Counting Cars
Counting Cars is an American reality television series, shown on History, and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series, which is the third spinoff of Pawn Stars, is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the daily activities at Count's Kustoms, an automobile restoration and customization company owned and operated by legendary Danny Koker a.k.a. The Count, who previously appeared as a recurring expert on Pawn Stars. In a format similar to another Pawn Stars spinoff, American Restoration, the series follows Koker and his staff as they restore and modify classic automobiles and motorcycles. Counting Cars debuted on August 13, 2012. Guest appearances in the series have been made by Rick, Corey, and Richard Benjamin Harrison, and Austin "Chumlee" Russell of Pawn Stars, Ziggy Marley, Cassandra Peterson, aka, "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark", and Dee Snider.
Production history
Counting Cars is an American reality-television series, shown on History, and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series is the third spinoff of the TV series Pawn Stars, following American Restoration and Cajun Pawn Stars. It is filmed in Las Vegas, where it chronicles the daily activities at Count's Kustoms, an automobile restoration and customization company owned and operated by legendary Danny Koker, who previously appeared as a recurring expert on Pawn Stars. In a format similar to American Restoration, the series follows Koker and his staff as they restore and modify classic automobiles and motorcycles, and documents the occasional conflict among the cast members.The opening title sequence features legendary Danny Koker narrating the following introduction:
The series debuted August 13, 2012 after Pawn Stars before assuming its regular Tuesday time slot the following day.
The show's initial executive producers were History's Zachary Behr and Julian Hobbs, and Leftfield Pictures' Brent Montgomery, David George, and Shawn Witt. The series was created by co-executive producer Joel Patterson. By mid-2014, Behr and Ed de Rivaz were History's executive producers on the show, with Tom Romita and Jonathan Wyche joining the three Leftfield executive producers as co-executive producers. In early 2015, Simon Thomas had joined as a fourth Leftfield executive producer, and Sean Moran had succeeded Romita as a co-executive producer.
Episodes
Cast
- Danny "The Count" Koker is the proprietor of Count's Kustoms, a shop devoted to the repair and restoration of motor vehicles, automobiles, and motorcycles in particular. The shop's name is derived from Koker's stint as part-owner of local independent station KFBT, during which he hosted a weekly B-movie showcase, Saturday Fright at the Movies, as "Count Cool Rider". Koker, who grew up in Cleveland and Detroit, is a self-taught mechanic who comes from a family of Ford Motor Company employees. He has over 50 cars in his personal collection, and is so obsessed with finding, buying and converting classic American muscle cars and motorcycles that when he sees a vehicle he admires, he will go out of his way to acquire it, even making on-the-spot purchase offers while cruising around Vegas with Kevin, or searching through parking lots at car shows. While he enjoys classic vehicles, Koker dislikes newer vehicles, and generally rejects offers to work on them. He had been running his business for over 15 years by the time of the series premiere, and was a recurring motorcycle and automobile restoration expert on Pawn Stars, first appearing in the third-season episode "Getting a Head" in September 2010. He has also appeared as an expert on the Pawn Stars spinoff, American Restoration. In addition to Count's Kustoms, Koker also owns Count's Vamp'd Rock Bar and Grill, and Count's Tattoo Company, a tattoo parlor at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, that was formerly a partnership with Vince Neil. He also heads a Las Vegas hard rock band, Count's 77.
- Scott Jones was the manager of Count's Kustoms, and Danny's bookkeeper, who maintains an accounting of the money on each project to make sure that they are profitable. Danny concedes that Scott is very good at his job, but can be "a real ass" at times, as Scott sometimes comes into conflict with Danny and the others over project budgets, project schedules, or instances in which Danny wishes to keep a vehicle instead of reselling it. Scott left between the second and third seasons and is only mentioned briefly in the third-season premiere.
- Kevin Mack is Danny's right-hand man and best friend for the past 20 years by the series premiere. When Scott left the shop, Kevin took over as manager. Danny and he enjoy cruising around Vegas to look for vehicles to buy, and Danny tends to use Kevin as "collateral" when he takes a stranger's car for a test drive. He has a son named Devin, who has been racing the Legends Car that belongs to Count's Kustoms since he was 13. Nicknamed "Cheeky", Devin started racing go-carts when he was eight, and appears in the episode "Dream On", in which the Legend Car requires repairs. Kevin's brother, Steve, is a Las Vegas attorney and judge, who also owns a tow yard.
- Michael "Horny Mike" Henry is an airbrush artist whose nickname is derived from his practice of putting 3-D horns on everything from vehicles to helmets to clothing.
- Roli Szabo is the shop's detailer, responsible for cleaning and polishing of all the vehicles on which Count's Kustoms works. His thick Hungarian accent is often the source of amusement at the shop. According to Roli, the jobs in which he previously worked include driving an ambulance in the army, a police officer, working at a PVC pipe company, working as a transportation executive, and working as a bodyguard, personal assistant, and driver for the world's smallest man.
- Shannon Aikau is the bike shop manager and lead builder whom Danny lauds for his fabrication and engineering skills, referring to him as the "A-Number One" in the bike shop. Born in Hawaii, he is related to the late Hawaiian surf legend Eddie Aikau
- Ryan Evans is the head painter and graphic artist. Began working with Shannon in the bike shop. Is now Danny's "main man" when it comes to custom paint.
- Big Ryan At 6 ft 7 in and 350 lb, is Danny's project scout, parts expert, and picker, with over 15 years of experience.
- Harry "Grandpa" Rome Sr. is an employee who does body work at the shop. Though his nickname is because he is older than any of the other staff people, he says he can do twice the work they do. He is first identified by name and given dialogue in the season-two episode "Size Matters". Grandpa works with his son, Harry, a family man whom Grandpa describes as "the responsible one", in contrast to Grandpa himself.
- Joseph "Doc" Duggan integrates technology in working with the cars or adding advanced technological features with the classics. Normally, he comes into conflict with the "old school" guys.
- George is one of the mechanics who has worked at the shop for years. One of his most prized possessions is a green, 1940 Ford street rod pickup with purple flames.