.
[tires squealing]
- You've seen how fast we can go...
[all shout]
How loud this thing gets.
[engine revving loudly]
- That's that V-8, huh?
- You might think you're used to all the twists and turns.
Terry Crews!
- How dare you touch that button?
- Joel McHale!
But get ready.
- Now we're bringing back bigger,
badder, stronger, faster.
- Eight superfans won their qualifying round
by creating an incredible ultimate Hot Wheels
based on a special car from their past.
Tonight three of those winners will compete in our finale.
Who will it be?
Each superfan finalist and their Car Pools
will have to create
a brand-new ultimate Hot Wheels
based on one of the most iconic
and best-selling Hot Wheels ever.
And introducing our celebrity guest judge,
Jay Leno!
- That's going to cost you the contest--I'm sorry.
- And Mattel's global head of design for Hot Wheels, Ted Wu.
- This is something
that Hot Wheels has never seen before.
- We're going to drop this thing to the floor.
- The winner will take home an extra $50,000
and get their designs made into an actual Hot Wheels diecast
that you can buy.
This...
is "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge,"
the finale!
[upbeat music]
Hello, and welcome
to our big, bad "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge" finale.
All season long, we've been turning real-world cars
into out-of-this-universe, life-size ultimate Hot Wheels.
These eight incredible builds came out as winners.
From our eight winning superfans,
presented by Xfinity,
we're going to be picking our favorite three
to square off against each other for the grand prize.
It wouldn't be a finale without my very best friends.
They are elite in their fields,
and I'm so lucky to call them my fellow judges.
She's our Hot Wheels brand ambassador,
Dalal Elsheikh. - Hi, pal.
- And one of the most skilled builders in the game,
it's Hertrech Eugene Jr.
Let's pick our three finale cars.
- Let's do it. - It's time.
- All right, starting with...
Jim's 1969 Dodge Charger, The Power Charge.
- I always dreamt of popping a wheelie in a car.
- I am so impressed.
- You came in with an iconic vehicle,
but the silhouette is still largely unchanged.
- There's a ton to love about this car.
The real question is, does it deserve
to be one of the final three?
Let's go check out Sheilah's monster bug.
Sheilah started out with this Volkswagen Beetle
and turned it into the monster bug.
- I want it to have horns,
and I want it to be kind of scaly-looking.
- I mean, look at those eyes. It's hypnotized me.
- This car is cool, but they definitely
could have used a little something
going down the side of the car.
- I wish it had a lot more shape.
I wish they built a wider fender.
- Now, Aldavid's K5 Blazer, the Spirit of Detroit,
this thing is tough.
- I want to transform it into something
that you don't know if you're afraid of it
or if you want to get in and ride it.
- I wish you guys did something else.
with the exhaust
Stackers like an 18-wheeler-- kind of basic, in my opinion.
They could have built it through the exoskeleton,
coming out the side, something to give
the car a different shape.
- How about Arushi and this Maruti van?
There has never been a Maruti van Hot Wheels,
and certainly not a wide-bodied,
six-wheel, V-8-powered Maruti van,
with a gigantic mandala in the back.
- I mean, it looks fast,
but I don't think anyone's ever said that
about a Maruti Omnibus before.
- If you want to talk about speed,
that would be Caroline, the former naval aviator.
She turned her Nissan Sentra
into an actual jet car with a working afterburner.
- This could be in a movie.
- I love the electrification,
allowing the canopy to open and close.
- But at the same time,
you didn't so much focus on the car part.
- They kept the Nissan nameplate at the front
and the taillights, but that's kind of it.
I mean, you really lost the feeling
of what this vehicle actually was.
Now, Luidgi's Mountain Mover--
they started with a '96 Toyota Camry
and turned it into this--
a post-apocalyptic mountain mover.
- Luidgi and his team took the Lethal Diesel twist
and really made this thing look impenetrable.
We talk so much about exposed engines and wild exhaust,
but, like, duallies on a Camry, that's Hot Wheels.
- They could have made a bigger front end.
I mean, this is one way to move mountains,
but if you want to move a crowd,
that would be Nick's 1984 Monte Carlo.
- This giant engine, huge wheels, and a dance floor.
- Oh, now it's a party.
- Hot Wheels is about design and performance,
and you guys really hit the mark on both of them.
- The car definitely needed a little more pop of color,
whether it was the louvers on the side
or maybe the mirrors and the door handles.
But if you want to talk about another car
that understands the use of pops of color,
that would be professional racer Lauren
and the 2007 Crown Vic police car
turned ultimate race car.
- Hot Wheels has done so many race cars,
but you guys have really taken the Mad Manga
and used it to your advantage.
Purple flames, such an iconic Hot Wheels detail.
- Would you drive it? - Of course I would drive it.
And I've never said that about a Crown Vic in my life.
- Okay, picking only three to compete in our finale
was very difficult, but we made our decision.
Hert, who's the first superfan to compete in the finale?
- I love this build.
It's the car that deserves all of the beads
[dramatic music]
- Nick's Mardi Gras Mania.
[cheers and applause]
- I'm back, baby!
Woo!
This is the finale. It's go time, man.
It's time to get down! It's time to get low!
It's time to get on the floor! It's time to make some cars go!
What's up, Rut?
- What put Nick's car over the top was taking an iconic car
and turning it into a totally original party on wheels.
Dalal, who's the next superfan who's going to be competing?
- The vibrant paint, the awesome flames,
the loud exposed V-8 engine--
all quintessentially Hot Wheels.
But what takes this one over the top
is that it actually wheelies.
Its Jim's Power Charge.
[cheers and applause]
- Jersey in the house, baby. Jersey in the house.
- What really made Jim the winner is that his car
was just a showstopper--
those bright flames against the yellow Spectraflame paint.
- [sighs] Just when you thought you got rid of me...
I told you I'd be back.
But this time, it's different. I want that diecast so bad.
Last time I was here I took it up to a ten.
This time I'm going to 11.
- That means there's only one spot left.
This was truly one of my favorite transformations
of the season.
The make and model of this vehicle
has never been made into a Hot Wheels.
And this superfan's personal story,
beautifully tied throughout, makes it shine like a diamond.
It's Arushi's Jaipur Jewel!
[applause] - Yes!
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
I am back! [laughter]
- Arushi lowered her car, made custom box flares,
added two wheels to it, had an exposed V-8, loud colors.
The Jaipur Jewel just screamed Hot Wheels.
- I want to win this.
And I want to win it for my son.
Let's go.
- Arushi, Nick, Jim,
welcome to the "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge" finale.
You guys created a dream build that meant something to you,
but now your job is to bring that magic to everyone,
to make Hot Wheels history
by getting your next build
made into a real Hot Wheels diecast car
that you can buy.
- I could possibly be designing
the next Hot Wheels diecast car.
It's a moment that will stand the test of time.
- To help make the ultimate decision
on which original full-size Hot Wheels design
will be immortalized into a diecast,
we've got the man who makes the final decision
on every actual Hot Wheels that gets produced.
- Wow. - Please welcome Ted Wu.
[applause] - Yeah!
Hey, guys. How's it going?
Good to see you. - What's up, buddy?
- Good to see you. - Nice to see you.
Over the 55-year history of Hot Wheels,
we've designed over 25,000 unique vehicles.
So one of the things that is a challenge every year is,
how do we create something that is truly unique?
For Arushi, Jim, and Nick, this is a chance of a lifetime,
and I think any of them could be a winner.
- You've already made a beloved car from your past
into a life-size Hot Wheels.
If you're wondering where your next car is coming from,
look no further
than the Inspirationator 5000!
With over 800 Hot Wheels cars,
it holds the most iconic diecasts in car-culture
and Hot Wheels history.
And whichever ones the Inspirationator spits out
will set this ultimate challenge.
- It's actually got my nerves kind of going.
I have no idea what it's going to spit out.
It could be anything coming out of that machine.
.
- Let's see your finale Hot Wheels.
Whichever ones the Inspirationator spits out...
- Something's coming.
- Will set this ultimate challenge.
My goodness.
For Arushi,
the Nissan Skyline R33.
- Oh, my God.
- That's a good one.
- The Skyline is definitely a fan favorite.
We've done everything from the classic Skyline,
all the way up to the R35.
But the R33--Arushi, really excited to see
what you're going to do with it.
- Next up, Nick.
[rock music]
- I'm so nervous right now.
- A Pontiac Trans-Am Firebird.
- Oh, the "Smokey and the Bandit" car!
[laughs] Let's go, baby!
Come on!
- We actually first did this in 1978.
And we've done it in countless variations and colors since.
You really got to show us something different,
fun, and unique, so good luck, Nick.
- We've got one iconic Hot Wheels left,
and it's for you, Jim.
* *
Talk about a classic--
a 1968 Volkswagen bus.
- Whoo.
It's awesome, man.
There's a million things I could do with this one.
- The Pink Beach Bomb VW bus
is the most expensive Hot Wheels ever
and the rarest Hot Wheels diecast in the world.
- Oh, wow. - Wow.
- Your mission is to take a classic car and make it
into an iconic, completely original
life-size Ultimate Hot Wheels.
- And I'm here to make sure that your build
truly deserves being made
into a 164th Hot Wheels diecast car.
- And not to put even more pressure on you,
but somebody pretty amazing will also be here later
to help us judge your builds.
It's time to head to the creative cave
known as the Chrome Zone.
Our finalists have three steps to produce
the ultimate Hot Wheels.
Step one is design.
Welcome back to the Chrome Zone.
- I am so excited. - It's so beautiful.
- Are you happy the Inspirationator
gave you the Firebird?
- This is amazing, man.
Watching the "Smokey and the Bandit" movies
where that became such an iconic vehicle--
it's something that I've seen ever since I was a little kid.
- There's actually been 25 castings of the Firebird.
The Hot Bird was the first time that a Firebird
showed up in the Hot Wheels line.
You're going to have a heavy task on your hand to come up
with something unique. - Yeah.
- What are you thinking you want this car to look like?
- Slam that suspension a little bit,
bring it down low, aero fin maybe--
like, something down the middle.
- If you're thinking about some fun aero,
this is the Speed Shark.
The aero shapes this entire vehicle.
I mean, everything about it says,
I'm going to move through the air.
- Bringing it in because I'm going to win.
- You got to rethink the Nissan Skyline.
- It's probably the most popular casting in general.
- Wow.
- So you're going to have to really figure out
what is going to separate it from what we've already done.
- I know my son would always go for a car which goes
really fast on his track-- a rally car.
I'm looking at raising the car--
big wheels, goes in mud, a cage on the top.
- When I think about a rally car--
ooh, right here-- the Rally Speciale.
So it's all about, you know, bigger fenders,
wheels and tires that can handle on-road and off.
- Going the rally route-- it's uncharted territory,
but I think that's what we're looking for
in this final challenge. - I'm excited.
- The '68 VW bus-- this is an iconic shape.
- Well, I see an old-school car build in this van.
But old-school cars really don't go fast, right?
So, then if you combine it with a big, giant motor,
we drop that motor dead center.
We cut it down to a flatbed.
- If you're talking about a big engine that people can see...
- There you go. - This is the Rennan Rig.
That exposed engine, it gives you this feeling,
this thing is fast.
- I do want to warn you that the VW Hot Wheels Drag Bus
is one of our most popular, iconic castings
that we've had.
So I love the direction,
but just be aware of what we've done in the past.
- I had a Volkswagen van-- camper with my kids.
When they were small, we used to take them camping.
It was the pop top. - No way. You had a Westy.
- So I already connected with the van.
- What would it mean to you to have your car made
into a Hot Wheels diecast?
- [voice breaking] Just give me a minute.
It means everything to me.
I was meant to do something great, and this is it.
I saved one spot on my body...
[clears throat] For something special.
- Look at that.
You got that after you won?
- The day after, I made the appointment.
It means that much to me. It just does.
And I'll come build that car. I promise you.
- Arushi, what's the name of your build?
- Rally Resilience! - All right! There we go!
Nick, what's the name of your build?
- We're calling it Blazin' Bird.
- All right! There we go!
All right, Jim, in the new Yellow Garage,
what's the name of your build?
- The Superfan Van.
- Yeah! [cheers and applause]
Love that!
- That's a good-looking team right there.
- Whoo. Your teams have one week
to turn these legendary rides
into awe-inspiring ultimate Hot Wheels.
One of your cars will be turned
into an actual Hot Wheels diecast car
that the world can buy.
Are y'all ready? all: Yeah!
- Go!
- Go, go, go. - All right.
- What I'm thinking is, we can keep the front half
of this thing still looking somewhat original.
And then in the back,
we're going to need big horsepower, right?
- Whoa, yeah.
- I'm taking this Volkswagen body,
and we're going to cut it in half.
And we take a Formula 1 back half,
and we combine the two worlds.
I know it's early to talk about color,
but keep in mind, as we're going forward,
I definitely want this thing done in purple.
- Purple is good. - Well, this is a '68 van.
Hot Wheels came out in '68.
And one of the earliest colors was that nice metallic purple.
- There you go.
I can't imagine to be a kid, and go
into a store with your parents, and you see that 164 car
and know that your dad or your grandfather made it.
And that's the legacy I'm gonna leave for my family.
- This time we want to go fast, fast, fast, fast, fast.
Of course, we got the scoop right there,
a little aero design with the fin on top.
The wheels--we want to push those out a little bit,
slam it.
- We're gonna go low and wide. - We want to slam it.
The nice bird symbol on the front--
I want to do something special with that,
you know what I'm saying?
- We can have the bird on the roof--that can be the beak.
- So you know how the Skyline is fast?
But we want to make it bad. We want to make it off-road.
I am thinking rally--
raising this thing up, big wheels, hood lights,
back rack.
- Maybe a spare tire up on there?
- Yes.
The idea in my head is seeing my son playing with this car.
I want to send a strong message to this younger generation,
and that's why I want to go for the bold look.
- I've never seen a lifted Skyline before.
- No, me neither.
- You know, at first when I saw this R33, I'm like,
it's breaking the barriers of the iconic Skyline.
Everybody lowers them.
And now we're making something new--we're making a new path.
And that's exactly what Arushi wanted.
- We have to do something really big.
I might upset the Skyline community,
but that is what
the "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge"
is all about.
I want to do something brand-new
that the next generation is going to love.
One, two, three.
.
- So who's the celebrity judge? You guys got to tell me.
- Okay, okay, look, look, we'll give you one hint.
It's between "I" and "K."
[laughter] - That's a good one.
- What?
- He doesn't even know his ABC's.
- What does that even mean?
Celebrity judge between "I" and "K"?
Oh, sorry, man.
Oh, oh, I got it.
So--Okay.
Hey, you dropped your jeans.
Gene Simmons. [fanfare plays]
That's it. I'm a genius.
In step two, the Car Pools transform
the three finalists' wild designs
into real-life Hot Wheels.
- I need to measure twice and cut once
because we only got one shot at this thing.
- With the Superfan Van, Jim's plan is to take
this Volkswagen bus, cut it in half,
convert the rear
to sort of an F1 or IndyCar-inspired back half.
[tool crunches]
- Yeah! - Come on.
- Let's do it. - That's really cool.
- Oh.
- How are they going to be able to blend
all these different styles together?
- There's nothing you can do
to make a van look like an F1 car.
How are they going to make it look fast?
It's going to take a lot of creativity
to blend these two ideas into one.
- What we got here?
- Don't look, Nick. - Oh!
Y'all just cutting these beautiful cars up.
It hurts my heart, man. - [laughs]
- Nick and his team over in the Blue Garage
are transforming that 1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am
into the Blazin' Bird.
- Chris, Bob, and Nick are getting
the car ready to get the wheels on
and see how low we can get this.
This needs to be the lowest car we've done so far.
- We're going to drop this thing to the floor.
- I want to see this car so slammed
that you can't see any space
between the tires and the fender.
I love my cars low,
and I love them to look like they're floating.
Start there--lower.
- [chuckles] - Yeah!
That's looking good, baby. - That's getting low.
- We've done all the modifications
to get this thing nice and low.
But now we need to play around with the wheel arches
to get the look we want.
It's going to be tricky, but I know we can pull it off.
[tool whirring]
- Arushi and the Red Garage are taking this Nissan Skyline
and doing something that I don't think
anyone on this floor would imagine doing.
all: Oh, my God. - What?
- This is crazy.
- No kidding.
- Those are 24-inch wheels
that they're about to put on an iconic race car.
It's the total opposite
of what you would normally do to a Skyline.
This could end up the car equivalent
of painting a mustache on the "Mona Lisa."
- They're kind of massacring this car,
and I don't know if I like it or not.
[laughs]
- It's obvious that these fenders aren't going to work
to get these tires in place.
So I think we take these front fenders off
so we can fit the tires on in there, get them wider.
- We're not looking to necessarily build
a monster truck. - Yes.
- We're looking to build a rally car.
- A rally car, yeah. - Exactly.
- In the world of Hot Wheels, you, of course, want
to have kids be able to go up,
look at this car on the shelf, and say, I love this thing.
It looks amazing.
But there is a group of really loyal people
who love the Skyline.
She has to make sure that she's got the support
of the fanboys.
- Is this what you were thinking?
- Yes, yes, yes! Whoo!
- There's not going to be anything like it.
This is beyond crazy.
* *
- We need a chassis. We need a V-8 engine.
- Trying to combine these two classics together.
I got a Corvette chassis,
and I got the Volkswagen body on the front.
Once I tack this, there's no going back.
- Y'all, right now it looks like the Yellow Garage
has two very distinct styles.
There's the front half of the bus and then a back half
of what used to be a Corvette.
And so when I see those big kind of dragster-type wheels,
you realize how strongly
they're going to have to weld these two halves together
to support all that weight and the V-8 engine.
- I'm just hoping this all holds together
when this big V-8 fires up,
'cause if this car pulls in two pieces,
it's going to be a problem.
- What about if I create some flames
that go over the big wheels?
- Oh, yeah. - You know?
- Now you're talking.
- So it's going to look like it's hot without even moving.
- Yeah, that sounds awesome. - I like it.
Flames are important to me.
The first paint job I ever did--
me and my dad on the streets of Bayonne, New Jersey,
painting my dad's '57 Chevy.
Ever since that day, I want flames on everything.
* *
- So what you got going, Bob?
- We're going to have the hood bird up onto the roof.
It's going to add an awesome line to the car.
And it's going to be super cool because it's a bird.
- I like that, man.
- The way that they can execute this well
is to make sure that it doesn't look like an art car,
'cause I don't think that's what Nick is going for.
- If it's very literal,
I'm afraid it's just going to not come off
as the serious machine that this needs to be.
It's either going to be magic, or it's going to be tragic.
- Tss. Phew.
[engine decelerates]
* *
- I need to place this fender.
I'm thinking out here with it.
And then we add some bracing in between here.
And then we fill the gap.
- With this build, we don't want it
to look like a monster truck.
But with these tires,
we do need to bring these fenders out.
- You got to remember, too,
this is Hot Wheels rally car, so the bigger, the better.
- We want these fenders to sit exactly where they need to be
to maintain the Skyline and also to make it look rally.
- Hey, Red Garage.
Would you look at this?
Y'all put 24-inch wheels on a Skyline.
There's enough room to fit my head in.
- That's not criteria to win, by the way.
- That's not? Okay. [laughter]
Normally, it's, like, a unit of measure.
- This goes completely against everything
that I would ever do to a Skyline.
[ominous music]
It's an interesting take--
widening the fenders the way that you did, adding 24s.
Street cars are usually lightly lowered
with some nice wheels and good paint,
and you cruise it around.
I feel like this wheel and tire is wrong.
- This is something
that Hot Wheels has never seen before.
But the question is, is that a good thing?
When I look at the wheel-well arches here,
there's a mismatch.
They're not flowing together correctly.
So, for me, personally,
I think you'd go smaller wheel and tires.
- I think this is a tightrope walk
between being the coolest thing I've ever seen
and being a pretty big mistake.
So I think you guys got to move with caution here.
- It is a rally car.
And we're looking for an extreme makeover here.
This is the finale, and the pressure is on.
The judges have never seen a car like this.
- Right. - While I love feedback,
I also like to really be close to the aim that we have
and not lose sight of our vision.
We can actually make it or completely break it.
.
- I'm still trying to figure out
who the celebrity guest judge is.
I mean, Ted, you said the clue was the letter J.
Oh, my God, is it JLo? - It's not JLo.
- But they did get their start on a mic.
- Okay. Okay. - Uh-huh.
Who could it be? Oh, excuse me. I'm so sorry.
Wait a second.
Is that a denim carpet?
Wait a second.
Letter J, rocked a microphone, denim...
- Uh-huh.
Oh, my God, it's Justin Timberlake!
This is so exciting.
I've got to go figure out... - It's not him.
- What I'm going to wear. - It's not him.
- Ooh, sorry. - What is wrong with him?
- Yeah, it's a little weird.
- All right.
- Not much of a Skyline left on this one.
- Arushi and her team have made a ton of progress
on that 1996 Nissan Skyline.
- Ted said he's worried about the proportions
and everything looking funny.
So, by doing what we're doing now,
The rest of the car will be in proportion.
- We maintained the lines. - That's right.
- How many times have you guys looked her in the eyes
and said, change this?
- Arushi does a great job of not taking your feedback.
- She stands her ground. She stands her ground.
- This is a very difficult task,
because we're modifying the original quarter panel,
but we got to bring it out nine inches
to meet these big, giant tires we put on.
We're not sure how the purists are going to feel about it.
We're going to try and create the love
for the iconic Skyline
and also the love for the "Ultimate Challenge."
* *
- So you know how we said that we were going to do the skirts
on top of the wheel? - Right, right.
Right, original. - Right.
I'm thinking 3D flames.
Let's go a little bit higher.
- I like fire. - I love fire.
- [laughs] - We are fire.
This is two different cars.
Something is happening right now that it's not flowing.
I just want to make those fender
go over the tires into flames.
I'm trying to shape these 3D flames
that will go on top of the back tires.
The first thing is my hot knife--
one of my favorite tools.
It's not an easy task. I have very little time.
And I'm working with Styrofoam.
So whatever you cut, you can't put back.
But I think it's going to be a great idea,
and I'm pumped.
- Oh.
- Yeah.
- I love this cut right here. - Yeah.
- This, to me, is so awesome.
There's no way we cannot use it.
- Now it looks like the fire is coming out of the wheel.
- I love it.
I instantly fell in love with these flames.
The problem is, it completely goes against the design.
- That looks awesome, but I'm concerned
that it is not going to look like an IndyCar anymore
because it's got fenders.
And the whole point of IndyCar--
it's called open-wheel racing
because there is nothing above the wheels.
I know this F1 look is never gonna work
with them back there.
Jim's going to have to make a call here.
Do we leave the wheels open, or do we stick with the flames?
- The van is so cool. We lost half of it.
- True, but it does have to have a big wing on the back
because all those race cars have that big wing.
- You know what, Christopher? I think outside the box.
I need to be free. I'm getting frustrated.
- The wing is a signature piece.
- All right, then let's lose it.
Back to my element. - Here's an idea.
What if we put your flames on the sides of the wing?
[dramatic music]
- I think I'll go take a break.
- This is not the time to fall apart.
We're in the finale.
I got to get this team back on point, man.
[engine decelerates]
- We've obviously cut the wings off
to make room for bringing the car down and these big wheels.
So this is the sort of gap that we have.
It's about three inches now.
So I'm just figuring out how I'm going to fill this
to make it look good,
'cause I don't want to lose the lines of the car.
We could make the whole arch
and just box the whole thing out of tin.
But I want to try and keep as much of the original car
as possible.
Cool. Now that's held.
Just need to make sure the front looks right.
- Charlie, you have done it again, man.
What is that you guys say, "brilliant?"
- That's brilliant. - It's brilliant.
- [laughs]
- While Charlie and Chris are building out the fenders,
I'm going to work on that aero fin
and work on getting a cool bird shape up on top of the car.
So we're working on the beak of the bird.
- Of course. - This will be the air intake.
This will be mounted on top of the roof.
It's got to have structural integrity.
So it's going to have, like, a spine
that's a thick wall of tubing.
But then everything else, the shape and everything,
is just going to be sheet metal.
- I love it. Bird! - Awesome, man.
- [imitates squawking] - Bam.
[laughs]
- Hey, Blue Garage.
- Whoa, the judges. all: Oh.
- What are we looking at right now, buddy?
- Well, you are looking at a super-dropped Trans-Am.
- This fitment is what dreams are made of.
- That's it.
- Hot Wheels has done Trans-Ams for years.
What is going to separate this from what's been done before?
- This little piece at the top.
The aero fin that we wanted to put on the car--
the fin will be a Firebird.
- Obviously it's a work in progress.
But if it's just a giant bird sitting on top of a Firebird,
to me, that would not be a fully integrated design.
- I urge you to maybe look at what's going on here
for some inspiration and really call back to that.
- You execute this correctly,
and it could be a game changer and a winning vehicle.
You execute it incorrectly, and I'm sorry, it's, go home.
- Well, we're going to make sure
that we execute it perfectly.
- Ooh, he's not afraid of you.
* *
- I'm feeling a lot of frustration,
and I don't know what to do.
I mean, I want this to work,
but we have no time left, you know?
I wasted a whole day, you know, cutting something
that now we're debating on it?
I'm not in a happy place. Right now I'm, like, kind of--
I don't know if I should push forward, or I should give up.
But at the end of the day,
it's the superfan that has to be happy, you know,
and that's what I want.
I want Jim to win, 'cause if Jim wins, I win.
* *
- Hey, Yellow Garage.
- Claudia, this is amazing.
Tell us a little bit about this.
- I understand that we're doing F1,
but I'm the type of person that always think outside the box.
With this, it feels like
the wheels are just catching on fire.
- Jim wants the rear of this van to be F1,
which means open-top wheels.
Claudia's made these amazing, big flamed wheel covers.
The problem is, that doesn't fit with F1.
- You're thinking, to create a way to tie in
to the front half of the bus,
to use some texture to get to what looks like...
- Yeah. - A gigantic flame fender?
- Correct, and I am struggling to sell the idea right now.
- I'm into it. - That's awesome.
I can't believe you made a flamed fender
which is following the Hot Wheels logo.
That's awesome.
- Does it take away that it's not a Formula 1 race car?
- I definitely hear what you're saying, Jim,
because you literally want this thing to look like an F1 car.
You know, here at "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge,"
we're all about reimagining things.
Go with the flow.
- Right now you have the recipe
for what looks like a super-cool hot rod.
- I'm a hot rod guy. It makes sense.
- You got hot-rodders right here that can build anything.
I think, just like a basketball player,
now is the time to pivot.
- I think I got clouded, and I got to thank everybody
for the words you're telling me now--
are making the most sense.
I wish you would have came by two days ago,
but that's all right.
I have to listen to Rut. He's right.
Goodbye, Formula 1. Hello, hot rod.
Claudia has nailed the fenders.
The flames are amazing.
But we've just spent days working on this.
We don't have much time left to make this happen.
[buzzer sounds] - Oh, no.
[all groaning]
- Oh, boy!
- You know what that is.
- This is the Inspirationator 5000.
And it's about... - What is that?
- To throw you for a loop.
- It's the last thing we need right now.
That could totally ruin everything.
- Now this finale is really getting interesting!
- I don't like this.
.
[buzzer sounds] - Oh, no.
[all groaning]
- Oh, boy!
- You know what that is.
- Now this finale is really getting interesting!
The Inspirationator 5000
spits out one of the over 800 Hot Wheels that live inside it.
- Fingers crossed. - What a beaut--
the 1972 Chevy Corvette Stingray convertible.
- Based on one of America's most storied sports cars.
And this classic Corvette Hot Wheels
has a little Easter egg hiding right underneath the chassis.
If you shine a light through it, the headlights turn on.
There you go, just like that.
- Whoa. - Whoa.
- Designers love adding fun Easter eggs in their designs.
One of the most famous Easter eggs
was from designer Larry Wood,
when he put his actual phone number
on a tow truck he designed.
He actually had to change his number
after getting too many phone calls.
- [laughs] Okay, friends, so here's your twist.
All three of you will have to add a unique Easter egg
into your designs.
- Ooh, I like Easter eggs.
- It could be an icon, marker, or a personal design detail
that means something to you.
- When the lights flash green, you know what to do.
Are you ready?
- Go! - Go!
- You're our superfan.
What is super special to you that really touches you?
It has to be something really personal.
- So it's kind of got me thinking--
what if we make a secret door, almost like a closet?
- Yeah, that's a great idea. - Right?
- How cool would it be
to have one of our jumpsuits hidden inside the closet.
all: Team Yellow!
- I want to use the positive message with an invisible ink
on the roof of the car. - Oh, that would be cool.
- Yeah. - You know?
And you can get a UV light or some kind of a light
to get that message to pop.
It's going to say "never quit."
That's an important reminder for everyone
who sees that message.
- Bring it on over here. - What have we got?
- I'm kind of worried about how we're
going to figure this all out.
- So then maybe they would push
that button on the hood.
Incorporate some type of lighting effect.
- That's not a bad idea at all.
- We can light up the lights in the car
by pressing down on the air scoop in the hood,
which has been enlarged, so it's like a giant button,
and it'll light up the eyes of the phoenix.
- Birds of a feather, wings together.
- Yes. all: Wings together.
[dramatic music]
- Inside the door will be the superfan jumpsuit.
The jumpsuit represents all of us working on it,
and it'll represent also anybody
who buys this Hot Wheels, that they can also be a superfan.
You're really going to have to look hard to see it
once we tint that window.
It's going to be awesome.
* *
- [laughs]
- Let's go and see what's going on.
- Hey, guys. - Hey, Nick.
- How we doing? - Wow.
Look at that $50,000 on the car.
- Look at that. - Sold.
- This is how much it's going to make me...
- Yeah. - Oh.
- How much I'm going to get for this car.
[laughs] - I agree with that, man.
I agree that's exactly
what you're going to get for this car.
I'll tell you what-- I'll make him an offer.
Seriously, I'll make you an offer, man.
- What's that?
- It's worth about three grand the way it sits, man.
I would take that before you get zero.
[laughter]
Black, gold, black, gold.
- This is our rear spoiler/bird tail
for Bob's creation of the phoenix there.
And we've got on a cool shape which replicates
the tail of the phoenix.
I've gone solid steel on the top
and then perforated steel on the bottom.
So it's almost like a bird's wing,
'cause there's different texture.
I just hope that what you've made is strong enough.
- This is quite heavy. This is steel.
There's no aluminum in this. - Look at that.
So the design has two purposes--
to make the car faster and to make it look good.
This bird is ready to take flight.
- I can admit when I'm wrong,
and I was a little bit nervous about how this bird
was going to come together,
but now that it's taking shape, this thing's pretty cool.
I mean, they're using it to move air around the car,
and it's going to end up there in that wing,
which also is kind of half diffuser.
[tool whirring]
I don't totally get it,
and yet it's awesome at the same time.
[upbeat music]
* *
- Is this tire big enough for you?
- This is exactly what I wanted,
and I love that the spare tire's
right there sitting on the top.
- The tire rack on the roof--
I want to make it to be able to hinge
in case we needed to get this tire off and change a tire
when we're taking this car out and racing it.
All right, let's get to building.
- Let's do it.
- These cars were never made for a tire rack on the roof.
Structurally supporting a giant tire like this
is going to be very difficult.
I've never seen a Skyline push the limits to this point.
- We've been focusing our energies
on the front of the car.
And we completely forgot that the back of our car
also needs attention.
Cody and Preston are building the rack.
I am having some concerns at this point of time.
Okay.
So I know I am coming with an ask.
And I might want to change something with the design.
[dramatic music]
This is a Hot Wheels build.
I don't think I want a standard rack on my car.
I want it to be completely cool and different,
and so I want to slide the wheel back.
And I am concerned we might have to now make
a last-minute change.
I feel like now, after visually seeing this, maybe--
my thing is, like, can we move this back?
- I do think that moving it back--
I mean, you have to cut everything off,
move the whole thing back. - Yeah.
- So that is a bit of work.
- And then you'd have to start putting these
on the B pillars going down, and it would really start
taking away from the body style of the Skyline.
- My main goal here is to win this.
And everyone here has to be on their A game,
number-one game,
which means we have to be open
to, you know, changing around things.
But I know time is of the essence.
- Arushi is constantly changing and adding things
to this build.
And we're on a tightrope here. We have no time to do this.
.
- We have to win this. This is the final.
And, you know, I have a vision in my head.
I think that's going to work.
So let's go ahead,
change it around, challenge ourselves.
- It's just time, it's materials,
but if that's what you want, then we can cut this off,
start from fresh. - I think it'll be very cool.
And I know you guys can do it.
- I think I'm going to start teaching you how to weld, then,
so you can give us a hand. - Yes, you got it.
- Let's go for it.
Arushi has come up with a completely different idea
for this roof rack.
So we need to get this one right now
cut completely off the roof and start over.
The pressure is on right now.
And it's going to take double, if not triple,
the time as the first one.
[buzzer sounds] - God.
- Ah. - What is--
- Oh, boy.
- Oh, man.
- Oh, my God.
- I know you probably thought the Inspirationator was done
for this episode, but think again!
- A twist again.
Rut, I thought we was cool.
- Oh, I can't wait to see what it's got for us.
- Second?
* *
- Oh. A Mercedes-Benz 300SL.
- That's a nice car. - Okay, all right.
- Here we go again-- the Inspirationator 5000
dropping a bomb on our build.
- Wait, is there a third car coming?
- No-oh-oh.
- I thought we were in the final stretch of our build.
This is unacceptable.
- Oh, the McLaren F1.
- Jeez Louise. - Oh.
- That is a badass car.
What's going on?
- Oh, wait. The Inspirationator's not done.
Here comes another car. - Step away.
- Stop, Inspirationator! - Step away.
- Stop!
- The 1966 Chevrolet Corvair Yenko.
- That's four cars. - Enough with the cars.
- This is great, but this is getting crazier.
- But wait, there's another one!
- No!
- I don't know what's going on.
But, hey, this is "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge."
- A Lamborghini Countach
LP5000 QV. [all shouting]
Are you done?
- Can you please cut us a break?
[engine revving]
- What?
A Tank Car? Okay.
- A Tank Car?
Can somebody explain this to me?
- So I know what this means, but do you guys?
- No! - No.
- No more twists.
- All five of these cars are all part
of our celebrity guest judge's incredible car collection.
What comedy and car icon is lingering right over there
in that cloud of smoke?
Please welcome our celebrity guest judge...
Jay Leno!
[cheers and applause] all: Oh!
- Oh, my God. I can't believe it.
- Are you kidding me? Jay Leno?
- [coughing]
Somebody's running a '58 Mercedes diesel.
Turn that crap off!
- Next time...
Come on, let's push. Do it for Jay.
- Yeah, do it for Jay.
- It's a race to the finish...
- This is an absolute nightmare.
- One minute! - Aah!
- As we crown the first...
- This is so freakin' cool!
- "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge" champion.
The journey you've been on is so incredible.
- I couldn't have done this without you guys, man.
- Hey, guys, get a room. - Yeah!
- It does feel like something
that is part of Hot Wheels history.
- This is a Hot Wheel classic.
- The superfan who inspired our favorite ride...
- Oh! [laughs]
- I think you guys pulled off some magic.
- Whose design will be made into a diecast
you can buy on the Hot Wheels website
after next week's finale?
Is...
- I have to win this.
- I want that 164 diecast.
- Please let this be me.
* *