So You Want to Rebuild a Wrecked Supercar - YouTube

- Salvaged exotics.

It's a thing that people are doing all over YouTube.

They take totaled cars

from all around the United States of America,

only to document their build process

do burnouts and make you think that,

"Hey, maybe buying a totaled Modena 360 isn't that hard."

And what I have to say to that is,

"You know well, cool your jets, kid.

"'Cause it ain't that easy."

I'm Alex from Fitment Industries, Alex.FI.

And on this episode of "So You Want," we're talking

to all you whipper-snappers

that wanna buy a salvaged exotic.

(upbeat music)

Now, before we get into this twister-style storm

of a conversation, don't forget to subscribe.

And hey, if you've already bought a salvaged exotic

or you have a car on stock wheels or suspension,

maybe you're looking for a little help there.

We're just gonna need to stop you right there, bud,

because we have aftermarket wheels, tires

or suspension all on Fitmentindustries.com.

Because it's what we do and we're pretty good at it.

Anyway, moving forward.

We've seen it everywhere.

Goonzquad, TJ Hunt.

JR Garage, Samrac.

Hoovies Garage, Tavarish or Tavarish.

B is for Build and probably 25 other YouTube channels.

Jump on the hype train, boys, because YouTube is

all about repairing totaled exotics right meow.

But where did it come from?

You know, where did it go?

Where could it have come from,

Cotton Eye Joe?

Buying salvaged exotics isn't anything inherently too new.

A market for totaled toys existed for quite awhile

before this hype.

You had shops picking these cars up,

repairing them on the weekends,

and selling them for a nickel more than the purchased price

to those that wanted to be seen in a Ferrari

without having to pay for that crisp, clean batch.

They were used as a backdrop vehicle for movies,

music videos, and of course sold to those

that maybe didn't want the cleanest of exotics,

but you know they wanted to flax.

Yeah I'd like the cheapest 360 that you have.

Sure, this one had a little bit of fire.

Can you tell?

Can you tell that there's fire damage?

Yeah.

Well, I mean, it's mostly just on the interior.

I'll take it.

I just um, I'm gonna, I'll take the car.

Then I'm gonna need some 5% tint on that bad boy,

okay, and don't tell anybody.

Exotics salvaged cars began to hit more main stream waves

when Copart and other auction sites began to host

easier navigation and bidding styles to the world wide web.

But, Copart wasn't the only one.

Multiple auction websites began popping up that had

nationwide junk yards with plenty of vehicles

that were once on a childhood poster

in little Johnny's room.

So with that and paired with the wonderful world of

entertainment of YouTube,

it became like a match made in automotive heaven.

People began to take totaled cars from the junkyard,

repair them in the garage,

and then sell them for as much profit as they could.

In the meantime, the videos made off of the rebuild process

would help support them

and of course you had some ad revenue with t-shirts and

stuff like that.

It was like all the good stuff.

Most channels started with RX-8's,

Corvettes, Chargers, RX-7's,

and other ten to 20-ish thousand cars

that had absolutely nothing to do with exotics.

Mostly because that (beep) scary.

Most channels didn't have enough capital or equity

to buy a salvaged exotic.

But then, then it came.

Salved Ferraris,

salvaged Lambourghinis,

salved Hellcats,

salvaged relationships,

salvaged Porsches,

salvaged stuff.

The YouTube channels started blowing up with more insane,

more high end cars that people couldn't believe

were being repaired.

$50,000 views on a rebuild video of your RX-7, useless.

100,000 on a motor swap of your RX-7, pathetic.

These days the salvage exotic rebuild videos will begin

to reach millions of views and hundreds of thousands

of new subscribers.

The days of hitting trending on a rebuild video series

would be impossible back in 2015,

but now, look at that.

How neat is that.

Which is likely why your eyeballs are here,

wondering how and why you're able to do that.

After all it's probably the coolest idea that the automotive

scene has had in a hot minute.

Well, before you decide to empty your 401k,

what is it actually like to do something like this?

What is it actually like to own a salvaged exotic

and what is it actually like to build a salvaged exotic?

Buying a salvaged exotic is more than just popping up

a blog camera,

making a 30 minute episode,

and praying that you sell a few T's.

First it starts with what sort of car you can

and are able to buy.

Most auctions require a dealer license

and with the non-licensed auctions not having as much

meat on the bones.

So, really you're going to wanna think about getting one

of those little dealer auction licenses.

You're gonna need a secondary address,

but it's actually pretty easy.

From there you gotta decide on what sort

of dysfunctional relationship you'd like to have with a car

that hardly runs, or if runs at all.

Do you wanna repair the front end of a Huracan?

Well, you'd better research on

how much those headlights are going to cost because whisper,

it's $3,000 a headlight.

A headlight, not per headlight.

Not your cup of tea?

Don't worry.

There's so much more out there.

What about a GT3,

with rear end damage?

That is only five-ish thousand dollars for an OEM

rear bumper clip.

Fire/flood damage?

That's more for people that actually just hate their life.

Side impact damage from a Ferrari 458?

Doors are only like four G's, son!

Turn it into a safari Ferrari and just send it,

because you threw all of your money into the car initially.

You'd be disappointed at just how much additional funds

are required to fix that small front end damage.

And, well salvaged exotics are also quite

the dangerous game.

Because they are,

now hear me out,

salvaged exotics are exotics.

The tolerance built into the cars like Ferrari

and Lambourghinis are quite low,

and if anything is slightly misaligned or misdone,

that stuff just don't work.

Don't always believe the photos.

Nothing is ever that simple than front end damage,

as much as we all wish that were true.

It's really going to be true on cars that cost more

than a home.

Try to find one that has damage in an area that you

are most experienced in.

So front end, rear end, side,

electrical, dents and scratches,

run the VIN,

review every pixel of those 10 photos you see,

pretty much everything you need to do is to

stalk this car's history.

Not kidding.

Because once you buy it,

it's all on you and this goes for if you're buying a

salvaged exotic after the fact

because somebody else did all of this for you.

So does this mean that you shouldn't buy

a salvaged exotic?

Well, no.

We've all been out on Copart

and looked at some of our dream cars

and just thought, "Maybe I could do it?"

And the truth is, is that you can.

You're just gonna need the following resources.

If you're looking to buy a salvaged exotic to repair,

then whatever you spend on the car,

you'll wanna have that much additional in cash equity

for parts, labor and insurance.

So if you're spending 50 G's on a GTR,

it's good to have another 50 just in case,

so you don't lose your (beep) and aren't stuck with a car

that doesn't run.

This number will go down after you've done a certain

amount of cars or maybe you own multiple of the car.

Just don't get carried away

and overspend on the car initially.

There's nothing worse than going into a build

and running out of money.

The second biggest thing that you're gonna wanna have

are partnerships.

Many of these big channels have partnerships.

Most of these vehicles end up needing air bag replacement,

which plenty of interior alteration shops can handle.

Broken wheels, flat tires or mangled suspension,

they go to FitmentIndustries.com,

where they get to pick out what works for their car

without having to pay an (beep) load of money.

Honestly guys, just be glad it's not a 60-second

SquareSpace ad, okay?

Besides, that's like literally our actual job.

Autobody partners and paint shops all sign up to help these

guys with repairing their vehicles

under normal price.

This lets them keep costs down and still turn it

for a profit if or when they decide to sell it.

And they're either gonna sell it to you,

or they're gonna sell it to a fan.

So a small amount of automotive knowledge

is also gonna be needed.

Because it's like my dad always said.

"Alex, you have the capability of taking something apart

"and putting it back together so well,

"that if you were to do it five times,

"you'd have enough left over parts to make a second piece."

Didn't really feel like a compliment, that one.

Automotive knowledge is important,

but knowing your way around problems of wiring,

structural damage and more is even more important.

If you don't have it,

you'd better pray that the other buddy that went

halvsies on the car with you does.

Last but not least you're also going to want to record it.

People love watching build series about

as much as I do ramen.

Making a channel helps you earn a little cash on the side

to help keep the build going.

And if you do it right,

you may actually end up with a successful channel.

Now, here's a pro-tip for you all out there.

Start small.

Find a car that you'd want to own

even if it doesn't pan out,

So you don't have the risk of being stuck with something

that you hate.

Although everyone is all about super cars right now,

that's not to stay that it'll stay that way.

People watch build series for the people that are

in the series and how they go about building a car.

It's not always going to be just for the car.

So you wanna buy a salvaged exotic?

Neat.

It's a dangerous game that's a bit like gambling.

You'll win every once in a while,

you'll lose every once in a while.

But if you stay consistent,

and always get the free drinks

when the bartender comes around,

you'll likely end up having a good time,

only lose a little bit every once in awhile,

and maybe, just maybe,

you'll walk away from the table with your pants still on.

So if you were to buy a salvaged exotic

for a YouTube channel, what would you buy?

Drop a comment and let us know.

If you need to spark some creative juices before answer,

you can head over to our gallery at FitmentIndustries.com

where you can see about 10,000 different vehicles

that have all had stuff done to their car.

So you might see something that you like.

Personally, I would do it a first gen NSX, just saying,

but that's besides the point.

Anyway, I'm Alex from Fitment Industries,

We hope you enjoyed this episode of "So you want,"

We will see you guys later.

Peace.

(gentle music)

- [Man] A strong vehicle.