03x19 - Roman Chariot / Legends

[bunniefuu]

- [Announcer] Friends, Romans, Monsters lend me your ears!

We're going back to antiquity with a '54 Chevy

and a team of Old School masters.

So pick up your monkey wrench because I'm not lying.

[whistles and blows raspberry]

- [Announcer] Join us now as Jesse

and his g*ng of maverick mechanics rip, grind

and burn, transforming ordinary street vehicles

into Monster machines in the "Monster Garage."

[upbeat music]

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

This week's challenge: Turn a stock 1954 Chevy into

a one of a kind instant classic.

The rules: For this show we're breaking all the rules.

The Monster must not appear to be stocked

and they'll get unlimited freebies.

Jesse and his crew have seven days and nights.

The first day they'll design, the next five they build,

and on the seventh day, they show off.

If successful, the team gets a $3,400 set of Mac tools

and the sundial starts now.

[brakes screech]

Jesse hammers the classic Chevy into the garage

for its Monster makeover.

This all steel behemoth is a remnant

of a bygone era in car manufacturing.

[revs engine] [upbeat heavy metal music]

Following Jesse is a parade of one of a kind originals,

driven by the legends

who have made them the greatest car customizers in the world

with a combined 393 years of experience.

When it comes to Old School, these guys

are the professors of cool.

Bill, the Lead Slinger Hines,

and he's led the pack since he started in 1941.

d*ck Dean, an automotive artist working in steel

and a member of the National Rod & Custom Car Hall of Fame.

Gene Winfield, lifetime master

of perfecting new paint techniques

and building eye-catching originals.

Fat Jack who wants to be called Fat Jack,

the recognized king of custom chassis.

John Robinson, Fat Jack's son can craft a car from scratch.

Norm "El Polacko" Grabowski, known as father

of the tea bucket, Hot Rodder, actor, sculptor.

For this design,

Tom Taylor, the premier hot Rod Illustrator,

joins these legends of customizing as they head up

to the loft to meet with Jesse.

- So I gotta think of something cool to call you guys

besides the old timer team. [laughter]

This is more stately.

This is another theme build that they said we had

to do a Roman theme.

We've been thinking about this build for a while,

so I figured we'd slip this in here

and let you guys show all the young punks

what it's like to customize a car.

We haven't done a real custom car yet.

I mean we've done a lot of kind of kooky transformations

transferring one thing into another.

We're gonna take basically a stock '54 Chevy

and make it your guys' interpretation of a custom.

- Do we have to put the brush on the roof?

- No.

I think definitely we should chop it.

Maybe section it a little.

- I gotta cut the roof clear off, see.

- That's too easy though.

- Oh, it's too easy. - Yeah.

- So do you want to section this car?

- I don't know. What do you think?

- Do you think you guys can do that in-

- The length of time it's gonna take, it's gonna be-

It stretches real close.

- [Host] Sectioning is the process of removing a piece

of the car from the middle

and then sandwiching the halves back together.

- I see chomping it and sectioning the hood a little bit.

- The body section is rough

because we have to pull everything out of the car.

I mean literally-

- Yeah, I've never done it so I say we could do it.

[laughter]

I say no problem.

What do you think Bill?

- You should do both. It good get chopped and the stick in,

put it together.

Just a section makes the top 50 wide,

pretty hard to do to make it look good.

- I think if we're gonna do it, we need to do it all away.

If we have to lack on some of the stuff

like mechanical stuff,

and finish that later, I'm cool with that.

But as far as getting all the major body stuff,

if we all hammer on that, I think we can do it.

- If we're gonna section it, let's get the section done,

put it back together then cut the roof.

- We can put the body on the lift

and we can put the chassis next to it

and then we'll section it,

put it back together, then chop it,

and then everything else we'll save for after those two.

So we're cool. I think we're cool, so.

- [Host] To make their legendary custom,

they'll divide the work and the car in two.

The chassis will be made to ride low

by changing the suspension and fast

by adding a V8 power plant.

The body will become a shrine to classic cool,

a four inch section will be excised from the Chevy's

middle to lower its profile.

Then the hood will be chopped to match.

French headlights, custom taillights

and Bill Hines signature sunken antennas will complete

their creation just in time to reunite it

with the undercarriage.

[upbeat heavy metal music]

[car screeches loudly]

This team knows there's a herculean task ahead of them

and no time to waste,

but they won't be tossing the pieces of this baby around.

[tool rattles on ground]

- Hey, no, no, no.

- You saving it? - Saving it.

You can't just do that.

- One guy here at the shop said, throw it.

- Look. - Ah!

[overlapping chatter]

[laughter]

[blows raspberry with cone]

- Ee, ee...

- Get outta the way so I can go to work.

- [Observer] Wasn't Norm on a TV show?

- [Host] This is definitely not your typical build team.

- I have 100% confidence level that

everybody knows their job.

That guy, that guy, that guy

and Bill Hines are probably four

of the most famous customizers in the world.

This is probably the first time ever

that people are being able to see these guys in action.

I've only read about it.

I had Hot Wheels from d*ck Dean when I was a kid

that he made.

I never seen him work or anything

and now we get to work side by side.

I got the best job in the whole world.

- [Host] d*ck Dean knows this build is a bit bigger

than a toy car.

- It's gonna be close,

but we all know what we're doing.

So Gene and I are gonna do the section.

Bill will do most of the roof, we'll do the heavy cutting

for him because he's a little older than us.

- [Host] It was natural for d*ck to wind up

in the family business.

- My dad had a car agency

and he used to send used cars down

to Bill Hines' shop to be painted.

It inspired me because he was taking these old Buicks

and whatever they were

and cutting the doors down on 'em

and think, "Wow, that's interesting."

- [Host] Bill was the inspiration

for d*ck's customizing business.

- I started a company called Chalaco

and I built a little car.

It was called the GT Chalaco. I built it in my garage.

The Chalaco took me to that point of

being not just another body man who could modify a car,

but someone who could draw a car,

build it from scratch and produce it.

- [Host] When Hollywood wants a cool car,

they call d*ck Dean.

He's done Cars for the "Fast and the Furious,"

"d*ck Tracy," "Knight Rider" and the Hard Rock Cafe.

- Okay, let's see how much is in there we go.

- Whoo. Card over. - Yeah, that's

what I was gonna say.

- [Host] Jesse watches as the tear out continues

and admires the team.

- Usually it's like kinda,

"Okay, go take that gas tank out."

Sneak eyes, damn, car's on fire!

[tools clatter]

[upbeat heavy metal music]

[items thud]

- We're just trying to get the front end off

and raise it up and get the body loose

so we can get the chassis out on it so we can go to work.

- [Host] Fat Jack and his son John will tackle the chassis

while the rest of the build team focus on the body.

- This is the first build ever

where everybody knows what to do.

- [Host] Tom Taylor puts up his drawing outside

of the garage.

It would take up to a year to create this car.

- [Tom] It's chopped in sections.

- [Host] Even for these seasoned veterans,

just chopping and sectioning this car in five days

is gonna be a challenge.

- Take it away. - Thank you.

- [Host] John finishes off separating the body

from the chassis.

- When we leave here tonight, the chassis will be bare.

It won't have nothing, it won't be rolling or nothing.

- [Host] And they're just about ready

to pop the top off this Monster in the making.

- That's good.

Hey Tom, that's good right there.

- [Host] Lift and separate.

- To get the curve here,

but see we can come through here and then cut through here.

Not a problem.

So we're gonna cut right through here like this.

Then we'll drop down, cut across here and through the center

and then we'll go down again if we have to,

to line up with our door.

Okay, let's get the paint off.

[upbeat music]

- To me, this would take six months. [laughs]

- [Host] Cardboard proves the perfect material

for outlining this section to be removed.

In order to get four inches out of the door,

they split the outer skin,

cut the middle out of the inner door

and cut the bottom off the outside.

- This first part is called Breaking the Edge.

- [Host] Gene Winfield's name is synonymous

with breaking the mold.

- In the very early years, I just, I wanted to be different

and I realized that you could make a statement with a car

and that's what we do today.

Every custom car that's built today,

the owner is making a statement.

- [Host] Gene first began making statements

in a converted chicken house on his mother's farm.

He's long since flown the coop for fancier digs

and bigger cars.

He's known for the creation of the fade-away paint job.

- I'm actually the one that originated the blending

of paint from top to bottom in '57.

It was the first car I blended complete

and I learned it all by myself.

I didn't go to school for any part of the body work into it.

I had to learn how to weld and everything all by myself.

It's a hobby, it's a life

and, so that's what I do.

I'm a custom car builder.

[drill whirs]

[indistinct]

- [Host] Gene smooths out the bottom part

of the door's outer skin,

and the door is put back together.

Out in the yard, the father and son chassis team

remove the antique motor.

It was great in its day,

but it doesn't have enough juice for a true Monster Classic.

Now that the front end is stripped, it's time

to take on the rear.

An axle assembly arrives from Tube Works, custom made

for the smoking '54.

- [Voice] Freebie, zero, nada.

- [Host] Fat Jack and John still have some work to do

on the chassis before it's ready for action.

True to Fat Jack's prediction, he and his son John

have succeeded in stripping the chassis bare.

It's only been one day,

but these centurions of customizing

have marched many leagues towards victory.

They have four more days left

to craft their chariot in the Monster arena.

Monster Garage factoid: The top speed

of a person on a camel is eight miles an hour,

in a Roman chariot, 20 miles an hour,

in a stock '54 Chevy, a blazing 90 miles an hour.

- [Voice] Monster, "Monster Garage"

- [Host] Day 3, Jesse's dream team arrives

for their second day in the garage.

They've got a lot of work to do

and these Old Schoolers are ready

to give another lesson in Customizing 101.

First order of business?

Cutting the body in half to complete the process

of sectioning started the day before.

[banging] [drills whir]

The chassis is stripped and goes out to be sandblasted.

Jesse drives his Dark Angel into the garage.

This week, the master fabricator is the student

and he couldn't be happier.

- This is probably 60% of the history

of hot-rodding right here in this room right now

working, doing one car together.

I don't know who to watch.

I wanna learn from all these guys

I don't know which guy to like team up with.

How many of those have you done?

- I don't know, a hundred. I started in the forties.

I used to do about six a year.

I'm down to about one or two.

[laughter]

- [Host] 83 years young,

Bill Hines has spent a lifetime turning stock into custom.

- When I was 19, I took a brush, little '37 Ford,

and I painted flames with a brush on my skirts

and that was really my first

changing a car a little bit.

Then I was on my way there.

- [Host] For this master, every car he tackles

leads him down a different road.

- Sometimes I, I think about a car.

I think about, "Oh, I'm gonna change the front end

or I don't even know what I'm gonna do with the back end."

Everybody says, I, I make it easy looking.

- [Host] Bill still puts in a workday

that would bring a young buck to his knees.

- Work from about eight o'clock

until two, three in the morning.

You get an inspiration to do certain things.

That's where it all is.

- [Host] He begins the intricate process

of Frenching the headlights.

- I gotta get this off, but this will go flat up

against the inside of the fender.

- [Host] Frenching is the process of recessing the headlight

with a rolled edge to make the body seamless.

The name comes from French-cuffed shirts.

- See that'll fit in from the rear.

And then I weld it on.

[machine welds]

- [Host] With four inches now gone from the middle

of the body, it's time to put what's left back together.

The first major step in the creation of this new legend.

- [Bill] This side's pretty good.

[machine whirs]

- I like that.

I knew those rear fenders were gonna look good.

Close that teardrop up.

- [Bill] Oh yeah.

- [Host] The chassis returns, sandblasted

and looking clean, followed by a front assembly

from No Limit Engineering.

And to top it off, 354 cubic inches of small block Chevy,

courtesy of Wayne's Engine Rebuilding.

While work continues inside the garage,

Norm is out back grinding paint off the hood.

He stops to give Long Beach a taste of down home Arkansas.

- Hey Beaufort, are we going fishing today?

- [Host] A man of many talents,

Norm has been waiting for the right moment

to show off for the boss.

- [Norm] This is for Jesse James.

- Look at that.

- There's a picture of Norm.

He had an old panhand in the sixties

and he has like a Mexican blanket vest on.

He's drinking out of a Bota bag

and like kind of a straw hat.

And I remember seeing that picture when I was real young

and I'm like, "Man, I want to be like that."

'Cause that was like a picture of a wild biker.

And that's what it made me want to be like.

I wanted to be like Norm.

- [Host] Norm Grabowski is not your average hood ornament.

He's led a charmed life encompassing both cars

and Hollywood.

- When I first started in the movie industry,

I got in there by renting the car to the studio.

- [Host] He built the famous cookie car for the hit TV show,

"77 Sunset Strip."

But that was hardly enough for this natural born ham.

- But I wanted to be in front of the camera. See?

- Forget it.

No good if we make it look like an accident.

- [Host] Norm went on to appear in over 50 movies

and TV shows.

- I like to make people laugh,

I like other people to be happy too.

[car engine roars and screeches]

- This is why he's here.

[laughter]

We should make a little French thing

and put it right in the dash.

[upbeat heavy metal music]

Hey, what's that dash?

[tool banging]

- [Host] Paul from Paul's All-Pro Glass

comes to the aid of the builders.

- He's an expert glass man.

He does every custom car that we build.

- [Host] He'll recut and resize the front glass and clean

and reseal the irreplaceable rear window.

d*ck and Gene tack weld the top

and bottom halves of the section body back together.

The body's now done, but before they move on

and chop the top, senior team member,

Bill Hines has some concerns.

- Well, I gotta do some thinking before you start cutting,

bracing everything. - Okay.

- [Host] Bracing the car, keeps it from warping

when the top is chopped.

Their final task tonight means they'll be ready

to raise the roof first thing tomorrow morning.

- Been working hard all day.

They been slashing and cutting and chopping

and sparks were flying

and it was all hell breaking loose!

We love it all because we are in the "Monster Garage"!

- [Host] Monster Garage factoid: In Roman times,

It could take as long as a month to make one chariot.

In 1954, it took Chevrolet only one day

to make 400 cars.

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

Day 4 comes in growling like a hungry beast.

But it's just Norm being Norm.

- I don't know what he was saying. I have no idea.

- We're gonna chop this top.

- [Host] With these pros, there's less talk and more action.

The second big moment of reshaping this classic has arrived.

Chopping the top;

literally cutting it off in order to lower the profile.

[saw whirs]

[overlapping chatter]

- [Worker] Let's go through the other side.

- Let's do the other side, okay?

- [Host] Gene, notches the body to make room

for the lowered new angle of the chopped roof.

Gene, the cutting machine, then tackles the top of the roof.

- [Observer] Nobody will bump their head getting in the car.

- [Host] John works on getting the front

of the chassis ready for the engine assembly.

To take the new engine's power to the rear wheels,

they'll need a new transmission.

- Turbo 350 B&M transmission.

- [Voice] Freebee, zero, nada.

- [Host] John bolts the transmission onto the engine,

while his father prepares the chassis

to accept the rear axle assembly.

[upbeat heavy metal music]

In order to make this legend as low as possible,

they will modify the chassis

by removing a two inch section from the rail

and replace it with a quarter inch steel tube.

- Oh, we're gonna cut it straight across here

and it's just gonna use the bottom half of this tube.

All it is is clearance for the axle

for travel for the rear axle.

[machine grinds]

- [Host] Bill consults with Gene

about how to maintain the shape

of the rear window and realign the roof.

- So you want to cut down through here then except

for the hinge box.

- This is gonna have to be settled down in.

[machines whir]

- [Host] The roof returns to top off the classic

now with its own radical new line.

Post adjustments are made to keep the roof super straight.

- [Worker] Yes. Good.

- [Host] d*ck and Gene discuss the way to finish off

where the new rear roof line meets the body.

- Should I slice this down to here and move this up?

Or just start here?

- [Host] No nonsense Gene answers by cutting

a cardboard template.

They put it in place to be finished off tomorrow.

- Let's do it halfway.

Okay, let's turn the tanks off.

- [Gene] Okay.

- [Host] It's the end of another day

and the builders head off to rest up

before laying siege to their final two days of the build.

[lightning strikes]

Day 5: These builders are pure Old School.

They know better than to predict an early victory.

- Tomorrow night about midnight, we'll finish up.

- There's a lot of work.

- Somehow we're gonna make it.

You got it. Let's go to work.

- What do we gotta do?

[Norm screams in terror]

- [Host] Bill preps the hood

before he starts on his signature lead work.

- It has to be perfectly clean.

- [Host] What was that Bill?

- It has to be perfectly clean.

[drill whirs]

Okay, that take care of that.

- [Host] Jesse pulls up a chair to watch the master at work.

- He's thinning it right now where he puts like a coat

of lead on there that's kind of,

this'll be like a thin film that'll go

between the actual lead and the steel mixed with that flux.

So then your thick layer of lead,

it'll actually stick to that.

- With $100 worth of bundle, you could do a car

where it takes you $2000 worth of lead [indistinct].

[upbeat blues music]

- Oh, I thought I knew how to lead stuff,

but man, I was doing it all wrong.

He's got a whole different process.

I think the coolest thing about him is,

is literally he has lead in his blood.

- We got parts from total costs involved to

finish out the chassis.

We got the stuff to mount the rear end, the motor,

the transmission, and the brake pedal assembly.

- [Voice] Freebee, zero, nada.

- [Host] John begins bolting the motor mounts

to the chassis while Gene checks out the gap

where the roof meets the trunk.

- And I have to put a curve, it has to curve

several different directions.

- [Host] In order to shape the metal,

Gene uses the English wheel,

the only person other than Jesse

to ever work the Old School tool.

- It actually, it's smashing the metal,

which stretches it and then automatically goes into a curve.

- [Host] To round out the Roman theme,

the producers have brought in a lion.

Even though these builders are the legends

of car customizing, if they're not done on time,

these Old School Christians will be thrown to the lion.

With the fall of the Roman theme,

the builders go back to work.

[upbeat heavy metal music]

d*ck replaces the cardboard pattern

with the real metal thing.

[drill whirs]

John bolts the four link suspension to the chassis.

Now it's ready for airbags.

- So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna cut all the glove box

and everything out and then roll another piece

and then weld it in and metal finish it

and it'll be all smooth, no holes, just a new switch

and the lights.

- That's it? - And a speedo

and then chrome it.

And then make this to a bolt in its chrome.

- [Host] The engine is bolted into place

and Jesse checks on one of the troops.

- You want a glass of water or anything?

- Nah, my slippers and a pipe would be all right.

- [chuckles] All right.

- My dad had a torch and he played around

with cars a little bit.

I guess I got the disease probably from him.

A lot of people like me and like what I do.

And then a lot of people think I'm a-

I made the world's fastest hot rod out of a '46 Ford coupe.

And it's chopped seven and a half inches

in the front, three and a half in the back.

I'd do something that interests me.

It's gotta be bitchin',

it's gotta be low, it's gotta catch everybody's eye

and it's gotta be drivable.

Still, still doing it. Still got a lot of cars to finish.

I don't think I'm gonna die soon

'cause I don't think they're through punishing me yet.

You know?

- [Host] John shows up with a brand new radiator

from Ron Davis.

- [Voice] Freebee, zero, nada.

- [Host] Bill's son, Mike has been in the garage all week

to lend his dad any helping hand.

- I've been able to watch my dad build custom cars

for about the last 45 years

and I started at the shop sitting on a milk crate,

sanding fender skirts that he built.

I mean, these guys are legends.

These guys are pioneers of building custom cars.

- [Host] The team gets together

for a brief end of the day assessment.

- When do you guys need to set this on the frame?

- When the frame's ready. - Yeah. Whenever it's ready.

We don't need it until

even tomorrow night actually, set it on there.

- [Host] These builders are working harder than anyone

has ever worked in the garage.

They'll need their rest tonight

because on their final day they still need

to get the body back on the chassis, attach the doors,

the trunk and hood and Bill has to complete his signature

French antennas or this build will end up in ruins.

Okay, Monster makers, the race is on!

Will Bill Hines, AKA, the Lead Slinger,

finish his cigar before Jesse and the g*ng finish the '54?

- Let's just section the fenders and put it on there

and see how it sits on the ground.

- Yeah.

- [Host] Stick around for some Monster mayhem.

- [Voice] Monster, "Monster Garage".

- [Host] Day 6, the final build day.

- Fresh day, fresh start.

Feel good. I think we're gonna get right after it.

- [Host] With so much to do,

there's only one way to make it.

- A sprint to the end?

You better believe it. [chuckles] We're gonna be sprinting.

- Gene and d*ck start at the doors.

- We're gonna hem this over and take the top of the door off

so we can stick it in the hole.

- [Host] Hemming the bottom of the door creates a lip

ensuring a tight fit.

- Yeah. Yeah!

- That's about where it goes.

- [Host] They bolt them back on.

- [Bill] Okay, I got two of 'em started.

- [Host] Bill's busy prepping his distinctive dual aerials.

- I'm setting up the aerial

before I can put 'em in after a while.

Take you about two hours on aerial.

- What'd he say? - It take me about

two hours on aerial.

[crash]

- [Host] Norm is injured

and Brian Lind, the Monster Garage EMT, patches him up.

- I was walking through here

and I didn't realize that thing's sticking up so high,

my shin caught it.

It cut it, I guess pretty good.

You can see the little bit of blood.

- [EMT] The laceration went under

the skin and pushed the skin up.

You're probably gonna need some stitches.

- [Observer] They got a werewolf.

- A werewolf. I needed that, you know?

- [EMT] It's brutal.

- Well, you know when they say Monster Garage,

they're not kidding.

- [Host] John gets a critical engine part.

- It's a 650 Mighty Demon carburetor.

- [Voice] Freebie, zero, nada.

- [Host] Gene creates a new back deck for the reshaped area

where the trunk meets the roof,

then goes to work on the roof itself.

He drills a hole to put in rivets, connecting the two pieces

of the roof where a section was removed.

- They hold the two pieces of metal together so we can weld

between 'em without warping the metal too much.

- [Host] Gene hammer welds the finished seam.

- But the real art of the hammer welding

is not just hammering the weld,

but it's controlling the surface around it.

That's what I'm doing, is I'm controlling all this

surface around here by working it after I hammer it.

[sander sands]

A rod like that, got the contour right there.

- Looks pretty damn good. - Thank you.

- [Host] Norm returns from getting patched up.

- Hi Norman!

- 23 stitches. Wow!

- [Observer] You would like a reenactment?

- [Host] Like the fall of Rome,

Jesse tries his hand at reenacting Norm's fall.

- Oh Lord, Holy Jesus!

[laughter] - Ah!

Was it like that? - Yeah, pretty much.

[laughter]

- Yeah. It's all right. Yeah.

- [Host] Norm takes up his new job.

- Testing, testing...

- [Host] As heckler.

- Alright you guys, this is not a p*nsy show,

this is "Monster Garage."

- [Host] To create a place of honor for the numbskull

Norm skull, Jesse cuts a cardboard template

before setting it in place.

[machine whirs]

[upbeat heavy metal music]

- Hey Grandpa...

- [Host] There's not much that will get Norm up off

his throne, but Jesse insists.

- I like how he's kind of looking over at the chick.

- Yeah, I like that too.

- [Norm] He's like checking her out.

- Yeah.

- Looks, looks damn good.

I just hope they get the body on soon.

- [Host] Despite being a man short, this team

of hardworking veterans presses on.

[upbeat blues music]

Mike admires his father's drive.

- But he has some goals and his goals is

to build cars till he's 88.

He's got six more years and about a thousand cigars.

[upbeat blues music]

- Sculpture. - Sculpture.

- Lead sculpture.

- [Observer] Are you a sculptor?

- Lead sculptor. See?

This is tedious.

- [Host] Bill has tried to teach others to do what he does.

It's just not that easy.

- I was a young kid when he taught me how to do this.

I watched him do it and then he says,

"Okay, now you gotta do it."

- Why the hell you do that?

- How'd you do it?

- Well I finally advanced to, capable.

[upbeat blues music]

- Look at that.

We're getting in that radius in there?

- [Bill] I got a special disc to get in there.

- That's kind of cool.

- Yeah, it works.

- I'm gonna have to try that. That's pretty cool.

[laughter] [indistinct chatter]

- [Host] Jesse and Jean assessed the status of the build.

- Let's just section the fenders and put it on there

and see how it sits on the ground.

- Okay.

- And then we'll put the body on

and then see it go from there.

- Okay, cool.

- Well, we cut four inches off the bottom of the fenders

and we're re-radiusing the bottoms.

- I gotta cut the other side though, while I'm hot.

- Okay, while you're hot, go.

- [Host] It takes a bit of fine tuning with a torch

to get the hood right

so it'll fit on the reshaped body.

- Set it down.

- You know what?

The inner wheel wells are hitting a firewall.

When it starts to go back, that hits-

- The firewall, right?

- Yeah. So we just, I'd blow the wheel wells out of it.

Make a new set for it.

You wanna just tip the nose up right here?

- Of course. - Sure.

- Move the crate like that.

- Let's just blow them out of the way.

- [Host] John finishes up the chassis.

It's now ready to receive the newly chopped

and sectioned body.

- See, this cross number's gonna be up

above the frame an inch.

- Okay. - In the back.

- I'll whack that out. I'll clearance it.

- [Host] Jesse clears out the trunk to make room

for the new beefier axle.

[piece falls]

Mike muscles over the trunk lid.

- We'll bring the body on

and then put the front end on it.

- Okay. - There's enough of us.

We should be able to muscle it.

- [Host] It's getting closer to midnight

and it's now or never for this team of legends.

Time to see if the chopped

and sectioned body will fit onto the upgraded chassis.

- I think the rear end's bottoming out on the-

Oh yeah.

Let's see. Right here, Jesse.

- Okay, I'm gonna trim it.

- [Host] A few further trims...

- [Jesse] Straight up and then forward

like an inch and a half.

- Look here. If we were to push it forward,

I'm only off this hole by less than an inch.

- Let's give her room.

- You wanna put a fry bar in that hole?

- That felt good.

- Ooh, that felt good.

- [Host] And now for the final touch,

they lift the front end into place.

- [Jesse] I guess it was enough.

What do you think?

- [Host] Paul, the glass man returns and places the front

and rear pieces perfectly into place.

- [Paul] Section done. I like it.

I've never seen one before that, so that's kind of cool.

- See the whole car's going uphill a little bit.

- That's good.

That section looks right on that body.

- Yes, absolutely.

I love it. I think it's fantastic.

- You can do the backs wave fender flares.



Come on. [laughter]

- Moldings and skirts. Where's that steering wheel?

- Cool man. - That looks a little big.

[laughter]

- That feels pretty low.

- [Host] After all this hard work, the beauty

of this classic car transformed into a custom legend

begins to sink in.

- I think it's the chopped in section '54 Chevy,

that's what I think. [laughter]

That's pretty cool, huh?

- You bet.

- It looks like Godzilla stepped on it.

[chuckling]

- Yeah, I like it. Gonna soak it in for a little bit.

- [Host] Weary but happy, the builder's march

to meet Emperor Jesse.

- Got Monster Garage CDs?

- Mac Tools.

- Cool. Very good. - You want

Lawrence Welk instead?

- I don't think so. [laughter]

Like Samson.

- I thought you fell off a toolbox.

- [Jesse] Alright, let's get the hell outta here.

- [Host] Down at hot rods and hobbies, Scott

and his team take on the mud work or Bondo

and prime the car.

They're getting it ready to head off to Gene Winfield's

for his signature paint job.

- Next step after this we'll go into some primer.

Before Bondo, after Bondo on the other side.

- [Host] Build cost tally:

Vehicle cost, $6,000,

freebie value, $14,193

parts total, $3,167,

total vehicle cost, $23,360.

But with this build team, priceless.

- [Voice] Monster, "Monster Garage."

- [Announcer] Okay, everybody, full Big Trag reporting

to you from the Monster front.

This latest challenge is brought to you by the city

of Long Beach, the eternal home of "Monster Garage."

Well, '54 is out, but it's not done yet.

She's been torched and welded, scraped and shaked,

and banged and bondoed.

The only way to finish this baby off?

Hand it over to builder Jean Winfield

for one of his custom paint jobs.

You gotta be kidding, when this dude is done,

there'll be only one '54 Chevy like this

in the whole damn world!

Nice job, Gene!

It looks like a tequila sunrise made out of molded metal.

Bartender, I'll have another.

Before we hit the road,

let's take a good look at the prettiest thing

to ever come out of a Monster Garage.

Check out the chrome dashboard.

Oh, there's the Norm skull.

Do we like the classic white

and gold interior courtesy of Stitch Craft?

Of course we do.

Okay, folks, the moment we've all been waiting for,

say hello to the '54 Monster Chevy.

It was built by legends in the business

and they teamed up again

to help Jesse usher the '54 out into the world.

We got Gene and his flawless '51 Merc,

d*ck in his custom 1950 Studebaker pickup,

Mike Hines driving his dad's groundbreaking

'51 Ford Shoebox,

followed by the Lead Slinger himself, Bill Hines,

in his custom '57 Caddy

and bringing up the rear, Fat Jack in his fat '56 Ford truck

and son John in a sweet ground up '57 Ford Ranch Wagon.

[upbeat heavy metal music]

Life is good. Is it not Mr. Jesse James?

- [Jesse] How the hell did you get that? [laughs]

I got the best job in the whole world.

I get to build like stuff like that and

just drive it around.

I love to make stuff and I get paid to make stuff like that.

And I get to work with like the best,

best hot rodders in the world, ever.

[engine purrs]

[engines roar]

- [Announcer] Long Beach has never seen a parade like this,

led by a car destined to turn heads for years to come.

Team '54, "Monster Garage" salutes you.

Okay, it's time to park it and hear from the man.

- That thing looks good. - Beautiful, man.

- You like look at a good looking woman

and you like, you kind of look at 'em

and you're like, "Oh, I wonder what her problem is?"

But that car you look at and you're just like, "Man,

it's like a magnet for me."

- [Announcer] What about the guys who built it?

- I think with Bill and Gene and d*ck and Jack

and Norm and all these guys working on it, it's kind

of their tribute to what they do.

They're showing a lot of kids,

including myself, how it's done.

- Gotta get a picture of it too, huh?

[chuckles] There you go.

- [Announcer] All right. That's enough.

The '54 needs to get some beauty rest.

Jesse's got no time for classic Chevys.

The large section trapped or dropped.

He's got metal to burn! Sparks the fight!

The next Monster Garage challenge is just around the bend!

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage