Local car shop could be featured on TV show
TROY, N.Y.>> One Collar City business, a custom car and motorcycle shop, may have a new show on national television.
Owner Jeremy Baye of 1945 Speed & Custom, located at 631 River St. in Troy, recently signed a deal with Ping Pong Productions. This Hollywood-based company has produced highly rated shows like Finding Big Foot, Expedition Unknown, Hacking the System, Alaska Fish Wars, Chasing UFOs, Forecasting the End, Jerry Springer, Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown.
With filming set to begin soon, Baye is hopeful that a show about his 1945 Speed & Custom could be next.
Baye is excited about the possibility of a national TV show highlighting what happens at his Troy shop.
The East Greenbush native, also a former professional snowboarder, opened 1945 Speed & Custom in 2012 in a 10,000-square-foot former tire warehouse. Since then, Baye and his employees have been building and racing a unique mix of modified cars and motorcycles.
The shop does a variety of inhouse restoration and preservation, as well as hot rod and restomod building, on cars and motorcycles from the 1920s to 1970s.
From Model Ts to Plymouth Coupes, 1945 Speed & Custom tackles many different kinds of projects, often working on vehicles in the six-figure price range.
Baye’s custom build projects have already received a great deal of national attention through magazines and other media outlets.
Recently, Baye and his business were featured in an online video series called Garage Tours with Chris Forsberg. After this, multiple production companies started showing some interest in the local shop and Baye realized that his operation could be a small screen hit.
This proposition is kind of a full circle for Baye, a self-taught custom car builder who learned how to do much of the work he does today by watching similar television shows.
After Ping Pong Productions visits Troy, films in the shop and creates a pilot episode, the goal is to gain interest from a network.
This particular company already has ties with networks such as MTV, Travel Channel, VH1, Cartoon Network and A& E, which is why Baye decided to sign with it.
“We have a whole bunch ideas for the show premise, none of them are completely nailed down yet,” Baye said. A title for the show has not yet been determined either.
However, Baye wants the show to offer something different than what’s already out there.
“We’re not planning on doing something you have already seen,” he said.
Though he’s no stranger to fame because of his previous snowboarding career, Baye is humble about the recent attention on his business.
“It’s cool to see that there’s people interested in the stuff that we’re doing,” he said.
What’s most thrilling to Baye is bringing exposure not only to his shop, but to the Troy area.
“The fact that we’ll possibly be put into a national spotlight, if not worldwide spotlight when it comes to what we do, would be kind of neat,” he said.
While the possibility of a national television show is exciting to Baye, “Nothing is going to change here as far as what we do and what our passion is,” he said.
Until 1945 Speed & Custom gets its big break, the shop is currently gearing up for its 2017 season of “Cars & Coffee” events, which will pick up again this month on River Street outside the shop. From 8 a.m. until noon on the last Sunday of each month from April through October, local and visiting enthusiasts can congregate with their cars, trucks and bikes for the morning.
For more information visit the 1945 Speed And Custom Facebook page or follow @1945speedandcustom on Instagram.