[Shorty] We're getting ready
to go see one of our friends, his name is Pork Chop.
And he just happens to have in '69 Firebird
he wants to build as a '69 Trans Am.
Jeez!
[Joel] Where's the rest of it?
[Gary] We've had this car to two other shops
and it comes back in worse condition every time.
[PG] The belt's gone.
[Joel] Everything's gone off the front, man.
Line it out.
[Shorty] We have a lot of work ahead on this car.
What sets 'em apart is mainly the paintjob.
These cars were iconic for their color.
[Joel] Clean it up, fuel injection, AC, white seats.
-That is amazing! -[all laughing]
[theme music playing]
[Shorty] My name is Javier,
but most people call me Shorty.
I was born in Mexico...
[engine revs]
[Shorty] ...and when I was four-years-old,
my parents moved to Texas
in search of the American dream.
Now, I'm living that dream
with my own custom shop
and the team that builds the coolest cars on the road.
-Oh! -Oh, my God!
[Shorty] We make dreams come true.
[all exclaiming]
So, what you got? Where are we going?
What's cooking?
Well, we're gonna pick up a badass Firebird, Joel?
-A Firebird? -Yeah, a Firebird, man.
-We've done a Firebird. -I know it.
Joel and I are getting ready to go see one of our friends,
his name is Gary,
but he goes by Pork Chop.
And he just happens to have a real neat, nice
'69 Firebird,
which he wants to clone into a '69 Trans Am.
And get this, it's also a convertible.
Well, look,
we're gonna clone this car.
-Clone it? -Yes, it's not a real one.
We're gonna clone it. We're gonna Pork Chop it.
Yes.
His wife has always wanted a car like this,
so Pork Chop found this car
and wants to give it to her as a surprise.
And I have one question, man.
I'm not trying to be funny pr anything but...
-What? -How do you call yourself Pork Chop?
[chuckles]
[Joel] Damn, dog.
Punch it, man, I'm hungry.
[blues music playing]
Get it off in here.
I think we're good there, Shorty.
Shorty and Joel are down to take a look at my '69 Firebird.
We've had it at few shops
and they haven't done this right.
See, if they could do something with it.
And maybe, do some fuel injection,
turn it into a Trans Am that my wife's always wanted.
Y'all ready to go into Toy Box?
[Shorty] Hey, Pork Chop, how did you get your "Pork Chop" name, man?
Is that a big story or a short story?
-Little short story. -[Shorty] All right.
I was in the wrecking yard business for years.
And every time I'd make a big deal,
I'd run through the office saying,
"I'm rich, I'm rich!"
And one of my best friends, he said,
"You squeal like a pork chop, Pork Chop.
[all chuckling]
That's how I got the name, Pork Chop.
[Joel] I knew it was gonna be unique.
-Oh, damn. -[Shorty] Nice.
[Joel] Look at that.
[Shorty] Pork Chop, you got another Trans Am there.
[Gary] I do.
-That's a '77. -'77.
[Gary] This is my little thumper.
[engine starts]
Nice.
That's 400 Pontiac in it also.
[Shorty] Man, I love it.
Let's get on to the business that y'all are here for.
My bride's wagon.
Jeez!
[Joel] Where's the rest of it, Pork Chop?
When we first got married,
I asked her if she wanted another GTO.
She said, "No, I'd really like to have a nice little convertible Firebird."
My wife is the kind of gal,
if you give her a hot rod, she's gonna drive it.
She's gonna drive the wheels off of it.
We went and found the '69 Firebird
and we wanted to tribute it to a Trans Am
'cause she likes to look of the Trans Am.
So, in 1969 they made 714 Trans Ams all together.
They only made eight Trans Am convertibles.
-Eight? -They only made eight.
They made four four-speeds and four automatics.
Wow.
Very sought after car.
To buy a real one,
it would cost you in the mid 1.5 million range.
You're looking at $38,000 in this heap right here.
We've had this car to two other shops
and it comes back in worse condition every time.
If a car has been to other shops,
the odds are that there are some issues with it.
I mean, obviously, you know, I see what we have to do and stuff,
but I guess, we need to talk to PG
about redoing the whole entire interior in it
because he want it to look like a Trans Am,
then there's gonna have to be white.
Yeah, we're gonna do the white interior in it.
A Trans Am is a high end styling and performance package
offered for the Pontiac Firebird.
It features upgrades to the body,
interior and performance.
I don't have to mark it no more.
I can see it.
Do you got to start it right away?
[Gary] How many layers do you think probably is on this thing?
[Shorty] I don't know, man.
So, we're gonna get paint,
we're gonna get interior
and we're gonna do some fuel injection.
-It looks like a lot of body. -This is enough.
Good thing it doesn't have a top on it.
Oh, my God. Yeah, thank the Lord.
[chuckles]
Save you a little bit of time.
[Shorty] I love the car though.
And I think that when it's done,
it's gonna be killer looking.
I mean, they made a lot of Firebirds,
but they only made eight convertible Trans Ams.
What sets them apart is mainly the paint job.
You know, the unique color combinations.
Let's see, let's check it out.
What you bring in here? Wow.
[Joe] That's a bird!
[Shorty] It's a '69 Firebird
that Pork Chop,
he wants to build for his wife as a '69 Trans Am.
But we're gonna do a clone
from a '69 Firebird to a '69 Trans Am.
He said he will be here
to make sure that, you know, the lines and all.
That way if one of them was crooked or not where it needs to be,
then it's on him, not me.
It's been to several other shops
and he's hoping that this will be the last stop.
[laughs]
[PG] And you said he's gonna come help?
You know that costs more when a customer helps.
[Shorty] Well, that's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna double the hourly rate
when he comes to help.
Okay, cut it!
[Joel] Give it a push.
Nothing screams American muscle like a '69 Firebird.
[Joel] It's a little rough as you can see.
[Shorty] It's a little rough.
You know, he does want an original looking car,
so everything white.
It's got more bodywork than anything.
My main concern right now
is trying to get the panels lined up
and go from there.
[Joel] Oh, my God.
-Joel, the belt is gone. -Yeah, the belt is gone.
[Shorty] Everything is gone off the front, man.
[Joel] Little stuff, it ain't nothing big.
[Terry] Carburetor is literally just sitting on there.
-[Shorty] Does it? -[Joel] That's a test fit.
Well, the good thing he doesn't want to get too deep,
so all you guys have to do is clean it up,
make sure everything is good,
put everything that's missing back on it.
We're gonna be reassembling the motor,
so why not add some fuel injection?
I mean, you can't go wrong with fuel injection.
Who wants to be dealing with the carburetor?
We're in the millennium, it's hot.
You need something that self-adjusts.
Like you said, Joel, most of the task
is gonna be on us over here at the body shop.
[Joel] Who knows, man, this car might have a little demon in it.
-We don't know. -[laughs]
I mean, for two shops to give up...
We'll see, we'll find out.
[Shorty] We have a lot of work ahead on this car.
I mean, as you can see,
look at the gap on the fenders,
and then see how the door is falling down.
It's a good half an inch
or maybe even an inch.
I wish it was a little better.
As you can see, up here is maroon.
This is an original piece to the car,
so I can tell that they spliced the quarters right here.
Not sure if they overlap that or what.
And the reason I can see that
is because I got a mixture of fiberglass and some filler.
Having said that, it's the same throughout the whole car.
At least, the car runs.
We're gonna do custom interior,
convertible top,
fuel injection,
we're gonna finish it up with a custom paint job
and the racing stripes.
Yeah, you know what, this car might be a clone,
but I think it should look pretty good.
And to the naked eye,
you're not gonna be able to tell that it's a clone.
You're gonna think it's a real one.
The color on this interior is gonna be white seats
and white top.
I don't think it's supposed to have white carpet.
The dash looks original and console is original,
so we can knock it out of the ballpark.
Can you guys give me a hand?
Yes, sir.
I think it's time to put the score over there in the dirty area,
so we can kind of start going over it
and see what we got to do as far as body.
-Okay. -Okay.
Joe and Matt are here to help me take this car apart.
Joe is my lead body man.
And Matt, well, he's new, but he's a fast learner.
All right, now go ahead and cut it all the way.
You're gonna get you some exercise right now.
Just from first glance, I've noticed
that it's got some fiberglass bodywork put on it.
[Shorty] It might be easier to adjust the doors
if we go ahead and take the fenders off,
and then adjust the doors,
and then put the fenders back on it.
Yeah, I think so
'cause it looks like the bushes are a little wore out.
[Shorty] All right.
If there's no one here to help,
like the hood doesn't stay up right now,
it's only the two of us.
So, then, you know, you hold the back, right?
-[Joe] Right. -[Shorty] Okay.
And then, you give it to him.
We're gonna use the shoulder.
-[Shorty] You see? -[Matt] Yeah.
[Shorty] You see right there.
Now, I can relax and hold it with my hand.
Go ahead and remove it.
-[Joe] Yep. -[Shorty] All right.
Let's get the hood,
you put it over there on the stand.
-Line it out. -Yep.
What I've seen so far that the car majorly needs in my eyes
is that it needs a lot of the panels to be adjusted.
The panels are all out of whack right now,
and some of the gaps are way off.
-They're very loose. -[Matt] Yeah.
I mean, it's not, I'm assuming they did it on purpose.
I need to get in there and first, check the bushes on the doors
and stuff like that
to make sure they're good enough to use
or not just replaced or put brand new.
Yeah, I think there's something living in there.
-[Shorty] Come on now. -[Joe laughs]
Living rent free, man.
Oh [bleep]
I mean, it looks pretty fresh.
-[Joe] I ain't scared. -[Shorty] Oh, my God.
Put it on the floor, man.
Oh, look at that, man.
That was... That's a condo, man.
We messed up his condo, man.
[Matt] Yeah, you never know where these cars have been sitting out in the country
and stuff likes to crawl up in there
and get out of the elements.
so welcome to Texas.
Matt is new, he comes and helps up around the shop with whatever he can.
[laughing hysterically]
I grabbed something, I grabbed something.
But, man, is he jumpy?
[Joe] What you got, man?
[Matt] I don't know, it was like underneath.
It might just have been a wire.
-[laughs] -[Joe] Let me see.
[Matt] It was, like, underneath.
[Joe] It's just a wire.
Just a wire, false alarm, man.
[both laugh]
-Man, look at this over here, man. -Que pasa, man.
[groaning] Oh, man!
[Joe] Usually in all the older vehicles,
this is a very, very troublesome spot
and the wire tends to always sit there.
[Shorty] I'll tell you what,
let's just go ahead
-and concentrate on the bodywork right now. -[Joe] Okay.
You know, get her lines good,
and then we'll fix that,
and then we'll put the fenders back on it
and finish lining it up. How's that?
-All right, sounds good. -You wanna do that?
-Yes, sir. -All right.
Let's do it.
[Shorty] This car has been worked on quite a bit.
It even has new quarters on it been replaced.
I noticed the seam is somewhere around here.
The plan is not to take it all the way down.
That will be a monumental task.
What I wanna do is I wanna take down
as much as I can
and leave as little of this as possible.
And hopefully, it has enough material
to give me a straight panel.
That's the plan.
He did say the other day
that he knew how to do it all.
It's not true.
That is not true.
Hey, I'll probably be over here for another two or three hours, okay?
-I think so, too. -You think so?
-Oh, I know so. -[laughs]
We're making really good progress on the Firebird.
Terry took care of the hood for me.
And now, I'm just trying to finish up
a few rusted spots on the car.
Lots of work to be done
before we get to hand it over to Pork Chops' wife.
[Terry] What's going on, Short Dog, you need some help with that?
Oh, damn, Terry.
-You are right on time, bro. -Am I?
The spoiler is obviously one of the unique features
that makes the car, the Firebird,
turned into a Trans Am.
Before we put it on,
we need to mock it up and get fitting just right.
It didn't come with instructions or anything.
-It didn't? -No.
I can see that the holes are gonna be like on top of this right here.
All we can do is drill it,
and then it looks like, we might have to cut into here.
-And then do a bigger hole. -Right.
So the nut will set up in recess
up on the inner structure, right,
and they'll set flat.
[machine whirring]
Let's see what we got.
I'm thinking that we make a little hole,
-sort of like this. -Mm-hmm.
We're gonna use this tool,
so you can get it in there and make that hole.
Essentially, what we want is a nice teardrop,
but we want enough space
for the head of the bolt to go in there.
That's beautiful.
Alright, here we go.
[machine whirring]
[Shorty] See, how it has to be,
you know kind of a teardrop.
That way the screw will go in straight,
just like this.
So, you need room to turn to the head
and put a socket in there at the same time.
I think Lamb Chop would approve.
[Terry chuckles]
Lamb Chop because he slimmed up.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think it looks like a Trans Am already.
I think it does, too. Looks fast.
-It looks like it's going 200 miles just standing there. -[Shorty laughing] Yeah.
In case you guys are wondering I have here a surfboard.
This is a project
for Surfers Healing Foundation.
What they do is they take kids with autism
out to the ocean and surf
and it's really therapeutic for them.
So far, the process, we're at step one.
I flaked it out.
As you guys can see,
it's like a gazillion little diamonds on it
that just come alive, you know, especially when the sun hits it.
So, this is gonna be my foundation
to the custom work that I'm gonna do on it.
I'm planning on doing some flames
'cause, you know, a surfboard can't be a surfboard without any flames.
And it cannot not have water droplets,
you know, the water effect.
So, I'm gonna put on the water effects somewhere around on it.
All the colors are gonna be done in candies.
So, it's gonna be nice and bright
and just hopefully, really cool.
It's just a great feeling
because in the end of the day,
once it's done,
they're gonna auction it off,
and hopefully, make really good money
to benefit his foundation.
He says that it just lights up their face, man.
You know, just getting in the water,
and then getting on that surfboard.
[upbeat instrumental rock music playing]
[PG] I'm pulling out the old interior out.
We got to strip it all down, paint 'em,
change the foam.
We're trying to keep as original as we can,
so we're going black with carpet on this Trans Am.
There's something in here.
Souvenir.
Is that a Lamb Chop?
Probably could put it right here on the console.
Hey, Joe, Matt.
What do you think?
[Matt] We got some rat turd.
-[Joe] Uh-oh. -[Matt] We still got a rat around here.
See if we can get this out.
[Joe grunts] I got it.
-[Joe] Ready? -Yeah.
There it goes.
Maybe, it just needs a little bit of oiling. [laughs]
You think, we got a good charge on the battery?
-[Matt] I don't know. -[PG] Sound like it's--
-[Matt] Dragging a little bit. -[PG] Dragging.
Looks like we got a condo like Joe said.
[Joe] Another condo.
-[PG] Condo apartments. -[Joe] Free rent.
Apartments of rats.
You could go ahead and close it down.
What's up, PG?
I came in to get a look at the car,
to talk to Pedro about doing some interior on it.
Where the seats at, Pedro?
So, what it looks like to me,
you're gonna have to get this painted.
Get the floorboard painted, too.
And then, as you can see right now,
this foam right here,
I wouldn't recommend using it again.
Is there any way that maybe we could bolster this up
because Shannon is a little short.
She's wanting to make sure she could see over steering wheel.
Well, my wife, she's a little bit vertically challenged.
And I'll probably get in trouble for saying that,
but I love you.
So, the back seats look like they're good.
They're in pretty good shape.
We'll have new foam and new backing.
The frames and paint them, right?
[Shorty] Yeah.
Clean 'em up and paint 'em.
[Gary] What's going on, Short Dog?
How's it going, Pork Chop?
[Gary] Man, hey...
Run across this at the shop
heard a '69 had a hood tach on it.
I'm sure she'd be really excited
if we got this hood tach on her Firebird, Shannon just...
She really liked the hood tach part of her GTO.
So, I thought it will be a nice little surprise for her.
Now, you know, that this not being a Trans Am
that this hood is probably not gonna be equipped down at the bottom,
so we're probably gonna have to go into the structure a little bit.
Oh, you're the man,
I appreciate you taking all the time you're taking with me, young man.
You know, I'm not sure, even if it was a '69 Trans Am,
I'm not sure if it would have had a tach on it,
but we're not going to argue.
The tach has a recessed shape down that goes toward the bottom.
So, we need to cut a hole on the hood,
so that can go all the way down
and therefore, the tach can sit flat on the hood.
It's got two little studs here.
I'm gonna go ahead and drill those.
It looks nice and straight...
except whenever they're driving.
You know, they'll just be cruising along
watching that RPM.
What's going on, Joel?
[Joel] Man just come to see
what the beast is looking like, man.
Well, you know this car is no longer the Firebird, Joel.
Uh-oh.
It's not a Firebird no more, it's a Chupacabras.
[chuckles]
The Chupacabras is supposed to be a creature
that comes out and eats animals,
especially goats.
You know, what was under the front seat?
No.
Nah!
For real?
-Are you for real? -It was under the front seat.
I don't even know if Pork Chop knew.
If you found this inside the car,
what am I going to find in the motor?
I hope, nothing.
Your task is gonna be to put the front end
you know, whatever is missing.
We're gonna do some fuel injection.
Fuel Injection, AC,
clean it up, make sure we got a good solid running motor.
And then, just basically make it look pretty like you always do.
Damn, man, it's gonna be crazy, man.
This is gonna be one badass Chupacabra.
When we took the front end off the car,
we found a few little rust areas.
We got it knocked out,
it wasn't a big deal to get it buttoned up.
Now, that the bodywork is all done on the car,
it's time to get into the booth and put it in primer.
What we're gonna do,
we're gonna build it up a little bit.
We're gonna put a few coats, probably three,
and then we'll take it back and put some guide coat on it
and water sand, then get ready for paint.
I'm mixing up my primer.
We're gonna put a KD 3,000 on it
which... this product you can use it as a high build,
you can use it as a regular primer
and also a sealer.
That's what the good thing about this product is.
I'm putting it in my gun and commence the cooking.
We got the cuckoo out.
We're fixing to have a block party.
I'm gonna sound this horn,
we're gonna get the Chupacabras over here.
We're all gonna start sanding out.
[horns honking]
All right, all right.
Just a scuff on it
until you get all that black off of it.
Until it all looks like nice and gray.
Okay.
In today's menu we're going to serve fajitas, chicken, beef.
That's some beans and rice.
[Shorty] You want to get your car done,
this is what you do.
You invite a bunch of friends over
and then you cook for 'em.
Yeah, I think Sharon is gonna be amazed by this car, man.
I'm glad I'm putting a little bit of work in it for her.
[oil sizzling]
What's up, guys?
Since you guys had a long day at work,
so we're gonna play some Loteria.
-All right time. -Time for Loteria, guys.
Where's Wayne?
[Christina] You get the honors.
-[laughs] -Why me?
So, how do we play this?
[Christina] It's kinda like a Mexican Bingo.
Oh!
It's a sign, red.
Red flag.
How do you say it in Spanish?
You can say, "El sol."
El sol.
-Sol. - [all laughing]
Oh, La Chalupa.
Like, a tostada.
[all laughing]
La pera.
-[all laughing] -It's a pear.
La pera.
Bingo, bingo.
[all exclaiming]
We made some really good progress on the Firebird,
so we should be getting it in the booth pretty soon.
See some color?
-See some color, Joel. -All right.
Yes, sir.
Cut.
We're working on our '69,
but soon to be Trans Am.
I'm mixing up the blue.
You know, these cars were iconic for their color.
This is a period correct blue.
I mean, as much as modern computers can give us,
for now we're going to be doing the blue Insert.
So, all of this back here will be blue.
We did a lot of research
to get the white that this car was
or the Trans Ams were back in '69.
So, it's got a lot of white in it.
We needed black.
Then, our next color is the yellow oxide.
And then, the last color is a red oxide,
hardly nothing.
All right, look, we're making some eggs.
We made some eggs in my kitchen.
[Shorty] After painting the blue on the back insert of the Trans Am,
now it's time to paint all the rest of the parts,
so we can get the car assembled.
-What up, Short-Dog? -Hey, man.
I see some blue.
I see some white.
When I walked in the paint booth and seen that Trans Am,
I was like, "Man, this thing is gonna look really good."
It's slick, the body lines suddenly appeared, you know,
and it's gonna look nice.
Maybe we have to stick a fork in this bird
when it's gonna be done.
[Shorty] Hell, yeah.
[Joel] Not yet, but it's close.
[Joe] We're getting close.
No rust eating through it.
There's minimal surface for us here and there,
but it's pretty solid for a '69.
-Doing all right? -Yep.
You didn't find any goodies or anything, right?
No.
You know, I found a skull
that go... the Chupacabra.
[both laugh]
Yeah, we named this car, Chupacabras.
A lot of stuff been going on behind.
That sounds like a curse over that car.
I know it.
So, I don't know if this car is cursed with the Chupacabras.
Caballito, Noel.
So, I'm gonna do a little bit of this horse stance
to get rid of this bad spirit.
-Horsie. -Look.
That's how the horse would dance.
[laughs]
So, we're stripping down the seats,
and we're gonna paint the seat frames.
And for Pork Chop's wife,
she's a little bit smaller,
so for the seat on the driver's side,
we're adding a little bit more cushion,
so she could see above the steering wheel
and drive more comfortably.
And we're changing the vinyl to white for a Trans Am look.
It's starting to look like a Trans Am.
I think this white came out real good.
What's going on over here on this Chupacabras?
It's sucking the life out of me.
Well, that's what Chupacabras do.
You keep on working on this thing,
I'm gonna come in in the morning
and you're gonna be disappeared,
you're gonna be gone.
Joel is working on the Firebird.
Right now, he's working on the wiring
and trying to get that situated
before we put the fenders on it.
Do as much as he can,
so the fenders won't get in his way.
Once he does that,
we build the front end, put the hood back on it,
and work on the stripes.
[Gary] What's going on, Joel?
What's up, Chop?
Man, living the dream.
What are you working on?
-I'm working on your dream. -Yeah.
-So, you brought me a gas tank? -I did, I did.
Let's bust it out, let's look at it.
Let's look at it.
Pork Chop, this is a regular gas tank.
Yes, sir.
We're going fuel injected.
Where am I supposed to put my return at?
Um...
Usually, on the fuel injection version,
you'll have three ports out,
sometimes even five,
depending on what style it is.
Can't get a pump in there,
do external and get your return.
You'll have to insert a bunghole somewhere.
Just find me a bung to put in it
-and a nice one. -All right.
Today is your lucky day.
Today is my lucky day.
We're about to put her hood on our Trans Am.
-[Joe] I had her, bro. -[Shorty] You had her?
Yeah, right there in the header...
You're not tight, right?
Should knock there, the fender.
Yeah, push it over.
Not hard, not hard, slowly.
When you're dealing with aftermarket stuff,
you just have to play with it.
Used to do a lot of modifying,
that's just the way it is.
I mean, this being a classic case of it.
The fenders are on it, they line up to the door,
the doors line up to the quarters.
But yet, the hinges are setting up too high.
So, now we're gonna have to waddle the hole out a little higher,
so the hood will come down.
Okay, nice.
How does it look like, man? What do you think, Joel?
I think I've got it gapped out the best I can
on these aftermarket parts.
Hey, but, you know, one good thing about this car
is, you know, old Lamb Chop, he wants his car original original.
Original.
We need to mess up all the gaps--
-Original, you better loosen it up. -[all chuckling]
[Shorty] But we're making headway on our surfboard.
I feel like it's coming along really well.
As you guys can see,
I came up with a... I think it's a pretty cool design.
You know, surfboard is not a surfboard
if it didn't have some kind of flames in it.
I put some cobalt blue
right on the edge of it on the outside,
and then faded it in with a teal.
I kind of wanted it to blend in with the ocean.
But along with that
I did this little design right here.
It's a multi-color candy
because it kind of gives a surfboard character.
I haven't decided yet
what color I'm going to do the flames.
The blue on this Trans Am is looking really good.
So, I'm thinking that this might be
the perfect blue for my surfboard.
I'm mixing up my color for my flames.
Looks like we got a lot of bling in there right now.
We're gonna have ice flames on it.
We're putting the final touches on the surfboard
and trying finish up the pin stripping around the flames.
And then, I'm gonna do an individual stripe
at the very top,
put my logo on it
and I think we're ready for some clear.
[Joel] So, now, Shorty has all the panels ready,
and on the Firebird.
Now, it's time for me and Pork Chop
to get fuel injection on there.
[machine whirring]
[Joel] All right guys, so now we got to tank down,
this is a good time
for you to come in with a brush in under here, clean up,
see if there's any kind of rottage under here
that you need to handle.
Just clean it up, put a little bit of black paint in there
and give you a nice finish
when you put it back together.
So, we got the tank to the '69 Trans Am
and what we're gonna do
because this is a non-EFI tank,
we're gonna kind of convert it into one.
We're just gonna add a return.
What we're going to do is pop a hole,
the same diameter as this cylinder.
See how tight that is? Super tight.
We'll blow it out real quick,
clean it up, and then we'll put it in for good.
I pretty much got the bung in
and got the sending unit back into it
and get ready to put it back in the car.
-Pork Chop. -[Gary] Yes, sir.
[Shorty] You got about a little bit over a quarter of clearance.
Oh shoot, man.
[Joel] We're gonna have to cut he exhaust,
but we'll cut this section, remove this section,
run our fuel lines out,
and then run them how we need to run them,
and then we'll come back and make the exhaust go around the fuel lines.
[machine whirring]
Gas tank is in, EFI is installed,
just a few more things and we'll have this motor wrapped up.
Well, I was trying to put the AC system together
and put the water pump pulley back on,
but apparently the water pulley is not gonna work.
So, basically, the Firebird was not an AC car to start off with,
so we started putting AC on,
and guess what, we ran into an issue with the pulley.
It doesn't have an AC pulley on it.
Pork Chop has all the connections in the Pontiac world,
so he's gonna see if he can get us a pulley.
So, David out here in Candell
is Texas Trans Am,
and he's my go-to guy.
He's got a wrecking yard full of Trans Ams
and Trans Am parts.
So, I don't know that I got anything else I need,
but I really need that pulley.
All right, let's go back here and check this one.
I'm believing in you, David.
-You said you had this. -[David] I got it, man.
Yep, here we go.
-[Gary] You got one? -I got one right there.
All right, so yeah, it looks different.
-[David] Got lucky on this one. -Yeah.
-See, how much smaller that one is? -Heck yeah.
Can you put that on there to make sure that the bolt pattern is the same?
-[David] Here you go, Pork Chop. Perfect fit. -[Gary] Good deal.
Now that it's the right size,
maybe me and Joel can go back and work.
I see it now.
I see the offset, too.
-[Gary] The diameter is a little bit different. -[Joel] Yeah.
-[Gary] There you go. -Look at that, man.
-Perfect. -[Gary] Fits like a glove.
-There they are. -There they are.
-Hi. -Hello!
[Shorty] Hi, Danielle.
Izzy's wife, Danielle,
is coming in today to pick up the surfboard for Surfers Healing
to take it back with him,
and hopefully, auction it off and make some good money
to keep the organization alive.
My name is Danielle Paskowitz.
I am the co-founder with my husband, Izzy Paskowitz
of Surfers Healing Foundation.
-This is our grandson, Bronson. -Hello.
[Danielle] So, Surfers Healing Foundation
is a charity that we started in 1996
on behalf of our son, Isaiah.
And my husband was a professional surfer at the time
and we'd take him to the beach and put him on the board
and it helped,
so we start sharing it with just some of his pre-school aged friends.
And then it just extended and extended,
and the camps got more.
And now there's about 28 locations in the United States
and New Zealand, Australia and Mexico.
You know, I just want to tell you guys
how honored I am to let me be a part of this.
And we're honored that you did it for us
and I can't wait to see it.
And it's gonna be up on display for a couple months
before it's auctioned off for our charity.
-You ready, Bronson? -Of course.
[Danielle] He's like waiting patiently.
-Oh, my... -[Bronson] Oh, my God.
Oh, my God, it's beautiful.
Wow!
This is the most beautiful board I've ever seen in my life.
[Danielle] It is very intricate.
It's perfect colors.
And as you get back here,
Danielle and Bronson,
-you can really see all the water-- -[Danielle] Oh, yeah.
[Bronson] Yeah, I see that.
He put a lot of work, time and effort into it,
and it just warmed my heart.
It was probably one of the most
classy, clean surfboards that I've seen for our auction.
Absolutely gorgeous.
[Shorty] Noel just got done installing the convertible top on the Firebird.
Now, we have it in the booth.
Pork Chop is checking with the stencils
to make sure that the stripes are painted exactly right.
Learning process for me, too, if you don't mind,
so bear with me, okay?
Even if he doesn't know what that means.
Five and .25,
-and then another quarter inch... -What?
Five and what?
It's five and a quarter to the middle.
Five and a quarter.
That goes to the inside of the Mark, right, Shorty?
Yes, to the inside.
It's a good day today,
we're about to put the stripes on it,
unmask it, clear the whole panel,
and cut and buff.
Other than that I think the car is pretty close to being done.
[upbeat instrumental rock music playing]
Damn, boy!
Is this still the same car?
[Shorty] You like it?
[Joel] Those stripes made that much of a difference?
-I think so. -[Joel] Wow, man.
[Shorty] You know how it is, Joel.
I mean, sometimes any little thing
will make quite a bit of difference.
Lamb Chop brought me instructions.
-[Joel] For real? -[Shorty] Yeah.
This is it, man.
[Shorty] Yeah, I like it.
Today, I'm gonna show you
how to refurbish your dash.
First thing you want to do is take your bezel completely apart.
If you can see,
there's just dirt that's embedded in this thing super, super bad.
Best thing we're gonna do
is we're gonna give it a little bath,
we're gonna prep it with some plastic prep.
Once we do that, we'll let that dry
and we're gonna dye it.
Just kind of like, scuffing it basically.
You don't want to get dig into it.
You just want to make sure that you pass that little surface of coating
these things usually have.
This is called plastic prep.
And what this does,
it basically removes anything that we've missed while we were cleaning it
and it helps with the adhesion of the dye.
That's how you rebuild your cluster.
Going in!
That looks brand new.
This Firebird is almost a Trans Am.
Joel just got done installing the fuel injection.
While PG is headed over
to install the brand new white interior.
[Joel] You know, I think I got everything dialed in,
and hopefully, I didn't forget anything.
-[Joe] Oh, come on, man. -All right.
[Joe] All right!
-[Shorty] Let's hear it, man. -It don't start right.
Every time I go start with one of these,
I'm like praying like, "Please start.
Don't make me look like a fool."
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
I'm gonna slap you with...
[engine starts]
Damn, when Joel fired it up, it sounded good.
I mean, it just cranked right up.
[engine revving]
That was real good.
Now, it's gonna have AC,
no carburetor, fuel injected.
We got crunch time,
so we got Manuel over here putting the doors.
We've got Noel
trying to get ready for the carpet to get installed
and I'm trying to put these rear door panels on.
We just got done with the interior.
I think it came out real great.
Nice and tight.
And we did add that padding for Pork Chop's wife.
And I think she's gonna like it.
That horsey dance must have worked.
The interior looks great.
It's time for me to move on to the back and install the spoiler
and we're waiting on Pork Chop with the new wheels and tires.
[machine whirring]
[Joel] Oh, that looks good.
[Shorty] All right, we're good.
[Gary] All right, let's come down.
Oh, yeah. [exclaims]
Woo-ee!
According to Pork Chop,
it was at another shop for six or seven years.
And then, it sat at his house for another three or four years
and look, I mean, look at the car now, man.
I love the fact that it's finally done.
It's awesome.
She's gonna really like that car.
So here we are,
you know, it's a real exciting moment right now.
How are you feeling right now?
I am so excited.
The anticipation is just like, it's right here.
And I've been waiting so long for this.
You saying that, my heart is like... [imitates heart beat]
I think it's, you know, it's gonna be real special for her.
And we just want to make sure nothing takes away from that moment.
I'm ready.
All right, let's hear it.
[Gary] All right, if you don't like it, it's Joel's fault, okay?
I thought you were blaming it on him.
Oh, yeah, we'll blame it on Pedro.
[all laughing]
-[Gary] What do you think? -Oh, biscuits, that is amazing!
[all laughing]
[Gary] Sweet.
Oh, my, I'm shaking.
That is not a bucket of bolts.
-[Shorty] No. -[Shannon] Oh, my God!
This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
I can't even believe it's the same car.
It's been a long journey for you and Pork Chop.
And you know, one of the things that he wanted to do for you
was get this car finished somehow or another
and fulfill something that he's always wanted to do for years.
-Thank you. -I'm glad you like it.
Hopefully, this is something you guys will keep forever.
Absolutely.
[Shorty] We started off with a bunch of bodywork.
Obviously, it had some mechanical interior,
upgrade the paint job,
you know from a Firebird to a Trans Am,
give it a more sporty look,
give it a little bit more horsepower
with the fuel injected.
And then, obviously, give it a better look on the outside
with the new wheels,
you know, updated stance,
you know, make it right for Shannon.
So, I'll let him show you.
I'm ready, I'm ready.
[Gary] We did put the tach on it.
[Shannon] Oh, my gosh.
We went stock with it, pretty much.
[Shannon] Wow! Here it is.
It was a bucket of bolts.
It was mismatched on the color,
there were parts inside it all over the place.
And to see it roll in,
I almost didn't believe that it was my car.
I am beyond thrilled.
[Shorty] All of the guys in the shop,
they put a lot of effort
into getting all those little things as well as the big things buttoned up
and making it look good for you.
Her reaction was amazing.
You know, the struggles they have been through with that car...
[exclaims] Wow.
[Joel] You know, opening up that hood,
it's just amazing to see a Ram Air there.
I mean, it's so traditional on those cars.
Ram Air gives it more power,
it just gives it that finishing look.
The only thing I said is, "She's got to have AC."
[Shannon] Absolutely.
You got to have AC.
[Joel] He was like, "Nah, she needs fuel injection." I was like...
-[Gary] Oh, yeah, you believe that, right? -[all laughing]
The paint is phenomenal.
I've never seen anything quite as extraordinary.
The stripes are to die for.
And I love the detail in the back,
near the tail lights,
and you've got that beautiful blue
with a spoiler hanging over it.
Couldn't ask for anything more.
Look at that top going down, boy.
You got more room now.
[Shannon exclaims] Woo!
[Gary] Pedro did all the interiors,
Joel did a really nice job on re-conditioning that dash.
[Shannon exclaims] Wow! Wow!
I mean, it was trashed. It's amazing.
I absolutely am in love with the white interior.
And when you couple that with that jet black carpet, it pops.
and there's no mistake, that's my car.
Thank you guys for letting me and the crew be a part of this build.
I hope you guys enjoy it forever.
Now, the only thing left for you to do
is to get in the car and take it for a spin.
Let's spin.
-Thank you. -Thank you, guys.
Thanks again, Shorty.
-Thanks, Bis-- -I appreciate it.
I have looked at that car for ages
and today's the day, so thank you.
You're welcome, baby doll.
Ready?
[engine starts]
Oh, my God!
Oh, my gosh. Amazing.
I can't believe it.
-Bye. -See you.
Here it goes. Oh, my goodness.
[Shorty] Everything that he wanted to do
was just basically for you.
It's amazing.
[Shorty] As far as creating a Trans Am, I think we did.
This is kind of like a person, you know, when they're born again.
He was born a Firebird,
but you know what, he had a chance to get reborn,
so he was born a Trans Am.
Look at that door, man.
You see, watch this.
Look at this, PG.
[PG] Should that have Lambo doors?
It might go up.
[Terry laughs]
Man, what was this thing?
-Lamb Chop? -No.
[both laugh]
-Pork Chop Chupacabra. -Pork Chop Chupacabra.
I'm starting to call him now, chicharron.
-Pork skin instead of Lamp Chop. -[Shorty laughs]
It went from Pork Chop to Lamb Chop,
-now chicharron. -Chicharron.
Pork skin.
He's a man of many names, man.