The same thinking that resulted in the crash is now resulting in this approach.
I have noticed that many of the local Youtubers and Tiktokkers parrot the same tropes as Hoovie or Tavarish or Samcrac not realising at least part of this is theatre or exaggeration. In this case, I believe that he believes it is worth repairing for several reasons:
1. Blind belief that he is indeed like the other youtubers that have resources and sponsors or that this will get him sponsors. I initially thought that was his company on the back. If it was my company I would have paid to have his rear glass replaced on the basis that he never puts my logo on it again after this series.
Youtubers treat severe wrecks as calculated business investments long before they bid on a car or reveal it to their audiences. If a project fails or costs double, it's a tax write-off or subsidised by a sponsor or even sales of bits of the wreck that are signed by the audience's special internet friend that is definitely 'just like them'. This dude trying to fund a 335i rebuild out of pocket is playing a completely different game.
2. Sunk cost fallacy - He had an uninsured car that he obviously couldn't afford already and now the loss is too much to bear. Extra points if he is still paying it off. Seems possible. This car has no business being repaired. If he was smart he would have documented how he parted out the good parts and made enough money to put down a deposit on an M2/3 or something of that sort. Even swapping good bits across to a car he got with a blown motor for instance could have worked... This is going to bankrupt him if he goes on - and it will never be a good car again... or just even a safe car without spending its value over again. There is no shortcut to fixing it.
3. Desperation to save face: He has to show that he has built it against all odds or else - the reality is that this dude cannot buy another 335i or anything close to one to generate content. He has no skills to speak of. No talent to speak of and at this point his views seem to be from us watching the slow motion car wreck continuing. He initially made these videos available only to paid members probably thinking that it could generate some money AND limit some of the embarassment. There are probably few enough paid members that adsense is likely making him more money.
The only possible explanation, if you ask me, started with a ChatGPT prompt somewhere along the lines of:
"So, for my YouTube channel, I fcked up my 335i. Can you help me fix it cheap while boosting my viewers and income?"
I can't see any sober human being doing these things without some sort of AI-fuelled delusion involved.
AI WILL have all the answers, and by default it WILL motivate him no matter how obvious the failure becomes.
If you look at his channel, this is actually the sad part. It has the exact recipe for it.
Early uploads, minimal views, and then suddenly the views spike when the algorithm starts rewarding what AI probably estimated would work: car troubles.
And that part is a fact. Viewers WANT to watch rebuilds. They want to watch people being reckless, making mistakes, or doing stupid AF shit. So in that sense, yes, AI is doing its job. Clean titles, content ideas, what to do, what not to do, what gets clicks.
The main problem is when you've got a potato driving the AI prompts and never challenging what it tells him.
If you don't challenge AI, you very quickly get delusion-driven motivation.
You see this clearly in the field I'm in.
As a full-stack developer, I'm now living in a world where we compete daily with Uncle Piet the mielieboer in Potch and his ChatGPT vibe coding.
"Why does my family member need to spend so much money on a developer if AI can shit out a SaaS platform in 10 minutes?"
And yes, technically it can.
That 10-minute drol might even look pretty good when you first open it.
But other than looking good, you can't do shit with it.
There's no actual functionality behind half of it. Forms don't work. And if they do work, what happens after the form submits? Where's the CRM flow? Validation? Security? Data handling? Integrations?
It's basically a polished turd.
Without going into developer-level detail, the point is that AI can create a massive amount of confidence and delusion for somebody who doesn't know enough to challenge what it's giving them.
Same thing here.
For a random guy whose YouTube journey basically started with a video called "Buying a lemon from WeBuyCars", he very quickly turned into a fckin knowledge-base mechanic.
He knows the part names. He knows where they're located. He knows what they're supposed to do.
But the narrow-minded AI guidance is missing all the important shit AROUND those parts that the rest of us can clearly see.
Why?
Because it wasn't part of the prompt.
The prompt was about the problematic part, so that's what gets tunnel visioned.
Unfortunately, we can get as mad as we want, but there's one thing his AI seems to be getting right: how to make money off viewer emotions.
He's getting the views. His monetization has kicked in. And he's probably going to milk this thing for everything it's worth until, who knows, maybe he actually ends up successful from it.
The only thing that genuinely pisses me off is having to accept that this piece of shit car he's working on is probably going to hit the public market at some point.
And then some family who doesn't know any better could end up buying it and potentially risking their safety driving the thing.
If that doesn't happen and he keeps it?
Then I truly don't give a fck.
Be the plakkie-whipping doos with your piece-of-shit clapped-out 335i all you want.
At least he's not robbing and killing people, right?
).
techcentral.co.za
