Original subtitles

-[mellow Western music plays] -[excavator beeping]

[exciting music plays]

[Shawn] Mark!

Mark!

I know he hears me.

He likes to annoy me.

I mean, I love a junkyard, but, man.

He just disappears. You bring him here, and he's gone.

You know those leashes you put your kid on when you go to the amusement park?

I need a leash. God.

Where the hell... Are you kidding me?

Mark!

-[objects clattering] -[music fades]

Oh.

Are you seriously in a dumpster?

There's... Dude, you can't imagine the stuff that's in here.

-Oh, my God. Come on. -Like, people throw this away.

Dude.

Oh, come on. Are you kidding me?

It's a toy gun.

Shifter.

Wait, there's more.

[mellow rock music playing]

-Let's go. You ready to go? -[rummaging]

They're just your size.

Oh, come... Are you done?

-Take them home. -I'll be in the truck. All right?

"Be in the truck"? I'm not done yet. There's still two more dumpsters.

Who would throw this away?

Oh... What did I just step in?

[heavy metal music plays]

[Mark] At Gotham Garage,

we've made our mark through upgrade and trade...

[Tony] Yeah, baby! Yeah!

...turning junkyard rust...

[Shawn] This is a cool little gem.

...into six-figure works of art.

[tires skidding]

We've been grinding with this model for years...

[Tony] Easy! Easy!

...and as our reputation grew...

[crowd] Wow!

...so did our Rolodex of high-end clients with deep pockets.

-[man] I'm looking for a couple vehicles. -Really?

[Mark] It appeared as if our dream was finally coming to fruition.

Unfortunately, these new clients' expectations

didn't align with my creative vision.

I wanna transform it 100%, not 95.

[Mark] So we decided to forge our own path.

We invested 120 grand of the shop's money

into a custom concept car and bike pairing,

all based on my original design.

[exciting heavy metal music playing]

The plan was to set the car world on fire by hosting our own virtual auction.

[Shawn] I got Dan at 175.

-There you are, 180. -[Shawn] 180 to Alex.

[Mark] But the bids fell short, and I wasn't willing to settle

for anything less than 250 grand.

225. That's it. That's as much as I can do.

-That's not enough. -Two-twen...

Come on, man.

That did not sit well with the rest of the team.

Without cashing out on the concept vehicles,

we're basically all the way back to square one again.

[men speaking in reverse]

[Mark] I know what it's like to be at the top of this business,

and I also know what it's like to be at the bottom.

I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that we get through this rough patch.

This is a 1928 Essex.

I'm gonna pay for this whole project.

-And I'm not taking my cut. -What?

[Mark] We'll start with this '28 Essex project

and work our way up from there.

Even if we have to scour the grimiest junkyards

to get back to the top of the mountain,

then so be it.

[exciting rock music playing]

I know every single person in this shop is ready to go.

-[Tony] Get her done, guys. Whoo! -[Constance laughs]

[whirring]

[engine revving]

[mellow music plays]

[car horn honks]

Beer break is over.

-Finally. -[Caveman] Uh-oh.

[Mark] Go, go, go, go, go.

Go, go. Stop.

[Constance] What is this?

So we went to storage, cleaned that out,

got a bunch of pretty badass hot rod stuff,

and then we went to, like, two or three wrecking yards?

Three wrecking yards. For three hours apiece.

-Oh, come on, they had dumpsters. -Were you dumpster diving?

-All day. -[all laughing]

[Tony] Obviously, the sting of the virtual auction is still fresh.

But the good news is we have this '28 Essex project,

and Mark's not taking his cut when we sell it.

He's even letting Shawn keep his cut.

So you know he's feeling pretty bad about the whole situation.

Caveman! Look! You got a club. I got a gun!

-[Caveman] Oh, bitchin'! -That's not a car part.

[Tony] But the truth is this one car is not gonna solve all our problems.

All aboard!

We've got a long way to go before we're on stable ground financially,

and since Mark is set on 250 grand or more on the concept vehicles,

it's gonna take Shawn a while to find the right buyer.

So this is a lot of stuff. But what is all this stuff for?

This is gonna be one of our infamous zero money builds.

I thought you were covering the budget on this.

-I am. That's why it's a no money build. -[Constance] Aw.

But that means that everything is 100% profit divided by four.

-Yes. Yes! -[Shawn] Yeah, I like that!

I didn't think about that.

[all laughing]

So what we're gonna do with everything here

is build one badass Gotham Garage rat rod.

-[Caveman] Nice. -[Shawn] Yeah!

[Shawn] A rat rod is a type of hot rod

that gets its look from using reclaimed and salvaged parts.

[Mark] We'll take this badass steam trunk,

and we'll put the fuel cell in it.

We've got the lantern. We're gonna put an LED brake light in it.

We're gonna take Mr. Pop Gun and turn it into a floor shifter.

[Constance] Cool.

[Shawn] It's actually the perfect style of build for this Essex

because when you don't have a lot of money,

but you still wanna build a really cool car, you build a rat rod.

[engine revs]

Rat rods started in the '80s

as kind of a punk rock style of car building.

You take whatever you got in your garage, and you build a down-and-dirty hot rod

with an intentionally unfinished look.

On a rat rod,

you can't hide behind fancy expensive parts.

So the value on a car like this

all comes down to how you apply these reclaimed parts to the build.

The more ingenuity and creativity that you use,

the more valuable the car.

The good thing about a build like this is you can be so creative

and have so much fun with it, you know?

-I think it'd be cool to do a rat rod. -Yeah. We haven't done one in a while.

[Mark] The trick with this rat rod

is gonna be taking all these salvaged parts

and working them seamlessly into the build.

First up, we're gonna take this old vintage steam trunk,

we're gonna mount it to the back of the car,

and use it to house our fuel cell.

We'll also install a vintage lantern on the back

as a single tail light.

On the inside, we'll use our toy pop gun as a shifter,

and we'll mount this old-school compass to the dash

as our high-tech rat rod GPS.

-Up-front, we'll power this monster... -[revs loudly]

...with a 383 Chevy Stroker motor,

with a badass 471 blower on top.

Yeah, rat rods are hot right now, and especially a Gotham Garage rat rod.

I think I can get close to 30 grand for this thing.

Easy money.

-Easy money. -Right?

[Mark] You know what's hard to do? Hard to sell the concept car and bike.

So you need to shake your tail feather,

get in your office, and find a buyer for that.

Yeah, that's job one.

Skip to my lou, my darling.

-I'm getting at it now. -[Caveman] Find two buyers.

[Shawn] You take care of this, I'll take care of the big money.

-Get us some money. -Yeah.

-Right, so let's get this thing started. -Let's do it.

[Mark] The long-term future of this shop

all hinges on selling the two concept vehicles

for 250 grand or better.

Once that happens,

it proves that something straight out of my imagination

is worth big-time money.

It unlocks the door to a whole new brand of clientele.

These are the clients that show up, pay handsomely,

but they don't give us a list to follow,

and there's no micromanaging.

[whooshing]

But the bottom line is, passing on the high bid at the auction

has definitely put the shop in a compromising position.

We've got a lot of the shop's money tied up in two vehicles

that are sitting in the warehouse just collecting dust.

So, at this point, I don't care how Shawn sells them.

We're selling the concept car and the bike as a pair.

[man] Pretty interesting, man.

[Mark] If he finds an individual buyer, then great.

If not, we'll bring them to an auction

sometime down the road, just like we originally planned.

This ought to be fun.

[Constance] Caveman, you're so motivated.

[Caveman] I'm getting somebody else's props? Hell yeah.

[Mark] But until that happens, we're going OG Gotham Garage.

[Tony] Looking good.

Sometimes you've just got to go back to what got you here

to get you to the next step.

[grunts] I bet this was full of gold one time, huh?

That looks good up there. Now the car's got a trunk.

You guys are gonna have to keep storming on this in the morning

'cause I gotta go with Shawn

to look at a car and see what it's all about.

I guess he's got some big plan for bringing more money into the shop.

-What kind of car? -[Mark] I don't know.

-It's one of Shawn's "secret things." -Oh no.

-Oh, God. -Code for, "Mark's gonna hate it."

He's trying to fool you.

About as much as he's fooling anybody with that frosted hair of his.

-[laughs] -[Constance] Aw, let him have that one!

[Mark] We all know he's going gray under there.

[exciting percussion music playing]

-[Mark] Is it a Chevelle? Minivan? -[Shawn] No. No.

-[Mark] Pickup truck. Airplane. -[Shawn] No. No.

Boat? It's another boat.

Oh, my God. You're not gonna shut up till I tell you.

-No, I'm not gonna shut up. -Okay. I'll tell you what it is.

It's an Elite Laser 917.

Ah, so I'm gonna build a four-cylinder Volkswagen kit car.

Because the guy's got 40 grand to give us.

Oh, I see. This is one of your high-end clients.

It's not the car.

It's the client you're trying to keep secret.

Exactly.

At this point, we all know that Mark is not a fan of high-end clients

that give him a set of rules to follow.

This guy's willing to give us 40 grand

for an easy deal.

He's got all the parts to this thing. We just need to put it together.

Look, I admit the Elite Laser 917

isn't the most prestigious car build on Earth.

Yes, it gets its inspiration from the Porsche 917,

which is a super iconic and extremely rare Porsche race car.

But the Elite Laser 917 ain't no Porsche 917.

The Laser's just a body kit

that you slap on a dinky little Volkswagen Bug chassis.

In other words, it's not a super rare high-performance race car.

You say it like it's a simple deal,

but I can already tell it's one of those deals that has a catch.

It's not... No, it's not one of those.

Well, I kind of do understand what you're saying about

needing some money in the bank.

So let's go take a look at this car and see what it's all about.

There you go.

I like how you're so open-minded about things.

[Mark chuckles dryly]

[Shawn] We're here. We're here for the party.

-[Mark] What's this guy's name? -Adam.

-[Mark] Adam. -Yeah.

All right, well, let's go see what's going on.

How we doing?

Adam, this is Mark.

-Pleasure. -Nice to meet you.

-Thanks for coming. Hey, guys. -Hey, how's it goin'?

There it is.

[Adam] Here she is in all her dusty glory.

[Mark] I remember these from when I was a kid.

[Adam] Yeah, I grew up falling in love with the Porsche 917.

-But they didn't make many of them. -[Mark laughs] No, they did not.

[Adam] That's what this is.

This kit car is kind of as close as you can get to a 917.

[Mark] I see all the glass. I see a roll cage.

Do you have a motor?

I have a Porsche Power Plant.

Oh, wow, so you wanna go full Porsche with this thing?

That's right. This is from an early 911.

I've got new headers on it, refreshed carburetors.

It should be sweet.

Well, I'm glad you already got the motor.

So this seems like a pretty doable situation.

With all the work that's been done to it, I say for 40 grand,

we can kind of make it kind of like a race car.

-Make it look like it. -It can't be "like" a race car.

This needs to be a race car.

I'm obviously a Porsche guy.

Racing is my passion. It has to be full race car spec.

Nothing "like."

-[Shawn] Um... Hmm. Okay. -So you want to put this on a track?

This thing needs to set blistering times at a racetrack.

[Mark] And there's the catch.

This just went from a simple kit car build

to a full-on track car.

How fast are you talking? What do you wanna do?

Well, I wanna debut this car out at Willow Springs.

I race there a lot. My best time is 2:03.

-I need to get this car under two minutes. -[Shawn] Really?

[Mark] Even though it looks sort of like a race car,

this Laser was never designed to be driven on a track.

This is basically a little show pony,

and Adam now wants to turn it into a full-blown thoroughbred.

This has to be, you know, Porsche-level quality.

It has to be a full spec race car.

That's the brief.

[Mark] Yes, he has a Porsche motor, but it's out of an old 911.

We'll probably have to do a lot of adjustments to get it to run right.

Plus, the motor alone ain't gonna get this car under two minutes.

We're gonna have to buy a whole bunch of race performance parts

to dial this car in from front to back.

As much as we can't pass up work right now,

my main concern is that that 40 grand is a little light

to make a full-blown race car.

The 40 grand that we talked about,

with what you're after, that's asking quite a bit, actually.

Totally fair. Totally fair. I'll... I'll tell you what.

If you get me under two minutes,

I've got an extra $10,000 for you.

-Two minutes? -Two minutes.

Well, I think for that amount of cash,

we're gonna just throw everything we got at the suspension,

and I'll do whatever it takes to get it under the two-minute mark,

but I don't know how to politically correct say this,

50% of that time falls on your racing experience.

I can do that time. I've already pulled a 2:03.

I just need a better car. This is so much lighter.

It should be able to hit it.

[mellow blues music playing]

Well, let's shake his hand and, uh, make this run.

[Mark] All right. We've got a deal. Under two minutes.

All in all, I think this is a pretty solid deal for us.

We get to build a really cool race car,

and hopefully, we get a big bonus at the end of it.

See, that's why you're you, and I'm me. You're just puttin' me in another box.

It's just a different box. It's a two-minute box.

I don't get to do anything on this car creatively

because now all our resources are going into making it fast.

Aw, you're a downer.

-I'm not a downer. -Where's the positivity?

You wanna see positive?

Positive'd be if he beats the two-minute mark on that track,

then you'll see positive.

But until then, you're gonna get negative Nancy,

not positive Mark.

[imitates cat yowl]

[both chuckling]

Call Tony and tell him to meet us over at the other shop in about 30 minutes.

Caveman and Constance stay on the rat rod and get the motor running.

[upbeat music playing]

[objects clattering]

-Caveman! -What?

-What are you doing? -I know where all this goes.

-Give me a moment. Yeah. -You sure?

I don't know if I was having to have a bomb defused that I'd trust you.

Oh, sure. I wouldn't trust myself!

All the cool salvage parts that Mark got for this car

will be what defines this rat rod.

[imitates car klaxon]

[Constance] There's the old steam trunk that holds the gas tank,

the old compass that we're calling a rat rod GPS,

and this really cool vintage lantern that we're gonna use as a brake light.

[Caveman] There we go.

But ultimately, the motor is really the first thing you see.

It's front and center, fully exposed.

And with a rat rod,

the motor should really be reflective of the overall look of the car.

So you really can't add a tiny little motor and just call it a day.

It has to be really aggressive and obnoxious.

[Caveman] Ah.

-[Constance chuckles] -Ooh!

[laughs]

[Constance] We have this 383 Stroker motor,

but we're also adding a 471 blower to really give it some firepower.

We got a blower!

[laughs]

This motor needs to stand out.

It needs to scream in your face and wake you up when you turn the key.

-Okay. Are we ready? -We got gas. We got power.

Ooh. Abracadabra!

[engine sputtering]

-[engine starts] -Whoo!

-[grunting happily] -[engine idling]

Money. Money. Money.

[grunts]

[turns off engine]

-What do you think? -I mean, it sounds great to me.

It sounds awesome. Let's get this thing buttoned up.

You can get all the odds and ends, and the gizmos and gadgets.

Ooh, I don't know about the gadgets, but I'll do odds, ends, and gizmos.

-Okay, I'll do the gadgets. Let's do it. -Okay, cool.

[funky music playing]

So you're telling me that this is a race car?

[Mark] Not yet, but it will be.

But this isn't the same engine that the real race car would've had.

No, the original 917, Porsche took two of these and welded them together.

-So... -Yeah. And that'd be more than 50 grand.

-Hence, "tribute" not "replica." -[both chuckle]

So, first thing we should do

is take that motor, get it underneath the car,

and hop in it and go for a hot lap out back.

-[Tony] Let's get this done. -We built a few race cars in the past.

But building a legitimate road course car is a totally different animal.

For some reason, I don't think this is how they did it at the Porsche factory.

If we want this car to master the track at Willow Springs,

we have to have one word ingrained in our mind.

Precision. Precision. Precision.

We'll kick it off by installing this killer 2.2 Porsche 911 motor.

This should be plenty of horsepower for a car this light.

But at Willow Springs, handling is the key.

So we're gonna have to install disc brakes and QA1 fully-adjustable coil-over shocks

so that we can tune this suspension in perfectly.

On the inside, we're going as minimal as possible.

We're gonna install aluminum racing seats,

a quick disconnect steering wheel, and a very simple instrument panel.

To give it the look and feel of the original Porsche 917,

we'll wrap it in its most iconic color scheme

and slap on some wicked racing tires.

[Mark] Dude, do you know how fun this is gonna be

to throw this around on a track?

Oh, it'll weigh nothing.

It's like a little go-kart with a Porsche engine in it.

[Mark chuckling] Yeah.

So we're really taking this thing to Willow Springs, huh?

-That's where he wants to run it. -Man, that's a serious racetrack.

Willow Springs Raceway is a road course about an hour north of Los Angeles,

and it's one of the most famous racecourses

in the whole United States.

[exciting music playing]

This track is legit.

-It has nasty curves, long straightaways... -[tires skidding]

...and big-time elevation changes.

On this track, a professional race car driver

can do a lap in about 1:30.

So for an amateur to post a lap time under two minutes

on a course this big and technical,

this car has got to be flying.

I feel like this isn't the right wrench for this job.

I know an extra ten grand doesn't sound like a whole lot,

but every penny coming through that door,

with our situation, makes a huge difference.

I think we're ready to fire it up.

[engine revving]

[Mark] All right. Let's see how well this motor runs.

I think I'd like an "Oh, ****" handle, right... right about here.

-[Mark] Yeah. -[laughs]

[exciting techno music playing]

[Tony] Whoo! Let her rip.

-[revving engine] -[engine sputtering]

Dude, what's that?

[Mark] What the hell?

As I'm pushing down on the accelerator pedal,

it's actually cutting out when I try to accelerate faster.

Feels like the ignition's clipping out.

I'm not a professional race car driver, but I do know one thing about race cars.

When you push on the gas pedal, it's supposed to go faster, not slower.

There is definitely something wrong with the motor.

-[Tony] It runs about as good as it looks. -[laughs] Right?

[Tony] Normally, we work with American hot rod engines.

We know 'em inside and out, top to bottom,

but these Porsche engines are a little bit different.

Man, I really thought this engine was just gonna work.

[Mark] It would've been nice.

[Tony] They have some unique quirks,

and we don't know all those quirks because we're not a Porsche shop.

So it could really take us quite a bit of time to troubleshoot.

Well, so I guess the best thing to do is work our way

from the battery to the box to the motor.

-And we got to do all that stuff. So... -Sure.

In the morning, I want you to start with that.

I gotta go help Caveman and Constance knock out the rat rod.

[Tony] Why did I feel you would leave me to do all the hard stuff?

[Mark] It just shows that I trust you.

[both chuckling]

[crickets chirping]

[Shawn] So, here's the thing. We had the virtual auction.

We passed up 225 thousand, which was the high bid.

So now we're just selling them outright.

And we are open for offers,

and I just wondered if you're a player for these vehicles.

We all support Mark's decision to hold out

for 250 grand or more on the concept vehicles,

but the hard truth is

money is pretty tight around here right now.

We have rent to pay on two shops,

huge electrical bills, and with a fortune tied up in storage,

that's a tough situation to manage financially.

So, Dan, we're opening up the sale to individual buyers,

and I just wondered if you'd be interested.

[Mike] It's not off the table for me.

But I think I'll need some time to think about it.

Now, things would be a lot different if I find a buyer for the concept pair.

What I'd need to do is talk to my financial adviser

and see if it's something I could potentially make happen.

But obviously, that's easier said than done.

Well, I'll be looking forward to hearing from you in the next bit.

Sounds good, Shawn. Appreciate it.

Okay, nice chatting with you, Mike. Take care.

A firm "maybe."

Okay, Mike's firm "maybe."

[mellow rock music playing]

[tools rattling]

-[Constance] Hi. -[Mark] How you guys doing?

[Caveman] We're doing. How about yourself?

Well, I'm tired of working on cars with rules and instructions.

So I had to come over here, get my Gotham Garage fix.

All right.

I wanna get this rat rod done as soon as possible

and get the crew paid.

So I'm leaving Tony to troubleshoot the Laser issues by himself.

I'm going through all the Porsche manuals, but it's all written in German.

So I'm trying to learn by picture.

[speaks in German]

[Mark] And while he does that,

Caveman, Constance, and myself are gonna finish this rat rod.

Make sure you throw your metal away, children.

It can be very dangerous.

[exciting rock music playing]

Any new metal on this car needs to look old.

So we're gonna give it a homemade rust treatment.

Salt, white vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide.

Spray it on bare metal. It will oxidize immediately.

[Caveman] That is cool!

[Mark] Then add some flame from a torch,

and it will rapidly accelerate the rust process in seconds.

[Caveman] You know what it looks like?

The grease on the top of the Crock-Pot after ribs have been sitting for a while.

Doesn't it? [chuckles]

Caveman, I feel like only you would reference that as the example.

-[Caveman] It's true. -[Constance laughs]

[mellow rock music playing

[Mark] Normally rat rods are all rust all around,

but I'm giving ours a two-tone look.

I'm gonna paint the top seafoam green

and leave the bottom rusty.

Basically,

it's a rat rod equivalent of a mullet.

Business on the top, and party on the bottom.

Now, to finish it all off.

[dramatic music playing]

Shawn was able to track down a buyer for this car.

He's a big-time hot rod guy,

looking to add a rat rod to his collection.

-[Caveman] Car has a trunk. -[Constance] Yes.

[Caveman] Oh, that's so cool!

[laughing]

[Mark] I wanna make sure he has no problem

digging deep down into his pockets to pay for this car.

All these final details are the intricate brushstrokes

of this junkyard Picasso

that should get us as close to 30 grand as possible.

[music fades]

[heavy metal music playing building]

[engine revs]

[music continues]

[dings]

[Mark] In this shop, when our backs are against a wall,

we don't fold.

We rise to the occasion.

That's when some of our best work comes to life.

Using salvaged parts,

we took good old-fashioned creativity and channeled it into this rat rod.

The old steam trunk on the back that houses the fuel cell,

the toy pop gun shifter, the old compass on the dash,

those were all calculated choices.

And that 383 blown Stroker motor

brings it all to life like it's spitting fire.

[engine revving]

We still have a long way to go before the shop is back on track,

but this rat rod proves that we're up for the task.

[music fades]

[mellow rock music playing]

[Shawn] I'm not gonna lie, but I was a little taken aback

when you were pulling parts out of the dumpster.

You always underestimate my fabrication skills.

It did come out pretty nice. The more you look at it,

the more you like it, the more detail there is there.

It really looks good.

Building a rat rod with zero budget is exactly what the shop needed right now.

If we can sell this thing right here, right now,

that means this car is 100% all profit.

Where'd you find this guy at?

You're gonna love this guy. His name's Johnny.

He's kind of a rockabilly type. Cowboy-ish kind of guy.

So he looks like you then.

You're in the ballpark.

Johnny's a big-time car guy. Plus, he's young, and he's hip,

so the rat rod scene appeals to him.

Did you talk money with this Johnny character?

We're talking around the 25 grand range,

but once he sees all the little details you guys put into this,

I think I can get him up.

[Mark] Well, I guess you two cowboys are gonna have an old-fashioned shootout.

[Shawn] Yee-haw!

[chuckles]

[mellow funk music playing]

[Shawn] Johnny's got a nice place. [honks horn]

-Holy cow. -[Shawn] Huh?

[Johnny] Hoo-hoo!

[Shawn] Johnny, this is Mark.

-Hey, Mark! Nice to meet you! -Nice to meet you.

Let's get it off the trailer, and we'll tell you all about it.

[Johnny] Let's do it.

[clangs loudly]

[chuckles]

I'm Johnny Travis Jr. I've been a big fan of Gotham Garage since way back.

I'm not your ordinary Joe.

See, I like things a little bit wild and crazy.

Dive bars, guitars, and classic cars.

So when Shawn told me about this new rat rod he was building,

I said, "Hey! That's got Johnny Travis Jr. written all over it."

I just hope they're not gonna hammer me on the damn price.

Why don't you hop on inside and fire it up?

Let's do it.

[sitar music plays]

-[Mark] Doorman'll get the door. -[Johnny] Yessiree.

-Thank you, sir. Thank you. -[Mark] Doorman.

[rock music playing]

[revs engine]

[engine revving, squealing]

-There you go! -[laughs]

Yow!

[chuckles]

I love it.

There you go.

So inside this real antique trunk, this is where your fuel cell is.

Oh, that's so cool.

So you just fill it, lock it, and you're out.

It's beautiful. You guys did a great job on it.

Thanks.

But always comes down to the greenbacks. What do you want for her?

Well, Johnny, I know this car fits you to a tee.

-Yeah. -So I'm gonna do you a favor today

and let you have it...

for 35 grand.

-Ooh! That's... -[Shawn] Come on.

You were smiling revving up that engine. You got to admit.

[sighs]

Well, I tell you what. I got cold hard 25 grand in cash inside.

Oh, man, 25 grand.

I tell you what. I'm gonna go down to 32.5 for you today.

You know, my wife's a numerologist,

and she told me that I could spend 25,555 today.

[Mark chuckling]

[Shawn] Are you... Are you kidding me? I tell you what.

I'm gonna go down to 30 grand.

How about 28.5 in cash, and let's just split the difference, make it a deal.

[suspenseful rock music playing]

[Shawn exhales sharply]

Twenty-eight five?

-Shake his hand, Shawn. Come on now. -Let's do it.

-I'll shake his hand. -All right.

All right.

[Mark] I passed the high bid at the auction on the concept cars,

so it was my responsibility to make sure everybody got a paycheck.

Well, on behalf of the crew,

we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Yeah, you wanna thank me? Sell that concept car and bike.

Well, I was thinking I'd just buy you a case of beer or something.

-But... -Yeah, I'll take them both.

-Both? -[chuckles]

Okay. Sure.

You ended up getting one hell of a ride for 28.5.

[Johnny] I'll take it!

[exciting rock music playing]

[Mark] Okay, Tony. Look like you've been scratching your head.

-What'd you come up with? -[Tony] A little bit.

I don't read German.

-What? -So, I'm doing some translating.

[all chuckling]

We got fuel and air. Everything else is doing what it's supposed to do,

but spark plugs aren't sparking.

I think it's something in the distributor.

-We need a brand-new distributor? -I think it's just bad.

[Mark] Well, why don't you get Constance to help you put the distributor in it,

and Caveman and I'll get the wheels and tires on this thing.

So we can take it for a hot lap around the corner.

Let's do it.

When Mark had me studying for my PhD on Porsche motors,

what I found was the ignition systems can be real finicky.

On the plus side, I got a lot of extra wire.

[chuckles]

If any of the parts have even the slightest wear and tear,

then the engine won't run right.

And that old 911 motor that Adam gave us

just happened to have a burned-out part.

This is the old CDI box I pulled out.

[Constance] So there's no fixing this.

The only way you can test it to know for sure if it's bad

is to put a new one in.

When I was reading the manual, the instructions literally said,

"Replace with known good part."

That's the first German word I learned. "Known good part."

What do you guys think?

Do I look like I have my PhD in Porsche engines?

Just send it over to me, and I'll put in a known good part.

All right. Fire it up.

[Mark] Rolling.

[engine sputtering]

[engine starts, revs]

Oh, that sounds a lot better.

Tony, hop in. Let's take it out on the street and see if it works.

[Tony] Let's do it.

Up, up and away!

Hopefully, he doesn't break it this time.

[Caveman laughs]

-Feels pretty good, man. -Yeah, it doesn't feel too bad, actually.

-All right, I'm gonna hammer it. -Okay.

-[Tony] Moment of truth! -Here we go.

[engine revving]

That feels good.

[exciting heavy metal music playing]

It's got a lot of horsepower, man. This thing is really rocking.

Whoa!

I think we fixed it.

Motor? Check. This thing is tight, and it's firing on all six cylinders.

As far as having enough power,

we're definitely covered.

-That gets a big high five. -It was pretty good. Yeah, baby!

[Mark] But we're not finished yet.

We need to dial in all the other performance elements of this car

to make sure it's ready to handle the track.

[mellow rock music playing]

[chuckles] I love that noise.

Adam told us he ran a 2:03 at Willow Springs

in one of his other cars...

Let's get the shocks mounted up.

...but he's still an amateur driver.

So we wanna make sure that his run is foolproof.

-18 inches. -[Tony] I got you.

[Mark] So we're installing QA1 coil-over adjustable shocks

to tighten up the suspension.

This has got to go up three-quarters of an inch.

We also need to trim the fat

and make sure this car is as light as possible

and perfectly aerodynamic.

And today, we're gonna be watching the race from our new binoculars.

[all chuckling]

[Mark] In order to go under the two-minute mark,

Adam's lap has to be immaculate,

and I'm not leaving that ten grand bonus up to chance.

-Going for a race? -We're going racing.

Finally, instead of painting this car,

we're gonna wrap it in Porsche's most iconic colors.

Oddly enough, wrapping the car

is actually lighter than putting two gallons of paint on it.

And I want every advantage we can get.

[music fades]

[dramatic synth music building]

When Adam handed off this car,

it looked like a forgotten kit car left for dead.

[music intensifies]

Now it looks like it was born for the track.

[tires skidding]

At first, I balked at the idea of building this car,

but it just might play a huge role getting this shop back on course.

[music continues]

[music fades]

[dramatic organ music building]

[music fades]

-[Tony] Hey, is, uh, one of you guys Adam? -That's me.

-Adam. Hey! Tony. -Hey, Tony.

-This is Constance. -Hi! I'm Constance.

-And Caveman. -Hey, man. How we doin'?

So you ready to see your car?

-I'm really excited. -Yeah.

[car horn honks]

-Oh, here we go. You ready? -[Caveman] Oh! There it is.

Oh, man.

Oh, that looks so good.

When you look at the car, it looks fun on the tracks.

-[Mark] How are you? Good to see you. -Great to see you.

Look a little different since the last time you saw it?

You guys did such a good job.

The stance was just perfect,

and the... the long windshield, the little tail in the back.

It's a race car. It's what I wanted.

So we've taken it out, we tuned the suspension.

It's got adjustable gas shocks on the back.

It's got a fully adjustable gas, and coils on the front.

That front end is planted.

It ain't gonna slide on you in any one of these turns.

Think it'll do under two minutes?

Uh, that's up to the driver. I know the car's capable of it.

If the car's capable of it.

We built a machine.

I know that machine can do under two minutes on this track.

The, really, only X-Factor, the one thing that I'm worried about is...

Adam. It's all up to him to beat his own time.

We have no control over the outcome.

[Shawn] Yeah, and this track is no joke.

There's tons of turns. There's banks. There's elevation changes.

This is a big track.

[Mark] There we go.

Test lap number one.

-[Tony] He's smiling ear to ear right now. -[Shawn] Yeah.

At this point, we've spent over 25 grand in hard cash on this Laser build.

So Adam going under two minutes

is the difference between getting a $25,000 profit

or a $15,000 profit.

That's huge for us right now.

That's the big thing.

[engine starts]

[engine rumbling]

All right, let's see what he can do. Let's hope he can get there, man.

[Tony] All right, here comes our rolling start.

Oh, the rolling start. Here it comes.

[exciting techno music playing]

-Oh, dude! -[Shawn] Man, he's going after it.

Okay, here comes that sweeper.

[tires squealing]

Oh, he's lookin' really good.

He knows what the hell he's doing out there.

-[Mark] He knows the track. -[Tony] Throttle down.

Constance, where we at?

-Thirty seconds. -[Shawn] Thirty seconds.

[engine revving loudly]

Let's go. Come on, Adam.

[Shawn] You better quit babying that thing!

[tires skidding]

-Man, he's really hammering it. -[Constance] There we go!

[Shawn] Okay, here comes that big hairpin.

[tires skidding]

[Tony] Uh-oh.

Come on. What's he doing? He took that turn way too wide.

Don't slow down!

-[Caveman] Come on! -[Shawn] He better haul ass.

He needs to make up that time.

[engine revving]

-Come on, Adam! -[Tony] Let's go!

We got a lot on the line right now.

-Where we at, Constance? -1:30.

One-thirty?

Where is he?

[car approaching]

There he is! There he is!

-Hurry up! -[Tony] Not gonna get it!

-It's gonna be really close, guys. -[Shawn] He's coming around, last turn.

[Caveman] Ten grand! Ten grand!

[tires skidding]

-[Tony] Is he gonna get it? -Come on! Come on!

["Guitar Killer" by Julien Vonarb plays]