Original subtitles

On this episode of Counting Cars, I fall for a piece of classic Detroit steel.

This thing is absolutely gorgeous.

I love it.

Our biggest challenge ever leads to big trouble.

You're scaring me!

That's neutral!

How do I put it in reverse? I can't put my leg down to push it back.

And we try to turn a beat -up clunker into a huge score.

Bam!

I love it.

Vegas is a gambling town.

Most people bet with chips.

I bet with rides.

Look at this. And I always go all in. Wow. What would you take from this?

I'm Dan, a .k .a. The Count. And this is my all -star team.

We find them, fix them, flip them, and sometimes I beat them. This is 30G. I

can't help myself.

For my crew, every job's high stakes, and we can't afford to lose.

This is Counting Cards.

Thankfully, Counts Customs is a successful shop, and that gives me the

opportunity to invest in other things. So a few years back, I opened up a rock

bar and grill called Van, where our motto is eat, drink, and rock.

Man, oh, man, oh, man.

Earlier, my manager, Brooklyn, gave me a call about a mean caddy sitting on the

parking lot, and he's been stalling the owner of the bar.

This isn't the first time I've had to run down here to check out a cool car.

staff knows to give me a call if something sweet shows up, and they never

disappoint me. This Cadillac is delicious.

Well, well, good afternoon, young man. How are you?

Tell me about that Cadillac sitting outside.

It's the gentleman down the end of the bar.

Thank you.

Hey, man, how you doing?

I hear that's your Cadillac sitting outside.

I'd love to talk to you about it.

I won't keep you long, man. I just got to bug you on that thing. Isn't it

beautiful? My father's first car was a 60 Cadillac. It got stolen in Brooklyn

when he was a kid. And I always wanted a 60 Cadillac because of that.

I've redone everything from front to back.

Dude, the pinstriping, that's just beautiful.

If you look at it, it's actually a frown because the Cadillac is the king of

cars. Without a doubt. I love it.

This Cadillac coupe, it just screams American Iron.

The tail fin designs were after an old World War II fighter plane.

Now, this particular 1960 model ended the craze of all of the big oversized

fins, but they certainly stuck with their second -to -none luxury that

Cadillac's always been.

This Caddy takes you back to a really good time. You're cruising around, you

Elvis on the stereo, you get your girl by your side. That was a great year for

Cadillac. And to me, this is a car that says Detroit.

I'm a huge fan of Detroit Iron. Are you from Detroit? I'm from Detroit.

Get out. Yep. East side. Really?

Yep. You're making my home sick now.

This 60 coupe is flawless.

I would not change a thing on it. I absolutely love the red and black theme.

This car, with all of its custom touches, could be worth up to $60 ,000

right buyer.

But I'm not that guy. If I spend more than $50 ,000 on this car, I risk not

making any money reselling it.

Well, I got to ask you a question before you take off. If I gave you like $25

,000 in cash, would you consider selling this car?

No. No?

No. No way, huh?

This is my sexy black Cadillac. Would you consider $30 ,000? No.

Nope. $40 ,000 would not buy this car.

It's really a nice car.

If I went up to 50 G's on this car, $100 bills.

Can't have my car.

This is my car.

This is the car I'm going to die with.

Maybe they'll bury me in it.

Well, if you ever do have that thought of, you know, maybe I should sell this

sometime, you know where I'm at. If the time comes, you're my man. Good to meet

you. Nice to meet you, brother. Nice to meet you. I'm going to stand up here and

tear up a little bit while you leave.

Well, you can save me a parking spot right here.

Absolutely, Mel. She looks great out in front of the place.

I love it.

A few days ago, we got a call from a disabled gentleman who's looking to get

back to riding his Harley. He's here now. We're going to figure it out and

care of him.

Tommy, I'm Dan. Very nice to meet you. My wife, Kathy. Kathy, it's a pleasure.

Nice to meet you. How are you all doing? Good, good, good. And Shannon, dude, I

know you're always up for a challenge, man. This is going to be a good one.

Shannon is my A number one in the bike shop. You need a custom chop belt,

Shannon's your guy. His fabrication is awesome, and his engineering skills are

really going to come in handy on this project.

We got an interesting project here, don't we? Yes, we do. I have an 02

Softail. Nice bike. And obviously I have no use of my legs. I can't ride it. So

my dream, I want to like to ride again, you know. You got to get it back out in

the wind, don't you? Absolutely.

In 07, I was shot four times and paralyzed in the waist.

Looking at my bike sitting in the garage just drives me crazy. My bike was my

relief. You know, I could go out on the highway and I would just go on out and

just come back and feel renewed.

I don't have that relief no more.

Really what I want is I want a bike that I can drive that my wife could still

ride on too. And also, I have a problem doing transfers. So the big challenge is

going to be I'd like to be able to drive from my chair.

I haven't even seen a dummy for it other than some company online.

It charges like $70 ,000, which is the worst I can afford. Let's get some

dimensions, man.

Custom builds are always a challenge. And Tommy wanting to ride from his

wheelchair and take Kathy as a passenger, I haven't seen anything like

we've got to make it happen.

Kathy, you have a seat on that.

There's no way to do like a trike axle.

And to physically have her be on the... Well, that's the thing. Yeah, she's on

it. Well, you know what? I think he's got the right idea right here, actually.

Are you seeing what I'm seeing?

A sidecar?

Absolutely. I drive a sidecar?

Yes. That's awesome.

All the controls are over there.

We got to get all the controls over here. Right.

Got any thoughts?

I will.

Yeah. I think we've got the general...

Concept, you just have some serious engineering to do. Just making it safe

the two of them. Absolutely.

You know, this bike for Tommy is huge, and I've never done anything like this

before, but I don't want to let Danny and Tommy down.

A number one is safety, and number two is getting the guys in the wind and

looking cool. I love it, man. I love this.

This sidecar bike for Tommy, it's a whole new thing for us. We've never

build a motorcycle based around a gentleman in a wheelchair.

So we're definitely coming across some new challenges in our shop.

I'm going to have to get everything up here on the bars.

You got your clutch.

Right. And you've got your front brake. Okay. Now we've added this sidecar

brake. And I can't have all three of them run off of one master. No way.

two, but not all three. Right.

So we'll...

Figure something out.

We have two heim joints, one here and one there. So it's like a big pushing

pull. He goes left, the front end goes left.

Okay, that's going to make this side talk to that side.

We'll see.

We'll see.

I need to get that geometry straight, you know, because you can't have one

more than the other, and there could be a possibility that the steering would be

very heavy.

Right. The engineering on Tommy's bike, I've never done anything like this

before. If I can't make this bike safe for Tommy to ride, then there's no sense

in me actually even doing it.

Holler if you need something.

Well, we'll do.

So, do you even know this guy who got this call? No. No? No.

Kevin and I are on our way to go check out a 1978 El Camino. It's been sitting

outside in a lot for a while, so I'm a little bit concerned about rust.

But these cars make great street machines, so I really think it's worth

out.

Hey, guys.

How you doing? Are you Ben? Yeah, it's me. How you doing, brother? Good. Nice

meet you. This is Kevin. I hear about that El Camino you were telling us

man. That's it. It's right over there. Is that the one sitting over there? Yep.

Aha.

El Camino. Where should it be?

Sweet.

The El Camino was Chevy's answer to Ford's small truck, the Ranchero.

It was one of the very first crossover vehicles in history.

Baseball legend Reggie Jackson, he was an El Camino owner. Even President

Clinton had an El Camino, completely customized with AstroTurf in the back.

Man, I love the 70s. What do you know about this car, Ben?

78, dropped off four or five months ago. Haven't had a lot of interest in it.

Supposedly, the engine's been rebuilt.

Okay. All the chrome's here, all the trim. Really? Yeah, this isn't even

Danny. This would just be a nice polish right there.

78. Get your yellow 8 -track turned up to 11.

Disco era. Where were you in 78?

78, I was still a dream. When were you born? 86.

86. Late 70s, brother. You had hair back then, right? That's right. I had the

big fro going, curly hair.

Pants so tight, you can see how much change you had from across the hall.

Yeah, Mother Nature took it all away.

All right. Pop the hood, man.

Sweet.

Not too bad? Not too bad? No.

Fire this thing up, man. Okay. Let's hear it.

Sweet. Sounds back here like there's some exhaust leak, but other than

Not bad.

You know, on first impression, this El Camino may look pretty rough, but after

checking it out, she's really solid. No rust, and all the parts are there. I'm

stoked about this car.

We can doll her all up and flip her like... Like a pizza in the back room.

a cheese omelet.

This car has so much potential, but it needs everything.

All new interior, paint and body, chrome, full mechanical.

I've got to score this thing for $1 ,000, not a dollar more, or else I risk

making a profit.

What are you looking for out of it? Say about $1 ,300.

All right.

I don't think we're too far apart, man. What about $800?

I'll load it up right now and take it on out of here.

How about we just go with a nice even $1 ,000?

That's fair.

You're on, brother.

You're on. Thank you. If you'll grab the title, Ken will grab the cash. We'll

get it out of your hair today.

Cool.

Buying this El Camino is a bit of a gamble. But even though I only paid $1

for it, it needs a whole lot of love. But I'm thinking, if we can do this car

for less than $10 ,000, we'll probably make a $5 ,000 profit off it.

Nice of that guy, Ben. I like him. Yeah.

1986? Come on, man. You missed everything.

Come on.

Why am I riding on here with him?

You're scaring me. You're scaring me.

Today is the big test day for the sidecar for Tommy's bike. This bike is

new creation for us that we have to really make sure that it operates

and, more important, that it's safe to ride.

Roley's testing out the controls, and we needed some extra weight on the bike,

so we put Scott on there because that's all he's good for.

He's too heavy, man.

Neutral. He's going to blow it up.

Not bad. It's going straight.

Uh -huh. Tell him to test the brakes.

Do the brakes work?

He don't know how to drive.

Test the brakes.

Give me this.

Freezing.

He's hit neutral like 20 times.

Scott is an idiot.

It's not like I'm driving a normal motorcycle.

Shifting was a little tricky, trying to press the shifting button and use the

clutch with one hand.

Everything works fine, just needs some practice.

Instead of foot shifting it, his thumb is pressing the buttons to go upshift,

downshift. I just made it solely for Tommy to ride and drive from here. So

cannot ride this motorcycle regular anymore.

And this thing is cool. I mean, it feels good.

It runs better when you're not neutral the whole time. No, it runs better when

you're not sitting next to me.

So it looks like we're in good shape. So we just need to tear it down, paint it,

put her back together. We're ready to rock.

Back it up and put it inside.

Well, how do I put it in reverse?

There is no reverse.

I can't put my leg down to push it back.

Think about that. He's in a wheelchair. He's locked in the thing. If somebody

parks in front of him, he's got to be able to back up. Just a minor setback.

Small setback.

On a normal bike, you don't have a reverse gear. You just use your feet.

But in this case, Tom, because he only has use of his arms, we've got to figure

out a way to put a reverse gear on this bike. Otherwise, Tom's not going to be

able to use it. Why you don't care about this bike?

Have them push it.

I'm a test dummy. You got one word right, dummy.

and the world got into you. Yo!

I needed to get my creative juices flowing.

Did you dig this out for him? You know better than that.

I was thinking, this is kind of the vibe I want to put on that El Camino. You

know what I'm saying?

You lost your mind. It'll never be this, but the El Camino needs to sound good.

It needs to look good. It needs to have some horsepower, some ump. You need to

put some serious stank on that car.

Make the thing run. Stank, baby, stank.

You mean like stink?

Yeah, baby, yeah.

That's what we need. You smell that? Yeah. Yeah, that's what he's talking

Something really stinking here beside this mug.

I'm not sure what Danny meant by stank, but it's not magic.

I know what an El Camino looks like, and I see this Corvette.

No way they're going to look the same. I say good luck with that one.

We've been working around the clock to get Tommy's sidecar bike ready, and it's

in paint right now. But in the meantime, we gave the El Camino a hot rod

makeover to match my Corvette.

I'm heading over there right now to check her out. I think she's going to

badass.

Rolling my man. This thing just looks beautiful.

I'm glad we busted the Corvette out, since they're like, you know, the same

I just wanted to pass that on to this El Camino, and I think the vibe just, you

know, fell right into place, man. She's beautiful. I love her. Oh, she's

gorgeous, but don't get too attached, because guess what? I got a buyer here.

His name's Paul.

Really? Yep, and he's up front waiting for you. We're going to sell this thing.

You sure you want to sell it? Hey, just wipe the car down.

It's great that there's already a buyer lined up for this El Camino, but that

guy better have brought me 20 Gs. Anything less than that?

I'm going to be pretty tempted to just put that El Camino right next to my

Corvette forever.

1978.

They didn't make them like that in 78, though.

Man, it is hard to believe that's the same El Camino.

What you thinking, Paul? You digging on it? Should I even ask how long this

took? You can ask, but it's going to raise the price.

Yeah, we put a lot of love in this. As you can tell, man, the body is so

straight. The lines are so sharp. It's got an all -new wiring harness

throughout, all -new exhaust throughout, all -new brakes throughout.

That's a beautiful car. Grand new ZZ4 Chevy motor.

Really? Come on, let's look under the hood.

Come on, come on, come on.

Bam! Ba -bam!

It's beautiful, but I'm trying to see how it runs.

That's the best part.

Come on.

Let's go for a ride.

We'll be right back.

Man. I know.

I know.

That's something I can get used to. As you can see, she's got plenty of power.

People either, like, love El Caminos or they don't. It's one or the other. I,

for one, love them. I think they're cool.

El Caminos are different. I love it. I want it. Nice.

And you better not have bought another car while you guys were out either.

I wasn't, brother. And this thing's definitely clean, Danny. Absolutely,

brother. How much are you trying to get for it?

You know what? I'm going to be straight up. I'm not even going to play, I want

this, how about that, in between, blah, blah, blah. We ain't going to do that. I

need $20 ,000 out of the car, and that's it.

I'm feeling the car, but I'm not feeling the price.

I got you.

That's all right. I don't have to sell it. I'm digging on it. I don't have to

sell it.

I like it.

You know, looking at it, I would have no problem giving you $17 ,500 for it. I'm

listening to you. I'm listening to you, but we got to keep it, brother. We love

you. Let's go.

You can't do me like that. We got to keep it. I'm tempted, but I'm not

down. This car is way too bad to settle for anything less than $20 ,000. This

kid can walk for all I care.

Tell you what.

After riding in it.

There's no reason not to give you 20 grand. Hold on one second. Let me get

keys real quick.

Let's go inside the building.

Until the customer signs the paperwork, the deal ain't over. Danny can still

change his mind. And I'm not letting 20 grand walk out this door.

20 grand.

I'll get this paperwork done real fast.

You be good, honey. You be good. Hey, I said get away from the car.

It's sold. I'm going.

Get outside the house.

Just proud of her, man.

I'll find me another one.

But I am going to miss that one.

We finally got all the kinks worked out on Tommy's wheelchair -drivable Harley

-Davidson. It's safe and ready to go. Time to get this man back in the wind.

Shannon, Kevin, and I, we rode down today to deliver this in person to

How's my hair look? You got one sticking up. Right here?

Yep. You got it. Perfect. Let me tell you something. When he sees it, he will

flip out.

Well, hello, hello there, smiling faces.

We got something coming for you, and it's going to be coming that way.

Oh, my God, brother.

So sweet, Dave. Beautiful.

Not only is it such an amazing engineering piece, but... It's so

beautiful. You guys did a great job, man. Ben and I could have dreamed. I

believe it. When I first saw the bike, my heart just got so elated to see how

beautiful it was and then to really realize, hey, that's my bike. I'm going

be riding again.

These are your brakes.

And this is your shift.

So green for up, red for down. Okay.

Last but not least, your reverse.

Beautiful. Yay, reverse.

You guys brought me back a beautiful behemoth, baby. That's for sure.

This was a whole new thing that got engineered. It's an amazing setup.

went off on this thing. He started off with a Heritage Softail Classic

motorcycle, designed and built his own sidecar with an actuating ramp door

and moved all the controls over to the sidecar portion.

And Tommy can ride his chair up into the sidecar and go get in the wind and

ride.

Right in.

You know, this may be the dumbest question of the century, but who feels

riding?

Tommy, you lead the way, brother.

They did an outstanding job.

That thing hugged the road like a Trans Am does. It feels great.

I haven't ridden a bike in over five and a half years, and just to get into that

wind today was...

Just felt like a part of me returned, you know, a part of my soul came back.