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Pimp My Ride is an American television series produced by MTV and hosted by rapper Xzibit, which ran for six seasons on MTV from 2004 to 2007. In each episode, a car in poor condition is both restored and customized. The work on the show was done by West Coast Customs until season 5 and was done by Galpin Auto Sports thereafter.
| Pimp My Ride | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by |
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| Presented by | Xzibit |
| Theme music composer | Jeff Cardoni |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 73(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producers |
|
| Cinematography | Scott Sandman |
| Editors |
|
| Running time | 27 minutes |
| Production companies | R-Lab MTV Series Development |
| Original release | |
| Network | MTV |
| Release | March 4, 2004 (2004-03-04) – June 9, 2007 (2007-06-09) |
The show had several international adaptations, including Pimp My Ride UK, Pimp My Ride International (in central Europe), and other adaptations in Brazil, Indonesia and the Baltic countries. It also spawned similar spinoffs, including the series Trick My Truck on MTV's sister network CMT.
The show was criticized by several participants for exaggerating or faking several aspects of the restorations and many aspects of the show.
This show picks young vehicle owners and drivers from Los Angeles or elsewhere in Southern California. An episode of Pimp My Ride generally begins with the participant showing his or her vehicle, and convincing MTV that it needs to be "pimped". After this segment, the host (normally rapper Xzibit, but there are occasionally guest hosts such as Chamillionaire) shows up at the participant's house, takes a look at the car himself, makes wisecracks about the particular things that are wrong with it, and promises the owner a complete makeover of the vehicle.
After examining the car, Xzibit takes it to a custom body shop (West Coast Customs (WCC), in Corona, California, in Seasons 1–4; replaced by Galpin Auto Sports (GAS) in Van Nuys starting Season 5), where the shop team generally replaces most of the components and rebuilds the interior and exterior from scratch.
Each car is a custom "pimp", tailored to the personalities and interests of the owners. For example, a Need for Speed: Underground fan had his car painted to look like one specially customized in the Need for Speed video game series, while a bowler had a ball spinner installed in his trunk, a badminton player had a badminton net installed in the back of his Dodge Caravan, and a surfer got a clothes dryer in the back of his Volkswagen Type 2. Work usually includes new paint, accessories, chrome, tires, rims, and internal electronics (DVD players, video games, large TFT screens, and other cutting-edge accessories). Most changes are only cosmetic, and mechanical work is generally only done to enable the car to run; the show has replaced entire engines with new engines. Both WCC and GAS are well known for putting their own whimsical touches in their work, such as the aforementioned tumble-dryer, or an electrical fireplace in this trunk of another vehicle.
At the end of the show, the car is revealed to its owner, as well as all the details of the renovation and the custom features; in addition, the participant is usually given a gift somehow related to the car or the owner's hobby.
The West Coast Customs employees shown on the series included:
After the third season, WCC manager "Q" announced that he would not be willing to take a role in the show anymore. Q cited a desire to expand the company's business with a customs shop in St. Louis, Missouri called Coast 2 Coast Customs. Ryan Friedlinghaus, the owner of WCC, was featured in Season 4 as the "lead" for discussions on customizing the cars.
In the fifth season, the show moved to another garage, Galpin Auto Sports (GAS), as Ryan, the WCC Owner, moved his shop to Corona, California and signed a deal with another television production company. However, the show retained Mad Mike (who quit at WCC and signed at GAS), now dubbed a "car customization specialist". The new cast consisted of:
On three occasions – all season finales – the show did not "pimp" the original automobile.
In all these instances, the vehicles of the participants were replaced with brand new cars, with extensive modifications made to customize each new car for the owner.
Pimp My Ride was one of MTV's most popular shows with nearly all of its worldwide viewers, and also in the U.S., where it ranked second only to The Real World.
Canada's music network, MuchMusic, aired the show until MTV Networks signed a deal with CTV, which resulted in MuchMusic losing their rights to MTV programs. MuchMusic's French-language sister station, MusiquePlus, aired the show subtitled in French under the title Pimp mon char ("char" is Quebec French slang for "car"). The show would eventually re-air on Much in the Summer of 2008, showing the later seasons.
Pimp My Ride was broadcast in Arab countries on both MTV Arabia and MBC Action.
In 2012, MTV Southeast Asia aired the first episode of Pimp My Ride Malaysia, which is sponsored by Celcom Axiata under its Xpax’s Whatchuwant? campaign, giving Xpax customers a chance to have their vehicles worked on by MTV, hosted by Altimet and Herrera.
Several participants who appeared on seasons 4 and 6 of Pimp My Ride later stated that elements of the show were either exaggerated or faked.[2] The houses where Xzibit would surprise contestants with the news they were selected were often rented by MTV. The initial poor condition of some of the vehicles was staged to look worse, including the removal of paint, trash in the interior, and bumpers loosened to the point of falling off. Some features added during filming were removed immediately afterwards due to potential issues with local and state traffic laws, and the participants noted that multiple takes were needed to film their reactions during the final reveal. Some were coached to express more amazement and enthusiasm between takes. The overhaul process, which appeared on the show to only last a few days or weeks, actually lasted 6–7 months, and the shows participants had to find their own transportation while their cars were being upgraded with no support from the network. In addition, the modifications made to the cars were often purely cosmetic and any problems with how the car ran-wheel alignment, engine, transmission, etc-was still up to the participants to fix.[3] In an interview with HipHopDX, Xzibit explains about how he was the target of backlash on social media over his involvement in the show even though he was merely the host and had no input in the actual vehicle modification.[4]
| Title | Region 1 | Region 2 | DVD Extras |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Complete First Season | March 22, 2005[5] | February 6, 2006[6] | TBA |
| The Complete Second Season | TBA | May 21, 2007[7] | TBA |
Official adaptations of Pimp My Ride, produced or co-produced by international MTV affiliates, include:
Viacom, owner of the Pimp My Ride franchise, threatened legal action against a number of small businesses in 2006 over the use of the phrase Pimp My... in business names. Pimp My Snack, a recipe-sharing website, received one such warning letter and later renamed the business to Pimp That Snack. A British lawyer specializing in copyright concerns criticized the move, stating that trademark infringement cannot apply to companies that are providing different goods and services.[12]
