Residents and visitors who are familiar with the Historical District of downtown New Smyrna Beach, Florida will soon be able to tune in to their local PBS station and see one of the local businesses featured in a new weekly television series called "Muscle Car Workout."
Muscle Car Workout is being produced locally in conjunction with WDSC-TV the PBS affiliate that serves the Daytona Beach area. According to Bruce Dunn, the Associate Vice-President and General Manager of WDSC-TV, "This program will be produced in a high definition digital environment for distribution among PBS stations in at least 60% of the national PBS markets. PBS serves 355 public, non-commercial television stations serving 50 states, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the American Somoas. They reach nearly 73 million people in nearly 46 million households that watch television each week. 63% of American households, nearly 123 million people, tune into public television each month, PBS' audience is twice as large as many of the commercial channels available today.
The producers of Muscle Car Workout predict that the program will be available for local broadcast by WDSC-TV in late 2008. Additional PBS outlets may begin broadcast in early 2009. So, be on the lookout for Muscle Car Workout and see how the pros do it.
Observers note, "It just seems to make sense to produce a car program here in the speed capital of the world."
The Cars
1968 Cutlass Supreme Convertible
Farrell Laughlin is a lovely thoughtful woman who had no idea she was the envy of New Smyrna Beach. In 1968 her husband surprised her with a brand new Cutlass Supreme convertible for their fourth wedding anniversary. It was the perfect south Florida car, comfortable, reliable, and a convertible. The Cutlass was purchased originally for $4,600.00. She described the car as a "people magnet" and with only regular maintenance, great mechanics, and cosmetic updates she drove the car for 38 years. She suggested that if she had a dollar for each time someone tried to buy the car, she would be a rich woman today. Money was not what motivated Farrell; the appreciation of quality and reliability suited her just fine. Fortunately, Farrell sold her car to the fine people at Muscle Car Workout, and we look forward to it's restoration.
1971 Barracuda
Dick French is a businessman and avid car collector, but not just any cars; he is a self described MOPAR man. Dick met Alan Goldstein (owner of Fender Mender and star of Muscle Car Workout) about eight years ago when he brought his 1970 Chevelle convertible in for restoration.
Last year, Dick was traveling with his son to Cocoa Beach for baseball at the Dodger's training camp when he came across a 1971 Barracuda 440 being sold out of Oklahoma. This was his dream car; he already owned a '70 Cuda, but what he really wanted was the '71. Questioning whether the purchase price was a good deal, Dick quickly defends his decision by stating there was no rust in the car and that makes it a perfect candidate for restoration.
Currently, Dick has over 20 cars in his collection and is thrilled that his 'Cuda has been chosen to be featured as a project on Muscle Car Workout.
Mission Statement
Muscle Car Workout is a quality television production designed to provide an educational, yet entertaining, program informing its viewers how to rebuild "muscle cars." The show is based on the premise of a step-by-step process highlighting various makes and models of cars in the "muscle car" era.
We do not restore the cars to the original condition, we restore them to new - latest suspension, new technology electronics, brand-new paint and brakes. This will all be done based on environmentally friendly materials.
The mission of Muscle Car Workout is to assist the novice, as well as the experienced car buff to rebuild their cars based on the information provided in our television program, videos and website.