t to be believed.
7 True: That Was A Mess
This one of the most infamous jobs in the history of the show. The online channel Roadkill challenged the Gas Monkeys to an eighth-mile drag race. The Monkeys thought they had a great car in a 1967 Dodge Dart. Little did they know it would turn into a total mess. The two-part episode shows they had issues from the get-go, but behind-the-scenes footage revealed the problem was even worse. They had to go through two transmissions and a half dozen torque converters to even get the engine going.
They then needed to call in computer techs from HP Tuners and Diablosport, who spent hours taking the entire system apart to reboot it. The gang won the challenge, but this was one occasion where the show downplayed how much work was needed.
6 Fake: “Running Into” Burt Reynolds
Rawlings never made it a secret that he was a huge fan of Burt Reynolds. Rawlings paid tribute to Reynolds after his passing with a full-on video remake of the movie (Rawlings, of course, played the Bandit). As it happened, Reynolds did show up in Season 4 (“Fast N' Loud Meets the Bandit”) when Rawlings and Kaufman were on a job restoring a classic Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. The episode makes it appear as if the duo just drive up to Reynolds’ mansion as he’s wandering out and waved to get his attention.
Of course, Reynolds just isn’t going to let a couple of strangers into his mansion and there’s no way they’d get that close past the security of the neighborhood. The whole thing was scripted to make it appear like an impromptu meeting when Reynolds was fully prepared for the duo to visit him.
5 True: Rawlings Hates Jesse James
It might be easier to make a list of the people who don’t have any beef with Jesse James. The outspoken motorcycle enthusiast seems to go out of his way to aggravate lots of people. It makes total sense he and the outspoken Rawlings would have some issues. It goes back to when they were up against each other on Biker Build-Off as they clashed a lot about who could do a better job on the bike restorations.
James also had a beef about Fast N' Loud replacing Monster Garage as a go-to auto show. Rawlings took to TMZ to rant on how James was “pretending to be a Texan” and James responded by having a truck of horse manure deposited right in front of Gas Monkey Garage. The two continue to slam each other in interviews to showcase a very public beef that is not manufactured for the cameras.
4 Fake: It’s Only A Handful Of Guys
Discovery loves to have shows that appear to be just a handful of people doing major jobs. It’s a constant for their various car and garage shows and Fast N' Loud is no different. It appears as if the crew is only about eight or nine people, with a half dozen working in the shop. In reality, the support crew for this show is massive.
You never see them, but there is actually a huge crew of mechanics who handle the real work of these cars. Richard and the crew do help out yet a lot of the rough groundwork of repairs and rebuilds has already been laid out by this support crew. Watch the credits after each episode, and you’ll see them listed as “support staff” when in fact they do a lot of the real work the Monkeys get the credit for.
3 True: The First Car
Everyone remembers their first. For car buffs, that first automobile is always a special one. Many a car lover won’t care if it was a top-of-the-line vehicle or a total lemon. For Richard, that place is filled by a 1952 Chevrolet Fleetline. No, it wasn’t his first car. It was the first car he and Aaron Kaufman bought when they got Gas Monkey Garage off the ground.
The two worked together to restore it and then drove it around as a mobile advertisement for the garage. As the garage became successful, Richard was forced to part ways with the Fleetline. But he bought it back a few years later and it’s a prized possession.
2 Fake: They’re Barely Squeaking By
The entire concept of the show is that the Gas Monkey crew have just a few days to flip a car and make a profit before moving onto the next job. It’s meant to show the place is just getting by and that they need these jobs to stay in business. But the garage is perfectly fine with business. In fact, the show makes it seem as if the gang only has one car in the garage at a time.
Drive by Gas Monkey, though, and you’ll see almost 50 cars in the lot and several being worked on at once when the cameras aren’t rolling. The fact that Rawlings walks around with a few grand in his pocket and invests in other business shows he’s not struggling. It’s amazing the series continues to push the idea the garage is one bad job from going under when they’re among the richest garages in the US.
1 True: Really Is Built From The Ground Up
Today, Richard Rawlings is an incredibly rich man. It’s easy to think that it was Discovery that made him so successful with the series. But it has to be said that Rawlings is honest when he talks of how he built Gas Monkey Garage from the ground up. He and Aaron Kaufman started in a 1,200-foot garage by themselves and barely made enough to live off of.
The idea of “living job to job” really was true and they were close to going under a few times. Also, Rawlings spent almost eight years trying to sell the show to any network. Even when Discovery picked it up, it took a while for it to become a major hit and pay off on their promise. He may be a big star today yet Rawlings really can claim to be a self-made man.
Sources: Wikipedia, NY Post, and Entrepreneur.