New reality show ‘Motor City Masters’ pits car designers against one another

Want to see how cars and other vehicles are really designed? Into competition type shows? If so, there is a new show out that you may want to check out.

Although they don’t spend a lot of time in Detroit, the contestants are into cars – and a lot of other areas. They use their skills to design new vehicles in a contest against each other:
<blockquote class=”curated_content”>In its reality rush, TV keeps trying competitions. It’s had shows for singers and dancers and models, for designers and stylists and artists. Even dogs had their day.

But now comes something many Michigan people are more passionate about — car design. “It is a work of art that takes you places,” said Harald Belker, the German giant who is a “Motor City Masters” judge.

And it’s part of coming-of-age. “I used to date guys according to if they would let me drive,” said Jean Jennings, the Ann Arbor-area writer who is a judge. Now she has a website (jeanknowscars.com) and a belief that designers are the most interesting people in the car business. “They are interested in art and architecture and cooking; they know fabrics and sculpture. They’re very well-read.”

Don’t take “Motor City” literally. The show only visits Detroit for the opening introduction — “I was fascinated by the deep history of the car culture there,” host Brooke Burns said — and the finale, when Jennings had a chance to show Belker the Renaissance Center and some waterfront beauty.

Still, Michigan ripples through the show.

That includes two of the 10 contestants — the youngest (20, a car-design student from Rochester) and one of the oldest (50, one of her former teachers).

The show’s regulars came to the car culture in opposite ways:

• For Burns, it was gradual. “I grew up with two sisters,” she said. “We were all dancing ballet,” not worrying about horsepower. Only later, scooting around Hawaii in a black BMW convertible during her “Baywatch” years, did she find open-road joy.

• For Jennings, it was instant. Her dad edited Automotive News in Ann Arbor. Growing up on a mini-farm, she “played on dirt roads, fished” and drove things. She became a cab-owner and a test-track driver, before writing for Car and Driver and helping start Automobile Magazine.

• And for Belker, it was long-distance. He grew up as a towering tennis star, in a Germany that lacked muscle-cars. “I was very passionate about my first car, a Volkswagen Rabbit,” he said. Later, he studied auto design.

He’s been working for movies lately, ranging from the Batmobile to Inspector Gadget’s car. (“My job isn’t always about good taste.”) It’s fast work, but Belker marvels at the challenges the show’s contestants faced.

Clever designers are crucial to companies, Jennings said.</blockquote>

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