Classic chrome

By PAUL CATALA

pcatala@mediageneral.com

Over the first season of his program, Jake Jacobs has found that for every classic car he’s seen, there’s a classic story behind it.

And those tales are what has made his classic-car television show a flashy success.

Jacobs is director and host of the nationally-syndicated show, “Tail Fins & Chrome.”.

Developed in Tampa by Riverbank Studios and TF&C Entertainment, “Tail Fins” is shown locally Sundays at 11 a.m. on WFLA Channel 8. Over the course of its first season, Jacobs has traveled around the United States and featured an assortment of restored and refurbished cars, such as a 1960 Ford Thunderbird convertible, a 1968 Pontiac Firebird, a 1932 Ford Deuce hot rod and even a 1974 Chevrolet Nova a viewer inherited from his grandmother.

Using the amenities and skills of Slick Humphrey of Slick’s Garage in Palmetto, Jacobs is also featuring one project is a bit more personal: he’s having a 1959 Ford Thunderbird filmed as it’s being rebuilt from the chassis up.

The hope is to enter the car in the 2010 Fireball Run transcontinental race, said Jacobs, and also to be able to take his terminally-ill father – former Minnesota Twins baseball player Lamar Jacobs – for a ride in classic-car style during the filming of the Father’s Day episode.

In addition, Jacobs is taking video of Humphreys as he restores a 1964 Mercury Comet convertible as the show-host car.

“I’ve always appreciated people who appreciate nice classic cars,” said Jacobs, 44. “I want to take my passion for cars and good, fun people and bring it to the world.”

A Youngstown, Ohio, native, Jacobs, moved to Miami Shores in 1987 on a baseball scholarship to play for Barry University. He got a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting and worked hosting training videos in Brandenton before working on Home & Garden “Designing Spaces” on TLC and ESPN in Hollywood, Calif., from 1994 to 2004.

With his wife, Lonnie and two sons, Presley and Canaan, Jacobs moved to Valrico in 2008 and began formulating Tail Fins. He began traveling to classic car conventions in places like Phoenix, Ariz., Las Vegas and Norwalk, Ohio, scouting cars to shoot.

“The show is not just for gearheads,” Jacobs said. “We have a lot of good stories that everyone can relate to, such as a little girl with cancer. Her Make-A-Wish request was for a ’69 Dodge Charger like the one on ‘The Dukes of Hazzard.’”

Helping make wishes and memories real on each episode is Humphrey, a certified mechanic who opened his garage four months ago. He said the show is prompting folks who may have older cars sitting idly on their property to get motivated to restore and refurbish them.

“If we can help get people get their cars finished and not become disheartened, we’ve succeeded,” said Humphrey, 36, who offers a restoration tips segment – “Slick’s Tricks” – during each episode. “I feel like they can talk to me, come by and I’ll help. I think their cars are works of art; capsules of time.”

Jacobs, also an ardent guitarist and rockabilly music aficionado, said last season he did a segment on the “infield” experience at the Daytona Speedway and its “Turkey Run.” He toured and filmed highlights among the over 5,000 cars gathered there annually. Another show Jacobs said was memorable featured a custom artist who turned a Hummer into a horse-drawn carriage and took it to Central Park in New York City.

The off-the-cuff premise of each show has made Tail Fins a ratings hit for WFLA, said executive producer Mark Dvornik, a consultant for the TV station. He said the series is the number-one rated show of any local broadcast station in its 11 a.m. time period since its March 7 premiere.

In its premiere week, Dvornki reported the show delivered 21,600 total viewers. By the second week, the show had grown its audience 62 percent to 35,000 viewers and has maintained that level of viewing.

Tail Fins & Chrome beats Sports Center on ESPN, delivering more total viewers each week since its premiere.

In addition, Dvornik said a Tail Fins car show is in the works for the end of October and a deal to air Tail Fins in Russia should be finalized within three months, with other countries showing interest.

“Custom car projects and unique stories are the backbone of the theme of the ‘Tail Fins & Chrome’ series – to tell the story behind classic cars and the people who own them,” said Dvornik, president of Dvornik Media Consulting in Tampa. “It’s very exciting; the show has really connected. The love affair with classic cars is a global phenomenon. It’s not just America; everybody is interested.”