Car Masters: Rust to Riches

Is this your guy, landing in the bird?

Yeah, that's our guy. John.

Nice boots. Did you make those yourself?

-Do you know how much they cost? $600. - Are they?

This is western Canadian lizard, my friend.

-Is that what it is? -Yeah.

-There he comes. Shut up. -Boot Barn, two for one sale, right?

-Hey, Shawn. -Hey, John. Hey, this is Mark.

-Hey, John. Nice to meet ya. -Hey, Mark.

-I like your bird. -Thank you.

-Yeah. -That's pretty cool, man.

Here it is.

Dude, look at this.

- Yeah? -Are you kidding me?

Everything is identical to the original XNR,

except for your custom changes, which we handled for you right here.

We blacked out the grill, changed the headlights up,

gave it more of a Shelby Cobra dual pipe setup.

It is beautiful.

The XNR 2.0. Huh?

The what? I bet you came up with that line when you bought those boots.

At Gotham Garage, we've made our mark through upgrade and trade.

This is badass.

Turning junkyard rust...

into six-figure works of art.

And last year was a game-changer for our shop.

Next up is Gotham Garage out of Temecula.

- -

- Whoo! - We had some growing pains.

You're kidding me, right?

But we eventually pulled off enough deals to upgrade and trade our way

into the world-renowned Petersen Automotive Museum.

Let's go!

We passed up a ginormous payday

to donate a replica of a 1960s Plymouth XNR concept car

-to the museum. -

In our minds, the prestige of donating a car to the Petersen

would lead to tons of new, high-end clients.

What kinda budget are you looking at?

Money is not an issue. Let's put it that way.

Really?

That gamble paid off.

Since the Petersen event, Shawn's been working 24/7,

lining up more deals than ever.

And since the crew sacrificed so much,

I made sure they finally got their payday.

Yeah!

We built a second XNR, and Shawn lined up a big-time buyer.

-One-sixty it is. -

Right now we're trying to change the course of this garage forever.

We step up our game,

we cement ourselves

as one of the premiere custom car shops in the world.

Let's get this thing done.

Oh yeah.

- Whoo-hoo! -Whoo-whee!

They stole a car that runs!

- - Yeah.

- - Whoo!

All right. It starts, it stops, it goes forward,

it goes backwards, the headlights work.

This is way too nice for a starter car.

-That's what I was thinking. -So what's the deal, man?

Well, this is actually...

What? What's the problem?

That's your little brother's shirt, isn't it?

It is very tight, right? Just in this area.

-I've been working out. -

Shut up.

Anyway, this is a '33 Ford Coupe replica,

-and it's our next project. -We're getting paid to build this one.

- Cool! -We're getting paid

-believe it or not. -In advance, yeah.

This is actually a commission job.

- Cool. - A new customer,

sees our car in the Petersen, and he says,

"Gotta get a little work done by these guys."

The next few months are going to be absolutely critical

to the evolution of this business.

We've been upgrading and trading for years,

but it's a grind.

I got this old Dodge sitting here.

-Yeah, but it's seen better days. -Yeah.

You're constantly working on this car, worried about losing that car.

A lot of deals don't happen, a lot of deals fall through.

For me to swap my 50 for this 40, it doesn't do me any good.

Well, I guess it ain't working today.

Nothing's guaranteed. That's the stress.

I'm not gonna abandon upgrade and trade immediately.

That's what we're good at, and we can still make money doing it.

But I wanna slowly shift our focus from these upgrade and trade deals

to this high-paying clientele that wants high-end custom cars.

I'm actually kinda looking for maybe a couple vehicles.

And that all starts with our first big commission deal.

A pristine '33 Ford replica that Shawn lined up.

The guy we're doing this for, he's a professional photographer.

You know, he does magazines and celebrities.

He wants this rolling car to be transformed into rolling art.

Our client on this '33 replica is a guy named Steve Earl.

In the photography world, this guy is a really big deal.

He's shot magazine covers, a ton of different cars. You name it.

Needless to say, this guy has a very keen eye.

He's a car collector. And when he saw our XNR in the Petersen,

he knew right away that this shop was the right fit for his car.

So where does the art come in?

We're gonna go 100 percent Art Deco.

-Oh yeah. -We'll make it like a Delahaye.

-Okay. - Like, high-end Delahaye.

Basically, we're making a sculpture.

When you hear "Delahaye" in the automotive world,

all you think about is class and money. That's it.

What Delahaye is known for is the styling features of the car.

It's the elongated fenders,

the lengthened hood, the swooping car in motion.

Feels like you're floating on air.

It's one of the first cars that had full skirts, front and back.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone build a Delahaye-style car

-out of one of these. -Yeah.

A '33 Ford is a great platform to start this project.

It's essentially the perfect blank canvas.

We'll start by transforming the overall shape and structure.

Then we'll give it teardrop fenders that flow from the front down to the rear.

We'll give it a white leather interior with updated gauges and an updated dash.

And we'll top it off with a ton of super intricate Gotham touches.

This guy's got deep pockets,

and, at 60 grand, I think we got a little extra leeway

to make a couple of bucks on this ride, so...

- Really? -Yeah.

-That'd be nice. -A 60k budget?

That's deep pockets.

Wait a second.

Did he say 16,000? I think he said 60,000.

That's, like, double or triple what usually shows up.

You're telling me we're gonna have profit at the end of this build?

Where am I?

- Get 'er done, guys. -

Caveman, you're gonna cut the roof off of it.

And then Tony and Constance,

the radiator's gotta come off, the exhaust has gotta come off.

Then the whole front suspension's gotta come out underneath.

Stand back. I'm going to town! Yeah!

I can't stress enough how important it is to impress our client Steve

on this Delahaye build.

This is the upper echelon of car collectors.

It's the crème of the crème.

If you do the top-quality work that they expect,

they'll pass you on to their buddy, and their buddy'll buy a car.

If you don't, this is a very small world, and bad news travels fast.

Now that it's all destroyed, get the front end mocked up.

I'm gonna come in late tomorrow. Shawn and I gotta get a car.

Apparently, he's all fired up about it, so it must be like a great deal.

-What time you coming in? - I'm not telling you.

-Why not? - 7:30 a.m.

-What? Noon. Noon. - So like noon?

Man, it's muddy out here, isn't it?

That's what happens when you go to a car lot.

-It's a trek in the mud. -Afraid to walk in the mud?

Well, I got my boots on today.

The Delahaye is obviously our main focus right now,

but I've been lining up a set of upgrade and trade deals

that could potentially lead us to a massive payday.

My only issue is I just need to sell Mark on this first car in this trade,

'cause, well, it ain't so pretty.

A '70s Mercedes 220.

What do you think?

You gotta love this. Am I right?

No, you're not right.

You're losing IQ points right now. What, are we gonna restore it?

No. Picture this car as a drift car.

-Drifting down a river like a log. -No, no.

This isn't a drift car. That's a drift car.

-That's a drift car. - Okay.

That doesn't matter. I got somebody for this car.

-This thing? -Yes.

He's a Hollywood stunt driver, but his main hobby is drifting.

And modifying these old European sedans into drift cars

is a super-hot trend right now.

Kinda like making a sleeper drift car.

That's why he chose this car. Is that not the coolest thing?

Not really.

When Shawn says we're gonna turn this into a "drift car,"

Shawn really doesn't know what he's talking about.

Do you have any idea how much it weighs?

Normally you start with a lot smaller, more nimble vehicle

than this gigantic land yacht with a ridiculous wheelbase.

Drifting started in the windy mountain roads of Japan in the 1970s and '80s.

They used a handbrake in their car to lock up the rear wheels

to smoothly glide through the corners

like they were fishtailing through each turn.

From there, it blew up into a worldwide phenomenon.

But unlike most motorsports,

drifting is judged on style, not speed.

It's all about the corners of the track,

how smoothly you can get in and out of the corner,

and how close you can get to the edge without spinning out.