Las Vegas already gives us the reality shows "Counting Cars" and "American Restoration," which restores old things and makes them look brand new again. New to us, "Vegas Rat Rods" played May 19th at 10 p.m. on Discovery Channel. It is very much the opposite of "Counting Cars" and "American Restoration."

Steve Darnell and his crew at Welder Up get their cars from old junkyards and swap meets. They then use creativity to turn the cars into works of art actually adding character to the car instead of just restoring it, making it a normal brand new car, and adding some shiny new paint. Steve Darnell says, “Since the ’90s, I think people have just lost the reality of what vehicles are, and they just take ’em and turn them into, like, Tammy Faye Bakkers. They’re just so fake that they’re not even like a cool hot rod anymore.”

So many people will spend over $100,000 to restore a hot rod but then they are afraid to even drive it because of it might get scratched up or become a bird's toilet. What a waste of money! Steve Darnell's family and friends that he has known for at least 30 years are part of his team. Together, they make their creative works of art for less than a third of $100,000.

Darnell thinks that slapping shiny paint on an old car is boring. He thinks that you should take an 80 year old car and leave it the way it is but build new on top of the existing car in a very odd but artistic way.

Welder Up prides themselves on adding character to the cars. They do this by adding prison-style electric chairs as the new seats or using mason jars at taillights. They don't even take out the common door ding off an old car. They keep it because they believe that it complements the style they are going for.

Steve Darnell talks about the cars a Welder Up, “They’re just creative. They’re artistic. They’re put together in a way that you can just have fun with it and just enjoy building a hot rod.”

Darnell was approached by many production companies dating back all the way to 2008 but nothing ever actually happened. "Vegas Rat Rods" finally hit televisions but Darnell does not love the name. He thinks that the word, "rat rod" just makes people think right away that it is a pile of junk. He likes the name "fab rod" more because each new project takes a huge amount of "fabrication."

“One of my cars makes almost a thousand horsepower, and it looks like it don’t even move. And it will blow your doors off and scare the (excrement) out of you and make you want to go home and pee your pants. That’s how aggressive and scary it is," Darnell says.

Everything inside of each car works perfectly, maybe even better and faster than some brand new cars but the outside looks so deceiving like they are broken down abandoned cars. The cars are very loud and very edgy after they are finished. Steve Darnell thinks that his creations will trump a Lamborghini any day because his are the ones people will be staring at.