Car Masters: Rust to Riches (2018) s01e07 Episode Script
Two for the Money
1
[Mark] Man, Newt is gonna love this car.
Well, you guys killed it.
I think it looks great.
But is Newt gonna think that?
I can’t imagine he doesn’t like it.
I think, how much does he like it?
That’s what
I’m a little bit worried about.
I mean, if his expectations
are absolutely insane--
You just never know.
I’m just kinda bracing myself.
[tires screech]
[Shawn] We’ve done
all we could possibly do
to make this Splittin’ Image an exact
life-size version of the Hot Wheels car,
and an equal trade
for the rare ’55 Futura.
But it doesn’t matter
if we think it’s a fair trade.
Newt has to see it that way.
And he’s only gonna see value in this car
if it brings his childhood dreams to life.
Hey, Newt.
-What’s going on?
-Not much. How you been?
Good. Here it is.
[Shawn] An exact replica.
[Mark] That is a Splittin’ Image.
-[Shawn] What do you think?
-Huh.
So… why don’t you take it all in
while we pop it off the trailer
-so you can get a really good look at it.
-Okay. Yeah. Cool.
Got some big tires under it there.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
[Shawn] I think it fits the car nicely.
This car has so many details,
it’s very hard to take in at first glance.
[engine starts]
So I’m not surprised
that Newt’s got his poker face on.
He’s a very intelligent car guy.
He’s got something very valuable
that he’s gonna trade us for this.
He’s not gonna make it easy on us.
[engine revs]
Tail pipes, exhaust pipes, headers
and everything. Pretty wild-looking.
Yeah, we tried to get it as accurate
and as close as humanly possible.
-It really pops. You got to admit that.
-Yeah.
-All right?
-You’re a little hesitant still, it seems.
Little bit, yeah.
Had this in my mind for so long, you know.
I tell you what.
Let me see your green car.
-You’ve had this forever, right?
-Yep.
-This is what you gave me.
-Yep.
-And this is what you get.
-Yeah.
This is your full-size,
one-to-one scale Splittin’ Image.
-Yeah.
-So basically,
we took a Corvette
and we rebodied the entire top it.
And then we ended up using an 871,
and we’re using it for an airbox
instead of actually a crank blower.
So it gives you the same look as if
-it’s sticking out there.
-Yeah.
And then we ran the exhaust up and out
of the car and down the middle of the car,
-same as the toy itself.
-Yeah. Yeah.
If you walk around to the back,
the whole rear end,
the two gas tanks are in there,
so those are actually actual vents.
And then we custom-made
the taillight bezels and the taillights.
We painted it magenta because
magenta is the most sought-after color
by any Hot Wheels collector
’cause it just pops.
-[Newt] It looks good. Can I get in it?
-[Shawn] Sure.
Never sat in a car
with the canopies on it.
This is kinda cool.
-Kinda rocket-shipish, huh?
-No kiddin’.
[Mark] Like a jet fighter.
You wanna get the full effect?
-[Shawn] Yeah. Give him the full effect.
-Give me the full effect, man.
-[Mark] There you go.
-[Shawn] Oh, yeah.
Just hit the starter?
-[Mark] Yeah, just hit the starter.
-Okay.
[engine starts]
[revs]
-There you go.
-How does that sound? Pretty good?
Really good. Yeah.
-[Mark] Rev it up, rev it up.
-All right.
-[Mark] Give it a couple revs.
-[engine revving]
You like that, huh?
It’s a trip, man, sitting in this thing.
[Shawn] Getting a little nervous here.
Newt is coming around a bit.
But this Futura is a unicorn
that we would love to have in our stable.
-What do you think?
-Yeah.
I mean, we’ll stand here all day
if it takes getting your--
If it takes all day, yeah.
We want that Futura,
and we want you happy.
No, I’m definitely happy with the build.
You did a nice job on it.
So, I like the white interior,
like all the chrome and the polish.
So, are we gonna trade this
for the Futura?
-Yeah, let’s do it.
-[Shawn] Yes, let’s do it?
-Yes! That’s what I’m talking about.
-Thanks a lot, guys. You did a great job.
These guys nailed it.
It’s exactly what I was looking for.
Back in the day,
everybody had Hot Wheels cars.
I still collect them. I got a collection
in my shop. Now I get to have a real one.
Instead of having a die-cast car,
now I got a real car I can take out,
drive around, go to car shows,
and enjoy it.
So it’s gonna be a lot of fun.
I can’t wait to get started on that car.
-I bet, yeah.
-Whoo!
[engine starts]
[revs]
[Mark] This is better than getting
a Rainbow Brite pony on Christmas morning.
I got a real unicorn.
I got a Lincoln Futura.
The Lincoln Futura was a concept car
designed by Ford, debuted in 1955.
It never went into production,
but it’s been talked about ever since.
The original car was used
to make TV’s Batmobile.
But, luckily, a mold was made
with the actual dimensions of the Futura.
This body comes from that mold, making it
as close as you can get to the real car.
Once we finish this, the value
will be well into the six figures.
[Mark] All right, brother, we’ll see you.
[Shawn] Man, can you believe
we finally got a Futura?
[Mark] Dude, we are headed for big money.
[power tools buzz] [machinery rivets]
[engine starts]
[train horn blares]
Look at that. We got something with wings.
[Constance] This thing is so beautiful.
-I present to you the car of the future!
-[Mark] Yeah.
-The Futura!
-[Caveman] It looks like it.
[Constance] Wow!
You need a turntable in your garage
if you have this thing.
-[Caveman] Yeah.
-All right. That’s good enough.
This is what we’ve been dealing with
and headed for for six months.
This is the six-figure car.
I’m talking well into $100,000, $150,000.
All we have to do is make this car
exactly how the original car was,
down to the seafoam green.
It already has A/C, already has a heater,
already has a defroster.
All the working parts of the car work.
But there’s still a ton of things
we have to do.
They built one, so there’s no huge pile
of Futura parts in the junkyard.
Every single part of it will
need to be made right here in the shop.
Tony, that water jet
is going to be working 24/7.
This is our one-way ticket to six figures.
All we have to do is get it done in time
for the Grand National Roadster Show.
Eventually,
this Futura is gonna go to an auction,
but first we need to get as many people
to see it as possible,
’cause we got to generate a buzz.
The Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona
is the granddaddy of roadster shows.
It’s where every builder, collector,
and car enthusiast from all over the world
come to see the best of the best.
This year’s theme is the ’50s.
It’s perfect for us.
We’re gonna roll up
in our 1955 Lincoln Futura,
and it’s going to be one
of the biggest attractions at this event.
If we get more people to know about it, we
get more people to show up to the auction.
That means more people
are gonna bid against each other.
More bids means more money.
But wait, there’s more.
Wait, there’s more?
What is it, an infomercial?
You know the COE that Shawn and I
picked up for the shop truck?
It’s a ’54 International. Everything’s
there, all the sheet metal is there.
That gets done alongside of this car
because this car is going on the back
of that truck.
Shawn and I agree
if this shows up on our new COE,
it will just make the value of this car
go way up.
-And put us on the map.
-Yeah.
And if we wanna get six figures,
it isn’t gonna come showing up
on the back of my beater truck.
It’s just not gonna happen.
We need something that when we roll up,
it just says money, money, money,
and these guys know what they’re doing.
And I’m about to drop a big,
giant bombshell on all of you.
Oh.
It’s gonna be a lot of work,
and we have 30 days to do it in.
-Thirty days?
-You have 30 days to get this done.
How the hell
are we supposed to pull that off?
I’ve been to that show.
People spend like a year building cars.
[Mark] Or more.
Most of our builds only take
about a week or two,
but that’s talking about
a normal restoration.
This is not that.
I just wanna make sure that we’re
not gonna cut any corners on anything,
being you now wanna do two cars
instead of focusing on one.
We’re not cutting any corners at all.
It has to be dead-nuts on.
This has to be clockwork.
This is a frickin’ marching band
at half time.
It’s gotta be precise.
Everybody has gotta go right through
each other without hitting each other.
It’s gonna be one of those things.
There’s only four other people
that I can get to help me do this,
and they’re all standing here right now.
So, everybody’s in?
-Yeah. I just need to make a phone call.
-[laughing]
-I’m in.
-Let’s do this.
-All right, Constance.
-Sir.
Let me show you what we’re doing.
This car is like one of the sleekest,
longest cars on the planet.
Like all concept cars,
the Futura was designed
to give us a glimpse into the future.
It was chockful
of all kinds of innovative ideas.
It’s got these bubble-top windshields.
There’s an old-school microphone
inside this giant brass ring.
This is a rolltop dash,
just like grandma’s desk. The steering wheel has a big,
giant black cap that the hub comes out of.
And right inside here
is the actual speedometer.
We already have a good base to start with
with the fiberglass body,
but all the finishing pieces
are what is gonna bring this car to life.
It’s a tremendous amount of detail work,
but when we’re done with this car,
the Futura is gonna look just like it did
in 1955.
As elaborate as this car is
and this build is gonna be,
we get to start
with the simplest thing ever:
make a door open.
’Cause right now it just has a line
on the outside where the doors get cut,
but there’s no door.
Okay.
[Mark]
These are the steel inner door structure.
This is actually gonna get welded
onto the hinge mechanism
that we made out of the round tubing.
I’ve been obsessed with this car
for years.
I’ve been going over old photos,
sketches, designs.
I know every square inch of this car
like the back of my hand.
Look, we have the key.
This is one sexy-ass car.
Let’s cut a door.
This will be interesting.
Now that the inner door structure is done,
all I have to do
is cut along the line in the body
and the door should open.
The problem is,
we only have one of these Futuras.
So, if the saw slips or I screw up
or I take a chunk out of it,
we can’t get another one.
-[Constance] Whoo! What?
-[Mark] And you have a door.
-Crazy how they designed it like…
-Yeah. See the metal?
-…a new car to go in like that.
-Really bizarre.
And in the ’50s,
the doors actually came out around.
The door would be way out here with this…
-Yeah, they have a latch.
-…nasty-ass buckle hinge
coming out there like a horseshoe hinge.
It’s really cool that they were
that far ahead of everything.
-What the…?
-Yeah.
Somebody looking for a shop truck?
Shawn and I just recently picked up
this 1994 crew cab dually.
It’s gonna make the perfect foundation
for our vintage shop truck.
We’re gonna take that badass COE cab,
and we’re gonna stick it
on top of this chassis.
And when that car shows up
on the back of this truck done,
there’s no one that can touch this shop.
To make the shop truck of my dreams,
we’re gonna take this ’94 Chevy dually
and strip it down to the chassis,
leaving only the engine and the wheels
attached to the frame.
Then we’re gonna put
this 1954 International COE cab
on top of that chassis.
We’re gonna add a steel deck trailer
to the back of it.
This will give us a one-of-a-kind
Gotham Garage shop truck.
I don’t like the timeline,
but I like the vision.
[Mark] Nobody ever does.
Nobody ever likes a timeline.
-See that name on the wall over there?
-[Constance laughs]
-That?
-That’s Greek for “ambitious.”
[all laugh]
[Mark] “Gotham Garage.”
Caveman and Tony, we need to
get this thing dismantled, stripped down.
Everything needs to come apart.
Nothing needs to be broken.
What I need Shawn to do is I need you
to go find me a steel deck trailer.
-Let’s get to it.
-[Constance] All right.
[Tony] All right, Caveman.
Me and you, brother.
All right. Let’s go.
Mark!
Yeah, that’s moving.
-Watch my wheel.
-I am.
You’re scratching the rim.
Go up above the tires.
There you go.
I’m using this ’54 International Cab
because it reminds me
of the one my dad had.
Some things appreciate
being turned into something better.
[Tony] And you’re through.
[Mark] My dad wasn’t around very much
while I was growing up.
[Caveman] I think you’re good.
So I always keep things around me
to remind me of who he was and who he is.
[Caveman] There it goes.
[Mark] Between what it means to me
and what it’ll do for Gotham Garage,
the truth is
this project is a very big deal.
It looks like a COE already.
[Caveman laughs]
[Mark] Good job, you guys.
Thanks for blowing it apart.
I hope that doesn’t break
in the next couple weeks.
I hope so too.
It’s about to get the workout of its life.
We need hundreds of one-of-a-kind parts
to put on this Futura.
There’s the headlight bezel.
It looks something like this.
So, we are going to go balls to the wall
with that water jet.
You’ll have to get all the measurements
off the car, obviously.
And when I say “we,” I mean Tony.
Rear grills are these seven-inch “Cs”
out of half-inch aluminum.
Then there’s like 130 of them,
I think, total. It’s, like, insane.
I’m guessing that’s a week straight
of 60 hours of cutting.
-Yeah, probably.
-Or more.
The hardest part of Tony’s job
is actually designing the parts
in the computer of the water jet.
This is all half-inch aluminum.
Then the machine does the rest.
It uses water and sand at high pressure to cut through metal
to make precision parts.
These parts
are what are going to make our Futura
look like
it just rolled off the assembly line.
I got my list. Yeah.
-[Mark] Constance.
-Yeah.
Can you give me a hand with the dash?
This is another one of the features of
this car that was innovative for the time.
Nobody had ever put
any kind of hideaway dash
or retracting dash in a car.
So it’s basically
going to be coming over this frame.
It’s gonna roll over the top of this
at least an inch so that nothing collides,
and then it’ll be even with the bottom
of this frame we’ve got in here.
Perfect.
I am blown away by the amount of detail
on this car.
Each one of these covers for this
custom rolltop dash has 24 metal parts.
-Twenty-four.
-Twenty-four.
[Constance]
And they have to be fixed together.
And then polished.
And then it’s all attached to a track
so that it rolls up and down.
[Mark] One Futura rolltop dash.
And there’s five of them.
[Mark] Back in the day,
they liked to hide things behind pockets.
They didn’t like you
just to look and see the radio.
So if you set the radio
to your favorite AM station,
then when you want to change it, you
roll the door up and then it’s exposed.
Other than that, you don’t look at it.
You just get to look at a nice, sanitary
bling, bling, bling dash.
It’s like old school,
but way cool old school.
-[Constance] Yeah.
-Especially that shiny.
Shiny is good. I like shiny.
[Shawn] Mark needs a trailer
to attach to the bed of the dually
for our custom shop truck.
I couldn’t really find
the exact one he needed,
and I really didn’t have
a ton of time to look.
That being said, I think he’s gonna be
pretty happy with the one I’ve got.
Eh? How do you like this old dog?
-Firewood and scrap metal?
-What are we doing with this?
-We gonna recycle this thing?
-What do you think? This is the trailer.
[Mark] What is the brown stuff
in the middle called?
-That’s the wood, the wood.
-Okay. What did I ask for?
Steel.
I know Shawn likes to get
a really good deal on things,
and he probably saved a lot of money
on this ratty old trailer,
but it’s gonna take a lot of work
to make it work with this project.
Anything I get,
we have to modify it one way or another.
I was thinking about
the creative side to this,
being the wood
with the old vintage hauler.
Wouldn’t wood look better
than that frickin’ diamond plate?
But we can’t even use this wood.
[Tony]
We got this six-figure build in there.
We’re trying to build this big-money car,
and now we gotta mess with this?
The wood on this trailer
is completely rotted out.
I don’t even want to walk on it,
let alone park a 3,500 pound car on it.
We’re gonna have to strip this trailer
down and completely rework it.
-I get your vision of the wood deck.
-Oh, excellent.
I give you props
on thinking about vintage on vintage.
It’s a pretty good idea.
We don’t have a ton of time here,
but Shawn has a really good point.
And we do want to make this thing
look as amazing as possible.
Tell me when!
This headache bar comes off.
And then walk up here.
I need this tongue cut off.
This cut off, and everything gets cut off
flush with the outside of the trailer.
We basically have three builds
going on now.
The way I see it,
the Futura is going on the back burner
while we get this trailer moving forward.
Don’t move the front tires,
and we should be good.
[Tony] But once we have this torn down
and welded onto the chassis,
at least we’ll have the foundation
of our shop truck.
[Caveman] Caveman makes fire!
The plan is we’re gonna slice and slice,
and then we’re just gonna bend this down
to make our dovetail.
A dovetail on a trailer
is the last couple feet that angle down,
and that helps you get lowered cars
up on the trailer.
Since everything we build usually sits
only a couple inches off the ground,
a dovetail makes a lot of sense.
I’ll water-jet cut some patch pieces
that we can weld in on each side.
Make it solid again.
Caveman have firebox. [laughs]
It’s honestly
the quietest he ever destroys things.
Right? When he’s playing with that fire?
[Constance] You go into his house, and
everything would have little cuts in it.
[Tony] Trying to get in
a can of beans or something?
Yeah. It would just be like
sliced off the top for no reason.
Can opener is broken. Plasma cut.
Oh, I see.
You’re gonna let me do all the work.
[Constance] Trust me,
the view is not that great.
The moon is out tonight.
[Constance laughing]
You know what, if you didn’t like it,
you wouldn’t be looking.
-[laughing]
-That’s all I gotta say.
[Tony] Thank God we’ve got the ability
to fabricate parts on the fly.
If we needed to order parts,
this whole process could take weeks.
-It all moves together.
-[Constance] Solid. Yeah.
-[Tony] I think we’re looking pretty good.
-We have a flatbed dually.
I’m gonna help you get this all together
real quick so we can get this slammed out.
-Since we’re sort of on a time crunch.
-A little bit.
Yeah.
I think we should make the other bed rail.
Let’s get the other bed rail laid out,
and then we’ll get that welded together.
I’ve shifted all of our focus on the COE
because this truck
has so many moving parts.
And I want to get it off my back
so I can turn my full attention
to the Lincoln Futura.
So we’re gonna have this rail.
It’s just gonna be a nice, smooth sheet.
All the way down to the bottom.
-That’ll look pretty badass.
-It’ll be pretty cool. [Mark] We’ve spent about 31,000
on the Futura
and we’ve spent about 20,000 on the COE.
It’s gonna take an additional 20,000 more
to finish both cars.
-[Tony] Feel like a plumber today?
-Yeah, exactly. Laying pipe.
[Mark] That’s 70 grand in investments.
Even though everyone
is worried about the next paycheck,
I’m thinking beyond the next paycheck.
This car hauler
is like the case your jewelry comes in.
If your jewelry
comes in an expensive case,
then people are going to expect
the jewel inside
to be worth big money also.
So, Tony and I
were here late the other night
till 2:00 in the morning
getting the bed done.
We’re gonna stop right now.
I wanna get the cab on here.
It should be all pretty simple simple.
I already got the cab loaded
on the forklift.
We’ll just drop it down on here
and start figuring out how to mount it.
-Cool.
-Let’s do it.
Where Constance is,
it’s just barely clearing the truck.
I put myself in between it, so it’s fine.
-Keep coming.
-Keep going. Easy, easy, easy.
[Tony] It’s got to shift back to the bed.
-Oh! Whoa! Whoa!
-[Caveman] You’re gonna hit. Gonna hit.
What’s it gonna hit?
[Constance] Everything.
Definitely gonna hit the motor.
Go ahead and take the air cleaner off.
Doesn’t matter.
You’re still gonna hit all this, Mark.
-All this right here.
-[Mark] Yeah.
Marrying old parts to new machinery
is never easy.
We’re trying to take two different eras
and make them work together.
So, naturally,
we’re gonna run into some issues.
-[Tony] All right, stop.
-Stop.
That’s not gonna really work out.
[chuckles] The whole floor is in the way.
[Caveman] Oh, yeah.
I thought
this was supposed to just bolt right on.
[Caveman] Yeah. This is Gotham Garage.
Nothing bolts right on.
We make it all fit.
Yes, the cab and chassis
are fighting each other right now.
The rest is rotted, so there it goes.
But when it comes to a war with machinery,
I always win.
All right. Let’s try it again.
[Caveman] I’m clear.
Oh.
[Mark] Yeah. There it goes.
That’s about where it’s gonna sit.
-[Tony] Well, I mean, it kinda fits.
-[Constance laughs]
-A little bit.
-Now for the great news.
-All the other stuff?
-[Mark] All the other stuff.
[Mark] All right, Caveman.
You ready to give me a hand
figuring this whole steering thing out?
Glad we’re friends
if I gotta be this close to you.
[Caveman] Hey.
So, here’s a big problem.
I’m probably thin enough
to get behind there, right? No.
[laughing]
There’s no way I can shorten
this steering column that much.
One more thing to do after doing this.
-It’s like cause and effect, right?
-Right.
That’s awful.
This is the point
where the builds get frustrating.
When it’s one problem
on top of another problem on top of another problem,
on top of another problem,
it’s just a giant snowball
that eats up a tremendous amount of time.
And?
-Well, is it turning?
-All right! Look at that.
She is turning. Whoo-hoo! Yeah!
All right, man. I’m gonna get the switch.
All right.
Oops.
What’s with all the noise going on
around here?
[all exclaiming]
[Constance] I like how convenient it is
that he comes out at the very last minute.
-That’s looking good.
-That’s just-- [growls]
-[Mark] Pretty badass, huh?
-Yeah.
I’m gonna grab the hood off of it.
If you guys wanna grab the hydro-boost,
we can get that mounted on the firewall.
I don’t wanna be spending all of our time
on the COE,
but the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
So right now,
we need to install the hydro-boost.
That’s a critical part
of the steering and brake system.
All of this and all of that other build
are supposed to get done in
how many days?
Uh, very soon. And, uh,
this is not the payday build either.
-Well, maybe you should…
-I mean, it looks--
…talk to your best friend over there
and be like,
“Hey, remember that
we’re not getting paid for this build,
but we are getting paid for that build.”
[Caveman] Boss man coming through and--
It fits.
Sorta.
-How much is that? It’s like what?
-It’s like three--
[Mark] Three inches?
All right. So, apparently,
this doesn’t go on the rest of the way.
That booster has to fit this truck,
or it won’t work.
There’s so many little things
that we have to fix and solve here.
We don’t have a radiator.
We have to build a radiator mount.
So we have to plumb hoses,
all the brake lines.
We have sheet metal to fix and repair,
and all that before we even attempt to
build an interior that doesn’t exist yet.
What’s your point?
I think the point is
is every problem that we solve
is taking away time from that big build.
I’m thinking we should shelf this for
a minute and just get that build done.
[Mark] It’s not just about the Futura.
We’re not going
to the Grand National Roadster Show
without this COE.
These two ultimate ’50s cars
need to show up
at the premier ’50s-theme car show
together.
And it will make a giant splash.
There is a [bleep] ton of work to do.
And there’s a whole lot of stuff
we don’t even know about yet.
Because the work on the COE
has been so unpredictable,
we need to get it done.
We need to get it out of the way
while we still have time to absorb
any unforeseen hitches that may come up.
We’re really gonna have to work
a lot of hours.
Like double time.
Plus, there’s something else
you guys need to know
about why this COE is so important to me.
The whole reason
we got a ’54 International
is because it was the same truck
as my dad used to drive when I was a kid.
And, uh,
I need you to help me get this truck done
so that we can go to the car show with
my dad’s truck with that car on the back.
When you gotta put it like that
and make us-- and make us feel bad.
-Damn.
-[indistinct]
I was hoping
that would never have to come out.
-[Tony chuckles]
-We can’t say no to that, right?
Well, I appreciate that,
’cause I know it’s a big, monumental--
But you know you’re gonna hear a whole
lot of bitch pissing and moaning, right?
I’m gonna be out a lot of money
on beer and pizza. I am getting that.
-Pizza? I want a rib eye.
-[Mark] Yeah.
[all laughing]
Right now, everybody is gonna
have to put on their big-boy pants
for the next couple of weeks
and finish these two vehicles.
-All right. Start solving problems.
-Yeah, start solving problems.
Problem-solvers.
[Tony] It’s not fancy,
but I think it’ll do the job.
-Well, that clearance is Clarence.
-Yeah, it fits.
Hey, hey, hey. Problem solved.
Look at all that clearance.
Yeah, this truck
clearly means a lot to Mark,
so I’d like to give him
that extra little something
so it would make it feel a little bit
closer to the exact truck his dad owns.
Man, you got so much stuff here.
Can I ask
what the hell something like this is?
-An antique feeder.
-Will it feed a caveman?
I got a guy at the shop
I could probably use this for.
Oh, oh.
-What’s this? Thunderbird.
-Thunderbird.
Could have used this
about a couple of weeks ago.
Man, those are cool emblems. Ooh.
Is that a Kenworth logo over there?
Yeah, let me see. Oh, that’s--
Oh, that’d be perfect for our COE.
So, Mark told me that his dad
actually had an old Kenworth COE
in addition to the ’54 International
that we’re building.
That one could go right on the hood.
-Yeah, that would be great.
-That would be nice.
So I think Mark would appreciate
how these emblems can bring
a little more of his dad into our truck.
-All right. Good luck with that truck.
-Thanks, Linda.
-All right. Take car.
-Take care.
Tony make fire like Caveman. Ahh!
[Caveman] We had to find a way to make
our shop truck represent Gotham Garage.
And it doesn’t get any better than
this kick-ass brake light in the back.
Let’s see how it’s gonna look.
That is sick, dude.
-All right. We have to build ramps.
-Let’s figure it out.
-Let’s figure it out.
-All right.
So, Caveman and I have to custom-fabricate
the loading ramps for the COE
so that we can drive cars
up the back of the deck.
Oh, these past two weeks
have just been brutal.
Physically, mentally, everything.
It’s been long days, uh, late nights.
Never have I put in this kind of hours.
I’m tired, man. I am tired.
-[Tony] How does it roll?
-[Caveman] Nice.
-Hey, boss.
-Hey, dude.
-Not too--
-Check it out.
-It looks pretty badass.
-Yeah.
-This is it?
-Looks pretty good.
-That’s exactly what I asked for.
-Yeah.
[Mark] You’ve never seen that piece of
iron move that simple in its life, right?
That is gonna work out pretty well.
And you know what,
that’s a lot of clearance.
And this thing’s just about done.
I mean, it needs interior paint
and some wood on the deck though.
-You make it sound easy.
-It is. It’s just words. It’s 80 percent.
[laughs]
-Eighty.
-We’re 80 percent there.
Finally,
the tough work on the COE is done.
I think everybody can see the light
at the end of this tunnel.
Now we’re just buttoning up
the dozens of small details
that give this truck our Gotham Garage
stamp that we are known for.
It’s pretty badass
that everybody put all their sweat
into this crazy idea of mine.
And that it’s actually coming out
exactly how I wanted it to.
You got the last two pieces of my puzzle?
The emblems that Shawn found
are very personal to me.
They are a great tribute to my dad,
and they are the perfect finishing touches
to this badass COE.
That is pretty cool.
That is beautiful.
Look at the way he just shines up that.
I like the way it’s patinaed.
It’s not like it’s a brand-new piece.
It’s like something off of something old.
I have waited a long time
for a shop truck,
one that I’d be proud to put my logo on.
Finally, this is it.
We painted the COE white and gold
to give it
that old two-tone circa 1950s feel.
The faux wood paneling was inspired
by a look of an old station wagon,
in honor of my crew
who rallied around me like family.
We finished the interior with red leather
and a plush bench seat
so that we can haul our cars around
with comfort and style.
We installed new wood planks
on the flatbed,
then we gave it a charred-wood treatment
to give it that killer vintage look.
This badass truck
is a rolling billboard for Gotham Garage.
It’s a statement to the world
that we build the extraordinary.
We take a POS
and turn it into a one-car car show.
The COE is gonna up our game.
This memory of you guys helping me
is the same as this memory
of my childhood with this truck.
It’s just something
you’re never gonna forget.
That means a lot to me
that everybody kicked ass on this
and got it all together
so we can do what we set out to do.
I just want to thank you guys.
-He’s trying to make us cry now.
-[Tony] You’re welcome.
[Mark] That was the point.
So, I know I’ve already asked
a ton of you guys,
but I gotta ask just for the final push.
If we can all just push
that Futura up and out of here,
and then we can all take a giant break.
I’m taking that as a verbal contract.
Let’s just get that car done
and get to that final big payday.
So these two projects that I decided
to do together, the first one’s done.
The problem now is the second one is not.
It’s been sitting around collecting dust.
We got a couple weeks
until the car show comes up,
and this car has to be put together.
I hope we’re not cutting it too close.
[Mark] Man, Newt is gonna love this car.
Well, you guys killed it.
I think it looks great.
But is Newt gonna think that?
I can’t imagine he doesn’t like it.
I think, how much does he like it?
That’s what
I’m a little bit worried about.
I mean, if his expectations
are absolutely insane--
You just never know.
I’m just kinda bracing myself.
[tires screech]
[Shawn] We’ve done
all we could possibly do
to make this Splittin’ Image an exact
life-size version of the Hot Wheels car,
and an equal trade
for the rare ’55 Futura.
But it doesn’t matter
if we think it’s a fair trade.
Newt has to see it that way.
And he’s only gonna see value in this car
if it brings his childhood dreams to life.
Hey, Newt.
-What’s going on?
-Not much. How you been?
Good. Here it is.
[Shawn] An exact replica.
[Mark] That is a Splittin’ Image.
-[Shawn] What do you think?
-Huh.
So… why don’t you take it all in
while we pop it off the trailer
-so you can get a really good look at it.
-Okay. Yeah. Cool.
Got some big tires under it there.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
[Shawn] I think it fits the car nicely.
This car has so many details,
it’s very hard to take in at first glance.
[engine starts]
So I’m not surprised
that Newt’s got his poker face on.
He’s a very intelligent car guy.
He’s got something very valuable
that he’s gonna trade us for this.
He’s not gonna make it easy on us.
[engine revs]
Tail pipes, exhaust pipes, headers
and everything. Pretty wild-looking.
Yeah, we tried to get it as accurate
and as close as humanly possible.
-It really pops. You got to admit that.
-Yeah.
-All right?
-You’re a little hesitant still, it seems.
Little bit, yeah.
Had this in my mind for so long, you know.
I tell you what.
Let me see your green car.
-You’ve had this forever, right?
-Yep.
-This is what you gave me.
-Yep.
-And this is what you get.
-Yeah.
This is your full-size,
one-to-one scale Splittin’ Image.
-Yeah.
-So basically,
we took a Corvette
and we rebodied the entire top it.
And then we ended up using an 871,
and we’re using it for an airbox
instead of actually a crank blower.
So it gives you the same look as if
-it’s sticking out there.
-Yeah.
And then we ran the exhaust up and out
of the car and down the middle of the car,
-same as the toy itself.
-Yeah. Yeah.
If you walk around to the back,
the whole rear end,
the two gas tanks are in there,
so those are actually actual vents.
And then we custom-made
the taillight bezels and the taillights.
We painted it magenta because
magenta is the most sought-after color
by any Hot Wheels collector
’cause it just pops.
-[Newt] It looks good. Can I get in it?
-[Shawn] Sure.
Never sat in a car
with the canopies on it.
This is kinda cool.
-Kinda rocket-shipish, huh?
-No kiddin’.
[Mark] Like a jet fighter.
You wanna get the full effect?
-[Shawn] Yeah. Give him the full effect.
-Give me the full effect, man.
-[Mark] There you go.
-[Shawn] Oh, yeah.
Just hit the starter?
-[Mark] Yeah, just hit the starter.
-Okay.
[engine starts]
[revs]
-There you go.
-How does that sound? Pretty good?
Really good. Yeah.
-[Mark] Rev it up, rev it up.
-All right.
-[Mark] Give it a couple revs.
-[engine revving]
You like that, huh?
It’s a trip, man, sitting in this thing.
[Shawn] Getting a little nervous here.
Newt is coming around a bit.
But this Futura is a unicorn
that we would love to have in our stable.
-What do you think?
-Yeah.
I mean, we’ll stand here all day
if it takes getting your--
If it takes all day, yeah.
We want that Futura,
and we want you happy.
No, I’m definitely happy with the build.
You did a nice job on it.
So, I like the white interior,
like all the chrome and the polish.
So, are we gonna trade this
for the Futura?
-Yeah, let’s do it.
-[Shawn] Yes, let’s do it?
-Yes! That’s what I’m talking about.
-Thanks a lot, guys. You did a great job.
These guys nailed it.
It’s exactly what I was looking for.
Back in the day,
everybody had Hot Wheels cars.
I still collect them. I got a collection
in my shop. Now I get to have a real one.
Instead of having a die-cast car,
now I got a real car I can take out,
drive around, go to car shows,
and enjoy it.
So it’s gonna be a lot of fun.
I can’t wait to get started on that car.
-I bet, yeah.
-Whoo!
[engine starts]
[revs]
[Mark] This is better than getting
a Rainbow Brite pony on Christmas morning.
I got a real unicorn.
I got a Lincoln Futura.
The Lincoln Futura was a concept car
designed by Ford, debuted in 1955.
It never went into production,
but it’s been talked about ever since.
The original car was used
to make TV’s Batmobile.
But, luckily, a mold was made
with the actual dimensions of the Futura.
This body comes from that mold, making it
as close as you can get to the real car.
Once we finish this, the value
will be well into the six figures.
[Mark] All right, brother, we’ll see you.
[Shawn] Man, can you believe
we finally got a Futura?
[Mark] Dude, we are headed for big money.
[power tools buzz] [machinery rivets]
[engine starts]
[train horn blares]
Look at that. We got something with wings.
[Constance] This thing is so beautiful.
-I present to you the car of the future!
-[Mark] Yeah.
-The Futura!
-[Caveman] It looks like it.
[Constance] Wow!
You need a turntable in your garage
if you have this thing.
-[Caveman] Yeah.
-All right. That’s good enough.
This is what we’ve been dealing with
and headed for for six months.
This is the six-figure car.
I’m talking well into $100,000, $150,000.
All we have to do is make this car
exactly how the original car was,
down to the seafoam green.
It already has A/C, already has a heater,
already has a defroster.
All the working parts of the car work.
But there’s still a ton of things
we have to do.
They built one, so there’s no huge pile
of Futura parts in the junkyard.
Every single part of it will
need to be made right here in the shop.
Tony, that water jet
is going to be working 24/7.
This is our one-way ticket to six figures.
All we have to do is get it done in time
for the Grand National Roadster Show.
Eventually,
this Futura is gonna go to an auction,
but first we need to get as many people
to see it as possible,
’cause we got to generate a buzz.
The Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona
is the granddaddy of roadster shows.
It’s where every builder, collector,
and car enthusiast from all over the world
come to see the best of the best.
This year’s theme is the ’50s.
It’s perfect for us.
We’re gonna roll up
in our 1955 Lincoln Futura,
and it’s going to be one
of the biggest attractions at this event.
If we get more people to know about it, we
get more people to show up to the auction.
That means more people
are gonna bid against each other.
More bids means more money.
But wait, there’s more.
Wait, there’s more?
What is it, an infomercial?
You know the COE that Shawn and I
picked up for the shop truck?
It’s a ’54 International. Everything’s
there, all the sheet metal is there.
That gets done alongside of this car
because this car is going on the back
of that truck.
Shawn and I agree
if this shows up on our new COE,
it will just make the value of this car
go way up.
-And put us on the map.
-Yeah.
And if we wanna get six figures,
it isn’t gonna come showing up
on the back of my beater truck.
It’s just not gonna happen.
We need something that when we roll up,
it just says money, money, money,
and these guys know what they’re doing.
And I’m about to drop a big,
giant bombshell on all of you.
Oh.
It’s gonna be a lot of work,
and we have 30 days to do it in.
-Thirty days?
-You have 30 days to get this done.
How the hell
are we supposed to pull that off?
I’ve been to that show.
People spend like a year building cars.
[Mark] Or more.
Most of our builds only take
about a week or two,
but that’s talking about
a normal restoration.
This is not that.
I just wanna make sure that we’re
not gonna cut any corners on anything,
being you now wanna do two cars
instead of focusing on one.
We’re not cutting any corners at all.
It has to be dead-nuts on.
This has to be clockwork.
This is a frickin’ marching band
at half time.
It’s gotta be precise.
Everybody has gotta go right through
each other without hitting each other.
It’s gonna be one of those things.
There’s only four other people
that I can get to help me do this,
and they’re all standing here right now.
So, everybody’s in?
-Yeah. I just need to make a phone call.
-[laughing]
-I’m in.
-Let’s do this.
-All right, Constance.
-Sir.
Let me show you what we’re doing.
This car is like one of the sleekest,
longest cars on the planet.
Like all concept cars,
the Futura was designed
to give us a glimpse into the future.
It was chockful
of all kinds of innovative ideas.
It’s got these bubble-top windshields.
There’s an old-school microphone
inside this giant brass ring.
This is a rolltop dash,
just like grandma’s desk. The steering wheel has a big,
giant black cap that the hub comes out of.
And right inside here
is the actual speedometer.
We already have a good base to start with
with the fiberglass body,
but all the finishing pieces
are what is gonna bring this car to life.
It’s a tremendous amount of detail work,
but when we’re done with this car,
the Futura is gonna look just like it did
in 1955.
As elaborate as this car is
and this build is gonna be,
we get to start
with the simplest thing ever:
make a door open.
’Cause right now it just has a line
on the outside where the doors get cut,
but there’s no door.
Okay.
[Mark]
These are the steel inner door structure.
This is actually gonna get welded
onto the hinge mechanism
that we made out of the round tubing.
I’ve been obsessed with this car
for years.
I’ve been going over old photos,
sketches, designs.
I know every square inch of this car
like the back of my hand.
Look, we have the key.
This is one sexy-ass car.
Let’s cut a door.
This will be interesting.
Now that the inner door structure is done,
all I have to do
is cut along the line in the body
and the door should open.
The problem is,
we only have one of these Futuras.
So, if the saw slips or I screw up
or I take a chunk out of it,
we can’t get another one.
-[Constance] Whoo! What?
-[Mark] And you have a door.
-Crazy how they designed it like…
-Yeah. See the metal?
-…a new car to go in like that.
-Really bizarre.
And in the ’50s,
the doors actually came out around.
The door would be way out here with this…
-Yeah, they have a latch.
-…nasty-ass buckle hinge
coming out there like a horseshoe hinge.
It’s really cool that they were
that far ahead of everything.
-What the…?
-Yeah.
Somebody looking for a shop truck?
Shawn and I just recently picked up
this 1994 crew cab dually.
It’s gonna make the perfect foundation
for our vintage shop truck.
We’re gonna take that badass COE cab,
and we’re gonna stick it
on top of this chassis.
And when that car shows up
on the back of this truck done,
there’s no one that can touch this shop.
To make the shop truck of my dreams,
we’re gonna take this ’94 Chevy dually
and strip it down to the chassis,
leaving only the engine and the wheels
attached to the frame.
Then we’re gonna put
this 1954 International COE cab
on top of that chassis.
We’re gonna add a steel deck trailer
to the back of it.
This will give us a one-of-a-kind
Gotham Garage shop truck.
I don’t like the timeline,
but I like the vision.
[Mark] Nobody ever does.
Nobody ever likes a timeline.
-See that name on the wall over there?
-[Constance laughs]
-That?
-That’s Greek for “ambitious.”
[all laugh]
[Mark] “Gotham Garage.”
Caveman and Tony, we need to
get this thing dismantled, stripped down.
Everything needs to come apart.
Nothing needs to be broken.
What I need Shawn to do is I need you
to go find me a steel deck trailer.
-Let’s get to it.
-[Constance] All right.
[Tony] All right, Caveman.
Me and you, brother.
All right. Let’s go.
Mark!
Yeah, that’s moving.
-Watch my wheel.
-I am.
You’re scratching the rim.
Go up above the tires.
There you go.
I’m using this ’54 International Cab
because it reminds me
of the one my dad had.
Some things appreciate
being turned into something better.
[Tony] And you’re through.
[Mark] My dad wasn’t around very much
while I was growing up.
[Caveman] I think you’re good.
So I always keep things around me
to remind me of who he was and who he is.
[Caveman] There it goes.
[Mark] Between what it means to me
and what it’ll do for Gotham Garage,
the truth is
this project is a very big deal.
It looks like a COE already.
[Caveman laughs]
[Mark] Good job, you guys.
Thanks for blowing it apart.
I hope that doesn’t break
in the next couple weeks.
I hope so too.
It’s about to get the workout of its life.
We need hundreds of one-of-a-kind parts
to put on this Futura.
There’s the headlight bezel.
It looks something like this.
So, we are going to go balls to the wall
with that water jet.
You’ll have to get all the measurements
off the car, obviously.
And when I say “we,” I mean Tony.
Rear grills are these seven-inch “Cs”
out of half-inch aluminum.
Then there’s like 130 of them,
I think, total. It’s, like, insane.
I’m guessing that’s a week straight
of 60 hours of cutting.
-Yeah, probably.
-Or more.
The hardest part of Tony’s job
is actually designing the parts
in the computer of the water jet.
This is all half-inch aluminum.
Then the machine does the rest.
It uses water and sand at high pressure to cut through metal
to make precision parts.
These parts
are what are going to make our Futura
look like
it just rolled off the assembly line.
I got my list. Yeah.
-[Mark] Constance.
-Yeah.
Can you give me a hand with the dash?
This is another one of the features of
this car that was innovative for the time.
Nobody had ever put
any kind of hideaway dash
or retracting dash in a car.
So it’s basically
going to be coming over this frame.
It’s gonna roll over the top of this
at least an inch so that nothing collides,
and then it’ll be even with the bottom
of this frame we’ve got in here.
Perfect.
I am blown away by the amount of detail
on this car.
Each one of these covers for this
custom rolltop dash has 24 metal parts.
-Twenty-four.
-Twenty-four.
[Constance]
And they have to be fixed together.
And then polished.
And then it’s all attached to a track
so that it rolls up and down.
[Mark] One Futura rolltop dash.
And there’s five of them.
[Mark] Back in the day,
they liked to hide things behind pockets.
They didn’t like you
just to look and see the radio.
So if you set the radio
to your favorite AM station,
then when you want to change it, you
roll the door up and then it’s exposed.
Other than that, you don’t look at it.
You just get to look at a nice, sanitary
bling, bling, bling dash.
It’s like old school,
but way cool old school.
-[Constance] Yeah.
-Especially that shiny.
Shiny is good. I like shiny.
[Shawn] Mark needs a trailer
to attach to the bed of the dually
for our custom shop truck.
I couldn’t really find
the exact one he needed,
and I really didn’t have
a ton of time to look.
That being said, I think he’s gonna be
pretty happy with the one I’ve got.
Eh? How do you like this old dog?
-Firewood and scrap metal?
-What are we doing with this?
-We gonna recycle this thing?
-What do you think? This is the trailer.
[Mark] What is the brown stuff
in the middle called?
-That’s the wood, the wood.
-Okay. What did I ask for?
Steel.
I know Shawn likes to get
a really good deal on things,
and he probably saved a lot of money
on this ratty old trailer,
but it’s gonna take a lot of work
to make it work with this project.
Anything I get,
we have to modify it one way or another.
I was thinking about
the creative side to this,
being the wood
with the old vintage hauler.
Wouldn’t wood look better
than that frickin’ diamond plate?
But we can’t even use this wood.
[Tony]
We got this six-figure build in there.
We’re trying to build this big-money car,
and now we gotta mess with this?
The wood on this trailer
is completely rotted out.
I don’t even want to walk on it,
let alone park a 3,500 pound car on it.
We’re gonna have to strip this trailer
down and completely rework it.
-I get your vision of the wood deck.
-Oh, excellent.
I give you props
on thinking about vintage on vintage.
It’s a pretty good idea.
We don’t have a ton of time here,
but Shawn has a really good point.
And we do want to make this thing
look as amazing as possible.
Tell me when!
This headache bar comes off.
And then walk up here.
I need this tongue cut off.
This cut off, and everything gets cut off
flush with the outside of the trailer.
We basically have three builds
going on now.
The way I see it,
the Futura is going on the back burner
while we get this trailer moving forward.
Don’t move the front tires,
and we should be good.
[Tony] But once we have this torn down
and welded onto the chassis,
at least we’ll have the foundation
of our shop truck.
[Caveman] Caveman makes fire!
The plan is we’re gonna slice and slice,
and then we’re just gonna bend this down
to make our dovetail.
A dovetail on a trailer
is the last couple feet that angle down,
and that helps you get lowered cars
up on the trailer.
Since everything we build usually sits
only a couple inches off the ground,
a dovetail makes a lot of sense.
I’ll water-jet cut some patch pieces
that we can weld in on each side.
Make it solid again.
Caveman have firebox. [laughs]
It’s honestly
the quietest he ever destroys things.
Right? When he’s playing with that fire?
[Constance] You go into his house, and
everything would have little cuts in it.
[Tony] Trying to get in
a can of beans or something?
Yeah. It would just be like
sliced off the top for no reason.
Can opener is broken. Plasma cut.
Oh, I see.
You’re gonna let me do all the work.
[Constance] Trust me,
the view is not that great.
The moon is out tonight.
[Constance laughing]
You know what, if you didn’t like it,
you wouldn’t be looking.
-[laughing]
-That’s all I gotta say.
[Tony] Thank God we’ve got the ability
to fabricate parts on the fly.
If we needed to order parts,
this whole process could take weeks.
-It all moves together.
-[Constance] Solid. Yeah.
-[Tony] I think we’re looking pretty good.
-We have a flatbed dually.
I’m gonna help you get this all together
real quick so we can get this slammed out.
-Since we’re sort of on a time crunch.
-A little bit.
Yeah.
I think we should make the other bed rail.
Let’s get the other bed rail laid out,
and then we’ll get that welded together.
I’ve shifted all of our focus on the COE
because this truck
has so many moving parts.
And I want to get it off my back
so I can turn my full attention
to the Lincoln Futura.
So we’re gonna have this rail.
It’s just gonna be a nice, smooth sheet.
All the way down to the bottom.
-That’ll look pretty badass.
-It’ll be pretty cool. [Mark] We’ve spent about 31,000
on the Futura
and we’ve spent about 20,000 on the COE.
It’s gonna take an additional 20,000 more
to finish both cars.
-[Tony] Feel like a plumber today?
-Yeah, exactly. Laying pipe.
[Mark] That’s 70 grand in investments.
Even though everyone
is worried about the next paycheck,
I’m thinking beyond the next paycheck.
This car hauler
is like the case your jewelry comes in.
If your jewelry
comes in an expensive case,
then people are going to expect
the jewel inside
to be worth big money also.
So, Tony and I
were here late the other night
till 2:00 in the morning
getting the bed done.
We’re gonna stop right now.
I wanna get the cab on here.
It should be all pretty simple simple.
I already got the cab loaded
on the forklift.
We’ll just drop it down on here
and start figuring out how to mount it.
-Cool.
-Let’s do it.
Where Constance is,
it’s just barely clearing the truck.
I put myself in between it, so it’s fine.
-Keep coming.
-Keep going. Easy, easy, easy.
[Tony] It’s got to shift back to the bed.
-Oh! Whoa! Whoa!
-[Caveman] You’re gonna hit. Gonna hit.
What’s it gonna hit?
[Constance] Everything.
Definitely gonna hit the motor.
Go ahead and take the air cleaner off.
Doesn’t matter.
You’re still gonna hit all this, Mark.
-All this right here.
-[Mark] Yeah.
Marrying old parts to new machinery
is never easy.
We’re trying to take two different eras
and make them work together.
So, naturally,
we’re gonna run into some issues.
-[Tony] All right, stop.
-Stop.
That’s not gonna really work out.
[chuckles] The whole floor is in the way.
[Caveman] Oh, yeah.
I thought
this was supposed to just bolt right on.
[Caveman] Yeah. This is Gotham Garage.
Nothing bolts right on.
We make it all fit.
Yes, the cab and chassis
are fighting each other right now.
The rest is rotted, so there it goes.
But when it comes to a war with machinery,
I always win.
All right. Let’s try it again.
[Caveman] I’m clear.
Oh.
[Mark] Yeah. There it goes.
That’s about where it’s gonna sit.
-[Tony] Well, I mean, it kinda fits.
-[Constance laughs]
-A little bit.
-Now for the great news.
-All the other stuff?
-[Mark] All the other stuff.
[Mark] All right, Caveman.
You ready to give me a hand
figuring this whole steering thing out?
Glad we’re friends
if I gotta be this close to you.
[Caveman] Hey.
So, here’s a big problem.
I’m probably thin enough
to get behind there, right? No.
[laughing]
There’s no way I can shorten
this steering column that much.
One more thing to do after doing this.
-It’s like cause and effect, right?
-Right.
That’s awful.
This is the point
where the builds get frustrating.
When it’s one problem
on top of another problem on top of another problem,
on top of another problem,
it’s just a giant snowball
that eats up a tremendous amount of time.
And?
-Well, is it turning?
-All right! Look at that.
She is turning. Whoo-hoo! Yeah!
All right, man. I’m gonna get the switch.
All right.
Oops.
What’s with all the noise going on
around here?
[all exclaiming]
[Constance] I like how convenient it is
that he comes out at the very last minute.
-That’s looking good.
-That’s just-- [growls]
-[Mark] Pretty badass, huh?
-Yeah.
I’m gonna grab the hood off of it.
If you guys wanna grab the hydro-boost,
we can get that mounted on the firewall.
I don’t wanna be spending all of our time
on the COE,
but the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
So right now,
we need to install the hydro-boost.
That’s a critical part
of the steering and brake system.
All of this and all of that other build
are supposed to get done in
how many days?
Uh, very soon. And, uh,
this is not the payday build either.
-Well, maybe you should…
-I mean, it looks--
…talk to your best friend over there
and be like,
“Hey, remember that
we’re not getting paid for this build,
but we are getting paid for that build.”
[Caveman] Boss man coming through and--
It fits.
Sorta.
-How much is that? It’s like what?
-It’s like three--
[Mark] Three inches?
All right. So, apparently,
this doesn’t go on the rest of the way.
That booster has to fit this truck,
or it won’t work.
There’s so many little things
that we have to fix and solve here.
We don’t have a radiator.
We have to build a radiator mount.
So we have to plumb hoses,
all the brake lines.
We have sheet metal to fix and repair,
and all that before we even attempt to
build an interior that doesn’t exist yet.
What’s your point?
I think the point is
is every problem that we solve
is taking away time from that big build.
I’m thinking we should shelf this for
a minute and just get that build done.
[Mark] It’s not just about the Futura.
We’re not going
to the Grand National Roadster Show
without this COE.
These two ultimate ’50s cars
need to show up
at the premier ’50s-theme car show
together.
And it will make a giant splash.
There is a [bleep] ton of work to do.
And there’s a whole lot of stuff
we don’t even know about yet.
Because the work on the COE
has been so unpredictable,
we need to get it done.
We need to get it out of the way
while we still have time to absorb
any unforeseen hitches that may come up.
We’re really gonna have to work
a lot of hours.
Like double time.
Plus, there’s something else
you guys need to know
about why this COE is so important to me.
The whole reason
we got a ’54 International
is because it was the same truck
as my dad used to drive when I was a kid.
And, uh,
I need you to help me get this truck done
so that we can go to the car show with
my dad’s truck with that car on the back.
When you gotta put it like that
and make us-- and make us feel bad.
-Damn.
-[indistinct]
I was hoping
that would never have to come out.
-[Tony chuckles]
-We can’t say no to that, right?
Well, I appreciate that,
’cause I know it’s a big, monumental--
But you know you’re gonna hear a whole
lot of bitch pissing and moaning, right?
I’m gonna be out a lot of money
on beer and pizza. I am getting that.
-Pizza? I want a rib eye.
-[Mark] Yeah.
[all laughing]
Right now, everybody is gonna
have to put on their big-boy pants
for the next couple of weeks
and finish these two vehicles.
-All right. Start solving problems.
-Yeah, start solving problems.
Problem-solvers.
[Tony] It’s not fancy,
but I think it’ll do the job.
-Well, that clearance is Clarence.
-Yeah, it fits.
Hey, hey, hey. Problem solved.
Look at all that clearance.
Yeah, this truck
clearly means a lot to Mark,
so I’d like to give him
that extra little something
so it would make it feel a little bit
closer to the exact truck his dad owns.
Man, you got so much stuff here.
Can I ask
what the hell something like this is?
-An antique feeder.
-Will it feed a caveman?
I got a guy at the shop
I could probably use this for.
Oh, oh.
-What’s this? Thunderbird.
-Thunderbird.
Could have used this
about a couple of weeks ago.
Man, those are cool emblems. Ooh.
Is that a Kenworth logo over there?
Yeah, let me see. Oh, that’s--
Oh, that’d be perfect for our COE.
So, Mark told me that his dad
actually had an old Kenworth COE
in addition to the ’54 International
that we’re building.
That one could go right on the hood.
-Yeah, that would be great.
-That would be nice.
So I think Mark would appreciate
how these emblems can bring
a little more of his dad into our truck.
-All right. Good luck with that truck.
-Thanks, Linda.
-All right. Take car.
-Take care.
Tony make fire like Caveman. Ahh!
[Caveman] We had to find a way to make
our shop truck represent Gotham Garage.
And it doesn’t get any better than
this kick-ass brake light in the back.
Let’s see how it’s gonna look.
That is sick, dude.
-All right. We have to build ramps.
-Let’s figure it out.
-Let’s figure it out.
-All right.
So, Caveman and I have to custom-fabricate
the loading ramps for the COE
so that we can drive cars
up the back of the deck.
Oh, these past two weeks
have just been brutal.
Physically, mentally, everything.
It’s been long days, uh, late nights.
Never have I put in this kind of hours.
I’m tired, man. I am tired.
-[Tony] How does it roll?
-[Caveman] Nice.
-Hey, boss.
-Hey, dude.
-Not too--
-Check it out.
-It looks pretty badass.
-Yeah.
-This is it?
-Looks pretty good.
-That’s exactly what I asked for.
-Yeah.
[Mark] You’ve never seen that piece of
iron move that simple in its life, right?
That is gonna work out pretty well.
And you know what,
that’s a lot of clearance.
And this thing’s just about done.
I mean, it needs interior paint
and some wood on the deck though.
-You make it sound easy.
-It is. It’s just words. It’s 80 percent.
[laughs]
-Eighty.
-We’re 80 percent there.
Finally,
the tough work on the COE is done.
I think everybody can see the light
at the end of this tunnel.
Now we’re just buttoning up
the dozens of small details
that give this truck our Gotham Garage
stamp that we are known for.
It’s pretty badass
that everybody put all their sweat
into this crazy idea of mine.
And that it’s actually coming out
exactly how I wanted it to.
You got the last two pieces of my puzzle?
The emblems that Shawn found
are very personal to me.
They are a great tribute to my dad,
and they are the perfect finishing touches
to this badass COE.
That is pretty cool.
That is beautiful.
Look at the way he just shines up that.
I like the way it’s patinaed.
It’s not like it’s a brand-new piece.
It’s like something off of something old.
I have waited a long time
for a shop truck,
one that I’d be proud to put my logo on.
Finally, this is it.
We painted the COE white and gold
to give it
that old two-tone circa 1950s feel.
The faux wood paneling was inspired
by a look of an old station wagon,
in honor of my crew
who rallied around me like family.
We finished the interior with red leather
and a plush bench seat
so that we can haul our cars around
with comfort and style.
We installed new wood planks
on the flatbed,
then we gave it a charred-wood treatment
to give it that killer vintage look.
This badass truck
is a rolling billboard for Gotham Garage.
It’s a statement to the world
that we build the extraordinary.
We take a POS
and turn it into a one-car car show.
The COE is gonna up our game.
This memory of you guys helping me
is the same as this memory
of my childhood with this truck.
It’s just something
you’re never gonna forget.
That means a lot to me
that everybody kicked ass on this
and got it all together
so we can do what we set out to do.
I just want to thank you guys.
-He’s trying to make us cry now.
-[Tony] You’re welcome.
[Mark] That was the point.
So, I know I’ve already asked
a ton of you guys,
but I gotta ask just for the final push.
If we can all just push
that Futura up and out of here,
and then we can all take a giant break.
I’m taking that as a verbal contract.
Let’s just get that car done
and get to that final big payday.
So these two projects that I decided
to do together, the first one’s done.
The problem now is the second one is not.
It’s been sitting around collecting dust.
We got a couple weeks
until the car show comes up,
and this car has to be put together.
I hope we’re not cutting it too close.