All language subtitles for Bitchin Rides Road To The Ridler S01E01 Riddle Me This 1080p DISC WEB-DL AAC2 0 H 264-RAWR[EZTVx.to]

[Pete Toundas]
The 71st anniversary
of the Detroit Autorama.

[Butch Patrico]
The Motor City.

That's where we're at.

Degree of difficulty,
engineering

and overall quality
in fit and finish.

That's the neat thing
about the Ridler Award.

Our award is open
to anything.

Any manufacturer,
any style of vehicle.

So it gives a builder
and the owner an open book.

They can build
anything they want

to compete for the Ridler.

There isn't any show
in the world

that has higher quality cars.

Now, I'm supposed
to give an award here.

Anybody ready to hear
who won the Ridler award?

[Dave] This has been
a dream well
before I was in business.

[Kevin] It's going
to take a team,

everybody's expertise,
everybody's input.

[Dave] These cars cannot
be displayed, promoted,

seen by the public until they
arrive at Detroit Autorama.

[Kevin] There's only so
many teams that have
put these cars together

so it's a great, great,
great opportunity.

[Dave] We'll build a car that
nobody has ever seen before.

The goal is to build
the Ridler.

[Kevin] Let's go
get this C-10 set.

[Dave] So here we are
in Pittsburgh, dropping off
the game changer C10

to our good friend
Dave Maxwell.

We're going to put it
in his car collection.

And, more importantly,
check out
the rest of the collection.

It's been a minute.
I've never been down
to his collection.

- [Kevin] I was here, like...
- Oh, that's right.

...five...
five years ago?

Five years ago when we
came out for his show.

Oh, yeah,
yeah, yeah.

Well, Dave, looks like
the last pieces
in the collection here.

All set.
It looks beautiful.

[Dave] It certainly does.

[Maxwell] Yep. This is...

This tops it off here.
This is my dream truck.

[Dave] Just like we talked.

[Maxwell]
Everything is exactly
what we discussed.

Well, you know, this...

This end of the building
looks really, really good now.

[all laughing]

[Dave] But you've
got some really
cool stuff in here.

You leased this end, right?

[Dave] Yeah.

- Yeah, check's in
the mail, Dave.
- Yeah.

So, I mean, you know,

we got a chance to just
walk quickly through here

to bring the cars over on
this side of the building,

but what do you
got in here?

That's my parents' car.

So it's sentimental
value there,
and that was their car,

and we really
didn't do anything to it.

Didn't touch it at all.

I just purchased
this T-bird here.

- You know, it's a resto-mod.
- [Dave] Mmm-hmm.

This one was built
by Ralph, wasn't it?

- [Maxwell] Yes, yes.
- [Dave] Very cool.

You know, everybody's got
to have an Eleanor.

[Kevin] Yeah,
a couple Mustangs.

- [Dave] Yeah.
- [Kevin] New and old.

Love it.

You got a cab in here?

[Maxwell] My daughter
is from New York City,

and she loves
New York City.

So I figured
let's get a cab.

- [Dave] There you go.
- [Kevin] Nice!

You got a pretty nice
Dodge collection there.

The top one's
the Cuda from the movie.

And then the Demon, naturally,
down below

and couple of the other ones.

- These are my dream cars here.
- That GTO and Superfast.

I love the color combo
on that seat.

This is the only car in the
country with that color.

So, Dave, you pretty much
have kind of a
an eclectic collection here.

I mean, you got street rods,
you got classics,
you got Ferraris.

That's cool.

You got really nice trucks
and Volkswagens.

- Oh, yeah.
- Big fan.

So what's next for you?
I mean, what are you thinking
you want to build next?

What are you gonna do?

I want something
very special.

You know?
Because I got a lot
of the vehicles

that I really, really like,
but I want a one-off.

One of my dreams
is the Autorama.

I've been there many years.

I've been to it many times,
and I see some really
special builds up there,

and what you've done for me
now is just over the top.

But I want one that's
really over the top.

What about the Ridler?

You want to compete
for the Great Eight
in the Ridler, huh?

Definitely, I definitely...
That's my dream.

[sighs heavily]

- [Dave] Wow!
- I'm speechless.

Man. That's
such an honor.

Hashtag, jaw drop.

The Ridler is a hell
of an opportunity
to build something.

This is at
the Detroit Autorama,

and what they do
is they pick

what they call
the Great Eight.

This build can be anything.

It just has to be done
at the highest degree
of engineering,

styling, concept, accomplishment.

Basically, they are looking
for the best car
of the entire year.

It gives us
chills, honestly.

That would be really
something very special for us.

I mean, being in the business
as long as we have been,

we've been around some of the
top show cars in the world,

but never had the
opportunity to do that.

I've designed a couple of cars
that actually competed
for the Great Eight.

But I've never been
the builder of those.

Look at me, I'm shaking
thinking about it.

It's something that we've
always dreamed
of being able to do.

I'm up for the challenge,
and I know my guys are.

I mean, for sure. This...
Man, that'd be cool.

- Really cool.
- I'm in.

Dave and Tracy have been
such great clients

and to be asked
to build something,

to compete at Detroit
for the Ridler,

is like a dream
come true for all of us.

Do you have any idea
what you want to build?

Something special.

As you know, I love the '30s,
'40s, '50s, '60s, '70s
cars, as you can see.

I want to see
what you come up with.

You have an idea
of what I want, but it's got
to be something special.

I'm gonna see what you
can come up with
and throw something at me

and see if it sticks
to the wall.

Maybe the best thing for us
is to let me put
some stuff on paper.

And we just got to get
an idea and a direction.

And we can make changes
as we need to.

[Maxwell]
I mean, with your team,
I know you can do it.

So it's just,
I'm anxious to see
what you're proposing back

- and we'll
take it from there.
- [Dave] Okay.

By far, this is one of the
most exciting days
of my entire career.

I've known about
the Ridler for so long

because I've been
in the industry
for over 35 years.

But to have the opportunity
after being in business
this long is priceless.

- It's a long road,
but that's very exciting.
- Yes, yes.

I'll get some preliminary
drawings done up on the plane.

I'll go save my phone.

Yeah, I will.

[chuckling]

Get the right crayon.

- I gotcha.
- [Dave] I use
the green ones.

He always eats
the brown ones.

Man. I got goosebumps, Dave.

You know, it's been so long,
to get this opportunity

finally, is gonna be
really cool for all of the
guys here at the shop.

We have all of the
skill level, we have all
of the right people.

And now alls we gotta do
is figure out what
we're gonna build.

Well, after talking with
Mr. Maxwell, I'm super excited
because this is

definitely going to be a car
that we're going to build,

and we are so pumped
to get the opportunity.

He's asked me to build a car
to compete at Detroit
for Autorama

and the Great Eight
Ridler competition.

Part of that also is that
he doesn't really know what
he wants to build.

I have a couple of ideas
of some cars

and some things that I think
would be really cool.

I was trying to think of cars
that haven't been built.

Cars that would probably
be very challenged to compete
and win,

i.e., a fiberglass car,
and I have had this idea,

while building the CF1s
of making a fastback Corvette
coupe from 1953.

So I'm actually just going
to put that concept down,

at least if nothing else,
if he doesn't like this,

this gives us a direction
or a start

of where we might go
with the build

since he doesn't
really know what he wants.

The cool thing about building
a show car to compete there,
is there is no structure

as far as it doesn't have
to be a street rod.

It doesn't have to be
anything in particular.

And it doesn't necessarily
have to be
completely hand built.

There is no
requirement of that.

My idea right now,
at this point,

is to build something
that didn't exist
but could've existed.

And this car in particular,

I'm going to try
and push the envelope

by basically just
creating a body style

that looks very classic,
will definitely stand out
to the judges.

And we'll have all of those
things. It needs to be
well engineered.

It needs to be
very well detailed.

The quality of the build
has to be 100% plus.

And I think that we've been
training long enough

in our little ninja hot rod
camp here that we should be
able to pull it off.

I hope.

As we go along, some things
will make more sense.

We may make some changes.

Maybe big ones,
maybe small ones.

But one thing is for sure.

We are definitely in, and we
are going to go to Detroit to
compete for the Great Eight.

All right, guys.

Well, I had an opportunity
to meet a gentleman
by the name of Dave Maxwell.

Well, his goal is to build
the Ridler.

Even better,
it's to build it with us.

I was pretty stoked
when I first heard that

we were gonna
have the opportunity.

It's been a dream
for so long to

go that direction and we've
got plenty of big ideas
that we can explore.

Anytime you can take something
and raise the bar,
that gets me excited.

[Butch] It's an award
that was started in 1964.

Don Ridler was the first
professional promoter

that was hired to
help us do the show.

He had recently
died of cancer,

so we started the award
in his name to honor him.

Our award is open
to anything,

any manufacturer,
any style of vehicle.

And we have never changed
the rules from day one.

It's got to be best in show.

And show the most creativity
out of anything else
that's on the floor.

I had this little bit
of a dream of building
a coupe version

of the Corvette Roadster,
which doesn't exist.

They never made
a coupe for 1953.

As we all know, Corvettes
make the Great Eight,

but they never win
because they're fiberglass.

That was my first question.
I was like,
what are we gonna build?

What are we gonna build?

If you had the chance to build
a Ridler,
what would you build?

[Dave] Anything has
the potential to be
the coolest car at the show.

- It depends on how you built
it, quality of the build.
- [Kevin] Construction.

[Dave] The ingenuity,
the engineering, the design.

- All of those things have to
all come together perfectly.
- Yeah.

To accomplish what?

What it is that we
want to accomplish.

So in that sense, who cares
what you're building?

You just need to... It's how
you're gonna build it.

[Butch] Street rides can
win it, customs can win it.

It could be a truck.

As a matter of fact,
the first one was a race car.

Anything on four wheels
can win the award.

There's no
restrictions at all.

We're gonna build
this car, guys.

We're gonna build
a concept-styled fastback.

'53 Corvette, but they never
made it in aluminum.

There's only
so many Ridler winners,
and there's only so many teams

that have put
these cars together.

So it's a great, great,
great opportunity.

This has been a dream well
before I was in the business.

To be able to go and compete
for the Great Eight.

It's gonna take a team,
way more eyes
way more brains than just one.

Everybody's expertise,
everybody's input.

There's four main rules.
Creativity,

degree of difficulty,

engineering, and overall
quality in fit and finish.

Those are the four things
you remember
when you build a Ridler car.

The real trick is to make sure
that you have
a long enough lead time

to build something of quality,
but it stays in vogue.

We'll build a car that nobody
has ever seen before.

Well engineered,
well thought through,
well designed, detailed.

We don't want to go
and get a Great Eight.

We want to go and win.
So that will be our goal.

- Everybody pumped?
- [all] Yeah.

- [Dave] Sweet.
- [Kevin] I think it's
gonna be awesome.

I think what makes
the award special,

you have to make the debut
here in Detroit.

The public can never have
seen the vehicle. It has
to maintain its secrecy.

[Dave] There's a couple
of things that are
very important.

These cars cannot
be displayed,

promoted, seen by the public,
until they arrive
at Detroit Autorama.

Most importantly,
if anybody lets pictures

out of this car,
we're disqualified.

Loose lips sink ships.

[Pete] This is
the Oscar of awards.

You can come up with
the greatest idea in the world
or design in the world,

and if you can't execute it,
it ain't worth nothing.

Anybody here up
for a challenge

of building a car
out of aluminum?

No, nobody.

[laughing] Crickets.

[Dave] That was
a lot of crickets.

[crickets chirping]

2
[Dave] This is a little
bit different from us

because we don't normally
build a car to compete
at the Detroit Autorama,

and so we're gonna actually
have to keep it under wraps,

make sure everybody
that works here
keeps it also under wraps.

Try and keep me contained
to keep it under wraps.

So I think probably
the best thing to do

is I think we're going
to probably,

down by the CNC room,

I think we'll probably build
that off where we built
the Futurliner.

So we can just build a room
and capture
everything in there,

build the car in the room
so we can lock the doors.

That's probably gonna
have to happen.

I can't believe I'm okaying
them to lock me out
of this project.

So I think what the best plan
is when we're starting with

what looks like
a 1953 Corvette
is let's get the body panels,

let's glue it together,
let's do the big chops
and move stuff around.

Let's create that roof line
so we can actually
visualize it.

[Izzy] Our aluminum's
gonna come up to here
and then end here.

This isn't gonna have
any type of A-pillar.

[Dave] No color.
Chrome filler.

Okay, so this will be
structural, but it won't be--

[Dave] It'll have aluminum
behind it, and the chrome
will be cladded

on the front and around
the windows and the B pillar.

And then at that point
we'll have a buck

and then we can actually
go back and let's start
doing patterns.

Let's, you know, we'll scan...
We'll start getting
all of that stuff.

Because then
we have something

that's tangible that we can
actually put our hands on.

- Check the proportions.
- We can check
the proportions, exactly.

- It'll curve back.
- [Dave] Yeah,
it's gonna curve back.

The rail will be at the top
of the glass
instead of down here.

Gotcha.

The body came
in multiple pieces.

Metal structure for the body
to attach the
body panels to that.

So it's actually nice
and solid-ish.

Except for that piece.

[Dave] So, Izzy,
this is looking really,
really good, man.

I am super stoked.

Got a good profile to it.

- It's a hell of a good start.
- Does that look
radical or what?

It'll look pretty awesome.

You got the lines
going just right.

[Izzy] Yeah, it turned out
pretty good.

Boy, I'd like to keep the car
as low as we can.

- Like this. It looks good.
- Mmm-hmm.

It looks really good.

The process was very kind
of based on discoveries.

Let's build this piece
and it's going to answer
five questions.

I think we've got a little bit
more arc than
I was envisioning.

Well, no, you're
you're pretty close
to what I had there.

This is a little bit more
straight right there, but
I think that's a good start.

So once you get the foam
in there, just stay a little
bit high on the foam here

so we can get a nice little
contour to get that kind of,
that split top look,

you know, where we
have those bulges.

[Izzy] Okay.

[Dave] How it has that little
crease in the center.

I want that to be
very apparent.

So make sure you leave
enough foam so we can kind of
carve it down,

and then we'll just
sand back to this frame.

- Okay.
- That way it gets us in the
area that we need to be.

Get the foam on there.
Let's get it shaped up.

And then after that, we'll be
looking at just doing
some fiberglass

so we have
a nice hard shell.

Yeah. Just keep going
the way you're going. It looks
really good, though.

- Cool.
- I'm liking it.

The V-back window
is killer, too.

But as it sits right now,
I think just doing
a shell on it

so that we've got something
visually that we can look at,
give a thumbs up,

and then we can start doing
our aluminum panels.

- [Izzy] Okay.
- I think it'll be great.

- [Izzy] Awesome.
- So...

Awesome. Okay.

- Way to go, bro. Yeah.
- Let's do it.

[Dave] Looking cherry.

[Izzy] Mmm-hmm.

You know, to design
something like this

and me personally,

my personality
is I love to show everybody,

"Hey, look how cool
this could be."

And so we're gonna actually
have to keep it under wraps.

[Izzy] I can't talk about it.

My wife thinks I don't even
work here anymore because
I can't tell her what I do.

I'm waiting for somebody
to start peeking up over
the stairs, looking at me.

Here's my conglomeration
and hopefully at some point

we're gonna carve out the
inside so we can sit in it.

The plan is to build
all this out of foam

and then use this...

We're going to kind of
create a buck,
just like we are on the body.

But instead of trying to build
all this out of fiberglass,

we foam it first and
then we'll fiberglass it.

The wire frame essentially
is our outline.

So we're gonna sand back
the foam to the wire,

and then we'll start
fine-tuning it from there.

The roof is actually
gonna have, like,

a domed roof on the car
when it's done.

So we're gonna leave it
a little high right now

until we can kind of
perfect the, like, the
perfect shape on it.

I don't know.
It's pretty cool.

It's basically making
something out of nothing.

Yeah, and it just looks like
a big potato right now.

So, I think it should be
pretty rad.

I should be driving it
in no time.

Yeah, it's pretty cool.

I'm excited about this one.

I've done a lot of car stuff
my whole life,
my whole career.

But I've never done
anything to this extreme.

It's pretty awesome.

I feel extremely honored
to be able to be
a part of this deal.

I think it's
gonna be pretty badass.
Gonna be a cool little car.

This really makes me
want a potato.

Like, that's all
I can think about.

Potatoes and French fries
doing this.

[laughing]

Lunchtime!

I'm gonna go get some
French fries.

2
[Dave] You know, really
with the roof, I wanted to
come up with something

that was different
from what we normally build.

When you're looking
at the surroundings

being reflected off the roof
and you can follow
the same light bend

through the trim
and the glass
and there is no deviation,

there's no big
level changes.

it basically is
different materials,

all flowing in the exact
same slippery direction,

- which is just super trick.
- And it definitely
was not easy.

No.

There's so many things
going on with that shape

because we wanted it to be
aggressively a low top.

[Kevin] And then
you're running it
to the windshield.

And then you wanted
the back window
this certain way.

So, I mean, there was
just endless amounts
of thinking about it.

[Izzy] This is a very
precise measurement.

You put too much activator
in it, this thing will heat up
and hardened instantly.

So you should always
measure this out,

which is why
I'm just gonna wing it,

because I feel like
winging it is way better.

It doesn't take much.

Hmm. That's probably enough.

Maybe I'll go a little more.
Just for us to be safe.

Now I gotta stir this.

And then, usually
when you get it too hot,

it starts to turn brown
and get really smelly.

I kind of go off just
I've done it enough

I know what to put in there,
but you get that nice

like bluish greenish color,
and that means
it's pretty cool.

If this starts to turn
brown or like a

almost like a peach color,
then it's way too hot.

So the goal is to
do it nice and slow.

And try and work all the air
out of it while we do it.

So we have the wire frame,
and now we're going to
fill that up with foam

so we can actually lay some
fiberglass over the top,
do some quick bodywork.

This will prove
a couple of things.

It'll prove our concept
of shape and design
as well as we'll be able

to now take patterns
off of it with tape.

[Izzy] Yeah, it's
a big deal, man.

Ridler car.
This is a...
The car of cars.

These aren't cars that
everybody gets to do,
and it's pretty rad.

Just to be a part
of it is awesome.

It's cool because hopefully
everybody in here gets to
touch it at some point.

So the rendering looks
beautiful, but it's on paper.

And one of the biggest things
when you're developing

and designing
a brand-new body style

is you need to see it
in person in scale.

Hey, Iz. Oh, man,
I'm telling you...

Dude!

Turned out pretty good.

Nice. Hey, you know what?
That's perfect, too.

That's just enough.

This is perfect right here.

That little drape
in the roof.

That's exactly
what we're after.

It's got a great line to it.

I really quite love
the roof line.

I want one just like it.

Oh, man, it's so cool.

That's looking killer.

Somewhat nailed the look
to start?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

This little reverse dish.

We need to keep that
because it's a nice
little section.

I think we should talk
a little bit about maybe
grafting this down in here

and having it to where
we flange that sets down
flat to it.

- [Izzy] Smooth transition into
everything, no edge on it.
- Right.

Start it from,
like, right here
and just start going up

- so it's just nice, gradual.
- [Izzy] And just
lose it as it--

[Dave] You still have
that dish this way.

Just take it up.
Take it uphill.

That thing can come up...
Even that part, you're still

- going to have that
same kind of shape.
- [Izzy] Yeah.

[Dave] And then that gives us
another inch and a half or so

for space between
the top of the tire.

Okay, cool.

But I think this is a great,
great way to start.

Get this top
sitting down into the body.

So we have a nice transition
for our aluminum panels
to start laying up.

Then we can start smashing
some metal.

Start hammering
on some aluminum, yup.

All right, cool.

For the corner dips way down.

To achieve the stance we want,
the wheel will be like
up into the corner.

So we're using the foam.

To kind of reshape
that valley there
and then basically,

it'll increase
the amount of room on the
inside of the fender well

so the tires clear
and don't rub on anything.

Foam it, and then once we get
the shape that we want,

then we'll fiberglass
over that.

And then later harden it up.
It's a two-part foam
or, you know, the mix,

It's a 1-1.

So you pour one and
then you match the,

you know, the same amount
of material and then just
stir it in the bucket.

It's pretty easy.

If he mixes the correct
amount this time. [laughs]

So this will basically just
speed up the process.

Okay, like...
It's good.

When it starts to activate,

so you wanna like...

really get it
down in there.

You only got like
one shot to get it

in the crack.

The idea behind mixing
too much

is if you... say if we pour it
and it doesn't spread out

far enough,
when you overlap it,
you'll get,

you'll create an air pocket
in there
and then you have a void,

and you essentially just
have a weak spot in this.

So, we're gonna be
shaping the aluminum
over these eventually.

So we're gonna be beating
the crap out of these things.

So we want to be
as strong as we can.

[Will] I think we followed
a pretty decent process.

As the process went,
you know, we...
we gave it the time

that we needed to and we
kept going that direction.

Let's build these five things
and it's going to answer
20 questions,

and then you can
just build upon that.

So it started as one piece,

let's build this body.

So now we're gonna lay down
some layers of fiberglass,

and then that'll give us
a nice hard layer,

and then we can kind
of do a final shape.

This stuff's pretty thick,
so I like to split it in half.

Because you'll get
all these bubbles in it

and you can just work
it out a lot easier.

[girl] Oh, wow.

Yeah, this should be
pretty much good to go.

Start shaping panels on it.

It's perfect.

Yeah, it's fantastic.

Good job, man.

- Cool.
- That looks awesome.

Awesome.

[Izzy] I like it.

It's super cool.

- Everything's bonded
together at this point.
- Panels, so...

So the body is solid.

[Dave] It's the best way
to go. It's not gonna move.

- [Izzy] Yeah.
- So...

But this gives us
a really good position

- to start fabricating
aluminum panels.
- Okay.

It looks like it's very even
left to right, and that's
gonna be important.

We'll perfect the panels
that we're making
out of aluminum.

Yeah.

Yeah, this one's
got to be super special.

And what's different,

most contenders for that
Detroit Autorama
are not drivable cars.

We want to make this car
look like it cannot be driven.

I want to be able
to drive this car.

So you get to drive it,
then I get to drive it?

Well, we're gonna
have to shake it down.

- Cool.
- Yeah.

- Cool. Okay, buddy.
- [Izzy] Awesome.
I like it.

Get her done. One day, we can
maybe drive it to lunch.

That'd be sweet.

All right. Looks good.

We're finally done
with the plug,
and I'll tell you what.

I got goosebumps, baby.

Now it's time to start doing
some powdering it and start
bending some metal.

2
Yeah, it's fantastic.
Good job, man.

- Cool.
- That looks awesome.

You know, building a
Corvette is one thing,

and they're beautiful cars,
and you can do
all sorts of cool stuff

and especially chopping up
and moving fiberglass around.

There's an art to it.
There's a lot of people

that are really good at SMCs
and that kind of stuff.

But to build something that
everybody expects it to be
a certain material

and you go well beyond
not just doing it out of
carbon fiber or another SMC,

but actually doing it
out of a alloy.

Get this top
sitting down into the body,

so we have a nice transition
for our aluminum panels

- to start laying up.
- We can start
smashing some metal.

Start hammering
on some aluminum.

Out of aluminum

just gave that much more
of a difficulty level.

It also gave us the ability
because I don't think
you really

build a unibody car
out of fiberglass.

I just don't know
if it exists.

I don't know
if it's strong enough
or it's a thing.

Not just the body panels--

I think aluminum brings it
back to a coach
building side of it, right?

[Kevin] I think it just
really took the car
into like a craftsman class.

Like, you know
what I'm saying?
It's not just a car.

This is a car that was built
by craftsmen out of aluminum.

[Jordan] Building
a car from scratch.

I can't say I've done
an entire body
like this from scratch before.

We'll start with
the tape patterns.

The method with the tape is
if you have
a body to start from,

you can lay tape on it
and get what's called
a flexible shape pattern.

It allows you to make
a pattern that gives you
the area of the body.

You can take that tape,
peel it off and then use that
as a template

for what the metal
needs to be.

So then you can start shaping
the metal
and get it in the areas

that it needs to be raised up
or lowered or shrinked
or whatever.

Get all of that
to where the tape fits

nice and taught again,
then all you have to do
is just wrap it

around the form of the body.
So you get
the shape of the tape

and then the form
with a buck or a body.

The other nice thing about
the tape is you do one side,

you can flip it inside out
and then you have
that reverse side

so it's a really handy way
to mirror something.

From there, we get
all the panels shaped,

get a template of each panel
as best I can.

I prefer aluminum.

It's just the way to go.

It definitely adds
a little level of prestige.

I mean, you're not gonna
have to worry about it

rusting, almost ever.

The nice thing about
doing this out of aluminum

is that moves around
a lot easier than steel.

Steel, I'd be breaking
quite a sweat
trying to wrestle it around

and get it to fit the body

after I'd made the shape,
you know?

It's hard to stretch

and shrink the metal to
infinity, but even on this,

you can see where it does
the reverse curve,

it's a lot thinner.

On this area that needs
to get stretched out a lot

to come back around that
than it is here, where
it actually had to shrink.

So it started off as about
80,000ths thick.

And then,
where it's shrunk,

it's as thick as
90 to 100 thousandths
and then where it's...

where it's stretched,
it's about 60 or so.

To get a decent thickness,

throughout the whole car,
you have to make it

in a lot of smaller chunks
and then piece it together.

Once you have
a tape pattern, then you
have to break up the tape

into manageable sections.

Ideally, it'd be nice
to make as large

of a piece as possible,
so you don't have to do

as much welding.
But some shapes,

there's just way too much
curvature going on.

One of the hardest
parts of this panel

is getting that trough to sit
in as deep as it needs to be.

Just that reverse curve
is usually the more
challenging part of a panel.

But I'm gonna shrink right
there, get it to lay down

a little better around
the headlight.

The tools
involved in shaping,

I like to start with the
beater bag and you beat the
sheet metal over that.

You get a lot
of shape really quick.

Also creates natural tucks
in the aluminum
and when you get a tuck,

that's what you need to
be able to shrink something.

Might be a good start.

From there,
I like the English wheel.

Awesome tool, and you
can actually do

a lot of cool stuff in the
shaping and the forming
process of it and smooth it

super, super smooth.

You see it's all planished
and you're not deaf afterward?

It's the wheel.

I'll be amazed if it's
anywhere near fitting.

Might shrink a little
more right there.

We'll shrink that down
real quick

and then just make it
around a touch.

Every time you bend it
over here, it affects what
it does over there.

So you've got to kind of
chase it back and forth.

It feels a little bit better,
but it feels like it's still

teetering off of something
around there.

If you look inside there,
it looks like I'm a mile

off of the bottom there,
but it's just that thick.

2
[Dave] After doing
the mock up and really
looking at the car

in scale, in real life,
I've decided to go back

and make a couple of changes
'cause I really quite love

the newer roofline
in comparison

to the other one
that I had done.

Just a little bit higher up.

I've given a little bit more
shape to the windshield,

having the V and
the trim in there.

What I decided to do
is actually take off
the door posts.

This original rendering I did
when I showed Dave,
had just a little

bit more bubble top look
with a B-pillar
and also the C-pillar

was a little bit skinnier,
same back window idea.

But I think definitely putting
these big radical arches
in the rooftop

and carrying it through
into the top of the front
and rear windows,

and the trim, I think,
is going to be trick.

And also getting rid
of the B-pillar,

the split basically between
the door and the quarter glass

I think this is going
to really make it
look a lot better.

I've also kind of shrunk
that a little bit, too, so...

we'll keep playing
around with the plug.

So we can make some patterns.

And I really am liking
this direction, though.

So we're gonna go ahead
and make this change and
I think it's gonna be great.

2
[Jordan] Every time you bend
it over here, it affects what
it does over there.

So you've got to kind of
face it back and forth.

But if you look inside there,
it looks like I'm a mile

off of the bottom there,
but it's just that thick.

It feels a little bit better,
but it feels like it's still

teetering off of something
around there.

So I'll try to move it around
on the wheel, I think.

The wheels are nice
and polished and pretty.

That's what ends up
being the...
on the panels.

You get done wheeling
something, and it looks like
a polished piece of aluminum.

It's like,
"Did you polish that?"
It's like, "No.

It's good tools."

Pretty decent. I think I've
vaguely defined that

arc there. Okay.

Sharpen up that line

and this one
will be pretty close.

You got to kind of face
it back and forth.

But sometimes you can see
the... the body where
I'm pressing against,

it's really dark right there.

So obviously it's pressing
pretty tight against it,

so I can probably
smack that out a little bit.

If I can get it to relax
like that, that'd be nice.

[hammering]

Playing with the hood,
trying to tip these flanges.

I got the shape of the hood,
all dialed in
from the old fiberglass hood.

This is probably one of the
last pieces on the front end,

and now I'm just making
a nice sharp edge out of it.

And then we'll go shrink and
stretch the corners to get it

exactly the profile
that I'm after.

I'm gonna go around,

get this edge nice
and 90-degrees,

nice and sharp.

I made a couple
of templates

to help me out
with the profile.

So I made this
to the actual hood
so I can just sit it on here.

It's hard when this is sitting
on the hood to tell what
gap is in there, you know?

So I can see
there's a gap there.

I just need to shrink
this edge

to get it to come up
and meet that.

Makes it a nifty little tool
to get the profile
right there.

Made it for the front
and the rear.

Progress, yep.

One smack at a time.

I have the front clip
to go with,

so I'm just starting to tackle
whatever front pieces I can.

The hood was a little bit
of a daunting task

because it's a large
low crown panel.

That's notoriously difficult
to do in sheet metal shaping.

Just a tiny bit of stretch
or shrink goes a long way
on a low crown.

So I was a little nervous
to do that,
but I had some good wheels

that I was able to
knock it out pretty well.

Each piece you want to leave
an inch to two inches large

just because it's hard
to totally comprehend

exactly where the metal's
gonna move

when you're starting
from a flexible shape
pattern to a flat sheet.

It's pretty easy to build
yourself in into a corner,

but take it slow
and it doesn't...
It's not too bad.

[hammering]

I'm being more and more
inspired every single day

watching this stuff now,
finally coming together.

And I think that the team
is doing very well.

I'm very excited to come
to work every single day.

And I'm even more excited
to see more parts
go on this car.

So we're about four and
three-quarters of an inch
to the wheel opening.

...is I can't reach it.

Yeah, you can reach it
that way, though.

There's like seven and
three-eighths or something.

Yeah, I'm gonna say about...
Yep, seven and three-eighths.
So that's the difference...

- Two and a half.
- Two and a half?

Boy, that's not
a big difference, is it?

Not much.

Visually, it's a lot, but...

[Dave] I think visually,
I think we just lay it out.

Well, see they're roughly...
Boom, boom.

- We'll be about--
- [Jordan] Three-eighths
is about up there.

[Dave] So what I want
to do is I want
to find a nice even flow

where this wheel well is going
to have that swept back,
the wheel opening.

It's gonna be a little bit
higher, but we still want to
cover the top of the tire.

So it has a little more
of an aggressive,

lowered stance to it,
as opposed to more
of a sports car stance.

One thing I'm just
noticing right now

is this rocker right here
has never been extended.

That would be
a real nice natural line

just to catch that
and come up here and just
bring it back out.

- [Jordan] Stand back and look.
- What do you think?

2
So what I want to do is I want
to find a nice even flow

where this wheel well
is going to have that
swept back, wheel opening.

It's going to a little bit
higher, but we still want to
cover the top of the tire.

What do you think?

[Jordan] That looks
a little better.

- It still is raised enough.
- [Jordan] Cuts it
right in half.

We're going much
bigger diameter
than what was on their stock.

So I think we're in
really nice shape there.

This has a nice flow to it.

Building a car to this degree,
to go for the type of award
that we're hoping for,

just raised the bar, I think,
for difficulty.

Yeah, I'm getting
super stoked on this.

Yeah, it's... It's nice
to see stuff
like that get put into it.

[Dave] Mmm-hmm.

So you're still working
that other panel

right there, but you're
you're getting so close

on this front end, I know
you've got the hood panel,

- the low crown
panel all built up.
- [Jordan] Yep.

[Dave] This is an awesome
way to visualize

exactly what it is we want
done when it's finished.

I think it's really
gonna show how much
we're committed

to going there
and really giving it our all
and winning.

I don't want to jinx us.

So is it going to be this
low then or is it gonna be
a little higher?

No, I think we're gonna try
and keep it about this height.

Maybe a half an inch
higher, but not much.

- I really do like... I think
it's very aggressive...
- It looks awesome that low.

...how low that sits
right now.

- Yeah.
- It's sweet.

Building it in metal is one
really huge chunk of it.

Now I'm getting chills.

Now I can start to really see
the car come to life.

I think what's gonna
be funny, though, and I can't
say it for sure,

but I'm not aware
of any fiberglass cars that
ever really won the Ridler.

And so when we show up at
Detroit with a Corvette coupe,

I think it's gonna
be like, eh.

Till they know what it's made.

No fiberglass car
has ever won.

Well, that's funny.
You're right.

That's why we made it
out of aluminum.

And then they're gonna go,
I'm leaving.

I'm packing up my car.
I'll come back next year
when you're not here.

- [laughing]
- [Jordan] Yeah.

I mean, that's what
I'm hoping for.

- Yeah.
- I'm gonna pinch myself
and wake up any minute.

Honestly, out of the years

that I've been in the business
and designing cars,

this one has got me
so damn excited,

I can't hardly sleep.

Well, I'll let you
get back at it.

- Okay.
- These aluminum cans aren't
gonna "form themselves."

[Jordan] I wish.

- Kind of.
- All right, buddy.

Looks great, though.

Yeah. Thank you.

Really getting pumped.

Whoo-hoo!

Yeah.

Being a Ridler,
things have to be perfect.

[Will] We want it better
than what we're even used to.

Hell, yeah!

We don't really know
what we're looking at yet.

[Kevin]
Once we weld it together,
there ain't no coming back.

One, two, three, go.

Wow, it's all aluminum.

So we're gonna switch
the colors.

[man 1] When it's
not in the sun,
how does it look?

[man 2] This is the point
of no return.

There's no way to blend
on this car.

Do not [bleeping] guess
whether you can do
something or not.

We are out of time,
that cracked the fender.

Unbelievable.

You know, I thought
this fit better.

[Dave] I'm so excited
to see what's going
to happen with the gauges.

I can't get that pitch that
that devil like that corner.

We can't go.

- [overlapping shouting]
- Yeah. There you go.

- There you go.
- One, two, three.

See you guys in Detroit.

Okay. Fire it up.

- Nope.
- [Kevin] What do you
wanna do?

I don't know.

Anybody ready to hear
who won the Ridler award?