.
[engine revving]
[dramatic music]
- This is "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge,"
the only car competition show
that takes your favorite nostalgic rides
and turns them into life-size Hot Wheels.
Tonight, two more superfans are competing for $25,000
and a key to the finale, where one superfan's
ultimate Hot Wheels will become an actual die-cast car
that you and me can buy.
Let's meet our superfans already.
* *
- I'm Nick. I'm 42 years old.
I'm a retired teacher from Hammond, Louisiana.
I live my life like a big, bold, fast party,
and it all started playing Hot Wheels.
* *
- I'm Michael.
I'm a funeral director from Chicago,
and I'm dead serious about Hot Wheels.
When I graduated from mortuary school,
I got a little Hot Wheels hearse
that I got given as my graduation gift.
I love Hot Wheels.
- Nick, a little birdie told me that you've got
a special car in your heart that you just can't forget.
Tell me about that car.
- That car is a 1984 Chevy Monte Carlo.
My dad used to take me from small town in Louisiana
all the way to big old Houston, Texas.
I grew up in a single parent household with my mother.
My dad lived in Houston, but I would always go
to spend my summer vacations with him.
We'd get in the car, and we would hit the road, man.
I fell in love with that car,
and I still love it to this day.
- Now, Nick, I also love an '84 Monte Carlo.
So it gives me great pleasure to showcase one
on our stage right now.
Did it look a little something like this?
- [gasps]
[upbeat music]
Oh, man.
That's amazing.
[engine revving]
[laughs]
[soft music]
Oh, my God, I have no words.
This is amazing.
Seeing this car for the first time since I was a kid
is an extremely emotional moment for me.
Where did y'all get the fuzzy dice, man?
- Did your dad have fuzzy dice? - Yeah!
It holds so many memories of a time
where I was building a relationship with my father.
The summers were really our chances to learn, and bond,
and grow together, and a lot of that happened in this car.
I could share with him things that are going on at school,
my favorite Hot Wheels cars, my favorite wrestlers
because I love wrestling.
- Michael, tell us, what is that special car for you?
- My car is a '98 Dodge Caravan.
We called it the Death Van.
So my family's a long line
of funeral directors, and I am one of them.
I remember our green Dodge Caravan like it was yesterday.
It wasn't just our family's car.
It was also used for the funeral home.
- What a fascinating mix, and it is back from the dead.
Take a look.
- Oh, my God.
[upbeat music]
That's incredible. Wow.
There's no one in the back there, is there?
- There's no one in the back.
- I am beyond excited to see the funeral home van.
I haven't seen the van in 15 plus years.
The funeral stickers, oh, my God.
The van represents to me the highs and lows of life.
It's used during the day for some really tough things
and helping out funerals, and then behind the scenes,
it was used for our family.
The older I've gotten,
I've realized that life is really short.
If there is opportunities that come your way,
like going on "Hot Wheels," like, I'm gonna take it.
- It's wild to think how this vehicle was a part
of so many people's lives for this thing...
- Right. - That's not so great.
But you guys really took your family
to all these fun places
and have all these incredible memories
with the same vehicle.
That's rarely the case. - Right.
I'm telling you, everyone in the city of Chicago
knew that was the Cooney family in that van.
* *
- Now, a band from Liverpool once said,
I get by with a little help from my BFFs.
That's why I got two friends of mine
here to help me judge this.
First off, coming to us from Detroit, AKA Motor City...
- Oh, stop it, stop it.
- She's our resident Hot Wheels brand ambassador,
it's Dalal Elsheikh.
And he's a major influencer in car culture.
He's Hertrech Eugene Jr.
You know! Ba, ba, ba, ba.
Boom, nailing it.
That took us seven weeks.
[laughter]
Now, before the welding sparks can fly, you need a plan.
The best place for Hot Wheels inspiration
is in our Chrome Zone.
Our superfans have three steps to produce
their dream Hot Wheels.
Step one is design.
The Chrome Zone is a one-stop shop
packed with thousands of legendary Hot Wheels cars,
logos, and images.
It's the perfect place to conjure up a winning build.
- It's like a kid in a candy store here.
- This is amazing! - Right?
So we're starting with a 1998 Dodge Caravan,
which to a lot of people doesn't scream Hot Wheels.
- Yeah, no pizzazz.
- Except there have actually been
14 different Dodge Caravan Hot Wheels.
- No kidding.
- So what does this build represent for you?
- It's a tough car that gets us through some tough times,
but I wanted to bring out the life in the car.
- OK.
- I want it to be a monster truck,
take something that's kind of not that cool
and just make it the coolest.
- Well, if we're talking monster truck,
we got to talk Battitude.
You got custom suspension, custom frame,
and then the body is kind of perched on top.
- Yeah. That's a tough car right there.
I love it.
- Let's talk about how you want this to look.
- I'm thinking I want to go back to my Chicago roots,
get some Cubbie blue, pop it in there.
- Ooh, OK. - I like this one right here.
Yeah.
- That's a nice blue. - Yeah.
I would like to add the reaper swords on it.
- So you're gonna really embrace
the other side of life...
- Exactly. - That this thing has to do.
- We're gonna bring the Death Van to life,
is what we're going to do.
- What do you want to make with this car?
- I want a Mardi Gras themed car
that symbolizes my first Mardi Gras with my family.
A party on wheels, big sound system,
just all kind of music coming out,
kind of like music from my childhood,
big, bold, and beautiful.
- OK, so this is a 1986 Monte Carlo SS.
- It's beautiful.
- Now, there have been 20 Monte Carlos over the years
that Hot Wheels has made,
but none that have been Mardi Gras themed.
- Mm.
- What are we thinking color-wise?
- We want purple, gold, and green,
Mardi Gras themed colors, of course.
- You want to talk about gold, this is Double Vision.
Now, this has the cool metallic finish
known as the Spectraflame.
Bringing some gold into that Monte Carlo is a big one.
When you think about bringing like Mardi Gras features
into this build, what are you thinking about?
- Maybe like a platform on it or something like that,
to where somebody could stand on it, like a float.
That makes me think about the big parades,
looking like they're floating down the street.
I did not just come here to have a good time,
and shake hands, and be like, "Oh, good game, man."
I came in here to win.
- Now, Nick, you'll be working out of the Red Garage.
What's the name of your build?
- Mardi Gras Mania!
- Yeah!
- Michael, your Car Pool is in the Blue Garage.
What's your build's name?
- We've got the Reaper.
- Ooh, OK.
You each have one week to turn these machines
into life-size, ultimate Hot Wheels.
When the lights turn green, that means go.
Are you all ready? [siren wails]
Get set,
and go!
[all shouting]
[exciting music]
- This was my family's car growing up,
and I want to transform it into a monster truck,
the craziest funeral van you've ever seen in your life.
- I've never built a monster truck before,
but I am loving it.
I'm gonna get stuck into making a full, complete chassis
for this to get it up as high as possible.
I'm gonna start cracking on with getting
this chassis drawn up.
- OK. - Bob?
- I'm gonna get drawing.
I think I've got an idea what we've been talking about,
getting that reaper.
This is a monster truck. Let's make it a monster.
- Freaking A, let's go. [laughter]
[upbeat music]
- See what you got, player, player.
- Basically, a party on wheels.
- Ooh! - Ooh, look at that.
- Oh, yeah.
- That's a full-on dance floor we got back there.
- Yes, it is.
- We have to make sure this thing can
handle the weight of these funky, flexing dance moves.
I'm digging these colors. Right?
They pop.
- I want this car to be seen from space.
- From space? - From space.
- Where do we start?
- I think we've got to start with stance.
We've got to get them big rims on.
It's just gonna be wild.
- A dance floor in a car?
How is this gonna work?
- Stay tuned for wild and magical rides.
Oh, my goodness, y'all threw some D's on it.
- Now, it won't roll. I can hear it.
It's in here, Rachel. - Yeah, I know.
- We've got a bit of a problem back here.
We're touching our suspension mount.
- Uh-oh.
- You don't want to miss a thing, especially not
our celebrity guest judge Big E!
- Oh, my God!
Let's check out your brand-new ultimate Hot Wheels.
- Oh, my God!
- Now it's a party.
.
- Go ahead. Do your thing, Bobbaroo.
- That's what I'm talking about, baby!
That was fun.
- In step two, the Car Pools transformed
their superfans' wild designs into real-life Hot Wheels.
Let's talk about Michael in the Blue Garage.
Now, I've seen some hot-rodded hearses in my life,
but none of them started as a Dodge Caravan.
- This is true.
- Now they're gonna try to turn it into the Reaper,
a monster truck hearse.
- Well, I've just drawn up this real quick sketch
of the chassis.
It's got to be strong, and it's got to look fast.
- I don't think you can actually take a Dodge Caravan
and just turn it into a monster truck with what you have.
So they're gonna have to build a whole new chassis
and attach their Dodge Caravan to that.
I don't think people understand how difficult
of a task that is.
- So Nick, in the Red Garage, is turning his Monte Carlo
into the Mardi Gras Mania.
- I hope this thing really screams Hot Wheels
and Mardi Gras-- loud, big, bold.
Because it wants to be a Mardi Gras float,
it would be great if they could keep it as low as possible,
so it looks like it's just floating above the ground,
as it moves.
- We're taking the tires off.
We're gonna put some 26s on this thing,
big, old, gold wheels for this Mardi Gras machine.
- Get in there, boom! - Get in there!
- The kicker is, they're gonna try and fit
26-inch gold wheels on this thing.
It's hard to do.
There's not enough room in the fender to actually do this.
- Get rid of these things.
- I'm afraid that those wheels and tires are just absolutely
the wrong size for this build.
- Whoo!
- They're gonna have to spend a ton of time
modifying the steel fenders to get those wheels to fit.
- [grunts]
This is a monster wheel. - Oh, yeah.
It's not gonna go. It's on the body there.
- Here, let me help. They're digging into the tires.
We got to cut-- - Cut the fender.
[upbeat music]
In order to get these tires to fit inside here,
we need to take these wheel wells out.
So everything attached to it has to go.
- Is it still catching? - It's still hitting.
* *
- [grunts]
- There we go, boom.
- We put them in.
They kind of fit, but barely.
I am realizing where we need to have the car to sit.
We have to cut and chop and get rid of so much of this car,
and it is way more than we thought.
* *
- We've got a lot to do before we turn
this thing into the Reaper.
We have a new chassis that Charlie's gonna be building.
- Not only does this chassis have to look cool,
it has to be extremely strong.
That Dodge Caravan is a heavy car.
Starting to make the curves for the chassis.
We don't want everything to be straight.
We want to get some shape into it.
In my own job, I've built a lot of chassis before,
classic cars, race cars,
but I've never built a monster truck chassis.
So I'm gonna go at it almost the same,
but just think bigger and higher with everything.
What made you get into being a funeral director?
- Family business, so I'm a fourth generation
funeral director.
It's in the blood, if you will. - Yeah.
That was the same as myself in the motor trade, yeah.
- So your dad and everything too?
- Yeah, he runs a garage and that, into drag racing.
Hearing that Michael is fourth generation
in his family business is awesome
because I'm in the family business with the motor trade.
I love it that people carry on through their families
to do the same thing.
How do you find being a funeral director?
- I love it.
- It's not the happiest of jobs ever, I'd imagine.
- I love it.
I love helping families and being around people
and being able to help them during a tough time.
I came here with an idea to turn
the Death Van into the Reaper.
And they've taken it, and they've exploded the idea
into something that is going to be mega.
* *
- Well, the builds are underway.
The teams are fired up, but let's blow the roof
off this place and get our celebrity judge out here.
Let's hear it for WWE superstar Big E!
* *
- Oh, my God!
What? It's Big E!
I feel the power! - You feel the power!
One of the greatest tag team champions in the history
of the WWE, a man who touts the power of positivity.
I tout the power of positivity.
- Wow.
Hey, thanks so much for being here, man.
- Thank you for having me.
I'm a huge fan of Hot Wheels, and a lover of cars as well.
You know, I think back to being in daycare
and growing up in the '90s, having the Lamborghinis
and Ferraris and playing with my friends.
Man, nothing like it.
- Any words of wisdom for the garages?
- This is a face-off that could rival the ones
that you see on "SummerSlam," streaming live on Peacock
on August 5th!
And I want to see you all get back
to work and feel the power!
[all yelling]
* *
- * Da, da, da, da *
Don't want it to fall on me.
- Hi, Red Garage.
- Hey, how you doing?
- Wow. Oh, my goodness.
- Those are some things.
- Wow. Y'all threw some D's on it.
- I'm surprised they even just tucked in like that.
- We have cut a lot out.
- OK, so you already started cutting.
- Do you see how the body
is actually making contact with the tire?
- It is doing that. - There and there.
- Uh-huh.
- To get those wheels to fit, not only do you have
to clearance enough room to actually fit them in there,
they need to spin without cutting the tires.
What you're really trying to do is clearance
the front fenders so that the wheels will
actually turn with the car.
You're not gonna put a lift kit on it to fit them.
You guys are gonna-- - No, we've come down to this.
- Guys, you only got a week. So we'll quit slowing you down.
- Blue garage, knock, knock, knock.
- Hello. - Hi.
- I feel like it's pretty clear you're doing a lot.
I thought you were just gonna paint some stuff on.
- We've got sheet metal to get the blade nice and flat,
but we're gonna use actually fabric and fiberglass
to do a lot of the other stuff.
And the front is the face of the Reaper.
So the windshield is gonna be where the eyes are.
- Yeah, we've taken the headlights out.
We're gonna move them up inside the car, on the dash.
Tint them out red maybe?
- I'm starting to get worried.
Is it just going to be a reaper on top of a chassis?
Good luck. Have fun.
They're promising us a monster truck.
So I better see big wheels, big chassis,
big V8, and just big features on the Dodge Caravan.
They need to make it Hot Wheels.
- They are truly changing everything
about this exterior.
I don't even know if it's going to be recognizable as any car.
* *
- This part right here, you can see
that it's digging into the tire.
- Let's try and push the car then.
- We're in a real sticky situation right now.
We got the car low as possible, but now it won't roll.
- I can hear it. It's in here, Rachel.
- Yeah, I know.
If we can't get these wheels to roll,
then it's just not a Hot Wheels.
We need to be able to move this car
in and out of the garage.
- Hold on, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
.
- Big E, this is going great so far.
Thanks for doing this, man.
- This is great.
You brought me here to talk about something I love, cars.
And as a WWE superstar, I really appreciate
this experience and for you not making me do some comedy bit,
like holding a WWE Championship title.
- Oh, no, no. We would never do that.
That's horrible.
- Or sometimes, they have me do something as degrading
as ripping my shirt off.
- Yeah, not me.
That is not gonna happen here.
- Good--or get this.
One time, a show asked me to oil myself up.
The audacity! There's more to me than that.
- I mean, that's totally so not cool.
[upbeat music]
Let's talk about the Blue Garage.
Michael had this idea to turn his Dodge Caravan
into the Reaper, a monster truck hearse.
- My one concern is that they're
really high concept right now.
- I spent most of my life building cars,
and somehow, I ended up on an arts and crafts project.
- When I first heard about the plans for this build,
I was like, how are you going to take this really morbid idea
of a funeral vehicle and make it hot
and make it something that's fun and cool?
Hot Wheels has done so many Dodge Caravans in the past,
but none of them have been monster trucks.
I see a lot of half-finished elements,
and I am just not seeing their balance
between reaper and car.
- I'm totally feeling the pressure
because this is my department, making this thing
look like the reaper.
So it's really an abstract process,
especially doing it this quickly.
* *
- Let's talk about the Red Garage.
They are transforming Nick's 1984 Chevy Monte Carlo
into Mardi Gras Mania.
How do you think it's going so far?
- So far, I think it's going great.
You know why? - Why?
- Because they're going low. - Oh.
- Nick and his team chose these 26-inch gold wheels,
and they promised me they're gonna function
with steering and everything like that.
So if the fender and the wheel fitment aren't perfect,
I'm not gonna be happy.
- I think these rims alone have completely changed this car,
but there's so much more parts that need
need to be cut and hacked up just to get
a dance floor on the back.
- And I'm really interested in seeing how
they execute the dance area.
- It's tough, because it's such an iconic silhouette.
They have to be feeling some pressure
to really get this right.
- They're really gonna have to add a lot of structure
to this dance floor just so that it can hold
the weight of multiple people being
in the back of this thing.
That's my biggest worry.
* *
- The chassis, we've made it
with all these cross-section triangulation.
So it's going to be a real feature of this build.
It needs to be strong and stable 'cause we don't want
the car falling over or anything like that.
- Teams, we have reached the halfway mark.
Get back to work.
[engine revving]
* *
- What's happening with this?
- That's all got to stay on that.
If we cut that off, that's gonna end up
being super wobbly.
- My concern right now, Paul, is that the dance floor
is going to be too small.
I've taken over this dance floor.
I have to make sure that it's gonna be sturdy enough
to hold all the people.
- Hey, hey, Rachel? - Hey.
Thank you, Tony. - Special delivery.
- We really need to extend it as far as we can go
while maintaining the lines of this car.
If we're dancing, I'm doing 12-inch spaces for a bracing.
And I can weld it to the back piece.
Lovely.
I have to make sure that there's going
to be enough bracing in order for the plexiglass
to not bend or move.
If we don't do this properly, then there might
be a risk of there being far too much weight in the back.
- Looking good. - OK.
Almost got a dance floor. - Here we go.
- A lot of the spirit of Mardi Gras
is dancing, moving about, doing your thing.
- You'll be able to shake your junk in the trunk.
- [laughs] - I love it.
* *
- This is really cool.
It's really starting to pop now where it's becoming 3D.
- The dimensionality of the Reaper
is gonna be built out with bent steel rod.
And once we get the form, then we're gonna cover
everything with wire mesh.
Then, on top of the wire mesh, we apply a fabric,
and then we put polyester resin over top of that
to harden everything up and make it
just like a fiberglass skin.
- This is starting to look absolutely crazy, dude.
I just want to show my family how
I can make our historic vehicle something that's
a little bit bigger, a little bit more interesting,
and a lot better.
* *
- Hey, yo, Red Garage!
- Yo. - What's up?
What's up? What's up?
- Come here, come here. - I had an idea.
We're going big, but we can go bigger.
I was thinking, maybe we make the entire car gold.
What do you think? - That's crazy.
I like that. - I think it's amazing.
- Gold wrap, gold rims, gold engine.
You know, I said that I wanted this car
to be seen from space.
What better way for it to be seen
than it to be wrapped in gold?
- We're turning this into a trophy.
- That wins the $25,000. - Yes.
- All right! - Let's go.
- Oh, boy.
- Inspirationator. - Inspirationator?
- Over there, man.
- Just when everything's going to plan,
the Inspirationator throws you for a loop.
Round and round she goes.
Which of these over 800 Hot Wheels she spits out,
nobody knows!
- There it goes.
- Oh, boy.
One of my favorites, the Cloak and Dagger.
* *
- This one is actually really cool.
It was inspired by classic French cars of the 1930s,
but with a futuristic, sinister-looking twist.
It has a glow-in-the-dark interior,
and the body is removable.
- Oh. - Ooh.
- Thanks, Dalal.
Sorry to make you pivot here, but this is the twist.
If you want the 25 grand and a key to the finale,
you'll need to add at least one glow in the dark element
from this Hot Wheels into your design.
- Oh, yes. - Oh, that'll be perfect.
- Interesting.
- Nick and Michael, you each have one
of these Hot Wheels in your garages.
When the lights flash green, make a plan with your team.
Y'all ready?
[buzzer blares] all: Go!
- OK, so this is the 2021 Cloak and Dagger.
- That couldn't fit our build any better.
That name is awesome.
- So I know that we're gonna have lights on the dance floor,
but I don't think that's gonna be good enough.
- Why not have it glow on the interior and the exterior?
We can put some real sick underglow lights
to really give it that Mardi Gras party feel.
The twist from Cloak and Dagger,
it does pose a ton of more work,
like more neon on the top, on the bottom.
The tires need lights.
Everything needs lights.
- So what elements do we pull?
- We can definitely use some
glow-in-the-dark paint on the wheels.
- For sure.
- And big, huge metal pieces underneath.
- Light up the whole room. - The drips.
- Liquid green.
It's perfect with our theme, I would say.
- Sometimes, the Inspirationator
just gives us more work to do, but in this case,
it actually might be the idea that helps us to win.
- No matter where you at, it's glowing, and it's flowing.
- So let's get going.
- Ooh! - [laughs]
- Let's do it.
- Nice and gentle. - Ooh!
- Lower the Reaper.
- Charlie's put a couple days into this chassis.
It looks amazing.
- It's touching.
- I'm not 100% sure it's gonna fit perfectly the first shot.
I really need it to because we're out of time.
- Chris, we've got a bit of a problem back here.
We're touching our suspension mount
on the rear chassis rails.
- Uh-oh.
- So we're gonna have to go back up,
pull it back out, and then cut that out.
- Yep. - Sounds like a lot of work.
- It is a lot of work. - Yeah, it is a lot of work.
- Especially this late in the day.
- Yeah. - What about the other side?
- It's the same problem. - It's the same, both sides.
.
- Big E, thanks for agreeing to come back on.
I'm sorry about that little misunderstanding before.
- I mean, it's cool.
Pre-final check-in meatball subs
make everything better.
- Don't you know it. Cheers.
[upbeat music]
- Oh.
- Oh, man, you got stuff all over your shirt.
- Hold this.
- I thought you didn't like when people
asked to rip your shirt off.
- I decide when I rip my shirt off.
- Oh.
* *
- So we're gonna have to go back up,
pull it back out, and then cut that out.
- Yep. - Yeah.
- My concern at the moment is the sheer volume
of work we have to do, and it's all massive chunks.
And we've not connected any of it together yet,
and now we've just added all this extra work
from the twist car.
We haven't got a lot of time.
So if we both jump on this on each side,
then we can get this cut out real fast
and get this body lowered down.
* *
- Nick, in the Red Garage, with their Mardi Gras Mania--
I love that it's going to be a performance vehicle.
They're going to have this dance floor in the back.
There's gonna be musical elements.
It's gonna be very Hot Wheels, especially to see
the supercharger and the wheels both
being in that same shiny gold.
They're adding lights to the interior
and the exterior of the car to incorporate
the Cloak and Dagger twist.
This thing is going to be a party on wheels.
- So what I got to do is find a way
to mock up all these underground lights
so that they fit right and we still have ground clearance.
- I love it.
- Let's talk about the Blue Garage.
Now, I have never seen a Dodge Caravan look like this
in my life, and on top of that, they're going to use
glow-in-the-dark paint throughout their design
to embrace the twist and give this Reaper some life.
- We've got these wheels glowing
with yellow and orange.
It's going to be lit up all over the place.
This Reaper needs to glow. And it's big.
It can't just be a little thing here or there.
The size is really a struggle for us right now
to cover everything in the very little time that we have
and that's what's gonna make us win this competition.
* *
- Hi, guys. Man, it's crazy.
There used to be a Monte Carlo under here.
Trunk's all gone.
You got your new platform you were talking about.
- New dance floor, yeah. - Oh, boy.
What are you all gonna do on the outside?
- Well, I think we're going all go everything
with this Monte Carlo.
- Do you mean what I think you're saying?
- I think you thinking what I'm saying
what I'm thinking I'm saying.
- How are you gonna bring the purple
and the green in if it's all gold?
- Well, we got the purple tinted windows,
and we got the green underglow to kind of go with the twist
that was thrown at us.
We gon' make sure that this car can glow in the dark
and be seen from space.
- Where is all that bump in the trunk going?
- Back near the dance floor.
- Y'all know this has to go to paint in less than a day.
Wow.
What have you guys done?
Y'all have really ruined the resale value of this van.
The twist was the Cloak and Dagger.
Tell me how you're using that car to change your build.
- We already have a bunch of vinyl
and other fluorescent paint, and those wheels
are just big, blank canvases.
- Right now, you got a huge sandwich.
I see the bottom piece of the bread,
and I see the top part.
How are you gonna connect all these things?
- We got a couple of brackets we still have to weld in
and bolt to the chassis, so no biggie.
We're a few minutes away from that.
- The two components don't actually fit together
at this point in time.
Bit of concern, but hopefully, with some jiggling,
we'll be able to get them mounted together.
- I really hope they have time to do some fit and finish
because I want to see fun lights and maybe even
a little glow-in-the-dark paint.
* *
- We've cut out as much as possible from the body.
Now we're gonna have to get this crazy design
connected together.
So I need to make sure it's not going to fail,
and we're not going to lose this build.
- Let's get it lower and dial it in a little bit.
Watch your heads. - Stand back.
* *
That's looking cool. - Yeah, it looks pretty good.
- No, that's pretty close.
We've got to do a couple of adjustments in the back.
For the most part, it's there.
- All right, let's go. - Yeah, yeah.
- I can't believe it almost fits.
* *
- Last build day.
Nick and Michael, put the tools down,
and step away from your garages.
Your car is now in the hands
of your more than capable Car Pools.
* *
- I have full faith in my car, and I know that they
are going to work as hard as they possibly can
to make this happen.
- The competition is tough with the red team,
but I got to say, the Reaper is going
to be something so huge and so out of this world.
I got some confidence.
- Step three is all about finishing touches,
adding wild colors and decorations
before the cars are reassembled.
Ooh, Red Garage, look at this.
Big E, you ever seen anything like this before?
- No, no, can you guys talk to me about these rims?
Because I remember, in Florida, growing up in the '90s,
those were the rims you dreamed of.
- We took that whole theme from the '90s
and amplified it by 26 inches.
- Love it.
* *
- If all of these lights don't work all the way
around this thing, it's gonna just feel like a total dud.
Because you see what's waiting across the garage.
- I know.
- It's crunch time. I'm a little worried.
The clock is running out on us, and these little details
are like the make-or-break details.
- I mean, if this thing doesn't light up in the dark--
- Yeah, then it's a fail.
- You only got one hour left. - One hour left?
- 60 minutes!
- I have to make all this paint glow in the dark.
We can't just be turning the lights
on and off all day long.
We've only got an hour.
If we don't get that twist element super present,
then we might lose.
- 30 minutes. - Oh, man.
- I don't see any lights yet.
- Right now, I'm having an issue
because there's a few lights that's not working,
and I have no idea why.
I'm really getting nervous.
Whoo, it's the last thing we need!
If the lights don't work, we failed the twist
from Cloak and Dagger,
and I really need to figure this out.
There's a light connection loose here.
- You better get those lights lit.
- And on top of all this madness, there's Big E.
- We're about to wrap this bad boy up!
Come on. We gotta finish strong!
- One minute, everybody.
60 seconds! - What?
- Great, this is the last little bit, everyone.
- It is so stressful.
Oh, yes. Stickers are good.
all: Five, four, three, two, one!
.
- The car transformations are complete.
I'm ready to see some life-size Hot Wheels.
Now let's get our superfans out here.
Nick, come on out.
[applause]
Michael, get out here.
[upbeat music]
Welcome back, Nick and Michael.
For the past week, you and your Car Pools
have transformed a nostalgic car from your past
into life-size Hot Wheels, and now it's time
to see if your hard work has paid off.
Nick, you're up first.
Let's check out your brand-new ultimate Hot Wheels.
It's Mardi Gras Mania!
* *
- Oh, my God!
[laughing]
That's the--
[engine revving]
- Hey, look who's coming!
- Whoo!
- Ah! - Get it in!
Get it in, get it in, get it in, ahh!
Look at that car!
Oh, look at that car.
You guys killed it, man.
Wow! All gold everything.
- Yes. - Look at this thing!
I can't believe what's in front of me.
Where did you start, and where did you end up here?
- We started off with the '84 Chevy Monte Carlo,
and we've turned it into the Mardi Gras Mania.
And we wanted to keep the classic Monte Carlo silhouette,
while still infusing it with the party that is Mardi Gras.
26-inch gold rims, light up dance floor,
and this gold wrap around the car.
And then we wanted to incorporate
the Cloak and Dagger twist, so we lined this car
with all kinds of lights, so that this car
can be seen from space.
- Big E, what do you think about this thing?
- Well, first of all, Nick, the dance floor,
I love how seamless it is,
and I got to dance on this thing.
- We have reached the point of the stress test
for the dance floor.
If it doesn't support the weight of Big E,
we've got a problem.
* *
- We've got to test it, oh!
Ooh, ooh.
* *
- Oh, yeah!
- Come on up here, Nick. Come on up here, Nick.
Come on! - Now it's a party.
Now it's a party.
- Oh, my God.
Whoo! We did it, Red Team.
- Come on now.
- Oh, my goodness. - Come on now!
- I'm being summoned. - Oh!
* *
- What is my life right now?
I'm dancing on top of a life-size Hot Wheels car
with Big E.
This ain't real.
- Well, dancing aside, we got to do
the tough part of this show, and we're gonna have
to judge this thing.
The real question, Dalal, is it a Hot Wheels?
Is it hot?
- Oh, it's absolutely a Hot Wheels.
This giant engine, huge wheels,
all gold everything,
and the dance floor-- this is so, so fun.
I love the performance aspect of this car.
We say it all the time, Hot Wheels
is about design and performance,
and you guys really hit the mark on both of them.
I will say, the one thing that really caught my eye,
and I didn't love is, I feel like this back corner
comes to so many different angles.
Just the eye doesn't flow back here
as well as it does through the rest of the body,
but good job.
- Can we just talk about one thing, real quick?
This ride height?
[laughter]
You're tucking your 26's. - Uh-huh.
- That is not easy to do. - That's not easy.
- If your fender isn't rolling over your wheel and tire,
so you can't see the top of it, you're not slammed.
That just changes everything about this car.
The attention to detail, the execution on that is just--
So nice job there.
If I have to knock one thing,
maybe there's just a little too much gold.
- Oh! - You're wearing gold!
- Look, are we judging me, or are we judging the car?
- These louvers could have been black.
Your mirrors could have been black.
Those little elements would have sent
the Mardi Gras Mania home.
- You know, It's really tough to rethink a silhouette
that so many people know and love.
You really get that sense of just how crazy
a task y'all had to change it.
Where the car ended originally, y'all added another 8 inches
to make sure you had plenty of room
to cover that dance floor.
People didn't know you could do this.
- These are people who know cars inside and out,
and they got my vision.
- One ultimate Hot Wheels down, and another to go.
We've seen Nick's. Now it's Michael's turn.
And there's $25,000 and a key to the finale
on the line here.
Michael, are you ready to see your car
in all its gory glory?
- I'm beyond excited. Let's go!
- All right, let's do this. Here it is.
It's the Reaper!
- Oh, my God!
- Oh, my God, it's huge. - Wow!
.
- Michael, here it is.
It's the Reaper!
[engine revving]
- Oh, my God!
- Ooh.
- Oh, my God, it's huge. - Wow!
Look at this thing.
[upbeat music]
- Yeah!
Oh, yeah.
- I'm blown away.
It's the biggest car I've ever seen.
This is not the same car.
- Yeah, man.
I mean, you can't even tell what it was.
When I look closely, the level of detail
in every square inch of this car is unbelievably intricate.
- What are we looking at right now?
- Well, I mean, this is your classic '98 Dodge Caravan.
I wanted to create a monster truck reaper.
I mean, Charlie, from the chassis
that just is on fire and bending a thousand pieces
of metal to make it.
And then Bob's vision, just the artistic level of this,
it's beyond my dreams could have been.
Wow.
- How did you guys incorporate the twist
of the Cloak and Dagger?
- Right, so everything is just glow-in-the-dark.
- I think it's time to see if it really does.
Here we go.
[all cheering]
- Oh! - Everything!
- It just got spooky in here. - Wow!
- That skeleton hand is something that
definitely stood out for me.
My one problem is, I don't own it, you know?
[laughter]
- Oh, my God.
There are very few cars that I look up to,
but I literally look up to this thing.
And you know, I really do love that you added
all these neon colors to it.
I really wish that you guys had taken like the level of detail
that you've done on the hand everywhere else.
But you only have so much time. This thing is incredible.
- Everything that makes a monster truck a monster truck
is right here, and I love the ride height on this thing.
This is fantastic.
I love the green splatter coming off the sickle,
but I think you guys really missed the mark by not having
some green splatter on the sickle itself
to break up that big silver block.
- You took something that feels scary,
and with that Hot Wheels influence,
you made it so fun.
I never thought I'd say this in my life,
but I feel like I need a little more Dodge Caravan.
Maybe if you could see just a tiny bit more of the caravan
that was lurking underneath, and it really paid tribute
to what this car meant to you and your family.
- All I can say is that I'm blessed to have these guys.
This is beyond anything that I could
ever imagine, and then some.
Winning would mean everything to me.
Both cars are very intricate, very special in their own ways,
and I can just hope for the best.
[soft music]
- Nick, Michael, with the help of your Car Pools,
you transformed these classic rides
into legendary, ultimate Hot Wheels.
The superfan who inspired our favorite build this week is...
[tense music]
Nick!
[all screaming]
[upbeat music]
- This is a life-changing moment.
I cannot wait for my dad to see this.
He is going to just go crazy.
This is one of the greatest moments of my life.
- Aww. - That's right.
- Wow!
- Nick's build was a true showstopper.
It had every element I think I would want in a Hot Wheels.
It was low, it was loud, it was fast,
and you could party in it.
Come on.
- Nick, congratulations.
You've got 25 grand and a key to the finale--
that's right-- where you'll compete
with the rest of this season's winners, presented by Xfinity,
to see if your next creation will become
a real Hot Wheels diecast car that you can buy.
Thank you to our superfans, our Car Poolers,
and, of course, Big E.
Don't miss WWE's biggest event of the summer, "SummerSlam,"
streaming live, Saturday, August 5th, only on Peacock.
For Hert and Dalal, I'm Rutledge Wood.
We'll catch you on the next lap.
Yeah, come on, everybody! Everybody, bring it in!
Bring it in right here! Hot Wheels on three!
One, two, three!
- Hot Wheels! - Yeah!
[dramatic music]
* *