I'm not sure if Garage 54 counts as underappreciated, but if you want to see what a bunch of crazy Russians can do with a never-ending supply of junkyard cars and bad ideas, you'll want to check them out. Some of their shenanigans include engine swapping a washing machine, inflating a tire inside a car until the tire bursts, and replacing the center section of a connecting rod with a valve spring.
Here's one: Johnathan W. Big into Rat Rods, but it seems like he genuinely just finds neat engines that need cars built around them, which I think is pretty great. Here's his recent aquisition of a V12 LaFrance L-head.
His videos also have a "grandpa who knows how to computer" vibe, which I think it kind of endearing.
I love the grm videos. They're very well done. Locally for my car show fix I watch the Dutch Texan. His reviews are more from a not super in depth car guy perspective, but his editing on the car show videos is very well done.
I'm a bit all over the place, but lately I've been enjoying the following:
Vice Grip Garage: Derek (the guy who runs it) is hilarious. He has a great style and his own vernacular for car parts (sparkilators, digicals, etc) that makes me laugh. Most of his videos involve him going somewhere in Minnesota or North Dakota, buying an absolutely terrible vehicle that hasn't run in decades, and then attempting to drive it home hundreds of miles. He's been really getting big lately. There are a number of channels like his, but I like his the best.
LGR: Not a small channel by any means, and it's been around forever, but nonetheless entertaining if you are into old computers and retro tech. Everything Clint does is great, and almost therapeutic to watch. He does everything from company histories, to vintage PC builds, to trips to thrift shops. Great channel, and he loves cars!
Steve1989MREInfo: It was mentioned previously, but this guy basically eats MRE's from around the world, and is not afraid to crack open pre-WW1 rations that he paid large sums of money on to taste them. Somehow, his approach is super relaxing and chill; I often fall asleep watching that one. "Let's get this out onto a tray.... nice."
Tasting History: Just stumbled upon this one last week. Basically, it's a guy who makes recipes from ancient cookbooks and tries them out. Somewhere in between, he'll tell the history of why it was a thing, and it's entertaining. So far, it's a lot of Roman, Greek, and Middle Ages English stuff, because those are the most reliable sources for ancient recipe texts.
Two Minutes To Late Night: If you like your Metal with a little comedy, step right up. Hosted by Gwarsenio Hall (a dude named Jordan in corpse paint), they used to have a talk show format where they interviewed musicians and later jammed on old Rock and Metal standards. Lately they have been doing the "bedroom" band videos with various special guests, including Danny Carey (Tool), Max Weinberg (Bruce Springsteen/Conan O'Brien), Claudio Sanchez (Coheed & Cambria) and a ton more. Watching Max Weinberg play a Misfits song was pretty awesome.
Retro Core: This is a smaller vintage video gaming channel hosted by a guy named Mark, who I assume is a former British citizen who now lives in Japan. He does game console histories and a series called Battle of the Ports which compares different versions of the same game on various consoles and vintage home PC's. He also has a cool side series called Life In Japan, where he travels around his home and general area and shows everyday life in the suburb that he lives in.
Game Sack: Another larger channel, based on retrogaming. They review old consoles and show their favorite games, as well as have themed videos (games that were only in the arcade, games that were never released in the US, genre or franchise-specific histories, etc. ) It's extremely well done and can be pretty funny at times.
I like this guy. This playlist is his adventures in casting a replica bronze cannon.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHACLo2Ax7LHNG3yikIzd6I_77_AEJ5Gb&disable_polymer=true
Outside of his actual casting work and other stuff that I actually tune in for, he is very clear with his mistakes and screw ups. Thankfully he doesn't burn an arm or leg off when he makes them, but its nice to see an acknowledgement of "I berkeleyed up"
Tony Sestito said:
Tasting History: Just stumbled upon this one last week. Basically, it's a guy who makes recipes from ancient cookbooks and tries them out. Somewhere in between, he'll tell the history of why it was a thing, and it's entertaining. So far, it's a lot of Roman, Greek, and Middle Ages English stuff, because those are the most reliable sources for ancient recipe texts.
Glad I'm not the only one enjoying Max's efforts. What is surprising is how far he came in such a little time. His personality, production quality and content made a leap in the first month and it is very entertaining and informative. Todays "Farts of Portingale" video was a welcome treat while eating lunch
Grandpa Amu is also nice and relaxing to watch.
Chinese woodworker that builds random things using traditional Chinese styles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYkgEf3eWqA
Tom Stanton
" I recently graduated with a degree in Aerospace engineering and have a huge interest in all aspects of engineering. But what I enjoy most is designing and building various projects that either I haven't seen done before, or at least haven't been carried out using a unique design/manufacture method. "
I enjoy watching this kid quite a lot. He's sorta like a more serious and scientific Colin Furze - more centered around engineering and explanation, than zaniness and spectacle.
Blancolirio
Aircraft accident analysis and news from an industry veteran who know's what he's talking about.
Leland Sklar
Famous session bassist of five decades in the industry (played on thousands of records) plays the songs he played on, and tells anecdotes.
Rick Beato
One of the best music analysis and education channels on YouTube.
Techmoan
This guy does interesting reviews and analysis of obsolete musical gadgets and media formats. (It's more entertaining than I made it sound.)
RCTestFlight
" I'm Daniel Riley and I'm addicted to building things. I started this channel in 2009 to share my projects and hopefully inspire others. "
Autonomous and solar-powered drones, airplanes, and ground vehicles, traveling long distances with cameras and telemetry.
HomemadeHome
A great channel about home re-hab and remodeling, with folksy presentation.
MaxFliArt
Rubber-powered balsa free-flight aircraft presented beautifully with relaxing music.
Medically retired Navy guy does fabrication- pretty good.
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheFabricatorSeries/videos
PeterBjorck is attempting to shove a Lambo V10 into a Volvo. His most recent video revealed he now as a second, for "obvious reasons".
JamesMcD said:
Rick Beato
One of the best music analysis and education channels on YouTube.
Quoted for my siggy
JamesMcD is right, but I just... can't... watch him.
Most of what I'd suggest is already here.
Throttle Stop Garage is a guy in Canada building a Volvo 122 Amazon mostly out of carbon fiber. If you're interested in the details of home CF fabrication, he's the man. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSAiPWE0khOGB4mNIWaOoAX-um86AeU3c
This is a screen shot showing the intake plenum he made in his most recent video:
Strizzo
PowerDork
9/13/20 11:39 p.m.
Flying sparks garage - husband and wife with a shop full of projects, from a $5000 project yacht to flying to Oshkosh for airventure, to early bronco, to built late model GTO for race week 2.0.
petersripol does all kinds of crazy stuff with rc, and even built a few of his own homemade ultralights.
thunderhead289 and junkyard digs is great, and there is also carsandcameras and classicmustangs429.
less frequent posting but still decent is challengeher - also on Instagram
I have a feeling you guys have just destroyed my productivity for a long time to come.
carknut
New Reader
9/14/20 12:00 p.m.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjsQkS_gR5Ud5dVJHsYi5KA
Hardcore Fab, vette carts, rat rods, drift trikes. Guy is talented.
MasterMilo
The videos are all in Dutch, but have good English subtitles. They started out way back in the early days of Youtube with videos of thrashing/jumping/crashing scrap cars, and have morphed into more big builds with serious fabrication or restoration, like their recent long-term project resurrecting a Type 69 tank.
Mark Felton productions.. (300M views so not small but cool)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfCKvREB11-fxyotS1ONgww
He's a Dr. in History who focuses on WWII and cold war stuff..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Felton