- [Narrator] This week, the garage is crawling with bugs.
- I don't like bugs, man.
- Scary dangerous.
- Oh, my God, man.
- [Narrator] But the team maintains a positive attitude.
- What, you got a breaker in your mouth?
- It's all twisted.
- Bueno.
[mellow hip hop music]
- You can't buy that kinda entertainment.
- [Narrator] 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 rock music]
♪ Monster, monster garage
♪ Monster, monster garage
♪ Monster, monster garage
♪ Monster, monster garage
♪ Monster garage
- [Narrator] This week's challenge,
turn a 1951 Volkswagen Beetle
into a quarter-mile dragster.
The rules.
When built, the vehicle must appear to be lightning fast.
[engine revving]
The team has five grand for parts.
Jesse and his crew have seven days and nights.
On the first day, they design.
For the next five, they build.
And on the seventh day, it's Beetle mania.
If successful, they walk away with a $4000 set
of Mac's hottest tools.
And Milwaukee Electric Tool will donate
a $2500 power package to a vo-tech school
of the builders' choice.
And the clock starts now.
Jesse's in the mood for some good,
old-fashioned German engineering,
but this isn't the car he'll be monsterizing.
It's his own personal ride,
a mint '66 oval-window beauty.
- I'm a total Volkswagen guy.
You know, my second car was a Volkswagen,
and somethin' about 'em, they're neat.
And they're easy to work on and easy to customize,
and they're just kinda good German engineering.
- [Narrator] So, where is the car they'll be starting with?
Well, what's left of it is piled up in the garage,
awaiting the arrival of this week's crew.
- I totally wanted a nice donor car,
but we just happened to find the split.
You know, and we're kinda on a budget.
I didn't think it was that bad.
[chuckling] I didn't know it was underwater.
[laughing] But it kinda makes it cooler, you know?
- [Narrator] The design team starts the day
with more than just ink on their hands.
Because this classic Beetle's been underwater for years,
it takes some muscling to roll her onto the lift.
Automotive designer from San Francisco, California,
Richard Kim.
[upbeat electronica music]
Volkswagen customizer from Brea, California,
Randy Carlson.
And from Orange, California,
current VW quarter-mile record holder,
Ron Lummus.
[upbeat electronica music continues]
- Hey.
So, Volkswagens, man.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Bring it on.
- They're pretty neat little cars.
Really you can pound on 'em, and they take it.
- [Ron] And they go real fast.
- I mean, I remember when I was kid,
we used to go out to Palmdale.
This is mid-80s.
All them g*ng-bangers from Compton used to go out there,
and they all had like nine and 10-second cars.
- Yeah, that was pretty intense back then.
- Yeah, pro-street Camaros and stuff were like big
and big blower motors.
And you could go up in a little Volkswagen and wax people.
- [Ron] Pretty much.
- Win 1000 bucks.
- Or more.
- [Jesse] On a Friday night.
- Yeah, right on.
- So, we got a little split that's pretty.
- Split. - Yeah.
Basically, we're just lookin' at a body.
I don't know if we wanna try and find another pan
or somethin' for that thing.
- That'd probably be the best way
'cause the floor pan's gone now.
So, I know the floor pan will actually
hold the body together 'cause I think without that,
the body's just gonna fall apart.
- Yeah, once we've got the pan to start with, then.
- [Ron] Yeah, it gives you a foundation.
Then, you can start puttin' the roll cage in
and mount the seat, steering,
and everything you're gonna need.
- Well, I think this is pretty basic so
I mean, we'll slip a pan in it,
do a full roll cage, do the suspension.
- [Ron] Yeah.
- [Jesse] Fiberglass front end.
- Narrow it and get it down real low in the front
so it's got a real aggressive look to it.
- I don't know if we have a line on a motor or anything,
but I think we should put a big turbo motor in it.
I think if we can make a nine-second car.
- Yeah?
- [Jesse] Then we've really done somethin'.
- Nines, huh?
How far into the nines?
[guys laughing]
- Hey, I don't know, man.
You're the, this is your department.
So, you know, I'm just tryin' to make it
achievable in five days.
- [Ron] Yeah, that's gonna be the twist.
- You know, take somethin' from a swamp.
- [Ron] Literally.
- To nine seconds in five days?
- [Ron] Yeah, that's gonna be pretty wild.
- [Narrator] Making this swamp thing
into a quarter-mile king,
will require salvaging what's left of the body
and securing it to a sturdier chassis.
Then, they'll lower the profile
and prep it for the race track
before dropping in over 500 horses
of turbo-charged Volkswagen power.
[upbeat rock music]
[car engine revving]
[tires squealing] [engines revving]
Day [speaking in a foreign language].
To pull off this monster task,
a world-class team of Volkswagen legends
makes their way into the garage.
[impact wrench humming]
From Huntington Beach, California,
engine builder and drag racer, Jack Sacchette.
[impact wrench humming]
Vintage VW restorer and fabricator
from Visalia, California, Jason Ransbottom.
[impact wrench humming]
Beetle builder, racer, and parts manufacturer,
from Orange, California, Clyde Berg.
[impact wrench humming]
And staying on from the design,
owner/operator of the Old Bug Company, Randy Carlson.
[impact wrench humming]
And Volkswagen racing champion Ron Lummus.
[upbeat rock music]
- What's up, man?
Jesse. - Not much.
- Nice meeting you, Clyde.
- How you doin', Clyde?
- Great.
- Jack. - How you doin', Jack?
All right, guys, we don't have much to start with.
It's kind of a beater so
it's forced us to use our heads a little bit.
I mean, we've got a budget of five grand.
I wanna see if we can get as much stuff donated.
I think, you know, nine-second car is a good goal.
- [Ron] Sounds like a good goal.
- Mid-nines.
[guys laughing]
- That depends on you.
[guys laughing]
- Let's roll.
[upbeat rock music]
- [Narrator] There isn't much to tear out
of this 55-year-old Beetle.
It's former owner did include a few spare parts
along with what's left of the car.
But most of what they have to start with
is downright unusable.
[car pieces banging]
- [Jesse] Look at that tr*nny.
- [Randy] The tr*nny's amazing.
- The gears look good. - It's like barnacles.
Let's use it.
[guys laughing]
- I think we're starting with nothing, really.
- Maybe check in to see what you guys got there in the shop.
- [Narrator] The guys waste no time in calling in favors
in the search for parts.
- Bye bye.
Done deal, got a tr*nny.
- Well, I've got a body shell and chassis comin'.
- [Narrator] All this planning
has Jack anxious to begin working.
He torches off a few sections of the brittle steel.
They'll replace them with newer materials.
[Clyde grunting]
[car parts clanging]
- Oh my.
- I've never seen somethin' like this, ever in my life.
I thought when we first walked in and seen it,
I thought it was a joke.
I thought you guys were kiddin'.
I'm waitin' for you to roll the other car out.
Everybody says this is it so let's do it.
I came in a little arrogant thinkin' it was
gonna be real simple 'til I seen the body.
- [Narrator] As a five-time PRA Champion
and the winningest driver in VW racing history,
Jack Sacchette has earned a little arrogance.
- Nice to see someone with, that's so highly regarded
for years in an industry
be worth every bit of accolades he gets.
- [Narrator] He's built some badass Beetles
over the past 30 years, but Jack's favorite Bug
isn't one of his race cars.
- For Christmas, I gave my son Zachary a '67 VW sunroof Bug.
We did it all, interior, paint, motor, the whole nine yards.
I was really proud of that, and it was just kinda special.
[mellow classic rock music]
- [Narrator] It's not long before an essential
building block is dragged into the garage.
- Excellent.
Well, we've got a good, solid body to start with.
So, we're gonna use the bottom of this thing
for the bottom of our creation,
and we'll put on the old split with the body on this
and start boltin' on go fast stuff.
- [Narrator] Out with the old and in with donor.
- She's a donor, ahh.
Donor number two.
- [Narrator] The hunt for a few worthwhile pieces begins,
as the team dissects the new arrival.
[parts clattering]
- Yeah. - There it went.
- [Clyde] Seats are out.
[parts clattering]
[hammer banging]
We need the doors.
Or, you know, we're gonna use the doors,
but we gotta get it off so we can get the pan,
everything out of the way.
- [Randy] Go.
- Got any matches?
[guys laughing]
- [Narrator] With the body gone,
and the rear end removed, the VW crew
has whittled the donor down to the pad.
Their day of destruction is done,
and all the pieces are in place.
So, the guys hit the road,
knowing tomorrow the real work begins.
"Monster Garage" factoid.
At its height of popularity, Volkswagen produced
more than one million Beetles in a single year.
In that same time span, Mother Nature
produces more than 500 trillion beetles.
♪ Monster, monster garage
[mellow rock music]
- [Narrator] Day three.
The build crew returns to their pile of Volkswagen.
- Who left this mess?
- Yeah.
- What are we gonna do first?
- Well, we still got some welding to do,
obviously, so the thing doesn't fall apart.
- The first thing we've got to do
is get that other door up here,
weld it, and get it flipped over.
Start gettin' this rocker on there.
- Yeah, work on the rocker.
- Yeah, you know what then?
I'll get the front end prepped
so it's ready to narrow and get the adjusters in it
while he's finishin' on the body here.
- Bueno. - Let's do it.
- Let's rock and roll. - Get on it, guys.
All right.
- [Narrator] Jason and Jack attack the body
like a pair of prize fighters.
- We gotta tack all the doors on
so we can square the body up so we can get on the pan.
They body's out of whack.
It's all twisted.
- [Narrator] Jack saws the gnarled edges from the Bug body
to match the racker panels that'll add strength
and brace it to the floor pan.
[mellow rock music]
[torch crackling]
- Got a few parts.
Check it out.
- [Narrator] Ron shows off a box of freebies
he brought in from his own shop.
- I got some roll bar plates.
I got a manifold for our Holley that's comin', a big Demon.
And then I got a motor mount, solid motor-mounting kit.
So, this thing will actually take off and go somewhere.
Pretty cool.
- Ron, I think, is probably one of the greatest
builders that we've had on this show.
- [Narrator] As a world record holder
for the 173-mile an hour, 8.4 two-second Volkswagen,
Ron Lummus was a natural for this team.
- I build race cars for a livin',
and my business is a mail order business,
and we do a lot of hardcore fabrication.
As long as it goes fast, I've worked on
boats, motorcycles, cars, American cars, foreign cars.
I'm building an electric car right now.
So, just all kinds of crazy, weird things.
Basically, what we're gonna do is
we're gonna take and cut the whole back of the pan off,
which holds the motor, the tr*nny, and the rear suspension.
And then, I'm also gonna take and cut
and narrow the torsion housing
and take three inches out of this section here
and then weld it back together.
[upbeat rock music]
- [Narrator] Clyde puts Ron's plan into action,
cutting the rear torsion housing away from the pan.
- Don't need no stinkin' torsion housing.
We need it. [laughing]
[saw humming]
- There you go.
Bingo.
All right, we're puttin' an alignment sleeve
to line up the torsion housing
so that it lines up straight.
[hammer tapping]
- [Narrator] Shortening the torsion housing
will allow them to fit better racing tires
under stock fenders.
[upbeat rock music continues]
And by welding it at a higher position on the pan,
Clyde's just lowered the car nearly six inches.
Jesse knows these Volkswagen guys all too well.
- They didn't spend a lot of money, right,
on the first day, huh?
It's Volkswagen people, man.
[tools whining]
They're cheap asses.
[chuckling] Awesome.
- [Narrator] So, when it came to ordering their engine,
he spared no expense.
Motor man, Sean Morris stops in with some questions
before he begins his all-night session
assembling the engine.
- Okay, that'll work.
- So, you're the way.
Right on.
- Be there in the morning.
- Gotcha.
Problem solved.
I didn't know it was you.
Right on.
- I gotta do the math, right?
- You're the man.
I'm relieved to find out that it's him.
I think we can look forward to having no motor problems.
Sean knows what he's doin'.
- We have transmission.
[guys cheering]
I mean, that's like a $3000 tr*nny right there.
It's got disc brakes and all that good stuff in it.
Can't get any better than that, you know?
- [Narrator] But how much dough
is the top of the line Wrencho goodies
gonna cost these guys?
- Let me see.
[chuckling] Donated it.
- I got some stickers.
- [laughing] Yeah, I think I'm gettin' stickers,
gettin' a boot out.
[guys laughing]
- Thanks, bro.
Awesome.
That makes me happy.
It looks good.
- We're gonna cut and narrow the beam up,
and then we're gonna put some adjusters in the center of it
so that we can raise or lower the car as we want to
to get the height right where we want it.
So, basically, I'm just carnage, rippin' everything apart.
[tool humming]
Hello, baby.
- [Narrator] Once the front torsion housing is cleaned up,
Jack and Ron hack it in two
before handing it off to Jesse for adjuster fabrication.
- The problem is when you weld it together
if you don't get it just right then these aren't gonna spin.
- Yeah.
- So, because the fit is not exactly.
You know, it's pretty tight.
So, if you get any bleeding, you're kind of in trouble.
- Yeah.
I think I can do it, maybe.
The last front end I put like a select-a-drop adjusters in,
[mellow rock music]
[crew chattering] [tools humming]
- Ready, one, two, three.
- Cool.
[hands pounding]
- This is good, that everybody's working,
and I'm havin' to look for somethin' to do.
I like that.
The lazy mind is the devil's workshop. [laughing]
- [Narrator] With the body locked onto the pan,
Clyde's clear to remove the doors for easier access inside.
[saw humming]
Jack and Ron knock out the first bars of their cage.
[tools humming]
- Wow.
- And when we got in the car,
it was missin' the bar in the center of the rear window,
and fortunately it came with a replacement piece.
So, I'm just tryin' to cut this
so that it will fit in here proper
so we can turn it back to the way that it was originally.
[hammer banging]
When you see the split window,
it shows some status in the VW world.
It's a cool thing to have.
- [Narrator] Randy Carlson is the brains behind
some of the craziest custom Beetles to ever hit the road.
- There's not too much that goes on
anywhere in the world of Volkswagens
that he doesn't have a little hand in
or know somethin' about.
- The Beetle is the perfect basis to do
extremely ridiculous stuff
because the chassis and engine in front
can be pulled out from under it and stuff.
If you look at the real whackos out there
that built extremely strange cars,
I'd say probably 60 or 70% of 'em are Volkswagen powered.
- [Narrator] Day three is nearly done,
but these men on a mission keep pushing forward.
They lock the rear end into place before calling it quits.
- Is it in the holes?
- It will be in a second.
[hammer tapping]
- [Narrator] If they keep up this pace,
the VW crew will finish in record time,
assuming, of course, they don't run out of gas.
[man crying] [engine stalling]
[guys laughing]
[upbeat rock music]
[tires squealing]
[tires squealing]
Day four.
[upbeat rock music continues]
- Are we still here?
- [Narrator] To conquer today's workload.
- [Randy] What a piece of crap.
- [Narrator] Team Volkswagen needs to divide the vehicle
and split time between the chassis, body, and motor.
- Come on.
[parts clanging]
- Great, good, guys. - Whoa, Sheba.
- Here we go.
- Down, girl, down.
[crew chattering]
- [Narrator] His VW-built Bentley has Jesse riding high.
[bell dinging]
But when it comes to the Volksmonster,
the way to go is low.
[mellow blues music]
- See the adjusters?
These make it so you can raise and lower it.
[upbeat rock music]
- All right, we got all the goods from EMPI
- Right on. - Yeah.
- [Narrator] A slew of early morning deliveries
has parts piling up quick.
- Check these out. - Aw, sweet.
- Here we've got the front wheels for the car.
- Yeah, they call these spindle mouths.
They're pretty lightweight.
They don't weigh nothin'.
- Starter. - Oh, right on.
- Throttle cable so we can push the pedal down.
- There we are, Kennedy clutch.
- Shock absorbers.
- Aw, check it out, tie rods. - Your tie rods, steering.
- [Narrator] Sean's back with the most
welcomed arrival of the day.
- What's up, buddy?
Late night?
- Oh yeah.
- What you got for us?
Dang.
- [Ron] All right.
- [Narrator] A 200 horsepower custom VW engine
he built overnight.
- Aw, this ain't no Camaro engine.
[grunting] It's all you, big guy.
- [Narrator] Jack's ready to begin boosting the flat four,
but he's quick to pull himself off the hook
for work that isn't his.
- Fortunately, I didn't build this motor
so I got a way out if somethin' happens to it,
as long as the parts don't fall off that I put on.
- [Narrator] And Clyde starts work
on his signature air intake port,
which will give a kick to the monster's engine.
- Well, I cut this off.
[part clanking]
This was the original inlet diameter,
and we're goin' a little bit bigger.
As a kid, I was taught it's how many
marshmallows you can put inside the chamber and squish,
and instead of like 80 marshmallows,
we're gonna try and put 280 marshmallows into it, you know?
- The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Clyde's dad was the true high performance,
like really fast Volkswagen pioneer.
- You know, since Dad's passed away,
I've realized more and more
how lucky I was to grow up around that.
- [Narrator] His name is known throughout the VW industry,
but it's Clyde's love for the Bug that drives him.
- I'm a Volkswagen freak since I was a kid.
I was born into Volkswagen so that's what I do
to this day is Volkswagens.
Got a little porting to do.
See all that blockage?
I gotta make it all blend to that round area.
[tape ripping]
I need my buddy attached.
- Is that good?
- Yeah, actually, that's good.
Then, I don't have to crimp it with my arm.
Thank you.
[mellow soft rock music]
We're just tryin' to blend so that it's a nice transition
from the carburetor to the turbo so.
More flow, more power, you know, basically what it is.
- There's quite a few companies that make 'em,
but Gene Berg is probably the finest quality shifter
on the market.
Without a doubt, and they made a special edition
for the "Monster Garage" here so pretty trick piece.
[torch crackling]
[mellow acoustic guitar music]
- [Narrator] The garage is suddenly graced
by the presence of an out of the ordinary delivery person.
The first lady of Volkswagen racing, and Clyde's mom,
Dee Berg.
- Hi. - Hey.
What you got there?
- [Dee] Got you a sump and some wheelie bars.
- Oh, right on.
That'll look bitchin' on there.
Thank you for bringin' that out.
Appreciate it very much. - No problem.
Your shifter looks good.
- [Clyde] It does.
It looks really good, really, really good.
- I was tellin' 'em.
They didn't know you used to drag race.
I remember seein' your car in magazines
with Dee Berg on the side.
- [laughing] Yeah, many years ago.
- You think you wanna drive this thing?
- Sure.
- [Jesse] Awesome.
- Very neat.
- [Clyde] Thank you, Mom.
- [Dee] Thanks.
- See ya, thanks.
- Thank you, bye bye.
- Spindles.
[Ron whistling]
- Now, we're gonna get slammed.
- Absolutely.
[upbeat rock music]
[hammer tapping]
- [Jack] Almost done.
[upbeat rock music continues]
- Yeah, we got tires.
Wheels.
- Ah, that's the stuff.
- I'd say that if we keep this pace up,
we'll be sittin' pretty good.
Up and over.
It's kinda gotta go down in the front.
Wait now, push is backwards.
- Yeah, now back.
- All right.
- It looks good.
From swamp thing to almost race car
in three days flat.
Volkswagen guys, man.
No [horn honking] around.
Get it done.
Not whinin' about they don't have parts.
I don't have this.
I can't move 'cause I don't have my special tape
to tape my butt cheeks together. [laughing]
- [Narrator] "Monster Garage" factoid.
The top speed of a stock 1951 Beetle is 75 miles per hour.
The Tiger beetle runs an impressive
five and a half miles per hour,
but if scaled up to VW size would hit
a blazing 730 miles per hour.
♪ Monster, monster garage
[upbeat rock music]
- [Narrator] Day five.
Still two days to go, but with most of the labor done,
the team has only one thing on their mind.
- What's today's goal, fire it up?
- That'd make my heart start pumpin'.
- Absolutely.
- 'Cause after that, there's not much left.
'Cause once you hear the motor runnin',
you're gonna be beggin' us to bleed the brakes.
[guys laughing]
I gotta make a pass.
I gotta go make a pass.
Come on, hurry up, hurry up.
We gonna get it, guys?
- Yeah. - Let's do it.
- Yeah.
[guys cheering]
- [Narrator] They're striving to hear this Beetle scream
so Jack jumps on the motor,
hooking up the last of the trick, after-market freebies.
- She got a MSD distributor, fuel pump block-off,
JC pushrod tube, CB extreme eliminator head.
Make more power, a little bit more power.
More power.
[engine clanking]
It's not cheap.
A motor like this is probably $15,000.
For somethin' like this, yeah.
It's gonna be a lot more crazier
than say a V-8 with 750 horse.
You know, in a 3500 pound car
compared to a 14 or 1500 pound car.
That's like scary dangerous, scary dangerous.
[upbeat rock music]
- [Narrator] Anything less than scary dangerous
is too weak for the "Monster Garage."
The mini menace is lifted into place
and quickly bolted to the transmission.
- Lift up on the back plate there.
Jiggle, jiggle.
There it is, bingo.
Success.
[guys cheering]
Look at that.
- Hot rod.
- It's totally like 1980s, man.
- Unreal.
- It is unreal.
- [Narrator] They aren't out of the swamp yet,
but Jason can't resist stepping back
to admire their progress.
- Man, three and a half days later,
not sayin' that it started yet, but it's pretty huge.
- [Narrator] With an early finish in sight,
Jesse's caught a case of Fahrvergnugen fever.
Today's ride, an Australian-issued Type 3 notchback
with right-side drive.
- It's like this is my good car. [chuckling]
Are you gonna do the wiring?
Awesome.
Yeah, better you than me.
- Yeah really.
- That's what everybody is sayin'.
- I'm good at welding, man.
Nobody wanted to do it. [chuckling]
- More like, I don't wanna do it.
I don't wanna do it.
Well, let him do it.
So, I'm the guy that, yeah.
So, we'll see if it works.
If it doesn't, it'll just go up in flames, and that's fine.
That's a good ending.
- [Narrator] Volkswagens have been the source
of a few good endings in Jason Ransbottom's life.
- I go by my friend's house,
and he had this lowered 13-window bus, this deluxe bus,
and I was goin', what is that?
This is, that's it.
And I went and sold my Camaro and went and bought a bus,
and it's just kinda been downhill after since. [laughing]
[saw humming]
- He got to where he is because he's an a*s buster,
and he knows his stuff.
- [Narrator] And the stuff he knows best
is restoring old Volkswagens.
- We try to take it to a really fine degree,
not metal finish fine, but kind of like an in between.
[whip cracking]
[smile creaking]
- [Narrator] Jesse's been busy crafting
a custom firewall to guard his back.
- Less chance when it catches into a big ball of fire
that it keeps it out of the driver's compartment,
for a second.
[upbeat classic rock music]
[metal banging]
A little trimming here and there.
[metal banging]
I think it fits though.
[upbeat soft rock music]
- [Narrator] Midday comes,
and with so many experts involved, this team is flying,
but there's always room in this garage
for one more bug buff.
- Very cool.
Someone told me there'd be Beetles in here.
- [Narrator] Brent "the Bug Guy" Karner,
an entomologist from the LA Natural History Museum
shares his prize specimens with the builders.
- They've been around for millions of years,
and they are the most diverse group of animals
on the face of the planet.
If you lined up every organism on earth in a row,
every fifth one would be a beetle.
- I don't like bugs, man.
- It's not so bad.
It's as nice lookin' as yours.
This one here is a predatory beetle.
Runs around on the ground finding all sorts of
other little bugs, grabs 'em with those huge jaws,
and gives 'em a really good bite.
- I got just what you need.
- Aw, yeah.
[Jesse laughing]
- [Brent] Well, what you're really lookin' for then
is probably this one here, which isn't a beetle,
but a lot of people confuse with a beetle.
- Wow, look at that thing.
- [Brent] This is a Madagascan hissing c*ck.
- [Jesse] They hiss?
- Uh huh, they can if they're really bothered.
There it was. - Oh yeah.
- It happens real quick.
See, I love my bugs, man.
- They know you is what it is.
- Oh yeah, but I got another c*ck in here too,
a giant tropical one,
more c*ck in appearance.
- Big wings?
- [Brent] There you go right there.
- [Ron] Oh, yeah.
- Doin' what c*ck do.
What always freaks me out is
how people get so bent out of shape
about somethin' that just runs.
This is a type of tarantula here
called a Mexican Red Rump tarantula.
This thing can easily go up to eight months
without food or water,
and there's records of them going
a number of years without eating.
And they're not the monsters people think they are either.
- My son, little Jesse, has a tarantula,
and I won't go near that [bug crunching].
I don't like.
[everyone laughing]
Stomp on it quick before it gets to us.
- [Brent] Someone who wants to meet a spider.
- Oh, yeah.
- [Brent] That's all right, man.
- You think that spider looks big to us.
Imagine to him.
- Ah, that's all right.
The only thing that's dangerous about putting
a tarantula on somebody like this is
for the tarantula actually.
Even a drop from about here to the floor
would k*ll this animal.
- [Narrator] And does the bug guy
have any final words for Monster fans?
- Well, don't step on 'em all.
- [Narrator] Thanks for the advice, Brent,
but there's only one bug specimen we admire.
[impact wrench humming]
Beetlus Rustus Monster Garagous.
Ron steps up with the final piece of the power plant,
a turbocharger from Honeywell Turbo Technologies.
It may look small,
but this little baby packs one hell of a punch.
[upbeat rock music]
Coupled with Clyde's ported plenum,
the turbo boosts the power to the tune of 200 horses.
With a full tank of gas, the team is ready
for the music they've been waiting to hear all week.
- Okay, hit the starter button.
- Cranking.
[upbeat rock music] [engine revving]
[guys cheering]
- Yeah. - Yeah, baby.
- Fire at the "Monster Garage."
Said it couldn't be done.
[Ron applauding]
Way to go.
You guys all did it, man.
- [Randy] Yeah, that's good stuff.
- We're going racing, tomorrow in the street.
Jesse's gonna go back to his roots.
[guys laughing]
- [Jack] I predict early victory tomorrow.
- Aw, now you just [bell dinging] it up, Jack.
[crew chattering]
- I wanna go see Jesse race.
That's what I wanna see.
We gotta be done if I get to do that.
- Yeah.
- We'll be busy tomorrow.
Don't think we're sayin' it's gonna be a slackin' day,
but it'll run, and it'll drive.
- Cool.
Good job, guys.
[intense rock music]
- [Narrator] With another build day on the books,
this crew can rest easy, the sweet melody
of more than 500 horses lulling them to sleep.
It's touch and go for team Volkswagen.
- I'll totally run this thing off a cliff.
[fingers snapping]
Like that. [laughing]
- [Narrator] Don't you dare bug out on us.
[liquid bubbling]
♪ Monster, monster garage
[mellow electronica music]
[bug splurting]
- [Narrator] Day six.
[upbeat rock music]
They've already made their monster growl.
So, this crew rolls in to tie up some loose ends
before heading off to the afternoon races.
[car engine humming]
Jesse won't be late for his Figure 8 race
driving this, a brand new 600 horsepower
Porsche Carrera GT.
[mellow rock music]
But there's another high-powered German beauty
in the garage that needs his attention.
- What's up, man?
- Hey, buddy.
- What's happenin'?
- The stock fenders are steel,
and they have a nice look to 'em.
- Okay.
- Although the fenders that we have are bright yellow.
Your favorite color, right?
- No.
I don't like yellow anything, man.
- Fits so perfectly.
- That's horrible.
It looks like piss.
We're gonna paint those before we put 'em on, man.
- Hey, guys, how ya doin'?
- All right, we've been waitin' on these windows.
- You need some more windows.
There you are. - Excellent.
Thanks a lot.
- Okay, take care.
- [Narrator] A few hours into the day,
and this car is almost in the clear.
[mellow rock and roll music]
Jesse's nearly finished the Beetle's firewall,
but it's not the quarter mile that's on his mind.
It's the Figure 8.
- My life has the perfect balance
'cause I spend all day doing nice sheet metal work,
and I'll spend all night tonight totally trashing it.
[Jesse laughing]
It's good feng shui.
Monster feng shui.
[gong echoing]
- Yeah.
- [Narrator] Ron flies in with one last freebie
that'll spoil this rotten bug.
- I brought a wing from the shop.
I figured we'd need it.
- [Clyde] Okay, that's.
Oh, baby.
- Just cut the hole in the top.
- Yeah, it looks bitchin'.
[upbeat rock and roll music continues]
[metal clanging]
- Details, details, details.
- [Narrator] With the wing in place,
all that's left is to fire it up
and head out for a test run.
[intense rock music] [engine humming]
- Woo.
[engine revving]
[engine hissing]
- That didn't sound good.
- No, it didn't.
[Jack gasping]
- What was that?
- [Ron] I don't think you wanna know what that was.
If you ask my opinion, I think the motor just seized.
Let's get it out.
Let's get it apart.
Let's overcome.
It's daylight.
We got spare parts. - We got time.
- Let's make it happen.
- 'Cause we have to.
- What do you wanna do?
- [Ron] We're gettin' it out right now.
- You yank it out, pull it apart, and fix it.
- [Ron] It's not the end of the world.
- So, now we gotta rebuild it.
- [Clyde] Yeah, it's better to happen like this
'cause if it would've happened out there on the street,
it would've blown the motor to pieces.
Into scrap.
- That's what we get for openin' our big mouths
and talkin' about how we're gonna finish early
yesterday, last night.
- Yeah. - Who jinxed that anyways?
- I think Jack said we were gonna finish it.
- [Jack] Hey.
- Hey.
- I didn't jinx nobody.
[guys laughing]
We were done.
We were f-in' done at four o'clock.
- It's all coming back to me.
Now I know why I don't have any Volkswagens anymore.
- [Clyde] Oh no, come on now.
- I'm like startin' to remember.
That sucks, man.
Luckily for us, we've got the best in the business.
I know Clyde Berg and Ron Lummus and Jack.
Those guys, it's what they do.
They make their living building motors so,
and they have a pretty good reputation.
So, they're not gonna build stuff
that seizes up after five minutes of running it.
I'll totally run this thing off a cliff.
[fingers snapping]
Like that. [laughing]
If it doesn't make it.
I'm all about Volkswagens and love 'em and everything,
but if it fails, it fails.
- [Randy] What time you gotta leave?
- Well, I'm gonna leave now and go practice
and do it and come back.
Be back about 10.
- [Clyde] That's fine.
We'll be done and waitin' for ya.
At least anticipate us bein' done. [laughing]
- [Narrator] Jesse wouldn't normally leave a build hanging,
but he knows the frozen motor is in good hands.
[upbeat rock music]
and this crew has little more than seven hours
to tear the engine apart,
find and fix the problem,
put it all back together,
and successfully complete a test run.
- It's a minimum six hours.
- Yeah, it's gotta come all the way
down to the crank and the bearings and everything
'cause that's what's goin' on,
but I think you guys are gonna get the peek in
at what these things look like inside.
Two of the best Volkswagen mechanics
in the world right here.
- This is what happens when someone's been asked
to build a motor in 24 hours.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, he stays up all night.
- This has got a lot of high performance parts inside there,
and I have not doubt that it was assembled
correctly and nice.
It's just one of those things.
- There we go.
- All right, I'm pretty much, all right you're good.
- Pull it out.
[upbeat rock music continues]
[tools humming] [parts clinking]
- There's the left one.
- Just leavin' half of the case out.
It's the rear, man.
- [Narrator] To find the source of the seizure,
an engine which took 12 hours to build
is stripped down to its individual components
in little more than an hour.
- Here's the problem right here.
This groove right here does not line up with this hole.
- [Clyde] The oil hole.
- [Jack] As soon as it started to twist, it cut
the whole oil passage off.
- Right, but the reality is
why did it start to twist in the first place?
- Because it was gettin' a little bit of heat.
It didn't have enough oil.
So, what you're supposed to do it in a lathe
and you lay a chamfer on here.
- Okay, I can see that.
[impact wrench humming]
- [Narrator] It's too late in the day
to find a replacement bearing
so Jack heads for the lathe at his shop
and shaves away a sliver of excess metal,
carving a deeper channel to improve oil flow.
[metal scraping]
But at this point, the real beetle battle is against time.
[clock ticking]
With the revamped bearing in hand,
Jack and his son Zach hurry back to Long Beach.
[truck engine revving]
[intense rock music]
- Hey, we're back.
Momma wanted to go out with the girls tonight
so the son got stuck with me.
So, we're puttin' him to work.
- [Narrator] With one eye on the clock
and the other on their motor,
Jack and Clyde quickly begin piecing together
the intricate assortment of precision steel.
[intense rock music continues]
- Get your hand out, Jack.
- I got it.
- Hand out.
[drill humming]
[Jack grunting]
- Okay, I know that's tight.
A real strong thong, and I got it goin' on.
[parts clattering]
[part clanking]
[tools clinking]
- [Narrator] For the second time in two days,
the team loads the motor into the back of the Beetle.
- [Ron] You guys are all over it.
- Whoa.
- [Jason] Guys, slow down.
- [Ron] You got time, Jack.
We got time.
Slow down.
- [Clyde] I almost fell.
- I know.
- [Jason] Drop down, all right.
Pitch it forward.
You're almost there.
There it is, there it is.
Hold it, hold it.
[tool clinking]
- [Narrator] The engine's back in the Beetle
with two hours to go,
just as Jesse returns from his night at the races.
[upbeat rock music]
- [Clyde] Hey, hey, there's the star.
How'd you do?
- I crashed.
- No way.
- Ripped the whole side of the car off.
[car engines revving]
I was goin' in the intersection,
and the dude, he was on it
'cause he was racin' someone.
So, I said, cool, he's on it
so I'm gonna stab it and go right behind him.
And right at the last minute, he slowed up a little bit so.
- [Clyde] You tagged him?
- I just went ahead and hit him. [laughing]
[upbeat rock music] [car engines revving]
What'd you guys find?
- The bearing was coverin' half
of the oil hole to the rear main.
- [Narrator] He led the charge to rebuild the engine,
but Jack is worried about more than just the monster.
- [Jack] Hey, can you do me a favor?
- Uh huh.
- My 16-year-old son's here,
and he's the only white kid with an afro.
- [Jesse] Awesome.
- [Jack] I want him to cut his hair.
Just go give him a big old [bell dinging].
- No, man, afros are cool.
- I can't handle it to even look at his eyes.
- Is he a good kid though?
- He's a great kid, a great boy.
- Let him have the afro then.
You could have a really clean cut kid
who's in juvenile hall like me.
I had a flat top. [laughing]
[upbeat rock music]
- [Narrator] It's crunch time for the VW crew.
If the motor won't turn over, this monster's done for,
and even if the engine works, there's no guarantee
the rest of the car will.
- Go ahead.
[engine turning]
[engine roaring]
[engine revving]
Turn it off.
- All right, let's go.
[upbeat rock music]
- [Narrator] A cavalcade of VWs are on hand
to witness the moment of truth for the Volksmonster.
If their alterations did the trick,
the test should go off without a hitch.
- What's that?
- I'm stressed out, man.
This is it.
Five days, right now, this is it.
Win or lose.
- I'm excited.
[car engine humming]
- Woo, doggie.
[Jack laughing]
- Right on. - Unreal.
- Yeah, woo, 11:57, and she's still runnin'.
Yeah.
- [Jesse] That was cool, man.
You guys are awesome.
- Good job.
Right on.
- You guys had to work for it.
- [Ron] Yeah, we did.
A little drama, yeah.
- You guys ready for some tools?
- Yeah. - Right on.
[intense rock music]
- Good job, guys.
- Good job, man.
- Jack. - Thank you.
- Jason.
Randy.
Mac Tools, Motorcycle Mania CD.
- Right on. - Cool.
- Good job, guys.
That was awesome.
[hand banging]
Cool.
- [Narrator] Build cost tally.
Hard cash $4,995.07.
Freebie value $12,835.19.
Vehicle cost: $3,500.
Grand total: $21,330.26.
♪ Monster, monster garage
[upbeat rock and roll music]
- [Narrator] Hey, Monster Beetles,
remember what this baby looked like soaking in the swamp?
Well now, it's getting the full
super double secret again process,
spearheaded by the big bug himself, Jesse James.
Would you look at this quadraped now?
Hardshell, sweet interior, new guages,
the one-of-a-kind Gene Berg "Monster Garage" shifter,
and this monster's ready to strut its stuff.
[upbeat rock music]
Jesse makes his way through the streets of Fullerton
headed for the monthly DKP Bug meeting.
[car engine humming]
Who could resist the chance to punch it for the people?
[car engine revving]
Not Jesse.
[police siren blaring]
Uh oh, it's 5-0.
[police siren blaring]
[mellow guitar music] [police radio chattering]
- [Police Officer] Driver's license?
- [Jesse] Yeah.
- [Police Officer] Take it out.
All right, registration.
- [Jesse] Well, it's not currently registered.
I'll tell you that right now so.
- Then why are you out here?
- [Jesse] 'Cause we're filmin' a TV show.
- [Narrator] You've gotta be kidding me.
The only cop in America who's never
heard of "Monster Garage."
- [Police Officer] You're quite the center of attention.
[crowd cheering]
- [Narrator] He's thinkin' about impounding the monster.
Don't do it, Officer.
He'll be good.
- You're getting cited for the license plate,
your expired registration, no insurance.
Do you have any questions?
- No, I'm cool.
[crowd cheering]
[car engine humming]
[upbeat rock and roll music]
[Jesse laughing]
[crowd cheering]
- You earned that one, buddy.
[Jesse laughing]
Woo, frame it.
Get mad.
- That's the first ticket I ever got today.
- [Narrator] After his signature on the ticket,
Jesse's willing to keep signing his name.
- Only 'cause you guys said please.
- Thanks.
- The magic word.
Cool.
- [Narrator] This crowd sure enjoys
seein' the newest monster on the block,
and the builders are happy to see their monster
all dressed up.
- I like it.
It looks really good.
I love the rust color on it.
- Engine's awesome.
It's makin' big power.
It makes enough to get him pulled over.
- I can't wait to turn it up.
I'll be surprised if it doesn't run nines.
Real surprised.
- Let's go look at some cars, man.
[upbeat rock and roll music continues]
Aw, it's yellow.
- [Woman] Yeah.
[Jesse groaning]
- [Woman] I wanna race.
I'm the only girl out here racing, come on.
- [Jesse] Yellow means you're chicken.
[woman laughing]
- Cool. - I appreciate it.
- Thank you, sir.
- See you guys.
I'm outta here.
- [Narrator] Let's ride, folks.
Show and tell is over.
It's time now for burn and go.
We're at the California Speedway, Beetle busters,
and Ron Lummus and his team have the track for the day
to practice running his Pontiac Sunfire.
[car engine humming]
He invited Jesse along to see if the sauerkraut
can make it into the nines.
[car engine humming]
The builders are on hand to make some final adjustments.
- You ready?
Wanna try it?
- Ready to rock n roll.
[car engine humming]
- [Narrator] Hit it, Jesse.
[car engine revving]
- Not bad for a first pass.
- 127? - Yeah.
Almost 128.
- He just babied it off the starting line,
like drivin' away from a streetlight.
- Yep, that's what we wanted, just kinda get used to it,
to get a feel for it, see what it was like to start with
before he goes hammerin' it.
- [Ron] Nice job, buddy.
- It seemed pretty straight.
- [Ron] Yeah, totally straight.
- What'd it'd run, 11-somethin'?
- 11.4128.
[car engine revving]
[tires squealing]
- Gettin' better.
This was a little squirrely.
I had been low 10s if I didn't get out of it,
but it was gettin' a little, brrr.
- [Narrator] Now, it's time for them to push for more speed.
[car engine revving]
- A little faster, 128, 10.72.
A little bit every time.
- Yeah, that's what I'm sayin'.
- [Jack] He did a good job.
Hell of a driver, huh?
- Yeah, yeah.
- I mean, what's he got, 11.40s?
Then, he went 10.90s.
Now, he's 10.70s.
- [Clyde] It's only his third pass.
- Third pass.
I mean, it takes some guys years to go that fast.
That ain't no joke.
- You gotta pump it up a little more.
- Yeah.
- [Narrator] Jack takes the weight skate
into Ron's mobile shop for a horsepower upgrade.
- Changin' the weight skate springs to get more boost.
More manifold pressure, more horsepower, more speed,
Jesse has a bigger smile.
I think we just gave me another 50 horse.
More power.
[door banging]
[engine revving]
- [Narrator] Jesse smokes the tires to heat them up
going for more traction and greater speed.
[engine roaring]
- 10.51, 131, that's drivin'.
- You can tell the booster's comin' on, eh?
- Yeah. - Aw, yeah.
Badass.
- 10.50s ain't bad.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Yeah, hell yeah.
- [Narrator] But it's not in the nines.
Not one to give up easily, Jesse pushes for one more run.
[engine roaring]
[engine revving]
Oh, he's getting a bit sideways.
Hold on, folks.
- [Ron] That would've been a hell of a pass
if he hadn't gone out of shape.
- [Jack] Yeah.
- You know, there's no other cars runnin' today,
and without any cars runnin'
there's no traction to make it go fast so.
It needs to be ran on a day when there's some
race cars goin' down the track.
That thing will move.
- It has the power to go nines.
I know that for a fact.
That car is capable of runnin' 9.70s.
I mean, I don't see no problem with it.
- [Narrator] Today it's about the 10s, not the nines,
but that's okay 'cause Jesse's got no time
for bugs that aren't fast, living in the past,
and anything painted yellow.
- [Jesse] Yellow means you're chicken.
- [Narrator] He's got metal to burn, sparks to fly.
The next "Monster Garage" challenge
is just past the end of the strip.
[gentle music]
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05x03 - Sour Kraut
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A team of five people with mechanical, fabricating, or modifying expertise was assembled to modify a vehicle into a "monster machine."
A team of five people with mechanical, fabricating, or modifying expertise was assembled to modify a vehicle into a "monster machine."