I can't say I'm shocked that Edd is calling it quits. Just look at the progression of the show and you could see that it had to end somewhere. Early episodes had something like a 1000 quid budget and usually only made a small profit if you consider the labor free. That was easily relatable for most guys like us. Now they but GTOs for $20K, bolt on some incorrect aftermarket parts, then sell them for $50K.
The reality formula is set and rarely deviates; A couple guys in a small shop on a small scale eventually ends up corporate clowns selling T-shirts and stickers then implode.
The "tech" shows often squeeze out most of the tech in favor of product placement or even blatant infomercial format with a sprinkling of actual how-to. I work on cars for a living, so obviously a show about replacing brakes and intake gaskets isn't too stimulating. I understand that there needs to be some comedic element and some new product introduction to keep from boring the audience and since the audience is pretty broad, they kind of need to appeal to everyone. I kind of like the Car Fix guys. Graveyard cars has a lot of historic type info but Worman's personality is an acquired taste. Do a little research on the concept of the show before Velocity picked it up and it will make more sense.
Hands down the most painfully forced and staged show I can remember was Extreme Auto Hunters. The worst!
The truth is, I'm guilty of watching a lot of car shows, so I guess I'm probably part of the problem. Well, I guess more accurately, the shows are on my TV while I'm mostly paying attention to my laptop -- background noise. Still, it's hard not to be insulted by all the fabricated drama and non-problems along with the frequent technical misinformation. Yesterday I had How Its Made; Dream Cars on and the narrator was pointing out how most cars have the engine installed vertically but this car (forget what it was) has the engine installed horizontally. Pretty sure he meant longitudinally and transverse.
Foose sidenote; My normally shy 17 year old daughter spotted him in the airport around Christmas time and approached him. She said he was very nice and actually seemed to have a genuine interest in the cars she had been involved in. I thought that was pretty cool given that he was traveling during the holidays and could have easily just brushed her off.