JUNKYARD EMPIRE’S ANDY COHEN,
Velocity on the Discovery Communications network.

It was his final year of law school when out of the blue
Cohen was offered the opportunity to buy Southlawn Auto
Recyclers in Rockville.

“How often do you get an opportunity to own your own
business?” says Cohen. “I always liked cars, taking things
apart and I thought I could always go be a lawyer if the
business didn’t work out.”
Nearly 30 years later, he hasn’t needed to consider a
career change, and with the success he is now enjoying,
refamiliarizing himself with the law books won’t ever be
necessary. While Cohen was navigating through the rigors of
pursuing his education, Potomac resident Bobby Cohen
was already in the auto business. In fact, Bobby has been
firmly entrenched in the business since 1968, when he
sold the Kaywood Deli and Bar that he owned in Mt.

Rainer to purchase Southlawn Auto Recyclers, the first
junkyard he’d own with his son. Neither Cohen
52 MontgomeryMag.com // October/November 2018
“How often do you get an opportunity
to own your own business? I always
liked cars, taking things apart and I
thought I could always go be a lawyer
if the business didn’t work out.”
– Junkyard Empire star Andy Cohen
envisioned this becoming a family business before their
partnership. “It’s a family business now,” the senior Cohen says,
with a laugh.

Andy Cohen, who resides in Ashton, shares ownership
of Damascus Motors, does general auto repairs, owns a
towing company, two junkyards, and a development
company. He builds hot rods in his spare time and has
helped make Junkyard Empire the highest rated television
series on Velocity.




The series is in its fourth season and is filmed in
Damascus and at Andy’s Auto Parts in Bladensburg. Andy
is the jack-of-all-trades with a keen ability to find lucrative
rebuilds out of twisted heaps of metal. Bobby, with his 50
years of experience and conflicting opinions about Andy’s
way of doing business, gives the show a juxtaposition
between father and son that creates a highly entertaining
hour that goes beyond carburetors and chrome.

In one show, Andy buys a Lamborghini for $100,000 and
says he can put in another $20,000 and sell it for $180,000.

Bobby saves an old London cab from the junkyard
scrapheap and tells Andy he can find the parts to rebuild it
and sell it for a profit. As is usually the case in reality
television, the star’s plan works out, the lesser character’s
doesn’t and the conflict of the competition fuels the show.

Interestingly, the show about a junkyard would never
have come about had it not been for some young girls.

“It’s a funny story, actually,” Andy says.

He was involved in a YMCA program called Indian
Princess, a program similar to scouting geared towards
school-age girls. One night, while telling stories around a
campfire with the fathers of other daughters in the program,
Cohen mentioned some hilarious tales about his
experiences operating a junkyard. One of the other fathers,
in-between outbursts of laughter, blurted out to Andy, “That
would make a good show.” After thinking about it, Cohen
agreed. The show was originally pitched to The History Channel,
which produced the first three episodes. Discovery bought
the rights and has been with the series ever since. Junkyard
Empire has become the highest rated show on the Velocity
channel, without the benefit of commercial advertisements,
and has the No. 2 time slot on the network. All thanks to a
wise crack around a campfire.

To pinpoint how and why the show is as successful as it
is, with roughly 1.5 million viewers and a huge overseas
following (“We are really big in places like Germany,
Brazil and Japan,” Cohen says.) is hard to gauge. But the
fact that the happenings in the show are closer to real life
than most mainstream shows likely has something to do
with it. The show usually contains a segment that everyone
can relate to. Like the time Andy needed the three-day job
of cleaning up the junkyard done in a few hours so he could
host an elementary school field trip.

Longtime fan of the show Johnny Goodrich says, “The
show is for all ages and they feature great builds and
restored classics that are some of my favorite episodes.”
When asked to explain the appeal of the show, Goodrich
continues, “Andy is a great guy on the show and his dad
(Bobby) is really funny.” The bantering between the two
men and their small squabbles should allow “the show to
survive” for a long time.

Creating and maintaining a successful television show
requires a lot of work, creativity and the ability to put egos
aside. Andy and Bobby certainly have their creative
differences, and these differences permeate through each
episode. The two Cohens have different personalities and
different temperaments, but with the success, Bobby has
taken a backseat to Andy.

“Whatever Andy wants,” says Bobby, who readily admits
that Junkyard Empire is Andy’s show. “I don’t do things the
way Andy does, but I take a back seat.”
It’s that chemistry between father and son that make the
show the successful hit that it’s become.

When asked what are some of the challenges to making
the show, Bobby says, “Every week presents a new
challenge.” Parts of multiple episodes are filmed every day,
which can be daunting when you factor in wardrobe
changes. However, Bobby enjoys the experience and says
as long as Andy is interested in doing it, “I’ll keep going.”
Fans of reality television series often wonder how much
of the situations and conflicts are staged.

“Reality television is not really reality television,” says
Andy. However, most of the conflict found on each episode
is kept real for the most part. “How we are on the show is
how we are in real life.” Bobby agrees, saying the show
represents “us just the way it is.”
In the beginning, Bobby and Andy were constantly
butting heads, which is the main reason Andy bought his
father out of the business in the late 1990s.

“Dad was old school, didn’t want change,” says Andy.

Bobby, for his part, has also realized the benefits of
retreating to the background when necessary. “I wouldn’t
do things the same way as my son,” says Bobby. Still, the
opportunity for father and son to work together has given
both men an interesting perspective. “As you get older, you
get closer over time,” says Andy.

For the Cohens, it’s the shared experience that brings
them together and allows them to have such an entertaining
and successful show. The future of this Junkyard Empire
appears to be a thriving one, so Andy Cohen has no
intention of ever becoming a suit. MM
Montgomery Magazine // October/November 2018
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