Top Gear (US) s06e06 Episode Script
American Aftermarket
- Ah, being blindfolded is not my favorite thing in a car.
This is stupid.
I literally cannot see a thing.
- All right, we're gonna count you down.
Three two, one, go! Both: Stop, stop, stop, stop! - Americans love fast cars.
But for many people, the fastest and most powerful cars from the factory just aren't fast enough.
For the last 40 years, America's Big Three have been building the world's most iconic muscle cars, and since the beginning, buyers have been turning their performance up to 11.
That's where the aftermarket industry comes in.
The sale and installation of aftermarket parts and packages is a massive business.
Total sales projections for 2017 is over $1/4 trillion.
That's about the annual budget of Norway.
But is the performance of the most extreme aftermarket packages worth the cost? To find out, we're headed to Las Vegas Speedway to test three badass American muscle cars with aftermarket upgrades that cost more than the original car.
But for comparison, we're starting with the stock models.
The 2015 Mustang GT.
It has the 302 5-liter engine that everybody knows and loves.
However, it now has 435 horsepower-- 15 more than the last model.
It also is more efficient and comes with a completely redesigned chassis that finally includes independent rear suspension.
These are groundbreaking days in the storied life of America's most iconic sports car.
- This is the 2015 Camaro SS 1LE.
Got a 6.
2-liter V8, 426 horsepower, 420 pound-feet of torque.
0 to 60: 4.
5 seconds.
The 1LE is pretty much a track-ready car.
You get the stiffer suspension.
You get all your sway bars, Brembo brakes, and all the things that are lacking in the interior goes away once you do this.
- This is a 2015 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack.
6.
4-liter V8 that puts out 485 horsepower, 475 pound-feet of torque.
Oh, takeoff! Whoo! Hello! This thing will do 0 to 60 in 4.
2 seconds.
Top speed: 176 miles per hour.
But it still has room for improvement, and that's where the aftermarket comes in.
You can change the wheels or the tires or the exhaust or the headers, slap a supercharger on it, add some nitrous.
Anything you want to do, there are parts available for this car.
- But the best aftermarket packages don't come cheap.
Some start around $75,000, not including the actual car.
The dealer's gonna take you so far.
Now the question is, should you go outside the dealer and make them even better? We're heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to swap these stock models for some of the most powerful and fastest aftermarket versions available and put them to the test.
- Las Vegas Motor Speedway, gentlemen.
No better place for this.
Look at that beauty.
2015 Saleen 302 Black Label.
730 horsepower.
The stock Mustang only has 435.
All of that power and performance for a mere $73,000.
Essentially, you add $30,000 to this guy right here, and you get this incredible beast.
He's completely changed the aerodynamics of the front end to deal with the 200-mile-an-hour top speed.
It's got different brakes, different springs, different sway bars.
I mean, just like its donor car - Yeah? - It's a total package.
It's not just, like, some drag-racing car with big tires that you guys have.
- Come here.
The Hennessey Z/28, my friend.
Basically, John Hennessey takes the 7-liter it comes with.
He ports the cylinders; upgrades the valve train; Puts in a monster cam, long tube headers, 667 horsepower.
The stock Camaro only has 426.
The Z/28's the most aggressive Camaro you can get, and Hennessey pissed it off.
The factory car's 38 grand.
The Hennessey is 98.
- Whoa! - Okay.
- What? And well worth the money.
- Boys, follow me.
I want to tell you a little story.
The year was 1964, and a young man from Level Cross, North Carolina, headed down to Daytona to win his very first Daytona 500.
That young man was Richard Petty, later to be known as The King.
200 wins in NASCAR, Seven championships later, the original Petty Enterprises shop is now known as Petty's Garage, and they turned out this beautiful 50th anniversary, and just like the car The King won in, guess what's under the hood.
That's right: a 426 Hemi.
Except this time, it's got a humungous blower on the top, total suspension brakes, all the works.
Now, the stock version has 485 horsepower.
This thing, on race gas, 1,100 horsepower.
- 1,100 horsepower? - Yeah, but don't worry.
It's tuned down a little bit right now, in between 950, 980.
Now, an SRT8 would start 46, 47.
This car: 100 grand for a 1,000-horsepower monster.
- Wow.
- This thing will scare demons away.
- All right, it's starting to feel like I brought a knife to a gunfight, but you know what? Here's the thing: l know you got 1,000 horsepower, but now you got to actually put it to the track.
- You know what? I'll go first.
- Done! - I'll show you guys what a little racing pedigree looks like.
- I'll see you over there.
- All right.
- Follow me.
Our first challenge tests how much speed you add when you buy these aftermarket packages.
We're each driving a lap on a road course in our stock model, then switching to our aftermarket car for our second lap.
Fastest total time wins, including switching cars.
- All right, you go once around.
Then you come back.
You switch cars.
We will keep a lap time, but as your cumulative time, that counts.
- Two challengers, one track.
The crazy thing is how different these cars will feel-- This with 485 horsepower, that with 985.
Whoo! This is gonna be nuts.
- Three, two, one, go! - Here's the thing: he's got to put in five-point harnesses when he changes over to that car.
He's got to grease himself up to get in the thing.
- Boy, this car right out of the box is pretty solid.
There we go.
Okay, big-- oh, a big sweeper here.
Oh.
Oh.
Okay.
Here it is.
Here we go.
Okay.
- Stop.
- Great.
- Lap time? - Okay.
- 112.
Go get 'em, Rut! There you go! You're very graceful.
- All right.
All right.
Five-point harness here.
Okay.
All right.
Oh, the harness! 'Cause it's 1,000 horsepower; that's why.
- Smell that racing fuel.
Wow, that thing is loud.
- I feel like the tires are spinning all the way.
Whoa.
Whoa, this thing.
This is a ton of power! - God, it sounds like a NASCAR driving around this thing.
- Oh, I'm right on the limit! - Look at him go! - Oh, this thing's got some amazing brakes.
- Here comes The King! Here comes The King! - Oh, Lordy, child, that car is fast.
Oh, I like this car.
Wow! - Is it amazing? - Did you guys see that? - Yeah, we-- - See it, heard it, smelled it.
- It's like holding onto a missile.
- You did a 1:12 in this.
In the Richard Petty car, you shaved six seconds off.
Your total time was 2:55.
- That's the aftermarket at work right there.
- You're alive.
That's the best part.
- That feels like a total race car.
It makes this thing, which is a rad car-- It makes it feel like a rental car.
These two cars are both Mustangs, just like mine were both Challengers.
They couldn't drive more different.
- I don't have the most horsepower.
I don't have the fastest car here.
And we're gonna kick these guys' butts.
- But it does feel like this is a tiny bit unfair.
- This whole show is unfair.
He's a race car driver.
- Thumbs up.
- Time to beat is a cumulative 2:55.
All right, in three, two, one.
Go! - Well, that looks cool, but it's not really gonna help your time.
- No? - Not the quickest off the line.
But it has some grip, actually.
- Little fella sure can drive.
- Sure can.
What are you thinking? - I'm thinking it's not fair.
We need to level the playing field.
- Level away, my friend.
- It's my first time around a racetrack in the new Mustang platform, but it actually gets the job done.
- Oh.
Genius.
- Little bit of understeer.
It's got amazing rear grip thanks to that independent rear suspension.
Welcome to the 21st century.
- He'll never notice.
- Well done.
- Coming into the last corner.
They turned the car around! What? - Here he comes.
- Coming up, we leave our mark on the Las Vegas Strip.
Come on, baby! - We're in Las Veg on iconic American muscle cars to see if the amped-up performance is worth the cost.
This challenge compares lap times between the factory model and the upgraded version.
- They turned the car around! What? - Here he comes.
- 1:05.
- Really? - It's windy! - Come on.
- The wind just whipped it around.
- One of these airplanes spun it right around.
It's crazy.
- It probably got caught in a jet wash.
- Buckle up, buttercup.
- Yeah.
- He just spun the tires up to fourth gear.
That was impressive.
- Whoo! This thing is fast.
Holy crap.
It's really hard to use all this power on this little track.
- Oh.
- He's wagging the tail now.
Look at that.
- He had that supercharger? - Bzzzzz! - Whoa.
Coming to the last corner.
Hang on, Saleen.
- Ha ha ha! - Come on, baby, go! - That was awesome.
- That was great.
Hey, you parked backwards.
- Oh, yeah.
Oh, you think? What was that about? - Winds out here are so crazy.
- Just took the car and spun it.
- 'Cause that car's really-- You see all the aero pieces it's got on there.
It was nuts.
- And it's light.
- Your first lap: 1:04.
- Yes! - Second lap was quicker.
- 1:01.
- Three seconds faster.
That's good.
- The transition's what killed you.
- Yeah, that's really what-- - Wait, what killed me? What was my overall time? - Ooh.
Overall was 2:33.
- That's still 20 seconds up on you, my man.
- Well, I had a five-point harness! - What are you laughing at? Why don't you go get your car and you go? - I certainly will.
- All right, Adam.
2:33 is the time to beat.
- Let's do it.
- In three, two, one.
Don't die! God, I smell clutch.
- Does he make it through the first turn? - Turns in pretty hot, and - Get in there.
Come on.
- Ooh! - Didn't loop it.
- Come on, baby.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
- How about we turn his other car around, ass? - Come on.
Get in there.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- He knows he's supposed to stop.
- 1:15.
Okay.
You're gonna leave it there? All right.
- All right.
Let's just put it there.
- That seems good.
- That seems good.
- There's good.
- I'm doing great! - Yeah.
- There's good.
Watch out-- - Look at how he moves his arms when he runs.
- I know.
That's--if you-- - I've got to try that.
- Yeah.
Don't turn the traction control on.
- 1:45.
- Oh, that sounds awesome! - It sounds great.
- That's, like, the best-sounding car ever.
- Wow.
Oh, this thing is a monster.
- Dude, that's so much power.
Oh! Oh! - All right, he's at a minute right now.
- Oh, I really wish l was a better driver, 'cause this car's great.
- Watch out.
- This thing is just a monster.
- It's about the best-sounding car there ever was.
- But it is a symphony around this track.
- It is scary as hell.
What was my time? - Stock car: 1:16.
- That's terrible.
- No, it's not bad.
In the Hennessey, 1:14.
- Faster.
- A little--yeah, two seconds faster.
- But still faster.
- But it cost you 40,000 for two seconds.
- And I kind of lost some time running back.
- Yeah, that was 33 seconds.
- That's a lot.
Here's the good news: I'm alive, and that's a monster.
A monster.
- The better news is, the Mustang takes it.
Let's do this racing stuff more often.
- Says the race car driver.
Why don't we try and put stuff on the top shelf? How do you think you'd do with that? - Get it? 'Cause you're short.
- Hee hee hee! - Do you want to drive the stock cars anymore, or-- - No, I think I'm gonna stick to the Saleen.
- You know what I want? The Z/28.
- Yeah, I'll be in the Petty car.
Let's go.
- Don't be jealous of my yellow.
Rut's aftermarket Petty Challenger was six seconds faster than the factory model-- The biggest performance improvement of all three.
But I win the challenge with the lowest total time, and there's a twist: Whoever wins the most challenges gets more than bragging rights.
They get to hoon one of the world's most unique and expensive muscle cars: The half-million-dollar custom-built Equus Bass, one of only 15.
But first we still need to answer the question, are aftermarket upgrades worth the cost? So we head to a 1/4-mile drag strip where we're each racing our aftermarket American muscle car against an iconic European sports car, the Porsche 911.
This Carrera S model has 400 horsepower and does 0 to 60 in 4.
1 seconds, but most importantly, it costs around $100,000, so dollar for dollar, it's nearly an even match.
Of course, the elephant in the room is a Porsche.
- It's a German elephant.
- Yeah.
- This is about, truly, is it worth the money to take a car that's already good and make it better or just buy one that's stock out of the box that's, on paper, pretty good.
- Guess who's going first.
- You.
- Me.
Yes.
- I just can't wait till it's my turn.
I'll give you a thousand reasons why.
- It's a simple 1/4-mile drag race against the Porsche in a dollar-for-dollar showdown, but we're also racing each other.
Fastest time wins.
I mean, this is how you prove it.
You know, is it worth it? A stock Carrera S-- 100 grand car, right? Against a Saleen, costs about 75 grand.
That one's supercharged with basically almost twice the horsepower.
- Yeah, but that has the PDK transmission.
- That's right.
It's gonna be quick.
It's gonna be consistent.
With Tanner, you know, he's gonna have to watch it.
Where's he gonna be able to boost? Where's he gonna build power? - This is gonna be tough.
That supercharger comes on like a light switch, so the first two gears are gonna be the tough ones, and once we get into third, l got to put that power down and be gone.
- This is it.
- Oh.
- Oh, oh, oh! Go! - Nice, smooth shifts.
Horsepower doing its job.
There's fourth gear.
Oh, it's starting to pull good.
Now the Porsche's still there.
And we're done.
- Got him! - Yes! - He did it 12.
62 and 115 miles per hour.
Wow.
- Yeah! - Good job.
- That was nice, man.
Dude, your reaction time was killer.
- Solid.
Who's up? Good luck.
- Thank you.
- That Hennessey, we know, sounds incredible and looks great.
It is fast, but is it fast enough to beat that? - Getting off that line through first and second gear with that much power, that's the trick.
That's what's going on here.
It's getting the power down in first and second gear against near-perfect engineering from Germany.
- Soon as I see that last yellow light, I'll dump the clutch, try not to get too much wheelspin with the gas, row through the gears, hold on.
- Here we go.
- This is it.
- $100,000 Camaro against a Porsche straight off the showroom floor.
- There we go.
There we go.
- Yes! Well, that was a terrible launch.
- Oh, yeah, Adam.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Now he's using the horsepower.
Oh, look at this.
- It's neck and neck! - Look at this! - Coming up - I can't see anything.
- We're driving blind.
- That's 73.
He's starting to veer off to the side.
- This is freaky! - We're at t Now he's using the horsepower.
Oh, look at this.
- It's neck and neck! - Look at this! - 12.
46.
- How was that? - Oh, that's fun.
That's a lot of fun.
- I had more horsepower.
I was having a hard time putting the power down, and you smoked me.
God, you went so fast.
Why was it so quick? - Listen, we got to work with what we got.
This is what we got.
- Beat me by 3/10 of a second.
- It's okay.
It's fine.
The important thing is, beat the Porsche.
- You guys both did that, so you're good.
- Oh, you think you're gonna be okay with your 1,000 horsepower? Try putting that to the ground.
It's slippery, right? - Lot slippery.
First gear, keep it easy.
And then just get on it.
- Good luck.
- Y'all, look at me.
I'm not even a little bit worried.
- The reaction time's a problem, 'cause you can see-- - 'Cause I'm so fast.
Like that.
Boom! Bang! Boom! - Oof! - Ooh, gosh.
- I feel like this is a little unfair.
I mean, that's basically what that car's made for, right? - That's what you're wrong.
It's a lot unfair.
- Boys, I'm ready! - All right, Rut, time to beat is 12.
46.
Bring it.
- Here we go.
Lights are up.
Lights are up! Go! Get it, Rut! Get it, Rut! - Come on! Go, go, go, go, go! Go! - 12.
0! - Whoo! - Unbelievable.
- Wow.
That--that felt fast.
This car is unstoppable.
Did you see that? - I thought first gear was a little bit tricky.
- Holy cow.
- Then all the sudden, it was gonzo.
And you did a 12.
07.
- Are you kidding me? In a car that I don't know, a 12-second-- That means this thing could do 11s.
- It could do 11s on street tires.
- More importantly, though, you did 126 miles an hour.
That's 10 miles an hour faster than either of our cars.
That's just raw horsepower right there.
- Oh, man, do y'all want to go, like, to Victory Circle or something and take some pictures with me? That's what everybody always does with The King, 'cause he's a winner, like this guy.
- Gentlemen, it's all tied.
One man will emerge from these dusty surroundings having the opportunity to drive one of the greatest muscle cars ever built, and the other two will not.
- Okay, I lost.
I don't care.
I had a lot of fun doing it.
- Any day of the week, I'd rather have this car than that bone stock 911.
This car is special.
This car is different.
- That Porsche churned out those laps, but, you know, it doesn't have the extreme sharp teeth with blood dripping from them that these things have.
So would you be excited, every single day you walked out into your driveway, to drive that car? Probably not as excited as you would be to drive these.
As the Sun sets in the west, we head into the heart of Vegas for our next test.
- I think it's only fair we take a run down the Strip.
What do you think, Rut? - I think that it's the best way to show off a car like this.
- Therein lies, on the Strip, basically a cross-section of America-- One street where 1/10th the gross national product goes through it every year.
- How do you know that? - A tax guy told me that.
- You guys hear that beeping? - I can hear it over the radio.
It sounds like you're driving in an elevator.
- Yeah, I'm sorry.
The five-point harness they put, I think they forgot to disable the factory seat belts so, like, under 30 or 40, it just beeps the whole time.
Oh, and honestly, you really can't hear that beep over 1,000 horsepower.
- Vegas, baby.
Here we are.
Adam, does your parole let you actually come back to Vegas? - Very funny.
Very funny.
- It does feel like--l mean, we're all on the Vegas strip in three hot cars.
We should just stretch their legs a little bit.
- Okay, here's the problem.
I want to do a drag race just like anybody, but, you know, there's a lot of people on the road; there's the speed limit - What you're saying is, we need the street closed down? - Um, yeah, in a perfect world.
- All right.
I'm gonna make a call.
- Really? You still got those kinds of connections? - Not as far as you know.
- "I know a guy.
" - You don't buy aftermarket packages from Saleen, Hennessey, and Petty's Garage unless you're gonna use them, and with great power comes great responsibility.
Luckily for us, the Las Vegas Metro Police are here to help.
Let's have some fun, boys.
- Can I just warm up these tires real quick? - This is burn-out town.
- I have always wanted to do a burn-out on the Strip.
Here we go.
- Look at that! Look at that! Oh, that was awesome.
All right, we got to race, though, right? - Okay.
We'll race between these two stoplights.
So how about about 0 to 60 and back down to 0? First one stopped wins.
- Ready.
Let's do it.
- All right.
Call it.
- Okay, here we go in three, two, one.
Go! - We're on the Las Vegas Strip testing extreme aftermarket packages from the legendary shops Saleen, Hennessey, and Petty Garage to see if the amped-up performance is worth the price.
This challenge is a stoplight drag race that requires acceleration and braking-- Lots of braking.
So how about 0 to 60, back down to 0? First one stopped wins.
- Ready.
Let's do it.
- All right.
Call it.
- Okay, here we go in three, two, one.
Go! Come on, baby! And 60! Yeah! That's what I'm talking about.
- Oh, that's fun.
- Wow, this thing is fast.
- Well, it was close, but the Mustang takes it.
Whoo-hoo! Celebration burnout! - I hate him.
- Are you doing donuts on the strip right now? I just want to point out the score.
Adam, that would be you, 0; Rut, 1; And the Saleen Mustang winning with a 2.
- Look, I may be losing, but I'm having a blast.
- I just raced you guys and then did smoky burnouts on the Strip.
I think I'm gonna be okay here.
Tanner may be in the lead to test-drive the ultimate muscle car, but we're far from finished with our aftermarket cars.
We head deep into the desert for the final and most frightening challenge yet at the Eldorado Dry Lake Bed.
- Look to your right, Mr.
Foust.
Is that a dry lake bed? - Yep.
- I can't wait.
The performance of these cars is amazing, but if the aftermarket packages are truly worth the price, we should be able to trust the cars with our lives, so this challenge is the ultimate test of trust: Driving blindfolded.
I just do not get tired of crawling out of that thing.
- I don't get tired of watching you crawling out of that thing.
The rules are dead simple: drive as straight and as fast as possible while blindfolded.
Whoever reaches the highest top speed wins.
I think this comes with a safe word.
- This is really not just about these cars.
I mean, this is really about, you know, your fortitude and your guts and both: Stupidity.
- Yeah.
- Why don't you go first? - Stop pointing that at me.
- I don't even think it's on.
- Should have seen that coming.
- He hit you in the head.
- I'm gonna take off, and this thing is gonna be flying, except it's gonna have a lot of tire spin, so hopefully it will stay somewhat straight, but when you can't see, it changes your perspective for everything, so I'm really driving by feel here.
The Eldorado Dry Lake Bed is like the legendary Bonneville Salt Flats, also known as the fastest place on Earth.
Both surfaces were formed by evaporation and are smooth, flat, and hard-- Perfect for the pursuit of speed.
But at Bonneville, the straightaway's ten miles long, and here it's only about three, so this is also a test of resolve.
- This is smooth on the dry lake bed.
You can't get any sensation of speed.
It's like sensory deprivation and sensory overload all at the same time.
- Holy crap.
- Honestly, I think he's gonna hit 30 miles an hour and just level off.
- Well, they don't have to worry about me seeing anything.
That's for sure.
- Ask him how fast he thinks he's gonna go.
- Hey, Petty Blue.
- Go ahead, caller.
- Yeah, hi.
This is Adam calling from the desert.
First time, long time.
Just wondering how fast you reckon you're gonna go in that pretty, pretty blue car of yours.
- You know, this thing will do 200 miles an hour, so I'd say, conservatively, 180.
- Okay.
180.
That's the benchmark you got to hit.
All right, we're gonna count you down.
Three Two, one.
Go! Both: Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! - We're in the desert outside Las Vegas, testing if aftermarket performance packages are worth the price.
Our final challenge is a blindfolded top-speed run.
- Holy crap.
- Rut's worked up the courage to go first in his 1,000-horsepower Challenger.
All right, we're gonna count you down.
Three Two, one.
Go! Both: Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! - Why'd you say "stop"? - What are you doing? You almost killed us.
- How would I know that? - Well, take the blindfold off.
- Turns out driving blindfolded is terrifying and dangerous.
Adam and Tanner must be in shock from their near-death experience, because they give me another chance.
- Let's do this.
- I don't know what I'm looking for.
I can't see a thing.
Okay, I think I'm ready.
- Three, two, one.
Go! - Lot of wheel spin.
- I don't know how fast I'm going! Oh! - I got him at 85.
- There he goes.
- 90.
Holy cow, he's going fast.
- Oh! This is awful! How fast am I going? - 99, 100.
- Doing 100.
- It's moving left and right.
I must be doing 200.
- 103.
- Okay.
All right.
That's fast enough.
I'm gonna stop.
- 104.
1.
I'm impressed.
- Yeah, me too.
It's not 180.
- I must have been doing 160, 170 easy.
Oh, my gosh.
- Did you guys see that? - Thanks for not killing us, by the way.
- What are you talking about? - Well, that first time, we-- - That hard left.
- You know, I felt the car start to step out a little bit, and I'm just screaming the whole time, thinking, "What about my kids? Am I gonna see my wife again?" Like, that's the scariest feeling in a car of my life.
- When life was flashing in front of your eyes? - Yeah.
- Were you interested? - Yeah, I looked thinner.
- Hmm.
That's good.
- Which is weird.
How fast did I go? - You did 104.
- That's it? - Yeah.
- "That's it"? - I'll be honest.
I just don't care right now.
I'm so happy to be alive.
Good luck.
- You're next.
- Hey, man, I mean this.
I mean this.
Good luck.
- It's that scary? - Gosh.
If you got any skeletons in the closet, they're about to pop out in your face.
- Holy crap, man.
- Mount up! It's a dry lake bed.
Go as fast as you can, but be blindfolded, because, you know, that's smart.
How much you want to bet they got this out of Tanner's luggage? - Adam, how fast you gonna go? - You did 104, right? - Yeah.
- In the spirit of "The Price is Right," I will do 105.
- Yeah, okay.
105.
I see what you've done here.
All right, Adam, here we go.
Okay, three, two, one.
Don't die! - Oh, I can't see anything.
I can't see anything.
This is not smart at all.
- That's 50.
- Oh! How the hell do blind people drive? - That's 60.
- Oh, this is scary! Scary! Oh, scary! - That's 73.
Starting to veer off to the side.
- This is freaky! - He's leveling off at 80.
He's turning around.
- Now is it starting to worry you? Because he doesn't have a threshold, and he went slower than I did.
- Oh, is that dumb! - Right? - Wow, is that stupid! - You look like a pilgrim.
- That's just-- that's--that's idiotic.
- Mm-hmm.
- That is so scary.
- Felt like you were going pretty fast, then? - Felt fast.
I have no idea how fast it was.
All I know is, I do not want to do that again.
- 80.
- 180? - You got, like, 700 horsepower at the bottom of your right foot.
- Yeah.
- You did 80.
- 80? - Rut's got you beat.
- Yep.
- It felt like 200 miles an hour.
- It's a wash at this point.
- No, it's not! - I'm gonna say a buck ten.
Anybody who's seen "Karate Kid" Knows that when the blindfold comes out and you're limited in the amount of information you can gather through your eyes, you need to use the other senses.
You need to suddenly have confidence.
And so I think when l put this on here, I'm gonna be able to feel all that I need to in order to accomplish my speed goal to dust these guys figuratively and literally and put an end to this whole competition.
- This is an exercise for someone with a death wish--someone that has no boundaries as to what would a smart person say, "This is too much.
" Well, here goes nothing.
That is very dark.
All right, gents.
Let's do this.
- All right.
I'm-a count down.
Three, two, one.
Go! Outside of Vegas, testing aftermarket packages on three iconic American muscle cars to see if the performance is worth the price.
The little fella's up next, and I have a feeling he's worn this blindfold before.
Three, two, one.
Go! - I mean, holy crap.
- He's off the track.
- 78.
- Oh, he's going way left.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Where's he going? - You should tell him to stop.
I don't think he can tell-- - Hey, stop.
You got to stop! You're gonna hit a mountain! - I'm all the way off the track.
That was so much more scary than you described.
- Just wouldn't be the same if he didn't just totally dust us out.
- Why does he got to do that? - Thank you for that.
- Thank you.
- There is no way you went 100 miles an hour.
- How'd it feel? - Scary, right? - I mean, I got into second gear, and I was like, "Ooh, she's fishtailing around.
Something's happening here.
" - Yeah.
- No, you guys had to be cheating through there.
- How did we cheat? - Like that.
- You've seen how big my head is in the car, right? You can't do that.
- How fast was I going? - Somehow, amazingly - Well, it's just--l guess it just goes to show-- I mean, l don't want to sound-- - Tell me what it goes to show.
- I don't want to sound cocky or anything, but, I mean, the Saleen kind of kicks butt.
- So here's the question: for the money, is it worth it? - Pfft! You get so much car for the money.
I mean, that Porsche was sweet.
- Mm-hmm.
- Not gonna lie.
Big fan.
But it was another 25 grand for a bone stock 911.
This thing, for the money, is over the top.
- Mm-hmm.
- What about you? - Hell, yes.
For the money? You kidding? You're--that car is just more Camaro than you can get just out of a dealership.
- Would you get one earplug just for your right ear and then drive this? - I mean, any idiot could walk in and get a Hellcat at a Dodge dealership, but to have something that's custom built for you exactly the way you want it-- For that money, yeah, I'd buy that all day.
- If these are the modified muscle cars, what is the ultimate American custom muscle car? - I don't know.
Unfortunately, you're gonna find.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Mount up! What if you could custom build the ultimate muscle car from scratch-- The perfect mix of America's most iconic designs from the '60s and the '70s but using the most advanced performance technology of today? Well, there's a company in Detroit who did exactly that.
This is the Equus Bass770.
Looks kind of familiar.
From some angles, it's a Ford Mustang; From other angles, it's a Dodge Challenger; And then from the rear, it's a Chevy Camaro.
It's like a Frankenstein car with all the best bits of America muscle car all shoved into one.
It's deceiving, but it's actually a completely original handmade car.
It's a project that took Equus Automotive nearly six years to complete.
Being one of only 15 770s ever to be built, this car will cost you $534,000.
That's right, I said it: Over a half a million dollars for this car.
On paper, this car is very quick-- 0 to 60 in 3.
6 seconds, 640 horsepower out of a V8, supercharged.
Six-speed manual gearbox, and it goes 200 miles an hour.
But for $530,000, you could buy faster.
Some might ask, why spend half a million dollars when you could buy a faster car that's less expensive? It has to be something that invokes a very unique emotion in order to spend that kind of money, right? The only way, really, to find out if it is worth it is to actually experience it.
Now, you can hear the superchargers cranking.
Jesus, it makes a ton of grip.
When you get on the engine, it's incredibly refined.
It's strong.
It fits the car well.
The sound is awesome.
But it doesn't feel like a half million dollars.
Its most unique attribute is, frankly, its uniqueness.
This is a car for somebody who sort of has the Lamborghini and the Ferrari already and they just want something that absolutely none of their super-rich friends have ever seen before, and that's where the $500,000 comes in.
Now, this is what an American muscle car should feel like.
If your love for American muscle cars runs deep and you can't choose between a Challenger, a Mustang, or a Camaro or you already have all three and you just want to accelerate and corner faster, enjoy being exclusive, and happen to have a half a million dollars to spare, the Equus Bass is a perfect fit.
Now that they've sold five, there's only ten left.
Step right up.
Operators are standing by.
This is stupid.
I literally cannot see a thing.
- All right, we're gonna count you down.
Three two, one, go! Both: Stop, stop, stop, stop! - Americans love fast cars.
But for many people, the fastest and most powerful cars from the factory just aren't fast enough.
For the last 40 years, America's Big Three have been building the world's most iconic muscle cars, and since the beginning, buyers have been turning their performance up to 11.
That's where the aftermarket industry comes in.
The sale and installation of aftermarket parts and packages is a massive business.
Total sales projections for 2017 is over $1/4 trillion.
That's about the annual budget of Norway.
But is the performance of the most extreme aftermarket packages worth the cost? To find out, we're headed to Las Vegas Speedway to test three badass American muscle cars with aftermarket upgrades that cost more than the original car.
But for comparison, we're starting with the stock models.
The 2015 Mustang GT.
It has the 302 5-liter engine that everybody knows and loves.
However, it now has 435 horsepower-- 15 more than the last model.
It also is more efficient and comes with a completely redesigned chassis that finally includes independent rear suspension.
These are groundbreaking days in the storied life of America's most iconic sports car.
- This is the 2015 Camaro SS 1LE.
Got a 6.
2-liter V8, 426 horsepower, 420 pound-feet of torque.
0 to 60: 4.
5 seconds.
The 1LE is pretty much a track-ready car.
You get the stiffer suspension.
You get all your sway bars, Brembo brakes, and all the things that are lacking in the interior goes away once you do this.
- This is a 2015 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack.
6.
4-liter V8 that puts out 485 horsepower, 475 pound-feet of torque.
Oh, takeoff! Whoo! Hello! This thing will do 0 to 60 in 4.
2 seconds.
Top speed: 176 miles per hour.
But it still has room for improvement, and that's where the aftermarket comes in.
You can change the wheels or the tires or the exhaust or the headers, slap a supercharger on it, add some nitrous.
Anything you want to do, there are parts available for this car.
- But the best aftermarket packages don't come cheap.
Some start around $75,000, not including the actual car.
The dealer's gonna take you so far.
Now the question is, should you go outside the dealer and make them even better? We're heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to swap these stock models for some of the most powerful and fastest aftermarket versions available and put them to the test.
- Las Vegas Motor Speedway, gentlemen.
No better place for this.
Look at that beauty.
2015 Saleen 302 Black Label.
730 horsepower.
The stock Mustang only has 435.
All of that power and performance for a mere $73,000.
Essentially, you add $30,000 to this guy right here, and you get this incredible beast.
He's completely changed the aerodynamics of the front end to deal with the 200-mile-an-hour top speed.
It's got different brakes, different springs, different sway bars.
I mean, just like its donor car - Yeah? - It's a total package.
It's not just, like, some drag-racing car with big tires that you guys have.
- Come here.
The Hennessey Z/28, my friend.
Basically, John Hennessey takes the 7-liter it comes with.
He ports the cylinders; upgrades the valve train; Puts in a monster cam, long tube headers, 667 horsepower.
The stock Camaro only has 426.
The Z/28's the most aggressive Camaro you can get, and Hennessey pissed it off.
The factory car's 38 grand.
The Hennessey is 98.
- Whoa! - Okay.
- What? And well worth the money.
- Boys, follow me.
I want to tell you a little story.
The year was 1964, and a young man from Level Cross, North Carolina, headed down to Daytona to win his very first Daytona 500.
That young man was Richard Petty, later to be known as The King.
200 wins in NASCAR, Seven championships later, the original Petty Enterprises shop is now known as Petty's Garage, and they turned out this beautiful 50th anniversary, and just like the car The King won in, guess what's under the hood.
That's right: a 426 Hemi.
Except this time, it's got a humungous blower on the top, total suspension brakes, all the works.
Now, the stock version has 485 horsepower.
This thing, on race gas, 1,100 horsepower.
- 1,100 horsepower? - Yeah, but don't worry.
It's tuned down a little bit right now, in between 950, 980.
Now, an SRT8 would start 46, 47.
This car: 100 grand for a 1,000-horsepower monster.
- Wow.
- This thing will scare demons away.
- All right, it's starting to feel like I brought a knife to a gunfight, but you know what? Here's the thing: l know you got 1,000 horsepower, but now you got to actually put it to the track.
- You know what? I'll go first.
- Done! - I'll show you guys what a little racing pedigree looks like.
- I'll see you over there.
- All right.
- Follow me.
Our first challenge tests how much speed you add when you buy these aftermarket packages.
We're each driving a lap on a road course in our stock model, then switching to our aftermarket car for our second lap.
Fastest total time wins, including switching cars.
- All right, you go once around.
Then you come back.
You switch cars.
We will keep a lap time, but as your cumulative time, that counts.
- Two challengers, one track.
The crazy thing is how different these cars will feel-- This with 485 horsepower, that with 985.
Whoo! This is gonna be nuts.
- Three, two, one, go! - Here's the thing: he's got to put in five-point harnesses when he changes over to that car.
He's got to grease himself up to get in the thing.
- Boy, this car right out of the box is pretty solid.
There we go.
Okay, big-- oh, a big sweeper here.
Oh.
Oh.
Okay.
Here it is.
Here we go.
Okay.
- Stop.
- Great.
- Lap time? - Okay.
- 112.
Go get 'em, Rut! There you go! You're very graceful.
- All right.
All right.
Five-point harness here.
Okay.
All right.
Oh, the harness! 'Cause it's 1,000 horsepower; that's why.
- Smell that racing fuel.
Wow, that thing is loud.
- I feel like the tires are spinning all the way.
Whoa.
Whoa, this thing.
This is a ton of power! - God, it sounds like a NASCAR driving around this thing.
- Oh, I'm right on the limit! - Look at him go! - Oh, this thing's got some amazing brakes.
- Here comes The King! Here comes The King! - Oh, Lordy, child, that car is fast.
Oh, I like this car.
Wow! - Is it amazing? - Did you guys see that? - Yeah, we-- - See it, heard it, smelled it.
- It's like holding onto a missile.
- You did a 1:12 in this.
In the Richard Petty car, you shaved six seconds off.
Your total time was 2:55.
- That's the aftermarket at work right there.
- You're alive.
That's the best part.
- That feels like a total race car.
It makes this thing, which is a rad car-- It makes it feel like a rental car.
These two cars are both Mustangs, just like mine were both Challengers.
They couldn't drive more different.
- I don't have the most horsepower.
I don't have the fastest car here.
And we're gonna kick these guys' butts.
- But it does feel like this is a tiny bit unfair.
- This whole show is unfair.
He's a race car driver.
- Thumbs up.
- Time to beat is a cumulative 2:55.
All right, in three, two, one.
Go! - Well, that looks cool, but it's not really gonna help your time.
- No? - Not the quickest off the line.
But it has some grip, actually.
- Little fella sure can drive.
- Sure can.
What are you thinking? - I'm thinking it's not fair.
We need to level the playing field.
- Level away, my friend.
- It's my first time around a racetrack in the new Mustang platform, but it actually gets the job done.
- Oh.
Genius.
- Little bit of understeer.
It's got amazing rear grip thanks to that independent rear suspension.
Welcome to the 21st century.
- He'll never notice.
- Well done.
- Coming into the last corner.
They turned the car around! What? - Here he comes.
- Coming up, we leave our mark on the Las Vegas Strip.
Come on, baby! - We're in Las Veg on iconic American muscle cars to see if the amped-up performance is worth the cost.
This challenge compares lap times between the factory model and the upgraded version.
- They turned the car around! What? - Here he comes.
- 1:05.
- Really? - It's windy! - Come on.
- The wind just whipped it around.
- One of these airplanes spun it right around.
It's crazy.
- It probably got caught in a jet wash.
- Buckle up, buttercup.
- Yeah.
- He just spun the tires up to fourth gear.
That was impressive.
- Whoo! This thing is fast.
Holy crap.
It's really hard to use all this power on this little track.
- Oh.
- He's wagging the tail now.
Look at that.
- He had that supercharger? - Bzzzzz! - Whoa.
Coming to the last corner.
Hang on, Saleen.
- Ha ha ha! - Come on, baby, go! - That was awesome.
- That was great.
Hey, you parked backwards.
- Oh, yeah.
Oh, you think? What was that about? - Winds out here are so crazy.
- Just took the car and spun it.
- 'Cause that car's really-- You see all the aero pieces it's got on there.
It was nuts.
- And it's light.
- Your first lap: 1:04.
- Yes! - Second lap was quicker.
- 1:01.
- Three seconds faster.
That's good.
- The transition's what killed you.
- Yeah, that's really what-- - Wait, what killed me? What was my overall time? - Ooh.
Overall was 2:33.
- That's still 20 seconds up on you, my man.
- Well, I had a five-point harness! - What are you laughing at? Why don't you go get your car and you go? - I certainly will.
- All right, Adam.
2:33 is the time to beat.
- Let's do it.
- In three, two, one.
Don't die! God, I smell clutch.
- Does he make it through the first turn? - Turns in pretty hot, and - Get in there.
Come on.
- Ooh! - Didn't loop it.
- Come on, baby.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
Get 'em.
- How about we turn his other car around, ass? - Come on.
Get in there.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- He knows he's supposed to stop.
- 1:15.
Okay.
You're gonna leave it there? All right.
- All right.
Let's just put it there.
- That seems good.
- That seems good.
- There's good.
- I'm doing great! - Yeah.
- There's good.
Watch out-- - Look at how he moves his arms when he runs.
- I know.
That's--if you-- - I've got to try that.
- Yeah.
Don't turn the traction control on.
- 1:45.
- Oh, that sounds awesome! - It sounds great.
- That's, like, the best-sounding car ever.
- Wow.
Oh, this thing is a monster.
- Dude, that's so much power.
Oh! Oh! - All right, he's at a minute right now.
- Oh, I really wish l was a better driver, 'cause this car's great.
- Watch out.
- This thing is just a monster.
- It's about the best-sounding car there ever was.
- But it is a symphony around this track.
- It is scary as hell.
What was my time? - Stock car: 1:16.
- That's terrible.
- No, it's not bad.
In the Hennessey, 1:14.
- Faster.
- A little--yeah, two seconds faster.
- But still faster.
- But it cost you 40,000 for two seconds.
- And I kind of lost some time running back.
- Yeah, that was 33 seconds.
- That's a lot.
Here's the good news: I'm alive, and that's a monster.
A monster.
- The better news is, the Mustang takes it.
Let's do this racing stuff more often.
- Says the race car driver.
Why don't we try and put stuff on the top shelf? How do you think you'd do with that? - Get it? 'Cause you're short.
- Hee hee hee! - Do you want to drive the stock cars anymore, or-- - No, I think I'm gonna stick to the Saleen.
- You know what I want? The Z/28.
- Yeah, I'll be in the Petty car.
Let's go.
- Don't be jealous of my yellow.
Rut's aftermarket Petty Challenger was six seconds faster than the factory model-- The biggest performance improvement of all three.
But I win the challenge with the lowest total time, and there's a twist: Whoever wins the most challenges gets more than bragging rights.
They get to hoon one of the world's most unique and expensive muscle cars: The half-million-dollar custom-built Equus Bass, one of only 15.
But first we still need to answer the question, are aftermarket upgrades worth the cost? So we head to a 1/4-mile drag strip where we're each racing our aftermarket American muscle car against an iconic European sports car, the Porsche 911.
This Carrera S model has 400 horsepower and does 0 to 60 in 4.
1 seconds, but most importantly, it costs around $100,000, so dollar for dollar, it's nearly an even match.
Of course, the elephant in the room is a Porsche.
- It's a German elephant.
- Yeah.
- This is about, truly, is it worth the money to take a car that's already good and make it better or just buy one that's stock out of the box that's, on paper, pretty good.
- Guess who's going first.
- You.
- Me.
Yes.
- I just can't wait till it's my turn.
I'll give you a thousand reasons why.
- It's a simple 1/4-mile drag race against the Porsche in a dollar-for-dollar showdown, but we're also racing each other.
Fastest time wins.
I mean, this is how you prove it.
You know, is it worth it? A stock Carrera S-- 100 grand car, right? Against a Saleen, costs about 75 grand.
That one's supercharged with basically almost twice the horsepower.
- Yeah, but that has the PDK transmission.
- That's right.
It's gonna be quick.
It's gonna be consistent.
With Tanner, you know, he's gonna have to watch it.
Where's he gonna be able to boost? Where's he gonna build power? - This is gonna be tough.
That supercharger comes on like a light switch, so the first two gears are gonna be the tough ones, and once we get into third, l got to put that power down and be gone.
- This is it.
- Oh.
- Oh, oh, oh! Go! - Nice, smooth shifts.
Horsepower doing its job.
There's fourth gear.
Oh, it's starting to pull good.
Now the Porsche's still there.
And we're done.
- Got him! - Yes! - He did it 12.
62 and 115 miles per hour.
Wow.
- Yeah! - Good job.
- That was nice, man.
Dude, your reaction time was killer.
- Solid.
Who's up? Good luck.
- Thank you.
- That Hennessey, we know, sounds incredible and looks great.
It is fast, but is it fast enough to beat that? - Getting off that line through first and second gear with that much power, that's the trick.
That's what's going on here.
It's getting the power down in first and second gear against near-perfect engineering from Germany.
- Soon as I see that last yellow light, I'll dump the clutch, try not to get too much wheelspin with the gas, row through the gears, hold on.
- Here we go.
- This is it.
- $100,000 Camaro against a Porsche straight off the showroom floor.
- There we go.
There we go.
- Yes! Well, that was a terrible launch.
- Oh, yeah, Adam.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Now he's using the horsepower.
Oh, look at this.
- It's neck and neck! - Look at this! - Coming up - I can't see anything.
- We're driving blind.
- That's 73.
He's starting to veer off to the side.
- This is freaky! - We're at t Now he's using the horsepower.
Oh, look at this.
- It's neck and neck! - Look at this! - 12.
46.
- How was that? - Oh, that's fun.
That's a lot of fun.
- I had more horsepower.
I was having a hard time putting the power down, and you smoked me.
God, you went so fast.
Why was it so quick? - Listen, we got to work with what we got.
This is what we got.
- Beat me by 3/10 of a second.
- It's okay.
It's fine.
The important thing is, beat the Porsche.
- You guys both did that, so you're good.
- Oh, you think you're gonna be okay with your 1,000 horsepower? Try putting that to the ground.
It's slippery, right? - Lot slippery.
First gear, keep it easy.
And then just get on it.
- Good luck.
- Y'all, look at me.
I'm not even a little bit worried.
- The reaction time's a problem, 'cause you can see-- - 'Cause I'm so fast.
Like that.
Boom! Bang! Boom! - Oof! - Ooh, gosh.
- I feel like this is a little unfair.
I mean, that's basically what that car's made for, right? - That's what you're wrong.
It's a lot unfair.
- Boys, I'm ready! - All right, Rut, time to beat is 12.
46.
Bring it.
- Here we go.
Lights are up.
Lights are up! Go! Get it, Rut! Get it, Rut! - Come on! Go, go, go, go, go! Go! - 12.
0! - Whoo! - Unbelievable.
- Wow.
That--that felt fast.
This car is unstoppable.
Did you see that? - I thought first gear was a little bit tricky.
- Holy cow.
- Then all the sudden, it was gonzo.
And you did a 12.
07.
- Are you kidding me? In a car that I don't know, a 12-second-- That means this thing could do 11s.
- It could do 11s on street tires.
- More importantly, though, you did 126 miles an hour.
That's 10 miles an hour faster than either of our cars.
That's just raw horsepower right there.
- Oh, man, do y'all want to go, like, to Victory Circle or something and take some pictures with me? That's what everybody always does with The King, 'cause he's a winner, like this guy.
- Gentlemen, it's all tied.
One man will emerge from these dusty surroundings having the opportunity to drive one of the greatest muscle cars ever built, and the other two will not.
- Okay, I lost.
I don't care.
I had a lot of fun doing it.
- Any day of the week, I'd rather have this car than that bone stock 911.
This car is special.
This car is different.
- That Porsche churned out those laps, but, you know, it doesn't have the extreme sharp teeth with blood dripping from them that these things have.
So would you be excited, every single day you walked out into your driveway, to drive that car? Probably not as excited as you would be to drive these.
As the Sun sets in the west, we head into the heart of Vegas for our next test.
- I think it's only fair we take a run down the Strip.
What do you think, Rut? - I think that it's the best way to show off a car like this.
- Therein lies, on the Strip, basically a cross-section of America-- One street where 1/10th the gross national product goes through it every year.
- How do you know that? - A tax guy told me that.
- You guys hear that beeping? - I can hear it over the radio.
It sounds like you're driving in an elevator.
- Yeah, I'm sorry.
The five-point harness they put, I think they forgot to disable the factory seat belts so, like, under 30 or 40, it just beeps the whole time.
Oh, and honestly, you really can't hear that beep over 1,000 horsepower.
- Vegas, baby.
Here we are.
Adam, does your parole let you actually come back to Vegas? - Very funny.
Very funny.
- It does feel like--l mean, we're all on the Vegas strip in three hot cars.
We should just stretch their legs a little bit.
- Okay, here's the problem.
I want to do a drag race just like anybody, but, you know, there's a lot of people on the road; there's the speed limit - What you're saying is, we need the street closed down? - Um, yeah, in a perfect world.
- All right.
I'm gonna make a call.
- Really? You still got those kinds of connections? - Not as far as you know.
- "I know a guy.
" - You don't buy aftermarket packages from Saleen, Hennessey, and Petty's Garage unless you're gonna use them, and with great power comes great responsibility.
Luckily for us, the Las Vegas Metro Police are here to help.
Let's have some fun, boys.
- Can I just warm up these tires real quick? - This is burn-out town.
- I have always wanted to do a burn-out on the Strip.
Here we go.
- Look at that! Look at that! Oh, that was awesome.
All right, we got to race, though, right? - Okay.
We'll race between these two stoplights.
So how about about 0 to 60 and back down to 0? First one stopped wins.
- Ready.
Let's do it.
- All right.
Call it.
- Okay, here we go in three, two, one.
Go! - We're on the Las Vegas Strip testing extreme aftermarket packages from the legendary shops Saleen, Hennessey, and Petty Garage to see if the amped-up performance is worth the price.
This challenge is a stoplight drag race that requires acceleration and braking-- Lots of braking.
So how about 0 to 60, back down to 0? First one stopped wins.
- Ready.
Let's do it.
- All right.
Call it.
- Okay, here we go in three, two, one.
Go! Come on, baby! And 60! Yeah! That's what I'm talking about.
- Oh, that's fun.
- Wow, this thing is fast.
- Well, it was close, but the Mustang takes it.
Whoo-hoo! Celebration burnout! - I hate him.
- Are you doing donuts on the strip right now? I just want to point out the score.
Adam, that would be you, 0; Rut, 1; And the Saleen Mustang winning with a 2.
- Look, I may be losing, but I'm having a blast.
- I just raced you guys and then did smoky burnouts on the Strip.
I think I'm gonna be okay here.
Tanner may be in the lead to test-drive the ultimate muscle car, but we're far from finished with our aftermarket cars.
We head deep into the desert for the final and most frightening challenge yet at the Eldorado Dry Lake Bed.
- Look to your right, Mr.
Foust.
Is that a dry lake bed? - Yep.
- I can't wait.
The performance of these cars is amazing, but if the aftermarket packages are truly worth the price, we should be able to trust the cars with our lives, so this challenge is the ultimate test of trust: Driving blindfolded.
I just do not get tired of crawling out of that thing.
- I don't get tired of watching you crawling out of that thing.
The rules are dead simple: drive as straight and as fast as possible while blindfolded.
Whoever reaches the highest top speed wins.
I think this comes with a safe word.
- This is really not just about these cars.
I mean, this is really about, you know, your fortitude and your guts and both: Stupidity.
- Yeah.
- Why don't you go first? - Stop pointing that at me.
- I don't even think it's on.
- Should have seen that coming.
- He hit you in the head.
- I'm gonna take off, and this thing is gonna be flying, except it's gonna have a lot of tire spin, so hopefully it will stay somewhat straight, but when you can't see, it changes your perspective for everything, so I'm really driving by feel here.
The Eldorado Dry Lake Bed is like the legendary Bonneville Salt Flats, also known as the fastest place on Earth.
Both surfaces were formed by evaporation and are smooth, flat, and hard-- Perfect for the pursuit of speed.
But at Bonneville, the straightaway's ten miles long, and here it's only about three, so this is also a test of resolve.
- This is smooth on the dry lake bed.
You can't get any sensation of speed.
It's like sensory deprivation and sensory overload all at the same time.
- Holy crap.
- Honestly, I think he's gonna hit 30 miles an hour and just level off.
- Well, they don't have to worry about me seeing anything.
That's for sure.
- Ask him how fast he thinks he's gonna go.
- Hey, Petty Blue.
- Go ahead, caller.
- Yeah, hi.
This is Adam calling from the desert.
First time, long time.
Just wondering how fast you reckon you're gonna go in that pretty, pretty blue car of yours.
- You know, this thing will do 200 miles an hour, so I'd say, conservatively, 180.
- Okay.
180.
That's the benchmark you got to hit.
All right, we're gonna count you down.
Three Two, one.
Go! Both: Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! - We're in the desert outside Las Vegas, testing if aftermarket performance packages are worth the price.
Our final challenge is a blindfolded top-speed run.
- Holy crap.
- Rut's worked up the courage to go first in his 1,000-horsepower Challenger.
All right, we're gonna count you down.
Three Two, one.
Go! Both: Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! - Why'd you say "stop"? - What are you doing? You almost killed us.
- How would I know that? - Well, take the blindfold off.
- Turns out driving blindfolded is terrifying and dangerous.
Adam and Tanner must be in shock from their near-death experience, because they give me another chance.
- Let's do this.
- I don't know what I'm looking for.
I can't see a thing.
Okay, I think I'm ready.
- Three, two, one.
Go! - Lot of wheel spin.
- I don't know how fast I'm going! Oh! - I got him at 85.
- There he goes.
- 90.
Holy cow, he's going fast.
- Oh! This is awful! How fast am I going? - 99, 100.
- Doing 100.
- It's moving left and right.
I must be doing 200.
- 103.
- Okay.
All right.
That's fast enough.
I'm gonna stop.
- 104.
1.
I'm impressed.
- Yeah, me too.
It's not 180.
- I must have been doing 160, 170 easy.
Oh, my gosh.
- Did you guys see that? - Thanks for not killing us, by the way.
- What are you talking about? - Well, that first time, we-- - That hard left.
- You know, I felt the car start to step out a little bit, and I'm just screaming the whole time, thinking, "What about my kids? Am I gonna see my wife again?" Like, that's the scariest feeling in a car of my life.
- When life was flashing in front of your eyes? - Yeah.
- Were you interested? - Yeah, I looked thinner.
- Hmm.
That's good.
- Which is weird.
How fast did I go? - You did 104.
- That's it? - Yeah.
- "That's it"? - I'll be honest.
I just don't care right now.
I'm so happy to be alive.
Good luck.
- You're next.
- Hey, man, I mean this.
I mean this.
Good luck.
- It's that scary? - Gosh.
If you got any skeletons in the closet, they're about to pop out in your face.
- Holy crap, man.
- Mount up! It's a dry lake bed.
Go as fast as you can, but be blindfolded, because, you know, that's smart.
How much you want to bet they got this out of Tanner's luggage? - Adam, how fast you gonna go? - You did 104, right? - Yeah.
- In the spirit of "The Price is Right," I will do 105.
- Yeah, okay.
105.
I see what you've done here.
All right, Adam, here we go.
Okay, three, two, one.
Don't die! - Oh, I can't see anything.
I can't see anything.
This is not smart at all.
- That's 50.
- Oh! How the hell do blind people drive? - That's 60.
- Oh, this is scary! Scary! Oh, scary! - That's 73.
Starting to veer off to the side.
- This is freaky! - He's leveling off at 80.
He's turning around.
- Now is it starting to worry you? Because he doesn't have a threshold, and he went slower than I did.
- Oh, is that dumb! - Right? - Wow, is that stupid! - You look like a pilgrim.
- That's just-- that's--that's idiotic.
- Mm-hmm.
- That is so scary.
- Felt like you were going pretty fast, then? - Felt fast.
I have no idea how fast it was.
All I know is, I do not want to do that again.
- 80.
- 180? - You got, like, 700 horsepower at the bottom of your right foot.
- Yeah.
- You did 80.
- 80? - Rut's got you beat.
- Yep.
- It felt like 200 miles an hour.
- It's a wash at this point.
- No, it's not! - I'm gonna say a buck ten.
Anybody who's seen "Karate Kid" Knows that when the blindfold comes out and you're limited in the amount of information you can gather through your eyes, you need to use the other senses.
You need to suddenly have confidence.
And so I think when l put this on here, I'm gonna be able to feel all that I need to in order to accomplish my speed goal to dust these guys figuratively and literally and put an end to this whole competition.
- This is an exercise for someone with a death wish--someone that has no boundaries as to what would a smart person say, "This is too much.
" Well, here goes nothing.
That is very dark.
All right, gents.
Let's do this.
- All right.
I'm-a count down.
Three, two, one.
Go! Outside of Vegas, testing aftermarket packages on three iconic American muscle cars to see if the performance is worth the price.
The little fella's up next, and I have a feeling he's worn this blindfold before.
Three, two, one.
Go! - I mean, holy crap.
- He's off the track.
- 78.
- Oh, he's going way left.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Where's he going? - You should tell him to stop.
I don't think he can tell-- - Hey, stop.
You got to stop! You're gonna hit a mountain! - I'm all the way off the track.
That was so much more scary than you described.
- Just wouldn't be the same if he didn't just totally dust us out.
- Why does he got to do that? - Thank you for that.
- Thank you.
- There is no way you went 100 miles an hour.
- How'd it feel? - Scary, right? - I mean, I got into second gear, and I was like, "Ooh, she's fishtailing around.
Something's happening here.
" - Yeah.
- No, you guys had to be cheating through there.
- How did we cheat? - Like that.
- You've seen how big my head is in the car, right? You can't do that.
- How fast was I going? - Somehow, amazingly - Well, it's just--l guess it just goes to show-- I mean, l don't want to sound-- - Tell me what it goes to show.
- I don't want to sound cocky or anything, but, I mean, the Saleen kind of kicks butt.
- So here's the question: for the money, is it worth it? - Pfft! You get so much car for the money.
I mean, that Porsche was sweet.
- Mm-hmm.
- Not gonna lie.
Big fan.
But it was another 25 grand for a bone stock 911.
This thing, for the money, is over the top.
- Mm-hmm.
- What about you? - Hell, yes.
For the money? You kidding? You're--that car is just more Camaro than you can get just out of a dealership.
- Would you get one earplug just for your right ear and then drive this? - I mean, any idiot could walk in and get a Hellcat at a Dodge dealership, but to have something that's custom built for you exactly the way you want it-- For that money, yeah, I'd buy that all day.
- If these are the modified muscle cars, what is the ultimate American custom muscle car? - I don't know.
Unfortunately, you're gonna find.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Mount up! What if you could custom build the ultimate muscle car from scratch-- The perfect mix of America's most iconic designs from the '60s and the '70s but using the most advanced performance technology of today? Well, there's a company in Detroit who did exactly that.
This is the Equus Bass770.
Looks kind of familiar.
From some angles, it's a Ford Mustang; From other angles, it's a Dodge Challenger; And then from the rear, it's a Chevy Camaro.
It's like a Frankenstein car with all the best bits of America muscle car all shoved into one.
It's deceiving, but it's actually a completely original handmade car.
It's a project that took Equus Automotive nearly six years to complete.
Being one of only 15 770s ever to be built, this car will cost you $534,000.
That's right, I said it: Over a half a million dollars for this car.
On paper, this car is very quick-- 0 to 60 in 3.
6 seconds, 640 horsepower out of a V8, supercharged.
Six-speed manual gearbox, and it goes 200 miles an hour.
But for $530,000, you could buy faster.
Some might ask, why spend half a million dollars when you could buy a faster car that's less expensive? It has to be something that invokes a very unique emotion in order to spend that kind of money, right? The only way, really, to find out if it is worth it is to actually experience it.
Now, you can hear the superchargers cranking.
Jesus, it makes a ton of grip.
When you get on the engine, it's incredibly refined.
It's strong.
It fits the car well.
The sound is awesome.
But it doesn't feel like a half million dollars.
Its most unique attribute is, frankly, its uniqueness.
This is a car for somebody who sort of has the Lamborghini and the Ferrari already and they just want something that absolutely none of their super-rich friends have ever seen before, and that's where the $500,000 comes in.
Now, this is what an American muscle car should feel like.
If your love for American muscle cars runs deep and you can't choose between a Challenger, a Mustang, or a Camaro or you already have all three and you just want to accelerate and corner faster, enjoy being exclusive, and happen to have a half a million dollars to spare, the Equus Bass is a perfect fit.
Now that they've sold five, there's only ten left.
Step right up.
Operators are standing by.