Car Masters: Rust to Riches (2018) s01e03 Episode Script
Buggin' Out
1
I guess we’re off to sell
a ’70 Fleetside Chevy truck, huh?
Yes, we are.
We really have to make this
worth our while.
[Shawn] We were hoping to trade
this ’70 Fleetside for a 1939 Zephyr body,
but that deal fell through.
We’ve decided if we get more
than 60 grand for this truck,
we’re just gonna sell it because that
puts about 30 grand in the team’s pocket.
-[Shawn] Mike, this is Mark.
-Good to meet you.
-Heard good things.
-Yeah?
Show me some of the things
I’m getting into here.
-The best is yet to come.
-[both laugh]
I’m looking for a nice, badass,
reliable truck.
We started talking to Mark and Shawn.
We windowed out the hood.
Tony made those bezels.
-[Mike] That’s rad.
-That’s pretty slick.
[exhales]
[Mike] The hood
is probably one of my favorite parts.
You can actually see the stacks
through the hood. Pretty cool detail.
He made these custom
billet aluminum mirrors.
Speaker grilles match the radiator grille.
[Mike]
There’s just a lot of cool custom touches.
All those kind of little details matter.
And I think they nailed it.
I just hope he doesn’t try
to murder me on it. [laughs]
Well, we’re just gonna
let you have it for 80 grand.
-[Mike] That’s steep, man.
-And that…
65 grand?
I’ll come down all the way to 75 for ya.
Yeah, I mean, I could be at 72,500.
I tell you what.
You go 73,500 and we’re done.
[exhales]
[Shawn] Come on.
[Mike] Ah…
I know you want to shake my hand
right now. 73,500.
And it’s a done deal!
[Mike laughs]
For 73,500 you got yourself…
Can I spin it? Can I take it for a spin?
You can tear it up.
Yeah, I want to get the paperwork done
inside first.
Then he can do whatever he wants.
He can take the rubber off
the back tires and…
There you go.
[Mark] I’m not gonna say anything
in front of anybody at the shop,
but you did a pretty good job.
But I won’t ever repeat that
or acknowledge the fact that I said it.
I got a recorder in my back pocket.
You know that, right?
[Shawn] Man, it’s not even 10:00
and it’s already roasting out here.
Who wants to know how good we did? I see smiles. That’s a good thing.
Wait. Wait. Let’s see. Let’s see.
-That’s a smirk.
-It’s a smirk.
There’s a smile and a smirk.
We got 73,500 for the truck.
That was right in the wheelhouse
that we were looking for.
Yeah. That’s a nice little payday.
[Shawn] Between the money we spent
fixing up the T-Bird
to trade up for the Fleetside
and the money it took to upgrade that,
we spent a total of $32,000.
After selling it for 73,500,
we’re taking home a nice profit
of $41,500.
Zephyr would have been a bigger number.
That carrot was in front of us
for so long, it’s still stuck.
I’ll get you another carrot.
Trust me on that one.
[Mark] So we finished
the ’70 Fleetside Chevy truck.
Tony did a really good job on it,
and we made some really good money.
Now I gotta go sit down with Shawn
and go over the game plan
to figure out what we’re gonna do next.
Ah.
You got the little cozy
air-conditioned office, don’t ya?
-The way it’s supposed to be.
-[Mark] It’s 100 degrees out.
Everybody’s sweating their balls off,
and you’re sitting in here
in a little air-conditioned room?
This is where the thinking goes on. This
is the important part of the business.
-That’s why…
-Oh, is it? The cars mean nothing?
What’s your next big “upgrade and trade”?
I’m working on finding a deal.
I’ll keep you posted
on how I’m doing that.
All right. Good deal.
What are we gonna do in the meantime?
I’m not big on doing cars for friends,
but I was talking to Amber.
She actually mentioned to me that she’d
like to have one of our cars, you know.
-Does she have a budget?
-Yeah.
She did say she had about 12 grand.
Amber is a friend of the shop.
Amber’s an actress and a model
and she’s a hot-rod girl.
There’s not a lot of profit in that,
in a car for 12 grand.
We’re gonna have to do one
of those little Gotham Garage specials.
We’re gonna have to do a zero-budget car.
There’s enough parts back there
in the building to build six cars.
Clear out the shop
and put money in our pocket.
-I like that.
-Yeah.
-I just need a car to build it on.
-All right.
What about that Volkswagen Bug
we got up in storage?
That would make a perfect donor car
for anything we’re gonna do.
All right. I’ll swing by and pick it up.
But first I’m gonna hit some salvage yards
to look for our next trade-up car.
Sounds like a deal to me.
Nice talking to you.
I’m gonna go back to work.
Go figure out something to do.
Keep yourself busy.
I feel bad about the Zephyr deal
falling through, so I got two things on the agenda today.
I gotta stop by our storage and pick up
an old ’70s Beetle for our friend Amber.
But first I’m gonna go to some
salvage yards looking for another car
that we can upgrade and trade.
The good deals are never easy to find.
I’m a junkyard dog,
and I love this kind of stuff.
I love hunting through yards and yards of
cars and parts, just looking for the gold.
All sorts of money over here.
I was raised in a body shop,
and it’s just in my blood. I lived it.
Oh. Hot.
And I ended up being at car auctions
when I was like 16 or 17.
I was like the youngest guy there.
I liked the fact
that I was with the big boys,
wheelin’ and dealin’ cars
at such a young age, you know.
Somebody needs to finish this up ’cause
there’s just money sitting right there.
This thing’s pretty cool too.
I just have a passion for it. I like doing
everything with cars, you know.
It’s just something in your blood.
[man] This heat, man. I had enough, bro.
[man 2] Dude, I’m over it.
-[man] Hey, you’re back.
-[Mark] What’s happening?
Yes, I am.
Shawn took a little side road home
and picked up a little jewel
we had sitting in storage.
-A jewel, huh?
-Yes.
It could be a pretty quick flip,
get some cash.
And we already got a buyer for it.
This is a perfect example
of why I don’t throw anything away.
Through all of the parts
I already have in the shop,
parts that we’ve taken off of cars
that I didn’t get rid of,
parts I bought at swap meets,
parts that we bought for other projects
that never got installed on that project
because it really didn’t work out,
these guys won’t have to go
to the auto parts to get a single thing.
Here it is. This is your new baby jewel.
-[man laughing]
-[Mark] Ta-da!
[man] Oh, God!
[Mark] Remember,
we have everything in the shop for this.
So…
[man laughing]
Don’t look at it just yet.
Hang on a second.
-[man 1] He’s cleaning it up.
-[man 2]Are you polishing a turd?
Yes, I am.
You found the biggest turd.
That’s for sure.
-[man] There you go.
-It’s like a little Barbie car.
What I’m thinking basically
is we do a Bug rod.
Amber is
a really good-looking pinup-style girl.
She has that old retro look to herself.
We’re gonna have to build her a car that
matches her personality and her style.
Even though this Bug
looks like a piece of crap right now,
with a little bit of imagination,
you can take these cars
and turn them into virtually anything.
The Volkswagen Beetle is probably
the simplest car ever made to date.
It was mass-produced in the ’40s
and has been an icon ever since.
It’s such an easy car to modify,
and we’re gonna turn it into one
of the coolest Bug rods ever made.
We’re gonna start by chopping the roof off
to get rid
of that round dumpy Beetle look.
Then we’re gonna kick
the front axle out in front of the car
in true hot-rod style.
We’ll take out the back seat
and make it just a two-seater.
Then we’re gonna add a DuVall windshield
to complete that roadster look
and morph it
into one of the coolest rides on the road.
So we’re gonna turn this
into a legitimate roadster.
[Mark] Yeah, no. A real roadster.
What do you think a timeline
on something like this?
It can’t take more than a week.
If it takes more than a week,
you all are fired.
So we’re saying Caveman needs to
get out the old Sawzall and get to work?
That’s what needs to happen.
-Demo time!
-Yeah, buddy!
[brakes squeal]
Oh, the brakes are getting better.
-Don’t let it eat me.
-Argh!
[woman] So we have a Bug in the shop.
-[Tony] We gotta cut the bolt.
-[woman] It’s cute and it’s small,
and the girlie side of me
is just really about it.
And I think the boys
are a little unhappy about it,
but I think it’s adorable.
Caveman squash bug.
That’s… That’s pretty much the reaction
that I’m dealing with right now.
And we’re off.
[Tony]
That’s how we do it. Just cut it off.
[power tools rattling]
There you go.
-Look. I got a smile.
-[woman laughs]
[power tools continue]
Fenders off.
-Tony! Catch!
-Hey.
-Constance! Catch!
-I can’t catch!
-[Tony] There.
-[Caveman] It’s sweltering out here.
The shop doesn’t have A/C.
We’re… We’re middle of summer.
Did you guys notice the forecast
the next few days?
-[Constance] No.
-[Caveman] We’re going to triples again.
Big triples?
How about we work at night
and we swim all day at your house?
I was thinking we’d get some fans
with misters in here.
Yeah.
[woman] Maybe Caveman can relate to me
on the boob side of the situation.
None of the guys get to complain,
because they don’t know what it’s like
to be hot and have boobs.
Teardown in this shop involving Caveman…
[imitating aggressive noises]
That is pretty accurate.
Ready?
It’s going topless.
[Shawn] What do we got? What do we got?
Talk to me.
We gotta go back to square one here.
I didn’t find anything
at the salvage yard,
so I gotta go back to the drawing board
and find out what our next
upgrade and trade car is gonna be.
I gotta know everybody in the car world…
Did you say ’55?
…and who’s looking for what.
Are you a Chevy guy?
Are you stuck in the Chevy world?
Are you open to Fords?
Things change fast,
and I need to figure this puzzle out soon
because the bills never stop coming
and they sure don’t pay for themselves.
A T-bucket. T-bucket.
What if we took the T-bucket?
What the hell would I…
Who the hell wants a T-bucket?
[Caveman] Grab the front. There we go.
We’re literally using everything
within these four walls that we have,
and not buying anything.
We kind of have to start
putting things on,
seeing if they work,
take them off, try something else
and kind of Lego-it together
to make this car work.
-I like that: Lego-it.
-Yeah.
We don’t even know
what parts we’re putting on.
[Caveman] We’re Frankenstein-ing
this vehicle basically.
Another Gotham Garage
Frankenstein vehicle?
[Mark] So now that I’ve got them
started on the Bug rod,
Shawn’s telling me he’s got our next
upgrade and trade car all figured out.
So really?
Really?
You’re bringing me your motor stand.
The car that you weren’t supposed to buy.
So a while ago I bought this T-bucket
pretty much
just for the motor and transmission.
I mean, it was so cheap, I had to buy it.
-[horn grinds]
-[Shawn laughing]
I think it’s gonna make
a perfect trade car.
Oh, yeah.
All we have to do to this thing is fix it
up a bit, and I can trade it to a guy
who owns a salvage yard
full of potential project cars.
And he’s willing to trade me
two of his cars for a finished T-bucket.
And those two potential cars
will hopefully be traded up
and eventually get us to that big payday.
It’s a no-brainer.
We’ve got virtually nothing in the car.
All we gotta do is put a motor,
transmission, redo the interior,
and this guy will actually trade me
two valuable project cars for this.
As far as…
This is going to make
a really cool fire truck, bro.
No, no. No, no. Listen.
This is gonna make
a really cool fire truck.
-I’ve already got this set up.
-It’s already got this on it.
It’s already talking to me saying,
“Make me a fire truck.”
Pay attention. You’re missing it.
[Mark] When I was a kid,
there was this badass little toy
called a C-Cab Fire Truck,
and I’ve always wanted to build it.
As soon as I walked up
and saw the windshield on that T-bucket
and noticed there’s a fireman’s helmet,
I knew instantly this T-bucket
needed to be turned into a fire truck.
-Just like a little C-Cab.
-Listen.
With a little back. Some ladders on it.
Let’s make it Gotham Garage
instead of just a T-bucket.
Everybody does a T-bucket.
You know why you got this so cheap, Shawn?
Nobody wants a T-bucket.
Do you not get it? I already have a deal.
Do you not get this?
You have a guy on the line right now
for a T-bucket,
so let’s just do a T-bucket on steroids
and make it a Gotham Garage car.
Mark is an amazing artistic genius,
but he does this all the time.
You think I’d be used to it by now.
I’m working my ass off
trying to get a deal put together.
But these cars are talking to him,
and it just makes my job twice as hard
because I’m lining somebody up
for something that might not be
what I think it’s gonna be.
I’m really digging it. It’s probably
the best thing you ever surprised me with.
Fire truck.
-Yeah, fire truck.
-Ridiculous.
[Mark] I can see the bell. Ding!
And a Dalmatian in the back.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
[Mark] C-Cabs are
one of the first trucks ever made,
and modified to haul everything
from bronc to breakfast.
So what I want to do is build it
the same way they did back in the day.
First, we’re going to have to cut
that pickup bed off the back
so that we can make a frame for the C-Cab.
Then I’m gonna fabricate that C-Cab
out of wood.
We’re gonna add some custom accessories,
throw some new tires on it,
put one blinging badass motor up front
in that open frame,
-and it’ll burn up the highway.
-[tires screech]
Did we try these on there yet
to make sure they do fit?
[Tony] Yeah, Caveman. It’s a Chevy.
Five on four and three quarters.
This straight-axle front end is definitely
gonna make people stop and look.
So the wheels have to look great as well.
We’ve been digging around the shop,
and I think we found a set of wheels
that are gonna look perfect
on this Bug rod.
All right. You were on the money.
They’re good. Looks good.
Find some train tracks, we’re ready to go.
-Yeah.
-Right. Who needs tires?
Look how wide these things stick out
with this front end.
-I know.
-We have some tires sitting around.
[Tony] Mark has a lot of cool parts
he’s acquired here over the years.
There they are.
We’re trying to put together the Bug rod
with all these random pieces,
and I know there’s great stuff here.
There’s great parts.
We have lug nuts for this thing?
That’s a good question.
Do you know what size?
[Caveman] Seven-sixteenths.
I mean, can we just go to the store
and buy some lug nuts?
[Constance]
You wanna ask Mark that question?
In theory, it’s a great plan to use
everything we have here at the shop,
but I need lug nuts
and I can’t find lug nuts.
There’s no Joe in the front office
with a computer and an inventory list.
It’s trouble. We’re on a scavenger hunt.
So I went through
all of my nuts-and-bolts bins
and every bit of miscellaneous hardware
that I have,
and I don’t have any lug nuts.
I’ll be back.
I feel like we should be concerned.
Always a donor car somewhere
for something.
So I did some parking lot shopping,
and it’s not even midnight yet.
[Tony] You found some?
Never fear. Caveman is here.
[chuckles]
[Tony] Just no one drive home
without checking your lug nuts first.
-[Constance] For real.
-Let’s get this dog and pony show going.
Mark dreams up these crazy ideas, but
we gotta make sure they’re street-safe.
As we’re engineering the mounts for
the straight-axle front end on this Bug,
we’ve gotta make sure that’s it’s gonna
handle the stress of everyday driving.
Let’s hope these welds hold up.
[Caveman] They will.
That’s pretty sick-looking.
I think it’s pretty slick. I’ve never seen
anything like that on a Bug.
Neither have I.
-[Tony] It’s so long and stretched out.
-Right? It’s gonna be bad.
Hey, Constance?
Will you bring that radiator?
[Mark] Even though
we don’t have a motor yet,
I’m pulling Constance from the Bug
to help me build a body
for this fire truck.
When the cars do talk to me,
generally, it’s a home run.
Shawn’s little T-bucket is gonna have to
become a fire truck like it wants to be,
and we’re gonna take it
to that salvage yard
and we’re gonna get
more bang for our buck.
One of the trickier parts of this build,
being a C-Cab,
is that it’s actually fabricated
out of wood and not metal.
This is how
they used to make these trucks.
They’re really made out of wood.
Even the floors were wood.
They weren’t steel in the cars.
This is not something
I’m doing first guy out of the box.
I’m following Henry Ford right now.
Okay, right there.
Look at what I just did
when I lifted the rear end up.
See how it makes the whole side
of the truck go like it’s diving forward?
-[Constance] Yeah.
-It looks moving while it’s sitting still.
The reason why they call it a C-Cab
is because on the side of the vehicle, the
opening next to the driver is a big “C.”
The reason for that is so you can look
to your left and see out of the truck.
Because behind you is this giant box,
so you need to be able to lean out
and look behind you
to see if there’s traffic coming.
This is back before mirrors were on cars.
Now crank the handle
so it gets a little tighter.
There you go.
That’ll just hold it where it is.
Us old guys like to give our knowledge
to the new people
so that they can carry that torch
down the road.
Constance probably never thought she was
gonna have a saw in her hand and hammer
and cutting wood
and stapling it together today.
But that’s my way of passing on that torch
and that information
so it doesn’t get lost.
[Constance]
I feel like we built a little fort.
[Mark] That’s basically what it is.
It’s a fort truck.
So now I gotta find an engine
and a transmission for that T-bucket deal.
That’s what you have for sale?
[man] Yeah, it’s a 350, dude.
It runs great. I took it out.
I got the heads, the intake,
all the goodies.
-This ran?
-It ran great, man.
Yeah. This is not really what I’m after.
Custom builds are tricky,
especially when you’re gambling
with building something like a fire truck,
when the guy you’re hoping to trade with
is expecting something totally different.
Oh, what’s this?
This is a motor from an ’88 Corvette.
Wait a minute. Did you just say Corvette?
Corvette. Yes.
Music to my ears.
We just had one deal slip away.
I really don’t want to lose this one too.
I’m excited to find out
how this thing goes.
[man] You got my word. You’ll love it.
Thanks, John. I’ll catch up with you.
Have a good one.
[Caveman] “4 Sale Cheap.”
You better take that off when we’re done.
[Tony] I kind of like it.
The Bug is
this sort of “MacGyvered” project.
We got all these parts
that just were never meant to go together.
We took that roof skin,
flipped it around backwards 180
and basically mounted it
on the back deck of the Bug.
It’s kind of a crazy idea that Mark had.
Take that skin and flip it around.
I’ve never done that to a car.
Hey, I found the other half.
That fighter jet look.
[Tony] Mark had this DuVall windshield
tucked away in the shelf somewhere.
[Caveman] That’ll look sharp.
And it kinda fits, but not really.
Usually you would see
this kind of a DuVall windshield
on something like a ’32 roadster,
and it fits that body shape and style,
but it doesn’t really fit the Bug.
It’s got a whole different shape
and profile.
It’s not made for this round curve
of a Bug with the windshield lopped off.
It’s gonna pucker up.
-[Caveman laughing] I’m a Bug-eater.
-[Tony] Feed me.
I don’t know.
I think we should call Mark over.
-[Caveman] Mark!
-I heard somebody screaming my name.
[Tony] This is where these builds
really come together.
Hold that.
[Tony] Mark has a way of taking
these different design elements
and bringing them into the car
and making them look like
they were always supposed to be there.
To see it actually come together,
it’s pretty cool.
I like where it’s going
and what we’ve done here.
Walking into this project with no budget,
I didn’t know what parts
we were gonna have to make work.
I mean,
this could’ve just ended up as a disaster.
We’re like heroes, right?
-To pull off a build with no money?
-Right?
If we can knock out
the rest of our fab work today,
we can roll this thing off to paint.
Then it goes to interior
and we’re pretty much done.
[Caveman] Yeah.
All we need now is the hood.
[Caveman] I’m done with the seat, Tony.
[Tony] It’s freakin’ hot, man.
[Caveman] I got sweat going down the
crack of my ass and it doesn’t feel good.
Caveman, I don’t wanna hear
about the crack of your ass.
Bounce it a little bit.
Yeah.
[Mark] Now that we’ve got
all the wood set on the truck,
I’m noticing that it’s
not quite as stiff as it should be.
It’s got a little bit of warble to it.
The wood’s kind of more giving than steel.
This box now is gonna need
a one-by-one steel tube infrastructure
to get it to the rigidity
that it needs to be.
[car horn honks]
[Mark] Look. Mr. Impatient with the horn.
I think I have got the perfect engine
for this fire truck.
You’re gonna like this.
I got this Corvette motor
with the 700R4 transmission
for the low, low price of…
Wait for it… 1,600 bucks.
-Come on.
-[Tony] Something’s wrong.
-Hold on. Hold on.
-[Mark] Yeah.
Oh [bleep] That’s hot.
It’s not hot.
It gives this a little more credibility.
We’re putting a Corvette motor in
and we’re not blowing the budget.
The Corvette motor
is perfect for this build,
and it could add quite a bit of value too.
We have about $6,000
invested in this project,
and it’s gonna take
about $3,000 to $4,000 more to finish it.
So that’ll put us around $10,000
for a T-bucket fire truck
that’s worth about $15,000 when finished.
And the trade value could
ultimately be worth even more than that.
-You know that Bug rod over there?
-Yeah.
I need a trunk lid
and an early-model hood for it.
And there’s a whole bunch
of Volkswagen parts laying around in here.
And I think you should round them all up
and go swap them and go get me
the parts that I need for that.
Yeah, that’s no problem.
There’s some parts to the Bug
that we had to take off
because they just don’t work
for a hot rod.
Like fenders, bumpers, and seats.
Those parts are still worth something
to somebody else.
We can trade them for everything
we’re gonna need to finish this project
and hit our target budget of zero.
I’m leaving.
I will be back
with more exceptional parts.
Oh, my God.
It’s hot over here, I tell you.
[Constance] I’m pretty happy with this
Chevy motor. I mean, it’s a big V8.
It pumps out maybe around 240 horsepower.
That motor’s actually really reliable too,
so we shouldn’t have any hiccups with it.
The nice thing is
it kind of came almost done.
I had to do kind of minimal work
to get it where it needs to be.
But really, I mean, with the motor in it,
now we’re 80-90 percent done.
If you’re looking for VW parts,
this is the only place to go.
I’m hoping to trade my ’70s Bug parts
for a mid-’60s hood and trunk lid.
Yo, Jimmy!
-[Jimmy] Shawn.
-[Shawn] There he is.
-How’s it going?
-How you doing?
Good. Good. Good to see you again.
This is the best lid we have actually.
-Front hood.
-Yeah?
And you do have a crack
and a ding here in the front.
[Shawn] So that one’s a contender.
Actually, this one doesn’t look too bad.
This is kinda…
Feeling for dents.
Yeah, when you grow up in a body shop,
you… you find dents with your hands,
not your eyes.
You know, I’m liking this.
-Let me show you what I’ve got.
-Okay.
I want to do a little horse trading
with you, if you don’t mind.
[Shawn]
I’m just hoping I have enough parts here
to get Jimmy to give me
a straight-up trade.
Well, all this stuff so far
is all aftermarket.
-Aftermarket?
-Aftermarket, yep.
-You’re kidding me.
-No.
[Shawn] Aftermarket parts are not made
by the original manufacturer.
They’re imitations and they’re rarely
ever worth as much as original.
What if I trade you those items,
let’s say,
for these two, four, six, eight items?
That’s a nice try, with the…
the amount thing.
Yeah. Did you like that?
How close are we?
-We’re about 100 bucks off.
-100 bucks off.
-And that is, by the way, you owing me.
-Yeah. Oh.
I just want to make sure
you don’t have that backwards. [Shawn] I didn’t realize
those fenders were aftermarket,
but I still don’t want to part
with any cash if I don’t have to.
Now, this…
Luckily, the seats we pulled out
of the Bug are as good as cash.
You better have another one of these.
-Where there’s one, there’s two.
-There we go.
Look at that one.
All right. I know you’d do the trade
if I just brought the one.
So now I’m just giving you both.
-That’s got to put a smile on your face.
-I’m smiling. I think we’d do all right.
That’ll almost get it to the point where
you owe me a little favor. Am I right?
-Almost.
-Oh, just shake my hand.
-Thanks, Jimmy. I appreciate it.
-Drive safe.
[Mark] Since Shawn was able to trade for
the parts I needed to finish the Bug rod
and I was able to pull in a couple favors,
one for the paint
and another for the upholstery work,
we pretty much met our goal
of keeping the budget for the project
at a grand total of zero.
We found everything we needed
from spare parts in the shop
to turn this POS of a car
into a legit roadster.
It’s a true one-of-a-kind Bug rod
that no one has ever seen before.
From the straight-axle front end
to the DuVall windshield
and all the custom fabricated parts
in between,
this is a Gotham Garage original that
should suit our friend Amber to a “T.”
Realistically, this could be sold for 25K.
Don’t get too crazy with the price now.
You gotta… You kinda gotta…
You gotta take it easy on Amber.
She’s a friend.
Remember, man,
she said she’s only got 12 grand to spend.
-Hey.
-Wow.
-You like it, huh?
-This is pretty cool.
-How you doing?
-Hi.
Good to see you.
Is this what you thought it was gonna be?
-Better than I thought it was going to be.
-Yeah?
You told me about the concept, and I
wasn’t sure how it would come together,
and you guys made it happen.
Gotham Garage is a very unique shop.
Like the cars that Mark builds, you won’t
find builds like that at other shops.
And I appreciate that.
-I can see you in this.
-Yep. You fit.
Is this me? Does it work?
Well, you’d look good in anything,
but you really look good in this.
-Good. Good answer.
-Good answer.
-[Amber] That’s really the right answer.
-He’s a salesman.
-Split windshield?
-Yeah.
I knew you’d dig that.
“Bomber windshield. I’m sold.”
Yeah. Split windshield.
-Yeah, you can’t beat flat glass.
-No.
I know Amber is a friend,
and she says she only has
a certain amount of money to spend.
But, man, this Bug turned out so good,
I have to ask more.
I think we’d be doing you really,
really good
by taking care of you
and only charging you 25 grand.
25,000 is taking care of me?
That’s exactly why I said 25 and not 30.
I’ll give a little bit more. I’ll go 13.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
You gotta get over 15. There’s no way…
The advertising alone
that you’re going to get is worth that.
Okay. 17 grand.
I’m… Come on.
That’s low.
-You’re at 17?
-Help me out.
How about… 16?
I think I’m gonna be happy with that.
[no audio]
Since we spent nothing building this car,
we get to keep all of the $16,000
Amber paid us.
Yeah, I love this. This is great.
We ended up giving her more of a deal
than she ever thought possible.
-You don’t have very many friends, do you?
-No, I don’t.
-I wonder why.
-But I got a lot of money in my pocket.
Who needs friends
when I’m getting the money, right?
[Caveman] So done with this weather.
[Tony] It’s been cool
to see this fire truck come together.
It’s a neat build,
but it’s also a little risky.
The guy just wanted a T-bucket.
Now he’s getting a fire truck.
If he doesn’t like it though,
it’s been so hot in here,
I’m sure Caveman’s gonna go fire that
thing up and use it to hose himself down.
-[Mark] All right.
-[Tony] What do you guys have there?
It’s a big box.
[Mark] You know,
as the owner of Gotham Garage,
you gotta keep your ear to the ground.
And right now, it’s [bleep] hot.
And I know that makes everyone irritable,
including myself.
I got you guys a gift.
-[Constance] Is it a Slurpee machine?
-Go and open it up.
[Tony] I see a motor.
-Cold-drink delivery service.
-That’s what it is.
It’s a motorized ice chest
so that you can drive around
here in the shop
and give away or get something to drink.
[Constance] This thing’s pretty awesome.
[Mark] It’s probably not the most
practical way to beat the heat,
but it’s definitely gonna be a fun way
for them to beat the heat today.
Let’s drift it.
[Constance]
Stuff like this is totally my jam.
So much for your shirt
not getting distorted.
’Cause I really don’t care.
Like, I’ll knock that thing over.
It’s not a big deal.
-Is there a driver’s ed test for this?
-[Mark] Yeah.
Brake. Gas.
[Tony] Constance
wouldn’t let anyone else go first.
I thought that was pretty gutsy
to hop on this thing.
I didn’t know how fast it was
or what it did.
Drift tires in the shop.
It could’ve went bad.
[motor grinding]
[Caveman] Yeah, girl! Go!
[Mark]
But she got out there and broke it in.
-[Caveman] Whoo!
-[Mark] It was pretty cool to watch.
-[Constance] Whoo!
-[Tony laughs] Whoa!
[Constance] That’s how it’s done!
[Caveman] Yeah!
All right. Let’s go. I wanna go.
I wanna ride this thing.
[Tony] This has just been a rough week.
[Constance] Yeah!
[Tony] It’s been hotter than hell.
We all needed a break.
-[screams]
-[all laugh]
Something fun to laugh about.
He made himself dizzy.
[all laughing]
Oh, man.
Oh, wow.
You gotta love the butt crack.
He doesn’t…
[Tony] Crack kills, man! Crack kills.
Crack kills.
Whoo-whoo!
[all laughing]
-We’re never gonna see him again.
-I know. He’ll be back in nine days.
[Mark]
We’ll start with the motor end of it,
’cause I really, really, really want to
get this thing running and driving today.
[Constance] Okay.
[Mark] So basically
now that the structure is done,
we’re gonna get the wiring hooked up,
fuel lines, radiator hooked up,
get the fluids in it,
get it ready to run and drive. So the only thing left
is to get it painted,
put it in the booth
and squirt some color on it.
I want that cartoon fire-truck look.
I want you to look at it as a real car,
but feel like a little kid.
I want that inner child
to come out in everyone
that I want to drive
that hot rod toy fire truck.
So turning this T-bucket
into an ordinary T-bucket
would have been a travesty.
Instead, we built a one-of-a-kind
Gotham Garage thumbprint fire truck.
Just like the ones
that I played with as a kid.
We put in a Corvette motor.
Then we handmade out of wood a C-Cab.
We added an ax
with a custom highlighted pinstripe on it.
We put a gas tank
on the exterior of the truck
to make it look like
it actually has a water tank.
You now drive this fire truck
down the road,
and you are a one-car car show.
[Constance] The fire truck, it’s just like
a completely different experience
than driving any other car,
starting with the fact
that everything is completely open.
Wind’s blowing in your hair.
People are literally staring
as we’re driving down the road.
You feel cool in it.
You just want to go up and pull up places
and wait for people to have comments.
-[Mark] Why is this fire truck chasing us?
-[Shawn] Is that fire truck after…?
-Pull over. There’s a fire truck.
-Well, [bleep] there’s a fire truck.
[Shawn] I’m excited.
We’re ready to trade some cars today.
The fire truck is finished,
but I can’t breathe easy just yet.
We still have to show it to Layne
to see if the deal holds up.
That fire truck looks badass, dude.
I don’t know
what you’re all worried about.
Well, Layne wanted a T-bucket
with a Gotham Garage spin.
That’s what he got. That’s a T-bucket
with a Gotham Garage spin.
[Mark] So our last upgrade and trade,
it fell through.
So we’re gonna take this
T-bucket turned fire truck
and trade it to a guy
who’s got a wrecking yard
with a few diamonds in the rough.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to turn
a few of those projects
into some pretty good money.
I just made your job easier.
You should be thanking me.
You now can get four or five things for it
instead of two or three.
You know what I’m worried about.
I’m worried about you
and everybody else at the shop
working their ass off for nothing.
[Shawn] Mark thinks we should get
four or five cars out of this deal.
I’m worried we might get nothing.
[Mark] I’m liking what I’m seeing already.
I haven’t been dumpster-diving
in a long time, my friend.
[car door slams] There he is.
Layne, this is Mark.
How you doing? This is it, huh?
-Looks good.
-This is it.
Really good.
Yeah, I was looking
for more of a standard old T-bucket,
but looks like we got something more fun.
A lot more fun.
Everybody’s got a T-bucket.
Nobody’s got a fire truck T-bucket.
Yeah, this is a little bit
over-the-top as a fire truck.
-All right, let’s get this off.
-All right.
At least you didn’t come to disappoint.
Wow. That’s pretty cool.
-Could do some parades with this thing.
-Yeah.
[engine turns over, revs]
That sounds good.
[Shawn] We’re loving Layne’s reaction
to the fire truck.
I think this is gonna work perfect for us
because we need him
to think so highly of this truck
in order to get what we want, which
we want as many builder cars as we can.
So are you impressed? Are you ready
to trade me five cars for this thing?
Where are you coming up with five cars?
Our original deal was, like, two.
Well, our original deal was a T-bucket.
This ain’t a T-bucket any longer.
You can’t put it on me
that you felt like going overboard.
[Shawn]
This is exactly what I was afraid of.
We need to make a good deal here.
Otherwise, all the time we put in this
was for nothing.
I need Layne to see
the value in this truck.
And if he doesn’t, we’re screwed.
[rock music playing]
[chorus vocalizing]
[music stops]
I guess we’re off to sell
a ’70 Fleetside Chevy truck, huh?
Yes, we are.
We really have to make this
worth our while.
[Shawn] We were hoping to trade
this ’70 Fleetside for a 1939 Zephyr body,
but that deal fell through.
We’ve decided if we get more
than 60 grand for this truck,
we’re just gonna sell it because that
puts about 30 grand in the team’s pocket.
-[Shawn] Mike, this is Mark.
-Good to meet you.
-Heard good things.
-Yeah?
Show me some of the things
I’m getting into here.
-The best is yet to come.
-[both laugh]
I’m looking for a nice, badass,
reliable truck.
We started talking to Mark and Shawn.
We windowed out the hood.
Tony made those bezels.
-[Mike] That’s rad.
-That’s pretty slick.
[exhales]
[Mike] The hood
is probably one of my favorite parts.
You can actually see the stacks
through the hood. Pretty cool detail.
He made these custom
billet aluminum mirrors.
Speaker grilles match the radiator grille.
[Mike]
There’s just a lot of cool custom touches.
All those kind of little details matter.
And I think they nailed it.
I just hope he doesn’t try
to murder me on it. [laughs]
Well, we’re just gonna
let you have it for 80 grand.
-[Mike] That’s steep, man.
-And that…
65 grand?
I’ll come down all the way to 75 for ya.
Yeah, I mean, I could be at 72,500.
I tell you what.
You go 73,500 and we’re done.
[exhales]
[Shawn] Come on.
[Mike] Ah…
I know you want to shake my hand
right now. 73,500.
And it’s a done deal!
[Mike laughs]
For 73,500 you got yourself…
Can I spin it? Can I take it for a spin?
You can tear it up.
Yeah, I want to get the paperwork done
inside first.
Then he can do whatever he wants.
He can take the rubber off
the back tires and…
There you go.
[Mark] I’m not gonna say anything
in front of anybody at the shop,
but you did a pretty good job.
But I won’t ever repeat that
or acknowledge the fact that I said it.
I got a recorder in my back pocket.
You know that, right?
[Shawn] Man, it’s not even 10:00
and it’s already roasting out here.
Who wants to know how good we did? I see smiles. That’s a good thing.
Wait. Wait. Let’s see. Let’s see.
-That’s a smirk.
-It’s a smirk.
There’s a smile and a smirk.
We got 73,500 for the truck.
That was right in the wheelhouse
that we were looking for.
Yeah. That’s a nice little payday.
[Shawn] Between the money we spent
fixing up the T-Bird
to trade up for the Fleetside
and the money it took to upgrade that,
we spent a total of $32,000.
After selling it for 73,500,
we’re taking home a nice profit
of $41,500.
Zephyr would have been a bigger number.
That carrot was in front of us
for so long, it’s still stuck.
I’ll get you another carrot.
Trust me on that one.
[Mark] So we finished
the ’70 Fleetside Chevy truck.
Tony did a really good job on it,
and we made some really good money.
Now I gotta go sit down with Shawn
and go over the game plan
to figure out what we’re gonna do next.
Ah.
You got the little cozy
air-conditioned office, don’t ya?
-The way it’s supposed to be.
-[Mark] It’s 100 degrees out.
Everybody’s sweating their balls off,
and you’re sitting in here
in a little air-conditioned room?
This is where the thinking goes on. This
is the important part of the business.
-That’s why…
-Oh, is it? The cars mean nothing?
What’s your next big “upgrade and trade”?
I’m working on finding a deal.
I’ll keep you posted
on how I’m doing that.
All right. Good deal.
What are we gonna do in the meantime?
I’m not big on doing cars for friends,
but I was talking to Amber.
She actually mentioned to me that she’d
like to have one of our cars, you know.
-Does she have a budget?
-Yeah.
She did say she had about 12 grand.
Amber is a friend of the shop.
Amber’s an actress and a model
and she’s a hot-rod girl.
There’s not a lot of profit in that,
in a car for 12 grand.
We’re gonna have to do one
of those little Gotham Garage specials.
We’re gonna have to do a zero-budget car.
There’s enough parts back there
in the building to build six cars.
Clear out the shop
and put money in our pocket.
-I like that.
-Yeah.
-I just need a car to build it on.
-All right.
What about that Volkswagen Bug
we got up in storage?
That would make a perfect donor car
for anything we’re gonna do.
All right. I’ll swing by and pick it up.
But first I’m gonna hit some salvage yards
to look for our next trade-up car.
Sounds like a deal to me.
Nice talking to you.
I’m gonna go back to work.
Go figure out something to do.
Keep yourself busy.
I feel bad about the Zephyr deal
falling through, so I got two things on the agenda today.
I gotta stop by our storage and pick up
an old ’70s Beetle for our friend Amber.
But first I’m gonna go to some
salvage yards looking for another car
that we can upgrade and trade.
The good deals are never easy to find.
I’m a junkyard dog,
and I love this kind of stuff.
I love hunting through yards and yards of
cars and parts, just looking for the gold.
All sorts of money over here.
I was raised in a body shop,
and it’s just in my blood. I lived it.
Oh. Hot.
And I ended up being at car auctions
when I was like 16 or 17.
I was like the youngest guy there.
I liked the fact
that I was with the big boys,
wheelin’ and dealin’ cars
at such a young age, you know.
Somebody needs to finish this up ’cause
there’s just money sitting right there.
This thing’s pretty cool too.
I just have a passion for it. I like doing
everything with cars, you know.
It’s just something in your blood.
[man] This heat, man. I had enough, bro.
[man 2] Dude, I’m over it.
-[man] Hey, you’re back.
-[Mark] What’s happening?
Yes, I am.
Shawn took a little side road home
and picked up a little jewel
we had sitting in storage.
-A jewel, huh?
-Yes.
It could be a pretty quick flip,
get some cash.
And we already got a buyer for it.
This is a perfect example
of why I don’t throw anything away.
Through all of the parts
I already have in the shop,
parts that we’ve taken off of cars
that I didn’t get rid of,
parts I bought at swap meets,
parts that we bought for other projects
that never got installed on that project
because it really didn’t work out,
these guys won’t have to go
to the auto parts to get a single thing.
Here it is. This is your new baby jewel.
-[man laughing]
-[Mark] Ta-da!
[man] Oh, God!
[Mark] Remember,
we have everything in the shop for this.
So…
[man laughing]
Don’t look at it just yet.
Hang on a second.
-[man 1] He’s cleaning it up.
-[man 2]Are you polishing a turd?
Yes, I am.
You found the biggest turd.
That’s for sure.
-[man] There you go.
-It’s like a little Barbie car.
What I’m thinking basically
is we do a Bug rod.
Amber is
a really good-looking pinup-style girl.
She has that old retro look to herself.
We’re gonna have to build her a car that
matches her personality and her style.
Even though this Bug
looks like a piece of crap right now,
with a little bit of imagination,
you can take these cars
and turn them into virtually anything.
The Volkswagen Beetle is probably
the simplest car ever made to date.
It was mass-produced in the ’40s
and has been an icon ever since.
It’s such an easy car to modify,
and we’re gonna turn it into one
of the coolest Bug rods ever made.
We’re gonna start by chopping the roof off
to get rid
of that round dumpy Beetle look.
Then we’re gonna kick
the front axle out in front of the car
in true hot-rod style.
We’ll take out the back seat
and make it just a two-seater.
Then we’re gonna add a DuVall windshield
to complete that roadster look
and morph it
into one of the coolest rides on the road.
So we’re gonna turn this
into a legitimate roadster.
[Mark] Yeah, no. A real roadster.
What do you think a timeline
on something like this?
It can’t take more than a week.
If it takes more than a week,
you all are fired.
So we’re saying Caveman needs to
get out the old Sawzall and get to work?
That’s what needs to happen.
-Demo time!
-Yeah, buddy!
[brakes squeal]
Oh, the brakes are getting better.
-Don’t let it eat me.
-Argh!
[woman] So we have a Bug in the shop.
-[Tony] We gotta cut the bolt.
-[woman] It’s cute and it’s small,
and the girlie side of me
is just really about it.
And I think the boys
are a little unhappy about it,
but I think it’s adorable.
Caveman squash bug.
That’s… That’s pretty much the reaction
that I’m dealing with right now.
And we’re off.
[Tony]
That’s how we do it. Just cut it off.
[power tools rattling]
There you go.
-Look. I got a smile.
-[woman laughs]
[power tools continue]
Fenders off.
-Tony! Catch!
-Hey.
-Constance! Catch!
-I can’t catch!
-[Tony] There.
-[Caveman] It’s sweltering out here.
The shop doesn’t have A/C.
We’re… We’re middle of summer.
Did you guys notice the forecast
the next few days?
-[Constance] No.
-[Caveman] We’re going to triples again.
Big triples?
How about we work at night
and we swim all day at your house?
I was thinking we’d get some fans
with misters in here.
Yeah.
[woman] Maybe Caveman can relate to me
on the boob side of the situation.
None of the guys get to complain,
because they don’t know what it’s like
to be hot and have boobs.
Teardown in this shop involving Caveman…
[imitating aggressive noises]
That is pretty accurate.
Ready?
It’s going topless.
[Shawn] What do we got? What do we got?
Talk to me.
We gotta go back to square one here.
I didn’t find anything
at the salvage yard,
so I gotta go back to the drawing board
and find out what our next
upgrade and trade car is gonna be.
I gotta know everybody in the car world…
Did you say ’55?
…and who’s looking for what.
Are you a Chevy guy?
Are you stuck in the Chevy world?
Are you open to Fords?
Things change fast,
and I need to figure this puzzle out soon
because the bills never stop coming
and they sure don’t pay for themselves.
A T-bucket. T-bucket.
What if we took the T-bucket?
What the hell would I…
Who the hell wants a T-bucket?
[Caveman] Grab the front. There we go.
We’re literally using everything
within these four walls that we have,
and not buying anything.
We kind of have to start
putting things on,
seeing if they work,
take them off, try something else
and kind of Lego-it together
to make this car work.
-I like that: Lego-it.
-Yeah.
We don’t even know
what parts we’re putting on.
[Caveman] We’re Frankenstein-ing
this vehicle basically.
Another Gotham Garage
Frankenstein vehicle?
[Mark] So now that I’ve got them
started on the Bug rod,
Shawn’s telling me he’s got our next
upgrade and trade car all figured out.
So really?
Really?
You’re bringing me your motor stand.
The car that you weren’t supposed to buy.
So a while ago I bought this T-bucket
pretty much
just for the motor and transmission.
I mean, it was so cheap, I had to buy it.
-[horn grinds]
-[Shawn laughing]
I think it’s gonna make
a perfect trade car.
Oh, yeah.
All we have to do to this thing is fix it
up a bit, and I can trade it to a guy
who owns a salvage yard
full of potential project cars.
And he’s willing to trade me
two of his cars for a finished T-bucket.
And those two potential cars
will hopefully be traded up
and eventually get us to that big payday.
It’s a no-brainer.
We’ve got virtually nothing in the car.
All we gotta do is put a motor,
transmission, redo the interior,
and this guy will actually trade me
two valuable project cars for this.
As far as…
This is going to make
a really cool fire truck, bro.
No, no. No, no. Listen.
This is gonna make
a really cool fire truck.
-I’ve already got this set up.
-It’s already got this on it.
It’s already talking to me saying,
“Make me a fire truck.”
Pay attention. You’re missing it.
[Mark] When I was a kid,
there was this badass little toy
called a C-Cab Fire Truck,
and I’ve always wanted to build it.
As soon as I walked up
and saw the windshield on that T-bucket
and noticed there’s a fireman’s helmet,
I knew instantly this T-bucket
needed to be turned into a fire truck.
-Just like a little C-Cab.
-Listen.
With a little back. Some ladders on it.
Let’s make it Gotham Garage
instead of just a T-bucket.
Everybody does a T-bucket.
You know why you got this so cheap, Shawn?
Nobody wants a T-bucket.
Do you not get it? I already have a deal.
Do you not get this?
You have a guy on the line right now
for a T-bucket,
so let’s just do a T-bucket on steroids
and make it a Gotham Garage car.
Mark is an amazing artistic genius,
but he does this all the time.
You think I’d be used to it by now.
I’m working my ass off
trying to get a deal put together.
But these cars are talking to him,
and it just makes my job twice as hard
because I’m lining somebody up
for something that might not be
what I think it’s gonna be.
I’m really digging it. It’s probably
the best thing you ever surprised me with.
Fire truck.
-Yeah, fire truck.
-Ridiculous.
[Mark] I can see the bell. Ding!
And a Dalmatian in the back.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
[Mark] C-Cabs are
one of the first trucks ever made,
and modified to haul everything
from bronc to breakfast.
So what I want to do is build it
the same way they did back in the day.
First, we’re going to have to cut
that pickup bed off the back
so that we can make a frame for the C-Cab.
Then I’m gonna fabricate that C-Cab
out of wood.
We’re gonna add some custom accessories,
throw some new tires on it,
put one blinging badass motor up front
in that open frame,
-and it’ll burn up the highway.
-[tires screech]
Did we try these on there yet
to make sure they do fit?
[Tony] Yeah, Caveman. It’s a Chevy.
Five on four and three quarters.
This straight-axle front end is definitely
gonna make people stop and look.
So the wheels have to look great as well.
We’ve been digging around the shop,
and I think we found a set of wheels
that are gonna look perfect
on this Bug rod.
All right. You were on the money.
They’re good. Looks good.
Find some train tracks, we’re ready to go.
-Yeah.
-Right. Who needs tires?
Look how wide these things stick out
with this front end.
-I know.
-We have some tires sitting around.
[Tony] Mark has a lot of cool parts
he’s acquired here over the years.
There they are.
We’re trying to put together the Bug rod
with all these random pieces,
and I know there’s great stuff here.
There’s great parts.
We have lug nuts for this thing?
That’s a good question.
Do you know what size?
[Caveman] Seven-sixteenths.
I mean, can we just go to the store
and buy some lug nuts?
[Constance]
You wanna ask Mark that question?
In theory, it’s a great plan to use
everything we have here at the shop,
but I need lug nuts
and I can’t find lug nuts.
There’s no Joe in the front office
with a computer and an inventory list.
It’s trouble. We’re on a scavenger hunt.
So I went through
all of my nuts-and-bolts bins
and every bit of miscellaneous hardware
that I have,
and I don’t have any lug nuts.
I’ll be back.
I feel like we should be concerned.
Always a donor car somewhere
for something.
So I did some parking lot shopping,
and it’s not even midnight yet.
[Tony] You found some?
Never fear. Caveman is here.
[chuckles]
[Tony] Just no one drive home
without checking your lug nuts first.
-[Constance] For real.
-Let’s get this dog and pony show going.
Mark dreams up these crazy ideas, but
we gotta make sure they’re street-safe.
As we’re engineering the mounts for
the straight-axle front end on this Bug,
we’ve gotta make sure that’s it’s gonna
handle the stress of everyday driving.
Let’s hope these welds hold up.
[Caveman] They will.
That’s pretty sick-looking.
I think it’s pretty slick. I’ve never seen
anything like that on a Bug.
Neither have I.
-[Tony] It’s so long and stretched out.
-Right? It’s gonna be bad.
Hey, Constance?
Will you bring that radiator?
[Mark] Even though
we don’t have a motor yet,
I’m pulling Constance from the Bug
to help me build a body
for this fire truck.
When the cars do talk to me,
generally, it’s a home run.
Shawn’s little T-bucket is gonna have to
become a fire truck like it wants to be,
and we’re gonna take it
to that salvage yard
and we’re gonna get
more bang for our buck.
One of the trickier parts of this build,
being a C-Cab,
is that it’s actually fabricated
out of wood and not metal.
This is how
they used to make these trucks.
They’re really made out of wood.
Even the floors were wood.
They weren’t steel in the cars.
This is not something
I’m doing first guy out of the box.
I’m following Henry Ford right now.
Okay, right there.
Look at what I just did
when I lifted the rear end up.
See how it makes the whole side
of the truck go like it’s diving forward?
-[Constance] Yeah.
-It looks moving while it’s sitting still.
The reason why they call it a C-Cab
is because on the side of the vehicle, the
opening next to the driver is a big “C.”
The reason for that is so you can look
to your left and see out of the truck.
Because behind you is this giant box,
so you need to be able to lean out
and look behind you
to see if there’s traffic coming.
This is back before mirrors were on cars.
Now crank the handle
so it gets a little tighter.
There you go.
That’ll just hold it where it is.
Us old guys like to give our knowledge
to the new people
so that they can carry that torch
down the road.
Constance probably never thought she was
gonna have a saw in her hand and hammer
and cutting wood
and stapling it together today.
But that’s my way of passing on that torch
and that information
so it doesn’t get lost.
[Constance]
I feel like we built a little fort.
[Mark] That’s basically what it is.
It’s a fort truck.
So now I gotta find an engine
and a transmission for that T-bucket deal.
That’s what you have for sale?
[man] Yeah, it’s a 350, dude.
It runs great. I took it out.
I got the heads, the intake,
all the goodies.
-This ran?
-It ran great, man.
Yeah. This is not really what I’m after.
Custom builds are tricky,
especially when you’re gambling
with building something like a fire truck,
when the guy you’re hoping to trade with
is expecting something totally different.
Oh, what’s this?
This is a motor from an ’88 Corvette.
Wait a minute. Did you just say Corvette?
Corvette. Yes.
Music to my ears.
We just had one deal slip away.
I really don’t want to lose this one too.
I’m excited to find out
how this thing goes.
[man] You got my word. You’ll love it.
Thanks, John. I’ll catch up with you.
Have a good one.
[Caveman] “4 Sale Cheap.”
You better take that off when we’re done.
[Tony] I kind of like it.
The Bug is
this sort of “MacGyvered” project.
We got all these parts
that just were never meant to go together.
We took that roof skin,
flipped it around backwards 180
and basically mounted it
on the back deck of the Bug.
It’s kind of a crazy idea that Mark had.
Take that skin and flip it around.
I’ve never done that to a car.
Hey, I found the other half.
That fighter jet look.
[Tony] Mark had this DuVall windshield
tucked away in the shelf somewhere.
[Caveman] That’ll look sharp.
And it kinda fits, but not really.
Usually you would see
this kind of a DuVall windshield
on something like a ’32 roadster,
and it fits that body shape and style,
but it doesn’t really fit the Bug.
It’s got a whole different shape
and profile.
It’s not made for this round curve
of a Bug with the windshield lopped off.
It’s gonna pucker up.
-[Caveman laughing] I’m a Bug-eater.
-[Tony] Feed me.
I don’t know.
I think we should call Mark over.
-[Caveman] Mark!
-I heard somebody screaming my name.
[Tony] This is where these builds
really come together.
Hold that.
[Tony] Mark has a way of taking
these different design elements
and bringing them into the car
and making them look like
they were always supposed to be there.
To see it actually come together,
it’s pretty cool.
I like where it’s going
and what we’ve done here.
Walking into this project with no budget,
I didn’t know what parts
we were gonna have to make work.
I mean,
this could’ve just ended up as a disaster.
We’re like heroes, right?
-To pull off a build with no money?
-Right?
If we can knock out
the rest of our fab work today,
we can roll this thing off to paint.
Then it goes to interior
and we’re pretty much done.
[Caveman] Yeah.
All we need now is the hood.
[Caveman] I’m done with the seat, Tony.
[Tony] It’s freakin’ hot, man.
[Caveman] I got sweat going down the
crack of my ass and it doesn’t feel good.
Caveman, I don’t wanna hear
about the crack of your ass.
Bounce it a little bit.
Yeah.
[Mark] Now that we’ve got
all the wood set on the truck,
I’m noticing that it’s
not quite as stiff as it should be.
It’s got a little bit of warble to it.
The wood’s kind of more giving than steel.
This box now is gonna need
a one-by-one steel tube infrastructure
to get it to the rigidity
that it needs to be.
[car horn honks]
[Mark] Look. Mr. Impatient with the horn.
I think I have got the perfect engine
for this fire truck.
You’re gonna like this.
I got this Corvette motor
with the 700R4 transmission
for the low, low price of…
Wait for it… 1,600 bucks.
-Come on.
-[Tony] Something’s wrong.
-Hold on. Hold on.
-[Mark] Yeah.
Oh [bleep] That’s hot.
It’s not hot.
It gives this a little more credibility.
We’re putting a Corvette motor in
and we’re not blowing the budget.
The Corvette motor
is perfect for this build,
and it could add quite a bit of value too.
We have about $6,000
invested in this project,
and it’s gonna take
about $3,000 to $4,000 more to finish it.
So that’ll put us around $10,000
for a T-bucket fire truck
that’s worth about $15,000 when finished.
And the trade value could
ultimately be worth even more than that.
-You know that Bug rod over there?
-Yeah.
I need a trunk lid
and an early-model hood for it.
And there’s a whole bunch
of Volkswagen parts laying around in here.
And I think you should round them all up
and go swap them and go get me
the parts that I need for that.
Yeah, that’s no problem.
There’s some parts to the Bug
that we had to take off
because they just don’t work
for a hot rod.
Like fenders, bumpers, and seats.
Those parts are still worth something
to somebody else.
We can trade them for everything
we’re gonna need to finish this project
and hit our target budget of zero.
I’m leaving.
I will be back
with more exceptional parts.
Oh, my God.
It’s hot over here, I tell you.
[Constance] I’m pretty happy with this
Chevy motor. I mean, it’s a big V8.
It pumps out maybe around 240 horsepower.
That motor’s actually really reliable too,
so we shouldn’t have any hiccups with it.
The nice thing is
it kind of came almost done.
I had to do kind of minimal work
to get it where it needs to be.
But really, I mean, with the motor in it,
now we’re 80-90 percent done.
If you’re looking for VW parts,
this is the only place to go.
I’m hoping to trade my ’70s Bug parts
for a mid-’60s hood and trunk lid.
Yo, Jimmy!
-[Jimmy] Shawn.
-[Shawn] There he is.
-How’s it going?
-How you doing?
Good. Good. Good to see you again.
This is the best lid we have actually.
-Front hood.
-Yeah?
And you do have a crack
and a ding here in the front.
[Shawn] So that one’s a contender.
Actually, this one doesn’t look too bad.
This is kinda…
Feeling for dents.
Yeah, when you grow up in a body shop,
you… you find dents with your hands,
not your eyes.
You know, I’m liking this.
-Let me show you what I’ve got.
-Okay.
I want to do a little horse trading
with you, if you don’t mind.
[Shawn]
I’m just hoping I have enough parts here
to get Jimmy to give me
a straight-up trade.
Well, all this stuff so far
is all aftermarket.
-Aftermarket?
-Aftermarket, yep.
-You’re kidding me.
-No.
[Shawn] Aftermarket parts are not made
by the original manufacturer.
They’re imitations and they’re rarely
ever worth as much as original.
What if I trade you those items,
let’s say,
for these two, four, six, eight items?
That’s a nice try, with the…
the amount thing.
Yeah. Did you like that?
How close are we?
-We’re about 100 bucks off.
-100 bucks off.
-And that is, by the way, you owing me.
-Yeah. Oh.
I just want to make sure
you don’t have that backwards. [Shawn] I didn’t realize
those fenders were aftermarket,
but I still don’t want to part
with any cash if I don’t have to.
Now, this…
Luckily, the seats we pulled out
of the Bug are as good as cash.
You better have another one of these.
-Where there’s one, there’s two.
-There we go.
Look at that one.
All right. I know you’d do the trade
if I just brought the one.
So now I’m just giving you both.
-That’s got to put a smile on your face.
-I’m smiling. I think we’d do all right.
That’ll almost get it to the point where
you owe me a little favor. Am I right?
-Almost.
-Oh, just shake my hand.
-Thanks, Jimmy. I appreciate it.
-Drive safe.
[Mark] Since Shawn was able to trade for
the parts I needed to finish the Bug rod
and I was able to pull in a couple favors,
one for the paint
and another for the upholstery work,
we pretty much met our goal
of keeping the budget for the project
at a grand total of zero.
We found everything we needed
from spare parts in the shop
to turn this POS of a car
into a legit roadster.
It’s a true one-of-a-kind Bug rod
that no one has ever seen before.
From the straight-axle front end
to the DuVall windshield
and all the custom fabricated parts
in between,
this is a Gotham Garage original that
should suit our friend Amber to a “T.”
Realistically, this could be sold for 25K.
Don’t get too crazy with the price now.
You gotta… You kinda gotta…
You gotta take it easy on Amber.
She’s a friend.
Remember, man,
she said she’s only got 12 grand to spend.
-Hey.
-Wow.
-You like it, huh?
-This is pretty cool.
-How you doing?
-Hi.
Good to see you.
Is this what you thought it was gonna be?
-Better than I thought it was going to be.
-Yeah?
You told me about the concept, and I
wasn’t sure how it would come together,
and you guys made it happen.
Gotham Garage is a very unique shop.
Like the cars that Mark builds, you won’t
find builds like that at other shops.
And I appreciate that.
-I can see you in this.
-Yep. You fit.
Is this me? Does it work?
Well, you’d look good in anything,
but you really look good in this.
-Good. Good answer.
-Good answer.
-[Amber] That’s really the right answer.
-He’s a salesman.
-Split windshield?
-Yeah.
I knew you’d dig that.
“Bomber windshield. I’m sold.”
Yeah. Split windshield.
-Yeah, you can’t beat flat glass.
-No.
I know Amber is a friend,
and she says she only has
a certain amount of money to spend.
But, man, this Bug turned out so good,
I have to ask more.
I think we’d be doing you really,
really good
by taking care of you
and only charging you 25 grand.
25,000 is taking care of me?
That’s exactly why I said 25 and not 30.
I’ll give a little bit more. I’ll go 13.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
You gotta get over 15. There’s no way…
The advertising alone
that you’re going to get is worth that.
Okay. 17 grand.
I’m… Come on.
That’s low.
-You’re at 17?
-Help me out.
How about… 16?
I think I’m gonna be happy with that.
[no audio]
Since we spent nothing building this car,
we get to keep all of the $16,000
Amber paid us.
Yeah, I love this. This is great.
We ended up giving her more of a deal
than she ever thought possible.
-You don’t have very many friends, do you?
-No, I don’t.
-I wonder why.
-But I got a lot of money in my pocket.
Who needs friends
when I’m getting the money, right?
[Caveman] So done with this weather.
[Tony] It’s been cool
to see this fire truck come together.
It’s a neat build,
but it’s also a little risky.
The guy just wanted a T-bucket.
Now he’s getting a fire truck.
If he doesn’t like it though,
it’s been so hot in here,
I’m sure Caveman’s gonna go fire that
thing up and use it to hose himself down.
-[Mark] All right.
-[Tony] What do you guys have there?
It’s a big box.
[Mark] You know,
as the owner of Gotham Garage,
you gotta keep your ear to the ground.
And right now, it’s [bleep] hot.
And I know that makes everyone irritable,
including myself.
I got you guys a gift.
-[Constance] Is it a Slurpee machine?
-Go and open it up.
[Tony] I see a motor.
-Cold-drink delivery service.
-That’s what it is.
It’s a motorized ice chest
so that you can drive around
here in the shop
and give away or get something to drink.
[Constance] This thing’s pretty awesome.
[Mark] It’s probably not the most
practical way to beat the heat,
but it’s definitely gonna be a fun way
for them to beat the heat today.
Let’s drift it.
[Constance]
Stuff like this is totally my jam.
So much for your shirt
not getting distorted.
’Cause I really don’t care.
Like, I’ll knock that thing over.
It’s not a big deal.
-Is there a driver’s ed test for this?
-[Mark] Yeah.
Brake. Gas.
[Tony] Constance
wouldn’t let anyone else go first.
I thought that was pretty gutsy
to hop on this thing.
I didn’t know how fast it was
or what it did.
Drift tires in the shop.
It could’ve went bad.
[motor grinding]
[Caveman] Yeah, girl! Go!
[Mark]
But she got out there and broke it in.
-[Caveman] Whoo!
-[Mark] It was pretty cool to watch.
-[Constance] Whoo!
-[Tony laughs] Whoa!
[Constance] That’s how it’s done!
[Caveman] Yeah!
All right. Let’s go. I wanna go.
I wanna ride this thing.
[Tony] This has just been a rough week.
[Constance] Yeah!
[Tony] It’s been hotter than hell.
We all needed a break.
-[screams]
-[all laugh]
Something fun to laugh about.
He made himself dizzy.
[all laughing]
Oh, man.
Oh, wow.
You gotta love the butt crack.
He doesn’t…
[Tony] Crack kills, man! Crack kills.
Crack kills.
Whoo-whoo!
[all laughing]
-We’re never gonna see him again.
-I know. He’ll be back in nine days.
[Mark]
We’ll start with the motor end of it,
’cause I really, really, really want to
get this thing running and driving today.
[Constance] Okay.
[Mark] So basically
now that the structure is done,
we’re gonna get the wiring hooked up,
fuel lines, radiator hooked up,
get the fluids in it,
get it ready to run and drive. So the only thing left
is to get it painted,
put it in the booth
and squirt some color on it.
I want that cartoon fire-truck look.
I want you to look at it as a real car,
but feel like a little kid.
I want that inner child
to come out in everyone
that I want to drive
that hot rod toy fire truck.
So turning this T-bucket
into an ordinary T-bucket
would have been a travesty.
Instead, we built a one-of-a-kind
Gotham Garage thumbprint fire truck.
Just like the ones
that I played with as a kid.
We put in a Corvette motor.
Then we handmade out of wood a C-Cab.
We added an ax
with a custom highlighted pinstripe on it.
We put a gas tank
on the exterior of the truck
to make it look like
it actually has a water tank.
You now drive this fire truck
down the road,
and you are a one-car car show.
[Constance] The fire truck, it’s just like
a completely different experience
than driving any other car,
starting with the fact
that everything is completely open.
Wind’s blowing in your hair.
People are literally staring
as we’re driving down the road.
You feel cool in it.
You just want to go up and pull up places
and wait for people to have comments.
-[Mark] Why is this fire truck chasing us?
-[Shawn] Is that fire truck after…?
-Pull over. There’s a fire truck.
-Well, [bleep] there’s a fire truck.
[Shawn] I’m excited.
We’re ready to trade some cars today.
The fire truck is finished,
but I can’t breathe easy just yet.
We still have to show it to Layne
to see if the deal holds up.
That fire truck looks badass, dude.
I don’t know
what you’re all worried about.
Well, Layne wanted a T-bucket
with a Gotham Garage spin.
That’s what he got. That’s a T-bucket
with a Gotham Garage spin.
[Mark] So our last upgrade and trade,
it fell through.
So we’re gonna take this
T-bucket turned fire truck
and trade it to a guy
who’s got a wrecking yard
with a few diamonds in the rough.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to turn
a few of those projects
into some pretty good money.
I just made your job easier.
You should be thanking me.
You now can get four or five things for it
instead of two or three.
You know what I’m worried about.
I’m worried about you
and everybody else at the shop
working their ass off for nothing.
[Shawn] Mark thinks we should get
four or five cars out of this deal.
I’m worried we might get nothing.
[Mark] I’m liking what I’m seeing already.
I haven’t been dumpster-diving
in a long time, my friend.
[car door slams] There he is.
Layne, this is Mark.
How you doing? This is it, huh?
-Looks good.
-This is it.
Really good.
Yeah, I was looking
for more of a standard old T-bucket,
but looks like we got something more fun.
A lot more fun.
Everybody’s got a T-bucket.
Nobody’s got a fire truck T-bucket.
Yeah, this is a little bit
over-the-top as a fire truck.
-All right, let’s get this off.
-All right.
At least you didn’t come to disappoint.
Wow. That’s pretty cool.
-Could do some parades with this thing.
-Yeah.
[engine turns over, revs]
That sounds good.
[Shawn] We’re loving Layne’s reaction
to the fire truck.
I think this is gonna work perfect for us
because we need him
to think so highly of this truck
in order to get what we want, which
we want as many builder cars as we can.
So are you impressed? Are you ready
to trade me five cars for this thing?
Where are you coming up with five cars?
Our original deal was, like, two.
Well, our original deal was a T-bucket.
This ain’t a T-bucket any longer.
You can’t put it on me
that you felt like going overboard.
[Shawn]
This is exactly what I was afraid of.
We need to make a good deal here.
Otherwise, all the time we put in this
was for nothing.
I need Layne to see
the value in this truck.
And if he doesn’t, we’re screwed.
[rock music playing]
[chorus vocalizing]
[music stops]