These Are Lesser-Known Automotive YouTubers Our Readers Say Deserve More Attention
Earlier this week, after taking credit for inventing modern automotive YouTube, we asked you, our dear readers, which smaller YouTube channels you thought deserved more attention. It would have been awesome to be able to make a list of channels with fewer than 100,000 subscribers, but we ended up moving it up to 200,000 just to make things a little easier to pick. That doesn't mean that all of your recommendations were big channels that are already making good money, though. One channel had a mere 89 subscribers at the time of writing.
Sadly, there were far too many suggestions to ever possibly include on this list, so we're going to take a look at some of the most popular answers. You get a dozen automotive YouTube channels that you may not have heard of. Smaller YouTubers get more subscribers. Everybody wins here.
Alanis King
Alanis King deserves a lot. She does a great job and should get a shout out from her former employer.Steven, formerly of Rich Rebuilds has a tiny channel called Box Eclectic but he hasn't put anything out in 3 months. I wonder what's going on there.
You know her. You love her. She has her own channel now with just under 32,000 subscribers. Go ahead and give our old pal Alanis a follow. It's been long enough that you can forgive her for her pizza take, right?
Suggested by: Travis James
Home Built By Jeff
Homebuilt by Jeff. He is an Australian firefighter who does a bunch of cool builds from absolute scratch and does absolutely everything himself from welding, to paint, to upholstery. The videos go into exhaustive detail (hundred+ hours on builds). His most recently completed project is a 1970s Alfa Romeo GT he stuffed a Ferrari 360 engine into.
If you love the idea of rescuing an abandoned 1974 Alfa Romeo GTV 2000 and then shoving a Ferrari V8 from a 360 Modena into it but don't want to put the time, sweat, blood, tears, tetanus shots and money into doing it yourself, why not watch a man named Jeff to it so you don't have to? Home Built By Jeff has about 210,000 subscribers, but anyone who can pull off a project like this definitely deserves more.
Suggested by: Neal Richards
Soup Classic Motoring
Soup Classic Motoring – uses a lot of stop motion photography. Currently restoring a Lotus EspritRetropowercars – weekly updates on all the projects going through the shop. They also have video series that cover individual cars.
Car videos don't necessarily have to be loud, fast or exciting. Sometimes you just want to relax and watch some comfort content. Personally, I lean toward fish keeping videos in those situations, but Soup Classic Motoring is a fantastic option if you want your car content to be chill, too. Plus, the quality is far too high for the channel to only have 141,000 subscribers.
Suggested by: redromelogic
Bruce In AUS
Also check out Bruce in Oz, possibly the most Australian content you've ever seen, He specializes in bringing back to life old dump trucks, graders, etc. Many of them with big Detroit Diesels. (965) Bruce In AUS – YouTube A true master of his craft.
Bruce likes to work on big, old trucks, and he also just so happens to live in Australia, so his channel is a little different than what you'd expect here in the United States. That also means he has access to vehicles we never got over here. You'd think getting a supercharged, two-stroke Detroit Diesel V12 running again would have been a ticket to more than a million subscribers, but he doesn't even have 75,000. Yet.
Suggested by: Frank Spencer
Driven Car Reviews With Tom Voelk
Tom Voelk with Driven Car Reviews with Tom Voelk. Fantastic Content. Excellent Production.
We're back to more straightforward new car reviews here, but there's always going to be room for people reviewing cars. These are longer videos than what he did for the New York Times' "Driven" series, and it doesn't hurt that he's a pretty nice guy if I do say so myself. 190,000 subscribers is definitely a lot more than a lot of channels have, but I bet we can get those numbers up.
Suggested by: CharlesKDavis
Crucible Coachworks
Crucible Coachworks; they're building a custom aluminum body and V8 swap on a Boxster chassis.
Unlike the Australians you've seen so far, Crucible Coachworks is a build channel, but they're a little more focused on custom fabrication. You might even learn a thing or two watching them work on their cars when they were supposed to be entertaining you, but that's certainly not the worst thing in the world, is it?
Suggested by: chibaman
Oliver Pickard
Oliver Pickard; he and his dad are building a custom, Honda powered, GTM kit car bodied car. Basically a super kei car. And they're doing it all in an old barn/shed somewhere in France.
I liked this suggestion so much, I broke it out into its own separate answer even though it was technically part of the previous comment. Also, who doesn't want to see a father and son work on cars together? And only 15,000 subscribers? We need to fix that ASAP.
Suggested by: chibaman
The Wind Tunnel
Maybe a weird one... but THE WIND TUNNEL channel on youtube has virtual races on iRacing where they pit cars against each other that would normally never race, i.e. Indycar vs. LMP1.
Not car reviews per se, but oddly entertaining to watch and I find myself engrossed with those videos.
Just because a channel doesn't work on or review cars doesn't mean we don't have room for them on this list. If you want to see how cars that would never race each other stack up, subscribe and help push this channel over the 31,000 subscriber mark.
Suggested by: TF2345
Auto Autopsy
Autoautopsy. Keeping Saabs alive and a few other tidbits sprinkled in. There is still a strong Saab community and Autoautopsy has great content.
I like Saab content. You like Saab content. Follow Auto Autopsy for more Saab content. And with just under 97,000 subscribers, I bet we can get them to 100,000 before the end of the month.
Suggested by: Rick
Shooting Cars
Zack from Shooting Cars – not only are his reviews informative and consistent, but he comes across as an endlessly cheerful guy who is very down to earth. Even if I'm not into the car he is covering in that particular video, I make a point to watch and support him. In a sea of negativity in the world today, his positivity is refreshing.
You had me at the first video shown on the page being about Malaise-era SUVs and minivans. 177,000 subscribers is a lot for this list, but it's still pretty small compared to the channels with more than a million. I bet we can get Shooting Cars a little closer, though.
Suggested by: KM@PG
SteinFab Garage
SteinFab Garage is awesome, if you remember Haggard Garage he's like a slightly more grown-up, knowledgeable version of that. Silly but fun to watch.
Rainman Ray's repairs is also great, a former dealership tech that started his own shop and knows how to fix anything and be entertaining while doing so.Curious Cars is run by a Florida Car salesman that has reviewed everything from econoboxes to old school Ferraris with a sharp biting wit and a seething hatred for the weather and the animals around him.Honorable mention to Mazzei Formula since he doesn't post often but he builds some of the coolest cars I've seen. Currently working on a Superlite SL-C racecar powered by a five-rotor Wankel.
These are several great suggestions, but I especially want to shout out SteinFab Garage because the guy who runs the channel is named Colin. Sure, he may spell his name wrong, but us Collins have to stick together and occasionally help one another out, especially when one of us only has 67,000 subscribers and deserves way more.
Suggested by: Daniel G
Kamil K
Me! And you know it, Collin! A channel so bad it can only get better!
Hey, I said people could plug their own channels, and that's exactly what Kamil did. Plus, he spelled my name right, which always helps. If you recognize the name, Kamil it's probably from his Hooniverse days, but now he has his own channel with an entire 89 subscribers. Surely, we can at least get his channel into the triple digits, right?
Suggested by: Kamil K
