01x01 - White Tr*sh

[bunniefuu]

- Hello everybody.

Schwag and Frank here in Sherman Oaks, California,

bedroom community of the stars,

where the elite create monster piles of trash,

but today is Tuesday, garbage day,

and conditions are near perfect

for a showdown between Jesse James,

master fabricator and Henry Vaughn, garbage man supreme,

in the greatest garbage slinging contest

the world has ever seen.

So sit the kids down, tie up the dog,

grab your favorite beverage.

The next, "Monster Garage," challenge

is just around the bend.

[Jesse laughs]

- [Narrator] Join us now as Jesse and his g*ng

of maverick mechanics rip, grind, and burn,

transforming ordinary street vehicles

into monster machines in the, "Monster Garage."

♪ Monster monster garage

♪ Monster monster garage

♪ Monster monster garage

♪ Monster monster garage

♪ Monster monster garage

♪ Monster garage

This weeks challenge, take a 1993 Eddie Bauer

Ford Explorer, and transform it

into the world's sweetest garbage truck.

The rules, when completed, the monster machine

must appear to be stock.

The team can spend no more than $3,000

in hard cash for parts.

If the team meets the challenge,

each crew member will receive a Mac tool kit worth $3,400.

Jesse and his crew have seven days

and seven nights to design,

build, and race the car,

and the clock starts now.

Day one.

[rock music]

The design team meets the lucky vehicle

chosen to shake up suburbia.

- Well, there it is.

- [Narrator] A stocked 1993 Ford Explorer

with a standard 250 horsepower engine.

Eddie Bauer is about to have a major personality change.

[rock music]

[tires squealing]

Jesse's tire squealing, rubber burning entrance

sets the tone.

[upbeat music]

[can clattering]

Speaking for gear heads and garage mechanics

all across the country,

Jesse answers that one word question, why?

- 'Cause it's wrong.

- [Narrator] As one of America's premier

motorcycle designer builders,

Jesse James always leaves his mark.

[engine revving]

- [Jesse] All right, I brought my stuff here.

I brought some tracings of the vehicle.

- [Narrator] The design team gets down to work.

- Okay, what do we want to do here, guys?

We want to a woody?

- [Narrator] It's a race against waste.

Every tick of the clock

is like a Hefty bag dumped

into the trash heap of time.

- The main thing's gonna be the design.

How do we want to grab a container?

- I think we need that big pincher bug looking one.

[garbage truck rumbling]

- Does it have to be a side loader?

I mean, could it load from the back?

- What I'm thinking is

to do it from the side.

- So, it would be an-

- [Narrator] The others wisely allow

Gregorio Aruta to take the lead.

For the last 14 years, he's been the

Chief Engineer for BFI Waste Management.

Gregorio knows garbage.

- It's a lot of money on trash.

- Which do you think would be quicker to make,

all this stuff from scratch,

then install it,

or get something that's

already made and install it?

- Doing it from scratch is not a problem,

'cause this is just- - I'm looking

at the timeframe, though,

you know, we're...

- What's it gonna dump into

if it's gonna pull it in right here

from the sides?

- [Gregorio] We need to split the roof.

One piece won't work.

- What if it did something like that?

Just weld the door to the roof panel.

- [Tom] We could extend this on here, too,

and take part of the roof out

where the hopper is,

so it would tilt that up.

- [Narrator] Here's the plan so far.

Turn the roof and the passenger side rear door

into a swinging gull-wing.

A retractable arm will leap out,

grab the container, lift it skyward,

and dump the trash into the rear compartment.

- [Tom] I mean, we're gonna have a ramp back in here, right?

- [Narrator] The guy pushing the pencil is Tom Taylor.

He's a legendary Southern California hot rod designer.

That explains some of his ideas.

- The long board

attached to that.

I mean, it's like after the dudes

done collecting the trash, he goes surf.

- [Crew Member] Surf the dump.

[rock music] [tires squeal]

- It looks like a tricked out Explorer,

and then all of a sudden the sides fly open

and it grabs up a trash can and dumps it.

[rock music]

But see, I have a bad opinion of garbage.

- Now without being a fabricator,

you're saying this is simple to build, right?

- It is. It's really, really simple.

- [Narrator] Ivan Sanchez is a graphic artist

and a builder of hot rods.

Seriously radical hot rods.

- Our vehicle incorporates everything

that Eddie Bauer is not.

Building this is nothing,

'cause there are skills- - Talking time wise,

that's the only thing I'm worried about.

How long do you figure it'd take

to make all this stuff?

- One day.

- [Jesse] One day? - One day.

I can do it in one day, the arm.

- [Crew Member] I'm pretty confident

in what he's saying now.

- I'm not, I'm a skeptic.

I need to see something, see it work.

- [Narrator] The X factor in the design

is the mechanical arm,

where Gregorio sees smooth sailing,

Jesse sees a shipwreck.

- It looks like a 27 piece screwdriver.

- [Crew Member] That's how the floor is here,

this track here. - Too complicated.

Too many moving pieces.

Too much build time.

- [Gregorio] On the contrary, the principle

is very basic.

- I just want to make sure it works right,

'cause I'm about



- [Narrator] Finally frustrated

and unpersuaded, Jesse pulls himself

out of the game, but not before upping the anty.

- I've seen the light.

It's not gonna work in seven days.

I got about $500, I'll bet it right now.

Bet me, bet me.

I'll help too, and it still won't.

- [Narrator] With this vote of confidence,

the design process ends.

The first day is over.

[rock music]

Day two, now it's time to build.

For this task, Jesse has assembled

the finest wrenchers in America.

[rock music]

Nip DeAvala, master welder,

is from Hermosa Beach, California.

Jay LaRosa from Carson, California,

is a customizer extraordinaire.

JP Seanback, Highland Park, Colorado,

monster mechanic.

Gregorio Aruta, Harbor City, California,

hydraulics engineer.

And Ivan Sanchez, jack of all trades

from Long Beach, California.

- So you guys ready for this?

- [Narrator] Like a General before his troops,

Jesse reveals their mission.

- This is the deal, we're gonna do a

Ford Explorer into a garbage truck.

It just has to be able to pick up cans on its own

and dump it in the back.

Gregorio's pretty confident that

he can do this hydraulic arm.

It's not gonna work in seven days.

And then it pinches the trash can and then it'll flip it up

and it'll dump it into like a hopper

that's in the back.

We need to really make some, brace this up,

so the top and the door,

then when we cut it,

it'll just swing up as one piece.

This is gonna be a lot of work.

[tools clattering]

[crew chattering]

- One more ratchet.

- Scalpel.

Scalpel.

Go to town, then.

- [Narrator] Like a group of twisted surgeons,

the boys rip out the insides of the Explorer

in less than a heartbeat.

[parts clattering] - [Crew Member] Look at that.

Dude, there's so much money in this car, man.

This job's paying off already.

- [Narrator] In a, "Monster Garage," ritual,

they tally up all the loose change

found lodged inside the seat cushions

and underneath the floor mats.

- [Crew Member] I got $1.06 here, man.

- [Narrator] The team now has $3,001.06

to spend on their monster garage truck.

- This is nobody's friends car

they just borrowed for the week, right?

- We were gonna rent a car

and then just take it back when we were done.

[rock music]

[drills whirring]

- [Narrator] One of the days first challenges

is the passenger rear side door.

In order for the Explorer to open,

it's gull-wing door needs to be as light as possible.

Overseeing this job is Nick Deavala.

[drill whirring]

- The door was too heavy

and I thought it would put

too much stress on the upper roof thing

and wobbly and it would just get too heavy

so we're lightening the door.

- [Narrator] A student at El Camino Community College,

Nick also builds off-road vehicles,

and races them in the local Southern California deserts.

- 800 horsepower, it's all caged

and completely custom.



plus spare drive shaft.

You gotta have the spare drive shaft on there.

These are 37 inch tires.

You can sh**t these things with a .22.

The sidewalls are about that thick.

Everything has to be b*llet proof,

'cause it's constantly getting beat up

and launched and jumped,

and you go through trees, brushes,

whatever, you know.

[rock music]

- Figure now I'm gonna make a square frame around it.

Once I weld that up, then we could just

cut the roof off, weld the door on and

attach 'em, I guess.

- [Narrator] Jay LaRosa has jumped inside

the back of the Explorer.

He's installing square tubing along

the inside of the roof.

It needs to be reinforced to

bare the weight of the gull-wing.

- Gonna make it nice and solid and tight.

The person who first got me interested in cars was my dad.

- [Narrator] Jay is a hot new voice

in the world of customized trucks.

- This is my truck.

It's a '97 Chevy S10.

Got 20s all the way around him.

You still have the airbags.

It's all red leather and suede interior.

The motor's all chromed out and

supped up and airbrush skull on the hood.

- [Narrator] But if any of the, "Monster Garage,"

builders have a story to tell, it's Brent Davis.

- I was almost born at the drag strip.

- [Narrator] Brett was born in 1964.

That same year, his dad, Jim Davis,

nearly died in a drag race.

In 1988, 24-year-old, Brett,

had his own brush with death.

- It was the closing day at Baylands Raceway in Freemont.

[engine revving]

- [Narrator] Brent was three quarters

of the way down the course

when the engine blew,

spewing oil all over the track,

causing the car to slide sideways out of control.

- [Crew Member] This it? - Yeah, this is it here.

- [Narrator] Brett took time out to tell

the story to the team.

[engine revving]

- Right now, I'm on fire right now

in the dirt.

Once you're in the dirt,

you're like a ragdoll.

[rock music]

I'm going through the finish line right there.

I rolled through the lights,

almost 200 miles an hour.

- [Crew Member] Oh man, it's in pieces.

- Disintegrated it.

Geez. - You remember nothing?

- [Brett] I'm out, I'm out.

- You're just knocked out? - Yeah. I was code blue twice,

and they had to bring me back.

Broke my back from belly button

to my neck in five places.

It left me paralyzed.

- [Narrator] In spite of his terrible crash,

if a miracle cure was found today,

Brett would go right back to racing.

- [Brett] Racers like that, they like adrenaline.

- [Crew Member] It's a sickness really,

once it gets in your brain.

- [Brett] Oh it is, it is.

I like racing.

- All right, let's see how heavy this door is now.

I mean, it's still real heavy.

This piece right here, that's a lot.

- I'm gonna say that the glass is the heaviest.

- I say we get [indistinct].

- [Gregorio] He needs to retract,

pretty much right there.

- [Crew Member] All right. - [Gregorio] To be able to-

- [Crew Member] To put the arm away, huh?

- [Gregorio] Yeah. - So what we're gonna do is

eventually we're gonna cut

the whole top of this off

to make it a channel.

Then we can connect this other section of the arm

so we can travel, and not be interrupted

by this piece here.

- [Narrator] The days biggest challenge

lies with Gregorio's trash container grabbing arm,

and his boast that he could build it in...

- I could do it in one day.

- Bet me.

It's not gonna work.

- We need to get the material for the rail frame.

- I hear you talking all the stuff

we're gonna do, Gregorio,

let's start making some of it.

- [Narrator] Jesse continues to ride

the quiet sanitation engineer.

- If he hurts my feelings, but

I'm just gonna try to prove him wrong.

From here, we're gonna go like this, like this.

[rock music] [tools whirring]

- Is that good? - Yeah.

- I'm sure we're gonna be done

before the deadline.

We need to go and buy the square tubing.

- Okay, so you got all the measurements, everything?

- Yeah. - All right.

- [Narrator] The two, "Monster Garage," mechanics

set off to buy one inch square mild steel tubing.

[tools whirring] [upbeat music]

At 65,000th of an inch wall thickness,

it will be able to support up to 500 pounds.

- Let's just get [indistinct].

[upbeat music]

[tools whirring] [upbeat music]

- Oh.

It looks like we gotta cut something else.

Looks like we gotta cut this part of this off,

'cause when it comes up,

it's gonna hit that.

We're just cutting this lip off,

so it can open like this, close like that.

[tool whirring]

- [Crew Member] How's it coming?

- It's looking good. We'll just take a little ball pin

and close that up so you don't have so much gap.

When we're gonna be done, it'll be done.

- But as far as today's tasks,

I think maybe-

- [Narrator] During lunch break,

the team discusses what they hope

to accomplish by the end of the day.

- Is it possible to get

the actual groundwork for this arm

and slide it- - Oh yeah.

- Weld it in, done. - No problem.

- sh**t that for a goal for today.

- We'll do it in a hour. It's so uncomplicated,

that everybody thinks it's difficult, but it's not.

- Roof on, functioning with all the edges.

- [Narrator] Ivan especially is optimistic

about his newly forged garage brotherhood.

- I think the main problem,

like everybody was concerned with at first was

we couldn't do it in seven days,

but I think this team could definitely do it.

- Just one feet.

- [Crew Member] One foot? - Yeah.

One foot of the two and a half.

- All right.

[tools whirring]

- I'm gonna cut a block in here

so we can hammer this back,

and move all this outta the way, right?

[hammer banging]

- [Narrator] The guy wailing away on the doorframe

is JP Seanbeck.

- Do we have anymore gloves?

See, we have to put a little reinforcement

on the door, and so we need to make room.

We're gonna weld some iron across here

to make it a single piece,

and this has to be out of the way for the

door reinforcement over here.

- [Narrator] JP, while as much a garage jock

as the others, is pursuing a slightly different career.

- I'm a professional tattooist.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] During the week, some of the guys

take advantage of JP's talents.

- [Crew Member] I think it's pretty good.

- [JP] Yeah, it's not bad.

- [Narrator] By the end of the day,

a lot has been accomplished.

- It's going okay.

I think we're

working pretty fast.

- [Narrator] The door is ready to take flight.

The cab frame has been strengthened.

The track for the arm is in place.

- Then you got rods to add material.

- [Narrator] But the roof of the Explorer

has yet to be cut out,

which means the arm cannot be installed.

- Okay, well we need to wait

for them to cut the roof.

- Hey Gregorio, the $500, remember our bet?

Come on, right here.

- Well you know what?

[indistinct] has gotta be cut out

before we continue to finish this out.

- And then we went to buy the material, and...

- Yeah, it's the roof.

- [Narrator] A little more grinding. [tools whirring]

A few more welds,

and day two of, "Monster Garage,"

is officially in the can.

[can clattering]

"Monster Garage," factoid.

Each year Americans discard





and two trillion razor blades.

♪ Monster monster garage

[upbeat music]

It's not garbage day.

If there's a soccer practice,

Junior needs to score a ride.

Eddie Bauer's not gonna make it.

He's got a date with day three of, "Monster Garage."

[upbeat music]

- We aren't doing colors yet.

Okay, I guess we are doing colors.

- [Narrator] Nick gathers parts and tools for the day

in a laundry basket.

[rock music]

[parts clattering]

- Maybe hang the hydros off of this.

- [Narrator] That makes sense.

The team has a laundry list of things

they hope to accomplish.

Work will continue on the complicated job

of turning the roof and the door

into a flapping gull-wing.

- Cut the spots out for the hinges,

weld the hinges in,

and then weld the door on,

and once all the cage and everything is done,

then we're gonna cut it and then

in theory it should just [whistles].

- When you gonna mount that arm?

- The grabber will be done today,

and then just mount it.

- [Narrator] Jesse picks up where he left off

right in Gregorio's face.

- You want my money?

Come on mister one day and it'll be done.

- Well, it'll be done.

- [Narrator] Jesse's $500 bet that Gregorio

would not be able to complete the arm in one day

has now become $500 on whether it will work at all.

- It will work.

- [Narrator] Gregorio sets out to tilt

at garbage trucks with a retractable arm as a sword,

and Ivan as his faithful sidekick.

- This is the claw.

This is what its function is.

It looks beefy, look at this, you know.

It'll be hydraulic operated.

I think we were more than adequate, right?

[can clattering]

Aw.

- [Narrator] They've had a hard time nailing the claw.

For a while, it had two arms to wrap

around the trash container.

Now it's three.

Ivan explains the principles of engineering

behind their design.

- Two's always better than one,

three's always better than two.

[rock music]

[tools whirring]

- We're gonna finish off the cage.

We're gonna do these bars right here

to go up, put pins in them.

The posts are gonna be going up here like this

for the top of the tank,

and then we're gonna plate it to the frame,

so once we cut the roof off,

the sides aren't wobbling around.

- [Narrator] The work done yesterday

to strengthen the Explorer's frame continues today.

It's all in preparation

for when they finally pop the top

and start slamming the gull-wing up and down.

[rock music]

For this, they apply one of the basic equations

of monster mechanics, wimpy and weak,

times square tubing equals beefy and strong.

[rock music]

[upbeat music]

Jesse happens to catch a team of real garbage men

outside the shop on a weekly run through the neighborhood.

He brings them in for a peak at the monster in the making.

- Yeah, see here's the arm,

we're making like a mini side-loader arm.

These guys are driving a trash truck out front.

It'll probably just hold like maybe four cans of trash.

We don't want to get a lot of trash, just a little bit.

- [Narrator] And what do the local pros

think of the new garbage truck on the block?

- [Crew Member] What do you think?

- That's a good idea, man,

it beats this.

More classy, air conditioned.

Hey, I'd rather drive that than this.

- On our little areas, people don't like

to see this dirty a*s truck over there.

That little truck would be cool.

- It's too big.

- [Narrator] Back in the garage, Jesse sees Gregorio

trying to get a grip on the claw.

[rock music]

- Need more work.

- I mean, sometimes, you just gotta let

people go ahead and fail to prove your point.

- [Narrator] Whatever Gregorio is building,

it's not confidence.

[rock music]

- They mean well.

[rock music]

It's not gonna work.

- I don't think it's gonna fit in the car. If it does-

- It's gonna go like this, look.

Soon as they grab it, it's gonna go.

[bottle clattering]

It's gonna sh**t it out just like that.

- [Crew Member] I still had a sip left in there.

- Let's help him out a little bit.

- [Narrator] He's not about to let Gregorio

or anyone else fail the monster.

[tools whirring]

- Now make yourself a pattern,

take your metal and bend it

so it fits around there like that, right?

There's your hooks.

Should we show it to him or should we wait?

Look it, the angle if you get in there,

it's gonna hit this right here.

When you close it, watch, close it.

It's gonna push it out.

- [Gregorio] Okay, this is going to the trash.

- Okay.

[tools whirring]

He's still worried about the arm.

- Gregorio knows his hydraulics.

Let each to do their own stuff, man.

You don't tell a chef what to cook and how to cook it.

- I'm already thinking about it,

like how we're gonna do it,

'cause that ain't gonna work,

I'm telling you right now.

- You got about one hour.

- [Gregorio] Close it on the back.

- Then we're gonna take over.

As soon as you see that lid open up,

that's when the clock ends.

- [Narrator] The door's been lightened

as much as possible.

The section of roof has been cut out

and welded to the door.

Crudely machine hinges are welded in place.

The Explorer's gull-wing is ready

for its first flight.

- This thing is heavy, dude, very heavy.

- [Crew Member] Ready?

- Yeah.

What's it doing on...

You need someone to see

what it's doing on the outside

of the roof on the other side.

- What are we binding on?

- I don't know.

- Is that corner over there?

- [Narrator] Something is preventing

the wing from fully opening.

- I think our geometry of the hinge is wrong.

- Yep.

- [Narrator] In the shocked silence,

the team tries to pinpoint where and how

they went so wrong.

- The one by one, right here.

- Our geometry of the hinge is wrong.

- Yep.

- We need it to swing outward.

- Geometry of the hinge was wrong.

[suspenseful music]

- That could be a time consuming set back.

That could be a very time consuming-

- [Crew Member] It's too good to be true, huh?

[machine whirring]

Well see the problem is we're binding up here.

Our roof is catching on our one inch steel.

- [Narrator] The solution.

- This is gonna weld to the roof

and this is gonna weld to the car.

Bam, we got our hinge.

- [Narrator] To go back to the original plan

and create door-like hinges

and install them on top of the roof.

- We're putting the hinges originally on

the way me and him talked about it.

[tools whirring]

On the top, open like a door, done.

- [Narrator] Simple in theory,

but in reality requiring a lot of man hours

blowing a lot of monster ticking garage time

to make it right.

- Ow. - That might not be

a good spot for you.

- [Narrator] Finally day three ends

on a moment of pure, "Monster Garage," drama.

The hinges are in place.

The moment of truth has arrived for the gull-wing.

- Oh no!

- [Crew Member] I'd say it works.

I think a picture's worth 1,000 words right there.

- [Big Schwag] Big Schwag still in Sherman Oaks, California,

breathlessly waiting the start of the biggest throw down

in garbage grabbing history coming your way next.

♪ Monster garage

- Do we have any eggs?

- [Narrator] Nick has come to work hungry,

but that's no problem.

- [Nick] Cooking in the shop.

- [Narrator] He rounds up some food, a little oil.

- I think it tastes a little better

than the 40 weight myself, but...

- [Narrator] Jay mans the eggs.

- Chef Jay.

- [Narrator] While Nick lights the stove.

Breakfast a la, "Monster Garage."

- Cooking in the garage with Nick and Jay.

[rock music]

- [Narrator] Welcome to day four.

Today's special, a, "Monster Garage," truck.

- Well this is all gonna tuck right inside.

Keep in mind that you know the top section of this

tubing's gonna be cut off,

so this'll slide in, this whole arm will slide

all the way in.

It's Gregorio's plan, I'm just builder.

- [Gregorio] What's gonna happen, the cinders

gonna be mounted from here-

- [Narrator] The ongoing drama of Gregorio's still

lifeless retractable arm continues.

Jesse kicks off the day with his most focused

and withering critique to date.

- This isn't gonna work.

Plain and simple, it's not gonna grab it.

This is gonna break.

This isn't strong to hold the weight of a trash can.

This whole thing isn't gonna go in far enough

to clear the claws, because you don't have

enough travel in that thing.

You know, instead of showing...

We gotta figure out, you know,

how we're gonna address all these problems,

you know, so we're not backpedaling.

That's, you know, I'm just looking at it,

you know, in reality.

Are you seeing what I'm seeing now?

You know, you guys got to-

- [Gregorio] I don't know what to tell you.

You know, it's your deal,

whatever you want to do.

- Well, it's not my deal.

We need something that works

and this isn't, you know,

if we have to keep cutting this

and modifying it and modifying it and modifying it

to work, there's gonna be nothing left anyway.

I mean, Gregorio is actually the only

one qualified to be doing this,

plain and simple.

He's the only one

out of all of us that has trash truck experience.

You know, but

that ain't no trash truck.

- [Narrator] Ready to cut his losses,

Jesse sends the team back to the drawing board

looking for an alternative.

- Well these guys are gonna start on another arm.

The one that Gregorio's isn't gonna work.

We need a plan B, you know.

- [Narrator] Anyone with an idea is listened to.

- Hinge here, and then you have the two forks.

- So this thing, alignment is gonna be an issue.

- [Narrator] All entries will be considered.

- Like the end of his wheelchair ramp, did you see that?

You know how it goes down? You know how the ramp goes down

and the chain gets limp and then lets the end?

- [Narrator] And inspiration is where you find it.

- We could put the forks on something like that

to where it comes out and then

they fold down and then it slides out.

So that would clear that.

- That's the way originally designing I asked,

you know, can we get something else

and modify it and make it fit?

- Bam!

Is your buddy coming?

- Huh?

- From the hydraulics?

- Yeah, but he's helping us, not you.

- Right. - He's helping Team A,

not Team B.

- Here we go, we got conflict amongst the tribe.

- That's right.

- [Narrator] Jesse's pulling out all the stops.

He calls in a couple of gear head friends.

- [Jesse] 'Sup Frank?

This is the hydraulic expert right here.

- [Narrator] Chino is a god in the world

of low rider design and fabrication.

Big Frank is his number one mechanic.

In an amazing coincidence,

both are experts in the use of hydraulics.

- It takes two people to lift it up.

I think we got enough guys here to work it out.

Got the low rider dudes helping us now.

Hell, they can bounce them low riders all over,

we can bounce garbage all over.

- We have our cylinder here.

I'm thinking we need at least six inches out of the car.

- When this one comes out-

- 90 degrees.

- [Narrator] If Jesse's plan for day four

was to stir things up,

he hit his mark.

- We come from here to here.

- I'm not exactly sure,

but I think the design for the arm has changed

in the past 20 minutes about seven times,

and I'm still not exactly sure

on what the [indistinct] we're doing.

- Sounds like a good game plan, huh?

- Too many chiefs, not enough Indians.

- Bradly, we do the telescope.

We still keep the same principle of this fixed piece,

but we just put a hinge there.

[crew members chattering]

- [Narrator] At the end of this entire brainstorm,

and after a bruised ego or two...

- I still think the way I was talking about

was gonna work the best.

- [Narrator] The basic design that gets the stamp

of approval from outsiders, Frank and Chino,

is surprise, Gregorio's.

- I disapprove.

- These two guys, Frank and Chino came in here unbiased,

man, and they heard everybody's ideas.

Chino and Frank came

and they gave their opinion

that kind of goes along with Gregorio's idea,

and see these guys know hydraulics.

I'm not gonna tell these guys how to do their job.

They know what the capabilities are of hydraulics.

I don't, Nick doesn't. These guys sure-

- [Narrator] After spending the last four days

defending the besieged Gregorio,

Ivan is vindicated.

- We're all agreeing on that that will work.

- We got guys that know their job.

They know the capability of their job,

and we got someone who,

you know, in a sense is telling everybody

it's not gonna work and everybody listened for a second.

But then, luckily for Gregorio that Chino and Frank

came along and were able to say,

"Hey, this idea is gonna work."

- [Narrator] This is how the modified version

of Gregorio's arm is supposed to work.

When the gull-wing springs open,

the arm and claw will unfold

and extend out towards the waiting trash container.

The pinchers will lock on,

the arm will retract, lift,

and tip the contents into the hopper.

All these movements will be controlled

by hydraulic pumps and cylinders

triggered by remote control

from inside the Explorer.

Each action the arm performs

requires its own hydraulic cylinder.

What happens to the container

after the trash has been grabbed

is of no concern to, "Monster Garage."

As with real life garbage trucks,

you'll be lucky to find it bent and battered

lying three houses away in the middle of the street.

[upbeat rock music]

- Need to be that thick?

- Yeah, that looks like it'll work.

We started off today with having something

that absolutely no way would work, so

just working together and work through it, you know?

Everybody's small ideas put to one big idea, so.

- I told you guys from the beginning

Gregorio was on the right track,

and whether or not, you know, his design

made it all the way, you know,

it's not fair to say, but

he did help a lot in the design of the arm.

- [Narrator] Day four ends with the arm

looking very much like it was intended.

After it seemed doomed to become

part of its own trash heap,

the arm rose from the dead to live

and eat garbage again.

[crew members laughing]

"Monster Garage," factoid.

By the time a baby born today

in the United States reaches age 75,

they will have produced 52 tons of garbage.

♪ Monster monster garage

- You ever want to just crush someone,

like a nut?

- [Narrator] JP is showing signs of cracking.

- Well that's the way I feel.

- [Narrator] Looks like a bad case of garage fever.

On day five, it's to be expected.

JP will be fine.

- Yeah, baby!

- [Narrator] He just needs to go grind something.

Gregorio arrives with the heart of the hydraulic system.

Freebie, freebie, freebies, zip, zero, nada!

Chino has brought in two heavy duty hydraulic pumps.

[tires slamming]

These babies are what make low riders jump.

[rock music]

- [Crew Member] That pump will work.

- [Narrator] The whole day will be taken up

working with the complicated hydraulics

that will make the arm perform on command.

- If I can have two pumps-

- [Narrator] They have to decide how many

pumps will be needed.

- [Gregorio] Feeding this valve from here,

I'd send the oil to the cylinders.

- [Narrator] Which of the arms movements

need to be triggered hydraulically?

- This will work on a separate switch as this.

- [Narrator] And where to attach the cylinders

which will exert the forces necessary to move the arm.

- Rather than mounting this right on the arm,

that's so hoopty.

'Cause it makes this side

of the arm heavy,

and we don't have really good balance.

So instead I'd be wondering [indistinct].

- [Narrator] As we've come to expect with this bunch,

no decision is made without a fight.

- Opens like this,

you're gonna right the bracket.

When it extends, it closes.

- I don't see that happening.

I see it better...

It'll work way better with plates on the back.

[tools whirring] [rock music]

- [Narrator] Meanwhile, Jay and Nick

turn the Explorer's rear compartment

into a trash holder,

what's known in the garbage biz as a hopper.

[metal clattering]

To withstand the 1,000 pounds per square inch

crushing power of the compactor,

the cage is lined with 16 gauge cold rolled mild steal.

[compactor whirring]

And what's been done to the hydraulics so far?

- Look at that.

That's pretty simple, I mean,

it's just

about as simple

as a Ford Explorer trash truck could get.

- [Narrator] The White Tr*sh truck

receives its first cosmetic touch, a new grill.

[hood slamming]

The team takes a moment to appreciate their handiwork.

- It's gonna look good.

- [Narrator] "Monster Garage," mantra,

"If nothing works, play!"

[crew members chattering] [rock music]

- [Crew Member] Don't turn that car!

[rock music]

Come on, Nick.

It's the same, it's the same as yours.

You can take mine!

[crew members chattering] [rock music]

You can't k*ll me.

- [Narrator] It's getting late.

They're still waiting on a number

of critical parts for the hydraulics.

- So what you guys wanna do?

You wanna stay and wait for this stuff

or do it first thing in the morning?

- [Crew Member] First thing in the morning.

- [Narrator] Another day ends in a cloud of uncertainty.

- I'm skeptical about the hydraulics.

That's the only thing worrying me

is how the hydraulics are gonna work,

how the claw's gonna close.

I think that's gonna be

an issue right there.

- [Narrator] The arm has yet to pick up anything

other than garage dust.

- [Crew Member] This is it.

- [Narrator] 10 hours later, not much has changed,

except for this minor detail,

it's now or never.

Whatever they need to do to breathe

life into the monster garbage truck

has to happen today.

- So deadline's at midnight.

I think we should be able to knock it out.

What are you waiting on?

- Just to put my hands on it. - Okay.

- [Narrator] All the parts have arrived,

and Gregorio gives Jesse a hydraulic run through.

- One of these is gonna go here,

and the other one is gonna be here to here.

- Let's do it.

[rock music]

- It's gotta be a piece at one and five eights.

- One and five eights.

[rock music] [tools whirring]

- Need just a pin so I can weld it on

right through here,

put these bottom plates out.

[whistles]

Stick a pin through there,

weld the pin to the plates.

Bam, it doesn't have to look as pretty

as everything else.

It's just gotta work.

- [Jesse] Last day, few hours left.

See what happens.

- [Narrator] Brent's made a nifty control panel

for the hydraulics out of his favorite material, plexiglass.

- There's power, power on,

compactor forward, compactor backwards.

- [Narrator] More goodies arrive

to rev up the sizzle factor.

- [Crew Member] Six switches and 20 inches.

- [Narrator] Freebie, freebie, freebie, zip, zero, nada.

By the time they're done tricking out

the trash truck, they'll be able

to pick up more than garbage.

- [Crew Member] Bling, bling.

[rock music]

- I'm gonna make a pine curtain

to separate the driver from the rest of the garbage,

'cause it's gonna smell in there.

- Nick has something wrong with his head,

and he shouldn't have been allowed to go to

Pep Boys with more than $6.

[rock music]

- These things stink, dude, so bad.

[rock music]

[crew members chattering]

- [Narrator] JP cuts out an iron cross

and tattoos it to the claw.

[tools whirring]

- [Ivan] Right here.

Is it dropping?

It's on fire.

Heat it from the other side, dude.

We got a fire again, water.

- [Narrator] And in a right of passage

of any custom car, Ivan puts the torch

to the front springs.

The garbage truck has been lowered.

- Oh yeah, it'll keep dropping.

- [Crew Member] Is that low enough or what?

- [Jesse] All right, hit that switch, Gregorio.

- [Narrator] Jesse marks the test run

of the hydraulics with a traditional

smashing of the trash can.

[can clattering]

The hydraulics respond by not working.

- [Crew Member] You didn't say

it wasn't gonna leak, all right?

[tools clattering]

These are all loose, Gregorio.

- [Gregorio] No, I think what's happened is the pressure

is going into them all.

Or we need to disconnect the hydraulics on them all.

- Good thing Gregorio understands all that,

'cause I'm just like.

[workers chatter] [tools whirring]

Look at that!

That's perfect.

Now grab Brent. Throw him in the back.

[all laughing]

[rock music]

[workers chattering] [pincher whirring]

- [Crew Member] Hey Greg, grab the can.

- Where's that can at?

- We knew it was gonna work.

We have faith.

Gregorio just needs to figure out

how to work the hydraulics now.

- [Narrator] It's time to put up or shut up.

The team gathers round their creation

at a respectful distance.

You don't want to be too close

at the birth of a monster.

[machine whirring]

[crew members cheering]

[rock music]

[crew members cheering]

- That was perfect.

You saw it with your own eyes.

It gently tipped the trash can

into the truck.

[can clattering]

- Whoa.

- And gently set it back down.

[can clattering]

- Where can I buy one?

- Then on to the next house.

[rock music] [machine whirring]

I told you it was like the

rack of ribs on, "The Flintstones."

Can you open the claw?

[machine whirring]

[rock music]

[can clattering]

[crew members laughing]

- You saved my head.

You saved my head.

- [Crew Member] You spilled my coffee.

[crew members chattering]

[machine whirring]

That was a pretty good save.

Yeah, I heard something snap, dude.

[machine whirring]

Yeah, look at the trash come out!

It worked!

[rock music] [machine whirring]

That's a little low.

Hey, let's put it all the way back in and shut it.

[machine whirring]

Close it.

- [Narrator] After a four star performance,

the monster is put back in its cage.

It needs to rest up for the next days final challenge,

a head to head contest with the real deal.

[machine whirring]

[crew members cheering]

[rock music]

After a tough week, Gregorio can finally relax.

It worked.

- [Gregorio] Wow.

- [Narrator] A gentleman always pays his bets

and so does Jesse James.

- I told you it wouldn't work.

[rock music]

- [Narrator] Late that night, Tom Pruitt of Damon's,

turns the SUV into a suburban housewife's dream.

- Well the crew's done with the White Tr*sh mobile,

I got some bright white base coat from House of Color.

I got a new millennium spray g*n.

We're gonna put so much ice pearl through this thing

tonight, probably enough for 10 vehicles,

give us some silver metal flake flames.

Jesse'd be ready to go in any of these

high class neighborhoods.

I think Jesse would make a damn good trash man.

[rock music]

- [Narrator] "Monster Garage," factoid.

The waste generated each year in the United States

would fill a convoy of garbage trucks



over halfway to the moon.

♪ Monster monster garage

- Yeah, I like it. It's a lot of fun.

Get to see people,

get to go different places every day.

It's not really bad at all.

In the old days,

when we used to lift it by hand,

it really wasn't that much fun.

The can can be almost any weight.

It can be as many cans out as they want it, and

never know what to expect.

You get to a house, the guy's got 29 cans

sitting out there and you gotta take

every last one of 'em.

There's a lot more skill involved in it now than anything.

You gotta be able to get this truck

through these little tight areas

and you gotta be able to not hit these cans

without knocking 'em over,

'cause you notice a lot of them

are really close together.

- [Narrator] Henry Vaughn, veteran sanitation

worker for the city of Los Angeles,

is making his Tuesday run.

He doesn't know it yet,

but this is gonna be the biggest

trash slinging day of his life.

- This one here I think is the [indistinct].

You wanna see how tight it is,

this one is a good indication.

Holy mackerel.

[machine whirring]

This is weird.

[trash clattering]

There it goes.

Wow, I thought I'd seen everything before.

I've never seen anything like that.

[can clattering]

That'd be a nice little vehicle, huh,

for up here.

[gentle music]

- That was the whole idea to make a trash truck

that was nicer. - Whoa where's

my big [indistinct]?

- Right here man. - 'Sup man?

How you doing?

Chris.

- Ivan. - How you doing, Ivan?

What's going on here, man?

You guys make this?

That sucker's beautiful.

I couldn't tell.

I mean, it looks like a regular Explorer.

- That's what we're talking about.

That was the plan.

- You can't tell that anything

had been done to it at all.

- So what do you think? You wanna challenge eight cans?

- Let's go for an eight can challenge.

- See who can do it the fastest.

That's about one block.

- Gotta give me time to get turned around

in the back back there though.

- Oh hell with that, let's go right now.

- 'Cause you gotta make it in one turn

and I'll be back there five times

trying to get turned around.

[Henry laughs]

That sounds good.

- [Big Schwag] Ladies and gentleman,

once again the Big Schwag with my co-host,

Frankie Whiteside, we are ready for

a, "Monster Garage," eight can challenge.

The green flag is up and he's off.

- [Frankie] What a clean getaway. He's on can number one.

- [Big Schwag] Now this is 25 tons of steel,

sludge and stink that Henry Vaughn

is driving around and he is a precision dumpy man,



- [Frankie] And there's can number two.

Oh, a fingertip lift.

That could have cost him, Schwag.

- [Big Schwag] Let me tell you something,

basically Henry Vaughn is not a garbage man,

he is an athlete.

- [Frankie] Oh did you see that?

Double clutching.

The veteran garbage man might be

cracking under the pressure.

- [Big Schwag] And here comes the all important turn,

six, seven, that's an eight point turn.

You don't learn that in driver's education, Frank.

- [Frankie] No you don't and that's gonna

cost him 20 seconds Schwag,

and that leaves an opening for Jesse James

and the white Explorer.

- [Big Schwag] With can number seven down,

here comes can number eight.

Bam, he's into the final stretch,

crossing the finish line.

The checkered flag is up.

What does the time say, Frank?

- [Frankie] Two minutes and 58 seconds.

That's not bad.

- [Big Schwag] And look at veteran garbage man,

Henry Vaughn, he is saying, "I am the king,"

but Jesse James crew shaking their heads.

They didn't spend seven days and seven nights

to come in second place.

They're angry, Frank.

- [Frankie] And there's Jesse.

He's ready to go, Schwag.

Calm, cool, collected, ice water in that man's veins.

- [Big Schwag] Well let's find out, folks,

the green flag is up.

"Monster Garage," eight can challenge

and Jesse James is off.

- [Frankie] What a clean getaway.

Look at that speed.

Now that's where he's gonna make up

his time between stop.

- [Big Schwag] And here's Jesse James

moving onto can number one.

- [Frankie] Look at that thing, Schwag.

Claws, piston, cylinder, all working

together like a $10,000 watch.

- [Big Schwag] And here is Jesse James

moving onto can number two.

You know what, Frank?

Forget calling it an Eddie Bauer Ford Explorer.

It is now known as White Lightning.

You know what?

For under $3,000 it is perfection in motion.

- [Frankie] Can number three and it's so quiet,

it's a housewife's dream.

And there's can number four.

- [Big Schwag] We are coming into the all important turn.

- [Frankie] He went through that cul-de-sac

and he grabbed can number five like he owned it.

- [Big Schwag] He must have shaved 20 seconds

off Henry Vaughn's time.

You gotta be kidding me, Frank.

We're coming down to the last can.

It's a clean pickup.

[rock music]

And he's racing to the finish line.

What is the time, Frank?

- [Frankie] Two minutes and 32 seconds,

that's a 26 second differential.

- [Big Schwag] We have a winner and his name is Jesse James.

The crew has met the challenge and won.

Back at the Monster Garage,

they divvy up the plunder,

a stack of Mac toolkits worth about $3,400 each.

♪ Monster monster garage

♪ Monster monster garage

♪ Monster monster garage

♪ Monster monster garage

♪ Monster monster garage

♪ Monster monster garage

♪ Monster

♪ Monster garage

[uplifting music]