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Tim Allen Reveals the Challenges and Joys of Hot Rod Car Builds: ‘Where the Rubber Meets the Road, Literally’

Tim Allen said when it comes to building hot rods, form doesn’t always follow function. More to the point, sometimes the joy in building a car is fixing your mistakes.

The comedian and car enthusiast gave an interview on his YouTube channel where he discussed some of his former builds and their challenges. He explained how a hot rod builder approaches a car i’s much different than how a car company. General Motors and the like design a car, then build a prototype and work out any problems through rigorous testing. Not custom car builders.

“We don’t do that in the hot rod business. Well, we’re not even a business, this artistic business. We go backward. We build it and then see if it runs,” he said. “And it causes a very particular sort of challenge.”

Those challenges range from the simple to the absurd. He discussed how he spent years building a hot rod, but when he took it on the road found it was “undrivable.” But that’s part of the process.

“Test drivers, on the road. That’s where the rubber meets the road, literally,” he said. “Taking the thing out and driving it around.”

That’s Allen’s favorite part of the build. He said he believes it’s the test driver in him that draws him to it.

Tim Allen Documenting the Creation of ‘The Vik’

Tim Allen is currently building a 1934 Ford Victoria and documenting the process. The series on his YouTube channel called “The Vik” is a multipart documentary showing the creation of the car. He started the series in 2018 and it features more than 145 episodes so far.

Each entry looks at a different step in the process and all of the problems and triumphs the builders meet along the way. In the first video, Allen explains how the project came about. The director, Katie Fox, also explains how illuminating it’s been for her to watch as the project has taken shape over the years and how different it is than what she expected.