Car Masters: Rust to Riches (2018) s04e01 Episode Script

1
-[mellow Western music plays]
-[excavator beeping]
[exciting music plays]
[Shawn] Mark!
Mark!
I know he hears me.
He likes to annoy me.
I mean, I love a junkyard, but, man.
He just disappears.
You bring him here, and he's gone.
You know those leashes you put your kid on
when you go to the amusement park?
I need a leash. God.
Where the hell Are you kidding me?
Mark!
-[objects clattering]
-[music fades]
Oh.
Are you seriously in a dumpster?
There's Dude, you can't imagine
the stuff that's in here.
-Oh, my God. Come on.
-Like, people throw this away.
Dude.
Oh, come on. Are you kidding me?
It's a toy gun.
Shifter.
Wait, there's more.
[mellow rock music playing]
-Let's go. You ready to go?
-[rummaging]
They're just your size.
Oh, come Are you done?
-Take them home.
-I'll be in the truck. All right?
"Be in the truck"? I'm not done yet.
There's still two more dumpsters.
Who would throw this away?
Oh What did I just step in?
[heavy metal music plays]
[Mark] At Gotham Garage,
we've made our mark
through upgrade and trade
[Tony] Yeah, baby! Yeah!
turning junkyard rust
[Shawn] This is a cool little gem.
into six-figure works of art.
[tires skidding]
We've been grinding
with this model for years
[Tony] Easy! Easy!
and as our reputation grew
[crowd] Wow!
so did our Rolodex
of high-end clients with deep pockets.
-[man] I'm looking for a couple vehicles.
-Really?
[Mark] It appeared as if our dream
was finally coming to fruition.
Unfortunately,
these new clients' expectations
didn't align with my creative vision.
I wanna transform it 100%, not 95.
[Mark] So we decided
to forge our own path.
We invested 120 grand of the shop's money
into a custom
concept car and bike pairing,
all based on my original design.
[exciting heavy metal music playing]
The plan was to set the car world on fire
by hosting our own virtual auction.
[Shawn] I got Dan at 175.
-There you are, 180.
-[Shawn] 180 to Alex.
[Mark] But the bids fell short,
and I wasn't willing to settle
for anything less than 250 grand.
225. That's it.
That's as much as I can do.
-That's not enough.
-Two-twen
Come on, man.
That did not sit well
with the rest of the team.
Without cashing out
on the concept vehicles,
we're basically all the way
back to square one again.
[men speaking in reverse]
[Mark] I know what it's like
to be at the top of this business,
and I also know what it's like
to be at the bottom.
I'll do whatever it takes to make sure
that we get through this rough patch.
This is a 1928 Essex.
I'm gonna pay for this whole project.
-And I'm not taking my cut.
-What?
[Mark] We'll start
with this '28 Essex project
and work our way up from there.
Even if we have to scour
the grimiest junkyards
to get back to the top of the mountain,
then so be it.
[exciting rock music playing]
I know every single person
in this shop is ready to go.
-[Tony] Get her done, guys. Whoo!
-[Constance laughs]
[whirring]
[engine revving]
[mellow music plays]
[car horn honks]
Beer break is over.
-Finally.
-[Caveman] Uh-oh.
[Mark] Go, go, go, go, go.
Go, go. Stop.
[Constance] What is this?
So we went to storage, cleaned that out,
got a bunch
of pretty badass hot rod stuff,
and then we went to, like,
two or three wrecking yards?
Three wrecking yards.
For three hours apiece.
-Oh, come on, they had dumpsters.
-Were you dumpster diving?
-All day.
-[all laughing]
[Tony] Obviously, the sting
of the virtual auction is still fresh.
But the good news is
we have this '28 Essex project,
and Mark's not taking his cut
when we sell it.
He's even letting Shawn keep his cut.
So you know he's feeling pretty bad
about the whole situation.
Caveman! Look!
You got a club. I got a gun!
-[Caveman] Oh, bitchin'!
-That's not a car part.
[Tony] But the truth is this one car
is not gonna solve all our problems.
All aboard!
We've got a long way to go
before we're on stable ground financially,
and since Mark is set on
250 grand or more on the concept vehicles,
it's gonna take Shawn
a while to find the right buyer.
So this is a lot of stuff.
But what is all this stuff for?
This is gonna be
one of our infamous zero money builds.
I thought you were
covering the budget on this.
-I am. That's why it's a no money build.
-[Constance] Aw.
But that means that everything
is 100% profit divided by four.
-Yes. Yes!
-[Shawn] Yeah, I like that!
I didn't think about that.
[all laughing]
So what we're gonna do
with everything here
is build one badass Gotham Garage rat rod.
-[Caveman] Nice.
-[Shawn] Yeah!
[Shawn] A rat rod is a type of hot rod
that gets its look from using
reclaimed and salvaged parts.
[Mark] We'll take this badass steam trunk,
and we'll put the fuel cell in it.
We've got the lantern.
We're gonna put an LED brake light in it.
We're gonna take Mr. Pop Gun
and turn it into a floor shifter.
[Constance] Cool.
[Shawn] It's actually the perfect
style of build for this Essex
because when you
don't have a lot of money,
but you still wanna build
a really cool car, you build a rat rod.
[engine revs]
Rat rods started in the '80s
as kind of a punk rock style
of car building.
You take whatever you got in your garage,
and you build a down-and-dirty hot rod
with an intentionally unfinished look.
On a rat rod,
you can't hide
behind fancy expensive parts.
So the value on a car like this
all comes down to how you apply
these reclaimed parts to the build.
The more ingenuity
and creativity that you use,
the more valuable the car.
The good thing about a build like this
is you can be so creative
and have so much fun with it, you know?
-I think it'd be cool to do a rat rod.
-Yeah. We haven't done one in a while.
[Mark] The trick with this rat rod
is gonna be
taking all these salvaged parts
and working them
seamlessly into the build.
First up, we're gonna take
this old vintage steam trunk,
we're gonna mount it
to the back of the car,
and use it to house our fuel cell.
We'll also install
a vintage lantern on the back
as a single tail light.
On the inside,
we'll use our toy pop gun as a shifter,
and we'll mount
this old-school compass to the dash
as our high-tech rat rod GPS.
-Up-front, we'll power this monster
-[revs loudly]
with a 383 Chevy Stroker motor,
with a badass 471 blower on top.
Yeah, rat rods are hot right now,
and especially a Gotham Garage rat rod.
I think I can get
close to 30 grand for this thing.
Easy money.
-Easy money.
-Right?
[Mark] You know what's hard to do?
Hard to sell the concept car and bike.
So you need to shake your tail feather,
get in your office,
and find a buyer for that.
Yeah, that's job one.
Skip to my lou, my darling.
-I'm getting at it now.
-[Caveman] Find two buyers.
[Shawn] You take care of this,
I'll take care of the big money.
-Get us some money.
-Yeah.
-Right, so let's get this thing started.
-Let's do it.
[Mark] The long-term future of this shop
all hinges on selling
the two concept vehicles
for 250 grand or better.
Once that happens,
it proves that something
straight out of my imagination
is worth big-time money.
It unlocks the door
to a whole new brand of clientele.
These are the clients that show up,
pay handsomely,
but they don't give us a list to follow,
and there's no micromanaging.
[whooshing]
But the bottom line is,
passing on the high bid at the auction
has definitely put the shop
in a compromising position.
We've got a lot of the shop's money
tied up in two vehicles
that are sitting in the warehouse
just collecting dust.
So, at this point,
I don't care how Shawn sells them.
We're selling the concept car
and the bike as a pair.
[man] Pretty interesting, man.
[Mark] If he finds an individual buyer,
then great.
If not, we'll bring them to an auction
sometime down the road,
just like we originally planned.
This ought to be fun.
[Constance] Caveman, you're so motivated.
[Caveman] I'm getting
somebody else's props? Hell yeah.
[Mark] But until that happens,
we're going OG Gotham Garage.
[Tony] Looking good.
Sometimes you've just got
to go back to what got you here
to get you to the next step.
[grunts] I bet this was
full of gold one time, huh?
That looks good up there.
Now the car's got a trunk.
You guys are gonna have
to keep storming on this in the morning
'cause I gotta go with Shawn
to look at a car
and see what it's all about.
I guess he's got some big plan
for bringing more money into the shop.
-What kind of car?
-[Mark] I don't know.
-It's one of Shawn's "secret things."
-Oh no.
-Oh, God.
-Code for, "Mark's gonna hate it."
He's trying to fool you.
About as much as he's fooling anybody
with that frosted hair of his.
-[laughs]
-[Constance] Aw, let him have that one!
[Mark] We all know
he's going gray under there.
[exciting percussion music playing]
-[Mark] Is it a Chevelle? Minivan?
-[Shawn] No. No.
-[Mark] Pickup truck. Airplane.
-[Shawn] No. No.
Boat? It's another boat.
Oh, my God.
You're not gonna shut up till I tell you.
-No, I'm not gonna shut up.
-Okay. I'll tell you what it is.
It's an Elite Laser 917.
Ah, so I'm gonna build
a four-cylinder Volkswagen kit car.
Because the guy's got 40 grand to give us.
Oh, I see. This is one
of your high-end clients.
It's not the car.
It's the client
you're trying to keep secret.
Exactly.
At this point, we all know
that Mark is not a fan of high-end clients
that give him a set of rules to follow.
This guy's willing to give us 40 grand
for an easy deal.
He's got all the parts to this thing.
We just need to put it together.
Look, I admit the Elite Laser 917
isn't the most prestigious
car build on Earth.
Yes, it gets its inspiration
from the Porsche 917,
which is a super iconic
and extremely rare Porsche race car.
But the Elite Laser 917
ain't no Porsche 917.
The Laser's just a body kit
that you slap on
a dinky little Volkswagen Bug chassis.
In other words, it's not a super rare
high-performance race car.
You say it like it's a simple deal,
but I can already tell
it's one of those deals that has a catch.
It's not No, it's not one of those.
Well, I kind of do understand
what you're saying about
needing some money in the bank.
So let's go take a look at this car
and see what it's all about.
There you go.
I like how you're
so open-minded about things.
[Mark chuckles dryly]
[Shawn] We're here.
We're here for the party.
-[Mark] What's this guy's name?
-Adam.
-[Mark] Adam.
-Yeah.
All right, well,
let's go see what's going on.
How we doing?
Adam, this is Mark.
-Pleasure.
-Nice to meet you.
-Thanks for coming. Hey, guys.
-Hey, how's it goin'?
There it is.
[Adam] Here she is in all her dusty glory.
[Mark] I remember these
from when I was a kid.
[Adam] Yeah, I grew up falling in love
with the Porsche 917.
-But they didn't make many of them.
-[Mark laughs] No, they did not.
[Adam] That's what this is.
This kit car is kind of
as close as you can get to a 917.
[Mark] I see all the glass.
I see a roll cage.
Do you have a motor?
I have a Porsche Power Plant.
Oh, wow, so you wanna go
full Porsche with this thing?
That's right. This is from an early 911.
I've got new headers on it,
refreshed carburetors.
It should be sweet.
Well, I'm glad you already got the motor.
So this seems like
a pretty doable situation.
With all the work that's been done to it,
I say for 40 grand,
we can kind of
make it kind of like a race car.
-Make it look like it.
-It can't be "like" a race car.
This needs to be a race car.
I'm obviously a Porsche guy.
Racing is my passion.
It has to be full race car spec.
Nothing "like."
-[Shawn] Um Hmm. Okay.
-So you want to put this on a track?
This thing needs to set
blistering times at a racetrack.
[Mark] And there's the catch.
This just went from a simple kit car build
to a full-on track car.
How fast are you talking?
What do you wanna do?
Well, I wanna debut this car
out at Willow Springs.
I race there a lot. My best time is 2:03.
-I need to get this car under two minutes.
-[Shawn] Really?
[Mark] Even though it looks
sort of like a race car,
this Laser was never designed
to be driven on a track.
This is basically a little show pony,
and Adam now wants to turn it into
a full-blown thoroughbred.
This has to be,
you know, Porsche-level quality.
It has to be a full spec race car.
That's the brief.
[Mark] Yes, he has a Porsche motor,
but it's out of an old 911.
We'll probably have to do a lot
of adjustments to get it to run right.
Plus, the motor alone ain't gonna get
this car under two minutes.
We're gonna have to buy
a whole bunch of race performance parts
to dial this car in from front to back.
As much as we can't
pass up work right now,
my main concern is that
that 40 grand is a little light
to make a full-blown race car.
The 40 grand that we talked about,
with what you're after,
that's asking quite a bit, actually.
Totally fair. Totally fair.
I'll I'll tell you what.
If you get me under two minutes,
I've got an extra $10,000 for you.
-Two minutes?
-Two minutes.
Well, I think for that amount of cash,
we're gonna just throw
everything we got at the suspension,
and I'll do whatever it takes
to get it under the two-minute mark,
but I don't know
how to politically correct say this,
50% of that time
falls on your racing experience.
I can do that time.
I've already pulled a 2:03.
I just need a better car.
This is so much lighter.
It should be able to hit it.
[mellow blues music playing]
Well, let's shake his hand
and, uh, make this run.
[Mark] All right. We've got a deal.
Under two minutes.
All in all, I think
this is a pretty solid deal for us.
We get to build a really cool race car,
and hopefully,
we get a big bonus at the end of it.
See, that's why you're you, and I'm me.
You're just puttin' me in another box.
It's just a different box.
It's a two-minute box.
I don't get to do
anything on this car creatively
because now all our resources
are going into making it fast.
Aw, you're a downer.
-I'm not a downer.
-Where's the positivity?
You wanna see positive?
Positive'd be if he beats
the two-minute mark on that track,
then you'll see positive.
But until then,
you're gonna get negative Nancy,
not positive Mark.
[imitates cat yowl]
[both chuckling]
Call Tony and tell him to meet us over
at the other shop in about 30 minutes.
Caveman and Constance stay on the rat rod
and get the motor running.
[upbeat music playing]
[objects clattering]
-Caveman!
-What?
-What are you doing?
-I know where all this goes.
-Give me a moment. Yeah.
-You sure?
I don't know if I was having to have
a bomb defused that I'd trust you.
Oh, sure. I wouldn't trust myself!
All the cool salvage parts
that Mark got for this car
will be what defines this rat rod.
[imitates car klaxon]
[Constance] There's the old steam trunk
that holds the gas tank,
the old compass
that we're calling a rat rod GPS,
and this really cool vintage lantern
that we're gonna use as a brake light.
[Caveman] There we go.
But ultimately, the motor
is really the first thing you see.
It's front and center, fully exposed.
And with a rat rod,
the motor should really be reflective
of the overall look of the car.
So you really can't add a tiny
little motor and just call it a day.
It has to be really aggressive
and obnoxious.
[Caveman] Ah.
-[Constance chuckles]
-Ooh!
[laughs]
[Constance] We have
this 383 Stroker motor,
but we're also adding a 471 blower
to really give it some firepower.
We got a blower!
[laughs]
This motor needs to stand out.
It needs to scream in your face
and wake you up when you turn the key.
-Okay. Are we ready?
-We got gas. We got power.
Ooh. Abracadabra!
[engine sputtering]
-[engine starts]
-Whoo!
-[grunting happily]
-[engine idling]
Money. Money. Money.
[grunts]
[turns off engine]
-What do you think?
-I mean, it sounds great to me.
It sounds awesome.
Let's get this thing buttoned up.
You can get all the odds and ends,
and the gizmos and gadgets.
Ooh, I don't know about the gadgets,
but I'll do odds, ends, and gizmos.
-Okay, I'll do the gadgets. Let's do it.
-Okay, cool.
[funky music playing]
So you're telling me
that this is a race car?
[Mark] Not yet, but it will be.
But this isn't the same engine
that the real race car would've had.
No, the original 917, Porsche took
two of these and welded them together.
-So
-Yeah. And that'd be more than 50 grand.
-Hence, "tribute" not "replica."
-[both chuckle]
So, first thing we should do
is take that motor,
get it underneath the car,
and hop in it
and go for a hot lap out back.
-[Tony] Let's get this done.
-We built a few race cars in the past.
But building a legitimate road course car
is a totally different animal.
For some reason, I don't think this is
how they did it at the Porsche factory.
If we want this car
to master the track at Willow Springs,
we have to have one word
ingrained in our mind.
Precision. Precision. Precision.
We'll kick it off by installing
this killer 2.2 Porsche 911 motor.
This should be plenty of horsepower
for a car this light.
But at Willow Springs,
handling is the key.
So we're gonna have to install disc brakes
and QA1 fully-adjustable coil-over shocks
so that we can tune
this suspension in perfectly.
On the inside,
we're going as minimal as possible.
We're gonna install aluminum racing seats,
a quick disconnect steering wheel,
and a very simple instrument panel.
To give it the look and feel
of the original Porsche 917,
we'll wrap it
in its most iconic color scheme
and slap on some wicked racing tires.
[Mark] Dude, do you know
how fun this is gonna be
to throw this around on a track?
Oh, it'll weigh nothing.
It's like a little go-kart
with a Porsche engine in it.
[Mark chuckling] Yeah.
So we're really taking this thing
to Willow Springs, huh?
-That's where he wants to run it.
-Man, that's a serious racetrack.
Willow Springs Raceway is a road course
about an hour north of Los Angeles,
and it's one
of the most famous racecourses
in the whole United States.
[exciting music playing]
This track is legit.
-It has nasty curves, long straightaways
-[tires skidding]
and big-time elevation changes.
On this track,
a professional race car driver
can do a lap in about 1:30.
So for an amateur to post
a lap time under two minutes
on a course this big and technical,
this car has got to be flying.
I feel like this isn't
the right wrench for this job.
I know an extra ten grand
doesn't sound like a whole lot,
but every penny coming through that door,
with our situation,
makes a huge difference.
I think we're ready to fire it up.
[engine revving]
[Mark] All right.
Let's see how well this motor runs.
I think I'd like an "Oh, " handle,
right right about here.
-[Mark] Yeah.
-[laughs]
[exciting techno music playing]
[Tony] Whoo! Let her rip.
-[revving engine]
-[engine sputtering]
Dude, what's that?
[Mark] What the hell?
As I'm pushing down
on the accelerator pedal,
it's actually cutting out
when I try to accelerate faster.
Feels like the ignition's clipping out.
I'm not a professional race car driver,
but I do know one thing about race cars.
When you push on the gas pedal,
it's supposed to go faster, not slower.
There is definitely
something wrong with the motor.
-[Tony] It runs about as good as it looks.
-[laughs] Right?
[Tony] Normally, we work
with American hot rod engines.
We know 'em inside and out, top to bottom,
but these Porsche engines
are a little bit different.
Man, I really thought
this engine was just gonna work.
[Mark] It would've been nice.
[Tony] They have some unique quirks,
and we don't know all those quirks
because we're not a Porsche shop.
So it could really take us
quite a bit of time to troubleshoot.
Well, so I guess the best thing to do
is work our way
from the battery to the box to the motor.
-And we got to do all that stuff. So
-Sure.
In the morning,
I want you to start with that.
I gotta go help Caveman
and Constance knock out the rat rod.
[Tony] Why did I feel you would leave me
to do all the hard stuff?
[Mark] It just shows that I trust you.
[both chuckling]
[crickets chirping]
[Shawn] So, here's the thing.
We had the virtual auction.
We passed up 225 thousand,
which was the high bid.
So now we're just selling them outright.
And we are open for offers,
and I just wondered
if you're a player for these vehicles.
We all support Mark's decision to hold out
for 250 grand or more
on the concept vehicles,
but the hard truth is
money is pretty tight
around here right now.
We have rent to pay on two shops,
huge electrical bills,
and with a fortune tied up in storage,
that's a tough situation
to manage financially.
So, Dan, we're opening up the sale
to individual buyers,
and I just wondered
if you'd be interested.
[Mike] It's not off the table for me.
But I think I'll need
some time to think about it.
Now, things would be a lot different
if I find a buyer for the concept pair.
What I'd need to do
is talk to my financial adviser
and see if it's something
I could potentially make happen.
But obviously,
that's easier said than done.
Well, I'll be looking forward
to hearing from you in the next bit.
Sounds good, Shawn. Appreciate it.
Okay, nice chatting with you, Mike.
Take care.
A firm "maybe."
Okay, Mike's firm "maybe."
[mellow rock music playing]
[tools rattling]
-[Constance] Hi.
-[Mark] How you guys doing?
[Caveman] We're doing. How about yourself?
Well, I'm tired of working on cars
with rules and instructions.
So I had to come over here,
get my Gotham Garage fix.
All right.
I wanna get this rat rod done
as soon as possible
and get the crew paid.
So I'm leaving Tony to troubleshoot
the Laser issues by himself.
I'm going through all the Porsche manuals,
but it's all written in German.
So I'm trying to learn by picture.
[speaks in German]
[Mark] And while he does that,
Caveman, Constance, and myself
are gonna finish this rat rod.
Make sure you throw
your metal away, children.
It can be very dangerous.
[exciting rock music playing]
Any new metal on this car
needs to look old.
So we're gonna give it
a homemade rust treatment.
Salt, white vinegar,
and hydrogen peroxide.
Spray it on bare metal.
It will oxidize immediately.
[Caveman] That is cool!
[Mark] Then add some flame from a torch,
and it will rapidly accelerate
the rust process in seconds.
[Caveman] You know what it looks like?
The grease on the top of the Crock-Pot
after ribs have been sitting for a while.
Doesn't it? [chuckles]
Caveman, I feel like only you
would reference that as the example.
-[Caveman] It's true.
-[Constance laughs]
[mellow rock music playing
[Mark] Normally rat rods
are all rust all around,
but I'm giving ours a two-tone look.
I'm gonna paint the top seafoam green
and leave the bottom rusty.
Basically,
it's a rat rod equivalent of a mullet.
Business on the top,
and party on the bottom.
Now, to finish it all off.
[dramatic music playing]
Shawn was able to track down
a buyer for this car.
He's a big-time hot rod guy,
looking to add
a rat rod to his collection.
-[Caveman] Car has a trunk.
-[Constance] Yes.
[Caveman] Oh, that's so cool!
[laughing]
[Mark] I wanna make sure he has no problem
digging deep down
into his pockets to pay for this car.
All these final details
are the intricate brushstrokes
of this junkyard Picasso
that should get us
as close to 30 grand as possible.
[music fades]
[heavy metal music playing building]
[engine revs]
[music continues]
[dings]
[Mark] In this shop,
when our backs are against a wall,
we don't fold.
We rise to the occasion.
That's when some
of our best work comes to life.
Using salvaged parts,
we took good old-fashioned creativity
and channeled it into this rat rod.
The old steam trunk on the back
that houses the fuel cell,
the toy pop gun shifter,
the old compass on the dash,
those were all calculated choices.
And that 383 blown Stroker motor
brings it all to life
like it's spitting fire.
[engine revving]
We still have a long way to go
before the shop is back on track,
but this rat rod proves
that we're up for the task.
[music fades]
[mellow rock music playing]
[Shawn] I'm not gonna lie,
but I was a little taken aback
when you were pulling parts
out of the dumpster.
You always underestimate
my fabrication skills.
It did come out pretty nice.
The more you look at it,
the more you like it,
the more detail there is there.
It really looks good.
Building a rat rod with zero budget
is exactly what the shop needed right now.
If we can sell this thing
right here, right now,
that means this car is 100% all profit.
Where'd you find this guy at?
You're gonna love this guy.
His name's Johnny.
He's kind of a rockabilly type.
Cowboy-ish kind of guy.
So he looks like you then.
You're in the ballpark.
Johnny's a big-time car guy.
Plus, he's young, and he's hip,
so the rat rod scene appeals to him.
Did you talk money
with this Johnny character?
We're talking around the 25 grand range,
but once he sees all the little details
you guys put into this,
I think I can get him up.
[Mark] Well, I guess you two cowboys
are gonna have an old-fashioned shootout.
[Shawn] Yee-haw!
[chuckles]
[mellow funk music playing]
[Shawn] Johnny's got a nice place.
[honks horn]
-Holy cow.
-[Shawn] Huh?
[Johnny] Hoo-hoo!
[Shawn] Johnny, this is Mark.
-Hey, Mark! Nice to meet you!
-Nice to meet you.
Let's get it off the trailer,
and we'll tell you all about it.
[Johnny] Let's do it.
[clangs loudly]
[chuckles]
I'm Johnny Travis Jr. I've been a big fan
of Gotham Garage since way back.
I'm not your ordinary Joe.
See, I like things
a little bit wild and crazy.
Dive bars, guitars, and classic cars.
So when Shawn told me about
this new rat rod he was building,
I said, "Hey! That's got
Johnny Travis Jr. written all over it."
I just hope they're not gonna
hammer me on the damn price.
Why don't you hop on inside
and fire it up?
Let's do it.
[sitar music plays]
-[Mark] Doorman'll get the door.
-[Johnny] Yessiree.
-Thank you, sir. Thank you.
-[Mark] Doorman.
[rock music playing]
[revs engine]
[engine revving, squealing]
-There you go!
-[laughs]
Yow!
[chuckles]
I love it.
There you go.
So inside this real antique trunk,
this is where your fuel cell is.
Oh, that's so cool.
So you just fill it,
lock it, and you're out.
It's beautiful.
You guys did a great job on it.
Thanks.
But always comes down to the greenbacks.
What do you want for her?
Well, Johnny,
I know this car fits you to a tee.
-Yeah.
-So I'm gonna do you a favor today
and let you have it
for 35 grand.
-Ooh! That's
-[Shawn] Come on.
You were smiling revving up that engine.
You got to admit.
[sighs]
Well, I tell you what.
I got cold hard 25 grand in cash inside.
Oh, man, 25 grand.
I tell you what.
I'm gonna go down to 32.5 for you today.
You know, my wife's a numerologist,
and she told me that
I could spend 25,555 today.
[Mark chuckling]
[Shawn] Are you Are you kidding me?
I tell you what.
I'm gonna go down to 30 grand.
How about 28.5 in cash, and let's just
split the difference, make it a deal.
[suspenseful rock music playing]
[Shawn exhales sharply]
Twenty-eight five?
-Shake his hand, Shawn. Come on now.
-Let's do it.
-I'll shake his hand.
-All right.
All right.
[Mark] I passed the high bid
at the auction on the concept cars,
so it was my responsibility
to make sure everybody got a paycheck.
Well, on behalf of the crew,
we thank you
from the bottom of our hearts.
Yeah, you wanna thank me?
Sell that concept car and bike.
Well, I was thinking I'd just buy you
a case of beer or something.
-But
-Yeah, I'll take them both.
-Both?
-[chuckles]
Okay. Sure.
You ended up getting
one hell of a ride for 28.5.
[Johnny] I'll take it!
[exciting rock music playing]
[Mark] Okay, Tony. Look like
you've been scratching your head.
-What'd you come up with?
-[Tony] A little bit.
I don't read German.
-What?
-So, I'm doing some translating.
[all chuckling]
We got fuel and air. Everything else
is doing what it's supposed to do,
but spark plugs aren't sparking.
I think it's something in the distributor.
-We need a brand-new distributor?
-I think it's just bad.
[Mark] Well, why don't you get Constance
to help you put the distributor in it,
and Caveman and I'll get
the wheels and tires on this thing.
So we can take it
for a hot lap around the corner.
Let's do it.
When Mark had me studying
for my PhD on Porsche motors,
what I found was
the ignition systems can be real finicky.
On the plus side,
I got a lot of extra wire.
[chuckles]
If any of the parts have even
the slightest wear and tear,
then the engine won't run right.
And that old 911 motor that Adam gave us
just happened to have a burned-out part.
This is the old CDI box I pulled out.
[Constance] So there's no fixing this.
The only way you can test it
to know for sure if it's bad
is to put a new one in.
When I was reading the manual,
the instructions literally said,
"Replace with known good part."
That's the first German word I learned.
"Known good part."
What do you guys think?
Do I look like I have
my PhD in Porsche engines?
Just send it over to me,
and I'll put in a known good part.
All right. Fire it up.
[Mark] Rolling.
[engine sputtering]
[engine starts, revs]
Oh, that sounds a lot better.
Tony, hop in. Let's take it
out on the street and see if it works.
[Tony] Let's do it.
Up, up and away!
Hopefully, he doesn't break it this time.
[Caveman laughs]
-Feels pretty good, man.
-Yeah, it doesn't feel too bad, actually.
-All right, I'm gonna hammer it.
-Okay.
-[Tony] Moment of truth!
-Here we go.
[engine revving]
That feels good.
[exciting heavy metal music playing]
It's got a lot of horsepower, man.
This thing is really rocking.
Whoa!
I think we fixed it.
Motor? Check. This thing is tight,
and it's firing on all six cylinders.
As far as having enough power,
we're definitely covered.
-That gets a big high five.
-It was pretty good. Yeah, baby!
[Mark] But we're not finished yet.
We need to dial in all the other
performance elements of this car
to make sure
it's ready to handle the track.
[mellow rock music playing]
[chuckles] I love that noise.
Adam told us he ran
a 2:03 at Willow Springs
in one of his other cars
Let's get the shocks mounted up.
but he's still an amateur driver.
So we wanna make sure
that his run is foolproof.
-18 inches.
-[Tony] I got you.
[Mark] So we're installing QA1
coil-over adjustable shocks
to tighten up the suspension.
This has got to go up
three-quarters of an inch.
We also need to trim the fat
and make sure this car
is as light as possible
and perfectly aerodynamic.
And today, we're gonna be watching
the race from our new binoculars.
[all chuckling]
[Mark] In order to go
under the two-minute mark,
Adam's lap has to be immaculate,
and I'm not leaving
that ten grand bonus up to chance.
-Going for a race?
-We're going racing.
Finally, instead of painting this car,
we're gonna wrap it
in Porsche's most iconic colors.
Oddly enough, wrapping the car
is actually lighter
than putting two gallons of paint on it.
And I want every advantage we can get.
[music fades]
[dramatic synth music building]
When Adam handed off this car,
it looked like a forgotten kit car
left for dead.
[music intensifies]
Now it looks like
it was born for the track.
[tires skidding]
At first, I balked
at the idea of building this car,
but it just might play a huge role
getting this shop back on course.
[music continues]
[music fades]
[dramatic organ music building]
[music fades]
-[Tony] Hey, is, uh, one of you guys Adam?
-That's me.
-Adam. Hey! Tony.
-Hey, Tony.
-This is Constance.
-Hi! I'm Constance.
-And Caveman.
-Hey, man. How we doin'?
So you ready to see your car?
-I'm really excited.
-Yeah.
[car horn honks]
-Oh, here we go. You ready?
-[Caveman] Oh! There it is.
Oh, man.
Oh, that looks so good.
When you look at the car,
it looks fun on the tracks.
-[Mark] How are you? Good to see you.
-Great to see you.
Look a little different
since the last time you saw it?
You guys did such a good job.
The stance was just perfect,
and the the long windshield,
the little tail in the back.
It's a race car. It's what I wanted.
So we've taken it out,
we tuned the suspension.
It's got adjustable
gas shocks on the back.
It's got a fully adjustable gas,
and coils on the front.
That front end is planted.
It ain't gonna slide on you
in any one of these turns.
Think it'll do under two minutes?
Uh, that's up to the driver.
I know the car's capable of it.
If the car's capable of it.
We built a machine.
I know that machine
can do under two minutes on this track.
The, really, only X-Factor,
the one thing that I'm worried about is
Adam. It's all up to him
to beat his own time.
We have no control over the outcome.
[Shawn] Yeah, and this track is no joke.
There's tons of turns. There's banks.
There's elevation changes.
This is a big track.
[Mark] There we go.
Test lap number one.
-[Tony] He's smiling ear to ear right now.
-[Shawn] Yeah.
At this point, we've spent over 25 grand
in hard cash on this Laser build.
So Adam going under two minutes
is the difference between
getting a $25,000 profit
or a $15,000 profit.
That's huge for us right now.
That's the big thing.
[engine starts]
[engine rumbling]
All right, let's see what he can do.
Let's hope he can get there, man.
[Tony] All right,
here comes our rolling start.
Oh, the rolling start. Here it comes.
[exciting techno music playing]
-Oh, dude!
-[Shawn] Man, he's going after it.
Okay, here comes that sweeper.
[tires squealing]
Oh, he's lookin' really good.
He knows what the hell
he's doing out there.
-[Mark] He knows the track.
-[Tony] Throttle down.
Constance, where we at?
-Thirty seconds.
-[Shawn] Thirty seconds.
[engine revving loudly]
Let's go. Come on, Adam.
[Shawn] You better quit
babying that thing!
[tires skidding]
-Man, he's really hammering it.
-[Constance] There we go!
[Shawn] Okay, here comes that big hairpin.
[tires skidding]
[Tony] Uh-oh.
Come on. What's he doing?
He took that turn way too wide.
Don't slow down!
-[Caveman] Come on!
-[Shawn] He better haul ass.
He needs to make up that time.
[engine revving]
-Come on, Adam!
-[Tony] Let's go!
We got a lot on the line right now.
-Where we at, Constance?
-1:30.
One-thirty?
Where is he?
[car approaching]
There he is! There he is!
-Hurry up!
-[Tony] Not gonna get it!
-It's gonna be really close, guys.
-[Shawn] He's coming around, last turn.
[Caveman] Ten grand! Ten grand!
[tires skidding]
-[Tony] Is he gonna get it?
-Come on! Come on!
["Guitar Killer" by Julien Vonarb plays]