It’s not easy to get rid of hundreds of cars, especially when most of them aren’t in good condition to start with. The solution? Mike Hall and his “Rust Valley Restorers” team came up with the idea of restoring his 400 cars by selling them one by one regardless of how long it takes. Nevertheless, the road hasn’t been an easy one, and the workload is still high.

While Hall’s son Connor, and business partner Avery Shoaf do their best to keep up the restoration business, and not let him spend money on unnecessary things, other members of the Rust Bros Restorations have gained fame for their notable work and charisma. One of them is Cassidy Mceown, the young but incredibly talented apprentice i the show.

Nonetheless, given how long it’s been since we last saw our favorite “Rust Valley Restorers” on TV, the question of what Cassidy is doing these days doesn’t leave our minds. Stay here to know all about Cassidy’s whereabouts, her career now, and if she’s still part of the show.

What Is She Doing Now?

Life in a very busy bodywork shop isn’t easy, yet Cassidy Mceown deals with it just fine. As an apprentice at Rust Bros Restorations, Cassidy faces a lot of career challenges and new problems every day, but her thirst for knowledge of the trade and her willfully hard-working attitude keeps her on her feet, and ensures she’ll keep advancing in her still young career.

Appearing in “Rust Valley Restorations” has alredy pushed her career forward, gaining her hundreds of thousands of followers on her social media, on which she often posts updates about the show and her work in the shop.

While Cassidy is doing great professionally, the same couldn’t be said about her personal endeavors. As she informed her TikTok followers, her father sadly passed away in February 2023, leaving her no option but to take a short break from social media to deal with the unfortunate family situation.

That being said, even though Cassidy has been through some difficult times as of late, she’s just as committed to her work and studies as we’ve seen on screen through “Rust Valley Restorations”.

What Happened To Her Father?

Those who have been following Cassidy Mceown long enough know that she doesn’t shy away from showing her love for her family. Not only have they encouraged her to follow her dream of working in the automotive industry, but also taught her the basics of the trade, as car lovers themselves.

Nonetheless, Cassidy’s father had been going through some health issues for quite some time. In 2021, he suffered a cardio respiratory failure, and developed atrophy in one of his legs which left him unable to walk, on top of dealing with a long-time disability the product of an accident he suffered in his teens. Besides being connected to a full-time oxygen provider, he needed a health mobility scooter which Cassidy provided for him, thanks to a fundraising campaign she organized in July 2022.

Unfortunately, the health of Cassidy’s father didn’t improve with time. According to her, he had gone a couple of days without sleep before finally taking a nap on the morning of 2 February 2023, dying in his sleep a couple of hours later.

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Although Cassidy had initially refrained from talking about his passing, on a TikTok video she affirmed ‘my dad is just too amazing not to talk about’, adding that he’d always supported her, and described him as someone who used to lend a hand to everyone in need.

Social Media

Besides sharing bits about her family and personal endeavors on social media, Cassidy Mceown has made good use of these platforms to promote her career, and teach others about the automotive fixing and restoration craft. She has over 145,000 followers on TikTok alone and more than a million likes gained, while on Instagram she has an impressive audience of 120,000 followers.

While many of her fans come from “Rust Valley Restorers”, her top-notch car-centered content has attracted many of her audience as well. Some of her most popular content includes tutorials on painting jobs, hammering, welding and valuable information related to the car business and car parts. Cassidy’s co-workers at Rust Bros Restorations often appear on her videos as well, either taking part in her tutorials or following her lead as she joins some online funny trends.

Taking advantage of her popularity online, Cassidy also launched her online shop Resto Broad, which lists her original designs on T-shirts, hoodies, and accessories.

Working For Mike

There are certainly many places to go for an apprenticeship, yet there are surely more special reasons to work for Mike Hall at Rust Valley Restorations.

According to Cassidy, the work at Mike’s business isn’t highly compensated financially-wise, receiving only the average wage to work there, and appear in the show. Her main motivation to stick with Mike is fueled by something even greater than just money. As she admitted on a TikTok video from January 2023, she credits Mike for her professional growth due to the fact he doesn’t underestimate her abilities for being a girl, on occasions even ‘overruling’ customers who don’t trust her, and deem her incapable.

Other reasons for working with Mike include the great amount of knowledge Cassidy has obtained from her time in the shop: ‘Mike has given me nothing but experience and has pushed me to do more and more every single year’, she said, affirming she’s grateful for having a boss who ‘has her back’, and pushes her out of her comfort zone.

Some of the most valuable skills Cassidy has obtained from her time at Rust Valley Restorations include improving her welding and metal-working abilities, on top of learning the basics of mechanics. Overall, so far the experience has been a great one for Cassidy.

How Much Does She Earn?

While the common expectations of appearing in a TV show include receiving juicy salaries and gaining quick fame, that’s not the case for Cassidy Mceown and her “Rust Valley Restorers” co-stars. As she affirmed in a video shared on her social media in October 2022, her salary from the show is nothing extraordinary: ‘we just get our normal wages, and even our wages are pretty average on the lower side, industry standard’, she affirmed.

While Cassidy admitted that Mike Hall and Avery Shoaf’s salaries from the show are higher than hers and the rest of the staff for being the shop owners, they don’t receive that much money anyway. To explain why “Rust Valley Restorers” salaries aren’t as great as expected, Cassidy affirms that Canadian TV isn’t as profitable as the US industry, hence making their working conditions quite different. Discounts on car parts and similar sponsorships is one of the very few benefits that Cassidy and her co-stars get for appearing in the show.

Image source

How Did She Get Into The Show?

It takes lots of courage to give the first step toward following a dream, though for Cassidy it was a matter of trusting her gut, and having the support of her loved ones. To become who she is nowadays, Cassidy took the risk of sending a resumé to Rust Bros Restorers right when they were looking for people to appear in their still yet-to-be-premiered TV show in 2018.

The idea came from Cassidy’s mother, who found out about the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity while reading the local newspaper. While at the time Cassidy was only a year into her apprenticeship program at Okanagan College, she was quite trustful that her daughter was the perfect fit for “Rust Valley Restorers”, and so become a role model for other women in the trades.

After contacting Mike Hall and the shop, Cassidy went through several rounds of interviews before the producers chose her to appear in the show. Nonetheless, none of it would have been possible if she hadn’t taken the chance in the first place: ‘As embarrassing or as hard as it might be to go and take that big step, it’s important to put yourself out there so you can have the opportunity to have a job like this’, she said in an interview with Okanagan College’s YouTube channel.

Appearing In A TV Show

It’s not every day that a common person gets to appear on TV, but reality shows have made that possible for people in all types of life and trades. Nonetheless, that doesn’t make the experience any simpler or extraordinary for the people involved in it, which is something Cassidy Mceown has come to know first-hand.

As Cassidy affirmed during a 2021 interview with the Okanagan College Trades & Apprenticeship, her beginnings in “Rust Valley Restorers” were ‘quite nerve-racking and hard to adjust to’ for her, often letting her inexperience get the best of her in front of cameras, As she admitted, stuttering and becoming flustered while filming was often frustrating, taking her a while to get used to it.

Though it took her a couple of years, Cassidy got a grasp of it all and ultimately became a fan favorite for her personality and strong work ethic. Nonetheless, despite the lots of experience in front of cameras that she has gained so far, Cassidy admits that it still takes a lot of work behind the scenes to make “Rust Valley Restorers” as interesting as it is.

Okanagan College (@OkanaganCollege) is hosting a Q+A with Cassidy McEown from HISTORY'S Rust Valley Restorers on June 16th from 6-7pm. Cassidy will be talking about her apprenticeship journey as an Auto Body and Collision Technician.

Registration: https://t.co/xVxJoMWaIB pic.twitter.com/3BNGVkd9H4

— SkilledTradesBC (@SkilledTradesBC) June 10, 2021

Why Did She Get Into The Trade?

Coming from a family in which everyone is a mechanic, Cassidy Mceown’s choice to dedicate her life to the trades was almost expected. As she admitted in a video interview with Okanagan College Trades & Apprenticeship in 2021, the fact that her mother is a mechanic and her father was a small engine expert made it simple for her to choose this path of life, especially since both parents passed down their knowledge to their kids.

Cassidy’s time in high school allowed her to improve her auto-body skills as well, something she considers an advantage career-wise for expanding her options in the long run: ‘it’s a good option, given that if you decide to pursue other careers, you know that you always have another profession to fall back on’, she affirmed. Later on, Cassidy’s skills expanded to the restoration field, complementing her previously acquired knowledge of cars with metal-working.

That being said, Cassidy’s job at Rust Bros Restorations includes, yet isn’t entirely focused on mechanics. As she affirmed in a social media video from 2023, she isn’t a mechanic per se, as her job at the shop is described as a journeyman body man, and consists of repairing damages to the suspension, frames, and structure, on top of doing painting and welding work.

Advice For Women In The Industry

As a young woman in a male-dominated industry, Cassidy Mceown knows well how hard it is to find a place in the field. While she admits to being quite lucky to work in a place with people who support her, and meet other women in the industry, Cassidy does her best to support others who want to follow their dreams in the trade, but are afraid of not being accepted into it.

As seen on her social media, in late 2022 Cassidy attended a conference organized by the British Columbia Institute of Technology, which allowed her to connect with other women in trades, and offer them some guidance and advice on how to face the challenges which come with the career.

As well, in a 2021 interview, Cassidy had already addressed the topic of the lack of female presence in the auto body field and similar crafts, admitting that despite being necessary to develop a ‘tough skin and a sense of humor’ to survive in the industry, it all comes down to having a positive attitude during difficulties.

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Future Goals

While Cassidy Mceown’s career is still in its early stages, she already has lots of plans for the future. At the time she was interviewed by the Okanagan College in 2021, her first goal was to finish her last year of apprenticeship there, then continue moving forward in her career.

One of Cassidy’s other goals was to start her own business with her mother, who had been encouraging her to start a bike mechanical shop together for some time. As admitted by Cassidy, it would take some time to have everything ready for it, but it was a work in process nonetheless.

Fast forward to present times, it’s unclear how close Cassidy is to starting her dream business, but she definitely keeps moving forward. As she confirmed in November 2022, a fifth “Rust Valley Restorers” season was already in the works, confirming with this that she indeed will keep working with the guys at Rust Bros Restorations for some time to come. That is good news for all of us.

“Vegas Rat Rods” was Discovery Channel’s reality television series, featuring Steve Darnell and his crew from the Las Vegas-based custom auto shop, WelderUp, as they created some of the baddest Mad Max-style works of art out of old, dilapidated automobiles. The show premiered on 17 April 2014, and its fifth season was said to be scheduled for airing in the summer of 2020, but it didn’t push through. Many are wondering what happened, why it was canceled.

Meet the owner of WelderUp

Steve Darnell hailed from Montana; at the age of seven he learned how to drive a stick at his uncle’s ranch, as the workers would be at the back of a truck along with the hays to feed the cows. When he visited his grandfather in Utah, the old man would bring Steve along and sit him on his lap, letting him drive the truck. His father was said to be an ironworker who later established his own steel company called Economy Steel in Las Vegas.

Jim was a hard sell. https://t.co/eETWAWXh81

— Vegas Rat Rods (@VegasRatRods) July 7, 2017

Every summer, Steve would be at his father’s shop, and it was like being in school, as he learned from him and developed many skills through the years, including operating a forklift and other equipment, as well as fixing anything that was broken.

His first car was a 1973 orange Datsun; he mowed lawns to save enough money to buy a Redline bicycle that only had a frame and a rear wheel for $80. After he restored and customized it, he sold it for $300, and used the money to purchase the Datsun from a guy’s backyard. It had problems so he went to a junkyard whose owner gave him the parts he needed, knowing he was broke. Once it was fixed, he said he drove it every single day during his freshman year in high school, even without a license, and no matter how difficult it was as it had no power steering. He said there was nothing quite like being young and independent, of having the freedom to buy his own vehicle with his hard-earned money.

He made serious money out of fixing motorcycles and dirt bikes, as well as building and selling bicycles and go-karts. It was said that his first client was his wrestling coach in high school, who asked him to build a bike that he would give to his daughter at Christmas. Steve built one and it was said that it was passed down to the daughter’s own kids. Before he graduated from high school, he was buying, fixing and selling cars.

He worked for his father until 2001 or 2002 when he was ready to start his own business which he called WelderUp and offered services from welding farm equipment to manufacturing tractor parts. Before he knew it, he was also building rat rods at night for fun.

“Vegas Rat Rods”

How did it start?

It was six years later when he converted a 1928 Dodge into what he called the D-Rod, a six-cylinder twin turbo-charged diesel rod with over 700 horsepower.

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Steve described it as edgy and radical-looking, that when it came out in 2009, it grabbed people’s attention. The church was having a car show in its parking lot and informed him that he could do a burnout, which he did, captured on camera and uploaded onto YouTube. It went viral, accumulated millions of views in no time, and was even featured in Hot Rod Magazine.

Steve and his team later gave the D-Rod a badass makeover, adding more torque and turbo, and then re-named it The Destroyer in honor of his late grandfather, a World War II veteran who served aboard a destroyer, and engaged in nine battles. Back then, not many people understood what Staev was doing, and saw him as a mad scientist who bastardized those classic cars. Fortunately, there were those who appreciated not just hot rods but also rat rods, as the latter might look worn down or rusty in some and downright weird in others depending on the creativity of the makers, but they were made well.

A Canadian production company called Proper Television produced the reality TV series “Vegas Rat Rods,” and it ran for three seasons on Discovery Channel; the fourth season was produced by Discovery Studios. Steve’s vision and imagination went into the creation of one-of-a-kind rat rods with the help of his team: mechanic Merlon Johnson, welder/fabricator Justin Kramer, welder/fabricator/artist Travis Deeter, and artisan Barber Dave. Chase and Kash Darnell are Steve’s sons and they worked alongside the crew as mechanics, welders and fabricators, helping and at the same time mastering skills.

According to Steve, what sets them apart from other reality shows about cars is that they ‘don’t do drama, don’t do fake, and don’t do shiny and pretty.’ The premise of the show was that they search the ‘badlands for old bones and ghosts from the past’ and then breathe new life into them.

Initially, it was only aired on Discovery Channel Canada. but later when it became a hit, it was shown in the US. Steve was hoping that the show would inspire fathers and their kids to build their own rat rods and bond over them.

Vegas Rat Rods Famous Builds

The Joker Mobile

A client named Nick owned a Batmobile, and so he wanted to commission Steve’s team to build a Joker Mobile – it cost $75,000. Steve went in search of the perfect vehicle, and he found it somewhere in the desert near what used to be an 1860 pony express outpost. The owner sold him a 1930-31 Ford Model A Coupe for a couple of hundred dollars, with the trunk lid for free. Although the floor had rotted out, it was still considered a good find, as both doors were still there and the sheet metal on the outside was in good shape.

Vegas Rat Rods

Steve wanted it to be a badass villain car, something that looked evil. They chopped seven inches off of it, stretched the front axle to make it wider, and installed a big block chevy engine. They also put airbag suspension, roll cage, 44-inch rear tires, and gauges from a World War II aircraft. They then sprayed layers of teal green, pearl lime green, and candy emerald green to make it look nasty; his team finished it in three weeks.

Veteran Bike for Charity

The American Patriot Fest is held annually to pay tribute to troops both past and present as well as to raise funds for military-related charities. One of the organizers came to the WelderUp shop to ask Steve to build something that would represent the veterans, which they could raffle off to raise as much as $30,000.

They didn’t have a budget for it, so Steve said he would provide free labor and would then just ask around town for donations for the parts needed. Steve along with his sons went to Whiskey’s auto distillery as he and the owner used to share a shop for a couple of years with Steve always building something junky and the other guy something shiny. Whiskey donated a 1943 Harley flathead motor. The next place he visited was O School Choppers, with his old buddy, Adam, donating the rest of the bike parts.

Steve’s team assembled it, and had someone put laser engravings on some of the parts including names of vets on dog tags on the fork. He also asked Dave to put etchings on the frame and gas tank, making it look like a knife was used to carve onto it. To give the bike more personality, Steve made notches on top of the cylinder heads to represent the number of days his grandfather served during the war.

He described the bike as something that had a brutal war feel to it, making it seem like it had been through hell and back. After two weeks, it was revealed at the Harley-Davidson in Henderson, Nevada, and they had a big run to generate interest.

The Haunted Rod

Dorinda, a friend of Steve since they were young, came to the shop as she wanted something really creepy for a rat rod; she was into classic cars, ghost towns, and the paranormal. They agreed on an $83,000 price tag, with the car done in four weeks. Steve along with Merlon went as far as Victorville, California to get one that was said to be haunted. According to the owner named Joe, the 1955 Chevy came from the serial killer Charles Manson’s ranch in Death Valley. Anything associated with Charles such as a car that he might have driven was certain to have some ‘bad juju’ going on according to Steve. It was sold for $5,500.

Vegas Rat Rods

The car door opened then closed on its own as they were leaving the barn, and Steve had a thought that something might have jumped in, not to be left behind. He jokingly said that if it was a bad spirit, then he would just make it his buddy.

His team put in a brand new chassis, airbag suspension, 2015 Cadillac CTS-V motor, and all the modern upgrades such as air condition, power steering, and stereo. They painted it black, making it look like it was burnt, or that it came from hell. However, they encountered a lot of problems putting everything together, and it had computer issues as well. They were unable to finish it on time, but the client was satisfied with the result.

The Rose Rod

The General Manager of the shop named Joe, who was like a brother to Steve, has a two-year-old son who was diagnosed with cancer.

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When the WelderUp team learned about it, they converted a 1930 Ford Model A Sedan into a rod that looked like it had cancer at the front, and it spread until it reached the back where the car appeared brand new. The metal roses incorporated on it that were black and seemed lifeless got redder and healthier too. He was hoping that nobody would be offended by the car that his team built. It was just their way of expressing how they felt about what the boy was going through as he battled the disease. They wanted a car that would give hope and inspiration to those in the same situation.

The car was on display in the shop’s showroom and people loved it, even throwing money into it. Steve decided he’d put the money collected to good use by setting up a college fund for Joe’s son.

Interesting facts and rumors

A Batmobile was displayed at the WelderUp showroom.

New episodes of Vegas Rat Rods July 25th 10/9c US air date #vegasratrods @VonDeeter @barberdave13 @KramerWelderup pic.twitter.com/PhFCrG49Wp

— Welder Up (@WelderUpVegas) July 19, 2016

It was one of the 30 moulds of the original model made by the famous Hollywood customizer George Harris, whom Steve considered as the one of the forefathers of rat rods. The original Batmobile was a concept car and only one was made. It was sold for a dollar to George who took it back to his shop and transformed the Ford Lincoln Futura into a Batmobile in three weeks with the help of Bill Cushenberry for the 1966-1968 live-action TV show. Those who were familiar with Adam West as Batman would recognize this car.

Kelly Knievel, son of the American daredevil stunt performer Evel Knievel, asked his friend Steve to restore his father’s Formula One Dragster built in 1975, the only one of its kind, for the museum. Evel was known for his successful ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps, such as over 19 cars (125 feet) with his Harley-Davidson XR-750 in 1971 but he also used to pop a wheelie with the dragster in shows.

Steve said that Evel was his childhood hero for being the coolest guy out there. Kelly wanted to keep it as original as possible, so Steve and his team only fixed the engine, put in a new camshaft, parachutes, and mags, and then re-did the seat. When it was finished, Steve drove it and the front end popped up just like it did back in the day.

Steve produced the music video of the heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch, as they did a cover of the 1964 classic “House of the Rising Sun,” by The Animals. It was set in a dystopian future similar to the Mel Gibson movie “Mad Max,” and the WelderUp team provided the vehicles that were used. It was said that even the sets and costume designs were created by the team. Steve had a cameo role as a gambler. The MV was released in 2014 and has amassed around 130 million views.

It was said that “Vegas Rat Rods” had to have a Canadian as one of its cast members, as it was produced by a Canadian company. As such, Grant Schwartz, Twiggy Tallant and Cheyenne Ruether were included in the show at one time or another.

Why was the show canceled?

The first time “Vegas Rat Rods” was rumored to have been canceled was after season three, as there was a delay in the airing of the next season. However, it happened due to a change in the production company handling the show. Discovery Studios produced season four, and Steve said that it was the best that they’d done, as they had become a lot freer.

The last show was aired in the latter part of 2018, and its loyal viewers were wondering why it was canceled. Having low ratings was the usual cause why TV shows were not renewed, but if that was the case, many believed that Discovery wouldn’t be interested in producing its fourth season. However, there were those who countered that the network didn’t foresee that not having one of the fan-favorites, Cheyenne, on the show, affected its ratings. Some thought production was only halted due to the restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that it would soon resume once everything was back to normal. Another theory that fans had was that Steve asked for a higher fee, or that he wanted to venture into other TV projects. With no official explanation, its fans continued to speculate.

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Meanwhile, people who were missing the show would be glad to know that Steve was still creating rat rods in a new video series called “WelderUp Make It Run Again.” He was joined by his mechanic Merlon as they scour for old, decommissioned vehicles, and bring them back to life. They repaired and modified the vehicles, and the process was broadcast live through their social media. They also created an auction page, as they let the viewers bid on it. WelderUp has its own YouTube channel with over 160,000 subscribers, and its videos have garnered nearly 14 million views.

The WelderUp offered self-guided tours of the showroom, where some of his rat rods were on display. Steve was also known for giving private tours to groups of people, as he explained about the cars and answered their questions. He was grateful to those who watched the show, and was willing to set aside some time for those who really wanted to know him and what went on at the shop. Those wanting to purchase their merchandise such as sweatshirts, t-shirts, cups, and welder 101 metal kit could also visit their store.

So it would appear that “Vegas Rat Rods” has indeed come to an end, or has it….?