11x08 - New Year, New Vette

[bunniefuu]

[man 1] We have a fantastic
new project coming in.

These things are getting
harder and harder to find
in decent shape.

[Dave] This is
a cool project.

We're building
a 1958 Corvette.

I've been told this might be
my last fiberglass job.

I just want
to get this over with.

[Dave] We have a little bit
of repairs to do,

and, of course,
a lot of modifications.

[man 2] Basically doing
a resto-mod.

[man 3]
That's what we like.

That's what makes
our cars stand out.

[man 4] We're going to try
to flip this thing over.

Hopefully
it doesn't fall apart.

[man 5]
So what do you think?

[man 6] It's like a real
make it or break it.

Oh.

When I look
at a blank canvas,

I see endless possibilities.

As the ideas come to mind,

the lines start
to fall into place.

And before you know it,
we have a bitchin' ride.

A bitchin' ride
has intense color...

[man 1] This is gorgeous.

...performance...

[man 2] It's fantastic.

...stance, wheels, sound.

There's one thing that
makes our cars stand out.

Ours are bitchin' rides.

-[man 3] It never gets old.
-[man 4 laughing]

Dude, is this-- Is this
one of your jobs, bro?

No. But who the
hell parks here?

I told you we're not
doing Fords anymore.

This one's, like,
got a lot of problems.

-Oh, that's who parks here.
-Oh.

-What's happening?
-Mike, how you doing, buddy?

Good to see you, Kevin.

Hey, this either means
one of two things.

Either you just came to see us
or something's broken.

-[all laughing]
-[David] That's fair.

-I'll go get the zip ties
and the duct tape out.
-[David] That's fair.

Can you, like, tune up

our, uh, door alignment
here a little bit?

[Kevin] Every once in a while
we get visitors in the shop

of people
we never get to see.

Today, the crew
from Roadkill hows up.

My good friend Mike Finnigan,
David Freiburger.

Wow, this is a--
This is a cool rig.

Did you guys actually
make it here from California?

[David] We did.
So this is the car

that was shot for the very
first episode of Roadkill.

We intended to drive the thing
all the way to Alaska,

and we failed.
We didn't make it.

We ended up at the bottom
of the Grand Canyon.

Long story.

-But anyway, we've had
this car for 13 years.
-Wow.

And we're overloaded
on cars right now.

And so I was like,
"You know what?

I would like
something from Roadkill

to be held forever
in posterity in a prison."

-So we're driving--
-So you brought it to me?

No, no.
It's too good for you.

So we're driving
to Montana

to put this thing
in a car museum,

where, hopefully,
it will live forever

-so people can check it out.
-[Kevin] Oh, wow.

That is so cool.
That's nice.

[David]
That's what we're doing.

But we were
just in the neighborhood

and thought
we would swing by.

When the Roadkill
crew shows up,

you know
they only need one thing,

their car fixed.

So where did you guys
originally find this car then?

This has got some, uh, pretty
good history with you guys.

[David] Well, it looks
like it does.

It has history with us
as our first car.

But remember, I was the
editor of ot Rod magazine
thirteen years ago...

-[Kevin] Mm-hm.
-...when we started the show,

-and Mike
was working for me.
-[Mike] Mm-hm.

And so I had
the thing painted up

-to look like the car...
-Okay.

...that Hot Rod
used to win their class

at the very first
Mexican 1000,

which became the Baja 1000.

I know you're jealous
of, like, the skills on the--

Like, the sign painting
and everything, right?

No. That's where
I was, like, going,

"Man, this is, like,
a super vintage piece."

But I'm like going,
"You know what it could use

is some


a little staggered fitment,
a little drop."

It needs a touch up.

[Kevin]
I think it could use--

[stutters] There's gaff tape
across the cowl there.

-[Dave] Yeah.
-[Kevin] I think it could
use other things

-besides some fancy
wheels and a buff job.
-[Dave] Well, you know--

We do like function,

but we really do
focus on form first.

But this is cool.
This is really cool.

That's the thing I love
about the car industry.

There's something
for everybody.

You know, this isn't really
something that me and Dave

maybe would dig or do
or build or whatever.

But these guys love it.

They love it
with the passion.

And they do it full tilt.

Stock motor or--

Okay, you keep
asking questions.

There's nothing I can say
to impress you about this car.

It's a basic 302.

It's got, like, some
Edelbrock E-Street heads

-and a four-barrel on.
That's about it.
-No, no, no, no.

-Don't sell yourself
short, brother.
-[Dave] What? What?

The reason we came here was
to show them how to tidy up
an engine compartment.

-[David] Oh, show
them the compartment.
-[Dave] You know, let's see.

-Let's see this.
-Let's check it out.

-[Mike] Come on.
-Done.

You know, I always say
there's an a*s for every seat.

-Well--
-Our seat leans, like,
four inches to the left.

Like, uh, you have
a permanent gangster lean
when you sit in that seat.

Look at the wiring
on that baby.

[Mike] Focus on the
billet wire looms

that are bolted
to the billet valve cover.

[Kevin] That's very nice.

-That's actually
really, really nice.
-It's like you look at that,

and then you get over
to the battery.

-[Dave] Well--
-You know, you focus on that,

and then you don't
see the rest of it.

You know what,
actually, there's some
pretty tricked stuff here,

the way you guys have
hidden the compressor
for the air conditioning.

That's awesome.

[David] We've got Bluetooth
power steering right there.

I like it, I like it.

Where did all the
dirt come from?

-Was that from the--
-That's important.

That's from when
we were driving it
in Arizona

in the dirt
a couple of years ago.

-Oh.
-[Mike] Yeah. We wanted
to go to a steakhouse,

-so we drove this.
-Okay. Okay.

And then we got
to the steakhouse
the second time

-because, remember,
we failed the first time.
-Yeah.

-All right.
There's a theme here.
-Yeah.

And the second time,
when we finally made it,

we didn't even
have the steak.

I think we were so tired,
we just were like,

-"All right, we made it,"
and didn't go inside.
-[David] Yeah.

Here's the heater.

[Mike] This is how
you turn on the headlights
right here.

-[Kevin] Okay, sweet.
-[Mike] See?

-Yup.
-[Kevin] I like it.

-[Mike] And they both work.
-[Kevin] All right.

[Dave] They don't match,
but they do both work.

-You're absolutely right.
-[Mike] Two for two
right there.

-I like it.
-I like it.

It's neither
form nor function,
but it's fun.

-When it comes down to it.
-But it's Roadkill.

It's very eccentric.
It's a-- It's an abstract.

-The wiring
is a theft deterrent
-[Kevin] The wire--

[Mike]
Because once you see it,
you're like,

"I'm not stealing this."

-[Dave] "I'm not
getting caught for this."
-[David] Yeah.

[Kevin] Oh, that's awesome.

[Mike] Can we borrow
some electrical tape?

[Dave] Absolutely.
I got some zip ties, too,

-if you guys need it.
-Yeah, yeah.

You know, it's always fun
to catch up with my buddies
from over at Roadkill.

But right now, I've got
a very important client

coming in
to check out his project.

This one's going to blast,
get all the old paint off.

Uh, that will let us see
if the body has any cracks.

Uh, it'll get rid of any
bodywork that's on it.

We want to make sure that,
obviously, we're starting
with a clean slate.

Um, when we get it back,
we should have something
to work with.

These things are getting
harder and harder to find
in decent shape,

so we'll see.

[Dave] I'm so excited
about this '58 project.

So while we send
this out to soda blast,

we've got a couple
of other objects that we
need to pay attention to.

What's my opinion
on fiberglass?

-[man] What's your opinion?
-I'm not against fiberglass.

I'm good with it,
you know.

I hate fiberglass.

Oh, not fiberglass.

I don't like fiberglass.

If I had to choose
one or the other,

it would
probably be fiberglass

because just cut it up.

And if you mess it up,
then you just scoop some more
fiberglass resin on there

with some more matte
or, you know, strands.

Whatever you're doing.

If you know
what you're doing, Kyle,
you can shape the metal,

you can TIG weld it.

I've never seen you
shape metal once around here.

I don't particularly
care for it, but I don't--

I wouldn't say it's harder
or easier than steel.

It's not my favorite,
but I'll do it.

Fiberglass cars,
not my favorite to work on.

No, I absolutely hate it.

I like it in speaker boxes.

Other than that, I'm out.

I hate fiberglass.
Fiberglass makes you itchy.

-It's itchy.
-Itchy.

-Itchy.
-Itchy.

It's itchy, like,
the first day or two,

and then you just
get used to it, so.

Fiberglass is really itchy.

No one wants the itchy.

Gonna have a bad time.

All right, well, um,

we have a fantastic
new project coming in.

And I'm kind of looking
for someone to head it up.

So we have a fiberglass
project that's coming in.

And I know it's not
everybody's cup of tea,
or their bag,

or what they might
want to do in a day.

Or maybe
they really enjoy it.

So I have to really decide
who I might want to do it,

and I have
to do that fairly.

Kind of been
discussed in the shop

who might be
best for the job.

And, uh, you two are
on the top of the--

Top of the
little cake there.

Is that a good thing
or a bad thing?

-Yeah, I feel like
this is a bad thing.
-Well, you know,

it's really good
to be looked at by
your peers as, like,

these are pinnacle guys
that you'd want.

That you would want
to do the job, right?

Go-to guy for fiberglass?

Hm.

Well, there's two people.

Where'd Howard go?
It's Howard probably.

Probably Eric.

I put that juju on Howard.

It should definitely go
to Eric or Jake.

Definitely Jake.

You might be happy,
you might not be.

Because the trick is,
is it's fiberglass.

Okay.

How are we gonna
figure this out?

Well, I was thinking,
like, rock, paper, scissors.

So whoever wins
has to do it.

Whoever wins
gets the pick?

-[Will] No.
-Oh.

Whoever loses gets the honor
of doing the job.

[Eric] Hm.

-How could we--
-It feels like a loaded--

-How could we lose?
-Like a loaded game.

It sounds like almost like
a double negative, doesn't it?

-Okay. Okay.
-Let's get to it then.

-[Howard] Okay. Ready?
-Let's go.

[Howard] Rock, paper,
scissors, sh**t.

Yes.

Well, maybe we should do
two out of three.

Rock, paper,
scissors, sh**t.

Son of a b*tch.

[Eric exhales sharply]

I don't know
if you remember this,

but I took over
the whole champion
with rock, paper, scissors,

the whole shop.

I'll just do it,
I'll just do it.

I mean, I'll start it out
if you jump in with me.

-I can do that.
-We'll go from there.

I mean, it's a cool project.
It's a cool project.

-What is it?
-A '58 Vette.

-'58 Vette.
-Yeah.

I choose not to work
with fiberglass.

And I don't know
how to do fiberglass.

'Cause as soon as I learn,
then I got to work.

I think Howard is okay at it,
but he hates it.

And then, uh, I think
Eric knows his way around
fiberglass okay, too.

Will's a great
fiberglass guy.

Um, he's so good at it,

I think, he ought
to just do it all.

I'm not doing it.

-What the heck?
-No.

It's been a while
since I've been itchy, so.

-Thanks for volunteering.
-You got it.

[Will] Even though
you're supposed to lose.

[Howard and Will laughing]

[Dave] So the car's back
from soda blaster,

and it actually
looks really good.

We have a little bit
of repairs to do,

and, of course,
a lot of modifications

'cause, well,
I'm a glutton for punishment.

We got the car in.

And of course, you know,

-this was actually
a pretty good find.
-Right.

We got it over.
We had it soda blast
and got it back here.

And, you know,
it's got a couple of things.

-Obviously,
it's got a history.
-Sure. Right.

-It's got what they
would call "character."
-Right.

[Dave] But overall, I mean,

-we've got a great project
to start with here.
-Yeah, yeah.

-And, you know, a '58--
-Yeah.

-That's a--
-That's--

[Dave] It's kind of rare.

-A collectible.
-Yeah.

I'm Lawrence Dennis,
and I'm a car lover.

So why did you want
to do a '58?

Well, because it is unique.

-It's got the tucks
on the-- On the rear.
-[Dave] Yeah.

And then
the washboard hood.

You know, something--

Somebody knows what it is.

-I just-- Yeah.
-You just wanted something
that was different

-and a little bit more unique.
-Yeah, yeah.

Dave has found
a '58 Corvette.

Kind of unique year.

And, uh, is basically
doing a resto-mod.

So what do you want
to do with the car?

I mean, I under--

You know, obviously,
we're going for a resto-mod.

-Mm-hm.
-So we've got a new
chassis coming.

-It's all independent.
-Mm-hm. Right.

Um, do you have an idea
of what you want to do

as far as the engine
and transmission?

Do you like an automatic,
do you like a manual?

-I'm gonna do
an automatic, yeah.
-Cool.

And, um, something
with some, um, grunt.

I just love Corvettes.

Probably been through the
Corvette plant eight times.

I think, you know,

-600 horsepower
would be nice.
-Perfect.

Having the client here
is actually really fun for me

because this gives me
an opportunity to walk
around the car with him,

give him ideas, visuals,

and, of course,
hear what he wants

to make sure everything,
kind of, matches

and makes sense
for the build.

Do you have
a color in mind?

This is-- This is where
I get passionate about

what are we doing
with this car.

This is how I get excited.

What excites you
about the car?

Do you have
an idea of a color?

Yeah. I've always
liked the black
and the silver coves.

-And, uh--
-What do they call it,
a tuxedo?

-Red interior.
-Tuxedo, tuxedo.

With-- With oxblood.

-Yeah. That's--
-Well, that was it.

Look, I got--
I got chills.

You know, actually,
the good doctor has
some great ideas,

and I think this is gonna be
a wonderful project.

Something that we've done
on some of these Corvettes

is we'll actually take
a little bit of the space
behind the seat.

-Mm-hm.
-I'm going to move
the gas tank always

-if I can.
-Mm-hm.

I'm gonna move it
where the spare tire goes.

-Okay.
-We'll get rid of that,
get triple A.

Yup. Yes, right.

But what I like to do is
I like to bring

-this cove back
just a little bit...
-Mm-hm.

...and get this
back a little bit.

So you just have
a little bit more room

-to stretch out in the car.
-Right, right.

You don't feel like you're
eating the steering wheel

-and the steering column.
-Right.

[Dave] You know,
I think adding four inches

to the inside of the cabin
is really gonna pan out.

It's gonna be
a little extra work,

but it's definitely
gonna pay off.

We've got a good
car to start with,
that's for sure.

Do the top in solid black.

Yeah, so we can do that.

So you have
both tops on this one,

and that is one thing we
probably have to talk about.

If we do move
[stutters] the seat back,

-and we also tub it...
-Right. Mm-hm.

...which I definitely would do
with that much horsepower.

I'd like to put at least--

You know, if we can
get a 12 in the back,

-I'd like to put a 12-inch
wide wheel in the back.
-Mm-hm.

-You're gonna lose the
convertible full down top...
-Mm-hm.

...because that basically
is where the wheel goes,

-it's where
the frame would go.
-Right.

If you're okay with that,
you do have a hardtop.

We'll restore that.

-You just leave it
on the rack, nice day.
-Mm-hm.

-If it's gonna be
a crappy day...
-Mm-hm.

-Sure.
-...probably not gonna
drive the car anyway.

-But the tops really are
beautiful to have on there.
-Right, right. Right.

[Dave] So if you're
okay with that,

I think that, uh,
I definitely should mention
that it's a bummer

-that you can't fit all
of it in the same spot.
-Well, yeah.

Because it is
convenient, but.

I'd rather have
the wider wheels.

There you go. Me, too.

-I'd rather see the
wider wheels on the car.
-Mm-hm.

Enough chat,
more cutting.

Yeah, I think this is
gonna be really cool, man.

-Just a nice stance.
Get the car down low.
-Mm-hm.

Classic colors.

All of the original
chrome styling.

And I'll pull the bumpers
in a little bit tighter...

-Yeah.
-...because that's
pretty typical for us.

But overall,
uh, this is a--

This is gonna be
a fun build.

-I'm excited, I'm excited.
-Me, too.

I'm gonna put a couple
of renderings together
for this tuxedo theme

and see if it's just
what the doctor ordered.

So some of the most
notable differences

on a '58 Corvette
is that it is the first year

that they went
to four headlights,

not just a single
left and right.

Also, another notable
thing is they had
one-year-only trim

on the back deck
they call tusks.

And basically
what this looked like

was just two huge tusks,
um, big chrome strips

that go all the way
down the trunk lid.

And then also
one last thing is the hood.

The hood has what they call
the washboard hood,

and it was
a one-year-only detail,

which is really
kind of cool.

I quite like the '58
because it's so unique
and different.

To do one of these here
is kind of cool

because after all the years
we've been in business,

we've never played with one.

So this will be kind of
cool to play around,

do a nice resto-mod
for the good doctor.

This car in particular,
we're going to take
the liberties

of removing
the original door handles.

We're gonna put a set
of our smooth, classic
door handles,

which kind of emulate
the original shape.

We're gonna
pull the bumpers in
nice and tight,

get rid of the hardware,
uh, off with the headlights.

I think that's going
to be really important,
especially on this car,

because again,
we don't want to lose
what the car is.

We want to try
and keep that.

But at the same time,
we want to make sure
it stands out,

like a Kindig car should.

One of my favorite
combinations, color combos,

rather on these cars
is actually the tuxedo,

which is what we're
gonna do on this one.

Um, basically, it's blackened
with white coves.

And, uh, it just has
a really nice look to it.

It's very classic.

The tuxedo,
obviously black and white.

And then the red would be,
like, the cummerbund
or the tie.

And, uh, I think
it's going to look
really, really sharp,

especially with this really
warm, bright crimson red.

I think on this car,
the black and white to me

just seems a little bit
more tuxedo-ish.

So I think that's what
I'm gonna go with.

We're building
a 1958 Corvette.

To get the stance perfect with
this Art Morrison chassis,

we're gonna go ahead
and widen the tubs,

and we're gonna increase
the height of them.

We're gonna slide
all the seats and everything
back a good three inches

and butt all that stuff
right up against these tubs.

These, uh, '50s cars, man,

they're just
a little too small.

So we're going
to give some leg room
to this thing and tub it

and clean it up
and go from there.

Depending on how
you look at fiberglass,

I may have won
or lost this bet.

Either way, I'm excited to
work on something different.

So we definitely throw around
the word resto-mod around here
a lot,

but this one definitely feels
like mod more than resto.

These tubs, prefabbed.

We should be able to just
modify 'em a little bit

and get 'em
stuffed up in here.

Um, having to
cut away a little more
than I was expecting,

but we need to get
these things tucked up
as high as we can, so.

I'll cut out what I can
and then, uh, replace
the rest.

Yeah, this is
gonna be able to--

It's going to be able
to fit as wide a tire

as the frame will allow
with these tubs in here.

So it should be
a pretty big upgrade

to get some
meats back here.

[Dave] So we're going
to go ahead and add

a little bit more tire
in the back.

That means we're going
to raise the wheel tubs
as well as widen them.

This will give us
a great stance,

but also
give us the ability

to stuff a lot
more tire in there.

Looking a little better.

I have to keep
raising it up

so I can land this flange
a little better here.

I don't want to
come up any higher.

I'll probably just have
to make some adjustments here.

No big deal.

[Dave] Compared to metal,
fiberglass is just

a little bit easier
to work with,

but it still has its quirks.

And you definitely need
to know what you're doing
to do it right.

One of the great things
about fiberglass cars is
they don't rust.

Much like steel,

fiberglass has
its pros and cons.

And really,
if you mess it up,

you just got to
cut it and start over,
much like metal.

Other than that, it's itchy,
it's quite messy.

But once you're done,
it's beautiful
and it works great.

[Eric] Let my poor saw
cool down.

This thing's r*fle hot.

[Dave]
So now that we have room
for the bigger wheels

and the tubs
have been installed,

we're now going to
address the door jamb.

This has what we call
the hip buster,

which is basically
a support that goes into

the back side
of the door jamb.

We're gonna
shrink that back

so you're not
hitting your hip,

because now we've set
the seat back so far.

[Eric] Get that hazard pay.

[chuckling]

Yeah, it's kind of
a superficial piece here.

More just to
hold this in shape.

And I'll come in
through the backside,
carve it all out

and feather it in
with some fresh fiberglass.

I'm extending
this thing four inches,

so I'm getting the backside

all fiberglassed up
with a little backer.

Then I'll flip it over,
carve out a nice big section

and, uh, feather it out
with some fresh fiberglass.

I don't know
what to tell you.

Back in the '50s,
everybody was much shorter.

Probably a little smaller,
fit and frame wise.

Nowadays, you know,
with fast food and the--

And people
wanting to be tall.

And I don't know
if it's a hereditary thing.

I don't know.
I'm not a doctor.

I'm just a car builder.

Three years
after we do this,

it's always dirty.

The fiberglass
is all prepped,

so we'll lay this out
real quick.

I like to lay it out
just the same thickness
as the original material.

Try to lay it out
nice and flat,

so I don't have to sand
a whole lot back off.

That's why I've cut all
these strips of different
widths and whatever

so I can, kind of,
feather it out.

A hundred different ways
to do this.

This is what
I found works the best
and quickest for me, so.

Slather it on there.

Get that fiberglass
fully soaked up
with the resin

and then lay it on.

It's looking pretty good.

I'm gonna start
with my thin guys.

Lay those in first.

Kinda massage it in.

Yeah, I kinda mixed it up
a little on the, uh...

I don't know if you call it
the cold side or whatever,

but that way,
I've got plenty of time
to work with this,

and then I'll heat it up
with the heat g*n after

and kinda get it to kick
when I'm ready.

Just kinda eyeballing it.

You can measure
this stuff out exactly
but who's got time for that?

A lot of it's just getting
this original fiberglass
prepped out right

and feathered out.

That way, it lays down nice.

[Dave] With everything
going together,

it's starting
to look beautiful.

Now we're just gonna make sure
that everything looks good

with those extra 4 inches
in the cabin.

Looking so far, so good.

I'm about ready to go,
set this thing in the car
and test fit it.

Looking pretty decent so far.

And that's what this piece is.
A little bit over 4 inches.

That way I can scribe it in,
cut it, get those buttered up
nice.

That's kind of the idea.

I like to put a little piece
of glass behind it

and then work my way
down to it and build back up
from there.

We're waiting on the frame
and some other parts.

So there's a bunch of repairs
and stuff we can tie back
in underneath,

so we're gonna try
to flip this thing over.

We got
a little structure going here.

Hopefully, we can flip it
over onto the table

and then just continue
going on other stuff
while we're waiting on parts.

So we'll see.

Hopefully
it doesn't fall apart.

We're gonna lay these
on the floor essentially.

[Will] It's a good thing
this fiberglass body
is lightweight

'cause flipping
a metal car like this
would just not happen.

Yeah, let's go up this way.

So roll it up,
and then let's just see.

But I think
that will help a bunch.

Keep it off this side.

We're waiting on some parts,

so in the meantime,
we're gonna clean up
a couple of things.

And we're really close. Down.

So it was cool
to be able to flip it,

-get all that stuff
fixed up and done.
-Mm-hmm.

-Yeah.
-Just check it off the list.

[Will] Yeah,
and it's looking good.

Got the front end
of this '58 Corvette
fit up pretty well.

Oh, [bleep].

Got this '58 fit up
pretty well.

Getting ready
to glue it together.

And then we'll be able to do
some fiberglass repairs
from there.

Gonna mix up
some of this bonding putty
and slather it on there.

I'm told this might be
my last fiberglass job,

so I just wanna
get this over with.

Yeah, this uses
the same hardener
as we do with our fiberglass,

so it's all compatible

and it should work out
pretty good.

But it's pretty nasty.

Tell I'm not a body guy,
I don't got that
proper technique, huh?

Eric's adding
a couple of extra layers
of this fiberglass

and he's gotta kinda hurry
because it's gonna
start setting.

It's important to get
enough thickness on this
so he can create the strength.

He then can go back
and shape it and reduce it
where he needs to.

It's a lot easier
than doing it halfway

and then pre-prepping it
and doing it again.

Yeah, so I got to meet up
with all my flanges
on these glue in-pieces.

Just wanna make sure
I got enough of this putty
everywhere to land just right.

Pretty precise on this thing.

'Cause once it's glued in,
it's not moving.

Eric's got
all of the resin spread out,
and now the clock starts.

All right.

I'm using
these headlight buckets

to locate everything
once I'm locked in.

Kinda help out.

I had it all
pinned down before,
and I was happy with it.

So if I can
get it back where it was,
I should be good.

I'll sh**t the laser on it
one more time
and go from there.

[grunts] These
cheap-a*s gloves.

All right, let's see
what we can do here.

Yeah. I'm not afraid.

If it squishes out the back,
that'll be a good thing.

I'm just trying to get...

Make sure that
we've got plenty on here

so we don't have
any voids really.

You know, this side
was kind of my
deeper side here.

But I'm also gonna be doing
a bunch of glasswork
over the top,

so that'll be kinda
the insurance on here.

All right.

Put a little oil on there,
help these from coming out

where it's
sticking a little bit.

That kick, that's it.

Eric's
got the whole front end done
and it looks beautiful.

[Eric] Well,
the laser is hitting.

It seemed like
I had just enough time
to get that putty on there.

So I'll let that dry,
and then I'll sand the back

and fill it in
with some fiberglass,
make it all nice.

Gonna end up in there.

And these guys
are gonna go on here
kinda like that.

We're building
a 1958 Corvette,

but not everything in this car
is built out of fiberglass.

I'm building the bracket

for the power steering
and the coolant reservoir.

This is the perfect solution.

It's out of the way
and it looks cool.

This one is gonna be
just the one piece.

We got the green brake
that I can put in
and bend this.

And then this part over here,
I can bend it up as well.
It's not that hard.

That one's
gonna be pretty easy.

[Neil] Let's go
try it on the car.

[Will] That looks pretty cool.

It looks like it's spot on.

Another piece of the puzzle.

We're kind of in a mad thrash

to get this Corvette
put together.

We have, like,
couple of weeks.

So I am basically doing
all the under dash components
right now.

The progress has been steady
on this old tuxedo Corvette,

but there's a ton of stuff
still to do.

I got some drain boxes
for the hood latches

'cause they're inside
under the dash of the car.

So we had to make
some little boxes

that bolt to the firewall
and then they'll drain out.

So if any water
gets in through there,
it's got a little exit.

There's so many
little details in this car,

but it's very important
to make sure
every one of them are spot on.

Because once you get
all of those there,

it could compound
and then become a big problem

if you don't do it right
the first time.

[Eric] Yeah, I bent up
a little piece of TIG rod

just to give me a pattern
on what I need to bend this
up on

'cause this stuff's
like a dollar a foot

so you don't wanna
throw it away

and bend up the wrong piece.

And it can get expensive.

Make them nice
and right and be cool
when it's done.

We'll make this work.

Pretty close.

I wore the wrong shoes today,
so I'm trying not to be
on my feet too much.

All right, well,
I'm gonna cut that
and we'll see if it fits.

I'll go do a test fit.

I might have to tweak
on this a little bit,
but it should be pretty close.

[groans] Oh, I hate
being under the dash.

My feet hurt, my back hurts,
my neck hurts,

and I'm sick of being
crammed up in here.

Almost done, though.

Just gotta tweak it
a little bit,
and I think we'll be there.

So it's important
to get this done
right the first time

'cause I don't wanna be
back under this dash again.

Give this
just a little bonk here.

Let's try that.

Sometimes some of the
handiest tools to have

when you're building
these custom cars like this,
and especially in tight areas,

is the ability for yoga.

That's right, being able
to twist your body

and get up into those
really hard-to-reach places.

[Eric]...in there.

♪ Whoa-oh-oh, whoa-oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ Whoa-oh-oh♪

[Dave] Eric's gotten
so many things done,

and he's pretty much
buttoned up,
which is awesome.

He's tackled it and nailed it.

And that's good
because you know what?

There's a couple hours
left in this day,

and I think I got another
little project for him.

[grunts]

It's almost 5:00, though.

-[all laughing]
-Perfect.

-Okay.
-Well, thanks
for coming out, you guys.

I mean, it was really cool
to get to hang out with you
and show you our place, man.

Yeah, totally cool. Thanks.

Absolutely.
We got a little
parting gift for you, too.

-Some spray wax.
-Yeah.

You guys might need that.

Just keep it shined up.

It might help

with miles per hour,
who knows?

Or miles per gallon.

Put that in the gas tank,
it might help.

If you run out of fuel,
it might burn, right?

I didn't know that.

You know, that's why
I really like watching
your show so much

'cause I learn
so many new things.

Like you can actually
put that in the gas tank

to see if it'll run.

Yeah, you can.

If you ever wanna know
how to build a car, call us.

We'll let you know.

You said we're hiring, right?

Let us know
once you drop this car off.

-Awesome, guys.
-All right, we're out.

-Pleasure.
-Thank you, guys.

Safe travels.
Great to see you.

-Don't be strangers.
-Keep it all in one piece.

Hey, give us a call
if you need any help
on the way up there.

-All right, we will.
-I'll send a tow truck.

-Yeah. [laughs]
-See you, guys.

You won't answer the phone,
but we can call.

I appreciate that.

[Jake] Just trying to get
all the bumpers lined up.

And then cut so they match
the body here.

You know, this Corvette's
really starting to shape up
to be a true Kindig classic.

But there's one thing
that, if you know my cars,

you know
I'm very adamant about,

and that is bumper fitment.

And there's a lot of slop
around this front bumper.

Just a 3/16-inch bracket
with a hole in it.

All right, so I'm gonna
go bend this into a "U".

He's actually
making these parts larger
than they need to be,

so it's easier to bend them.

Once they're bent into shape,

he'll go ahead
and cut them off
to the right size.

So to accomplish the look
we're after up front,

we're gonna do new brackets
for the front bumpers.

We're actually gonna get
a whole new lower valance,

we're gonna get rid
of the bumper bracket areas
for the license plate holder.

We're gonna make that
all nice and smooth.

Then we're gonna
actually take the bumpers

and move them up in the body
towards the headlights.

And then
the whole lower valance,

we're gonna also move
that up a good three-quarters
of an inch.

You've got all the mounts
in place and welded.

[Jake] Those are all packed,
this one right here is packed.

And once I have them packed,
you can pull them out
and weld them off.

Just wanted to make sure
they were good before that.

[Will] And then the only
other thing is that...

-[Jake] I just gotta
make that work.
-Okay.

[Will] Nice!

These bumpers are fitting
really tight to the car.

That's what we like,
that's what makes
our cars stand out.

Well, they look awesome.

Exhaust on the '58 Corvette,

it's a little atypical
to what we normally do.

It's 2.5 rather than 3.

A brand new drivetrain
and a new chassis
means all new plumbing.

We don't really have
any tooling for 2.5

as far as, like, our cut,
our degree finders and stuff.

So I just paper printed
something out

just so I could kinda
get through it.

It is fine,
but I could probably be
a little bit more efficient.

We got a pretty clear path
through all the framework
here.

So we're passing through here,
we got our mufflers.

And once you get back here,
you have this whole rat's nest
to navigate around.

So that's kinda
what I'm working on now.

I figure if I aim small,
I miss small.
You know what I mean?

"Aim small, miss small"?

[Howard] So we
paper printed this little...

This is my center line
of the of the U-bends
we're using.

So I have my center line.

So I had to go back and forth
to make a bunch of small cuts

to get the actual shape
that I needed.

So we'll probably
get this tacked.

Since the other end
is just a straight cut,
I can tack it wherever

and I can rotate it around
to the degree I need.

And then I have a length here
that I could pull off of here
to cut this length,

and then I'll cut
my next bend,

which is here getting over
the top of the sway bar.

Normally we would do 3 inch,

but because this
is an Art Morrison chassis,
the pass throughs are...

If you wanna not have
to do any modifications,

the best you're gonna do
is 2.5.

I'm not even good
so it's gonna really suck.

Now that all the little pieces
are done,

it's time
to put it all together
so we can see the big picture.

It's looking all right.

I mean, it's long,
which I knew
it was gonna be long.

I'll probably pull
the measurement off
from this bend

to here on this side.

And then
from the inside of that bend
to here on this side.

I don't know
that I'll cut right on it,
but I'll get close.

Just in case there is some
discrepancies from right
to left,

I'd rather sneak up on it
than just assume it's all
gonna be exactly the same.

[Dave] Kindig-it
Design approved.

That's where
you put the stamp "Approved,"
on the screen.

[Neil] First ones
we've already done here,

but we've gotta get this
horseshoe down on the door.

And we're gonna take
this straight piece

and form it in a manner
to make that look good.

The '58 Corvette
is almost completed
in fabrication,

but we gotta do
this outside trim.

I like the custom stuff
a lot more than stock.

[Neil] More than likely
probably not gonna be
just one bend.

We'll have to take
a bend at it like this
to put the top,

and then do another piece
and do a bend on the bottom

and then
put those two together

to make it the same.

Or at least
the horseshoe at that point.

But, yeah, let's go
put this in the vice
and see what happens.

Thick part has to face out.

So we've built
so many one-off pieces of trim

that we actually finally
got smart a couple years ago

and actually created
our own extrusion.

This allows us
to get an aluminum
that's malleable

that we can bend
and make it fit anything
we want to.

We have a couple
of different shapes
that we utilize

on a lot of our builds.

It's so soft, it's surprising.

We need to go past 90.

This one in particular
is the stuff that I use
on the CF1s.

But it really does
kind of tie itself
really nicely to the original

without making it look like
we just revamped the original.

And then we go see
if we got the curve right.

Okay, we'll clamp on this
one more time and pull on it
some more.

I don't really wanna mess up
that bend too much now,

so I'm gonna
push on it right here.

Okay, let's go see
if this fits.

Starting to get into here,
I want this to draw over
a little bit more.

But I might be able
to even get the same
with the top piece

'cause we're gonna have
another piece come in here
and weld these two together.

We'll do one more...

One more on it.

It's like a real
make-it-or-break-it
right here.

So either it makes it
or I break this thing
and we start over.

So we're, like,
halfway through all of this
trim for the '58 Corvette,

and we haven't broke
anything yet.

Take some out of there.
I left my hammer over there,
but we'll get back to it.

There we go.
I like that right there.

So this is the top piece
of the horseshoe.

We're gonna do it
the same but different.

Mainly just the opposite way.

Okay, let's go see
what we got.

Right there.

And there you go.

It's a Corvette trim.

I'll go see what it looks like
on the car, I guess.

Pretty cool.

That looks pretty cool.

Is it the original trim?

No, but it's better
because it's solid stock
aluminum,

it's not gonna have
any deviation.

It's gonna look crisp,
clean, and perfect.

And it's also
a much better fit,
especially at the gaps.

Yeah, it looks good.

Hey, Doc, what are you doing?

It's time to call
the good doctor

to make sure
he hasn't made any changes
to the color combination,

and we're going
to the paint booth.

Well, I got
great news for you.

Your '58 is out
of the metal shop

and we're all finished up
with all the systems.

It's now over
in the body shop,

and the guys
are getting right into it.

Yeah, everything
turned out really good.
Yeah, just like we'd planned.

We opened up
that cabin about 4 inches.

We got rid of the hip busters
and the door jambs.

So it's a lot easier
to get in and out of,

you've got
a lot more room now.

And the door handles
turned out super nice.

You know,
it looks very classy still.

Still looks
like a Corvette should.

We've replaced
all of the trim,

it's solid stock aluminum
that we had to fabricate.

So it just looks really good.

A couple little small tricks
that I love to do.

I hate the hardware
around the headlight rings,

so we've actually shaved those
and made those
part of the headlight rings.

I really do think
that the white coves

is a money shot
compared to the silver.

I think the silver
would look good,

but I definitely think
this screams tuxedo
so much better.

So what do you think?

You know, I would like kind of
a classic combination of black
with the silver coves

and an oxblood interior.

Oh.

Okay.