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Richard Rawlings, the face behind Discovery’s ‘Fast n’ Loud’ show, looks out onto the terrace of his hotel in haze-shrouded Madrid. “Why are there so many police?” he asks, pointing to the beginning of Calle Atocha, which marks the starting point of the Madrid 360 zone.
Knowing this, the owner of Gas Monkey Garage smiles, as if he knew that the workshops creating ‘hot-rods’, modified American classic cars, were part of the resistance to an electric future.
It is this image of a rebel that has earned him television success and has established his brand in a ‘lifestyle’ empire, where the turnover of t-shirts and restaurants exceeds that of his first business, that of restoration and modification Of automobiles.
“First of all, I am a businessman,” he says as soon as the interview begins. The reason he brings you to Madrid is to promote a Leonese brand of hair care and shaving products, Beardbury’s, for which they have created a limited edition Gas Monkey. His beard is impeccable.
How did Gas Monkey start?
I have been passionate about motoring all my life, but in the early 2000s I was in other businesses. I was watching television and I realized that in the programs of the time the presenters acted as gangsters. When I was a kid, my dad’s friends would get together to work on cars while the kids played games and ate barbecue. At that moment I knew that the rest of the programs were missing that familiar element.
What came first, the workshop or television?
My goal has always been to make Gas Monkey one of the world’s leading hot-rod shops. To do this I knew I had to have my own TV show, so I went to Discovery, selling them a show for motor enthusiasts suitable for all audiences.
Another of your programs is ‘Garage Rehab’, in which it is about saving workshops from ruin. What was the main problem you encountered?
People let their situations overwhelm them. Most of them keep too many things and everything gets very dirty and messy quickly. One of the main problems is to avoid throwing away items thinking that one day they might need them.
The Internet has changed logistics a lot and you can receive any piece in less than two days. A dirty workspace is a guaranteed recipe for failure, as it affects mood and productivity. In that program, we cleaned many workshops.
What were the most frequent failures, in terms of management?
The main problem was not knowing how to build their presence. They often get stuck in a neighborhood and care a lot about helping communities. I had to teach them that a business is not an NGO: it is necessary to earn money to support your operations and your family. That should be the priority and, if you manage to have a surplus, with that you can do charity.
Vintage cars are becoming more and more expensive. Is there a greater access barrier for people who want to dedicate themselves to restoration?
Not necessarily. I think there are many cars that have been undervalued for a long time. Of course, Porsches, Ferraris or Lamborghini’s are always going to be expensive, but the collector market has reached a point where labor, no matter what country you’re in, has become so expensive that cars good ones will sell for a lot of money, if they’re done right. Today, at Gas Monkey, it costs me more to work on a car than its market value, but it will appreciate in five years.
What would you recommend to someone who wants to dedicate himself to modifying vehicles?
I always say the same thing: you have to start small. You don’t need a big workshop, just the skills to know how to do things and, if you do not have them, it is better not to do it. The goal is to keep costs as low as possible. Companies should be built on profits, not debt. On the other hand, if you want to work on cars from the 1990s on, knowing how to use a computer is essential.
What have been the turning points in your life?
I have had several of them. Before I could drink, I was a police officer, firefighter and paramedic. When I was 25 or 26, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and I ended up going into the world of advertising, helping to create brands for other people. When the opportunity came to do the same for me, and I sold my company to create Gas Monkey, I think that was the most important moment of my life.
In Europe we are heading towards the electric vehicle, with 2035 being the limit year to sell thermal engines. What do you think is the future of combustion engines?
I think they will always have a place. Everything that can be taxed will be, although it will have much more restrictive rules. When it comes to electric motors, I’m not convinced that they are much cleaner than combustion motors, once we take into account the production process of lithium-ion batteries. And I don’t think we’ll be the ones to discover it in our lives. We do know the damage that thermal engines have done to the world, only that the damage caused by electric engines remains unknown.
How has covid affected your business in the last two years?
It has been a great impact. Our brand is known throughout the world and we are a major tourist attraction in Dallas (Texas) and in our restaurants, where live music played an important role. However, it gave me an opportunity to sit back and plan for the next 10 years, without fear that my competitors would catch up with me.
What are Gas Monkey’s goals for the next 10 years?
We are going to work on making the brand even more solid and expanding it internationally. We are going to open new restaurants and concert halls. In addition, we want to develop a division focused on motorcycles and automobiles that does not yet exist in the world. There are channels like Discovery Plus or Motor Trend that don’t already have the budgets for a show like Fast n’ Loud, so if funding goes down, the quality of the vehicle, the quality of the workmanship and the quality of the content will go down too. they will do So we need to find a way for content creators to make the show themselves and to be able to give everyone an “ecosystem” where they can share their creations.
A streaming platform dedicated to this type of content?
Yes, something similar. Perhaps a platform within a platform, we are now negotiating with Roku and other streaming systems to create this type of business, based on content creators, and not on big TV networks with big budgets.
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