Car Masters: Rust to Riches (2018) s01e06 Episode Script
Life-Size
1
[man] Ninety-three, my final offer.
[Shawn] We followed Mark
on this crazy Frank’N’Bus build for weeks.
I’ve turned over every stone
trying to find a buyer,
and these are the only two guys I found.
Let’s do this deal, Shawn.
We’re so close right now.
Don’t go anywhere.
Mark is stuck on six figures,
and we are so close.
I am not taking 93. I’m not taking 93.
It’s not gonna happen.
Be realistic.
Ninety-three grand. Really?
You’re really going to split hairs
over seven grand?
You’re gonna throw that at me, Goldilocks?
The crew needs this sale, I mean,
we’ve had little cash-outs here and there,
but it’s been a while
since we’ve had a big payday.
If we do the deal, we all walk away
with about 12 grand in our pockets.
I’m not letting this one
slip through our fingers.
These guys are ready to pay 93.
Are you kidding me? 93.
Think of the crew. Are you gonna go back
and tell them you turned it down?
Seven grand, it’s nothing.
Are you down?
I want cash. I don’t want a check.
I don’t want a wire transfer.
-I want green dollar bills, all right?
-Let’s do this.
All right, guys, listen.
-I had to twist his arm.
-Uh-huh.
But… you guys got a deal for 93.
-Got it.
-That’s it. We got a deal!
Yeah. We like that. All right.
Thank you very much, you guys.
Thank you very much.
We started with a Bus
that was worth about $1,000.
Out of a wrecking yard.
What did we put in, like 26,000?
-Something like that.
-Into it?
And then we sold it for 93,000.
That is a profit of $66,000.
That’s one heck of a payday.
-So he doesn’t get beat up now?
-No, he gets to live.
You get to work on your next project.
You got some money.
I wanna come up here every week
and have them fire it up for me.
I love the way this thing sounds.
[Mark] All right.
Let’s go sign on the dotted line.
[power tools buzz]
[machinery rivets]
[engine starts]
-Are you happy the Bus is out of here?
-Oh, yeah.
I had no idea what we were doing to it,
but the way it came out was just so sick.
I’m just glad we made a big profit off it.
I’m stoked for them because they get to
put a bit of change in their bank account,
take a little breather,
stress level comes down.
We’re just gonna reset, start all over.
Now it’s on Shawn
to come up with our next project.
Tell me you got some big deal worked out
and we’re going back to work.
I actually do.
Probably the biggest deal we’ve ever done,
if you can believe it.
-Bigger than the bank job?
-[all laughing]
-You weren’t supposed to say anything.
-What is wrong with you?
I’ve got a line
on a replica 1955 Lincoln Futura.
That’s pretty badass.
It’s the biggest concept car worldwide
known to man.
Hello, yeah.
[Mark] When I hear the words
“Lincoln Futura,” I go into shock.
Everyone knows what that is
in the automotive world.
They have pictures on the Interwebs,
like, there’s just a crowd around it.
Yeah.
The Lincoln Futura
is like a mythical beast.
When it was debuted in 1955,
this car took the world by storm.
People came from other countries
to see this car at the World’s Fair.
People went to see the movie it was in
just to see the car.
George Barris turned it into
the iconic 1966 Batmobile.
We’re talking Batmobile.
This guy claims to have the most
accurate replica of this prototype.
[Mark]
Did he say if it’s a Bob Butts body?
[Shawn] Uh, I think so.
We’ll have to make sure.
There’s only one person on the planet
that ever got his hands on that car
to mold it,
and his name was Bob Butts.
There’s some imitation ones out there.
They might be worth roughly five grand.
But there’s only a few that were
pulled out of the original Bob Butts mold.
If it’s one of his, it’ll easily be worth
over a hundred-and-fifty grand.
That’s huge money.
-Oh, yeah.
-What kind of shape is this Futura in?
-It needs a lot, a lot of work.
-A lot.
-But he’s not selling it.
-[Caveman] What’s the catch?
What do we have to do
to get it out of his hands?
-Well--
-Legally.
[all laughing]
Here’s the deal.
He’s willing to trade it for something.
And I’ve actually got the car
he’s willing to trade it for.
-Have you got a picture of it?
-No, I--
-[Caveman] Then why--
-I’ve got--
[Mark] All we gotta give him is that?
I’m down with that. That’s a done deal.
[Shawn] This is called
the Hot Wheels “Splittin’ Image.”
That’s like the most popular toy
of every child is a Hot Wheels car.
-[Caveman] I remember that.
-[Constance] We’ll put that in a box--
No, no.
Just a little bit bigger than that.
-[Caveman] How much bigger?
-[Shawn] Like…
-Like go-kart size?
-…one-to-one, full size.
When he gave me this car,
the guy said
it was his favorite childhood toy.
He played with it every day.
Ever since he was a kid,
he wanted to drive
a life-size Splittin’ Image.
A real full-size version of this car.
[Mark] What’s really cool
about the Hot Wheels toys
is they were designed
by actual car designers
from Chevy, Chrysler and Dodge.
These were cars that they couldn’t
put into production in real life,
so they got to build them
in a fantasy-car style for us kids.
As a child,
Hot Wheels toys were pure magic. If we get him his childhood fantasy car,
we could trade it for
pretty much our fantasy car.
-You got my vote.
-I’m in.
Make it happen for me.
[Mark]
Since this build is gonna be expensive,
I need to lay my eyes
on this Lincoln Futura.
We have to make sure that the body
comes from the original accurate mold.
Because only a body from that mold
will get us to our six-figure jackpot.
[Shawn] Yeah.
-[Newt] It’s right there.
-[Shawn] Oh, there it is.
I’m hoping when the cover comes off,
I’m gonna be super-excited.
-Is that what you’re looking for?
-Yeah. I’m liking the emblem already.
-Good.
-[Shawn] Oh, yeah.
[Shawn chuckles]
It’s got a GM chassis in it. It’s been
stretched to fit the wheelbase and stuff.
Yeah. Do you know any history
on this particular car?
I was told the body was pulled off
the mold from the original car.
-Does the name Bob Butts ring a bell?
-Yeah.
-He’s the one that did the original.
-Okay.
[Mark] Hundreds of cars have been
roughed out from amateurs from pictures.
To find a body that has
the exact dimensions is very, very rare.
Pull me on the back end of that on
the ground, Shawn, at the tip of the car.
The car has to be one inch short
of 19 feet long.
Tell me it’s right.
This dimension is dead nuts on
to the quarter of an inch.
-Perfect, perfect.
-Like perfect perfect.
-[Shawn] One down, Newt.
-[Newt] Okay.
[Mark] Do the front real quick.
Its front should be seven feet wide.
-Two for two.
-[Shawn] Two for two.
-Dead nuts on.
-Dead nuts on is good.
So, now we get the most important
measurement of this car
which tells me
if it’s the car I think it is.
The one thing that lets you know
you have an exact replica
is that the front of the car is wider
than the back of the car by six inches.
So, you have…
an exact replica of the original car.
-[Shawn] Oh.
-[Newt] Cool.
This car is the unicorn
I’ve been looking for.
-You’re happy.
-I’m stoked.
All the measurements are perfect.
You’re actually making two grown men happy
on the same day, Shawn.
-Don’t usually do that.
-No.
[Shawn] We’ll make your Splittin’ Image.
If you like it, it’ll be an even trade?
-Even trade, man.
-Thank you, brother. I appreciate it.
[Mark] Now we just need to find a car that
we can transform into the Splittin’ Image.
-Something like a Corvette.
-[Shawn] I got this. I know a guy. [Caveman] Oh, look.
Don Johnson just rolled into the shop.
-Let me order you guys a pizza.
-[Caveman] Are you gonna order us a pizza?
-[Shawn imitates phone dialing sound]
-[laughs]
Hey, Bumblebee, 1980 called.
They want their phone back.
You brought us something halfway decent.
You drove this one in.
Hell, yes. It’s not that bad, really.
Shawn and I went and looked at the Futura.
We did some measurements, and
it turns out that it’s a Bob Butts body.
So this is really gonna happen?
We’re really building a Hot Wheels?
-[Mark] Yeah.
-And we’re really building a Futura?
-That is what is happening.
-All right.
This car is the donor car
for the Splitting Image.
I did a boatload of calculations
and scaling off of this toy over here.
The aspect ratios
are really close to a C4 ’86 Corvette.
Almost exactly exact.
We spent $4,200 on this 1986 Corvette.
We’re gonna strip it down to a shell
and completely redo the body
with a figerglass mold
that’s an exact replica
of the Splittin’ Image.
Just like our tiny blueprint,
it will have two cockpits
and two massive exhaust pipes
that run straight down the middle,
completely separating the driver
from the passenger.
To put it over the top,
each cockpit will get a canopy
designed for actual jets,
making this a space-age grown-up version
of one of the most popular Hot Wheels toys
ever made.
So, we’re not doing this on the cheap.
We’re actually gonna--
You can’t build a Hot Wheels toy
on the cheap, my friend.
We just don’t wanna have
over 30 grand in it.
-Well, maybe 35.
-I think we can.
I’m pretty sure those windshields are not
gonna be inexpensive. I can tell you that.
Don’t “ooh” at me.
[all laughing]
Well, seeing as this build
is only gonna take about a week or so,
I can slide something else in
while we’re doing this.
-Am I right?
-Yeah, you could.
I’m thinking I need to find a quick-flip
cash car to cover Mr. Extravagant’s plans.
Yeah! I get to cut stuff up!
I love cutting up cars!
Kissy, kissy, kissy.
You came out of your shoes
like full extension.
[Sawzall buzzing]
[Caveman] The insurance company called.
They wanna come take pictures.
[Mark]
Yeah, they want a couple of pictures.
[beeping]
[Shawn] Hey, guys,
come look what I got for you.
[Mark]
That’s a five-dead-body trunk right there.
-[Tony] It’s a nice car.
-[Shawn] Yeah, it’s a ’67 Bel Air.
This is Charlie’s car.
-Corvette Charlie?
-Yeah.
[Shawn] We need cash
for the Splittin’ Image.
Now, we could just use the profit
from the VW Bus and roll it forward,
but we don’t wanna take that
hard-earned payday away from the gang.
Fortunately,
I got a call from our friend, Charlie,
who’s got a garage full of muscle cars,
and he wants to upgrade one of ’em so he
can take it drag racing on the weekends.
-So this is your little baby, huh?
-That’s my baby.
[Charlie] The first time
I seen one of these cars
was in my hometown of Linden, New Jersey.
-Jersey?
-That’s right. I’m a Jersey boy.
-[Shawn chuckles]
-All right.
[Shawn] The good news is
if we can earn Charlie’s trust,
his car collection
could be a real cash cow.
You don’t know what’s behind these doors,
so there could be more stuff coming, so--
The bad news is, earning his trust
means I gotta keep Mark on a tight leash.
When it comes to flares,
we’re gonna keep him away from this car.
I don’t want exhaust
coming through my fender,
whale tails and spider webs and--
I don’t need something loop de loop
and hanging out. Just want a stock mirror.
-None of it.
-How about a spoiler or something?
No spoiler. No.
Please keep away from the roof.
-If we take about that much--
-No, no.
-We’re not cutting the roof.
-Why did you come to us then?
Because I know you guys do fantastic work,
and I wanted a cool classic car that
I can take to the racetrack on Saturday
and make other drivers jealous.
[Shawn] I’m bringing Mark
the exact kind of car he likes to chop up.
And now I have to make sure he doesn’t.
[engine starts]
[revs]
My heart melts right now.
[engine revs]
Enlighten me on what are we doing
with a stock Bel Air
with a 427 with a floor shifter?
Well, Charlie wants to bring this thing
back to glory as a race car.
He gave us $20,000,
and all he wants is a really nice
paint job, the original color,
wheels and tires, and an interior.
Chop the roof off,
turn it into a convertible--
-No, no.
-Why would he bring it to me then?
Charlie wants a little Gotham Garage.
Otherwise he would’ve taken it
to the paint shop and dropped it off.
He wanted a little Gotham Garage,
but he specifically said
he does not want his roof chopped off.
-It’s just, how much is a little?
-[Constance] He wants a drag car.
A little bit of a drag car.
A drag car’s got big [bleep] sticking up
out of the motor,
big ol’ Mickey Thompson slicks on it.
-No, no.
-Time out.
-No. Like a weekend drag car.
-And a wing. And a wing.
This is like American muscle.
It doesn’t need all the--
[Mark] What, did you brainwash her
on this whole deal?
Okay, so I won’t chop his roof off.
Will you promise me?
I will not go crazy on this car.
In fact,
I think the only way to make that happen
is to let Constance actually run it.
Constance is a motorhead.
She definitely has a passion
for American muscle cars.
She’s actually building her own Mustang
at her house.
-I think that’s a great idea.
-You agree?
’Cause otherwise
we’re gonna have to put you in handcuffs.
[Constance] Mark has finally
given me the lead on something.
I am so excited. It’s a classic car.
I’m super-excited
to just get total muscle car on it.
I’m gonna put a camera on this car
so I know you’re not chopping things off
in the middle of the night.
Y’all have to go home sometime.
[all laughing]
All right, Caveman.
I got the starter part.
These are the two pieces
that were the easiest to figure out.
So, uh, what are we doing here?
I did a ton of measurements on this toy.
I had to scale it up to one-to-one.
Matching the wheelbase to this toy
of this car and blowing it up,
it tells me how big
everything else is gonna be.
If one little thing is off, trust me,
the Internet is gonna go berserk on,
“Well, that’s not this, it was that.”
And then we’re gonna have to justify
why that is what that is.
You cannot make a Hot Wheels replica
on the down-low.
That entire culture
is gonna know about this car.
These two little holes
are actually gas caps
so you can fuel it from both sides.
Oh.
The attention this car’s going to bring us
is a double-edged sword.
It cuts both ways.
It’s weird stuff like that,
but if we don’t get it right,
-they’re gonna pound you.
-They’ll beat you up.
[Caveman] When I was a kid,
my uncle used to tell me
we just put this in a bucket of water,
or drop water on it, it would just grow.
And how long did you water your first toy
expecting it to grow?
[laughing]
-Like every day for a month?
-Yeah.
Your uncle wasn’t nice.
Right now
we’re making a temporary structure.
Later, we’ll make a fiberglass mold
off of that structure.
Then we will ship that mold off
to get the actual fiberglass body
pulled from it for our Splitting Image.
Sixty and three-quarters
is 30 and three-eighths.
There’s a whole lot of measurements
involved in this, you know that?
Might have to take a picture of you
using a tape measure.
-No. If that ever gets out, I’m ruined.
-Right? I hate tape measures.
I like to rely on my instincts.
But this Splittin’ Image
has to be an exact replica.
All of the angles have to be correct and
all the measurements have to be correct.
In order for me
to get that ’55 Lincoln Futura,
Newt has to fall in love
with this Splittin’ Image replica.
That little nose part will come forward
and then I’ll cut the “V” out of it.
And then there’s an indentation that
goes all the way, that comes up to here.
See how it’s all indented
all the way to the back of the car?
Caveman, it’s time to learn you
how to do fiberglass.
This is what will give you
itchy fingers here,
only because it’s not really itchy,
it’s glass, so it’s actually cutting you.
You’re just giving yourself micro-cuts.
Fiberglass
is thousands of strands of glass
that’s actually been pressed
into a glass fabric.
-The worst sound in a doctor’s office.
-Right?
I’m gonna give you a little crash course.
This, my friend, is papier-mâché for men.
Yeah.
[Mark] Fiberglass is cool to work with
and it’s a lot of fun,
because basically
you just lay out the resin like glue,
you lay the fiberglass on top,
and it soaks it up.
The more resin, the better.
The easier it is to do your job.
-Okay.
-Yep.
[Caveman] Like putting frosting
on a cake then, huh?
-[Mark] That’s exactly what it is.
-I like frosting on my cake.
[Mark] This is the best, right?
How do you get rid of it?
-It’s like a booger.
-[Caveman laughs]
Like, now I know
how a cotton candy machine feels.
I’m not gonna eat it,
but it does look like cotton candy.
[laughs]
Now you’re an expert.
-So do the other half.
-Oh, man!
Knock yourself out.
[Constance] You excited about these 20s?
I am excited about ’em. I just hope
everybody else is as excited as I am.
[power wrench buzzing]
It keeps that stock vintage feel,
but bigger.
Obviously, you know when you see these
that this car didn’t come with 20s on it.
[Constance] Yeah.
[buzzing]
When you first think of a Chevy Bel Air,
they’re kind of more of a family car.
But in the ’60s,
Chevy started making these body styles
that really converted into more
of your daily driver during the week
and your hot rod muscle car
on the weekends.
We have $20,000 on this build,
but I’m hoping
that I can keep it under 10,000
while still turning it into the drag car
it’s begging to be.
We’re gonna start
by giving it massive wheels
which will give it a more aggressive look.
We’ll also take out the bench seats
and put custom bucket seats
with five-point race harnesses.
We’ll paint the Bel Air back
to its original Nantucket blue color,
plus add wheelie bars and a parachute
for the perfect racing experience.
[engine revs]
Most of all,
we’re going to keep it classic
by keeping Mark and his Sawzall
away from this American muscle car.
Oh, look at that.
That looks pretty nice.
Damn, they look so good.
All right,
so we gotta rush that interior now and--
-Hey, come here, Tony.
-What you got there?
Hold this.
-This looks like the same hood as that.
-Yeah. Hold that.
[Mark] Hey, Constance.
[Tony] Whoa. A tunnel ram.
Hold this.
A tunnel ram is a no-brainer for this car
because it utilizes two carburetors
to boost the horsepower to the engine.
What drag racer is not gonna love that?
We all know where this is going.
I know that this will not fit
under that hood. I know that.
I can’t stomach the idea
of this thing leaving like that.
People will go, “Gotham Garage,
they put wheels on cars now.
-Yay. They’re a tire store.”
-[laughs]
[Mark] That’s not gonna happen.
I went and got a hood
out of my own pocket,
about 250 bucks,
and we’re actually gonna send his
original hood to the painter with the car,
and they’re gonna paint both hoods.
That way, if he doesn’t like it,
I can undo it.
“You can put kindergarten stuff, or leave
college stuff sticking out of the hood.
It’s up to you.”
-This is a good loophole you got though.
-I know. -Extra hood.
-Stop encouraging.
-It makes sense though.
-Really there’s no choice in this.
I suggest you kids hurry up
before I get any more crazy ideas.
-Can you help me with this hood?
-Does it look like I can help you?
Does it look like
I can help you right now?
I’ll come back for you eventually,
I promise.
[Tony] Got it?
[Constance] Okay. The hood is all yours.
I’m gonna go ahead
and work on this carburetor.
There’s what the customer tells Mark
he wants the car to be,
and then there’s what the car
tells Mark it wants to be.
Ultimately, the car always wins,
because Mark is like the car whisperer.
You just have to trust Mark’s vision.
Hopefully, Charlie loves it just as much.
If not, I mean,
I guess it’s good that we have a backup.
-Constance, we got a hole in the hood.
-Yeah?
Let’s see if this baby
actually fits in there.
-Fits kinda nice, right?
-Yeah. I think it’s the perfect size.
[Constance] Look at that.
Looks good. It stacked up real nice.
-[Tony] It looks good.
-I think it looks pretty badass.
[knocking]
What do you need?
The big thing I wanna talk about
is the COE.
Thing’s been sitting in the corner
for a couple of weeks.
It is the elephant in the building,
-that is for sure.
-It is.
[Mark] For over a decade, I’ve been
wanting to build a badass shop truck
to haul all of our custom cars around on.
[train horn blares]
[Caveman] The train is here.
[Mark] We finally acquired a COE
that we can turn into a rolling billboard
for Gotham Garage.
When people see this truck,
they’re gonna go, “Wow, if they can build
a badass truck like that,
they must really know what they’re doing.
I wanna do business with them.”
We need a shop truck,
so that’s why we got it.
In the long run, this will help elevate
our image and reputation
so that all of our cars
will sell for more money.
I got this vision in my head
of a picture I saw a long time ago
of the ’55 Lincoln Futura being unloaded
off of the back of a COE
that was a car hauler.
So I’m thinking
we build a badass car hauler.
-We need a car hauler.
-Then we’re gonna take it to a car show.
Picture the ’55 Lincoln Futura
on the back
of a ’54 International COE truck.
-Can you imagine?
-Unload it.
-Imagine the buzz we’re gonna get.
-Oh, my God.
When we take it to auction,
the bidding will be crazy.
-I mean--
-I just have one hitch in my gitalong.
I don’t have anything to mount the COE to.
-I think I’ve got, uh, an answer for that.
-Yeah?
-It’s Jimmy Bird’s dually.
-He ain’t gonna sell that thing.
He’s definitely selling his truck,
and it’s perfect.
Let’s take a jaunt over there
and take a look at it.
Perfect. Let’s do it.
[train horn blares]
[Shawn]
It’s definitely the right truck for us.
I just hope it’s gonna be
in the right budget for us.
[Mark] Let’s go see a man about a truck.
[Shawn] Hell, yeah.
-What’s up, Jimmy?
-What’s up, Mark?
-[Shawn] Jimmy Bird!
-Good to see you, brother.
-Good to see you.
-What’s going on, Jimmy?
Always a pleasure.
Yeah.
So, you’re gonna sell me Big Red finally.
You mind if I start her up
and check the motor out?
[Jimmy] Help yourself.
She’s gonna fire right up solid.
[engine starts]
-There is no shake in that motor.
-No shake.
-My motor looks like a dually motor.
-[both chuckle]
It runs too smooth.
You don’t want him
to use that against you?
Yeah.
Jimmy’s price is for the whole truck,
but we only need the chassis and engine.
For this to work for us,
we’re gonna need a really good deal.
For me to let it go today,
I need to make money,
’cause I came across another project,
and I’m really itching to go that way.
-And I need some cash to make it happen.
-Yeah.
-What’s your bottom line? I’m thinking 17.
-The best--
No. It’s worth somewhere around ten grand,
this truck.
-Can’t do that. Can’t do that.
-What do you mean you can’t do that?
There’s no way I can do that.
-Well, there’s no way I’m going up to 17.
-Why do you always bring this guy?
-This cowboy over here?
-’Cause that’s what he does.
This is what kinda upsets me,
when you bring these guys here.
That’s why I like buying from friends.
Me and Mark would’ve had a beer
and been done.
Yeah, and he would’ve paid 15 grand
for the thing.
-Probably.
-Probably.
We’re here to help you out.
That’s what we do.
Right, Mark? Are we helping him out?
Yeah, we’re here to help him out.
We’re buying this for a shop truck.
We’re not gonna make any money off this.
We’re gonna make your truck
into something that maybe you could use.
Here’s my bottom line:
12 grand and I get to use the truck
when I need to haul a car around.
Do I really have to do 12 grand
for this thing?
Make a deal, Shawn. Make a deal.
I like doing business with you,
but it’s a pain in the butt.
Isn’t it? I know.
Thanks again, Jimmy.
-Thank you, brother.
-Thanks, Mark.
All right. Now that it’s all dry,
we get to do the easy part.
[Caveman] And then
we get to go home, right?
Our fiberglass mold is finally dry.
Let the air go for a count to ten
and then pop it, okay?
-All right. It’ll come loose.
-[air hissing]
Now we’re gonna pop the mold off,
send it off to the fiberglass guys,
and they will bring us back
a perfect permanent Splittin’ Image body
for this project.
-[air hissing]
-Just grab that corner and pull.
Okay. Get it all to break loose.
[Caveman grunts]
-Yeah!
-All right.
We’re gonna go all the way upside down.
Let’s go upside down, upside down,
upside down.
Damn!
-[Mark] Let’s go home, ’cause I’m tired.
-[Caveman] What? Home?
-Home. What’s that?
-That’s that place where I pay bills.
Check out these little pieces
I just made up.
-Little grills for right here.
-These are cool.
[Tony] “Jersey Boy.”
That’s Charlie, right? He’s a Jersey boy?
[Constance]
Yeah, he’s definitely a Jersey boy.
-[Tony] It’s a little Gotham Garage touch.
-Yeah.
All things considering, you know,
it’s not that big a hole.
I still feel like Charlie was expecting
something Gotham Garage.
When he comes in, will you just say,
“But it’s not that big of a hole”?
-It’s not that big of a hole.
-It’s not that big.
Plus, look what’s sticking out of it.
Um… what’s this?
-Hey, Mark?
-[Mark] Yes?
What’s the deal with this over here?
That is a blue shirt
that your mom made you wear.
What’s this?
That is what they call
a dual quad setup on a tunnel ram
with a Shotgun air cleaner.
You guys just told me
don’t cut the roof off it.
I specifically remember
the “don’ts” of this project,
and that was the “don’t.”
-No, no.
-“Do not cut the roof off my car.”
Do not cut the roof, do not do flares,
do not do spoilers.
It has no fender flares,
it has no spoiler yet,
and it has the roof still intact.
I elected, by authority given to myself,
by myself,
to go buy a hood, and cough up my intake
with my carburetors and my scoop.
They will paint that hood
when they paint this car.
If Charlie is not tickled pink,
I believe his generation calls it,
then we will just unbolt this,
put back on his little baby air cleaner
and his little baby intake manifold.
I’m gonna put his little blue hood on it
and call it a day.
No harm, no foul.
I expected you to control him
a little bit.
Way to get me in trouble with Shawn.
I’m gonna go call the paint guy.
I’m telling him
this car is coming in today.
No more surprises, please.
I’m gonna go back to work
on the Splittin’ Image.
Looks frickin’ great. Just finish it.
[laughs]
I thought they were going to, like,
counseling and working stuff out.
-Man, that was--
-I don’t think it’s been resolved yet.
-Hey, Caveman?
-Yeah.
-I need your help.
-Oh.
I told you when you lay
all the parts down right and you mold it,
when you get your part back
it looks pretty cool.
-It’s awfully bright though.
-It is. Let’s grab it and throw it inside.
It’s a really cool moment when the bodies
come back from the fiberglass company.
We have a Splitting Image in the house.
[Tony] Cool. Wow!
[Mark] So, you and I are gonna build
these headers real quick. -Real quick, huh?
-They’re gonna come up, twist, turn.
We’re gonna gooseneck it down,
so we’re basically doing
this whole entire exhaust system.
The trickiest part of this header
is getting all the tubes in the right spot
-without colliding into each other.
-Yeah.
’Cause we’re putting a right header on
the left and a left header on the right.
’Cause they’re upside down.
[Mark] We’re taking
a real-life exhaust header kit
and inverting it to run both pipes
back down the center of the car
all the way to the back.
It’s a Tinkertoy puzzle
with no frickin’ instructions.
-You couldn’t order these?
-I checked.
There’s no Splittin’ Image header kit.
Normally, on a race car or a hot rod,
the exhaust comes out the side
and runs down along the bottom of the car.
-Hey, look at that.
-What do you know about that.
[Mark] In order to stay true
to our little tiny blueprint,
we’re gonna put our exhaust
on top of the car.
It’s gonna look really cool,
and they’re really gonna work. Here comes the fun. It’s time
to make the back end for the exhaust.
Are you ready? Scream for me, Temecula!
Whee!
So, this… is gonna get set right here,
all polished up nice and pretty.
We’ll have to machine two cap ends for it.
There will be two air cleaners.
One here, one here.
It’ll look just like this.
-[Caveman] That’s ingenious.
-I know.
-Man, this tank came out great.
-[Constance] I love this color.
It really brings back
an old-school feel to it.
[Tony]
I think Charlie’s gonna love it too.
He might walk in and be floored by how
amazing the paint looks and the color.
He might not even
see the hole in the hood.
Maybe like when we display it,
we should put a really big bow on it
like a new car
to where he doesn’t see that right away.
-[Tony] That is one big bow.
-Yeah.
[Constance] It’s no secret in the shop
that I’m the cheerleader
for American muscle cars.
So, taking the lead on this build
was really close to home for me.
We spent just under $10,000.
Now it has dual intakes,
custom racing bucket seats,
and wheelie bars,
just in case Charlie decides
to get a little crazy and floor it.
This car is totally gonna bring Charlie
back to his Jersey boy roots.
It’s gonna be so badass on the drag strip…
but also be a totally cool daily driver.
[Mark] This is a pretty good idea you got
to put his hood out here.
Trying to save him a heart attack
or an aneurysm?
Well, yeah, I don’t want him
to have a coronary over this thing.
Here he is.
[Mark] Look at him.
He’s already smiling from ear to ear.
If he had lipstick on,
it’d be on his ears.
-[Shawn] Here he is.
-How we doing, Shawn?
We’re doing good. How are you doing today?
Are you feeling open-minded today?
It looks like you guys
forgot to put something on.
Oh, no. The hood’s-- the hood’s--
-Don’t worry about it.
-What do you mean, not worry?
How you doing, Charlie?
Walk over here and check out your car.
Whoa.
Look it there. Look at how pretty--
-Look at that, my old laundry basket.
-There you go.
-Got some roller skates going on?
-You’re gonna need ’em.
Oh [bleep]
-Be open-minded, Charlie.
-You were with me at the first meeting.
-Yeah.
-You were. You sure?
I think we talked about
no holes in the hood.
There’s your hood.
There’s no holes in the hood.
-Oh, my God.
-You okay?
-I gotta take it all in.
-Yeah.
Everything you ever wanted
when you were 21.
It’s cool, right? Charlie?
Pop that hood, Jersey boy. Pop that hood.
-Yeah.
-[Shawn] Look at that, huh?
That piece of candy right there ought
to put a [bleep] eatin’ grin on your face.
-[Shawn] Did I see a smile on your face?
-Yeah, you did.
-[Mark] He’s cracking one.
-[Shawn] Yeah?
Tell me you like it. Come on.
-The bodywork is phenomenal.
-Yes.
I mean, that color is phenomenal.
-Put that seat back and get in there.
-[Shawn] Get in there, Charlie.
[Mark] You just went back 25 years.
Ah.
-We got a racer.
-Give it a little key crank there. [engine starts]
[revs]
-[Mark] Yes.
-Highway Patrol is gonna love it.
-Now it’s a car.
-Yeah!
Yeah.
-[engine revs]
-[Shawn] Yeah!
[Mark] I never had a doubt.
I’ve known Charlie for a very long time.
I know he’s a drag racer. It’s all woke up, ain’t it, old man?
[laughs]
It’s one thing when you see a tunnel ram,
it’s a whole nother thing
when you feel a tunnel ram.
-Hear that, just about idle.
-Right on.
Once that thing shakes you,
there is no getting unshook.
You look like a young man now.
I feel like a young man
just sitting in that vibration seat.
What do you think about the hood?
Well, if I was gonna have a hole under
my hood, that would be the hole I wanted.
It’s smooth.
I mean, you really did a great job.
So, I’m very happy with it.
[Mark] We’re in to the car for $8,500.
We made $11,500 profit.
That’s a pretty damn good deal.
Behind the garage,
there’s a whole bunch of stuff in there,
and there’s more work
coming down the road.
-Okay.
-So this is gonna be my signature deal.
Shawn, you need to trust me.
-You got lucky this time.
-I didn’t get lucky.
-I’m always right. No, you’re still wrong.
-Am I still wrong?
-No, you’re still wrong.
-All right.
[engine revving]
-Another satisfied customer.
-Oh, yeah.
-[horn honks]
-[Mark] That is one happy man.
All right. Let’s go in and get a beer.
-I’ll drink to that one.
-Yeah.
Does he know that’s a dead end?
-Hey, Tony, you wanna give me a hand?
-Yeah.
[Mark] The canopies on this
Splittin’ Image Hot Wheels toy don’t open.
The ones on the real car,
they’re gonna have to open.
I don’t want this to flip forward.
It’s too cheese ball, and too many people
could do it, and it’s not difficult.
I’ve lost a lot of sleep over it,
but I finally got it figured out.
-I want it to slide forward.
-This is cool.
It’s like a fighter jet. Goose pops out,
Iceman pops out the other side.
Right. When people are standing around,
I want everybody to crap their pants.
Okay. So let’s start.
Ah.
[Mark] Everything on this project
has been about a measuring tape
and getting it precise.
I finally get to set the tape measure down
and go back to who I am.
I get to use my creative ability
to figure out how to solve this problem.
I feel like a little boy in a bubble.
What kid didn’t want to grow up
and be a fighter jet pilot?
Now you get to drive a Hot Wheels car
and pretend you’re flying a fighter jet.
All right, Goose.
Locked and loaded.
[Mark] Now that the canopies are done,
the Splittin’ Image is ready to paint.
And it’s getting the rarest color
ever put on a Hot Wheels: magenta.
This color is coveted
by every Hot Wheels collector I know.
I can’t wait to see our client’s face
when he sees his dream car
coming down the driveway on our trailer.
[engine revs]
-Damn. The Hot Wheels is back.
-Yeah.
-This looks like a piece of candy.
-I know. Make you want to lick it.
Pretty badass color, huh? Man, it pops.
[Mark] Now that we’re putting
the final touches on the Splittin’ Image,
to watch it come together is so cool.
Guys like me and Newt,
we used to play with these toys as kids.
This is where our imagination
started from,
inspired by these geniuses
pushing the boundaries
of anything that was going on in the time
in the automotive industry.
They couldn’t do it with real cars,
so they made toys.
[laughs] That’s a compromising position.
Yeah, it is. Here goes nothing.
Sweet.
For me, playing with Hot Wheels toys
in the sandbox
was the beginning of my career
building cars no one’s ever seen before.
For Newt,
that dream that he had as a child
playing with a Hot Wheels toy,
will now become a reality.
The amount of precision it takes to
build a replica of someone else’s design,
especially
when it comes from a two-inch car,
this is the kind of challenge
that I live for.
[tires screech]
This car now features a C4 Corvette engine
and chassis.
And has parallel exhaust pipes
that run down the middle,
dual fuel tanks,
two separate aircraft design cockpits,
and custom leather bucket seats.
If I can make Newt’s dream come true,
then I get to build the car that
pushes my imagination into high gear:
the Lincoln Futura.
[Shawn]
I think you guys did an awesome job
getting this car as good as it looks,
I mean--
For me,
it looks just like the Splittin’ Image,
but, you know, maybe I’m just
a little partial ’cause I built it.
This Splittin’ Image turned out
exactly how I wanted it.
But the guy we need to trade with, Newt,
he’ll be the ultimate judge.
Are his expectations here
where they’re realistic,
or are they way up here in fantasyland
that you can never get to?
I don’t wanna let that Futura
slip through my fingers.
I’m just hoping he loves it
and the deal goes through smooth.
[man] Ninety-three, my final offer.
[Shawn] We followed Mark
on this crazy Frank’N’Bus build for weeks.
I’ve turned over every stone
trying to find a buyer,
and these are the only two guys I found.
Let’s do this deal, Shawn.
We’re so close right now.
Don’t go anywhere.
Mark is stuck on six figures,
and we are so close.
I am not taking 93. I’m not taking 93.
It’s not gonna happen.
Be realistic.
Ninety-three grand. Really?
You’re really going to split hairs
over seven grand?
You’re gonna throw that at me, Goldilocks?
The crew needs this sale, I mean,
we’ve had little cash-outs here and there,
but it’s been a while
since we’ve had a big payday.
If we do the deal, we all walk away
with about 12 grand in our pockets.
I’m not letting this one
slip through our fingers.
These guys are ready to pay 93.
Are you kidding me? 93.
Think of the crew. Are you gonna go back
and tell them you turned it down?
Seven grand, it’s nothing.
Are you down?
I want cash. I don’t want a check.
I don’t want a wire transfer.
-I want green dollar bills, all right?
-Let’s do this.
All right, guys, listen.
-I had to twist his arm.
-Uh-huh.
But… you guys got a deal for 93.
-Got it.
-That’s it. We got a deal!
Yeah. We like that. All right.
Thank you very much, you guys.
Thank you very much.
We started with a Bus
that was worth about $1,000.
Out of a wrecking yard.
What did we put in, like 26,000?
-Something like that.
-Into it?
And then we sold it for 93,000.
That is a profit of $66,000.
That’s one heck of a payday.
-So he doesn’t get beat up now?
-No, he gets to live.
You get to work on your next project.
You got some money.
I wanna come up here every week
and have them fire it up for me.
I love the way this thing sounds.
[Mark] All right.
Let’s go sign on the dotted line.
[power tools buzz]
[machinery rivets]
[engine starts]
-Are you happy the Bus is out of here?
-Oh, yeah.
I had no idea what we were doing to it,
but the way it came out was just so sick.
I’m just glad we made a big profit off it.
I’m stoked for them because they get to
put a bit of change in their bank account,
take a little breather,
stress level comes down.
We’re just gonna reset, start all over.
Now it’s on Shawn
to come up with our next project.
Tell me you got some big deal worked out
and we’re going back to work.
I actually do.
Probably the biggest deal we’ve ever done,
if you can believe it.
-Bigger than the bank job?
-[all laughing]
-You weren’t supposed to say anything.
-What is wrong with you?
I’ve got a line
on a replica 1955 Lincoln Futura.
That’s pretty badass.
It’s the biggest concept car worldwide
known to man.
Hello, yeah.
[Mark] When I hear the words
“Lincoln Futura,” I go into shock.
Everyone knows what that is
in the automotive world.
They have pictures on the Interwebs,
like, there’s just a crowd around it.
Yeah.
The Lincoln Futura
is like a mythical beast.
When it was debuted in 1955,
this car took the world by storm.
People came from other countries
to see this car at the World’s Fair.
People went to see the movie it was in
just to see the car.
George Barris turned it into
the iconic 1966 Batmobile.
We’re talking Batmobile.
This guy claims to have the most
accurate replica of this prototype.
[Mark]
Did he say if it’s a Bob Butts body?
[Shawn] Uh, I think so.
We’ll have to make sure.
There’s only one person on the planet
that ever got his hands on that car
to mold it,
and his name was Bob Butts.
There’s some imitation ones out there.
They might be worth roughly five grand.
But there’s only a few that were
pulled out of the original Bob Butts mold.
If it’s one of his, it’ll easily be worth
over a hundred-and-fifty grand.
That’s huge money.
-Oh, yeah.
-What kind of shape is this Futura in?
-It needs a lot, a lot of work.
-A lot.
-But he’s not selling it.
-[Caveman] What’s the catch?
What do we have to do
to get it out of his hands?
-Well--
-Legally.
[all laughing]
Here’s the deal.
He’s willing to trade it for something.
And I’ve actually got the car
he’s willing to trade it for.
-Have you got a picture of it?
-No, I--
-[Caveman] Then why--
-I’ve got--
[Mark] All we gotta give him is that?
I’m down with that. That’s a done deal.
[Shawn] This is called
the Hot Wheels “Splittin’ Image.”
That’s like the most popular toy
of every child is a Hot Wheels car.
-[Caveman] I remember that.
-[Constance] We’ll put that in a box--
No, no.
Just a little bit bigger than that.
-[Caveman] How much bigger?
-[Shawn] Like…
-Like go-kart size?
-…one-to-one, full size.
When he gave me this car,
the guy said
it was his favorite childhood toy.
He played with it every day.
Ever since he was a kid,
he wanted to drive
a life-size Splittin’ Image.
A real full-size version of this car.
[Mark] What’s really cool
about the Hot Wheels toys
is they were designed
by actual car designers
from Chevy, Chrysler and Dodge.
These were cars that they couldn’t
put into production in real life,
so they got to build them
in a fantasy-car style for us kids.
As a child,
Hot Wheels toys were pure magic. If we get him his childhood fantasy car,
we could trade it for
pretty much our fantasy car.
-You got my vote.
-I’m in.
Make it happen for me.
[Mark]
Since this build is gonna be expensive,
I need to lay my eyes
on this Lincoln Futura.
We have to make sure that the body
comes from the original accurate mold.
Because only a body from that mold
will get us to our six-figure jackpot.
[Shawn] Yeah.
-[Newt] It’s right there.
-[Shawn] Oh, there it is.
I’m hoping when the cover comes off,
I’m gonna be super-excited.
-Is that what you’re looking for?
-Yeah. I’m liking the emblem already.
-Good.
-[Shawn] Oh, yeah.
[Shawn chuckles]
It’s got a GM chassis in it. It’s been
stretched to fit the wheelbase and stuff.
Yeah. Do you know any history
on this particular car?
I was told the body was pulled off
the mold from the original car.
-Does the name Bob Butts ring a bell?
-Yeah.
-He’s the one that did the original.
-Okay.
[Mark] Hundreds of cars have been
roughed out from amateurs from pictures.
To find a body that has
the exact dimensions is very, very rare.
Pull me on the back end of that on
the ground, Shawn, at the tip of the car.
The car has to be one inch short
of 19 feet long.
Tell me it’s right.
This dimension is dead nuts on
to the quarter of an inch.
-Perfect, perfect.
-Like perfect perfect.
-[Shawn] One down, Newt.
-[Newt] Okay.
[Mark] Do the front real quick.
Its front should be seven feet wide.
-Two for two.
-[Shawn] Two for two.
-Dead nuts on.
-Dead nuts on is good.
So, now we get the most important
measurement of this car
which tells me
if it’s the car I think it is.
The one thing that lets you know
you have an exact replica
is that the front of the car is wider
than the back of the car by six inches.
So, you have…
an exact replica of the original car.
-[Shawn] Oh.
-[Newt] Cool.
This car is the unicorn
I’ve been looking for.
-You’re happy.
-I’m stoked.
All the measurements are perfect.
You’re actually making two grown men happy
on the same day, Shawn.
-Don’t usually do that.
-No.
[Shawn] We’ll make your Splittin’ Image.
If you like it, it’ll be an even trade?
-Even trade, man.
-Thank you, brother. I appreciate it.
[Mark] Now we just need to find a car that
we can transform into the Splittin’ Image.
-Something like a Corvette.
-[Shawn] I got this. I know a guy. [Caveman] Oh, look.
Don Johnson just rolled into the shop.
-Let me order you guys a pizza.
-[Caveman] Are you gonna order us a pizza?
-[Shawn imitates phone dialing sound]
-[laughs]
Hey, Bumblebee, 1980 called.
They want their phone back.
You brought us something halfway decent.
You drove this one in.
Hell, yes. It’s not that bad, really.
Shawn and I went and looked at the Futura.
We did some measurements, and
it turns out that it’s a Bob Butts body.
So this is really gonna happen?
We’re really building a Hot Wheels?
-[Mark] Yeah.
-And we’re really building a Futura?
-That is what is happening.
-All right.
This car is the donor car
for the Splitting Image.
I did a boatload of calculations
and scaling off of this toy over here.
The aspect ratios
are really close to a C4 ’86 Corvette.
Almost exactly exact.
We spent $4,200 on this 1986 Corvette.
We’re gonna strip it down to a shell
and completely redo the body
with a figerglass mold
that’s an exact replica
of the Splittin’ Image.
Just like our tiny blueprint,
it will have two cockpits
and two massive exhaust pipes
that run straight down the middle,
completely separating the driver
from the passenger.
To put it over the top,
each cockpit will get a canopy
designed for actual jets,
making this a space-age grown-up version
of one of the most popular Hot Wheels toys
ever made.
So, we’re not doing this on the cheap.
We’re actually gonna--
You can’t build a Hot Wheels toy
on the cheap, my friend.
We just don’t wanna have
over 30 grand in it.
-Well, maybe 35.
-I think we can.
I’m pretty sure those windshields are not
gonna be inexpensive. I can tell you that.
Don’t “ooh” at me.
[all laughing]
Well, seeing as this build
is only gonna take about a week or so,
I can slide something else in
while we’re doing this.
-Am I right?
-Yeah, you could.
I’m thinking I need to find a quick-flip
cash car to cover Mr. Extravagant’s plans.
Yeah! I get to cut stuff up!
I love cutting up cars!
Kissy, kissy, kissy.
You came out of your shoes
like full extension.
[Sawzall buzzing]
[Caveman] The insurance company called.
They wanna come take pictures.
[Mark]
Yeah, they want a couple of pictures.
[beeping]
[Shawn] Hey, guys,
come look what I got for you.
[Mark]
That’s a five-dead-body trunk right there.
-[Tony] It’s a nice car.
-[Shawn] Yeah, it’s a ’67 Bel Air.
This is Charlie’s car.
-Corvette Charlie?
-Yeah.
[Shawn] We need cash
for the Splittin’ Image.
Now, we could just use the profit
from the VW Bus and roll it forward,
but we don’t wanna take that
hard-earned payday away from the gang.
Fortunately,
I got a call from our friend, Charlie,
who’s got a garage full of muscle cars,
and he wants to upgrade one of ’em so he
can take it drag racing on the weekends.
-So this is your little baby, huh?
-That’s my baby.
[Charlie] The first time
I seen one of these cars
was in my hometown of Linden, New Jersey.
-Jersey?
-That’s right. I’m a Jersey boy.
-[Shawn chuckles]
-All right.
[Shawn] The good news is
if we can earn Charlie’s trust,
his car collection
could be a real cash cow.
You don’t know what’s behind these doors,
so there could be more stuff coming, so--
The bad news is, earning his trust
means I gotta keep Mark on a tight leash.
When it comes to flares,
we’re gonna keep him away from this car.
I don’t want exhaust
coming through my fender,
whale tails and spider webs and--
I don’t need something loop de loop
and hanging out. Just want a stock mirror.
-None of it.
-How about a spoiler or something?
No spoiler. No.
Please keep away from the roof.
-If we take about that much--
-No, no.
-We’re not cutting the roof.
-Why did you come to us then?
Because I know you guys do fantastic work,
and I wanted a cool classic car that
I can take to the racetrack on Saturday
and make other drivers jealous.
[Shawn] I’m bringing Mark
the exact kind of car he likes to chop up.
And now I have to make sure he doesn’t.
[engine starts]
[revs]
My heart melts right now.
[engine revs]
Enlighten me on what are we doing
with a stock Bel Air
with a 427 with a floor shifter?
Well, Charlie wants to bring this thing
back to glory as a race car.
He gave us $20,000,
and all he wants is a really nice
paint job, the original color,
wheels and tires, and an interior.
Chop the roof off,
turn it into a convertible--
-No, no.
-Why would he bring it to me then?
Charlie wants a little Gotham Garage.
Otherwise he would’ve taken it
to the paint shop and dropped it off.
He wanted a little Gotham Garage,
but he specifically said
he does not want his roof chopped off.
-It’s just, how much is a little?
-[Constance] He wants a drag car.
A little bit of a drag car.
A drag car’s got big [bleep] sticking up
out of the motor,
big ol’ Mickey Thompson slicks on it.
-No, no.
-Time out.
-No. Like a weekend drag car.
-And a wing. And a wing.
This is like American muscle.
It doesn’t need all the--
[Mark] What, did you brainwash her
on this whole deal?
Okay, so I won’t chop his roof off.
Will you promise me?
I will not go crazy on this car.
In fact,
I think the only way to make that happen
is to let Constance actually run it.
Constance is a motorhead.
She definitely has a passion
for American muscle cars.
She’s actually building her own Mustang
at her house.
-I think that’s a great idea.
-You agree?
’Cause otherwise
we’re gonna have to put you in handcuffs.
[Constance] Mark has finally
given me the lead on something.
I am so excited. It’s a classic car.
I’m super-excited
to just get total muscle car on it.
I’m gonna put a camera on this car
so I know you’re not chopping things off
in the middle of the night.
Y’all have to go home sometime.
[all laughing]
All right, Caveman.
I got the starter part.
These are the two pieces
that were the easiest to figure out.
So, uh, what are we doing here?
I did a ton of measurements on this toy.
I had to scale it up to one-to-one.
Matching the wheelbase to this toy
of this car and blowing it up,
it tells me how big
everything else is gonna be.
If one little thing is off, trust me,
the Internet is gonna go berserk on,
“Well, that’s not this, it was that.”
And then we’re gonna have to justify
why that is what that is.
You cannot make a Hot Wheels replica
on the down-low.
That entire culture
is gonna know about this car.
These two little holes
are actually gas caps
so you can fuel it from both sides.
Oh.
The attention this car’s going to bring us
is a double-edged sword.
It cuts both ways.
It’s weird stuff like that,
but if we don’t get it right,
-they’re gonna pound you.
-They’ll beat you up.
[Caveman] When I was a kid,
my uncle used to tell me
we just put this in a bucket of water,
or drop water on it, it would just grow.
And how long did you water your first toy
expecting it to grow?
[laughing]
-Like every day for a month?
-Yeah.
Your uncle wasn’t nice.
Right now
we’re making a temporary structure.
Later, we’ll make a fiberglass mold
off of that structure.
Then we will ship that mold off
to get the actual fiberglass body
pulled from it for our Splitting Image.
Sixty and three-quarters
is 30 and three-eighths.
There’s a whole lot of measurements
involved in this, you know that?
Might have to take a picture of you
using a tape measure.
-No. If that ever gets out, I’m ruined.
-Right? I hate tape measures.
I like to rely on my instincts.
But this Splittin’ Image
has to be an exact replica.
All of the angles have to be correct and
all the measurements have to be correct.
In order for me
to get that ’55 Lincoln Futura,
Newt has to fall in love
with this Splittin’ Image replica.
That little nose part will come forward
and then I’ll cut the “V” out of it.
And then there’s an indentation that
goes all the way, that comes up to here.
See how it’s all indented
all the way to the back of the car?
Caveman, it’s time to learn you
how to do fiberglass.
This is what will give you
itchy fingers here,
only because it’s not really itchy,
it’s glass, so it’s actually cutting you.
You’re just giving yourself micro-cuts.
Fiberglass
is thousands of strands of glass
that’s actually been pressed
into a glass fabric.
-The worst sound in a doctor’s office.
-Right?
I’m gonna give you a little crash course.
This, my friend, is papier-mâché for men.
Yeah.
[Mark] Fiberglass is cool to work with
and it’s a lot of fun,
because basically
you just lay out the resin like glue,
you lay the fiberglass on top,
and it soaks it up.
The more resin, the better.
The easier it is to do your job.
-Okay.
-Yep.
[Caveman] Like putting frosting
on a cake then, huh?
-[Mark] That’s exactly what it is.
-I like frosting on my cake.
[Mark] This is the best, right?
How do you get rid of it?
-It’s like a booger.
-[Caveman laughs]
Like, now I know
how a cotton candy machine feels.
I’m not gonna eat it,
but it does look like cotton candy.
[laughs]
Now you’re an expert.
-So do the other half.
-Oh, man!
Knock yourself out.
[Constance] You excited about these 20s?
I am excited about ’em. I just hope
everybody else is as excited as I am.
[power wrench buzzing]
It keeps that stock vintage feel,
but bigger.
Obviously, you know when you see these
that this car didn’t come with 20s on it.
[Constance] Yeah.
[buzzing]
When you first think of a Chevy Bel Air,
they’re kind of more of a family car.
But in the ’60s,
Chevy started making these body styles
that really converted into more
of your daily driver during the week
and your hot rod muscle car
on the weekends.
We have $20,000 on this build,
but I’m hoping
that I can keep it under 10,000
while still turning it into the drag car
it’s begging to be.
We’re gonna start
by giving it massive wheels
which will give it a more aggressive look.
We’ll also take out the bench seats
and put custom bucket seats
with five-point race harnesses.
We’ll paint the Bel Air back
to its original Nantucket blue color,
plus add wheelie bars and a parachute
for the perfect racing experience.
[engine revs]
Most of all,
we’re going to keep it classic
by keeping Mark and his Sawzall
away from this American muscle car.
Oh, look at that.
That looks pretty nice.
Damn, they look so good.
All right,
so we gotta rush that interior now and--
-Hey, come here, Tony.
-What you got there?
Hold this.
-This looks like the same hood as that.
-Yeah. Hold that.
[Mark] Hey, Constance.
[Tony] Whoa. A tunnel ram.
Hold this.
A tunnel ram is a no-brainer for this car
because it utilizes two carburetors
to boost the horsepower to the engine.
What drag racer is not gonna love that?
We all know where this is going.
I know that this will not fit
under that hood. I know that.
I can’t stomach the idea
of this thing leaving like that.
People will go, “Gotham Garage,
they put wheels on cars now.
-Yay. They’re a tire store.”
-[laughs]
[Mark] That’s not gonna happen.
I went and got a hood
out of my own pocket,
about 250 bucks,
and we’re actually gonna send his
original hood to the painter with the car,
and they’re gonna paint both hoods.
That way, if he doesn’t like it,
I can undo it.
“You can put kindergarten stuff, or leave
college stuff sticking out of the hood.
It’s up to you.”
-This is a good loophole you got though.
-I know. -Extra hood.
-Stop encouraging.
-It makes sense though.
-Really there’s no choice in this.
I suggest you kids hurry up
before I get any more crazy ideas.
-Can you help me with this hood?
-Does it look like I can help you?
Does it look like
I can help you right now?
I’ll come back for you eventually,
I promise.
[Tony] Got it?
[Constance] Okay. The hood is all yours.
I’m gonna go ahead
and work on this carburetor.
There’s what the customer tells Mark
he wants the car to be,
and then there’s what the car
tells Mark it wants to be.
Ultimately, the car always wins,
because Mark is like the car whisperer.
You just have to trust Mark’s vision.
Hopefully, Charlie loves it just as much.
If not, I mean,
I guess it’s good that we have a backup.
-Constance, we got a hole in the hood.
-Yeah?
Let’s see if this baby
actually fits in there.
-Fits kinda nice, right?
-Yeah. I think it’s the perfect size.
[Constance] Look at that.
Looks good. It stacked up real nice.
-[Tony] It looks good.
-I think it looks pretty badass.
[knocking]
What do you need?
The big thing I wanna talk about
is the COE.
Thing’s been sitting in the corner
for a couple of weeks.
It is the elephant in the building,
-that is for sure.
-It is.
[Mark] For over a decade, I’ve been
wanting to build a badass shop truck
to haul all of our custom cars around on.
[train horn blares]
[Caveman] The train is here.
[Mark] We finally acquired a COE
that we can turn into a rolling billboard
for Gotham Garage.
When people see this truck,
they’re gonna go, “Wow, if they can build
a badass truck like that,
they must really know what they’re doing.
I wanna do business with them.”
We need a shop truck,
so that’s why we got it.
In the long run, this will help elevate
our image and reputation
so that all of our cars
will sell for more money.
I got this vision in my head
of a picture I saw a long time ago
of the ’55 Lincoln Futura being unloaded
off of the back of a COE
that was a car hauler.
So I’m thinking
we build a badass car hauler.
-We need a car hauler.
-Then we’re gonna take it to a car show.
Picture the ’55 Lincoln Futura
on the back
of a ’54 International COE truck.
-Can you imagine?
-Unload it.
-Imagine the buzz we’re gonna get.
-Oh, my God.
When we take it to auction,
the bidding will be crazy.
-I mean--
-I just have one hitch in my gitalong.
I don’t have anything to mount the COE to.
-I think I’ve got, uh, an answer for that.
-Yeah?
-It’s Jimmy Bird’s dually.
-He ain’t gonna sell that thing.
He’s definitely selling his truck,
and it’s perfect.
Let’s take a jaunt over there
and take a look at it.
Perfect. Let’s do it.
[train horn blares]
[Shawn]
It’s definitely the right truck for us.
I just hope it’s gonna be
in the right budget for us.
[Mark] Let’s go see a man about a truck.
[Shawn] Hell, yeah.
-What’s up, Jimmy?
-What’s up, Mark?
-[Shawn] Jimmy Bird!
-Good to see you, brother.
-Good to see you.
-What’s going on, Jimmy?
Always a pleasure.
Yeah.
So, you’re gonna sell me Big Red finally.
You mind if I start her up
and check the motor out?
[Jimmy] Help yourself.
She’s gonna fire right up solid.
[engine starts]
-There is no shake in that motor.
-No shake.
-My motor looks like a dually motor.
-[both chuckle]
It runs too smooth.
You don’t want him
to use that against you?
Yeah.
Jimmy’s price is for the whole truck,
but we only need the chassis and engine.
For this to work for us,
we’re gonna need a really good deal.
For me to let it go today,
I need to make money,
’cause I came across another project,
and I’m really itching to go that way.
-And I need some cash to make it happen.
-Yeah.
-What’s your bottom line? I’m thinking 17.
-The best--
No. It’s worth somewhere around ten grand,
this truck.
-Can’t do that. Can’t do that.
-What do you mean you can’t do that?
There’s no way I can do that.
-Well, there’s no way I’m going up to 17.
-Why do you always bring this guy?
-This cowboy over here?
-’Cause that’s what he does.
This is what kinda upsets me,
when you bring these guys here.
That’s why I like buying from friends.
Me and Mark would’ve had a beer
and been done.
Yeah, and he would’ve paid 15 grand
for the thing.
-Probably.
-Probably.
We’re here to help you out.
That’s what we do.
Right, Mark? Are we helping him out?
Yeah, we’re here to help him out.
We’re buying this for a shop truck.
We’re not gonna make any money off this.
We’re gonna make your truck
into something that maybe you could use.
Here’s my bottom line:
12 grand and I get to use the truck
when I need to haul a car around.
Do I really have to do 12 grand
for this thing?
Make a deal, Shawn. Make a deal.
I like doing business with you,
but it’s a pain in the butt.
Isn’t it? I know.
Thanks again, Jimmy.
-Thank you, brother.
-Thanks, Mark.
All right. Now that it’s all dry,
we get to do the easy part.
[Caveman] And then
we get to go home, right?
Our fiberglass mold is finally dry.
Let the air go for a count to ten
and then pop it, okay?
-All right. It’ll come loose.
-[air hissing]
Now we’re gonna pop the mold off,
send it off to the fiberglass guys,
and they will bring us back
a perfect permanent Splittin’ Image body
for this project.
-[air hissing]
-Just grab that corner and pull.
Okay. Get it all to break loose.
[Caveman grunts]
-Yeah!
-All right.
We’re gonna go all the way upside down.
Let’s go upside down, upside down,
upside down.
Damn!
-[Mark] Let’s go home, ’cause I’m tired.
-[Caveman] What? Home?
-Home. What’s that?
-That’s that place where I pay bills.
Check out these little pieces
I just made up.
-Little grills for right here.
-These are cool.
[Tony] “Jersey Boy.”
That’s Charlie, right? He’s a Jersey boy?
[Constance]
Yeah, he’s definitely a Jersey boy.
-[Tony] It’s a little Gotham Garage touch.
-Yeah.
All things considering, you know,
it’s not that big a hole.
I still feel like Charlie was expecting
something Gotham Garage.
When he comes in, will you just say,
“But it’s not that big of a hole”?
-It’s not that big of a hole.
-It’s not that big.
Plus, look what’s sticking out of it.
Um… what’s this?
-Hey, Mark?
-[Mark] Yes?
What’s the deal with this over here?
That is a blue shirt
that your mom made you wear.
What’s this?
That is what they call
a dual quad setup on a tunnel ram
with a Shotgun air cleaner.
You guys just told me
don’t cut the roof off it.
I specifically remember
the “don’ts” of this project,
and that was the “don’t.”
-No, no.
-“Do not cut the roof off my car.”
Do not cut the roof, do not do flares,
do not do spoilers.
It has no fender flares,
it has no spoiler yet,
and it has the roof still intact.
I elected, by authority given to myself,
by myself,
to go buy a hood, and cough up my intake
with my carburetors and my scoop.
They will paint that hood
when they paint this car.
If Charlie is not tickled pink,
I believe his generation calls it,
then we will just unbolt this,
put back on his little baby air cleaner
and his little baby intake manifold.
I’m gonna put his little blue hood on it
and call it a day.
No harm, no foul.
I expected you to control him
a little bit.
Way to get me in trouble with Shawn.
I’m gonna go call the paint guy.
I’m telling him
this car is coming in today.
No more surprises, please.
I’m gonna go back to work
on the Splittin’ Image.
Looks frickin’ great. Just finish it.
[laughs]
I thought they were going to, like,
counseling and working stuff out.
-Man, that was--
-I don’t think it’s been resolved yet.
-Hey, Caveman?
-Yeah.
-I need your help.
-Oh.
I told you when you lay
all the parts down right and you mold it,
when you get your part back
it looks pretty cool.
-It’s awfully bright though.
-It is. Let’s grab it and throw it inside.
It’s a really cool moment when the bodies
come back from the fiberglass company.
We have a Splitting Image in the house.
[Tony] Cool. Wow!
[Mark] So, you and I are gonna build
these headers real quick. -Real quick, huh?
-They’re gonna come up, twist, turn.
We’re gonna gooseneck it down,
so we’re basically doing
this whole entire exhaust system.
The trickiest part of this header
is getting all the tubes in the right spot
-without colliding into each other.
-Yeah.
’Cause we’re putting a right header on
the left and a left header on the right.
’Cause they’re upside down.
[Mark] We’re taking
a real-life exhaust header kit
and inverting it to run both pipes
back down the center of the car
all the way to the back.
It’s a Tinkertoy puzzle
with no frickin’ instructions.
-You couldn’t order these?
-I checked.
There’s no Splittin’ Image header kit.
Normally, on a race car or a hot rod,
the exhaust comes out the side
and runs down along the bottom of the car.
-Hey, look at that.
-What do you know about that.
[Mark] In order to stay true
to our little tiny blueprint,
we’re gonna put our exhaust
on top of the car.
It’s gonna look really cool,
and they’re really gonna work. Here comes the fun. It’s time
to make the back end for the exhaust.
Are you ready? Scream for me, Temecula!
Whee!
So, this… is gonna get set right here,
all polished up nice and pretty.
We’ll have to machine two cap ends for it.
There will be two air cleaners.
One here, one here.
It’ll look just like this.
-[Caveman] That’s ingenious.
-I know.
-Man, this tank came out great.
-[Constance] I love this color.
It really brings back
an old-school feel to it.
[Tony]
I think Charlie’s gonna love it too.
He might walk in and be floored by how
amazing the paint looks and the color.
He might not even
see the hole in the hood.
Maybe like when we display it,
we should put a really big bow on it
like a new car
to where he doesn’t see that right away.
-[Tony] That is one big bow.
-Yeah.
[Constance] It’s no secret in the shop
that I’m the cheerleader
for American muscle cars.
So, taking the lead on this build
was really close to home for me.
We spent just under $10,000.
Now it has dual intakes,
custom racing bucket seats,
and wheelie bars,
just in case Charlie decides
to get a little crazy and floor it.
This car is totally gonna bring Charlie
back to his Jersey boy roots.
It’s gonna be so badass on the drag strip…
but also be a totally cool daily driver.
[Mark] This is a pretty good idea you got
to put his hood out here.
Trying to save him a heart attack
or an aneurysm?
Well, yeah, I don’t want him
to have a coronary over this thing.
Here he is.
[Mark] Look at him.
He’s already smiling from ear to ear.
If he had lipstick on,
it’d be on his ears.
-[Shawn] Here he is.
-How we doing, Shawn?
We’re doing good. How are you doing today?
Are you feeling open-minded today?
It looks like you guys
forgot to put something on.
Oh, no. The hood’s-- the hood’s--
-Don’t worry about it.
-What do you mean, not worry?
How you doing, Charlie?
Walk over here and check out your car.
Whoa.
Look it there. Look at how pretty--
-Look at that, my old laundry basket.
-There you go.
-Got some roller skates going on?
-You’re gonna need ’em.
Oh [bleep]
-Be open-minded, Charlie.
-You were with me at the first meeting.
-Yeah.
-You were. You sure?
I think we talked about
no holes in the hood.
There’s your hood.
There’s no holes in the hood.
-Oh, my God.
-You okay?
-I gotta take it all in.
-Yeah.
Everything you ever wanted
when you were 21.
It’s cool, right? Charlie?
Pop that hood, Jersey boy. Pop that hood.
-Yeah.
-[Shawn] Look at that, huh?
That piece of candy right there ought
to put a [bleep] eatin’ grin on your face.
-[Shawn] Did I see a smile on your face?
-Yeah, you did.
-[Mark] He’s cracking one.
-[Shawn] Yeah?
Tell me you like it. Come on.
-The bodywork is phenomenal.
-Yes.
I mean, that color is phenomenal.
-Put that seat back and get in there.
-[Shawn] Get in there, Charlie.
[Mark] You just went back 25 years.
Ah.
-We got a racer.
-Give it a little key crank there. [engine starts]
[revs]
-[Mark] Yes.
-Highway Patrol is gonna love it.
-Now it’s a car.
-Yeah!
Yeah.
-[engine revs]
-[Shawn] Yeah!
[Mark] I never had a doubt.
I’ve known Charlie for a very long time.
I know he’s a drag racer. It’s all woke up, ain’t it, old man?
[laughs]
It’s one thing when you see a tunnel ram,
it’s a whole nother thing
when you feel a tunnel ram.
-Hear that, just about idle.
-Right on.
Once that thing shakes you,
there is no getting unshook.
You look like a young man now.
I feel like a young man
just sitting in that vibration seat.
What do you think about the hood?
Well, if I was gonna have a hole under
my hood, that would be the hole I wanted.
It’s smooth.
I mean, you really did a great job.
So, I’m very happy with it.
[Mark] We’re in to the car for $8,500.
We made $11,500 profit.
That’s a pretty damn good deal.
Behind the garage,
there’s a whole bunch of stuff in there,
and there’s more work
coming down the road.
-Okay.
-So this is gonna be my signature deal.
Shawn, you need to trust me.
-You got lucky this time.
-I didn’t get lucky.
-I’m always right. No, you’re still wrong.
-Am I still wrong?
-No, you’re still wrong.
-All right.
[engine revving]
-Another satisfied customer.
-Oh, yeah.
-[horn honks]
-[Mark] That is one happy man.
All right. Let’s go in and get a beer.
-I’ll drink to that one.
-Yeah.
Does he know that’s a dead end?
-Hey, Tony, you wanna give me a hand?
-Yeah.
[Mark] The canopies on this
Splittin’ Image Hot Wheels toy don’t open.
The ones on the real car,
they’re gonna have to open.
I don’t want this to flip forward.
It’s too cheese ball, and too many people
could do it, and it’s not difficult.
I’ve lost a lot of sleep over it,
but I finally got it figured out.
-I want it to slide forward.
-This is cool.
It’s like a fighter jet. Goose pops out,
Iceman pops out the other side.
Right. When people are standing around,
I want everybody to crap their pants.
Okay. So let’s start.
Ah.
[Mark] Everything on this project
has been about a measuring tape
and getting it precise.
I finally get to set the tape measure down
and go back to who I am.
I get to use my creative ability
to figure out how to solve this problem.
I feel like a little boy in a bubble.
What kid didn’t want to grow up
and be a fighter jet pilot?
Now you get to drive a Hot Wheels car
and pretend you’re flying a fighter jet.
All right, Goose.
Locked and loaded.
[Mark] Now that the canopies are done,
the Splittin’ Image is ready to paint.
And it’s getting the rarest color
ever put on a Hot Wheels: magenta.
This color is coveted
by every Hot Wheels collector I know.
I can’t wait to see our client’s face
when he sees his dream car
coming down the driveway on our trailer.
[engine revs]
-Damn. The Hot Wheels is back.
-Yeah.
-This looks like a piece of candy.
-I know. Make you want to lick it.
Pretty badass color, huh? Man, it pops.
[Mark] Now that we’re putting
the final touches on the Splittin’ Image,
to watch it come together is so cool.
Guys like me and Newt,
we used to play with these toys as kids.
This is where our imagination
started from,
inspired by these geniuses
pushing the boundaries
of anything that was going on in the time
in the automotive industry.
They couldn’t do it with real cars,
so they made toys.
[laughs] That’s a compromising position.
Yeah, it is. Here goes nothing.
Sweet.
For me, playing with Hot Wheels toys
in the sandbox
was the beginning of my career
building cars no one’s ever seen before.
For Newt,
that dream that he had as a child
playing with a Hot Wheels toy,
will now become a reality.
The amount of precision it takes to
build a replica of someone else’s design,
especially
when it comes from a two-inch car,
this is the kind of challenge
that I live for.
[tires screech]
This car now features a C4 Corvette engine
and chassis.
And has parallel exhaust pipes
that run down the middle,
dual fuel tanks,
two separate aircraft design cockpits,
and custom leather bucket seats.
If I can make Newt’s dream come true,
then I get to build the car that
pushes my imagination into high gear:
the Lincoln Futura.
[Shawn]
I think you guys did an awesome job
getting this car as good as it looks,
I mean--
For me,
it looks just like the Splittin’ Image,
but, you know, maybe I’m just
a little partial ’cause I built it.
This Splittin’ Image turned out
exactly how I wanted it.
But the guy we need to trade with, Newt,
he’ll be the ultimate judge.
Are his expectations here
where they’re realistic,
or are they way up here in fantasyland
that you can never get to?
I don’t wanna let that Futura
slip through my fingers.
I’m just hoping he loves it
and the deal goes through smooth.