Roadkill (2012–2020): Season 1, Episode 11 - Roadkill - full transcript
On this episode of Roadkill, David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan of HOT ROD magazine fly out of town, buy a car from a junkyard, make it run and drive, do burnouts, add nitrous, drag race ...
- How do you make a
junkyard car run and drive?
- With Nitrous.
(sprays)
(yells)
(laughs)
(engine revving)
(tires screeching)
(upbeat rock music)
- On the first episode
of Roadkill we let a dart
determine our destiny.
And now that we're at episode 11 and we're
fresh out of ideas, we're
going to do that again.
(laughs)
- It's a guaranteed formula, can't lose.
- Yeah.
- See we're going to
Houston for a drag race,
but we figured if we're
going to a drag race,
we should drag race and so
we're going to buy a car
somewhere in Texas, Oklahoma,
Arkansas, New Mexico
kind of area, drive it
to Houston and race it.
- Alright, so Houston right?
- [David] OK, who's throwing the dart?
- You are, still missing eyebrow
from the last time we did this.
- [David] No.
- How much do you like your eyebrows?
(laughs)
- Oh, brutal.
Ready?
- [Mike] Yep.
You suck really bad at throwing.
Oh my God, you're in
the Gulf of Mexico dude.
(laughs)
- Oh, perfect.
- We're not buying a boat,
so let's try this again.
You landed on Hawaii, OK.
(laughs)
Let's try this again.
- Let's do it.
- [Mike] Dude that was
dead centered in Texas.
- [David] Really?
So we're there?
- [Mike] Austin.
(groans)
- You totally stuck me.
(laughs)
Do it.
(groans)
(laughs)
That really does hurt.
- There's some hair on there.
- [David] I thought you
were kidding last time.
- Ew.
- So you're thinking if we went to Austin
we could get something
junkier and fix it more?
- Yeah.
- OK.
Well, let's see what's available.
- Craigslist here we come.
(car zooming)
- The dart hit the map in Austin,
but when I started looking around to
figure out what we were
going to do in Texas
there was a guy on my
Facebook page who recommended
CTC Auto Ranch in Denton.
And so, we're going to head
about three or four hours
north and check that out.
We hit this junkyard I think
we need to get something
that runs and drives.
I don't think we can do any
crazy engine swap or anything.
- Let's find a really
great car without an engine
and a really great engine
in a car we don't want.
- We don't have time.
- Dude, we proved we
can do it in the snow,
if you give us three or four days.
(laughs)
There's no snow here.
- If we plan for one, we'll take three.
- Yeah, there's no snow here
so cut that time in half.
Let's find a car on top of other cars.
Stacked up.
- Let's get the bottom one.
- Yeah.
Let's make this as difficult as possible.
- There it is!
Right there.
Junkyard next to a drag strip.
- [Mike] Paradise.
- [David] Absolute nirvana.
- [Mike] Oh my God it's
almost all old sheet metal.
- This is going to be good.
- All of a sudden I see a drag strip,
which gets me fired up.
And then, acres of cars.
I mean more vintage
iron that I've ever seen
in one spot in my entire life.
And if I had a lot of money
and a big ass trailer,
I would have taken most of it home.
- [David] '55 Fairlane, '63 Chevy.
- [Mike] I like the Ranchero.
- [David] '78ish.
- Look at how complete they are, look.
All the chrome, all the glass,
the steering wheel's still on it.
- [David] Oh Gremlin!
Dude, grimmy.
- That was on the website.
- [David] '59 Chevy.
- That was on the website dude.
- [David] '65 Biscayne.
- [Mike] Pinto.
- [David] Oh man.
- [Mike] Pinto.
Want the Pinto.
- When we got to the ranch
we met Allen Williamson,
who is one of the owners of the place and
Finnegan had called ahead
and talked to him so
that we knew he was cool,
we knew he was down with our program.
Which was that we had to buy
a car, fix it in 24 hours
so that we can hit the
road, drive 300 miles
and compete at a NMCA race in Houston,
where we're also going to
hang out with a bunch of our
buddies from Hot Rod Drag Week.
- What have you got that's complete,
that maybe ran when parked.
- You know as far as
most of this stuff that's
right in this immediate area here,
if you want we'll go out
there and look around,
I'll show you what I have.
- [Mike] Yeah, let's check it out.
- Then you can go on your own
and see what you can find.
- I've actually never
been to a yard like this,
because I'm used to junkyards
where everything is stripped.
Ya know, you don't find a shoe
box Chevy with windows in it.
Ya know, that stuffs long gone
at that places I've been to.
I mean it had Trans Ams,
Camaros, Plymouths, Chryslers,
Ford Chevys, everything from
late 30's on up to the 80's.
It was all there, ya know.
And mostly intact which was awesome.
Here's a trend that never
really took off, Bondo flames.
Graphics that some day fall off your car.
(laughs)
Awesome.
- You start to walk through the ranch
and you see one big yard and then another
and then another, and then
behind those trees there's even more.
We could have spent at least
a few days just rummaging
though their, finding project
cars that we needed to have.
- The actual shopping was frustrating.
We spent probably an
hour walking this place
and I'm looking at all these cars
that are missing everything.
One's got a motor but not a tranny.
One's got a tranny but not a motor.
One's missing all the suspension.
And I always have this feeling that,
we should stop now and buy something
and get working on it, but
I'm going to miss something
even better, just over a hill or ya know,
behind a bush or something.
Because there's cars everywhere.
Alright well we don't have
time to roam 35 acres.
- I have a car that we use for just
fiddling around, run and look at stuff.
Why don't you all get in the car.
- [David] Drive around, perfect.
- [Mike] Yeah, drive us around.
Like point out the ones.
- See what I got.
- Yeah.
- We checked out the sea of really really
cool sheet metal out here.
And the bummer is that all of those cars
are either rotted into the
ground or have no engine
or there's some fatal flaw that means
that we either can't afford
it or he won't sell it to us
or it won't run so,
we've narrowed it down to
this Olds, that Mopar, that
Chevy, and that Pontiac.
And we got to decide among 'em right now.
The Olds we've pretty much blown off.
It just, it needs a little bit too much.
And I think basically
we're not excited by it.
This is a '67 Barracuda.
No door handles, no dash,
no wiring, no carburetor,
no seats, no glass, so.
- No problem.
- [David] What was the up side?
- No problem.
OK so this one, it's already got headers.
Already got aluminum intake on it.
It looks like at one point
it was a little speedy.
- I get what you're
saying this is the most
performance oriented,
but what do we do about
a gas tank, glass.
- We're at a junkyard.
There's gas tanks here.
- In 24 hours we need to
be driving away from here.
And I doubt they'll let us work all night.
And we have no light.
- We haven't even asked yet.
Ya never know.
I wave $10 or $12 in front of them,
you never know dude.
We may own this place.
Alright so if not the
Barracuda then sell me
on the Pontiac I think
you're in love with.
- Well I'm not completely anti Barracuda.
I'm just thinking that
the Pontiac or the Chevy
are going to be easier to get running.
- But this is more pimp than
performance to be honest with you.
- Oh yeah, I'm agreeing with that.
There we go.
Radiator.
- [Mike] Ran when parked huh.
- Yeah.
(laughs)
- Let's look at the Chevy.
- I wanted to go with the '66 Chevy
because the guy knew that it had run and
yeah it was clapped out and gross
and had mouse turds in it and stuff,
but I just sort of had faith
that it could get there.
And I knew that we were
going to be able to fix
a small block Chevy anywhere,
with any rubber bands
or duct tape that we had sitting around
and I thought we'd be able to
turn the key and hit the road.
I do like this because
of my whole kink on the
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry movie.
Where they had the '66
Impala at the beginning.
- That car was blue.
- Yeah and it wasn't a sedan either but,
but I can dream.
(laughs)
- I like the challenge of
making the Barracuda run.
- You want to make it decide
between these on price?
Want to see what he'll take for that?
- Oh yeah, we may not even
be able to afford these.
- Right.
So negotiate, you're better than I am.
- Alright, Allen.
I am not a greedy man.
- [Allen] I know you're not.
- I'm not.
I've already spent a lot of money
on plane tickets getting here.
- And that's your problem.
- That's my problem.
- I've already said you got nice boots on.
- Thank you, thank you very much.
- OK, I like your hair.
You got a good tan.
I feel close to you.
- Oh buddy 'ole pal.
- I feel close to you.
(laughs)
What am I looking at for this ugly,
steaming, pile of junk.
That is taking up a
valuable space in your yard.
Think of what you could put here.
- I'll do about $4,000
on it without the glass.
- We're going to have to just lower your
expectations a little.
- What you got in mind?
- We're going to have to put a carb on it.
Not cheap.
- So we need a carburetor.
- Carburetor, some wiring.
Plumbing for the gas tank.
- Right.
- We need a seat.
It's worth two right?
- Oh yeah, I'd do that for sure.
- Yeah two, two's good.
Two plus all those parts we
need to put it back together.
- Right.
- If you could get us the
windows, like in so they
don't fall out at 78 miles an hour
which will be top speed for this thing.
- Yeah.
- Three grand.
What do you think?
- I can't do it.
- No?
Not for three?
- About $3,800 is the
best I can do on this one.
- So what he's saying is this is worth
virtually, well this
is worth twice as much
as the actual Impala.
- Why don't we do this.
- Uh-oh, wait wait.
- [Mike] Oh, oh oh oh oh.
- Why don't we try to
get to get 'em started.
And see which one's.
- Startable.
- Startable.
- OK.
- OK, alright.
- If the engine turns over.
- You do that for us?
- Yeah.
- OK.
- Yeah, but we can't
afford that regardless.
- What are you cheapskates?
- We may have to walk away from this one.
- Yeah I know, it's disappointing.
- I may be so offended
about the Cuda we just
leave all together.
(laughs)
Come on baby crank to
life, daddy needs a Mopar.
(engine turning)
Oh dude.
- [David] Yeah, that's good.
- I'm telling you dude
we can make this run.
- I'm warming up to the notion.
- Here's what I say
dude, we'll give him his
$3,800 but we want the glass in the car
and we need another seat.
We'll make the rest of
it happen on our own.
So when buying a car from an Auto Ranch,
you got to expect the
carburetors, probably going to
fight you a little bit.
So I was smart enough
to order a Holley 750
double pumper with mechanical secondaries.
- And you just don't go anywhere without
your cheater setup.
- Hello friend.
Oh I've missed you.
I like that we have 24 hours to make
a car we never seen run and
we're putting Nitrous on it
before we even check the motor.
- [David] Got to have
your priorities straight.
Perfect.
(upbeat rock music)
(engine starting)
Doesn't smoke.
(car revving)
(coughs)
I say we're good to go.
- [Mike] That sounds alright.
- [David] We got it to run pretty good,
we decided we're going
to give it our best shot,
'cause we always have a fall back plan,
which is the Chevy.
So they just fork lifted
it over to the shop
and they're going to help us work on it.
They also said we could
stay here all night long.
And I'm thinking that's
going to have to happen.
(car zooming)
- The really funny thing about this is,
we're four hours into this deal
and all we're accomplishing right now
is making the engine run
for more than eight seconds,
so that we could put the trans in gear
to find out if the car even moves.
And if it doesn't move we've
got to go back to the junkyard
and pick out another
car and try that again.
Because nothing in this whole place
we're sure will run under it's own power.
- The first think Finnegan did was strip
the carburetor fitting.
Can I blame you for that
or is that not cool?
- You lie a lot on video.
- Can I blame China?
How about China?
When you pay Rad Rides
by Troy and you give them
a million dollars to build a
hot rod and you wonder why.
This is why.
They're not working in
a barn, in 24 hours with
Chinese made parts.
- Sure they have fame, and glory,
and money in their
pockets, and happy wives
and children that like them.
But they're not having this fun.
Not at all.
Enter to win $5,000 by providing feedback
and taking our survey.
I think the odds of us
winning should be pretty good,
after we spent this much money!
It's almost as tall as I am.
$800 bucks to basically find
out if the car will even move.
What do you think?
Is it going to move?
- [David] Of course.
- The only issue here is you
plumb that to a fuel line
that's going to nothing.
- [David] Yeah.
Where would you like it to go?
- Some sort of gas can.
- Which we did not acquire.
And we don't have the gas either.
(laughs)
- We have no can or gas.
(laughs)
We could wish it to ya know life.
- [David] Yeah, we could.
- Do we even have a jack?
(upbeat rock music)
Man I hope this thing moves
forward and backwards.
- Is backwards actually a requirement?
- That might actually be a
little greedy on our part.
- OK hopefully we're
going to fire it up now,
make it drink out of this gas can.
(engine starting)
Sounds good.
- Happy.
- Reverse.
- Yes!
That's reverse, no noise.
- [David] And drive.
- Forward!
I take back everything
I said about this place.
You can get a quality automobile here.
- We're good.
Wait, let's see will the brakes stop it.
No, no brakes.
- We're not going around
the block without brakes.
- [David] No, we need brakes.
It's about midnight at the Auto Ranch, and
we've had big victories with the engine
and the transmission and so we're going to
call it a night, go get some rest.
(car zooming)
It's first thing in
the morning on Thursday
and we thought we should
attack the brakes first,
soon as we got the engine
working and transmission
working, but no brakes.
So.
- [Mike] It's not first
thing in the morning anymore.
- It's not?
- [Mike] Yeah, it's about lunch time.
- Are you saying we're behind schedule?
- [Mike] Little bit.
- What are you working
on, start at the top.
OK, stuff I can see, right away.
Put oil in, find oil filter.
New ignition switch needs to go in.
Get another radiator that doesn't leak.
Headlights, glass, brakes.
Gas tank, seats, shifter,
tires if possible.
- Exhaust?
- We'll just cut it off.
- Yeah, cut exhaust.
- We should stop the list now.
- 'Cause it's only depressing.
- It's really getting overwhelming.
- Oh, outside door handles.
- Oh, that just put it over the edge dude,
we can't make this now.
- So that's our list
and it's Thursday at 11,
we need to leave in eight hours.
We'll be fine.
- There's no way in hell that's happening.
(upbeat rock music)
- Our problem is, is this
seal for the filler into
the tank is junk.
But video producer
Clint had a genius idea.
We went and cut this
piece of radiator hose
and slipped it over the fill neck
and it's going to make a perfect seal
into the hole on the top of the tank.
- Probably the best part about being at
CTC Auto Ranch here in
Texas, is that when we
needed a part, we could just
go out back here and find it.
So, I found our transmission
kick down mount there
for the carburetor.
We didn't have a seat for our car,
so they grabbed this '69
Valiant out of the yard,
rolled it in here ripped out the bench
and the seat belts for us.
And I dunno if you can see this right now,
but this is actually an ultra rare
factory light weight drag car.
With transparent aluminum quarter panels.
Very valuable.
- What's our next big
expense, is my concern?
- We need rear tires.
We'll take the two best of the
four, stick 'em on the front.
- Yeah the rears are better
so I'll throw those on the front but then.
- Cut the exhaust off.
That solves a lot of the issue back there.
It does need rear shocks.
- Oh yeah, 'cause they're
completely topped out.
- Yeah, well and the one is bent.
So.
- We're completely out of money.
- We're never out of money, we have AMEX.
(laughs)
We'll just be in a lot more trouble
when we get back to work.
- Right.
- And find out what we spent.
I'm going to cut the studs,
let's go back to work.
We're running out of daylight.
- I was really torqued up
about the glass on the car.
I was concerned the drag strip
would not let us run without it.
We had to have a windshield at least
and the glass guy shows up
and he wants like $500 bucks
to install glass that's sitting
right out there in the yard.
And that wasn't a good moment.
We're standing around waiting for this guy
to come down on the price,
which he finally did.
But then we find out that '67 Cuda glass
is different than '68 or '69 Cuda glass,
in the size, the doors are
a little bit different.
What a pain in the neck.
And you know what, Coop glass is
different than fastback glass.
So we're just screwed on the side windows.
Here's where I'm stupid.
After we figured out that the '68 glass
wouldn't fit the '67
doors we reinstalled the
'68 glass in the '68 doors and installed
the '68 doors on the car.
'Cause I thought we had to have it.
And it looks so stupid.
We couldn't live with ourselves.
Our junkyard car didn't look cool enough
with blue doors and white paint.
I just couldn't have it.
So then Finnegan calls
Jeff Lutts who's standing
in Houston at the drag
strip we want to race,
why we didn't do this
a day ago I don't know.
And he goes, "Lutts, can
you talk to the tech guy"
"and find out if they'll
let us run without windows?"
Guy goes, "Yeah."
(sighs)
(upbeat music)
7 o'clock we have to
leave in an hour, right?
- No no no, five hours
from now the drag strip
next door closes.
- So that's our new bogey.
- New goal, if we get it
running in four hours,
we can go make a lap over there.
- Does it have to have brakes?
- Nah.
- We could not find junkyard tail lights,
and so I'm using magnetic trailer lights.
Which won't magnetize.
- It's 9:30, we've got
about two and a half hours
until the drag strip closes.
We're going to fire off the
motor for the very first time
on the stocked gas tank.
And the potential for
that thing to turn brown
right now and look like
the bottom of a fish tank
very high.
So, go ahead hit it.
(car starting)
Hey, we got gas.
(cheers)
Alternator works.
- [David] Cool.
- [Mike] Right on.
- I was about ready to
pack the wheel barrings
and I noticed that, we got
the race spun in the drum,
which is really ungood.
Not sure how we're going
to fix that just yet.
Probably knock it out and stake
the back of it or something.
Right?
- Huh?
- There's an old farmers
trick that you can do,
where you take a punch
and you smack the machine
surface where the race
goes in and it makes
little dents and little
lifted areas of metal
around the dent that reduce
the inside diameter of
the race journal so that
the race can pound in again.
And so this guy, James who
works at the Auto Ranch,
who has been super helpful
and who is the master of the
junkyard repair, shows up,
he knows this trick like that
and dials us in.
- Then we got to bleed the brakes,
fix all the water leaks,
wire the tail lights.
Cut something off the floor of the car,
so that bench seat that
we robbed from another car
will fit.
Make sure the shifter works.
Drop it on the ground and try and run it.
- We're leaving tomorrow night sometime.
24 hours from now if at all.
- Time for bed.
Let's go.
- OK.
- [Mike] Did it sound like we
were going to bed together?
(laughs)
(car zooming)
(upbeat rock music)
(cars revving)
(crickets chirping)
(intense music)
- The cure all.
Ah, that makes me feel better.
Nitrous.
(electric saw)
(metal clanking)
- [Mike] Ventilated, sealed.
- At this point, there's
the possibility that
after all this work,
we're going to try and
drive it around the block
and the transmission will
just be garbage.
It spun the wheels on the jack stand,
that doesn't mean it moves the car.
- Dude, don't talk about it.
(laughs)
- There's just a possibility.
- [Mike] Don't talk about it.
We have a chrome air cleaner OK.
- Oh yeah, we'll be good.
- Car's fine.
- We got the car completely running,
everything was coming together
and the brakes didn't work.
It turns out that all
of the little tiny line
was just packed with goo.
I ended up taking the
entire brake system apart.
The metering valve, the
prop valve, just cramming
wire through it, air,
carb cleaner, nightmare.
Even though we're not going to
get any test runs in Houston,
we're still going to be able
to run across the street,
over here at North Star if
only I can make this junk stop.
(upbeat music)
- I think all that's left to
do is bleed the front brakes,
and see if she'll drive down the street.
Maybe even do a burnout.
- Ya know there's a
moment at which you think
no amount of duct tape
is actually going to get
you on the road with this
car and then there's that
moment where you fire it
up and put it into gear and
head out for your first test drive.
(car starting)
(dramatic music)
At this point Finnegan
and I are just giddy.
And we pull out in front of the yard,
drive around a couple of times and I swear
we're not in the car 30 seconds before
Finnegan's on the wood and this thing
lays patch for a half a block.
Yeah!
- Yeah!
- Yeah!
(laughs)
Dude!
Yeah!
- Oh dude it's spunky.
- And it smells like rubber in here.
Ya know three trips around
the block is good enough
proof for a junkyard car.
So, what do you do.
You head straight to the drag strip.
(cars screeching)
North Star is a really cool little track.
It's an 1/8 mile, which
is unusual for me but
nice place the people there are fantastic.
Can't say enough about the whole crew
and how they treated us there.
Finnegan goes up there to
make the first pass on motor.
(car screeches)
(car revs)
9.06, and I instantly whip out my phone
and do the math to convert it to like
a 1/4 mile time, which
is language I understand.
And it's a 14.20.
And I am just completely
over the moon at this point.
Because 14.20 means that
I can spray this thing
into a 12 second car.
For sure.
It's 11:30 and I don't think we're racing
in Houston unless we get
there at like nine or 10
which means we got to cannonball.
- Let's get the hell out of here.
(engine hums)
(sad trombone music)
Our really old and dry rotted tires
are self ejecting the treads now.
- We heard something smack the
inside of the quarter panel pretty hard.
And it was that.
Not good.
- I vote, limp it to the hotel,
deal with it in the morning.
- Well yeah, we pretty
much don't have a choice.
(car zooming)
We woke up in the morning
at the hooker hotel
and sure enough the tire
was completely flat.
But that doesn't slow us
down, we don't have a spare.
And we don't want to wait for a tow truck
so we hit the road in the
Cuda with a dead flat tire.
Drove the thing five miles
on a completely flat tire.
But the Gear Head angel
shine upon us once again,
because we never gacked the wheel.
And we were able to slap
new rubber on the car,
we got four new tires, 'cause
that's the way we roll.
- Tires are on, feeling good,
except we're suffocating from all the
exhaust leaks in this thing
in the holes in the floor.
So, we brought it to this
muffler shop who said,
two hours to change the header gaskets,
and the collector gaskets, we came back
four hours later and it leaked worse
than when we got here.
So, now Dave and I are fixing it ourselves
which is probably what
we should've done first.
- Probably.
- The end.
- The end.
- Dave and I proceed to
take the next two hours
making it worse than it
was when we rolled in
but better than it was
when the professional
mechanics had their hands on it.
It still sounded like
dog shit when we left.
(loud engine rev)
- We hit the road and
the exhaust fume deal is
just as bad as it ever has been.
- We got a pretty bad
exhaust leak in the Cuder.
And uh, we're basically
suffocating while we drive.
So I'm going to hack up this
two liter bottle of soda,
duct tape it to the window frame,
and hopefully get some
fresh air blowin at our dome
so we don't pass out in
the middle of the night
while we're driving.
- Wide open windows and still,
you need a Coke bottle funneling
the 70 mile an hour air,
directly at your face so
that you can barely breathe
enough to stay alive.
(car zooming)
- We're in Houston.
We spent most of yesterday
getting tires on the car
and trying to protect
ourselves from carbon monoxide.
But we made it late last night and now,
we're headed to the race track.
Hopefully to make some
Nitrous passes in the car.
And then I think we're going
to auction this thing off
to some lucky person.
Or unlucky person depending
on your point of view.
(car engine loudly hums)
(upbeat rock music)
(car engine revs)
- What's going on here
is a regular NMCA event.
Street car racing, pro
street, the 10 five cars,
all the greatest heroes in the country
including the guys from
Hot Rod Magazine drag week.
Like Jeff Lutts, and Larry
Larson, and Tim Reid.
And they were just
busting a gut at the Cuda.
We installed that NOS
system in record time.
I think 10 minutes, like
literally three people 10 hands.
Everything like this.
- Can't go home without running
the Nitrous to the thing.
So, we don't have an
electric fuel pump for the
Nitrous system, so we're going
to tee it into the stock pump.
Cross our fingers and pray
to God it doesn't lean out.
Tim Reid, one of the guys
that competes at drag week,
was cool enough to loan me some
of his Nitrous system parts
and he come over and help me wire the car.
So when it was done, it only made sense
to go for a test ride with him.
Because if it didn't work,
it was kind of his fault.
(engine revving)
Surges a little.
It definitely surges.
- It hauls ass!
- Turned around to go back to the track,
because we need to do
a little more tweaking
on the car and as I
was making the U turn I
hit the Nitrous button on accident.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa.
- What'd you bump the button?
- No, my hands up here.
(laughs)
My hands up here man.
- I bet you bunched and bumped 'em.
- Oh that's not good.
Uh-oh.
Right now the bottle's leaking,
and I blame David for that
'cause he tightened it.
And we have no key to get the trunk open.
So, we're just going to wait a little bit,
'cause the car is full
of Nitrous right now,
and not safe to drive down the road.
- It's a good thing we had
a bunch of extra Nitrous
bottles with us, 'cause
we had, had 'em filled
at North Star the night before.
(engine revs)
- We were pitted right next to Jeff Lutts
and he drives a '57 Chevy that's one of
the fastest street cars on the planet.
So when I ask him to
help me stage the Cuder,
he laughed at me but he said yes.
And so I got this guy
standing in front of the car
and he's waving me into
the beams and he's laughing
his ass off 'cause he's
staging like a 15 second car.
(engine revs)
Come on baby.
(cheers)
- 110 mile an hour, that's bad ass.
- [Mike] Best day at work ever man.
- Lutts is jumping up and down,
'cause this thing ran 14.74
but at a 110 miles an hour.
And I'm doing the math
quick in my head going
that's a low 12 second car.
It could be an 11.90
car if it had traction.
- I went directly from
the end of the drag strip
back over to the grand stands,
right by the starting line and
the announcer was super cool,
he told everybody that we were jumping on
an airplane right now and to get out
whatever cash they had in their pockets,
because we were going
to auction the car off
right then and there along
with all of the tools
we bought and whatever
spare parts we didn't
have time to install on it.
And people showed up for this,
I couldn't believe it.
We've got $100 bucks,
what do we got over here?
$200.
- [David] Anyone else?
- $300 from the gentleman
in the red cap, anyone else?
- [David] $1,000 bucks from Charlie.
- Whoa!
$1,000.
$1,200.
- [David] 15!
- 15, lord of the race track.
Alright.
Thank you for having us.
$1,600.
$1,800?
- [David] 19.
- $1,900 wow.
$1,900, going once, he's checking it out.
- $2,025!
- [Mike] $2,025, nice
round number, I like that.
How'd you pick that one?
- [Voiceover] 24.
- [David] 24!
Big move, big move.
- $2,500.
- Linda's $2,500!
25, 25!
- 29.
- [David] 29.
- $3,000.
- $3,000 yeah!
$3,000 bucks.
Linda's got it for $3,000 bucks.
Adam.
- [Voiceover] 31.
- $3,100 bucks.
- [Mike] Wow.
- 31.
- [Linda] OK, $3,150.
- $3,150.
Going once, going twice, sold for $3,150!
- [Mike] Alright.
(car zooming)
- You know what the best
part of this Roadkill was?
Think what didn't happen.
- What didn't happen?
- We didn't overheat and
take the hood off the car.
- There were no gauges we didn't even know
if we were overheating.
- Oh yeah that's right.
We had no oil pressure,
no am meter, no gauges.
It's OK, junkyard car.
- But the hood did stay on
the car though which is,
that's a step up for us.
- Over all I'm going to
say, really solid Roadkill.
TooK a thing out of the junkyard,
race two drag strips, Nitrous.
- My hands feel like I got into a
fist fight with a cheese grater.
And I'm OK with it man.
- It was pretty bad.
- OK with it.
- One more bit of fun.
Before we give it away.
Ready?
- Yes sir.
(engine revs)
Alright, you ready?
- For what?
- We're going to go.
(laughs)
Going to do this now.
Just pretend like I'm
doing something here.
- [David] Basically what I'm doing.
- These look tight.
Yeah, yeah, that looks good.
Tuck that in right there.
Ready to go.
- [Voiceover] Let's get a clap David.
(claps)
- Yay us!
Yay!
(laughs)
- Roadkill.
No logic, no budget.
No shame.
- [Voiceover] Give us a clap David.
(clap)
- That was a good clap with diesel hands.
Diesel adds the power!
- Wow, you got some pop in that.
- Yes, it's the diesel.
- I'd do that, but everything hurts.
Running out of daylight, I need parts!
Hurry!
(humming circus music)
Yeah, buddy.
Don't be scared.
I've searched the whole place.
There's no back tires
or wheels we can use.
junkyard car run and drive?
- With Nitrous.
(sprays)
(yells)
(laughs)
(engine revving)
(tires screeching)
(upbeat rock music)
- On the first episode
of Roadkill we let a dart
determine our destiny.
And now that we're at episode 11 and we're
fresh out of ideas, we're
going to do that again.
(laughs)
- It's a guaranteed formula, can't lose.
- Yeah.
- See we're going to
Houston for a drag race,
but we figured if we're
going to a drag race,
we should drag race and so
we're going to buy a car
somewhere in Texas, Oklahoma,
Arkansas, New Mexico
kind of area, drive it
to Houston and race it.
- Alright, so Houston right?
- [David] OK, who's throwing the dart?
- You are, still missing eyebrow
from the last time we did this.
- [David] No.
- How much do you like your eyebrows?
(laughs)
- Oh, brutal.
Ready?
- [Mike] Yep.
You suck really bad at throwing.
Oh my God, you're in
the Gulf of Mexico dude.
(laughs)
- Oh, perfect.
- We're not buying a boat,
so let's try this again.
You landed on Hawaii, OK.
(laughs)
Let's try this again.
- Let's do it.
- [Mike] Dude that was
dead centered in Texas.
- [David] Really?
So we're there?
- [Mike] Austin.
(groans)
- You totally stuck me.
(laughs)
Do it.
(groans)
(laughs)
That really does hurt.
- There's some hair on there.
- [David] I thought you
were kidding last time.
- Ew.
- So you're thinking if we went to Austin
we could get something
junkier and fix it more?
- Yeah.
- OK.
Well, let's see what's available.
- Craigslist here we come.
(car zooming)
- The dart hit the map in Austin,
but when I started looking around to
figure out what we were
going to do in Texas
there was a guy on my
Facebook page who recommended
CTC Auto Ranch in Denton.
And so, we're going to head
about three or four hours
north and check that out.
We hit this junkyard I think
we need to get something
that runs and drives.
I don't think we can do any
crazy engine swap or anything.
- Let's find a really
great car without an engine
and a really great engine
in a car we don't want.
- We don't have time.
- Dude, we proved we
can do it in the snow,
if you give us three or four days.
(laughs)
There's no snow here.
- If we plan for one, we'll take three.
- Yeah, there's no snow here
so cut that time in half.
Let's find a car on top of other cars.
Stacked up.
- Let's get the bottom one.
- Yeah.
Let's make this as difficult as possible.
- There it is!
Right there.
Junkyard next to a drag strip.
- [Mike] Paradise.
- [David] Absolute nirvana.
- [Mike] Oh my God it's
almost all old sheet metal.
- This is going to be good.
- All of a sudden I see a drag strip,
which gets me fired up.
And then, acres of cars.
I mean more vintage
iron that I've ever seen
in one spot in my entire life.
And if I had a lot of money
and a big ass trailer,
I would have taken most of it home.
- [David] '55 Fairlane, '63 Chevy.
- [Mike] I like the Ranchero.
- [David] '78ish.
- Look at how complete they are, look.
All the chrome, all the glass,
the steering wheel's still on it.
- [David] Oh Gremlin!
Dude, grimmy.
- That was on the website.
- [David] '59 Chevy.
- That was on the website dude.
- [David] '65 Biscayne.
- [Mike] Pinto.
- [David] Oh man.
- [Mike] Pinto.
Want the Pinto.
- When we got to the ranch
we met Allen Williamson,
who is one of the owners of the place and
Finnegan had called ahead
and talked to him so
that we knew he was cool,
we knew he was down with our program.
Which was that we had to buy
a car, fix it in 24 hours
so that we can hit the
road, drive 300 miles
and compete at a NMCA race in Houston,
where we're also going to
hang out with a bunch of our
buddies from Hot Rod Drag Week.
- What have you got that's complete,
that maybe ran when parked.
- You know as far as
most of this stuff that's
right in this immediate area here,
if you want we'll go out
there and look around,
I'll show you what I have.
- [Mike] Yeah, let's check it out.
- Then you can go on your own
and see what you can find.
- I've actually never
been to a yard like this,
because I'm used to junkyards
where everything is stripped.
Ya know, you don't find a shoe
box Chevy with windows in it.
Ya know, that stuffs long gone
at that places I've been to.
I mean it had Trans Ams,
Camaros, Plymouths, Chryslers,
Ford Chevys, everything from
late 30's on up to the 80's.
It was all there, ya know.
And mostly intact which was awesome.
Here's a trend that never
really took off, Bondo flames.
Graphics that some day fall off your car.
(laughs)
Awesome.
- You start to walk through the ranch
and you see one big yard and then another
and then another, and then
behind those trees there's even more.
We could have spent at least
a few days just rummaging
though their, finding project
cars that we needed to have.
- The actual shopping was frustrating.
We spent probably an
hour walking this place
and I'm looking at all these cars
that are missing everything.
One's got a motor but not a tranny.
One's got a tranny but not a motor.
One's missing all the suspension.
And I always have this feeling that,
we should stop now and buy something
and get working on it, but
I'm going to miss something
even better, just over a hill or ya know,
behind a bush or something.
Because there's cars everywhere.
Alright well we don't have
time to roam 35 acres.
- I have a car that we use for just
fiddling around, run and look at stuff.
Why don't you all get in the car.
- [David] Drive around, perfect.
- [Mike] Yeah, drive us around.
Like point out the ones.
- See what I got.
- Yeah.
- We checked out the sea of really really
cool sheet metal out here.
And the bummer is that all of those cars
are either rotted into the
ground or have no engine
or there's some fatal flaw that means
that we either can't afford
it or he won't sell it to us
or it won't run so,
we've narrowed it down to
this Olds, that Mopar, that
Chevy, and that Pontiac.
And we got to decide among 'em right now.
The Olds we've pretty much blown off.
It just, it needs a little bit too much.
And I think basically
we're not excited by it.
This is a '67 Barracuda.
No door handles, no dash,
no wiring, no carburetor,
no seats, no glass, so.
- No problem.
- [David] What was the up side?
- No problem.
OK so this one, it's already got headers.
Already got aluminum intake on it.
It looks like at one point
it was a little speedy.
- I get what you're
saying this is the most
performance oriented,
but what do we do about
a gas tank, glass.
- We're at a junkyard.
There's gas tanks here.
- In 24 hours we need to
be driving away from here.
And I doubt they'll let us work all night.
And we have no light.
- We haven't even asked yet.
Ya never know.
I wave $10 or $12 in front of them,
you never know dude.
We may own this place.
Alright so if not the
Barracuda then sell me
on the Pontiac I think
you're in love with.
- Well I'm not completely anti Barracuda.
I'm just thinking that
the Pontiac or the Chevy
are going to be easier to get running.
- But this is more pimp than
performance to be honest with you.
- Oh yeah, I'm agreeing with that.
There we go.
Radiator.
- [Mike] Ran when parked huh.
- Yeah.
(laughs)
- Let's look at the Chevy.
- I wanted to go with the '66 Chevy
because the guy knew that it had run and
yeah it was clapped out and gross
and had mouse turds in it and stuff,
but I just sort of had faith
that it could get there.
And I knew that we were
going to be able to fix
a small block Chevy anywhere,
with any rubber bands
or duct tape that we had sitting around
and I thought we'd be able to
turn the key and hit the road.
I do like this because
of my whole kink on the
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry movie.
Where they had the '66
Impala at the beginning.
- That car was blue.
- Yeah and it wasn't a sedan either but,
but I can dream.
(laughs)
- I like the challenge of
making the Barracuda run.
- You want to make it decide
between these on price?
Want to see what he'll take for that?
- Oh yeah, we may not even
be able to afford these.
- Right.
So negotiate, you're better than I am.
- Alright, Allen.
I am not a greedy man.
- [Allen] I know you're not.
- I'm not.
I've already spent a lot of money
on plane tickets getting here.
- And that's your problem.
- That's my problem.
- I've already said you got nice boots on.
- Thank you, thank you very much.
- OK, I like your hair.
You got a good tan.
I feel close to you.
- Oh buddy 'ole pal.
- I feel close to you.
(laughs)
What am I looking at for this ugly,
steaming, pile of junk.
That is taking up a
valuable space in your yard.
Think of what you could put here.
- I'll do about $4,000
on it without the glass.
- We're going to have to just lower your
expectations a little.
- What you got in mind?
- We're going to have to put a carb on it.
Not cheap.
- So we need a carburetor.
- Carburetor, some wiring.
Plumbing for the gas tank.
- Right.
- We need a seat.
It's worth two right?
- Oh yeah, I'd do that for sure.
- Yeah two, two's good.
Two plus all those parts we
need to put it back together.
- Right.
- If you could get us the
windows, like in so they
don't fall out at 78 miles an hour
which will be top speed for this thing.
- Yeah.
- Three grand.
What do you think?
- I can't do it.
- No?
Not for three?
- About $3,800 is the
best I can do on this one.
- So what he's saying is this is worth
virtually, well this
is worth twice as much
as the actual Impala.
- Why don't we do this.
- Uh-oh, wait wait.
- [Mike] Oh, oh oh oh oh.
- Why don't we try to
get to get 'em started.
And see which one's.
- Startable.
- Startable.
- OK.
- OK, alright.
- If the engine turns over.
- You do that for us?
- Yeah.
- OK.
- Yeah, but we can't
afford that regardless.
- What are you cheapskates?
- We may have to walk away from this one.
- Yeah I know, it's disappointing.
- I may be so offended
about the Cuda we just
leave all together.
(laughs)
Come on baby crank to
life, daddy needs a Mopar.
(engine turning)
Oh dude.
- [David] Yeah, that's good.
- I'm telling you dude
we can make this run.
- I'm warming up to the notion.
- Here's what I say
dude, we'll give him his
$3,800 but we want the glass in the car
and we need another seat.
We'll make the rest of
it happen on our own.
So when buying a car from an Auto Ranch,
you got to expect the
carburetors, probably going to
fight you a little bit.
So I was smart enough
to order a Holley 750
double pumper with mechanical secondaries.
- And you just don't go anywhere without
your cheater setup.
- Hello friend.
Oh I've missed you.
I like that we have 24 hours to make
a car we never seen run and
we're putting Nitrous on it
before we even check the motor.
- [David] Got to have
your priorities straight.
Perfect.
(upbeat rock music)
(engine starting)
Doesn't smoke.
(car revving)
(coughs)
I say we're good to go.
- [Mike] That sounds alright.
- [David] We got it to run pretty good,
we decided we're going
to give it our best shot,
'cause we always have a fall back plan,
which is the Chevy.
So they just fork lifted
it over to the shop
and they're going to help us work on it.
They also said we could
stay here all night long.
And I'm thinking that's
going to have to happen.
(car zooming)
- The really funny thing about this is,
we're four hours into this deal
and all we're accomplishing right now
is making the engine run
for more than eight seconds,
so that we could put the trans in gear
to find out if the car even moves.
And if it doesn't move we've
got to go back to the junkyard
and pick out another
car and try that again.
Because nothing in this whole place
we're sure will run under it's own power.
- The first think Finnegan did was strip
the carburetor fitting.
Can I blame you for that
or is that not cool?
- You lie a lot on video.
- Can I blame China?
How about China?
When you pay Rad Rides
by Troy and you give them
a million dollars to build a
hot rod and you wonder why.
This is why.
They're not working in
a barn, in 24 hours with
Chinese made parts.
- Sure they have fame, and glory,
and money in their
pockets, and happy wives
and children that like them.
But they're not having this fun.
Not at all.
Enter to win $5,000 by providing feedback
and taking our survey.
I think the odds of us
winning should be pretty good,
after we spent this much money!
It's almost as tall as I am.
$800 bucks to basically find
out if the car will even move.
What do you think?
Is it going to move?
- [David] Of course.
- The only issue here is you
plumb that to a fuel line
that's going to nothing.
- [David] Yeah.
Where would you like it to go?
- Some sort of gas can.
- Which we did not acquire.
And we don't have the gas either.
(laughs)
- We have no can or gas.
(laughs)
We could wish it to ya know life.
- [David] Yeah, we could.
- Do we even have a jack?
(upbeat rock music)
Man I hope this thing moves
forward and backwards.
- Is backwards actually a requirement?
- That might actually be a
little greedy on our part.
- OK hopefully we're
going to fire it up now,
make it drink out of this gas can.
(engine starting)
Sounds good.
- Happy.
- Reverse.
- Yes!
That's reverse, no noise.
- [David] And drive.
- Forward!
I take back everything
I said about this place.
You can get a quality automobile here.
- We're good.
Wait, let's see will the brakes stop it.
No, no brakes.
- We're not going around
the block without brakes.
- [David] No, we need brakes.
It's about midnight at the Auto Ranch, and
we've had big victories with the engine
and the transmission and so we're going to
call it a night, go get some rest.
(car zooming)
It's first thing in
the morning on Thursday
and we thought we should
attack the brakes first,
soon as we got the engine
working and transmission
working, but no brakes.
So.
- [Mike] It's not first
thing in the morning anymore.
- It's not?
- [Mike] Yeah, it's about lunch time.
- Are you saying we're behind schedule?
- [Mike] Little bit.
- What are you working
on, start at the top.
OK, stuff I can see, right away.
Put oil in, find oil filter.
New ignition switch needs to go in.
Get another radiator that doesn't leak.
Headlights, glass, brakes.
Gas tank, seats, shifter,
tires if possible.
- Exhaust?
- We'll just cut it off.
- Yeah, cut exhaust.
- We should stop the list now.
- 'Cause it's only depressing.
- It's really getting overwhelming.
- Oh, outside door handles.
- Oh, that just put it over the edge dude,
we can't make this now.
- So that's our list
and it's Thursday at 11,
we need to leave in eight hours.
We'll be fine.
- There's no way in hell that's happening.
(upbeat rock music)
- Our problem is, is this
seal for the filler into
the tank is junk.
But video producer
Clint had a genius idea.
We went and cut this
piece of radiator hose
and slipped it over the fill neck
and it's going to make a perfect seal
into the hole on the top of the tank.
- Probably the best part about being at
CTC Auto Ranch here in
Texas, is that when we
needed a part, we could just
go out back here and find it.
So, I found our transmission
kick down mount there
for the carburetor.
We didn't have a seat for our car,
so they grabbed this '69
Valiant out of the yard,
rolled it in here ripped out the bench
and the seat belts for us.
And I dunno if you can see this right now,
but this is actually an ultra rare
factory light weight drag car.
With transparent aluminum quarter panels.
Very valuable.
- What's our next big
expense, is my concern?
- We need rear tires.
We'll take the two best of the
four, stick 'em on the front.
- Yeah the rears are better
so I'll throw those on the front but then.
- Cut the exhaust off.
That solves a lot of the issue back there.
It does need rear shocks.
- Oh yeah, 'cause they're
completely topped out.
- Yeah, well and the one is bent.
So.
- We're completely out of money.
- We're never out of money, we have AMEX.
(laughs)
We'll just be in a lot more trouble
when we get back to work.
- Right.
- And find out what we spent.
I'm going to cut the studs,
let's go back to work.
We're running out of daylight.
- I was really torqued up
about the glass on the car.
I was concerned the drag strip
would not let us run without it.
We had to have a windshield at least
and the glass guy shows up
and he wants like $500 bucks
to install glass that's sitting
right out there in the yard.
And that wasn't a good moment.
We're standing around waiting for this guy
to come down on the price,
which he finally did.
But then we find out that '67 Cuda glass
is different than '68 or '69 Cuda glass,
in the size, the doors are
a little bit different.
What a pain in the neck.
And you know what, Coop glass is
different than fastback glass.
So we're just screwed on the side windows.
Here's where I'm stupid.
After we figured out that the '68 glass
wouldn't fit the '67
doors we reinstalled the
'68 glass in the '68 doors and installed
the '68 doors on the car.
'Cause I thought we had to have it.
And it looks so stupid.
We couldn't live with ourselves.
Our junkyard car didn't look cool enough
with blue doors and white paint.
I just couldn't have it.
So then Finnegan calls
Jeff Lutts who's standing
in Houston at the drag
strip we want to race,
why we didn't do this
a day ago I don't know.
And he goes, "Lutts, can
you talk to the tech guy"
"and find out if they'll
let us run without windows?"
Guy goes, "Yeah."
(sighs)
(upbeat music)
7 o'clock we have to
leave in an hour, right?
- No no no, five hours
from now the drag strip
next door closes.
- So that's our new bogey.
- New goal, if we get it
running in four hours,
we can go make a lap over there.
- Does it have to have brakes?
- Nah.
- We could not find junkyard tail lights,
and so I'm using magnetic trailer lights.
Which won't magnetize.
- It's 9:30, we've got
about two and a half hours
until the drag strip closes.
We're going to fire off the
motor for the very first time
on the stocked gas tank.
And the potential for
that thing to turn brown
right now and look like
the bottom of a fish tank
very high.
So, go ahead hit it.
(car starting)
Hey, we got gas.
(cheers)
Alternator works.
- [David] Cool.
- [Mike] Right on.
- I was about ready to
pack the wheel barrings
and I noticed that, we got
the race spun in the drum,
which is really ungood.
Not sure how we're going
to fix that just yet.
Probably knock it out and stake
the back of it or something.
Right?
- Huh?
- There's an old farmers
trick that you can do,
where you take a punch
and you smack the machine
surface where the race
goes in and it makes
little dents and little
lifted areas of metal
around the dent that reduce
the inside diameter of
the race journal so that
the race can pound in again.
And so this guy, James who
works at the Auto Ranch,
who has been super helpful
and who is the master of the
junkyard repair, shows up,
he knows this trick like that
and dials us in.
- Then we got to bleed the brakes,
fix all the water leaks,
wire the tail lights.
Cut something off the floor of the car,
so that bench seat that
we robbed from another car
will fit.
Make sure the shifter works.
Drop it on the ground and try and run it.
- We're leaving tomorrow night sometime.
24 hours from now if at all.
- Time for bed.
Let's go.
- OK.
- [Mike] Did it sound like we
were going to bed together?
(laughs)
(car zooming)
(upbeat rock music)
(cars revving)
(crickets chirping)
(intense music)
- The cure all.
Ah, that makes me feel better.
Nitrous.
(electric saw)
(metal clanking)
- [Mike] Ventilated, sealed.
- At this point, there's
the possibility that
after all this work,
we're going to try and
drive it around the block
and the transmission will
just be garbage.
It spun the wheels on the jack stand,
that doesn't mean it moves the car.
- Dude, don't talk about it.
(laughs)
- There's just a possibility.
- [Mike] Don't talk about it.
We have a chrome air cleaner OK.
- Oh yeah, we'll be good.
- Car's fine.
- We got the car completely running,
everything was coming together
and the brakes didn't work.
It turns out that all
of the little tiny line
was just packed with goo.
I ended up taking the
entire brake system apart.
The metering valve, the
prop valve, just cramming
wire through it, air,
carb cleaner, nightmare.
Even though we're not going to
get any test runs in Houston,
we're still going to be able
to run across the street,
over here at North Star if
only I can make this junk stop.
(upbeat music)
- I think all that's left to
do is bleed the front brakes,
and see if she'll drive down the street.
Maybe even do a burnout.
- Ya know there's a
moment at which you think
no amount of duct tape
is actually going to get
you on the road with this
car and then there's that
moment where you fire it
up and put it into gear and
head out for your first test drive.
(car starting)
(dramatic music)
At this point Finnegan
and I are just giddy.
And we pull out in front of the yard,
drive around a couple of times and I swear
we're not in the car 30 seconds before
Finnegan's on the wood and this thing
lays patch for a half a block.
Yeah!
- Yeah!
- Yeah!
(laughs)
Dude!
Yeah!
- Oh dude it's spunky.
- And it smells like rubber in here.
Ya know three trips around
the block is good enough
proof for a junkyard car.
So, what do you do.
You head straight to the drag strip.
(cars screeching)
North Star is a really cool little track.
It's an 1/8 mile, which
is unusual for me but
nice place the people there are fantastic.
Can't say enough about the whole crew
and how they treated us there.
Finnegan goes up there to
make the first pass on motor.
(car screeches)
(car revs)
9.06, and I instantly whip out my phone
and do the math to convert it to like
a 1/4 mile time, which
is language I understand.
And it's a 14.20.
And I am just completely
over the moon at this point.
Because 14.20 means that
I can spray this thing
into a 12 second car.
For sure.
It's 11:30 and I don't think we're racing
in Houston unless we get
there at like nine or 10
which means we got to cannonball.
- Let's get the hell out of here.
(engine hums)
(sad trombone music)
Our really old and dry rotted tires
are self ejecting the treads now.
- We heard something smack the
inside of the quarter panel pretty hard.
And it was that.
Not good.
- I vote, limp it to the hotel,
deal with it in the morning.
- Well yeah, we pretty
much don't have a choice.
(car zooming)
We woke up in the morning
at the hooker hotel
and sure enough the tire
was completely flat.
But that doesn't slow us
down, we don't have a spare.
And we don't want to wait for a tow truck
so we hit the road in the
Cuda with a dead flat tire.
Drove the thing five miles
on a completely flat tire.
But the Gear Head angel
shine upon us once again,
because we never gacked the wheel.
And we were able to slap
new rubber on the car,
we got four new tires, 'cause
that's the way we roll.
- Tires are on, feeling good,
except we're suffocating from all the
exhaust leaks in this thing
in the holes in the floor.
So, we brought it to this
muffler shop who said,
two hours to change the header gaskets,
and the collector gaskets, we came back
four hours later and it leaked worse
than when we got here.
So, now Dave and I are fixing it ourselves
which is probably what
we should've done first.
- Probably.
- The end.
- The end.
- Dave and I proceed to
take the next two hours
making it worse than it
was when we rolled in
but better than it was
when the professional
mechanics had their hands on it.
It still sounded like
dog shit when we left.
(loud engine rev)
- We hit the road and
the exhaust fume deal is
just as bad as it ever has been.
- We got a pretty bad
exhaust leak in the Cuder.
And uh, we're basically
suffocating while we drive.
So I'm going to hack up this
two liter bottle of soda,
duct tape it to the window frame,
and hopefully get some
fresh air blowin at our dome
so we don't pass out in
the middle of the night
while we're driving.
- Wide open windows and still,
you need a Coke bottle funneling
the 70 mile an hour air,
directly at your face so
that you can barely breathe
enough to stay alive.
(car zooming)
- We're in Houston.
We spent most of yesterday
getting tires on the car
and trying to protect
ourselves from carbon monoxide.
But we made it late last night and now,
we're headed to the race track.
Hopefully to make some
Nitrous passes in the car.
And then I think we're going
to auction this thing off
to some lucky person.
Or unlucky person depending
on your point of view.
(car engine loudly hums)
(upbeat rock music)
(car engine revs)
- What's going on here
is a regular NMCA event.
Street car racing, pro
street, the 10 five cars,
all the greatest heroes in the country
including the guys from
Hot Rod Magazine drag week.
Like Jeff Lutts, and Larry
Larson, and Tim Reid.
And they were just
busting a gut at the Cuda.
We installed that NOS
system in record time.
I think 10 minutes, like
literally three people 10 hands.
Everything like this.
- Can't go home without running
the Nitrous to the thing.
So, we don't have an
electric fuel pump for the
Nitrous system, so we're going
to tee it into the stock pump.
Cross our fingers and pray
to God it doesn't lean out.
Tim Reid, one of the guys
that competes at drag week,
was cool enough to loan me some
of his Nitrous system parts
and he come over and help me wire the car.
So when it was done, it only made sense
to go for a test ride with him.
Because if it didn't work,
it was kind of his fault.
(engine revving)
Surges a little.
It definitely surges.
- It hauls ass!
- Turned around to go back to the track,
because we need to do
a little more tweaking
on the car and as I
was making the U turn I
hit the Nitrous button on accident.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa.
- What'd you bump the button?
- No, my hands up here.
(laughs)
My hands up here man.
- I bet you bunched and bumped 'em.
- Oh that's not good.
Uh-oh.
Right now the bottle's leaking,
and I blame David for that
'cause he tightened it.
And we have no key to get the trunk open.
So, we're just going to wait a little bit,
'cause the car is full
of Nitrous right now,
and not safe to drive down the road.
- It's a good thing we had
a bunch of extra Nitrous
bottles with us, 'cause
we had, had 'em filled
at North Star the night before.
(engine revs)
- We were pitted right next to Jeff Lutts
and he drives a '57 Chevy that's one of
the fastest street cars on the planet.
So when I ask him to
help me stage the Cuder,
he laughed at me but he said yes.
And so I got this guy
standing in front of the car
and he's waving me into
the beams and he's laughing
his ass off 'cause he's
staging like a 15 second car.
(engine revs)
Come on baby.
(cheers)
- 110 mile an hour, that's bad ass.
- [Mike] Best day at work ever man.
- Lutts is jumping up and down,
'cause this thing ran 14.74
but at a 110 miles an hour.
And I'm doing the math
quick in my head going
that's a low 12 second car.
It could be an 11.90
car if it had traction.
- I went directly from
the end of the drag strip
back over to the grand stands,
right by the starting line and
the announcer was super cool,
he told everybody that we were jumping on
an airplane right now and to get out
whatever cash they had in their pockets,
because we were going
to auction the car off
right then and there along
with all of the tools
we bought and whatever
spare parts we didn't
have time to install on it.
And people showed up for this,
I couldn't believe it.
We've got $100 bucks,
what do we got over here?
$200.
- [David] Anyone else?
- $300 from the gentleman
in the red cap, anyone else?
- [David] $1,000 bucks from Charlie.
- Whoa!
$1,000.
$1,200.
- [David] 15!
- 15, lord of the race track.
Alright.
Thank you for having us.
$1,600.
$1,800?
- [David] 19.
- $1,900 wow.
$1,900, going once, he's checking it out.
- $2,025!
- [Mike] $2,025, nice
round number, I like that.
How'd you pick that one?
- [Voiceover] 24.
- [David] 24!
Big move, big move.
- $2,500.
- Linda's $2,500!
25, 25!
- 29.
- [David] 29.
- $3,000.
- $3,000 yeah!
$3,000 bucks.
Linda's got it for $3,000 bucks.
Adam.
- [Voiceover] 31.
- $3,100 bucks.
- [Mike] Wow.
- 31.
- [Linda] OK, $3,150.
- $3,150.
Going once, going twice, sold for $3,150!
- [Mike] Alright.
(car zooming)
- You know what the best
part of this Roadkill was?
Think what didn't happen.
- What didn't happen?
- We didn't overheat and
take the hood off the car.
- There were no gauges we didn't even know
if we were overheating.
- Oh yeah that's right.
We had no oil pressure,
no am meter, no gauges.
It's OK, junkyard car.
- But the hood did stay on
the car though which is,
that's a step up for us.
- Over all I'm going to
say, really solid Roadkill.
TooK a thing out of the junkyard,
race two drag strips, Nitrous.
- My hands feel like I got into a
fist fight with a cheese grater.
And I'm OK with it man.
- It was pretty bad.
- OK with it.
- One more bit of fun.
Before we give it away.
Ready?
- Yes sir.
(engine revs)
Alright, you ready?
- For what?
- We're going to go.
(laughs)
Going to do this now.
Just pretend like I'm
doing something here.
- [David] Basically what I'm doing.
- These look tight.
Yeah, yeah, that looks good.
Tuck that in right there.
Ready to go.
- [Voiceover] Let's get a clap David.
(claps)
- Yay us!
Yay!
(laughs)
- Roadkill.
No logic, no budget.
No shame.
- [Voiceover] Give us a clap David.
(clap)
- That was a good clap with diesel hands.
Diesel adds the power!
- Wow, you got some pop in that.
- Yes, it's the diesel.
- I'd do that, but everything hurts.
Running out of daylight, I need parts!
Hurry!
(humming circus music)
Yeah, buddy.
Don't be scared.
I've searched the whole place.
There's no back tires
or wheels we can use.