- [Schwag] Mayday, mayday, the final episode
of the Flying Car is coming in for a landing.
- Hey, what do you guys build on Monster Garage.
- [Schwag] The Garage has been turned into a hanger
and Jesse is ready to go flying.
The build team is getting into formation
for a full air as*ault and practicing
their inflight entertainment.
[Jesse singing in foreign language]
- Smiles everyone, smiles.
- [Schwag] So take your seats Monster aviators
because the Flying Car episode is about to take off.
♪ Pam-pa, pam-pa, pa
♪ Pam-pa, pam-pa, pam-pa, pa
[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".
[intense music]
♪ Monster, Monster Garage
♪ Monster, Monster Garage
♪ Monster, Monster Garage
♪ Monster, Monster Garage
♪ Monster, Monster Garage
- [Narrator] This week's challenge.
Take a half-finished flying car and finish it.
The rules.
The monster must appear to be airworthy.
[airplane roaring]
They'll get 5,000 bucks for parts.
The crew has seven days and nights.
The first day they design,
the next five they build,
and on the seventh day they fly.
It's that simple.
If successful, the team gets a $4,000 set of Mac Tools.
And the clock is still ticking.
The flying car is halfway done.
In three days, this crack team has made great progress
towards turning a luxury sports car
into a flying Frankenstein.
[intense music]
Cessna design Masterminds,
Mark Palmer and Neal Willford engineered
the car's aerodynamic transformation.
- This is gonna be an exercise in applied mathematics
like no one's ever seen before.
[dramatic music]
- [Narrator] Airplane fabricator Ronnie Powers,
and avionics expert, JD Terry tackled wing construction.
- Almost mission impossible,
but we're gonna get it done.
[dramatic music]
- Swedish car customizers, Johann Ragnarrson
and Niclas Jancik have helped tear down the Panoz
and build up the wings.
- I already am bigger than Abba.
[dramatic music]
- [Narrator] Fabricator Chris Rusch rocked out
the roll cage, and Panoz engineer Jason Barnes
has been exploring a new territory.
- To be honest I'm not an aircraft person.
[dramatic music]
- [Narrator] And designer Ed Sweeney
and master welder Andre Stowe,
have been battling over the dimensions of an engine lift.
- He's not a partner. Leave it at that.
[upbeat music]
[airplane roaring]
- [Narrator] Day five.
The team rolls into the garage
with just two days to finish the flying beast.
- We wanna get the wing, at least one wing done today
if not both.
We need to get the skeleton
for the horizontal tail done, set on there
and jig all the attach points into place
but we got no tooling.
They wanna set the engine up on top,
get our weight and balance check for the final check.
Like I say, we just got lots to do.
We got lots to do.
Lots to do.
Lots to do.
- [Narrator] While the build team
tries to get ahead on their flight plan,
Jesse's got one shot to get to the head of the class
at flying school.
- [laughs] Awesome.
You tell chicks you're a pilot?
- Yeah, it doesn't help. - No.
Where's the tunes man? [laughs]
You like a bumping system in here.
[airplane rumbling]
- [Pilot] On ground requesting taxi to two far right.
- [Control room] [indistinct] take off.
- [Pilot] Okay, we'll accelerate down the runway.
Full throttle.
Lights. Camera. Action.
[airplane roaring]
Nice job.
Hold your pitch about right there.
An inch above the horizon. - Okay.
- [Pilot] All right, what we're gonna do is at 1,000 feet
we're gonna level off by pushing the nose down
and pulling the throttle back.
So put your hand on the throttle.
Basically you want the nose slightly
above the horizon, about right there.
Okay, Jesse, let's try some turns.
Before we turn, make sure nobody's in our way.
Left this clear and we turn to the left.
Go ahead and use that aileron to bank the airplane.
Good, about 30 degrees of bank.
Let's look for West Coast Choppers.
Where is they should be to the left somewhere around here.
- [Jesse] I know where it is, man.
It's right there.
- It see that green building? - Yeah.
- That's mine. [laughs] - Cool.
- [Jesse] This doesn't feel like it's that hard,
it's just getting a feel for it, you know.
- [Pilot] Yeah. You're not doing too bad for the first time.
- [Jesse] I'm a fast learner man. I can drive anything.
- [Pilot] That's the spirit.
Now the trick is, when you land, you wanna land nose up.
Push forward.
Line up the runway as best as you can.
All right, better pitch up slightly.
A little more.
A little more.
There we go.
Alright, Jesse, you didn't k*ll us?
That's good.
[upbeat music]
- [Jesse] Should I get any kind
of little plastic wings or anything?
- [Pilot] No, not today.
- That sucks. [laughs]
I was really flying, man.
- [Narrator] With one lesson under his belt,
Jesse's ready to fly solo.
So he heads back to the garage
to prep his monster for flight.
Andre's priority is to finish the engine lift.
Although he and Ed parted ways,
they're trying to be grownups about it.
- Well, we're not, we've never been off speaking terms,
it's a question, he wants to do it his way
and I'm not gonna argue.
- Ed's a good guy.
He's thorough,
- [Narrator] But Andre can't handle the design alone.
[ominous music]
Maybe what the engine needs is a little Swedish massage.
- You bet ya.
- Okay, what I'm trying to do here.
You see our motor over there?
I'm trying to make a frame up here, okay.
That motor's gonna sit on top.
So if you wanna-
- But is it supposed to sit on top of it,
or is it supposed to- - Well, we could
put it inside.
- How're you gonna attach it?
Well, the thing is that it needs to be,
that's what's gonna push the entire thing forward.
And we don't want the car to standing still
and the engine to take off.
[upbeat music]
- [Narrator] So with a little ingenuity
and a touch of Scandinavian style,
the guys knock out a solid square engine mount.
[upbeat music]
- I know.
- [Narrator] Andre installs the final element of the lift,
the actuator, which will power the lift up and down.
- It looks pretty good,
so right now it's my barbecue.
And when it fails, it's gonna be Ed's barbecue.
No. [chuckles]
No, I kind of strong armed Ed
and told him that it's gonna have to be this way
because we did so much work on it, three days of work,
and to tear it all apart and redo it was not,
it just wasn't feasible for us to do that,
so we went with this design.
It looks like it's working so far.
If it goes up and down, I say it's a success.
- [Narrator] The carbon fiber propeller
is attached to the engine and the lift is put to the test.
- [Andre] Here we go.
[dramatic music]
- So far, so good so far. - So far, good.
- Down, down, down. - Watch them arms down there.
- What arms? - We're fine. We're fine.
- The arms down there. - Here?
- Yeah. - We're still fine.
We're still fine.
Stop. That's it. We're down.
That's down. - It's twisting-
- [Narrator] After three days of sweat and tears,
the engine lift is a success.
- Hoorah!
- [Narrator] Jesse rolls in and takes a look
at the newly minted lift.
- Hey, that looks good. Nice job guys. [chuckles]
- There you go. - That looks like poo.
[equipment clanging]
- Does this have the cool factor?
- No. It looks like, oh good.
You might not ever hear me say this again,
and this is the first time I've ever said it.
I should have did what the engineer said
and just made it fixed.
Hey Chris, how high does it go up and down?
- From here to the white line.
Like six. - That's it?
- [Chris] From there to there.
- You know what?
We're not gonna, yeah, let's just make,
since it's only going up this much, that's kind of,
you know, I mean, if it just like, [imitates airplane]
then this like motor like comes out of nowhere,
that would be cool.
But, you know, I think we can use the extra help
with wings and stuff like that.
You know, 'cause we're out of,
we're gonna, we're running out of time
and those guys need help over there.
And then Chris and I can
do all the fuel system and fuel cell
and mount all that stuff and get, make all the stuff run.
So we're not doing it at the last minute.
- Well, you know, I would, we set out to give them
what they wanted and we gave them what they wanted.
But now that it's done, they don't like it.
I'm fine with it. - Oh, come on.
- I am. - Tears in your eyes.
- I'm fine with it, man. All right.
Will you get that thing out of my face.
- [Narrator] Now to destroy three days of work.
[tools whirring] [dramatic music]
[Chris groans]
[equipment thuds]
- You gonna get this on film.
I'm the guy that wrecked [beeps] the engine.
This way it's gonna fall off here in a second.
Say goodbye.
[upbeat music]
- [Crew] Goodbye.
[upbeat music]
[Chris laughs]
- That would just, while it's in there lock-
- [Andre] Well show us where we can put the skin on.
- [Narrator] On the other side of the garage,
the wing skeleton is complete.
JD and Ronnie begin skinning it with sheet metal.
[dramatic music]
[drill whizzing]
- [Ronnie] Right there.
There it is.
- [Narrator] Although JD is hard at work building the wings,
he's more than just a fabricator.
- Actually, I am an engineer from the Cessna team,
but I'm building 'cause too many engineers,
nothing ever gets done.
- [Narrator] JD Terry is an avionics engineer for Cessna.
- Avionics is all the control systems in the aircraft,
all the audio systems, autopilot, all that stuff.
So it's pretty slick stuff.
- [Narrator] The flying car does not require avionics,
but fortunately JD is a jack of all trades.
- I happen to be A&P mechanic
and a automotive enthusiast.
- [Narrator] He's even built his own experimental
flying machine called a gyrocopter.
- I mean, it's a flying lounge chair,
it is so dangerous, but it's pretty cool.
None of us have been k*lled in it yet,
so I guess it's pretty safe.
[team bustling]
- [Narrator] The first wing is starting to take shape.
Niclas and Johann start fabricating another crucial element
of the wings, the ailerons.
To create lift, air passing over the wings
is deflected downwards, resulting in enough force
to lift off the ground.
Once this occurs, the ailerons will control the wings
to keep them level.
- The flappers. - Flippers.
- Flippers. - Flippers.
- Yeah. Flippers.
[drill whizzing]
- I love Swedes, man.
- Just 'cause of their voice,
"We need to lower it down,
"it's not up the scale yet.
"Don't know what you're doing."
- [Narrator] All joking aside,
the team is running out of time.
Although progress is being made on the flying car,
some of their efforts have put them behind.
- It just kind of dawned on me about 30 minutes ago
that we're not gonna make it
if we don't make some significant progress.
So their book smarts is all fine and dandy,
but it doesn't supersede
my time evaluation smarts, you know.
I could always like fit the actual real time to the job
and I was kind of looking at everything
and I just realized 30 minutes ago,
we ain't gonna get done. [chuckles]
- [Narrator] Monster Garage factoid.
In 1943, Franklin Roosevelt
became the first acting president
to use an aircraft for transportation.
Before the president's plane was called Air Force One,
it was known as The Independence,
Guess Where To, and The Sacred Cow.
♪ Monster, Monster Garage
- [Narrator] Day five.
- [Frankie] Lunch.
As the team takes a break, Jesse gives the guys a pep talk.
- Right now I can't see us really finishing, you know.
The way it feels right now, I just,
we've got too much work to do to get it done.
So I mean, we could maybe squeak by at midnight.
Usually I have a pretty good, after almost 70 of these
or something, I have a pretty good idea when,
what the amount of work that needs to be done
as far as manpower, and I think we can totally get it done
if everybody is doing something.
So, you know, I mean, everybody, if you don't have something
to do, pair up with someone
and, you know, ask someone else if they need help.
Because I think, just, we know exactly
what we have to do as far as, you know,
it's just all the labor part now.
I mean, it's already kind of,
the math has figured out, you know.
Right now we just need to get everything done.
No fancy stuff, you know.
- [Narrator] But Jesse doesn't think it's going to get done
without a little extra motivation.
Wings are the priority
and Jesse wants to double up on the labor.
- Yeah, and then we can take that table in there
and we can put this wing on that.
- Okay.
- Hey Neal, you wanna help him move all that stuff
and consolidate over on one bench?
- [Neal] Yeah.
- Then we can take that other bench over next door.
- [Narrator] One table is used to skin the first wing
while Ronnie and JD start building the second.
[instrument grinding] [intense music]
The band at D.I. returns to the garage
to give the team some musical motivation.
♪ Jesse's got a problem
♪ He's outta control
♪ Got static on the brain
♪ Outta control
♪ Now Jesse's got a problem
♪ He's outta control
♪ Got static on the brain
♪ Working every day down in Monster Garage ♪
♪ Fitting and flipping all kinds of cars ♪
♪ Running every day
♪ Digging your own band
♪ To tell you weather you'll be safe ♪
♪ Because we just picked up with you ♪
♪ Jesse's got a problem
♪ He's outta control
♪ Monster Garage is outta control ♪
♪ Jesse's got a problem
♪ He's outta control
♪ Got static, static
♪ Jesse's got a problem
♪ He's outta control
♪ Jesse's got a problem
♪ He's outta control
♪ Jesse's got a problem
♪ He's outta control
♪ Jesse's got a problem
♪ He's outta control
- Thanks for having us
you guys. - Thanks guys.
- Work on brothers, work on.
- Yeah! - I like that.
[Jesse whistles]
- [Narrator] Jesse's only problem with this build
is not enough dime.
This beast needs a tail,
so Andre starts fabricating aluminum fins.
[upbeat music]
[machines whirring]
- It is gonna go here.
I still need to put a piece here, piece here.
Then we're gonna skin it with aluminum.
- [Narrator] Fixed vertical wings will attach to the tail
to keep the car flying straight.
Normally tail fins have rudders
that prevent the aircraft from drifting off the runway
if there's a cross wind.
The flying car was designed
to fly directly into the wind,
so rudders will not be needed.
Ed notices that the fins Andre is making don't have rudders
and confronts the chief engineer.
- As far as, we don't want to add features
to this thing at this stage of the game, okay.
We committed to no rudders when we started.
Well, uncommit to no rudders.
It's a safety issue. - We don't have time.
We don't have time.
There's a whole bunch of safety issues, trust me.
- I know there's safety issues.
That's one of them. - This is one of many.
- This is one we can solve.
- That's why we do ground testing.
- We're not gonna have any,
we aren't not gonna test this thing on the ground.
- I'm not going to.
No, I'm not gonna add any features right now.
We've got to do what we got on our list.
- I'm dead set against this being used without rudders.
It's dangerous.
- You may, well- - I've been there.
- You may remain dead set against it,
but I'm not gonna add them.
- Here we go again.
If we eliminate the rudder function,
the moving rudder, then we have no directional control
of the vehicle, both during takeoff
and after and during the landing.
If this thing lands going a little bit sideways,
it's gonna flip over.
Deadly, k*ller.
And I know from my experience
with my two Aero cars, you can't do that.
You have to line up with the runway.
- Wait, I mean, is it really that serious?
- Absolutely. It's a k*ller.
This will, it'll k*ll.
It's not safe without rudders.
And especially since Jesse's gonna be the guy
that insists he's gonna make the first flight.
He's not an aviator,
doesn't have thousands of hours of experience at this.
It has to land with those Panoz wheels
going straight on the ground again.
- [Andre] Ed says, you guys want to k*ll Jesse.
- We don't wanna k*ll anybody.
- k*ll Jesse! Who said that? - Ed?
- Ed said that? He's outta line.
- If Jesse wants movable rudders,
then he needs to let us know.
- [Andre] Jesse wants what you tell him.
You're the brains.
- We said if we want to have this done,
it needs to have fixed rudders
and he needs to fly it into the wind.
So if he wants to fly it, which-
- Pick a calm day. - Pick a calm day.
- Just pray that a big gust of wind doesn't go,
[imitates wind blowing] bam!
Have to land sideways.
[metal clanging]
- [Narrator] But Jesse can't worry about his safety now,
he's got a flying car to build.
- I got to do the car exhaust with the oxygen sensors in it,
so the motor runs with that.
Then flanges for Cessna exhaust,
a battery for the Cessna engine,
Cessna fuel lines, fuel system, the throttle control
and batteries for all the starter and all that.
That's it.
And now we're totally done, man.
Got one day.
- [Narrator] Nothing to do but do it.
[upbeat music]
[dramatic music]
Jesse's work mania inspires the wing team
to pick up the pace.
By the end of day five,
a wing has gone from skeleton to skin.
- There're people who'll see this on TV
that know what we've done and they'll go
"Holy [pings]".
- [Narrator] As the day comes to an end,
there's still one question on everyone's mind.
- Is this thing gonna fly?
Ask again later. [laughs]
[dramatic music]
[pipe blowing]
- [Schwag] This is your captain, Big Schwag, speaking,
headwinds straight ahead.
Buckle up and stay seated, or else...
[Andre cheering]
♪ Monster, Monster Garage
[airplane roaring]
- [Narrator] Day six.
It's the last build day
and the team is ready to fly.
[airplane roaring] [upbeat music]
- If we don't get it done by midnight, then that's that.
But just want it to work.
You know, I don't wanna not make it.
This build's making my head crazy.
- [Narrator] Even if Jesse's brain hurts,
Mark thinks they're ahead of the game.
- I bet you we'll have the tail on this by lunchtime.
So that gives us 12 hours
to rig the controls and both the wings on.
So we've got a good chance now.
We've got a good chance.
We got a lot done yesterday.
- [Narrator] But over in wing-building country,
it seems like the work is never done.
- I've drilled and I've riveted
more than I ever wanted to ever in my entire life.
[rivet tool whining]
[rivet tool popping]
[tool grinding]
- How's that look?
- [Narrator] As progress is made on the wings,
Andre is really flying on the tail fins.
[airplane roaring]
Once it's time to skin them,
the master welder needs a wingman.
- Yeah. Fireball Tim here he's my buddy
and he's given me another hand.
- Any helping hand. - Yeah, any helping hand.
In fact, if you wanna grab a drill... [laughs]
[intense music] [equipment whirling]
[rivet popping]
- The hole.
[upbeat music]
- [Narrator] There is little room left in the Panoz
for a gas tank.
Ideally Jesse would install a smaller one,
but Panoz engines are particular
about electronic compatibility,
so Jesse needs to make a smaller tank out of the original.
[upbeat music]
Now to check the welds.
- [Jesse] See how many leaks it has.
- [Narrator] The smallest leaks
could turn into the biggest problems.
[upbeat music]
- Yay, yay!
- [Narrator] High on the lift,
ED and Chris are mastering
the throttle controls and fuel lines,
but Chris is pushing the team a little too hard.
- Hold, the car is rolling.
- [Chris] Whoa!
- [Ed] Hello.
- [Narrator] Total catastrophe averted
by a tape measure.
- That was our first flight.
- [Narrator] No time to contemplate disaster.
- Whoa!
- [Narrator] There's work to do.
[plane roaring] [upbeat music]
Neal and Nicholas finished the tail
and attached the elevator that will help the car lift off.
- So when you push or pull in the steering,
it will activate that in the back there.
- Complete.
- [Narrator] Finally, the fins and tails are put together.
[upbeat music]
- These vertical stabilizer wings are installed now.
I guess we're almost ready to mount it on top
of our fuselage.
I'm feel good, dam.
I'm all like fluttery inside, you know. Oh!
All right.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- [Andre] Look out! Smack!
- [Narrator] The team takes note of a momentous step.
- [Andre] Hey, is that a good lineup or what?
- Hold on. - Here we go.
- [Narrator] But there's still no time for celebration.
- [Andre] You like that?
- [Narrator] With the majority of the weight in the car,
the engineers need to pull their calculators out once again.
- This is the last chance we get to weigh the engine,
the car, and the tail booms and everything.
And we're gonna take that information,
we're gonna get the final position of the wing.
We're gonna run a final weight and balance,
and we'll move the wing forward or back
to get it in the best spot we can so that it'll fly
as good as possible.
[logo whooshing]
- [Narrator] Neal Willford is in charge
of new product development for Cessna.
- In a way, what I'm doing here is like what I do every day,
except it's a lot shorter schedule.
- [Narrator] Unlike many engineers,
Neal is also a fabricator
and has built a plane in his own garage.
- Building an airplane at home I think has made me
a better designer because you just learn
how things go together.
You find out just how metal works.
- [Narrator] As the brainiacs calculate,
the wingmen are just rivets away from finishing their task.
- One more. The last rivet.
[upbeat music]
[rivet pops]
- There we go.
- It's been a very traumatic experience.
- I don't know if I feel any different.
[upbeat music]
- [Narrator] The garage is about to become
an airplane hanger.
- Come on, I need help.
[upbeat music]
- All right, roll it up. Roll it up.
- You okay? - Yep.
- There we go. - Let's go.
- [Ronnie] Come down in.
- It's in. - Hey!
[upbeat music]
- [Narrator] After four days of fabrication,
the first wing is attached.
[metal banging]
- [Ronnie] Broke the bit instead.
- [JD] All right, you get up there, I can hold it.
- [Narrator] Now for wing number two.
- Okay. Hold that helped right there. h*.
Okay. It's in. - All right.
- [Narrator] The Panoz has wings, scratch-built,
garage-made wings.
Ronnie is thrilled.
- Looks pretty good, but Looks a lot better sitting
on this car than it did on that steel table, I'll tell you.
- You've got an airplane in your garage.
- [Narrator] With the wings finally attached,
the build team can start making the precise adjustments
in their angle and height.
- [JD] No, you need to come down, Ronnie.
- [Ronnie] Tell me when.
- [JD] Little more. Little more.
- [Narrator] Midway through the final build day,
Jesse takes a minute to think about lifting off
in an airplane made in just five days.
- Hey, what could possibly go wrong with that?
Go wrong. Go wrong. Go wrong.
- [Narrator] Monster Garage factoid.
In 1930, the airline industry hired women
to be flight attendants.
Unlike the flight attendants of today, they were required
to be registered nurses.
♪ Monster, Monster Garage
- [Narrator] It's almost 7:00 PM
and the Panoz finally has wings.
[upbeat music]
- This is great.
- [Narrator] But that doesn't mean the car can fly, yet.
- I better go to work.
- [Narrator] The flying car engineers
are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
- We're the most optimistic
we've been since it started.
So it's best to feel that way and not the opposite.
So, you know, middle of the week,
I thought our chances were about one in a thousand, truly.
- [Narrator] But in walks a reality check
in the form of Little John Buttera,
an old school mechanic and friend of the Garage.
- What the hell kind of flaming
boardwalk crasher are you doing now?
What is that?
- [Jesse] What could possibly go wrong, right?
- I can't think of anything.
You've completely [buzzes] lost it.
- It makes you happy though.
- Oh you're nuts.
You're absolutely nuts. You're berserk.
- [Narrator] Nothing makes Jesse more determined
than when someone says it can't be done.
In Jesse's philosophy, the only way to achieve
the impossible is through hard work.
His next task is to build an exhaust system
for the flying monster.
[intense music]
[machine grinding]
[welder sizzling]
- That's awesome.
This thing's gonna rock
when he turns it on.
- Airplane time man.
- [Narrator] The Jesse James instant IQ test.
Those that think they know exactly
what they're doing are usually wrong.
Those that say they don't know for sure do.
- Hey Ronnie. - Yeah.
- You sure you know what the hell you're doing?
- No, but we're gonna do it anyway.
- [Jesse] Ed, you sure you know what you're doing?
- I know. Yes indeed.
Don't run it with a prop on it.
- You know, my theory stands uncontested.
- [Narrator] Mark is the man to handle the controls,
he's engineering the steering rod
that will manipulate the ailerons and the elevator.
- This is a stick you're gonna control the airplane with.
It's gonna be overhead like this,
these two turn buckles are gonna run
a set of cables back to the tail.
This is gonna have two sets of turn buckles;
one's on the left here are gonna go off the left wing
and the set on the right are gonna go off to the right wing.
When you move a stick left to right,
it'll turn those cables loose,
so when you move it front to back,
it turns this cable loose.
- [Narrator] Installing the control cables
is not a one-man job,
so Mark gets help from the entire team.
[upbeat music]
[upbeat music]
[welder sizzling]
[machine whizzing]
- See that face. - Woo!
- [Jesse] Yeah, you're a genius.
- Attaboy, Mark.
- [Mark] All right, just need a cold beer.
Take a cold beer. - He wants a cold beer.
- Holy, we might actually do it. [laughs]
I don't believe it. We're close. I could taste it.
Pretty amazing.
Pretty amazing sitting right here,
watching all these guys finish this.
Three hours left and we got a flying car, dude.
[equipment clanging]
[upbeat music]
- [Narrator] Once it sinks in
he's actually going to fly the monster.
- Pretty bitchin hun?
- [Narrator] Jesse decides to install a vital component.
- These might not be a bad idea to put in. [laughs]
Just seat belts.
[upbeat music]
Like packing your own chute. - Exactly. Go for it.
[Johann speaking in foreign language]
- What do you think of it all overall?
- Bitchin! Let's finish it
- [Narrator] With the final safety details in place,
it's time to test the engine.
This flying contraption doesn't have
just one engine to fire, it has two
- Are both motors gonna work?
Without a doubt.
- [Narrator] But the airplane engine
is missing a vital part,
the spark plugs that Ed removed two days ago.
- Can we put 'them in?
Give them to me- - No.
- I'll put 'them in right now.
- No. - Why?
- Because it's unsafe.
Get the car unsafe. - Oh! [jingles].
Gimme the spark plugs, man.
Where's the spark plugs at? Huh?
Well, what's the difference if the wheels
are on the ground you can't put the,
it has has nothing to do with, you know, they don't...
Come on, put the spark plugs in, all right.
I'll get you a ladder. I'm your buddy.
- [Narrator] Ed insists on holding out.
- He's got the ace in the hole, right,
right in his pocket.
It's all waiting on Ed.
- [Jesse] Well the battery's not connected up yet.
- Ed has the keys and he's not gonna drive.
- Why? - 'Cause Ed likes the power.
- [Jesse] Hey Ed, just before you do anything,
let's get in-
- [Narrator] After a quick look around,
Jesse spots the missing spark plugs.
- There in his pocket right there.
- Yeah, I know.
- Bet, you can snag them, huh.
Dude I'll give you five bucks if we do.
- [Andre] We need...
- [Jesse] Oh that was close.
You get nothing for the top. [laughs]
- How about a buck?
Gimme, gimme a buck.
- All right, that was good.
[Andre laughing]
- There you go. - Thanks, man.
I got $1.
- He tried to snag those out of his pocket. [laughs]
I like Andre.
He wasn't even slick about it either.
- [Narrator] Ed's holding up the airplane engine test
but the Panoz engine is primed and ready.
- Wow, you guys are gonna really make Panoz look bad
if this doesn't start.
- I know.
- There's gonna be pink slips on your locker Monday.
[light music] [team chattering faintly]
There you go.
- [Jesse] It's actually kicking the pump.
- [Narrator] To everyone's surprise.
The precision engine is silent.
- I think we know what it is. - What?
- The ground wires from when we pulled the dash out.
- Damn it!
[pondering music]
- [Narrator] After a few minor adjustments,
the Panoz crew tries again.
- Now it's working.
All right, try now.
[engine revs]
[upbeat music]
- [Narrator] The beast roars to life.
[team clapping] - [Team] yeah.
- [Jesse] It's alive.
- I always thought, you know when you see TV shows like this
and the car never start on its first attempt.
"No, that's staged, you know, just to kind of add drama
"and stuff like that," but I guess I was wrong.
- [Andre] You sure as hell were?
- [Jesse] Yes sir.
[upbeat music]
- [Narrator] The attention turns
to starting the propeller engine.
Ed finally coughs up the spark plugs.
[upbeat music]
- It's a matter of just safety,
making sure everything's right.
Let's see, I need an open-end wrench, 11/16.
[upbeat music]
- [Narrator] At 10:10 PM,
the plane motor is put to the test.
[propellers grinding]
[motor revving]
- [Team] Yeah!
- [Narrator] The first airplane to ever grace the garage
turns over.
[team clapping] [team whistling]
In just five days, these 10 builders have done
what few men, sane or crazy, have dared to do:
build a flying car.
At 11:00 PM, the builders get a well deserved moment
in the sun.
[upbeat music]
- Fantastic. - Yep.
- Awesome guys.
Built a flying car this week.
Something that for like the last five years
I wanted to do this and everybody told me I couldn't.
So this gives them the big finger.
Mac Tools, "Motorcycle Mania" CDs.
Good job.
Hey, you guys are awesome.
It's probably the pound-for-pound
the best team we've ever had.
We've ever had.
We've ever had.
We've ever had.
- [Narrator] Monster Garage build cost tally.
Vehicle cost: $90,000.
Build cost: $9,791.51.
Freebie value: $19,500.
Total cost: $119,291.51.
♪ Monster, Monster Garage
- [Schwag] Hey Monster aviators.
It's the Big Schwag here in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
for a truly historic Monster Garage challenge.
- [Frankie] We're a long way from Long Beach Schwag.
- [Schwag] And that's my old pal, Frankie Whiteside.
Hey Frankie, can I call you Wilbur?
- [Frankie] Only if I can call you Orville.
- [Schwag] That's a deal Wilbur.
- [Frankie] Schwagman, it was here on December 17th, 1903
that Orville and Wilbur Wright's monster
made the first powered flight in history.
- [Schwag] A perfect place for the master fabricator
to become a master aviator.
- It's kind of cool to think about
how much the world's been changed
by this spot 100 years ago.
How our lives would be different,
still be horseback. [laughs]
This is the first flight just from rock to rock.
That don't look like that far.
Actually it does a little bit. [laughs]
That's in the car.
This is pretty cool though because every kid
in the whole world dreams of being able to fly.
[imitates plane engines]
- [Schwag] Jesse's ride in the sky
won't be much like the Wright brothers.
- [Frankie] That's right Schwag.
Theirs was mostly wood and canvas,
but our Monster's full of heavy metal.
- [Schwag] And finished up by a smoking
and paint job by West Coast Chopper's own Pete Finlan.
[upbeat music]
- [Frankie] The cars riddled with b*llet holes
and the wings are monstorized.
[upbeat music]
[dramatic music]
- [Schwag] There it is, the freshly painted Panoz.
[upbeat music]
- [Frankie] Who are those guys Schwag?
- [Schwag] Those are some of the bill team members
that came to ensure Jesse a safe flight.
- Come to the rear. h*, h*, that's got it.
[upbeat music]
All right, you guys get ready to work it up and down here,
we're gonna put the strut in.
All right, let her down.
Down a little bit more.
[metal clanging]
That's got it.
- We actually made it here
and are actually gonna do it.
Been talking about it for years.
[upbeat music]
- And this is to make it go faster,
reduce the drag.
- You think if I chicken out everybody would be pissed?
- [Ronnie] Yeah.
[Jesse laughing]
I took out an insurance policy on you.
Is that okay?
- I don't feel like it. - No.
- [Schwag] The flying car is assembled
and it's a thing of true beauty.
- [Frankie] It certainly is Schwag.
Check out the wingspan.
- It looks like it's gonna do something. [laughs]
- [Schwag] Something no one wants this monster
to do is crash and burn.
[plane roaring]
- [Frankie] That's why the fire department is here
to give the beast a down home safety check.
- Watch yourself.
- Where's the fuel shutoff?
- All your shutoffs are right here.
- Okay, that's just a normal
like five-point safety harnesses
- Basic five-point. - We're square. No problem.
We're ready to roll. Y'all ready?
Go ahead.
- [Frankie] Jesse sure looks ready.
- [Schwag] If this works,
he's gonna have to add some wings to that race suit.
- [Frankie] Way fast, whitey becomes way fast flighty.
Schwag, conditions are ideal.
- [Schwag] Hey Frankie. Who's that?
This airspace is supposed to be a no fly zone.
- [Frankie] Turns out Discovery Channel insisted
a test pilot fly the monster first before Jesse
because of Ed Sweeney.
- [Ed] It's a k*ller, k*ller, k*ller, k*ller.
It'll k*ll, it'll k*ll, it'll k*ll, k*ll, k*ll, k*ll.
- [Frankie] But if test pilot Bob Green says no dice
Discovery says no flight.
- [Schwag] You gotta be kidding me.
You mean Jesse may be grounded before he even gets to fly?
- [Frankie] That's right, my excitable friend.
- [Jesse] What's up man?
- Hey, how's it going buddy? - How're you doing man.
- Bob Green, nice see you.
- Yeah. You like that? - Yeah man.
Well I was hoping to fly it.
- Fly it for what?
I didn't invite you here to fly it.
I'm supposed to be flying it.
- Well, I'm with you. Go ahead.
- [Frankie] Even though Jesse won't let Bob fly the Monster,
he's happy to get some tips from a seasoned test pilot.
- And you're gonna gradually slow the throttle down
if you're gonna let it down correct, not abrupt.
- Yeah, I don't wanna pull out the throttle too much.
- Yeah, - Try to land
with full throttle and then, you know, just easy
so it doesn't, [imitates a plane].
- Yeah, if you backed down,
I mean if it feels uncomfortable,
maybe I can try see- - Hell no.
- [Bob] [laughs] All right.
- That costs money. This is my ride.
- [Schwag] Sorry Bob. Maybe next time.
- What time is it?
Let's test it.
Let's do this. I got to do.
- [Frankie] Pre-flight check.
- [Schwag] Check.
- Okay. Start the motor.
Emergency brake's off.
Put it in gear. Turn the plane motor on.
Full throttle. Accelerating.
We figured 80 in third.
Pull up on the stick.
Hopefully it'll come up.
And then landing,
I'm gonna have to like ease it down,
not getting out of the plane throttle,
and get out and then switch to car
as soon as it hits the ground.
We always call it a flying car,
we didn't make it a landing car. [laughs]
[upbeat music]
- [Schwag] Hey Frankie, check out those wings.
This monster looks ready to fly.
- [Frankie] Oh yeah. Schwag. This is gonna be great.
[upbeat music]
♪ Monster, Monster Garage
- [Schwag] Folks, it's just about time to see
what this monster can do.
- [Frankie] Schwag, Jesse's plan is to ease the plane
up and down the runway for a test pass and then go for it.
[rotor rattling]
All systems are go Schwag. - Oh yeah!
[upbeat music]
[plane roaring]
- [Frankie] The wings look pretty stable to me.
- [Schwag] Frankie, I think
this thing's actually gonna fly.
[upbeat music] [engine revving]
- [Narrator] Ronnie from the build team
has a few last minute pointers for Jesse.
- All right, it's rich, all the way back, it's rich.
- Okay. - So you're good to go.
Good luck.
[engine revving]
- [Schwag] Now it's time for the real thing.
[crowd cheering]
- [Frankie] The crowd is sure psyched.
- I wanna to see a car fly.
- Just like the Wright brother.
Keep her off the ground. She counts.
- I don't know if that car will fly or not.
- Got full confidence.
You know Jesse, that man can build anything.
[upbeat music]
[birds squawking] [wings flapping]
[engine revving]
[upbeat music]
- [Frankie] You gotta be kidding me.
[crowd cheering]
- [Frankie] We're looking at
history in the making my friend.
- [Jesse] Yes. [laughs]
- [Schwag] The Wright Brothers, Lindbergh,
Howard Hughes and now Jesse James.
Jesse more than doubled the Wright brothers, Frankie.
- [Frankie] He actually flew nearly 300 feet, Schwagman.
- [Schwag] This Monster did what it's set out to do.
Topped the Wright brothers in a flying car
built in five days.
- [Frankie] Jesse's made it back safely to terra firma.
- I didn't know if it was gonna come up
and I pulled up a little more stick,
I'm like, "I'm off the ground."
I'm like, "What's gonna happen now?"
And then I started like easing out of it to land
and it like, it was cool. [laughs]
Piece of cake.
Let's go to the moon next.
[tires screeching]
Yeah!
[crowd cheering]
Did you guys think I was gonna crash?
- Yeah. - No.
- Not you.
- [Schwag] This build team is still to visit
with the pilot of the fine Monsters they built.
- Hey, where's Ed Sweeney?
I'm not dead.
- Looked real smooth.
He did a great job flying it.
Kept the wings level.
- And I think the thing with a little more horsepower
would fly around the airport.
Yeah, I believe it would.
- At first I was like, "Oh man, all these people out here,
"if this thing actually does nothing,
"I'm gonna, it's gonna suck."
- [Frankie] I don't think I've ever seen
anything like this before.
- [Schwag] And Frank we'll probably
never see anything like it again.
- [Frankie] That's why they call it history, Schwag.
[engines roaring]
- [Schwag] And that's what Jesse is
'cause he's got no time for pilot stealing his seat.
Rides that aren't sweet are Panoz cars
they can't get off the ground.
- [Frankie] He's got metal of the burn, sparks to fly.
- [Schwag] The next Monster Garage challenge
is just past the end of the runway.
[singing in foreign language]
[Johann speaks in foreign language]
Welcome to our World! Where we serve you cookies to ensure you get the best viewing experience on our site.
Did you know that you can remove censorship board-wide, use our advanced search functions, be notified when new content is posted, join our memberships, set episodes to show in any order you want & more if you are logged into your account?
Register or sign in here: ucp.php?mode=register
Did you know that you can remove censorship board-wide, use our advanced search functions, be notified when new content is posted, join our memberships, set episodes to show in any order you want & more if you are logged into your account?
Register or sign in here: ucp.php?mode=register
04x24 - Panoz Flying Car (Pt. 2)
Watch/Buy Amazon
A team of five people with mechanical, fabricating, or modifying expertise was assembled to modify a vehicle into a "monster machine."
A team of five people with mechanical, fabricating, or modifying expertise was assembled to modify a vehicle into a "monster machine."