Courtney Hansen reunites drivers with The Ride That Got Away

Courtney Hansen’s new series The Ride That Got Away is making people’s car dreams come true, and she spoke to Amazon Adviser about it and her book.

Courtney Hansen is one of TV’s best-known automotive personalities, and she’s back with a project guaranteed to tug at fans’ heartstrings. Her new FYI series is called The Ride That Got Away, and it reunites people with the cars they’ve loved and lost.

Now that the series has premiered, Amazon Adviser spoke to Courtney about everything that went into her new show, why she’s passionate about it, and what sets it apart from other car-related TV series.

She also told us whether or not she’ll write a follow-up to her 2007 book, The Garage Girl’s Guide to Everything You Need To Know About Your Car, which is available on Amazon.

Learn more about Courtney Hansen in our interview below, then watch a new episode of The Ride That Got Away on FYI this Saturday at 10 p.m.

Amazon Adviser: There are a lot of car-themed TV shows and even car-themed TV channels, so what sets your show apart?

Courtney Hansen: What makes our show special is that it transcends [the] automotive [genre]. It has a give-back element. We are reconnecting deserving people with their dream rides that they had to sell at one point in their life. The car that they thought they’d never see again, that was near and dear to them and they have no idea we’re doing it.

We’re finding that car or one that looks just like it, and making it into a work of art but still recognizable. It’s going to be like their dream ride on steroids and we’re giving it to them in a surprise reveal.

It’s a feel-good show. We’re making beautiful things happen for the most deserving people who have had a hard time in life, and it transcends automotive because it’s about these family relationships. You have a husband doing this for his wife, a brother doing it for his brother, father doing it for his son, and so you see these beautiful family relationships and bonds.

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AA: The TV audience also has to be invested in you and your crew. How did you build your team for The Ride That Got Away and create that chemistry that viewers want to watch?

CH: Troy Ladd, one of the top car customizers in the world, is who I brought on board as the lead designer. He and I are very similar in that we [like] the heart in TV shows and we’re both people who care a lot about other people. We wanted this show to be drama-free. We didn’t want wrench-throwing or builders yelling at each other. We wanted this to be a cohesive team and let the drama come from the builds and come from the stories.

So we put together a team of people that we felt would carry out that vision. We carefully picked all of the builders that are working with us. All of them have heart and all of them are really, really cool and really unique guys. I made a joke the other day, it’s really cheesy, but I was like you guys are building cars with [your] hearts. Not only with their tools. They’re projecting so much love into these rides because they believe in what we’re doing.

We just carefully assembled a team that’s carrying out this vision of being a feel-good show, where the drama is naturally coming from the builds and from the process of what we’re doing, not from combative drama between people.

AA: You’ve been in this space for more than a decade. How have you seen the automotive TV world change over the years?

CH: I see that the pattern is staying strong for the love of the car and for car shows. I see a progression towards more women in the industry—more women being interested in working on cars, and watching the car shows, and getting in the garages, and caring what they’re driving. I think there’s a positive shift there. I’m just hoping more of the millennials and younger generations will be excited about cars like our generation and the ones that preceded us. I think it’s all positive and staying strong.

AA: When you look back, what would you say are Courtney Hansen’s career highlights?

CH: Besides the one I’m working on now, I believe Overhaulin’ was the best show to hit TV. It was a pleasure working on that show and it was an absolute honor to work with Chip Foose and many of the industry’s best builders, fabricators, [and] mechanics. I had a blast on the show. Those are some of the best days of my life.

Then being on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine. I know there’s been a lot of women in racing over the years, but to be a pioneer among the women in the automotive TV space, that was really cool. I love to see all the women who are now a part of this genre—part of automotive TV and all the different facets of the automotive world.

AA: You wrote your first book back in 2007. Any thoughts of going back and writing a second book with all of your additional experience?

CH: I definitely would love to do another book and I’ve thought a lot about what that book would be. I have an interest in writing a book, especially from a female perspective, on how to set out and do whatever it is you want to do and not let anything stand in your way—but doing it by keeping all your morals and ethics about you. It’s challenging, but you can do anything you put your mind to with enough tenacity and belief in yourself, and so I’m thinking about writing a book about that.

AA: So as The Ride That Got Away starts a new chapter in the career of Courtney Hansen, what are your thoughts about the future?

CH: I’m so excited about this show. It’s been really tough to get this off the ground. I had to raise the money to produce the show and it’s been a lot of work. It’s been an intense grind. We’re right around the corner of being done with it, and I can’t wait for the season to be over because we can go we finally did it, it’s in the can. But then at the same time, I don’t want to break away from this team and this family and I’m going to be really missing everybody until we begin again.

This is becoming the era of the woman. I was told by one of the most influential people in our industry, one of the biggest agents in Hollywood, that there’s no way I could have achieved this because I’m a woman. And I use comments like that as ammunition to prove them wrong and get it done.

I saw Madonna, she was accepting an award for something and she was thanking all the people who loved and supported her, and she was like I want to thank the haters too because you gave me the ammunition and more motivation to prove you wrong and prove what I’m made of. I believe that same thing. People said it couldn’t be done and it’s done. And it’s amazing and it’s just the start.

The Ride That Got Away airs Saturdays at 10 p.m. on FYI. You can also purchase Courtney Hansen’s book on Amazon.