One could present a strong argument that ‘Vice Grip Garage’s’ Derek Bieri is a tour de force in the vintage vehicle hobby with his YouTube and cable TV shows.
Bieri has climbed the celebrity car guy ladder of success to the top rung and his fan base has grown tremendously along the way because he provides his viewers with some of the most entertaining episodes every week–and many times more than once a week.
Jim Sutherland
‘Vice Grip Garage’ came from humble beginnings in 2018 when Bieri posted his first video on YouTube and began his steep ascent to celebrity status. He described the first show production as a “broken I-phone taped to the garage door and edited with free software”.
Bieri’s rise to car guy superstardom was due to hard work generously mixed with his ability to entertain his audience via an offbeat comic style that extends from Derek’s wild descriptions of his car guy world.
It would be hard to narrow the ‘Vice Grip Garage’ star’s list of funny expressions down to five of his best, but we at MyStarCollectorCar will attempt that feat in this ‘Five for Friday’ article. Some interpretation may be required for some of his more colorful car-related expressions, consequently we will explain all five of them just in case a few of our readers have not yet seen Bieri on a streaming video or a car guy cable channel.
For the record, the title of this article features two of Bieri’s more famous non-automotive expressions welded together into one component (“Well I be dipped” and “Cold Snacks”). “I’ll be dipped” is Derek’s trademark expression of surprise while “Cold Snacks” simply means beer.
However, our list will be related to old iron, and our first ‘Vice Grip Garage’-ism is “Lightning Whirler”; a Bieri term he created for the distributor on a gas engine.
A distributor spins and creates electrical sparks, so Derek’s expression does justice to the vital ignition part.
The second addition relates the first item on our list: “Sparkalators”. The Sparkalator gets electric juice from the Lightning Whirler and provides a burst of electric charge in the combustion chambers of a gas job.
In other words, it’s a spark plug with a Vice Grip Garage name.
The third item on our list is “Fuel-Make-It-Happener”; a term Derek uses to describe a carburetor on a gas engine.
Once again, his terminology describes the function of a carb: mix the fuel/air ratio and provide the explosive recipe for the engine’s combustion chambers.
MyStarCollectorCar’s fourth example of “Vice Grip Garage-isms” is a “Lonewolf (add various numbers in increments of 1000)” starter.
Basically, a Lonewolf starter is any remote pushbutton starter that allows Derek to fire up an old engine while under the hood of the vehicle. If necessary, Derek can also hot-wire the old relic to start it with his Lonewolf unit if no keys are available.
The fifth item on our Bieri car guy language list is “Mouse Sucker”, a term he uses for a shop vacuum. Every car guy will understand the dead rodent reference in Derek’s description of a shop vac because there will be a sensory overload in every old vehicle that has become a home for varmints, along with their outhouse and cemetery.
Consequently, a shop vac will suck out the rotting carcasses and eliminate the visual factor-but not the smell factor. Just ask Derek when he’s on a roll with his stench descriptions.
Bonus Derek-ism–and final addition to our Vice Grip Garage lingo is “Bring the Thunder!”, a loud shout of optimistic fervor uttered by Bieri whenever he attempts to start an old ride.
It doesn’t always fire up the first time, but Derek is usually successful by the 12th time and his audience can hear the vehicle running if not purring in most cases.
These Vice Grip Garage-isms are only a few examples of Derek Bieri’s car guy lingo, so MyStarCollectorCar will make another list of his best stuff in a future article.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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