Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Resurrected Rides’ On Netflix, A ‘Pimp My Ride’ Clone Where People’s Crumbling Cars Are Overhauled

We all remember Pimp My Ride. It was on MTV for six seasons over 3 years in 2004-07, and in every episode, Xzibit, would surprise a driver whose friends submitted their disintegrating car to the producers, he’d take it to a shop that would transform it with tech, gadgetry and a new paint job, and then reveal it to the shocked owners. That exact formula has been revived with Resurrected Rides, which was created by one of the creators of Pimp My Ride.

RESURRECTED RIDES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We see host Chris Redd meeting with Tayvon, owner of the 1991 VW Vanagon that was restored in the first episode of Resurrected Rides.

The Gist: In Resurrected Rides, hosted by Chris Redd, a team of car restorers take a person’s nearly-broken-down cars and makes them into fantasy vehicles, complete with new paint jobs, interiors, gauges, and fun gadgetry.

Don Abenante is an expert fabricator, Saul and Oscar Valencia are masters at reviving interiors, Lacey Blair is the mechanic, Shayna Guy works on paint and Steve Nelson is the resident gadget guy.

The first car is the ’91 Vanagon that belongs to Tayvon, a 33-year-old stuntman that bought the van because “I thought it was cool.” He covered the floor in artificial turf, the exhaust leaks into the car’s interior, and his clutch constantly slips. Redd hires an actor to play a small prank on Tayvon, who almost buys it until he sees the former SNL cast member. Then he proceeds to give the Vanagon a “Ride Roast,” making jokes about how broken-down and filthy the car is.

Then the team goes to work on it, and they have ten days to get the job done. Tayvon wants a Ninja Turtles color scheme, which gives Redd some ideas to ask the team later. Some of the bigger ideas from the team: Having a drop-down projector in the ceiling and a screen built into the back. The team also installs a camper top, but the roof rack Abernante fabricated makes it too heavy, so Nelson comes up with a hydraulic system to lift the camper top.

Blair has to deal with a disc in the clutch that needs to be sent out for resurfacing, and the Valencias have to re-pad a seat whose foam is disintegrating. With two days left, Redd comes to the team with his big idea: A pizza shooter, just like the Ninja Turtles toy.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Resurrected Rides is a clone of the 2004-07 MTV series Pimp My Ride. Even Netflix admits that the show is a modern take on the 20-year-old MTV series, using modern technology and techniques; the show’s creator Rick Hurvitz, was a co-creator of Pimp My Ride.

Our Take: It’s not a stretch to say that if you were a fan of Pimp My Ride, you’ll like Resurrected Rides. At its core, it’s basically the same show, where someone’s hooptie becomes a dream car full of fun gadgetry and lots of technology.

Redd is a funny host, as you might expect. The prank he pulls on the first car owner, Tayvon, was funny enough, but his last-minute request for the team to make a pizza shooter made the show slightly different than its basic-cable forebear. We let out a big laugh when the team demonstrated the pizza shooter for Tayvon and Redd gleefully screams, “It’s useless as shit!”

In a 39-minute show, the producers can only show certain items that were fixed or overhauled, but we would have loved to have found out what Blair needed to do to fix the car’s exhaust problem, and we wanted to hear the Valencias’ rationale for building the front seat’s padding back up instead of just using new foam.

The reveal is the key to the show, as it was with Pimp My Ride, and that is pretty well done. And we are also loving the fact that two of the team members, including the mechanic, are women, something we would have never seen on the old MTV series.

Sex and Skin: Nothing besides loving shots of the restored Vanagon.

Parting Shot: We see a preview of the second episode, where a teenager’s 1990 Ford Mustang, gifted to him by his grandmother (!), has seen better days.

Sleeper Star: Shayna Guy, the painter, readily admits that she hates the process of sanding and prepping cars for new paint jobs, but loves the results, which is why she does what she does.

Most Pilot-y Line: The Valencias put metal rivets in the new seat upholstery, on both the back of the seat and the seat itself. We could just feel those rivets burning our thighs as we get in the van after it’s been parked in the Southern California sun all day. Also, we don’t believe the 10-day timeline for even one second, given the fact that parts have to be sent out to be reconditioned or other parts had to be ordered.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Yes, Resurrected Rides is a Pimp My Ride clone, but Redd makes it funny, the technology used is fascinating, and the reveals are still as fun to watch as they used to be.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.