Car Masters: Rust to Riches (2018) s04e06 Episode Script
Riding High End
1
[suspenseful music playing]
[Shawn] Man, I thought we had that.
So close.
Back to the drawing board, I guess.
-[Mark] Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop the truck.
-What?
-[Mark] Hold on.
-What're you doing?
What are you doing?
-Really?
-Come here.
You gotta check this out.
We're not done yet.
[Shawn] Wh What is it?
Hey, you guys get lost?
[Shawn] He's like a squirrel.
-I think he found a nut.
-[Sean laughs]
That, my friends,
is a Lincoln Zephyr, dude.
[Shawn] Wow.
You need to call Joe at Speedway Motors
and tell him we just switched cars.
Wait a minute.
We don't even know if he's selling.
You wanna sell this?
I have a couple people
coming this weekend on it,
but if you wanna
haul it away today, 15 grand.
-Sold. I'm buying it. Done deal.
-Oh, my God. Really?
[whirs]
[revving]
[Mark] This is badass.
Not only is it a four-door, my friend,
it's a suicide door, bro.
That is a pretty badass car.
You can't beat that, dude.
We obviously came here to find a GTO
for the Speedway Motors deal,
but that deal fell through
because the car has a salvage title.
To me, that's a blessing in disguise.
Come on, man, a Lincoln Zephyr?
[exciting rock music playing]
The thing about these cars
is it was a short, limited run,
and the only survivors that are out there
are now super hard to find.
As a shop,
we've been trying to hunt this car down
for a very long time.
A few years ago,
Shawn had a deal lined up
to get us a Zephyr.
We were gonna trade for it,
and it was gonna be
a huge six-figure cash out,
but it just wasn't meant to be.
I've got some bad news.
The Zephyr deal fell through.
And not only find one,
but to find one for 15 grand,
that's basically the deal
we've been waiting for for years.
We've been looking for
a Lincoln Zephyr forever, I get that,
but we told Speedway Motors
we were gonna get them a '65 GTO.
They want a show-stopper
just as much as we do.
I'm confident
this is the car for this job.
So just get on the phone
and do your best to talk him into it.
I don't know about this.
You gotta make this happen.
It's up to you now.
All right, I'll give it a shot.
[suspenseful music playing]
[line ringing]
-This is Joe.
-Hey, Joe. It's Shawn from Gotham Garage.
Hey, Shawn.
-Just stumbled across a gem of a build.
-Yeah?
How would you feel about
our Speedway Motors build
being a Lincoln Zephyr?
Wow, I mean, that's a cool car,
but it's way different than a '65 GTO.
Yeah, I get that,
but we just stumbled across
this opportunity,
and Mark's been dreaming of doing
an older Lincoln Zephyr
for quite a while now,
and what a great build this would be
for Speedway Motors and us
to do it in tandem, you know?
Do you have the kind of parts
that'd work for this kind of build?
Oh, yeah, that part would be a slam dunk.
But it's different than what we discussed.
Yeah, but this is a rare opportunity
to stand out in the crowd.
You know what I mean?
You guys think you'll be able
to get it done in time?
If you've got the parts,
we can make it happen in time.
Well, I mean,
we came to you guys for a reason.
If you think you can pull it off,
I say let's do it.
Yeah! Well, let me tell you,
you will not regret this.
We can't wait to see
what you guys do with it.
-Great, thanks. I'll talk to you later.
-Thanks, Shawn.
Well
How'd that go?
Looks like we're doin' a Lincoln Zephyr.
-Well, look at you!
-Come on, have a little faith.
You just sold yourself a Zephyr, Sean.
Thank you very much.
-Congrats.
-Back the truck up, and I'll load it.
Do you want me
to remove the tree out of it first?
-[Mark] Just don't scratch the truck.
-[Shawn] I'll get my ax.
[Sean and Mark chuckling]
[exciting rock music playing]
[Shawn] I think the kids
are gonna be slightly shocked
when they see, uh,
the fruits of our labor here.
-[Mark] Yeah.
-[honks horn]
[Constance] What is that?
-[Caveman] Not a GTO.
-That's not a GTO.
[Constance] I'm confused.
[Tony] Holy crap. Is that a Zephyr?
Yeah. I can't believe you found one.
-How long we've been looking for a Zephyr?
-[Caveman] This thing's badass!
The Zephyr's awesome,
but we have a deal with Speedway Motors,
and we're supposed to build them a GTO.
-[Constance] So here we are.
-So, old smooth-talking Shawny Boy
gets on the phone with Speedway Motors,
and I talked them into doing this Zephyr.
-So they okayed it? Freakin' cool.
-Absolutely.
So if we get this little fine jewel
off this trailer, into the shop,
and then I'll walk you through
everything we're gonna do to it.
[mellow rock music playing]
-[straining]
-Come on, Shawn! Get it, Shawn, come on!
-[thuds]
-[Caveman] Good job! [laughs]
[Shawn] So, we've got our car
for the Speedway Motors build,
but obviously this is just the beginning.
-Turn it to the right.
-You're doing great, Caveman.
This car needs to be show-ready
for a major car show.
And the Goodguys Southwest Nationals
is only about two months away.
That may seem like a lot of time,
but I know Mark's got a crazy,
over-the-top vision for this car.
Man, I can't believe we really have
a Zephyr here in the shop.
[Mark] When you're not looking for it,
you find it.
-That is sexy.
-[Shawn] It's amazing.
[Tony] So what are we doing?
[Mark] Since we're gonna take this car
to the Goodguys show,
I wanna do something crazy to this car.
And knowing it's for Speedway Motors
and it's a promotional vehicle,
we're gonna take this Zephyr
and we're gonna
turn it into a Sedan Delivery.
Sedan Delivery.
[Mark] It's gonna be the ultimate
throwback parts delivery vehicle.
[Caveman] Oh, yeah.
This Goodguy Car Show in Scottsdale,
you mostly see muscle cars or hot rods.
A Sedan Delivery
will definitely stand out.
This style of car became very popular
in the '40s and '50s
as a delivery vehicle
for local businesses.
Plus, they had
a huge back panel on the side
that could turn into
a rolling billboard for your business.
Now that we have the Lincoln Zephyr,
Shawn needs to also
hunt us down a panel truck.
We'll lop off the back of that panel truck
and fuse it to the back
of the Lincoln Zephyr.
We'll also add
a set of Zephyr rear fenders
to complete the metamorphosis.
Underneath, Speedway Motors
is gonna supply us
with a brand-new G-Comp suspension,
front and rear,
plus brand-new Wilwood brakes.
Then up front, we're gonna add
a massive 502 Chevy big-block motor
that's gonna make this car rumble.
We'll slam it to the ground,
finish it off
with a fully custom interior,
and then a custom paint job
that totally represents Gotham Garage
and Speedway Motors.
Everyone that has ever looked at a Zephyr
is gonna go through this thing
with a fine-tooth comb,
so this car has to be pretty much perfect.
So I suggest that you
skedaddle to your little office,
'cause you're gonna have to go
hunt us down a panel truck
and two more Zephyr fenders.
Oh, so I gotta do all the work here?
-All right, you guys do the rest.
-Yeah, all the work.
-Let your fingers do the walking.
-[all chuckling]
[exciting rock music playing]
-[Caveman] Anybody need a couch?
-[Tony] Oh, gosh. [coughing]
I can smell the mold from over here.
-[Constance laughs]
-[Tony] Yeah.
Mark's idea for the Zephyr
is super creative,
and there's no doubt
that the end result is gonna be amazing,
but it's gonna be a ton of work
because this car is rough.
Hey, guys. We have no floor.
[Tony] What do you mean?
-Oh!
-[Constance] Yep.
This is gonna be a massive project.
We need a complete drive-train, engine,
transmission, driveshaft, rear end.
[clangs]
We need brakes, lines,
hoses, cooling system, trim.
Oh, this one's broken.
We have to do absolutely everything.
[music continues]
[Constance] Sketchy, sketchy, sketchy.
[Tony] And on top of that,
Mark wants to cut this car up
and turn it into a completely
different style of car, a Sedan Delivery.
And, by the way,
this car is going to a massive car show.
We have to make this car look like
it would have came
from the factory this way.
That is gonna be a huge challenge for us.
Well, now that we've knocked off
900 pounds of rust and junk, uh
[Constance chuckles]
let's call it a day, and then
once Shawn tracks down a panel truck,
we'll get started making
an even bigger mess in here.
[Caveman] Go team!
[suspenseful music building]
Look at you, hard at work.
Hey, I've been working my butt off here.
And I think I may have actually
tracked down that big high-end client.
Really?
Yessiree, Bob.
Even though we've got
this huge build for Speedway Motors,
Mark had a very particular goal
after selling the concept vehicles.
He wanted to bring in
clients with deep pockets
that were willing to pay for his vision.
So I've been on the lookout
for a high-profile client
that fits that description.
I got a call from Jason Oppenheim,
the president of the Oppenheim Group,
the most successful
real estate agency in L.A.
To get a call
from a guy like Jason Oppenheim,
that's big-time stuff.
This guy is like
the Michael Jordan of L.A. real estate.
You want to talk about deep pockets,
Jason is the epitome of deep pockets.
He saw the concept vehicles,
and he wants a one-off Gotham creation.
And get this,
he just wants to let you run wild with it.
-That's the beauty of this.
-Wow, that's pretty cool.
I have to admit, your instinct was right.
You know, selling these concept vehicles
is leading us to the path
of these super high-end client builds.
What is it? There's a phrase you're
supposed to say when someone says that.
It's, um Oh, I remember. I told you so.
Uh
In all seriousness, this is exactly
where I wanted this to lead the shop.
So when can we go meet this guy?
He's available today.
We can just go down to L.A., talk to him.
Well, how much damage
could the kids do in one day?
-So let's go right now.
-Let's do it.
[ethereal rock music playing]
[upbeat rock music playing]
You know, I used to do
a little real estate flipping myself.
I did pretty good
at flipping a house in Burbank.
-You know what I mean? So
-Don't embarrass me in here.
-[Shawn] That's funny.
-No.
You should consider yourself lucky
that you get front-row seats
to a couple of professionals
-going toe-to-toe.
-[laughs] Yeah.
Jason and I, we play hardball,
if you don't know.
[Mark] You are in a league of your own.
-You're just not in his league.
-Oh-ho!
[Jason] What's up, guys?
-Jason? I'm Shawn.
-Nice to meet you, man.
-Mark. Nice to meet you.
-Please, sit down.
This is kinda swank, I like this.
So let me tell you guys
why I asked you to come out.
A lot of it was
that concept car you built last year.
-That thing was sick.
-[Mark] Thanks.
-It gets a lot of attention, that car.
-Does it? Well, it gets you business.
That's why you're here.
-That's what we're after.
-Yeah.
So, first off, I just want,
like, an old kind of muscle car.
-Okay.
-I like detail.
I want it to be sophisticated and refined.
Quality finishes, custom design.
I want it to drive like a new car.
-Right.
-But I don't want to babysit the process.
I want to defer to the experts on this.
I just want you to run with it.
Well, I was thinking on the way over here.
Back in the '60s, they were doing
a whole lot of things with Corvettes.
They did a Mako Shark,
and a Mako Shark 2, and a Manta Ray.
If you're open to a Corvette,
we could do something like that,
where it has that total
retro muscle car look, but modern.
-I'm totally open to a 'Vette.
-This is what they call a Mako Shark 2.
Ooh, I love the exhaust on the side.
I've actually always wanted
a car with exhaust on the side.
-A side pipe car. Yeah.
-I like this one.
A Gotham Garage car
inspired by the Mako Shark 2
is gonna be the perfect car for Jason.
These were cutting-edge vehicles,
ahead of their time design-wise.
In fact, a lot of the design elements
of these concept cars
were implemented on future Corvettes.
Quite honestly, you nailed it.
I mean, I love this.
-[Mark] Sweet.
-I'm game. That's what I'm looking for.
If we give this car a modern twist
on those design elements,
we're gonna be able
to deliver the perfect car.
If you don't mind,
where are we at on pricing?
I'm at $100,000 for something like that.
100,000?
100 grand is actually
a pretty fair price for this build,
but it's not every day you get to go
toe-to-toe with someone like Jason.
So you need to sit back, relax,
and enjoy the show, my friend.
So we're talking about a one-off
Gotham Garage creation here.
I'm thinking you'd be happy
to pay 130 for something like that.
I think that number is $100,000 even.
[awkward music playing]
Oka Okay, maybe we can give you
the discount rate.
How about we do a 120.
I mean, we're we're not
discount brokers here.
Well, that's why I'm offering
100,000 and not 80,000.
-Let's Let's just do 110
-Let's do 100,000.
We can't No The lowest
-Mark, are we good at 100 grand?
-I'm great at 100 grand, Jason.
We got a deal.
Awesome. Thank you very much.
-You go get the car. Yeah.
-All right.
-I think we have a deal at 100.
-Why did I even bring you?
This is exactly why
we built the concept vehicles,
but now the pressure's on.
He's expecting a ten.
We're gonna have to give him a 25.
And if we can deliver
to a client like him,
it'll potentially lead
to more clients of his caliber.
I know we say this a lot,
but if there was ever a time
to shatter a client's expectations,
it's gotta be on this car.
Shawn, do the paperwork,
send it over to him,
he'll send in a deposit,
and we'll get started on it right away.
-[Shawn] There you go.
-All right. Awesome.
-Pleasure to meet you, Jason.
-Yeah, you too.
I'm excited. Thank you guys again.
[Mark] Looks like you gotta
track down a Corvette, Skippy.
Are you kidding me?
I can track down one of those in my sleep.
We'll have one at the shop
by early morning tomorrow.
[mellow rock music playing]
[honks horn]
-[Tony] What's What's that? Is that us?
-[Constance] That can't be for us.
[Caveman] Hey.
[Constance] This looks
way too nice for us.
Maybe we get to make it ugly.
[Tony and Constance chuckle]
[Constance] We know Mark and Shawn
went up to L.A. for this client meeting,
but they were very vague
about the details.
-[Tony] The body's straight.
-[Caveman] T-top, right?
We literally got a text from Mark.
Let me read it to you.
"Going to L.A. for meeting."
"Don't let Caveman burn shop."
That's pretty nice-looking!
[engine rumbles]
-[Mark] How do you like that?
-[Caveman] Sounds good.
[Constance] I really don't know
what the plan is with this Corvette,
but it's a really good sign
that we're starting with a builder car
that already runs and drives.
-[Tony] I guess the meeting went well.
-Meeting went absolutely perfect.
This is one of our biggest
commission deals yet.
So I think it's a major score,
and he's given us creative license
to do what we want.
[Constance] Okay.
So what's the plan for this build?
[Mark] We're gonna turn this car
into a Gotham Garage version
of the Mako Shark 2.
The Mako Shark 2 looked like
a Stingray Corvette on steroids.
Body lines were over-exaggerated,
and the styling cues were next level.
But the Gotham Garage version of this car,
we wanna take it even one step further.
This car is gonna be all about
meticulous fabrication work.
We'll start by widening the rear fenders,
but we're also gonna give it
a one-of-a-kind carbon fiber front bumper
that stays on the shark theme.
In the rear, we're gonna
completely modify the roofline
and make this car flow
like a classic race car from the '60s.
And then, on the inside,
we'll add a set
of brand-new Braum racing seat
and give it a fully custom dash
with a push-button starter.
We'll complete the transformation
with a set of shiny side pipes
and a timeless Mako Shark 2 paint scheme.
So this is the kind of client
that we were dreaming of
when we sold the concept car.
This is a $100,000 build.
So right now,
this car goes to the front of the queue.
Of course, we need
to keep moving the Zephyr forward.
We're just gonna have to find a way
to balance all of it.
So we need to get this thing dismantled
so that we can make
a badass car out of it.
You need to go find us a panel truck
for the Zephyr build.
Skedaddle out of here right now
and let us work.
I'm gonna lock myself in the office
until I find the perfect panel truck.
Let's get some tools
and get this thing torn apart.
That sounds like a plan, Stan.
[upbeat music playing]
[Tony] Jason is obviously
the type of client
that Mark has been after for years.
When this car first came out,
if you were driving one of these,
you were pretty much the man.
What if you're a woman driving it?
[Caveman and Constance chuckle]
[Tony] But now that we have
full creative control on this build,
we have to make sure
that the work is absolutely impeccable.
Keep in mind,
we've had a few clients in the past
that were supposed to be hands-off.
I want to transform it 100% not 95.
Unfortunately,
that ended up backfiring on us.
We're all hoping
that Jason's gonna be different,
but clearly, he has super high standards.
So if we want this all to go smoothly,
we've got to deliver him the absolute best
that this shop has to offer.
-[clanks]
-[roars]
-[Constance chuckles]
-[Mark] Don't throw it.
[Tony chuckles]
[Caveman] You take the fun
out of dismantling cars.
I know.
Well, that's that, ladies and gentlemen.
So here's the deal.
We're at a standstill on the Zephyr
until Shawn can
track us down a panel truck.
But for tomorrow,
I wanna jump
right back into this Corvette.
So everybody get here bright and early
and be ready
for a long day of fabrication work.
Whoo-whoo!
[mellow rock music playing]
[crickets chirping]
[intense rock music playing]
[music fades]
Constance and Caveman, I want you to get
the rest of the interior out of this car
and get it all vacuumed out
so we can start fabricating a new dash.
While you prep that, Tony and I will do
carbon fiber fender work to the front.
Then we're gonna put
some fiberglass fenders on the back.
So in the meantime, get to work.
-I'll get started now.
-Okey-dokey.
[Mark] Here goes nothing.
[whirring]
If we're gonna pay homage
to the classic Mako Shark 2,
the fabrication on this Corvette
has to be next level.
Just like that. Just outside the tire.
Let me get a measurement on that.
So we need just a bunch of 5-inch pieces.
-Yeah, five five-inchers.
-All right-y.
So we're definitely gonna give it
some super wide fender flares in the back
so we can get
some huge tires underneath it.
Now that we got the fenders done,
we gotta make the front bumper skeleton.
[Tony] I got it.
[Mark] But the super custom touch
we're adding to this car
is a one-off carbon fiber front bumper.
This panel needs to flow into it.
In fact, this line
should probably just fade away.
It'll have that shark-nose look
to stay on the Mako theme,
but it will also match
all of the other lines of the car.
[exciting techno music playing]
[music fades]
[exhales]
[Tony] It kind of looks
like a hammerhead shark.
That's, like, starting to join itself.
It's starting to really take shape, man.
[Tony] Yeah. At the end of this,
the fender flares in the front end
kinda have to be one piece.
[Mark] They kinda have to all be one piece
and work together. Yes.
[Tony] Yeah, that's a lot of stuff
that has to transition back and forth.
[Mark] Yep.
Gotta connect a lot of As to Bs.
We got our work cut out for us
with the rest
of this front bumper, though.
[Mark] Yeah, a lot of work.
We still have to skin it in sheet metal
and then cover it in carbon fiber.
It's not too late
to make it a dolphin car,
we give it a blowhole.
-[laughs]
-[Tony chuckles]
Jason might be the most important client
this shop has ever had.
You know, the first cut's the deepest.
'Cause if we can get
his approval on this car,
it's gonna lead us into that upper echelon
of high high-end clients.
That, ladies and gentlemen,
is why I use carbon fiber.
'Cause you can work it,
and it stays where you put it.
[Tony] Man, carbon fiber
is just the best thing to form.
[Mark] So we gotta take
every part of this car
and show off our skills,
but I also have to consider who Jason is
and what Jason's tastes are gonna be.
This is a man
who likes luxurious, elegant things.
Looking better already, man.
Looks pretty good
once you get the material on there.
And we all know that I like to build
over-exaggerated cartoon cars,
so I have to walk that fine line.
Not get too crazy
but still gonna get as creative as I can,
so he can see that this vehicle
came out of Gotham Garage.
[Caveman] The '80s called.
They want me back,
and I'm going back in this car.
[all chuckle]
The fender flares look good.
The front end looks good.
The interior's all cleaned out,
ready to get prepped. That's good.
I expect Shawn to be back in the morning
with a panel truck,
so Tony and I
are gonna get back on the Zephyr.
Caveman and Constance, you two stay
on this 'Vette and keep moving it forward.
-I can do that.
-[Mark] All right-y.
[exciting rock music playing]
[whirs]
[music ends]
[horn honks]
-That looks like our roof skin.
-Check this out, huh?
1949 Ford panel van.
-Beautiful roof, beautiful tail.
-[Mark] Where'd you get it from?
I had to go all the way
to Pahrump, Nevada, to get this thing.
You went to Nevada?
Yeah. It's an 8-hour round trip.
Shows you how much
we miss you around here.
[Tony chuckles]
I don't care if Shawn found this thing
in Pahrump, Nevada,
or Booger Hole, West Virginia.
Ready, steady, go.
It is exactly what we need to make
my vision of this Zephyr come to life.
-Let's get to work on it.
-[Tony] Yeah.
Yeah. I got, uh, more important work
I gotta get to in the office.
But, hey, you're welcome about the '49.
[Tony] Yep.
[Mark] So we're gonna be merging
the panel truck to the Zephyr.
We're gonna take this off in one piece
and then slide it over that
like a clamshell.
You're makin' it sound kinda easy,
but I feel there'll be a catch in here.
Simple, simple. Simple, simple.
[chuckles]
[Tony] The first massive task
with the Zephyr
is we have to cut down
the back of the panel truck
so it will eventually fit perfect
on the back of the Zephyr.
Sixty-six.
[Tony] But as far as I know,
nobody's ever taken a panel truck
and put it on the back-end of a Zephyr.
When we're said and done,
we gotta take six inches out of the middle
and section it together
'cause this is wider than this.
Yup.
So we basically
have to write the book on this one.
There's no instruction manual.
We have to go step by step
and take our best measurements
and our best guesses,
and there's no exact science to this.
So, where do we want to cut?
[Mark] The tape is what we don't want.
This side, all the way down.
That gives us two inches more sheet metal
than I have calculated that we need,
but we're gonna have to lose
the inner fender wells
'cause we can't slide it over the car.
Should we plasma cut those?
-Just clean out?
-Yeah.
-Get rid of it?
-Get rid of it and get it over.
-Let's cut something.
-All right.
[exciting rock music playing]
Once we cut this panel truck,
there's no turning back.
If we miscalculate, cut too much,
we could have twisted metal
that doesn't line up,
and this thing
could just look absolutely horrible.
-That did it.
-[Mark] Gonna go slow.
[Tony] But this is only phase one.
[Mark] Hard left.
The tricky part comes later
when we fuse these two together
and see if
all of our calculations were correct.
[Mark] If I was Mr. Zephyr,
that's how I would've designed it.
-[Tony] Yeah?
-That is sick, dude.
All we have to do now
is weld it all together
and get it to stay this way.
Marry the two.
But I need Shawn to put in
a metal order before we can do that.
So let's go back over to the other shop
and keep plugging away on the Corvette.
[music continues]
[music fades]
-Hello, this is Tom.
-Hey, Tom, how's it going?
-It's Shawn from Gotham Garage.
-Hey!
Listen, I'm just reaching out to you
because, uh, I got your email,
and it sounds like
you're looking for a custom ride.
Ever since we sold the concept vehicles,
the shop has gotten some major traction.
Did you get those pictures
I sent you of the concept vehicles?
Yeah, I did. I did.
[Shawn] I've been getting
calls from all over,
talking to tons of new people
that are very interested
in owning a car from this shop.
You were talking about
a Gotham Garage ride. You know
-Absolutely, 100% interested.
-Well, that's good to know.
But the trick is gonna be
keeping this momentum going.
-Gotham Garage. How you doing?
-Hey, Shawn.
[Shawn] But everything starts
with Jason's Corvette.
If he loves that car
and we get positive word-of-mouth,
that could be huge for the shop.
If not, we're back to square one.
So we need to make sure we meet
and ideally exceed his expectations.
[Tom] The concept cars
that you guys put together,
the work is just fantastic.
I appreciate it, Tom.
I'll catch up with you soon. Thank you.
-All right, you bet. You take care.
-Yeah. You too.
[mellow rock music playing]
[music fades]
Front end's got quite a bit done to it.
Only needs a little bit of bodywork,
and some primer, then some paint.
-It's the ass end that needs the work.
-[Caveman] Hey!
[Mark] We need to get this roof made.
We gotta make a sheet metal mold,
then pull a piece of fiberglass out of it,
and then fiberglass that down
on top of what is already there, existing.
-Sound simple simple?
-[Tony] Yeah.
All right, I'm gonna find my tape measure.
So grab some tools, and let's get started.
[laughs maniacally]
[dramatic techno music playing]
Changing the roofline on this Corvette
is true custom car building stuff.
It's gonna be 46.
Then this is a 49.
[Tony] The roof is gonna be
made out of fiberglass.
And in order to do that,
we first need to hand-make
a sheet metal mold
that mimics the shape
and structure we want.
-[Mark] That'll look pretty cool, huh?
-I don't hate the shark fin on the back.
-[Mark] It doesn't suck.
-[all chuckling]
[Tony] Once our mold is complete,
we need to lay up fiberglass
inside that mold to create our new roof.
[music fades]
Want to grab the other side of this quick?
-[Tony] Yeah. Let's see what we got here.
-All right-y.
-[Caveman] Whoo.
-[clangs]
[Mark] All right.
All right, first thing you guys gotta do
is cut three layers of fiberglass
that extend two inches out this way
and an inch off of either end.
Don't make it all one piece so I don't
have to argue with one whole giant sheet.
-Oh, you don't wanna argue with it?
-No, I don't wanna argue it.
This kind of looks like a sled.
Too bad we don't have
any snow around here.
[chuckles]
By changing the roofline of the car,
it changes the whole look
in a very subtle way.
[Caveman] Are you the karate kid?
-[laughing]
-You know karate or kung fu?
It gives it
that very timeless muscle car look.
A little bit more like Shelby's Daytona.
You know, I got a bald spot back here,
but the strange thing is
I got hair growing everywhere else.
[chuckling]
[Tony] Our customer, Jason,
is really looking for a classy car.
The little subtle changes like this
are really the things
that are gonna take it over the top
and really impress him.
-[Mark] Grab that and walk around.
-[Caveman] Yeah.
-[Mark] Go your way.
-It's warm. Feels like it's still cooking.
-Yeah?
-Yeah.
[Mark] All right-y.
There you go.
So right now, Caveman and Constance,
I want you to get this thing
prepped for body and paint.
Me and Tony,
we're gonna go over to Gotham Garage
and finish merging
that panel truck to that Zephyr.
-It looks faster.
-[Constance laughs]
[Caveman] Faster, faster, faster!
[mellow rock music playing]
[music fades]
So you ready to cut
the back end of this thing off?
I'm ready to cut it off, but first
I wanna get the back window out of it,
and then we can set this down on here
and make sure
it's all squared up nice and pretty,
weld it on, and then we'll cut the inside
and take it out in sections.
Yep.
[slow dramatic rock music playing]
[Mark] While Constance and Caveman move
the Corvette closer to the finish line,
me and Tony are gonna take
these two cars and turn them into one.
[Tony] There it goes.
There are two super important elements
to this process.
Go back a little bit.
One, these vehicles
need to flow together seamlessly
[Tony] I need to come down
on this side of the body.
In the end, it needs to feel like
this car came from the factory this way.
That's a done deal right there.
A little more cutting
and a lot more welding.
-We're good to go.
-Well, let's finish it up.
[Mark] and two,
it all needs to be structurally sound.
The back half of the panel truck
and the front half of the Zephyr
need to support each other to make sure
that this car is safe and roadworthy.
-Kind of went to town, didn't you?
-[Tony] Well, it's a fixture.
[Mark] If we did our job right,
then this car will flow together
and stay together.
[Tony] That's a pretty
funny-looking sight there.
The car in the car?
The ass-end of the Zephyr
inside the back end of the panel truck.
[Mark] It is weird-looking.
We still got to cut the car
out of the car. Grab yourself a Sawzall.
-[Tony] Gonna take the car out of the car?
-[Mark] Takin' the car out of the car.
So you might be asking yourself,
why would you take such a rare car
as a Zephyr and cut it all up?
Two reasons. One, we're Gotham Garage,
and that's what we do.
Two is, this is a promotional vehicle.
This is a project between
Gotham Garage and Speedway Motors.
The whole point
of this Speedway Motors build
was to go way outside the box
and make something cool,
and there is not gonna be
one Lincoln Zephyr
that looks like this car
at that Goodguys show.
It is the most original way
to marry Gotham Garage
and Speedway Motors.
Looks pretty good. I'm diggin' it.
Yeah. It's lookin' hollow.
[Mark] Now that we got
these two turned into one,
we can put in a giant parts order
with Speedway Motors
so we can actually
turn this into a legit hot rod.
In the meantime, I'm gonna go
up to Hot Dog's and paint that Corvette.
[exciting techno music building]
Knowing Jason's style,
he's gonna want this car
to be clean and tasteful.
So I'm gonna give it
a classic Mako Shark 2-inspired paint job.
I'm gonna use a really subtle
charcoal darker gray on the bottom
and one of the most beautifulest
blue colors on the top.
The trick there
is to blend the two colors seamlessly.
It's elegant,
it fits the style of the car,
and it will make it stand out
without being in your face.
Kind of funny how a car comes together
when the buyer's hands-off
all the way through the project.
No redos.
-[laughs]
-[Mark] Exactly.
The only two big items left
is the double side pipe exhaust
and the interior.
So grab something and start installing it.
All right, well
[imitates foghorn]
This car is a culmination of a journey
that started with the concept vehicles.
-[Tony] Look at that.
-[Mark] Look at that.
With that pairing, the end goal was always
to attract clients like Jason
into this shop.
[Caveman] Almost like they fit, huh?
[Constance chuckles]
[Caveman] I mean
So now that we're here,
it's time to deliver.
If Jason likes this thing
and it blows him away,
that is our foot into the door
of the upper echelon of high-end clients.
[ethereal music playing]
[music intensifies]
[Mark] With this car,
we set out to pay tribute
to the classic
Corvette Mako Shark 2 of the '60s,
but we also needed
to put our own spin on it,
and I think we kind of nailed it.
We started with a late-model C3 Corvette
that was in pristine condition.
And then we just went crazy on it.
[exciting music playing]
It's got some big fender flares,
big shiny wheels, and that front end.
What I had in my mind
actually came to fruition on this vehicle.
But at the end of the day,
it doesn't matter what I think.
It's all gonna come down
to what Jason thinks.
[music fades]
[dramatic music plays]
[music fades]
[brooding rock music playing]
-It's a pretty swank area.
-We're not going to the same place.
No, we're going to his other office
in Newport Beach.
You smell that?
-[sniffs] That's the smell of money.
-I think I can get used to that.
[both chuckle]
I think you nailed it, but you never know
what's inside someone's head, you know?
It's crazy when you get
a real high-end client like this.
He hasn't had any input.
We only sent him a couple of updates,
and he said, "Hey, do what you're doing."
It's cool while you're building,
but now I'm nervous
'cause not a lot of input can be
a good thing when you're building a car,
but it can be a bad thing
if I went in the wrong direction with it.
I just need Jason to go,
"You hit the nail on the head.
Here's your cash."
"I'll call you when I want another."
That's what I'm looking for.
[whimsical music plays, fades]
Pull up, up there.
-What's up?
-[Mark] How you doing?
Good, man.
Jason's reaction to this car
is gonna dictate
where we move forward with all of this.
-[Jason] All right.
-[Shawn] Huh?!
Let's dump it on the ground
and you get a real good look at it.
[clanks]
-[Mark] There you go.
-[Shawn chuckles]
[off-screen] If he loves this car,
we do more of this.
If not Let's not even go there.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Mark] What do you think?
[Jason] It's not
It's a li It's not subtle.
[Mark] No.
[dramatic sting]
[closing theme music playing]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Shawn] Man, I thought we had that.
So close.
Back to the drawing board, I guess.
-[Mark] Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop the truck.
-What?
-[Mark] Hold on.
-What're you doing?
What are you doing?
-Really?
-Come here.
You gotta check this out.
We're not done yet.
[Shawn] Wh What is it?
Hey, you guys get lost?
[Shawn] He's like a squirrel.
-I think he found a nut.
-[Sean laughs]
That, my friends,
is a Lincoln Zephyr, dude.
[Shawn] Wow.
You need to call Joe at Speedway Motors
and tell him we just switched cars.
Wait a minute.
We don't even know if he's selling.
You wanna sell this?
I have a couple people
coming this weekend on it,
but if you wanna
haul it away today, 15 grand.
-Sold. I'm buying it. Done deal.
-Oh, my God. Really?
[whirs]
[revving]
[Mark] This is badass.
Not only is it a four-door, my friend,
it's a suicide door, bro.
That is a pretty badass car.
You can't beat that, dude.
We obviously came here to find a GTO
for the Speedway Motors deal,
but that deal fell through
because the car has a salvage title.
To me, that's a blessing in disguise.
Come on, man, a Lincoln Zephyr?
[exciting rock music playing]
The thing about these cars
is it was a short, limited run,
and the only survivors that are out there
are now super hard to find.
As a shop,
we've been trying to hunt this car down
for a very long time.
A few years ago,
Shawn had a deal lined up
to get us a Zephyr.
We were gonna trade for it,
and it was gonna be
a huge six-figure cash out,
but it just wasn't meant to be.
I've got some bad news.
The Zephyr deal fell through.
And not only find one,
but to find one for 15 grand,
that's basically the deal
we've been waiting for for years.
We've been looking for
a Lincoln Zephyr forever, I get that,
but we told Speedway Motors
we were gonna get them a '65 GTO.
They want a show-stopper
just as much as we do.
I'm confident
this is the car for this job.
So just get on the phone
and do your best to talk him into it.
I don't know about this.
You gotta make this happen.
It's up to you now.
All right, I'll give it a shot.
[suspenseful music playing]
[line ringing]
-This is Joe.
-Hey, Joe. It's Shawn from Gotham Garage.
Hey, Shawn.
-Just stumbled across a gem of a build.
-Yeah?
How would you feel about
our Speedway Motors build
being a Lincoln Zephyr?
Wow, I mean, that's a cool car,
but it's way different than a '65 GTO.
Yeah, I get that,
but we just stumbled across
this opportunity,
and Mark's been dreaming of doing
an older Lincoln Zephyr
for quite a while now,
and what a great build this would be
for Speedway Motors and us
to do it in tandem, you know?
Do you have the kind of parts
that'd work for this kind of build?
Oh, yeah, that part would be a slam dunk.
But it's different than what we discussed.
Yeah, but this is a rare opportunity
to stand out in the crowd.
You know what I mean?
You guys think you'll be able
to get it done in time?
If you've got the parts,
we can make it happen in time.
Well, I mean,
we came to you guys for a reason.
If you think you can pull it off,
I say let's do it.
Yeah! Well, let me tell you,
you will not regret this.
We can't wait to see
what you guys do with it.
-Great, thanks. I'll talk to you later.
-Thanks, Shawn.
Well
How'd that go?
Looks like we're doin' a Lincoln Zephyr.
-Well, look at you!
-Come on, have a little faith.
You just sold yourself a Zephyr, Sean.
Thank you very much.
-Congrats.
-Back the truck up, and I'll load it.
Do you want me
to remove the tree out of it first?
-[Mark] Just don't scratch the truck.
-[Shawn] I'll get my ax.
[Sean and Mark chuckling]
[exciting rock music playing]
[Shawn] I think the kids
are gonna be slightly shocked
when they see, uh,
the fruits of our labor here.
-[Mark] Yeah.
-[honks horn]
[Constance] What is that?
-[Caveman] Not a GTO.
-That's not a GTO.
[Constance] I'm confused.
[Tony] Holy crap. Is that a Zephyr?
Yeah. I can't believe you found one.
-How long we've been looking for a Zephyr?
-[Caveman] This thing's badass!
The Zephyr's awesome,
but we have a deal with Speedway Motors,
and we're supposed to build them a GTO.
-[Constance] So here we are.
-So, old smooth-talking Shawny Boy
gets on the phone with Speedway Motors,
and I talked them into doing this Zephyr.
-So they okayed it? Freakin' cool.
-Absolutely.
So if we get this little fine jewel
off this trailer, into the shop,
and then I'll walk you through
everything we're gonna do to it.
[mellow rock music playing]
-[straining]
-Come on, Shawn! Get it, Shawn, come on!
-[thuds]
-[Caveman] Good job! [laughs]
[Shawn] So, we've got our car
for the Speedway Motors build,
but obviously this is just the beginning.
-Turn it to the right.
-You're doing great, Caveman.
This car needs to be show-ready
for a major car show.
And the Goodguys Southwest Nationals
is only about two months away.
That may seem like a lot of time,
but I know Mark's got a crazy,
over-the-top vision for this car.
Man, I can't believe we really have
a Zephyr here in the shop.
[Mark] When you're not looking for it,
you find it.
-That is sexy.
-[Shawn] It's amazing.
[Tony] So what are we doing?
[Mark] Since we're gonna take this car
to the Goodguys show,
I wanna do something crazy to this car.
And knowing it's for Speedway Motors
and it's a promotional vehicle,
we're gonna take this Zephyr
and we're gonna
turn it into a Sedan Delivery.
Sedan Delivery.
[Mark] It's gonna be the ultimate
throwback parts delivery vehicle.
[Caveman] Oh, yeah.
This Goodguy Car Show in Scottsdale,
you mostly see muscle cars or hot rods.
A Sedan Delivery
will definitely stand out.
This style of car became very popular
in the '40s and '50s
as a delivery vehicle
for local businesses.
Plus, they had
a huge back panel on the side
that could turn into
a rolling billboard for your business.
Now that we have the Lincoln Zephyr,
Shawn needs to also
hunt us down a panel truck.
We'll lop off the back of that panel truck
and fuse it to the back
of the Lincoln Zephyr.
We'll also add
a set of Zephyr rear fenders
to complete the metamorphosis.
Underneath, Speedway Motors
is gonna supply us
with a brand-new G-Comp suspension,
front and rear,
plus brand-new Wilwood brakes.
Then up front, we're gonna add
a massive 502 Chevy big-block motor
that's gonna make this car rumble.
We'll slam it to the ground,
finish it off
with a fully custom interior,
and then a custom paint job
that totally represents Gotham Garage
and Speedway Motors.
Everyone that has ever looked at a Zephyr
is gonna go through this thing
with a fine-tooth comb,
so this car has to be pretty much perfect.
So I suggest that you
skedaddle to your little office,
'cause you're gonna have to go
hunt us down a panel truck
and two more Zephyr fenders.
Oh, so I gotta do all the work here?
-All right, you guys do the rest.
-Yeah, all the work.
-Let your fingers do the walking.
-[all chuckling]
[exciting rock music playing]
-[Caveman] Anybody need a couch?
-[Tony] Oh, gosh. [coughing]
I can smell the mold from over here.
-[Constance laughs]
-[Tony] Yeah.
Mark's idea for the Zephyr
is super creative,
and there's no doubt
that the end result is gonna be amazing,
but it's gonna be a ton of work
because this car is rough.
Hey, guys. We have no floor.
[Tony] What do you mean?
-Oh!
-[Constance] Yep.
This is gonna be a massive project.
We need a complete drive-train, engine,
transmission, driveshaft, rear end.
[clangs]
We need brakes, lines,
hoses, cooling system, trim.
Oh, this one's broken.
We have to do absolutely everything.
[music continues]
[Constance] Sketchy, sketchy, sketchy.
[Tony] And on top of that,
Mark wants to cut this car up
and turn it into a completely
different style of car, a Sedan Delivery.
And, by the way,
this car is going to a massive car show.
We have to make this car look like
it would have came
from the factory this way.
That is gonna be a huge challenge for us.
Well, now that we've knocked off
900 pounds of rust and junk, uh
[Constance chuckles]
let's call it a day, and then
once Shawn tracks down a panel truck,
we'll get started making
an even bigger mess in here.
[Caveman] Go team!
[suspenseful music building]
Look at you, hard at work.
Hey, I've been working my butt off here.
And I think I may have actually
tracked down that big high-end client.
Really?
Yessiree, Bob.
Even though we've got
this huge build for Speedway Motors,
Mark had a very particular goal
after selling the concept vehicles.
He wanted to bring in
clients with deep pockets
that were willing to pay for his vision.
So I've been on the lookout
for a high-profile client
that fits that description.
I got a call from Jason Oppenheim,
the president of the Oppenheim Group,
the most successful
real estate agency in L.A.
To get a call
from a guy like Jason Oppenheim,
that's big-time stuff.
This guy is like
the Michael Jordan of L.A. real estate.
You want to talk about deep pockets,
Jason is the epitome of deep pockets.
He saw the concept vehicles,
and he wants a one-off Gotham creation.
And get this,
he just wants to let you run wild with it.
-That's the beauty of this.
-Wow, that's pretty cool.
I have to admit, your instinct was right.
You know, selling these concept vehicles
is leading us to the path
of these super high-end client builds.
What is it? There's a phrase you're
supposed to say when someone says that.
It's, um Oh, I remember. I told you so.
Uh
In all seriousness, this is exactly
where I wanted this to lead the shop.
So when can we go meet this guy?
He's available today.
We can just go down to L.A., talk to him.
Well, how much damage
could the kids do in one day?
-So let's go right now.
-Let's do it.
[ethereal rock music playing]
[upbeat rock music playing]
You know, I used to do
a little real estate flipping myself.
I did pretty good
at flipping a house in Burbank.
-You know what I mean? So
-Don't embarrass me in here.
-[Shawn] That's funny.
-No.
You should consider yourself lucky
that you get front-row seats
to a couple of professionals
-going toe-to-toe.
-[laughs] Yeah.
Jason and I, we play hardball,
if you don't know.
[Mark] You are in a league of your own.
-You're just not in his league.
-Oh-ho!
[Jason] What's up, guys?
-Jason? I'm Shawn.
-Nice to meet you, man.
-Mark. Nice to meet you.
-Please, sit down.
This is kinda swank, I like this.
So let me tell you guys
why I asked you to come out.
A lot of it was
that concept car you built last year.
-That thing was sick.
-[Mark] Thanks.
-It gets a lot of attention, that car.
-Does it? Well, it gets you business.
That's why you're here.
-That's what we're after.
-Yeah.
So, first off, I just want,
like, an old kind of muscle car.
-Okay.
-I like detail.
I want it to be sophisticated and refined.
Quality finishes, custom design.
I want it to drive like a new car.
-Right.
-But I don't want to babysit the process.
I want to defer to the experts on this.
I just want you to run with it.
Well, I was thinking on the way over here.
Back in the '60s, they were doing
a whole lot of things with Corvettes.
They did a Mako Shark,
and a Mako Shark 2, and a Manta Ray.
If you're open to a Corvette,
we could do something like that,
where it has that total
retro muscle car look, but modern.
-I'm totally open to a 'Vette.
-This is what they call a Mako Shark 2.
Ooh, I love the exhaust on the side.
I've actually always wanted
a car with exhaust on the side.
-A side pipe car. Yeah.
-I like this one.
A Gotham Garage car
inspired by the Mako Shark 2
is gonna be the perfect car for Jason.
These were cutting-edge vehicles,
ahead of their time design-wise.
In fact, a lot of the design elements
of these concept cars
were implemented on future Corvettes.
Quite honestly, you nailed it.
I mean, I love this.
-[Mark] Sweet.
-I'm game. That's what I'm looking for.
If we give this car a modern twist
on those design elements,
we're gonna be able
to deliver the perfect car.
If you don't mind,
where are we at on pricing?
I'm at $100,000 for something like that.
100,000?
100 grand is actually
a pretty fair price for this build,
but it's not every day you get to go
toe-to-toe with someone like Jason.
So you need to sit back, relax,
and enjoy the show, my friend.
So we're talking about a one-off
Gotham Garage creation here.
I'm thinking you'd be happy
to pay 130 for something like that.
I think that number is $100,000 even.
[awkward music playing]
Oka Okay, maybe we can give you
the discount rate.
How about we do a 120.
I mean, we're we're not
discount brokers here.
Well, that's why I'm offering
100,000 and not 80,000.
-Let's Let's just do 110
-Let's do 100,000.
We can't No The lowest
-Mark, are we good at 100 grand?
-I'm great at 100 grand, Jason.
We got a deal.
Awesome. Thank you very much.
-You go get the car. Yeah.
-All right.
-I think we have a deal at 100.
-Why did I even bring you?
This is exactly why
we built the concept vehicles,
but now the pressure's on.
He's expecting a ten.
We're gonna have to give him a 25.
And if we can deliver
to a client like him,
it'll potentially lead
to more clients of his caliber.
I know we say this a lot,
but if there was ever a time
to shatter a client's expectations,
it's gotta be on this car.
Shawn, do the paperwork,
send it over to him,
he'll send in a deposit,
and we'll get started on it right away.
-[Shawn] There you go.
-All right. Awesome.
-Pleasure to meet you, Jason.
-Yeah, you too.
I'm excited. Thank you guys again.
[Mark] Looks like you gotta
track down a Corvette, Skippy.
Are you kidding me?
I can track down one of those in my sleep.
We'll have one at the shop
by early morning tomorrow.
[mellow rock music playing]
[honks horn]
-[Tony] What's What's that? Is that us?
-[Constance] That can't be for us.
[Caveman] Hey.
[Constance] This looks
way too nice for us.
Maybe we get to make it ugly.
[Tony and Constance chuckle]
[Constance] We know Mark and Shawn
went up to L.A. for this client meeting,
but they were very vague
about the details.
-[Tony] The body's straight.
-[Caveman] T-top, right?
We literally got a text from Mark.
Let me read it to you.
"Going to L.A. for meeting."
"Don't let Caveman burn shop."
That's pretty nice-looking!
[engine rumbles]
-[Mark] How do you like that?
-[Caveman] Sounds good.
[Constance] I really don't know
what the plan is with this Corvette,
but it's a really good sign
that we're starting with a builder car
that already runs and drives.
-[Tony] I guess the meeting went well.
-Meeting went absolutely perfect.
This is one of our biggest
commission deals yet.
So I think it's a major score,
and he's given us creative license
to do what we want.
[Constance] Okay.
So what's the plan for this build?
[Mark] We're gonna turn this car
into a Gotham Garage version
of the Mako Shark 2.
The Mako Shark 2 looked like
a Stingray Corvette on steroids.
Body lines were over-exaggerated,
and the styling cues were next level.
But the Gotham Garage version of this car,
we wanna take it even one step further.
This car is gonna be all about
meticulous fabrication work.
We'll start by widening the rear fenders,
but we're also gonna give it
a one-of-a-kind carbon fiber front bumper
that stays on the shark theme.
In the rear, we're gonna
completely modify the roofline
and make this car flow
like a classic race car from the '60s.
And then, on the inside,
we'll add a set
of brand-new Braum racing seat
and give it a fully custom dash
with a push-button starter.
We'll complete the transformation
with a set of shiny side pipes
and a timeless Mako Shark 2 paint scheme.
So this is the kind of client
that we were dreaming of
when we sold the concept car.
This is a $100,000 build.
So right now,
this car goes to the front of the queue.
Of course, we need
to keep moving the Zephyr forward.
We're just gonna have to find a way
to balance all of it.
So we need to get this thing dismantled
so that we can make
a badass car out of it.
You need to go find us a panel truck
for the Zephyr build.
Skedaddle out of here right now
and let us work.
I'm gonna lock myself in the office
until I find the perfect panel truck.
Let's get some tools
and get this thing torn apart.
That sounds like a plan, Stan.
[upbeat music playing]
[Tony] Jason is obviously
the type of client
that Mark has been after for years.
When this car first came out,
if you were driving one of these,
you were pretty much the man.
What if you're a woman driving it?
[Caveman and Constance chuckle]
[Tony] But now that we have
full creative control on this build,
we have to make sure
that the work is absolutely impeccable.
Keep in mind,
we've had a few clients in the past
that were supposed to be hands-off.
I want to transform it 100% not 95.
Unfortunately,
that ended up backfiring on us.
We're all hoping
that Jason's gonna be different,
but clearly, he has super high standards.
So if we want this all to go smoothly,
we've got to deliver him the absolute best
that this shop has to offer.
-[clanks]
-[roars]
-[Constance chuckles]
-[Mark] Don't throw it.
[Tony chuckles]
[Caveman] You take the fun
out of dismantling cars.
I know.
Well, that's that, ladies and gentlemen.
So here's the deal.
We're at a standstill on the Zephyr
until Shawn can
track us down a panel truck.
But for tomorrow,
I wanna jump
right back into this Corvette.
So everybody get here bright and early
and be ready
for a long day of fabrication work.
Whoo-whoo!
[mellow rock music playing]
[crickets chirping]
[intense rock music playing]
[music fades]
Constance and Caveman, I want you to get
the rest of the interior out of this car
and get it all vacuumed out
so we can start fabricating a new dash.
While you prep that, Tony and I will do
carbon fiber fender work to the front.
Then we're gonna put
some fiberglass fenders on the back.
So in the meantime, get to work.
-I'll get started now.
-Okey-dokey.
[Mark] Here goes nothing.
[whirring]
If we're gonna pay homage
to the classic Mako Shark 2,
the fabrication on this Corvette
has to be next level.
Just like that. Just outside the tire.
Let me get a measurement on that.
So we need just a bunch of 5-inch pieces.
-Yeah, five five-inchers.
-All right-y.
So we're definitely gonna give it
some super wide fender flares in the back
so we can get
some huge tires underneath it.
Now that we got the fenders done,
we gotta make the front bumper skeleton.
[Tony] I got it.
[Mark] But the super custom touch
we're adding to this car
is a one-off carbon fiber front bumper.
This panel needs to flow into it.
In fact, this line
should probably just fade away.
It'll have that shark-nose look
to stay on the Mako theme,
but it will also match
all of the other lines of the car.
[exciting techno music playing]
[music fades]
[exhales]
[Tony] It kind of looks
like a hammerhead shark.
That's, like, starting to join itself.
It's starting to really take shape, man.
[Tony] Yeah. At the end of this,
the fender flares in the front end
kinda have to be one piece.
[Mark] They kinda have to all be one piece
and work together. Yes.
[Tony] Yeah, that's a lot of stuff
that has to transition back and forth.
[Mark] Yep.
Gotta connect a lot of As to Bs.
We got our work cut out for us
with the rest
of this front bumper, though.
[Mark] Yeah, a lot of work.
We still have to skin it in sheet metal
and then cover it in carbon fiber.
It's not too late
to make it a dolphin car,
we give it a blowhole.
-[laughs]
-[Tony chuckles]
Jason might be the most important client
this shop has ever had.
You know, the first cut's the deepest.
'Cause if we can get
his approval on this car,
it's gonna lead us into that upper echelon
of high high-end clients.
That, ladies and gentlemen,
is why I use carbon fiber.
'Cause you can work it,
and it stays where you put it.
[Tony] Man, carbon fiber
is just the best thing to form.
[Mark] So we gotta take
every part of this car
and show off our skills,
but I also have to consider who Jason is
and what Jason's tastes are gonna be.
This is a man
who likes luxurious, elegant things.
Looking better already, man.
Looks pretty good
once you get the material on there.
And we all know that I like to build
over-exaggerated cartoon cars,
so I have to walk that fine line.
Not get too crazy
but still gonna get as creative as I can,
so he can see that this vehicle
came out of Gotham Garage.
[Caveman] The '80s called.
They want me back,
and I'm going back in this car.
[all chuckle]
The fender flares look good.
The front end looks good.
The interior's all cleaned out,
ready to get prepped. That's good.
I expect Shawn to be back in the morning
with a panel truck,
so Tony and I
are gonna get back on the Zephyr.
Caveman and Constance, you two stay
on this 'Vette and keep moving it forward.
-I can do that.
-[Mark] All right-y.
[exciting rock music playing]
[whirs]
[music ends]
[horn honks]
-That looks like our roof skin.
-Check this out, huh?
1949 Ford panel van.
-Beautiful roof, beautiful tail.
-[Mark] Where'd you get it from?
I had to go all the way
to Pahrump, Nevada, to get this thing.
You went to Nevada?
Yeah. It's an 8-hour round trip.
Shows you how much
we miss you around here.
[Tony chuckles]
I don't care if Shawn found this thing
in Pahrump, Nevada,
or Booger Hole, West Virginia.
Ready, steady, go.
It is exactly what we need to make
my vision of this Zephyr come to life.
-Let's get to work on it.
-[Tony] Yeah.
Yeah. I got, uh, more important work
I gotta get to in the office.
But, hey, you're welcome about the '49.
[Tony] Yep.
[Mark] So we're gonna be merging
the panel truck to the Zephyr.
We're gonna take this off in one piece
and then slide it over that
like a clamshell.
You're makin' it sound kinda easy,
but I feel there'll be a catch in here.
Simple, simple. Simple, simple.
[chuckles]
[Tony] The first massive task
with the Zephyr
is we have to cut down
the back of the panel truck
so it will eventually fit perfect
on the back of the Zephyr.
Sixty-six.
[Tony] But as far as I know,
nobody's ever taken a panel truck
and put it on the back-end of a Zephyr.
When we're said and done,
we gotta take six inches out of the middle
and section it together
'cause this is wider than this.
Yup.
So we basically
have to write the book on this one.
There's no instruction manual.
We have to go step by step
and take our best measurements
and our best guesses,
and there's no exact science to this.
So, where do we want to cut?
[Mark] The tape is what we don't want.
This side, all the way down.
That gives us two inches more sheet metal
than I have calculated that we need,
but we're gonna have to lose
the inner fender wells
'cause we can't slide it over the car.
Should we plasma cut those?
-Just clean out?
-Yeah.
-Get rid of it?
-Get rid of it and get it over.
-Let's cut something.
-All right.
[exciting rock music playing]
Once we cut this panel truck,
there's no turning back.
If we miscalculate, cut too much,
we could have twisted metal
that doesn't line up,
and this thing
could just look absolutely horrible.
-That did it.
-[Mark] Gonna go slow.
[Tony] But this is only phase one.
[Mark] Hard left.
The tricky part comes later
when we fuse these two together
and see if
all of our calculations were correct.
[Mark] If I was Mr. Zephyr,
that's how I would've designed it.
-[Tony] Yeah?
-That is sick, dude.
All we have to do now
is weld it all together
and get it to stay this way.
Marry the two.
But I need Shawn to put in
a metal order before we can do that.
So let's go back over to the other shop
and keep plugging away on the Corvette.
[music continues]
[music fades]
-Hello, this is Tom.
-Hey, Tom, how's it going?
-It's Shawn from Gotham Garage.
-Hey!
Listen, I'm just reaching out to you
because, uh, I got your email,
and it sounds like
you're looking for a custom ride.
Ever since we sold the concept vehicles,
the shop has gotten some major traction.
Did you get those pictures
I sent you of the concept vehicles?
Yeah, I did. I did.
[Shawn] I've been getting
calls from all over,
talking to tons of new people
that are very interested
in owning a car from this shop.
You were talking about
a Gotham Garage ride. You know
-Absolutely, 100% interested.
-Well, that's good to know.
But the trick is gonna be
keeping this momentum going.
-Gotham Garage. How you doing?
-Hey, Shawn.
[Shawn] But everything starts
with Jason's Corvette.
If he loves that car
and we get positive word-of-mouth,
that could be huge for the shop.
If not, we're back to square one.
So we need to make sure we meet
and ideally exceed his expectations.
[Tom] The concept cars
that you guys put together,
the work is just fantastic.
I appreciate it, Tom.
I'll catch up with you soon. Thank you.
-All right, you bet. You take care.
-Yeah. You too.
[mellow rock music playing]
[music fades]
Front end's got quite a bit done to it.
Only needs a little bit of bodywork,
and some primer, then some paint.
-It's the ass end that needs the work.
-[Caveman] Hey!
[Mark] We need to get this roof made.
We gotta make a sheet metal mold,
then pull a piece of fiberglass out of it,
and then fiberglass that down
on top of what is already there, existing.
-Sound simple simple?
-[Tony] Yeah.
All right, I'm gonna find my tape measure.
So grab some tools, and let's get started.
[laughs maniacally]
[dramatic techno music playing]
Changing the roofline on this Corvette
is true custom car building stuff.
It's gonna be 46.
Then this is a 49.
[Tony] The roof is gonna be
made out of fiberglass.
And in order to do that,
we first need to hand-make
a sheet metal mold
that mimics the shape
and structure we want.
-[Mark] That'll look pretty cool, huh?
-I don't hate the shark fin on the back.
-[Mark] It doesn't suck.
-[all chuckling]
[Tony] Once our mold is complete,
we need to lay up fiberglass
inside that mold to create our new roof.
[music fades]
Want to grab the other side of this quick?
-[Tony] Yeah. Let's see what we got here.
-All right-y.
-[Caveman] Whoo.
-[clangs]
[Mark] All right.
All right, first thing you guys gotta do
is cut three layers of fiberglass
that extend two inches out this way
and an inch off of either end.
Don't make it all one piece so I don't
have to argue with one whole giant sheet.
-Oh, you don't wanna argue with it?
-No, I don't wanna argue it.
This kind of looks like a sled.
Too bad we don't have
any snow around here.
[chuckles]
By changing the roofline of the car,
it changes the whole look
in a very subtle way.
[Caveman] Are you the karate kid?
-[laughing]
-You know karate or kung fu?
It gives it
that very timeless muscle car look.
A little bit more like Shelby's Daytona.
You know, I got a bald spot back here,
but the strange thing is
I got hair growing everywhere else.
[chuckling]
[Tony] Our customer, Jason,
is really looking for a classy car.
The little subtle changes like this
are really the things
that are gonna take it over the top
and really impress him.
-[Mark] Grab that and walk around.
-[Caveman] Yeah.
-[Mark] Go your way.
-It's warm. Feels like it's still cooking.
-Yeah?
-Yeah.
[Mark] All right-y.
There you go.
So right now, Caveman and Constance,
I want you to get this thing
prepped for body and paint.
Me and Tony,
we're gonna go over to Gotham Garage
and finish merging
that panel truck to that Zephyr.
-It looks faster.
-[Constance laughs]
[Caveman] Faster, faster, faster!
[mellow rock music playing]
[music fades]
So you ready to cut
the back end of this thing off?
I'm ready to cut it off, but first
I wanna get the back window out of it,
and then we can set this down on here
and make sure
it's all squared up nice and pretty,
weld it on, and then we'll cut the inside
and take it out in sections.
Yep.
[slow dramatic rock music playing]
[Mark] While Constance and Caveman move
the Corvette closer to the finish line,
me and Tony are gonna take
these two cars and turn them into one.
[Tony] There it goes.
There are two super important elements
to this process.
Go back a little bit.
One, these vehicles
need to flow together seamlessly
[Tony] I need to come down
on this side of the body.
In the end, it needs to feel like
this car came from the factory this way.
That's a done deal right there.
A little more cutting
and a lot more welding.
-We're good to go.
-Well, let's finish it up.
[Mark] and two,
it all needs to be structurally sound.
The back half of the panel truck
and the front half of the Zephyr
need to support each other to make sure
that this car is safe and roadworthy.
-Kind of went to town, didn't you?
-[Tony] Well, it's a fixture.
[Mark] If we did our job right,
then this car will flow together
and stay together.
[Tony] That's a pretty
funny-looking sight there.
The car in the car?
The ass-end of the Zephyr
inside the back end of the panel truck.
[Mark] It is weird-looking.
We still got to cut the car
out of the car. Grab yourself a Sawzall.
-[Tony] Gonna take the car out of the car?
-[Mark] Takin' the car out of the car.
So you might be asking yourself,
why would you take such a rare car
as a Zephyr and cut it all up?
Two reasons. One, we're Gotham Garage,
and that's what we do.
Two is, this is a promotional vehicle.
This is a project between
Gotham Garage and Speedway Motors.
The whole point
of this Speedway Motors build
was to go way outside the box
and make something cool,
and there is not gonna be
one Lincoln Zephyr
that looks like this car
at that Goodguys show.
It is the most original way
to marry Gotham Garage
and Speedway Motors.
Looks pretty good. I'm diggin' it.
Yeah. It's lookin' hollow.
[Mark] Now that we got
these two turned into one,
we can put in a giant parts order
with Speedway Motors
so we can actually
turn this into a legit hot rod.
In the meantime, I'm gonna go
up to Hot Dog's and paint that Corvette.
[exciting techno music building]
Knowing Jason's style,
he's gonna want this car
to be clean and tasteful.
So I'm gonna give it
a classic Mako Shark 2-inspired paint job.
I'm gonna use a really subtle
charcoal darker gray on the bottom
and one of the most beautifulest
blue colors on the top.
The trick there
is to blend the two colors seamlessly.
It's elegant,
it fits the style of the car,
and it will make it stand out
without being in your face.
Kind of funny how a car comes together
when the buyer's hands-off
all the way through the project.
No redos.
-[laughs]
-[Mark] Exactly.
The only two big items left
is the double side pipe exhaust
and the interior.
So grab something and start installing it.
All right, well
[imitates foghorn]
This car is a culmination of a journey
that started with the concept vehicles.
-[Tony] Look at that.
-[Mark] Look at that.
With that pairing, the end goal was always
to attract clients like Jason
into this shop.
[Caveman] Almost like they fit, huh?
[Constance chuckles]
[Caveman] I mean
So now that we're here,
it's time to deliver.
If Jason likes this thing
and it blows him away,
that is our foot into the door
of the upper echelon of high-end clients.
[ethereal music playing]
[music intensifies]
[Mark] With this car,
we set out to pay tribute
to the classic
Corvette Mako Shark 2 of the '60s,
but we also needed
to put our own spin on it,
and I think we kind of nailed it.
We started with a late-model C3 Corvette
that was in pristine condition.
And then we just went crazy on it.
[exciting music playing]
It's got some big fender flares,
big shiny wheels, and that front end.
What I had in my mind
actually came to fruition on this vehicle.
But at the end of the day,
it doesn't matter what I think.
It's all gonna come down
to what Jason thinks.
[music fades]
[dramatic music plays]
[music fades]
[brooding rock music playing]
-It's a pretty swank area.
-We're not going to the same place.
No, we're going to his other office
in Newport Beach.
You smell that?
-[sniffs] That's the smell of money.
-I think I can get used to that.
[both chuckle]
I think you nailed it, but you never know
what's inside someone's head, you know?
It's crazy when you get
a real high-end client like this.
He hasn't had any input.
We only sent him a couple of updates,
and he said, "Hey, do what you're doing."
It's cool while you're building,
but now I'm nervous
'cause not a lot of input can be
a good thing when you're building a car,
but it can be a bad thing
if I went in the wrong direction with it.
I just need Jason to go,
"You hit the nail on the head.
Here's your cash."
"I'll call you when I want another."
That's what I'm looking for.
[whimsical music plays, fades]
Pull up, up there.
-What's up?
-[Mark] How you doing?
Good, man.
Jason's reaction to this car
is gonna dictate
where we move forward with all of this.
-[Jason] All right.
-[Shawn] Huh?!
Let's dump it on the ground
and you get a real good look at it.
[clanks]
-[Mark] There you go.
-[Shawn chuckles]
[off-screen] If he loves this car,
we do more of this.
If not Let's not even go there.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Mark] What do you think?
[Jason] It's not
It's a li It's not subtle.
[Mark] No.
[dramatic sting]
[closing theme music playing]