11x13 - The Blue Boat

[bunniefuu]

-And that's how you do it.
-A little too large.

And it crashes into
the curve in the frame
right here.

Gonna sh**t some sparks,
and we'll weld this thing up.

Something
very similar to that,
but a lot less.

How do you make
an LT5 look better?

You wrap it
in a '57 Olds Super 88.

See, it's free,
it's not fighting me.

I don't need
to do it all at once.

Following all
the body contours and stuff
is gonna...

Making it kind of weird.

Now we gotta do this
radiator cover, right?

-This thing's
gonna be a rocket.
-[exclaims]

-No pun intended.
-Yeah.

[Dave] 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!

[Dave] ...performance...

[man 2] It's fantastic.

[Dave] ...stance,
wheels, sound.

[engine revs]

If there's one thing
that makes our cars stand out,

ours are bitchin' rides.

-[Dave] It never gets old.
-[Kevin laughing]

Hey, good morning, Jason.
How are you?

Great.

Today is an exciting day.

I get to get on the phone
with my good friend
Jason Johnson

and talk about a new build.

Rumor around town says
you wanna do some building
together.

What do you wanna build?

I found a '57 Olds Rocket
a while back,

and someone
had already got it started
with a Roadster Shop chassis.

'57 Olds
is the three back windows.

It's one of my favorite Olds.

So a '57 Olds Rocket Super 88?

Is there a story behind that?

Have you had one before,
or have you got somebody
that had one?

No, I seen one at a car show
and I just looked around.

I was like,
I've never seen an Olds...

I always like Olds and Buicks.

They always bring my attention
to Pontiacs because
they're not a tri-five.

So I seen one
that was black and white
that was kind of stock-ish.

But I was like, "Man,
that would be a beautiful car

if it just was done,
you know, tastefully
and more performance wise."

And I lucked out,
I was talking about it
to one of my friends.

And he says, "Hey,
there's one up in Wisconsin."

And I'm like,
"Wisconsin? I hope it's good."

Jason's actually got
really good taste in cars.

We've done work
before with him.

And to have the opportunity
to build this in his style
with a mix of our style,

I think it's gonna be awesome.

And I want to do
some wild stuff to it

'cause it's, you know,
I haven't seen anybody
do any wild things to it.

Like an LT5,
perhaps a six-speed.

Nice, a manual?

-[Jason] Manual, yeah.
-In that big of a car?

Okay. Yeah. That's awesome.

Six-speed, and you've got
an LT5 already?

-[Jason] Yes.
-Nice.

I do want to keep
some of the accents

so it's timeless
on the outside.

-But maybe your take
on it, you know.
-[Dave] Okay.

Do you have a color
in mind?

I was thinking pitch black
'cause it's a two-tone

with the darkest
root beer brown
with flake in it.

[Dave] Nice. Okay.

Black with the smaller section
would be the root beer.

Root beer brown. I like that.

Yeah, Jason, I'm pumped.

Let's get the car here.

And once we get it here,
we'll get some ideas
of what else we need to do,

and then I'll start putting
a package together

and the colors
and the rendering,
and we'll go from there.

Okay, sounds good.

Awesome, buddy.

[Dave] This '57 Olds Super 88
is actually a cream puff.

It looks beautiful,
at least with the paint on it,

and all the trim looks
pretty damn nice, too.

What we're hoping is
that if we take this off,

we can see what's going on
behind it and figure out
how to take these off

'cause they,
with their infinite knowledge,
hid all the screws.

So...

[Dave] Taking this apart
really is gonna be important
to make sure

that we label
everything perfectly

and make sure
we don't lose anything.

'Cause the idea
is to put the car
back together

looking stock,
but much improved.

Hey, look at it.
It still works.

Remember, kids.
Remember to put your clocks
in the freezer

for daylight savings.

-Do you know which one's
the driving key, Neil?
-[Neil] Huh?

-[Jake] Do you know
which one is the driving key?
-[Neil] No.

That's the wrong one.

[Dave] We have a key
for the glove box

that looks like
it should be working,
but it's not.

You're kidding me.

Somebody here's
gotta have a lock pick.

I'll just drill it out.

No.

I gotta
get this glove box open,

and I'm not really
into tearing it up.

[Jake] I mean,
I can try to undo the hinge
on the bottom

and then, like, remove the...

-The latch?
-Yeah.

Our best bet.

-Some monster of a glove box--
-Yeah, maybe it will just...

Maybe we can luck out,
and it'll just come loose.

Um...

[Jake] What happens
if you just push the button?

No?

We definitely
could replace this latch
and the lock cylinder,

but really, my first option
is to save it.

Small screwdriver.

-Flat head?
-Yeah.

Funny. We're trying
to save this thing.

[clicks open]

[Jake chuckles]

We're smart guys.

You just pushed back on the...

Yeah, I just pushed it back.

Well, that was
a little more work
than we were planning on,

but we got it.

-But we'll obviously
have to get a key sorted out.
-Are there keys in here?

That would be all right.

I don't know.

It's been locked
for, like, how long so...
What's in there?

Not that long,
this is kinda new.

Is that a dome light?

It is.

Yeah. Now we have two.

-All right, cool.
-Thank you.

[Dave] With
our '57 Olds project

well underway
and tearing it down,

it's time for me
to get on the drawing board
and do some renderings.

So this '57 Olds showed up
from Jason Johnson,
and I'm stoked to build it.

This car is gonna have
some really cool tricks,

and also, it's gonna look
very stock.

I think what we'll do
is we're gonna go
and perfect the trim

on the outside of the car.

We're actually gonna make it
out of solid stock aluminum
and then chrome it.

This way we can make sure
that the body doesn't get wavy

when we're putting the chrome
on the body and the paint

and make sure
that it's crisp and perfect.

The outside of this car,

he definitely wants
some really deep black,

which I've got that covered
with my black ice.

He also wants to play around
with a root beer pearl
or metallic.

And so what I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna come up
with something,

and maybe I can even name it
the '57 sauce.

It's almost
not gonna be a root beer

as much as it is
a barbecue sauce.

A little bit more
on the red side,

and this thing's
gonna be badass.

Under the hood, an LT5.

Now, this is gonna have
a little bit of challenges
for us

because we don't want it
to look like a generator.

When you have these covers
over the top
of the superchargers...

Basically, they look
like a Honda generator,

and we don't want that
in this hot rod.

So we're gonna have
some things to come up with,

make it flow
a little bit better.

We wanna make this look
like it's from the '50s,
not from the '90s.

[Jake] I mean, currently,
it looks front-heavy,

but it may just be
the rake of the car.

Yeah, probably.

[Neil] Stop.

We're still connected
to the body mount in the back?

Feels like it.

[Neil] Yeah,
something's still hooked up.

[Dave] Perhaps
we have to check and make sure

we got all of the hardware out
before we try and lift it.

[Jake] Oh, Neil, right here.

-[Neil] Is there another one?
-[Jake] I think so.

[Neil] Oh. Okay.

Right, like,
above the wheel, centered.

I don't have one
above the wheel on my side.

-[Jake] Well, I do.
-Oh.

How the hell?

Yeah, you're good. Keep going.
That's probably good.

This is why I preach,

take your time
and do it right
the first time.

This could have been
a lot worse.

-[Neil] Got it?
-[Jake] Yeah.

[Dave] We got
the last one out,

but it still feels like
we got to tie it down
just a little more.

Let me think.
What's the better way
to grab this car?

[Jake] I think
we just throw a strap on it.

Oh, you give me the hard end?

I mean... Here, switch me.

-[Jake] No, I'm okay.
-[Neil laughs]

[Jake] I actually
have to do the tying down.

[Neil] I'm just gonna
loop and hook.

[Jake] Yeah, give me a second.

Yeah.

Get it squeezy.

That's good.

-[Jake] You ready? Coming up.
-[Neil] Yeah, go for it.

-Yeah, keep going.
-[Jake] Much better.

[Neil] Stop.

In that hook. There we go.

[Jake] And now we're free.

[Neil] Yeah, dude! All right.

[bleep], dude.
Look at this thing.

[inhales] Okay.
Everybody take a deep breath

and realize this is you
with the body off the frame.

It's not that rusty
underneath, actually.

[Jake] No, dude,
this thing's super clean.

[Dave] We're gonna get rid
of the old chassis
and in with the new.

It's a brand-new
Roadster Shop chassis

with independent front
and rear suspension.

These are running
into these...

Like, chassis supports
on here.

All of these little red
or black bumpers here

are supposed to meet up
with, say, like this guy here
and here.

Mainly, we're just trying
to kinda section out
a couple of pieces

so that we can see
if we can get the body
to settle onto the chassis.

We're trying
not to cut the whole floor out
if we don't have to.

[Dave] Just
like any custom chassis,

to make it cool,
you're gonna have a lot
more tire in the back.

I'm sure
there's gonna be a couple
of little nips and cuts

that have to be done
to make sure
the chassis fits perfectly.

[Neil] There's, like,
a seat support or something

that was in the back
right here.

You can kind of see
the bottom of it

that runs all the way
across here.

It's a big, like, bulkhead.

So I need to get
a little bit of room
out of that

'cause this is gonna
come up and be in here.

Yeah, we're gonna try it.

Yeah, this is the fourth
or fifth time

that we've had it
up and down now, so it's...

We're just trying
to get it figured out.

Yeah, keep going.

Keep going.

Keep going.

So this corner right here
is contacting right here

'cause these are supposed
to match up with these,

but this square right here,
a little too large,

and it crashes
into the curve in the frame
right here.

[Neil]...a little too large.

And it crashes
into the curve in the frame
right here.

We're working
on Jason Johnson's 1957 Olds,

and the car came to us
as a project with the chassis
already pre ordered.

When Jason
sent this project to us,

he sent us
a complete original car

and a custom chassis
that was built for the car.

Now it's time
to put those two together.

[Jake] Coming down.

[Neil] Come on down.

Yeah, I think we got it.

[chuckles] It's real good.

Yeah, it's lined up nice.

[Jake] Mine's a little tight.

Everything that looks like
it needs to be trimmed
has been trimmed

and it really looks like
it should fit,

but it is not.

Yeah. I mean, this sat down.

Are we crashing into this?

-[Jake] Is this
touching or no?
-[Neil] I think it is.

-[Jake] No, you're not.
-[Neil] It's not?

Don't think so.
We have, like, a 16th.

[Neil] Oh, you're right. Okay.

[Jake] From what
it looks like,
I don't think it's touching.

[Neil] Yeah,
that's not touching. Okay.

You can get this
all the way through
on your side.

[Neil] Yeah,
that's not touching.

[Jake] In the front.

Hey, Jake,
we're still teetering
on something.

Yeah, give me a sec.

We've removed every loose end,
but it's still not sitting
exactly where I want it to.

It's further back.

[Jake] These
are both not touching.
We're good there.

[Neil] Huh, I wonder
what else is touching.

[Jake] Teetering
on the body mounts.

I think the weight of the car
is just bad still.

This actually might not be
a problem after all.

Push down on the car.

[Jake] I think
it's just teetering
on the balance

'cause it's back heavy.

But I think that the bushings
in the back have to be taller.

[Jake] Yeah.

Yeah, 'cause it's touching
the last body mount
before the fender well.

I think that these guys
just have to be
the thicker ones.

Yeah, or they just need
a shim.

Yeah, the back ones
have to have the puck
above 'em.

-[Jake] Well, we're good.
-So I think we'll be okay.

[Jake] Just go grab Will.

[Dave] It seems
like we're fine,

but just to be safe,
I'd love for Will
to sign off on it.

It's gonna be all right.

The back two body mounts
have to have a little bit

of a taller body mount spacer
on them, but that's it.

I think all the rest of them
are touching.

-[Jake] We are collision free.
-It looks good.

We need shims in the back,
the height's wrong.

It teeters like a half inch.
Maybe three-eighths.

What, in the back?

-The rear body mounts
are too low.
-Okay. Easy.

But it's not touching
anywhere.

The back ones just need,
like, a spacer...

But everything else
is landing?

Yeah,
all the rest of them land.

Making a couple
of spacers for this,
not a big deal.

We do it every build.

Let's get a measurement
on those rear pucks,

what we're gonna need
for that.

-But it ain't much, so...
-Yeah.

-I'll get you going.
-And then we can
machine those real quick.

-All righty.
-[Will] All righty.

[Dave] The chassis now
under the body,

it's time to replace
some of the sections
of the floor.

Yeah, I'm gonna try
to put some curve into it,
but the curve's in a cone,

so I'm gonna have to do it
in, like, steps with this
or try.

And then I'm gonna
have to smooth it
on the English wheel

or just flex it around
with my hands in the car,
see how it fits.

[Dave] With
an independent chassis,

the drive line is fixed
from the transmission
to the center section,

so we're gonna
actually go ahead

and replace
the entire center section
of the floor.

[Will] He needs
to get the shape started here

and then take it over
to the English wheel.

It's a start.
I'm gonna talk to Will,
see what he wants.

I think English wheel
is probably the best bet

to get it
to really go, though.

[Will] Shaping metal is fun,
but it can be difficult.

No two projects
are ever the same.

Yeah, a little help.

We kind of gotta
just work out the lumps
that you already have.

-[Jake] Yeah, from the break.
-Uh-huh, from the break.

But see, it's free,
it's not fighting me.

-I don't need to do it
all at once, right?
-[Jake] Yeah.

I'm just letting
the wheel do it.

-Right?
-Yeah. I got you.

[Will] Overall, I look
at the English wheel,

as everything,
you've gotta sneak up on it.

If you go
put too much shape in here
with too much pressure,

it's much more difficult
to get it out than it is
to gently put it in.

So every drive shaft tunnel
has its own shape.

It really depends
on what transmission
you're using,

the car, obviously,
you're applying it to.

No two are alike,
and it's kind of fun
seeing the nuances

of the whole thing
come together.

This transmission's, honestly,
a little more square.

It's good
for the center console design,

but it does kinda pose
a little issue

when everything else
is round.

There's a brace to the floor
still in here.

Maybe cut it out
just so this can
slide down in there

or just cut a relief
right here so it can slide
above it.

But, no, it's fine.

In this corner,
we're gonna box in
'cause the car's asymmetrical,

comes in diagonal here,
and straight here.

After this is done,
I'm gonna cut the floor out
and build a flange to here

so it's the same.

I'm gonna go grab Will,
see what he thinks.

Pretty decent.

The floor brace,
that's there at the back.

Would you notch
around them, maybe?

Or do you just cut these out
because we're gonna have
to rebuild that anyways?

Hmm.
Maybe what you need to do
is just reach down from here,

get this out of the way
with a big cutoff wheel
and just go straight down,

get it out,
and get that brace
out of your way.

-[Jake] Okay.
-That looks good.

We're gonna work
on the chassis
and do some things,

anything we can do
while the body is away.

And then when we get it back,
we'll have a kind
of a little kick to the floor.

And so we'll be able
to jump right into that

and have that done
in a big hurry.

We're out of time
for this full floor mock up,

so we're going
to get this down,

get the body
on some skates
and send it to dip.

[Dave] Well, Jason,
we've been plugging away
on the sheet metal

and she's coming together.

-What do you think?
-That's beautiful.

I'm Jason Johnson and I have
the 1957 Olds Rocket 88.

So the Roadster Shop chassis,

we've got it now sitting down
on there beautifully.

The new floor section,

we've retubbed
the whole backside.

The trunk's all new.

We've done a lot of work
underneath,

and now we're starting
to kinda work our way up
into the front.

[Jason] I want
a full custom build.

The LT5, the six-speed.

-[Dave] So do you wanna
see underneath it?
-Sure.

They've done
a lot of work under here,
and it's really looking great.

So the underside,

of course we've gone
all stainless.

Get this hammer
out of the way.

We got a crossover pipe here.

We went a bit further back
for the mufflers,
which was a great fit,

so it was able to get a lot

of ground clearance still.
We're perfect there.

The guys have really
done a nice job.

They've done the repairs
on the inside of the rockers,

and that's really the only
damage we could find,
any kind of rust.

-[Jason] Yeah.
-Was actually
inside the rockers

-just a little bit in
this rear corner.
-[Jason] It's nice--

I can't believe this thing
came from Wisconsin.

-That's crazy.
-[Dave chuckles]

-And never got drove
in the... in the salt?
-Evidently.

[Dave] Yeah,
it's a wonderful car.

So, yeah, the guys
are really proud

of what they've
been doing.
I mean, you know?

After stripping it down,
we were really happy

with what we
had to start with.

[Jason] I'm really excited
because I've always wanted

something like
a root beer brown,

and Dave picked out
a perfect color,

like, he just--
It's like he's in your head

when he designs
these things.

-This thing's
gonna be a rocket.
-[Jason] Oh!

-[Dave] No pun intended.
-Yeah.

[both chuckle]

-Right. Isn't that--
It was a rocket.
-Yeah.

I can't wait to see
the color on this thing.

-It's gonna pop.
-Me, too.

-Yeah that-- That--
-[Dave] Me too.

[Jason] Like you were
saying, it's like almost
like a barbecue sauce.

It's almost like
a barbecue sauce,

and that's why I've named it
the '57 sauce.

I just-- I just think with--
with what we're gonna be like



-at least on it--
at the crank on this thing.
-[chuckles]

So it's gonna be ridiculous.

This thing's just going
to be a rocket.

-[Jason] Cool.
-So.

-Heck, yeah.
-[Jason] Right on, man!

Awesome.

[rock music playing]

So this is side exterior trim
for the Oldsmobile.

[Dave] Some of the coolest
aspects of the 50s car

has always been
the trim, the chrome,

the styling of the bumpers
and so forth.

Make some solid ones.

They're easier to, you know,
secure on the back.

You can adhere them
to the car easier

because it's a, you know,
it's a whole piece of metal.

[Dave] We're going to get
really tricky with this car,

keeping a lot of those
same elements

but really perfecting them.

We've got some
tricks up our sleeve.

Just stay tuned.

I'm gonna see if I can
get this edge to pull up

against the car
a little bit more.

I've left myself with a little
bit of extra on the end

so that you can
have a little bit
of a mess up area.

[rock music playing]

[hammering]

This is for the back
quarter panel,

it's got like a pair

that run along the side
of the car and then sh**t up
along the door.

This is just like
the main portion of it.

[rock music playing]

Oh...

A little tight there.

Nice.

Hmm.

And then

on the back here,

I'd like these to come out
and finish about right here

and right here.

[upbeat music playing]

[whirring]

[Dave] We're gonna make
a couple of bigger changes
to the front trim,

meaning that I'm not
gonna run it over
the top of the wheel well.

We're gonna shorten it back
and make it look bitchin'.

Now, you know,
instead of the hard end there

you radius off
the front edge of it first.

What is it, like take away
from these corners,

or these,
like radiuses here

to get your uh, peak back.
Sanding down,

it wants to drag
this peak along with it,

but if you sand up,
it kind of wants to put
the peak at the top

like your stacking sands.

It's still pretty straight

with the other side there
and everything too.

Like, kind of the goal
with this one is a little bit
of like a restomod.

There we go.

So, yeah, look at that.

That comes around real nice.

It's gonna
have a little end there.

Yeah, the peak here
matches that peak

kind of floats around.

Does a nice little thing,
makes it look like it was.

Now is when things get
a little more challenging.

The side of the car

where the factory trim went,
and then the shape of the body

has some kind of weird lines
on the uh, body.

If you look at it this way,
you know, right at it, it's...

It's still following
a straight line.

But then, like this,
like following all the body
contours and stuff

is gonna... making it
kind of weird.

I'd like to have it
to where it lands like

you know, both edges
of the trim all the way
along the body.

So it's going to take some,

you know, twist on this
to pull it down.

[Dave] Doing long,
straight trim
is our specialty.

This car in particular,

well, we're going
to have to get
a little more tricky

and a little bit
more creative.

This has actually
got a bend and a twist

as it goes around the body.

So we're gonna go ahead
and just, I'm gonna...

I'm gonna bop once,
right there.

I'm glad somebody else
is doing it and not me.

And I'll see
if I messed it up.

Using the solid
stock aluminum.

It does have some flexibility
and it is malleable.

But we don't want to do this
five or six times.

We just want to do it
the one time.

Kind of like
a b*llet shape at this

that pulls together here
and then we have a high.

But this all comes down
and kind of follows
its way back there.

So trying
to get this to land

through all that
is a little weird.

Now it's got a nice,
tight edge on it.

It follows pretty well
on the bottom.

And then we'll just get the

top edge right here
to roll over.

That's cool. It worked.

[Dave] With the piece
being a little bit smaller,

it makes it just
a little more difficult

to get a good lever on it
to give it a twist.

[Neil] The bottom
tracks pretty well.

That's good.

The top will do the same.

Ace?

You remember that movie,
Strange Wilderness?

[Ace] Uh, I don't know
about that movie,

but the trim looks great.

What are we
talking about today?

[Dave] We're working on
Jason Johnson's 1957 Olds.

And if you think
this trim was crazy,

wait until you see
what we're doing
in the jewelry box.

-Well, now we gotta do this
radiator cover. Right?
-[mumbles]

We've got pretty much
everything in place.

I mean,
reservoirs, radiator.

We've got some quick latches.

We want to make this
so it comes off real quick

-so we can
service everything.
-Cool.

Dave's got this peak in here

-that basically
emulates the hood, right?
-[Eric] Yeah.

And then the other trick

is it's gonna waterfall
over here.

We'll have the peak up here,
and then it's basically
got to go backwards.

-Yeah, big reverse curve here.
-[Will] Yeah. Uh-huh.

Dave's got some
crazy ideas for this Olds.

And, like, usual

it's now my job
to get his little drawings

and build them into real cars.

Well, the power steering
reservoir will be here.

-We've got the AC hoses
down low on that panel. Huh?
-Mmm-hmm.

We're gonna have to trim in
for the firewall.

[chuckles softly]
We've got a deadline
that's fast approaching,

-so a long way to go in
a short time to get there.
-So I'll be--

I'll be around
some other side of the car.

[Eric] Okay. I'll just keep
trucking here.

I mean, so far, it's--

-[Will] Looks great.
It looks awesome.
-[Eric] It's getting there.

-All right, I'll see you
in a minute.
-Right on.

-I'll keep on going.
-Cool.

And, like, usual,

we have a ton to do
in a short amount of time.

[grinding]

[upbeat music playing]

[Dave] Eric is gonna
go ahead and cut out
a section of the brace

so we can get the panel in.

Yeah, I want to get this
bottom piece put together,

and then it'll make it
easier for me to figure out
how the center section

is going to work out
because we've got a little bit

of a reverse curve
coming through here

that's gonna
be kind of tricky.

Well...

Let's go cut this
into some steel

and we'll see
uh, how it looks.

[Will] On this car
the majority
of the custom work

is happening
in the engine bay.

We've left the body
quite stock,

but here's where we're gonna
make all the difference.

The funny thing is,
we're still keeping
a very stock look.

[hammering]

Trying to just
take the contour
to this a little bit,

and then once I get this
fitting pretty well,

this whole edge
is gonna start
flowing up here.

It's gonna start getting
a little tighter towards
the back here.

We kind of get into
a little bit
of a reverse curve.

But trying to get this thing
sitting down on here decent,

and then we'll make it
pretty in the end,

[rock music playing]

[Dave] He's going to build it
in two pieces.

He needs to make sure
that the top is perfect

and then he's going
to build the bottom

and then marry
the two together.

So I've got everything
roughed in well enough

that I'm happy with
the fitment to join

the three pieces together.

So I'm gonna go ahead
and get that cut,

get those welded up,
put it back in the car,

and then kind of detail
this out a little more.

Um, anyway,
I'm gonna sh**t some sparks

and we'll weld this thing up.

[hissing]

[Will] The welder
is set up at 53 amps

because that's the thickness
of the metal.

We want to burn through

as quick and evenly
as possible.

That helps keep
the distortion down.

Gonna knock the highs
off of these welds

and then take it over
to the flashing hammer

and smooth this thing out.

[whirring]

[Will] Ultimately,
the smaller the weld,
the less grinding there is.

We've got the radiator
cover roughed in.

I'm gonna go ahead
and get these holes cut out.

And then I've made up
these little

dimple recesses
for the reservoir

and then another one
for the radiator cap.

So I'll get this placed
in there

and make sure
all my holes are jiving.

Get these centered.

Scribe these in,
weld these in.

[Dave] Like any
Kindig build

you've got lots of cutting,

lots of bending,
lots of welding.

But this is going to be
one bitchin' core
support cover.

Yeah, I got the peak
put in here.
I'm happy with it.

Looks great.

Looks just like
the picture.

So we're good.

Now, all the rest.

We're making press,
press tools

to uh, make the uh,

the ends of the bead rolls.

[Dave] I think
it's a fine balance
when you're building

a classic car
with a modern drive train.

We want to see
some plumbing.

We want to see some
of the mechanical stuff,

but we don't want to see
too much of it.

Does that make sense?

Well, stay tuned.

[rock music playing]

So I've laid out some lines

on the tool
and on the panels

so that you can
kind of get it lined up

and put it in the spot
that it needs to be.

One of the things
that, like, folks

kind of forget is that
like you, you put it in here

but this thing isn't just
going to drive on its own.

So you still got to steer it.

Got a main bead.

[Neil] We got a main bead.

So like this stuff
and these remnants

were where the uh,
like the press
kind of folded it up.

Go through
after we're all done.

[Dave] We're pretty much
working around the clock
on this 57 Oldsmobile.

We love our builds
to have the three C's,

clean, classy and custom.

Everything we do
to the car we want
to look artistic, custom,

but yet have a function
and a purpose.

Now to do that
in this engine bay,

we've got to start
completely over

by covering all of that
messy stuff up.

Yeah, that turned out
pretty good.

I'm happy with that.

This is where
I'm going to start

shrinking all these together.

So we bring all this back
together in these spots.

[Dave] These panels
in the engine bay

are getting both strength
and looks by bead rolling.

This is basically going to
give us the look of the 50s,

but also add some strength
and smoother contours.

So I'm gonna start bending
from here forward,

because everything back here
is good to go, so.

[rock music playing]

[hammering]

There we go.

Yeah, got the curve in this,

you know,
pretty close at this point.

We're getting the last
little bit of the radius
caught back up

and, you know,
being that it was already
in this shape before,

it's probably, it's kind
of trying to take it.

But we've got the beads
that are trying to fight it
a little bit,

but we're almost there.

[Dave] These covers
are coming along great,

but now it's time
for the hardest part.

So Dave talked us into
recreating all the side trim
on the cars,

which involves
this piece on the door.

And you can see
it's kind of intricate.

Why would you
replace the original
perfectly good trim?

Well, because we can do it
just a little bit better.

[Will] The shape
isn't anything too big.

If you- If you just
have to flatten it out,

you know, okay, cool,
kind of triangle.

But it has this radius
that fits the door,

and this line is depicting

the-- the direction
of that actual radius.

And then-- And then
it has this basically
kind of a step roll

all the way through it,
turning into a peak here.

So we're gonna use
a combination of forming this.

We're gonna get that roll.

Obviously,
we're gonna cut it to size,

and then we're gonna
step roll it,

and then we're gonna
have to peak it.

So a combination
of tools there

[rock music playing]

All right.

Band saw.

Typically,
we use a piece of metal

slightly larger
than the size

that we ultimately
are going to need.

A little bit of leverage
is sometimes needed.

And then once you
get it perfect,

then you can trim it down
to what you want

Little long.

We'll have to find
some other way
to cut it right there.

All right, let's get a couple
of burrs off this.

Okay, let's go see how well
they fit the doors.

Let's see.

It wasn't sitting
the greatest before.

We need to trim a bunch off,

or it's not gonna
clear the door handle

when it does sit down.

It's adding a bunch of crown
that I don't need, but--

but if I can just,
I'll just pull this tip
back straight

and I definitely added
a bit of radius here.

[Dave] The original trim
was actually
in really good shape,

but if you look at it
very closely,

it rolls under
on the body panel.

We want ours to come down
sharp to the body panel,

which will give it
a lot tighter fit,

a lot cleaner
and crisper look.

So it's important
that we've changed
the quarter panel trim.

This leads into the door
and up over the top
of the door edge.

We're gonna go ahead
and do that

because we can
make it lower profile

and match our
aluminum pieces perfectly.

I call this machine uh...

...a die a day.

Every time you go
to make something,

you basically
have to make a new die.

So that's why we have
a myriad of dies here
of every crazy shape.

And you're just happy
when you can actually

reuse one of them.
[chuckles]

instead of have to make
a new one.

You think you have every shape
that you would ever need.

Something very
similar to that,
but a lot less.

And it turns out

you really
don't have that die.

And curve it off
this other side.

Keep it in this radius.

We have a myriad
of dies here

of every crazy shape.

We're building all new trim
for this 57 Olds,

and we need to die.

And curve it off
this other side.

Keep it in this radius.

So most of this is this step,
so we'll make a template.

We'll get a decent template,

and then we'll go
get it in the computer.

When you're
building custom cars,

you need custom tools.

Very mild.

I think what I want to do

is get it in the computer
and then we'll print it

and we'll check it,
and then we can make
some adjustments off it.

So we got the um...

designs together
for this tool.

So now I just gotta
burn them out.

We're gonna burn them
out of three sixteenths

and then we'll
stack them together,

weld them up,
smooth them a little bit,

and then run them
on this trim piece

and hopefully that'll work
a little miracle for us.

[rock music playing]

We have to go make our
own die for this machine.

And as long as
you know the principles

of building these dies,
it's pretty straightforward.

So we're gonna
clamp these together,

grind them up a little bit
and weld them on the sides.

[whirring]

Looks like they'll fit.
Let's go see
if they actually do.

Yeah. Good.

I got this fitting
into the machine.

Now I just gotta
check the angles.

You can see
there's a little bit of,

you know, inconsistency there
where it doesn't fit perfect.

We're not gonna get a perfect
fit out of it anyways,

but we can get it
really close.

I got the right tool.

Now I can build this part.

Now you can see
how it's like, vented around,

so we'll go run it
in the big hammer real fast.

[thumping]

Now we'll go see
what we're looking like,

fit wise.

Yep. Gotta push it
around a bunch.

You can see,
long way to go.

That's pretty much there.

[Dave] The guys in fabrication
have done a marvelous job

with this 57 Olds.

It's time for us
to walk through,

make sure all of the boxes
have been checked

before we send it
on to the body shop.

You know, the car looks great,
and the stance, I think,

is gonna be k*ller
on 21s and 22s.

Ah, yeah!

So what did you guys
do on the bumper?

Let's start here.
What-- What--

What did we end up
doing with the bumper?

[Eric] Front bumper
is pretty stock...

-[Dave] It is.
-...as far as the dimensions
and everything.

But we had to kind of
refit it a little bit

just to get a little
more shape in it.

-[Dave] Mmm-hmm.
-To fit the crown
of the hood and all that.

[Dave] The front end
still looks like
a 1957 Oldsmobile.

But you know what?
It's just a little bit nicer.

A lot tighter.

And so much more bitchin'.

Yeah. So it looks
really nice from here.

This is great work.

So LT5.

How do you make
an LT5 look better?

-You wrap it in
a 57 Olds Super 88.
-Mmm-hmm.

[Dave] All of the appointments
that were gaudy,

oversized and bad gaps,
those were all gone.

And now
it's perfectly sized,

perfectly shaped and gapped,
all the details.

-We call it special sauce.
-Yeah.

And then you came up
with a lot of really cool

retro but custom ideas
with your design.

-And so we just did
everything we could...
-I love it.

...to emulate just what
you had on the picture.

You know, the kind
of almost...

jerry can...

-[Dave] Yes.
-...boxes around the,
around the uh, hinges.

And then

-inner fenders, that kind of
waterfall down. You know?
-Right.

And then we picked up
the-- the hood spear.

-Yeah, the hood,
the hood reveal.
-Uh-huh.

I love it. And I love
these dimple dies
and the drop down

and that, it just looks
very purpose built.

It's-- It looks like
it would have been
that way originally.

-Yeah.
-Which is cool.

The trim work on this 57 Olds
looks absolutely perfect.

The guys knocked it
out of the ballpark,

and this is exactly
what we were hoping for.

A much tighter fit.

And man,
did it turn out amazing.

I can't wait to see
the triple plate chrome.

I think it looks awesome.

You guys really knocked it
out of the ballpark

over in the metal shop, man.
Great job.

Hit it with a hammer
and told it where to go.

[laughs]

-And that's--
That's how you do it.
-That's right.

Great job, you guys.

Fabrication, sheet metal work,
chassis, engineering,

all that stuff is done.

Check the boxes
and off to the body shop.

Uh, well done
in the metal shop.

That's all I can say.