.
- It's the grand finale
of "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge."
- Oh, my God!
- After an epic season of incredible transformations,
each superfan finalist has begun to create their final
life-size Hot Wheels, based on three
of the most iconic and best-selling Hot Wheels ever--
the Pontiac Trans Am Firebird,
the VW Bus, and the Nissan Skyline.
- You have changed the way that I'm going
to look at Skylines forever.
all: Hot Wheels!
- Tonight... - [screaming]
- Who will build the best of the best?
- [crying] This is better
than I could've ever hoped it would be.
- Who will deliver on the Corvette Stingray twist...
- If you shine a light through it, the headlights turn on.
- Adding a hidden Easter egg to their build?
- Invisible ink on the roof.
- One of our jumpsuits hidden inside a secret door.
- Light up the lights by pressing down on the air scoop.
- And who will impress our panel of car experts,
including legendary car enthusiast Jay Leno...
[all screaming]
- I think it's the epitome of what
a Hot Wheels car should be.
- And Mattel's global head of design, Ted Wu?
- This is something
that Hot Wheels has never seen before.
- The winner will take home an extra $50,000.
- [caws] [all cawing]
- And get their designs
made into an actual Hot Wheels diecast that you can buy!
- I couldn't have never done this without you guys, man.
- Hey, guys, get a room.
- I have seen my son grow up with Hot Wheels.
I have to win this.
- This... - Whoo!
is "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge,"
the finale!
[dramatic music]
- Oh, man!
- What is this? - God!
- I know. You probably thought the Inspirationator was done.
But think again-- big finale revelation.
The Inspirationator generated five new Hot Wheels.
The Mercedes-Benz 300SL, the McLaren F1,
the '66 Chevy Corvair Yenko Stinger,
the Lamborghini Countach, and Tank Car Hot Wheels--
all a part of our celebrity guest judge's jealousy-inducing
car collection.
So who is behind that puff of smoke?
Please welcome our celebrity guest judge...
Jay Leno! [cheers and applause]
* *
- What's up, Jay? How you doing, baby?
- [screams]
Jay Leno's our final judge.
Incredible! He's a car aficionado.
And I really hope that he likes what we have done.
- Thanks so much for being here.
- Hey, thanks for having me.
- Mr. Leno, Mr. James Douglas Muir Leno.
- Just call me Jay. That's fine.
- Okay, Jay. Sorry. I'm just so nervous.
How did it sound, good?
- Very natural. - Nice job.
- A lot of my friends, because of the amount
of cars that I own, but they're not very nice,
have referred to me as the redneck version of Jay Leno.
- I can't imagine where that would come from.
- Did you start that? - [laughs]
- All right, so, Jay, clearly, you love cars.
- I do love cars.
- Could you give our teams
a little rally cry here, a little encouragement?
I mean, look at them.
- Little rally cry? - Yeah.
They're all working hard here.
* *
- Hey, get to work! Come on!
Finish up those cars!
- Come on!
Jay Leno, everybody. - [chuckles]
- Let me get you up on what's going on in the garage.
- All right.
- Each team is transforming a classic car
and has been given a twist to add a unique Easter egg
into their build.
So over here in the Red Garage, we've got Arushi.
She's working on this 1996 Nissan Skyline.
And she's trying to turn it into a rally car.
She's raising it up, adding 24-inch wheels,
and widening the fenders.
I mean, I've never seen a lifted Skyline before.
- I would have to look at that car for ten minutes
to figure out what it was originally.
- Right.
- I didn't even recognize it until you mentioned it.
- I think one of the touches that
makes the Skyline so iconic is those headlights
and taillights.
To me, looking at this car, it looks like a bodybuilder
that has those huge traps that suddenly you
don't see any definition between their neck
and their shoulders.
It's really taking away the whole flow
of the front of the car.
- Is this tire big enough for you?
- This is exactly what I wanted.
- They had fitted a spare-tire rack on the roof.
- I might want to change something with the design.
Can we move this back?
- But Arushi decided she didn't like the look of it.
So they're having to start from scratch.
- Arushi is constantly changing and adding
things to this build.
We have no time to do this.
- We want to make sure that we maintain all of the lines
of the back of this car.
We don't want to make those Skyline lovers unhappy.
- There's a beautiful car to begin with here.
And we're morphing it to a Hot Wheel,
so we're walking on a fine line of right and wrong.
- There has been a couple of ups and downs with this rack.
But given the time that we're left with,
I hope that this makes a big difference.
- Straight ahead here in the Yellow Garage,
Jim is working on this 1968 Volkswagen Bus.
He's cut it in half, and he's turning it
into a half-bus, half-semitruck racer.
- Very cool.
- Now, over here in the Blue Garage,
Nick and his team are working on the Blazin' Bird.
This is a '78 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.
He's slamming it as low to the ground as possible,
built out the fenders, and put an aero wing on the top.
And it's supposed to be a functional bird.
All right, Car Pools, time is not on your side.
Two days left, everybody.
Finish strong for your superfans.
- And for me, too. Hey, I'm here.
- Yeah, and for Jay Leno! - Yeah!
* *
- We got the nice body kit going.
We got a bird on top.
We haven't done anything
with the headlights and taillights yet.
So what I'm doing is making some custom one-off headlights
and taillights to bring this Firebird
into the future, baby!
I kind of only get one shot at this before it gets messy,
so I'm trying to test-fit it.
- This is so frickin' cool!
- It ain't cool. It's hot.
- It's hot. It's Hot Wheels.
[both grunting goofily]
* *
- Well, hello, Yellow Garage.
all: Oh.
- Hi. - What's going on?
- Wow. Y'all have been doing a ton of work.
It's pretty impressive how it's kind of tied it all in.
And the exhaust is gigantic and cool.
- You got to go big, man. That's Hot Wheels.
- It's Hot Wheels. - Yeah.
We're trying to go in that route
of a Euro big-rig racer.
My dad was a truck driver.
My grandfather was a truck driver.
- I'm so glad that you guys really found the direction
that is so true to you, Jim,
because now I'm like, okay, I see what you guys are doing.
- Every time I look at the front of this van,
it just reminds me of the old big rig my dad
used to drive, actually.
So I'm going to make a tribute to my dad.
- How are you incorporating the twist?
What's your Easter egg?
- Now, this is the riskiest move of all
because this is solely me.
If it succeeds, it's a home run.
And if it fails, it could cost us the whole competition.
With this extra door, I'm calling it a closet.
These windows are going to be tinted,
but we're going to hang one of the jumpsuits
inside that you can see through the window.
So that's what I'm leaving to the team.
- That's good. - I like it.
- I love that.
- The jumpsuit represents all of us working on it.
My dad used to wear those coveralls in the shop.
And the Car Pool team wearing them--
I mean, it's a no-brainer.
- Looking at your picture, I noticed the flames
are kind of sitting like this.
The directions of the flame, when you have them
in their original designated position,
it doesn't look as fast as they do like this.
- No, no, no, no, no. - I'm just--
- No, no, no. There's a point there.
- Like, are you serious right now?
- Look, look, look, I don't want any trouble, Claudia.
- The problem with this decision
is we have few hours left.
I don't even know if they're going to finish it,
because I won't be here to watch them complete it.
That's killing me.
- I think Hert's got a really good point.
Right now it's a little bit abrupt
because of the steep angle.
- Now, you come in,
and you going to tell me change it?
Are you serious?
You know, you think that that is that easy.
There's this huge gap that needs to be filled.
There is no time to fix it.
This is the tilting point. I felt like we could have won.
And now I'm starting to feel like...
don't know.
- Stay tuned for a wild finale ride.
It is the last day of the build, everybody.
all: Hot Wheels!
- Time is almost out.
- One minute!
- This is an absolute nightmare.
- And one of these superfans will win the ultimate prize...
- This is, to me, a Hot Wheels classic.
- A diecast model of their winning design
and an extra $50,000.
The superfan who inspired our favorite ride this season
.
- Jay, we're just so excited that you're here.
I mean, this is a big deal for all of us around here.
- Yeah, I kind of got the idea people were a little excited.
- Really? How could you tell?
- Just the way they're dressed, I guess.
* *
- Yeah, they are dressed exactly like you.
[chuckles]
It is the last day of the build, everybody!
Last day.
- Last day!
- Can we get an extra day?
- Check with Jay.
- Extra day, Jay? - Last day!
* *
- At this point, the signature feature in this van,
if it wins, is my fenders.
So now at this point, we need to change the flames.
- This is an absolute nightmare.
The flames didn't quite look great where they were,
so we're trying to shift them around a little bit.
Now, that should be pretty simple, shouldn't it?
But it's not simple, because you end up with a huge gap
down here at the front.
And I'm having to make this steel
and cover up the gap for the flames.
I've got a few rudimentary measurements,
which I've taken off the flames that go on the back.
But Claudia's still working on those.
I'm having to work in the dark--blind as it were.
- We have very little time.
This is the tilting point.
- What's the most outrageous Hot Wheel design
you've ever personally greenlit?
- The Gotta Go-- it's a giant toilet seat.
It looks a little bit like a dump truck--
no pun intended. [light laughter]
And as you roll it, the toilet seat chatters up and down.
- Pretty amazing.
- The wingtip will bend around like this.
And I'm thinking about how the feathers
are going to finish off around the back of the windshield.
- Just do one, and we'll see what happens.
- So I have this epiphany to make the feathers transition
into rear louvers.
- It's something like that, isn't it?
- Louvers are like Venetian blinds for cars.
- Ah. - [chuckles]
- It doesn't really bend,
and then it just bends really harsh.
- I figure, too, it's, like, rusty.
- Yeah. If I just give that a little twist...
- Yeah. - So it follows the bird a bit.
- It's just such a cool way to finish
off the back windshield of this car
and how the bird integrates.
* *
- Wow, Blue Garage.
- What up, judges?
- There is what appears to be a functional
but bird-like shape on the top of this Firebird--
almost like an airplane wing here at the back.
- We're looking at a car that has all kinds of things
that we have added to it, but they're all functional.
- So far, the addition of the bird,
I'm liking the direction it's going in.
It's not just a giant bird
tacked on to the top of the roof.
It's perfect for Hot Wheels.
- And is it me, or is that--
The shaker hood looks a little bit different there.
- Part of the Easter egg is going to be me
putting my kids' birthdays on the side of the scoop.
But then there's going to be one
extra thing on top of that.
You'll be able to press the scoop down like a button,
and that's going to light up the bird.
- Ooh. - That is creative.
- But it's a little confusing when you take a step back,
'cause I'm not sure--
Is this a race car? Is this a street car?
- We're going to be redefining the geometry of it a little bit
with the paint because there's a two-tone thing
that you'll see when it's done.
- From all the cars that I've built and painted,
black is one of the most difficult colors.
You're going to lose a lot of the details.
- Yeah. How are you making sure that we're not losing
all the work that you've done?
- If you look at that splitter in the front,
the diffuser in the back,
you'll have most of the car being in the black,
but you'll still have those gold accents to offset it
and kind of highlight some of the features
like the side skirt.
- There's a lot of great work here,
but if you took away the bird, is it enough?
- Y'all have done a ton of work.
There's a ton of work left and not a lot of time.
I mean, when you look across there,
when you look over to the Yellow Garage,
man, everybody's coming.
Good luck.
- The average customer of Hot Wheels is a kid, right?
- Yeah. - In their head,
the car has to be cool and rally and safari.
- But you still look at adults, and they want that style...
- Right. - And they want that slickness.
- And we can get all those elements in here.
- And if we put the snorkel here, the way that it comes up,
being able to, like, utilize having the light bar,
because then that actually takes up some of that space.
There are so many things that we need to dial in and get
just absolutely perfect.
So I'm finishing up this light pod here.
I'm going to get Arushi to install the lights
into the front of it for me.
- Looks good. - Okay.
So I'm only going to help you on the first one,
then the rest are all you.
- Hot Wheels looks at every detail of the car,
which means I just cannot place lights everywhere.
Placement is very important.
And that's my project.
- Wow. Look at this progress.
It looks like you guys have trimmed the edge
of the fender here.
There's a big light bar up front.
We've got a skid plate.
There's a rear rack holding the tire.
Ted, as you're looking at this front end, what do you think?
- I'm still 50/50 on the light bar.
It fits well with the space that you have
on the front end.
On the other hand, does it accentuate the thing
that could be your Achilles' heel, which is,
is it just making something massive look even more massive?
- I do understand Ted's point, you know,
that the car's bigger and bolder than expected,
but having those lights right there makes a lot of sense.
- Let's talk a little bit about the Easter egg.
How are you guys thinking of incorporating
that twist into the build?
- We are going to have a hidden message with invisible ink,
because I know how much my son would love going
through the car and then suddenly
finding a hidden message, which is "never quit."
- There's something really special there.
* *
All right, Arushi, Nick, Jim, put the tools down
and step away from your garages.
That means it's time to get everything ready for paint.
- I know that you are going to take it to heights
that it's never seen before.
- We got this. - We got this.
- Yes, bring it in!
- It's not just the $50,000 prize.
I could possibly be setting my family up
for a legacy that will last for the rest of our lives.
all: Two, three, Hot Wheels!
- I've met some of the best builders in the world,
but I can honestly say, guys...
* *
[voice breaking] You're the best I ever worked with.
- I mean that. - Thank you, man.
- When I came in here, I came in hot.
I'm like, I got this. My build's the best.
The competition is so close right now.
There's nobody's car who's better at this point.
- This is going to be ours.
Let's think like winners.
I hate that I have to leave. I want to keep my hands dirty.
And I want to continue to motivate this team.
- Just know when you leave here,
you've left a winning car behind.
- I definitely feel the pressure.
We have to finish this car in time to win this.
Bye! - Good luck, you guys.
Good luck.
.
- We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming
to bring you this.
- I have a friend here with me for today's handbook--
Hot Wheels's own Ted Wu.
Hi, Ted. - Hi, Dalal.
Big fan of these handbooks.
- Oh, I love my fans.
Now, we all know about the treasure hunt.
But do you know about the super treasure hunts?
- I do.
- 2007, Hot Wheels came out
with a two-tiered treasure hunt system.
A regular treasure hunt has normal paint
and wheels compared to other Hot Wheels cars.
- The super treasure hunts are much rarer
and feature Real Rider rubber tires
and Spectraflame paint.
Um, and if you find one in stores, snatch it up.
They can be worth a pretty penny.
- I love super treasure hunts.
[wand whirs] Oh, you guys hear that?
- What are you doing? - It's under the couch.
[gasps] It's gold!
Oh, it's just a gold candy wrapper.
There's still candy in there. - Don't.
That's gross. - Oh, my God.
- You got to try it. Take a bite.
- Now do you see what I have to deal with?
- Ted, take a bite.
Oh, you guys are missing out.
- This has been... both: The Hot Wheels handbook.
- Step three is all about finishing touches--
adding wild colors and decorations before the cars
are reassembled.
- Red Garage, Yellow Garage, Blue Garage,
come on, let's push.
Do it for Jay. - Yeah, do it for Jay.
- All right, so, Jay, I know you really love Hot Wheels.
- I do love Hot Wheels.
- What was the first Hot Wheels you remember buying?
- I think it would have been
either the Cougar or the Mustang.
I was a Ford guy at that point.
So I think that's part of the Sweet 16, I think.
- Yeah. I think you're right.
- We want to make sure that Arushi is proud of this build.
- Okay, everybody, ten minutes left.
- Ten minutes!
- Oh, I got to get these in the right order.
[gasps]
There we go.
So I'm putting all these stickers on
with all these little affirmations,
all these beautiful words of encouragement on here.
There's a lot of pressure on us to make sure
that this turns out perfectly.
- We have about ten minutes left to do here.
We have decals. We have LEDs.
We have the lights to go on. We need to get it done.
- Oh...what?
The car just came back from wrapping.
Man, it looks amazing.
We were concerned with losing some of the details,
and Dalal did call that out.
So we made sure to add some pinstriping,
just to accent all of those lines that we modified.
- We're going to flip it over.
- Towards, Chris, yeah. - Towards me. There we go.
- That's good. I think we got foam down.
- Bob and Chris, they're working on the bird,
trying to get that situated.
- They stick pretty good.
- Oh, man.
- Five minutes, everybody. - Five minutes!
- Come on, guys! Hurry up!
Almost there.
Chris, how's it coming on?
- I got to get these terminals on this battery.
The wire wasn't quite long enough,
and I had to splice some in.
- We need that light-up logo working ASAP.
- Is it the right remote?
- It is the right remote, but for some reason,
it's not reading-- we are stuck on red.
I need them to be white.
- We've got red lights on the front of a purple van.
Why are the lights red?
We've gone through all the trouble to cut a van in half,
attach a race car to it,
all these big pipes, all this crazy stuff,
and it comes down to one little thing
that can derail the entire project.
- We got to get this invisible ink on here,
and then we got to peel this off,
and we have, like, minutes left.
Invisible ink on the top of this roof is such a good idea,
but it is stressing me out.
Okay, I'm going to go grab those pens.
- Yeah, yeah.
- I'm trying to get this ink to work properly,
and it's not going as fast as I would like it to.
And I still have to get all of these letters outlined.
- Pull that off gently, because it is fresh paint.
Yeah, you might pull the paint off with it.
- Up, up, up. - Ah!
- Just be gentle. Just be gentle.
- Okay.
- Just hold the wing there so it doesn't lean
against the car. - So it doesn't scrape? Okay.
- That's about-- There she is.
She's on.
Okay, She's up. She's done.
- I'm trying to get all the last fingerprints,
dust, everything off of here.
- Bob, how you doing?
- Nobody dusted the back. The back is super dusty.
- 60 seconds left in this finale build.
- Oh, my Lord. - We got one minute!
- Ah!
- There we go. Perfect. - Cool.
- 15 seconds!
- Oh, my God.
- Come on, guys! - This is it!
- We got to hurry! - We're doing this for Nick.
all: Five, four,
three, two, one.
[buzzer sounds, all shout] - That's it!
[all cheering]
The race is over.
Congratulations, y'all. You made it.
- Nice work, man. - Good job.
- Bring it in, guys. Bring it in.
- Oh, wow! Look at that van.
That's amazing.
- Our car transformations are complete.
It's time to see some life-size ultimate Hot Wheels.
$50,000 on the line,
and this car is going to win the whole season,
and gets turned into an actual Hot Wheels diecast car
that you can buy.
You know what?
Let's get our superfans back out here.
Arushi, come on down.
Nick, where are you?
And last, but definitely not least, Jim, get out here.
All three of you--
the journey you've been on is so incredible.
You all worked so hard with your teams
to take on an iconic car and turn it
into an ultimate life-size Hot Wheels.
And it is time to see our first car in action.
Arushi, you're up first.
Let's feast our eyes on your brand-new ultimate Hot Wheels.
It's Rally Resilience.
[engine revving]
[cheers and applause]
Good job, guys. Good job.
- Oh, my God!
[rock music]
It's unique. It's beautiful.
It stands out.
Look at this!
Look at these massive wheels, Ted.
[laughter] - In your face.
- Very specific, very pointed. - Right in your face.
- Arushi, you started with a 1996 Nissan Skyline,
and you turned it into this.
Tell us what we're looking at.
- You are looking at the Rally Resilience,
representing power, bravery, kindness,
and being courageous.
We lifted the Skyline by ten inches.
We added 24-inch wheels.
And then Rachel went ahead and added
the roof scoop over here, the skid bar, the light bars.
Cody and Preston-- they are so amazing.
They built the tire rack back there.
I had to keep changing it, and they were on it.
We extended the front fenders and the rear fenders
to give it that bold rally look that we wanted.
We don't want to hurt anyone's emotions here,
especially the Skyline fans.
We wanted to give them something original,
and just Michael just brought that to life.
- So how did you incorporate the twist of the Easter egg?
- This Easter egg can be seen under a UV light.
And that is an affirmation-- "Never quit."
[applause] - Good job, guys. Good job.
I love it!
- How cool is that?
- You know, about a week ago, Arushi, we sat here.
We looked at this car.
And I gave you a little bit of a hard time
with the wheels and tires.
And you were unapologetically brave.
You had courage, just like the mantra says on your car.
And I got to say, I think it worked out.
- I didn't even recognize it as a Skyline.
I'm thinking, what is that? Supra? Must--
What is that?
Because I'd never seen anything that wide before.
I think the workmanship is outstanding.
And from a kid's point of view,
I think this would be a Hot Wheels
that you'd find yourself doing this all day with
in the backyard.
- You have changed the way
that I'm going to look at Skylines forever
and hopefully the rest of America, too.
I mean, I've never seen anyone do this before.
I will say, rally car, I mean, they are covered with livery.
And you're telling such great messages
and such a cool story.
I wanted to see even more--
I mean, words everywhere, stripes, colors.
You kind of held back a little bit.
- I'm sorry.
I'm just still blown away that I really like this.
[laughter]
If I had to change one thing,
I think I would change the way you utilized pink.
The pink on red as a body line here, I'm not a huge fan of.
I think you could have taken this pink element,
used it around your ones and some of your other logos
to really tie in the pink vibe.
- Y'all, for a while,
it was hard to see what y'all were doing--
a front half that was going crazy
and a back half that was doing its own thing.
But I'm so happy that y'all kept the headlights,
the grill, the taillights, and that rear garnish
that are so uniquely Skyline.
I think what I love the most is all of these messages.
This, to me, is who you are.
I love that in each of your builds, that comes through.
I will say the only bummer on the front
is that it would have been cool to see you guys bring
in the fenders just a hair and maybe start
the flares out a little bit more,
then give it just a little more shape.
That one little detail can change an entire vehicle.
The devil's in the details, and I think it really shows up.
- The judges, they can point out a few errors.
This is not right. This is not the way to do it.
But I have learned so much in this process.
And I hopefully get to win it
and make a diecast Hot Wheels
that might go in millions and millions of people's hands.
- Arushi, what a great way to start this,
with this beautiful car.
And you know what?
Nick is up next with his ultimate Hot Wheels.
- I'm ready. - It's the Blazin' Bird.
[engine revving]
.
- One ultimate Hot Wheels down, two more to go.
We've seen Arushi's fully reimagined Skyline.
But we've got to see Nick's Firebird.
It's the Blazin' Bird.
[engine revving]
- Oh, my God!
[cheers and applause]
[rock music]
Oh! [laughing]
- [crying] - It's okay, Jay.
You're going to be okay.
- [crying] This is amazing!
This is better than I could have ever hoped it would be.
This is--
[normal voice] This is just an epic moment in my life
that I will never, ever forget.
- Nick, what's your favorite part, man?
- [crying] To ask me to pick my favorite part of this car
would be like asking me to pick my favorite child.
- So you like this more than your favorite child.
Is that what you're saying? [laughter]
- [normal voice] I would say that my favorite part
of the build is the build.
Look at this car.
- Nick, what a transformation.
Tell us what we're looking at, where you started,
and where we ended up.
- 1978 Pontiac Trans Am Firebird,
an American icon,
and we transformed it into this--
the Blazin' Bird.
Now, the first thing I wanted to do was slam it.
[snaps fingers]
So we went right to work on the wheels
so that we could get this car as low as humanly possible.
Chris and Charlie made this car wide.
They put aero on it and really made
this car look like it's going 300 miles an hour
while it's standing still.
As you can see, it's black and gold all over,
my tribute to one of my favorite movies of all time,
"Smokey and the Bandit."
Now, of course, my boy Bob...
he went full Bob by putting this amazing bird
on top of the car.
This build has been insane.
We've touched every part of this car
that we could possibly touch--
left no stone unturned.
If you look at the scoop right here,
you will see my kids' birthdays here
on the side of the air intake.
But if you push this scoop down,
it actually lights the eyes.
- Oh, I like it.
- I'm on the verge of possibly winning the whole dang thing.
It feels good.
- I think it's the epitome
of what a Hot Wheels car should be.
I have seen a million modified Firebirds.
That sort of works against you.
But the thing I haven't seen is this bird on the top.
I think that really works.
The thing that kind of works against it
is the fact that black and gold was, like, a factory color.
Congratulations, my friend. Nice job. Nice vision.
- Jay Leno loves my car.
Might as well go home.
- Man, the Blazin' Bird,
it looks like it's going fast standing still.
But one of the places
that I was really personally concerned about was the bird.
This had the opportunity to go either magic or tragic.
And I think you guys pulled off some magic.
If there's one thing that I critique--
the black and gold paint job.
I love what you've done here on the fenders.
But you can't really see it as well
as you could have before it was all painted black.
I feel like black takes away from some of that amazing work
that you guys were doing earlier.
One of the things that's really important
about Hot Wheels is that immediate read.
Is that car, when it's this big on the shelf,
going to make you pick it up?
I've got to look for a little bit longer
than I wish I had to.
- I'm kind of worried about the black paint job.
There's a lot at stake.
- So this thing has so much personality,
and it really balances between being a character car
and just being a really cool thematic,
sporty-looking street car.
Now, Hot Wheels has done so many character-based cars,
but this is so different because it's not just
a literal animal on a car.
You have almost a poetic, sculptural version
of an animal that really ties into the theme of this build.
So the Inspirationator gave you the '72 Corvette,
and the twist was to add an Easter egg.
If you shine a light through it, the headlights turn on.
- Whoa.
- And I think this feature
of the light inside the eyes of the bird is so brilliant.
I love the way that you guys implemented that.
- Nick, Nick,
how dare you slam your car like this?
- I'm so sorry. - Oh, my goodness.
- I apologize. Please forgive me.
- Hold on. Let me do a little--
- Get it in there. - Whoo!
- There it is. [laughter]
- I love you and your team's dedication to going low.
You guys really executed every element
of what I think makes a car cool.
It's low. It's wide. It's loud. It's fast.
And there's a little something.
I feel like you lose the feathers...
that you made so wonderfully
by not adding a little more black
on the back part of the louvers there.
It would have defined the feathers really nicely
if you'd just made
that little sliver of louver black as well.
- Wow.
The originality of this car is off the charts.
Charlie, your love for making race cars
comes through so beautifully in this.
Tony, watching you make these lights and the taillights
is so cool.
And, Bob, you stuck a gigantic bird on the roof of a car.
You made it sleek and functional.
But, guys, I'm staring at the Blazin' Bird,
and there's no fire on a Firebird!
I'm a little bit heartbroken by it.
- I really just hope we've done enough.
- What an incredible car! Thank you, Nick.
I can't wait to see Jim's wondrous creation.
His finale ultimate Hot Wheels is next.
.
- Up next is Jim's VW Bus.
Check out the Superfan Van.
[cheers and applause]
[rock music]
- Oh, wow!
Oh, yeah!
There we go!
- Sweet!
[applause continues]
* *
- My God, that thing is beautiful.
This is the most amazing feeling,
seeing that Volkswagen come through the smoke.
It's like I'm seeing a baby being born.
[crying] It's amazing.
You guys are the best. - We're proud of you.
- Hey, hey. Bring it in.
- Your ideas, man.
- I couldn't have never done this without you guys, man.
- Hey, guys, get a room. [laughter]
[applause]
- What do you think, man? What are you feeling?
- That was not an easy build.
The only way to create something like that
is you have to have creative minds.
And this team right here, these are
some of the best fabricators and artists
I've ever worked with.
To knock this out in a week, forget about it.
- Well, I see something kind of cool right from here.
- What do you see?
- If you look at that logo, you think it says VW,
but it really is HW.
- For Hot Wheels right there.
- That's my man Christopher right here.
- Nice touch, man. - Nice touch.
- Thank you very much.
- Tell us what we're looking at right now.
- We took this iconic 1968 Volkswagen,
and then we just went old-school hot rod.
The first thing we did was chop it into two pieces, right?
But it wasn't until Claudia's flames
for the rear fenders that really changed the build.
And you'll see the '68 graphics on the side,
which, of course, is the year that Hot Wheels started.
That's why we honored the 1968.
It started to look like a truck to me,
like a Peterbilt truck.
So that's why we went with the fifth wheel on the back
to give it that tractor feel.
This is our Easter egg.
It's right there, all signed by the team inside here.
- How cool is that? [applause]
- Most important, it's a Superfan Van.
And I'm thinking, if anybody's going to buy this,
they can feel the same way that I did building it,
because it's the dream when I was a kid,
and I always wanted to do it, and here I am.
I built a Hot Wheels.
I can see the Superfan Van in the palm of my hand.
I can see it hanging in the store for sale.
I can see it. The victory is right there.
- Well, I think it's fascinating.
When Hot Wheels came out, it was all about power.
The engine was always the focal point.
This is what I would have lusted after in high school,
because this is what you wanted to pull into "the drive-in"
on the Friday night and rev the engine
and make noise.
This is, to me, a Hot Wheels classic.
If you told me this was built in '68, I would believe it.
So congratulations.
- Thank you. - I think it's really nice.
My favorite part of the finale
has been Jay Leno calling my Hot Wheels
a Hot Wheels classic.
- There was a little bit of crisis of like,
what is the vision of this car?
But the result is this amazing VW Bus.
Taking a VW Bus like this and making it go fast
and making it a hot rod is completely Hot Wheels.
I'm so happy that, Claudia,
they went with this flame fender.
To me, that's what sets this apart.
But one of the things that we look for in design is,
how do we reflect car culture now?
Is there something that makes this a 2023 winner?
I don't know.
- Jim, you've taken this German van,
and you gave it this American hot rod twist to it
that is so cool.
And I love the way that the exhaust plays with the fenders
and really gives it that illusion of speed.
This whole thing makes me feel very nostalgic.
- It's wild how you were able to take
one of the slowest vehicles ever created
and make it look fast.
Claudia, your flames are beautiful, and I love them.
And thank you for making them,
because the flames make this thing look fast.
And that's awesome. - Thank you.
- And it's pretty low. [laughter]
- It's as low as we can go.
- It's pretty low. - That was it.
There's no more left. - I'm not mad at it.
Overall, you wanted to turn this thing
into the Superfan Van,
and I think you executed that great.
This is a life-size Hot Wheels.
- Well, Jim, what I'm seeing here
is a really cool story of you.
I see truck. I see van.
Thinking about you driving a truck, your dad,
and what I love is,
when we reminded you how you got here
was being true to yourself,
then suddenly everything came together.
And you have to be so proud.
I think hiding the coveralls in here as a tribute
to all of you-- what a fantastic Easter egg.
That might be my favorite... - Thank you.
- That I've seen here in the garage.
I just think it's so thoughtful and so cool.
What I'm looking at is something completely original.
This is amazing. Great job, y'all.
- Thank you, Rut. Thank you.
[applause]
I was so honored to be there and listen to the compliments
from the judges.
I felt I won already.
- Well, we have seen all of your cars,
and now is the part where I remind you
that we wish everyone could win.
But there can only be one.
Judges, let's figure this out.
[dramatic music]
- I want to have a diecast car that I worked on
to be with, what, like millions of people around the world,
including my son.
- I want to win! I really want to win!
But look at and look at...
.
- Arushi, Nick, Jim,
this has been an incredibly wild ride.
All season long, you've each made two ultimate Hot Wheels
that pushed the boundaries of what makes Hot Wheels
the most magical diecasts ever.
- Arushi, we loved how you transformed
the iconic Skyline
into a completely original, badass rally car.
The exaggerated proportions were absolutely epic.
And we loved how you incorporated
all those positive words to inspire strength and resilience
to whoever reads them.
But we felt like you could have brought in more vibrance
with your color and livery.
* *
- Nick, you brought this classic Firebird
into the modern era.
We love how you absolutely slammed it to the ground.
And that bird was the word.
[caws]
[all cawing]
However...
- That's going to cost you the contest--I'm sorry.
[laughter]
- However, we felt the lines of the bodywork
were lost under your paint because of the color you chose.
- Jim, we think you turned the VW Van into an epic,
ultimate hot rod.
The flame fenders are on fire.
And we loved how you incorporated
the Easter egg twist-- the superfan coveralls.
But we felt the design needed a more modern edge
to bring it from the past to the present.
- We all can't be winners,
but it's not a reflection on your talent.
And I'm sure you guys will go on
to continue to build incredible vehicles.
- Arushi, Nick, Jim, with the help of your Car Pools,
you transformed these classic cars
into legendary ultimate Hot Wheels.
But only one can win this finale.
Our superfan in third place is...
[dramatic music]
* *
Jim.
[uplifting music]
Jim, I know that's not the news you wanted,
but you guys put an incredible build together,
and you've got so much to be proud of.
- The fact that I'm standing here right now,
I'm pretty damn happy--I'm not going to lie to you, man.
I got to meet Jay Leno. I built a kick-ass truck.
I got new friends for life, man.
As sad as I should be, I feel great.
This journey has been, like, I don't know.
It's a journey of a lifetime.
[cheers and applause]
- That leaves Arushi and Nick still standing.
Who's winning $50,000
and having their design turned
into an actual Hot Wheels diecast
that you can buy?
- This is huge.
I have seen my son grow up with Hot Wheels.
I've seen him sleep with Hot Wheels.
I have to win this. I have to.
- My heart is in my throat right now.
This has been an amazing experience,
but I want to win.
And it's right there within my reach.
- The superfan who inspired our favorite ride this season is...
[dramatic music]
* *
Arushi!
[cheers and applause]
[triumphant music]
* *
- Oh, my God.
I can't believe this.
Do I really get to have a diecast Hot Wheels car
that my son can hold?
This is unbelievable.
- Arushi, you did everything you set out to do here.
And I can't wait to see the look on your son's face
when he's holding your Hot Wheels diecast car
of your ultimate Hot Wheels.
What's he going to say?
- [voice breaking] That dreams are possible.
He's going to believe more in his dreams,
that he can build that rocket ship
that he keeps talking about.
[normal voice] You stick to your gut.
You believe in yourself.
And that is what I want to pass on to my son
and hopefully to anyone who's watching me today.
- Red Garage, you completely transformed
an iconic Japanese sports car
into the Rally Resilience.
Arushi, you did it.
- The reason Arushi won was because she lifted
and widened a Skyline--
off the charts originality and ambition.
- Congratulations, Arushi.
You just won "Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge"
and an extra $50,000,
bringing your total winnings to $75,000.
And your design is going to become
an actual Hot Wheels diecast that you can buy.
- Of course I'm going to buy her diecast.
I'm excited to take my kids to the store
so I can look up and say, that's my friend Arushi.
That's her Hot Wheels diecast car.
- And everyone watching can go online right now
to buy Arushi's winning diecast.
So head to the website to get yours.
Thanks to Jay, to Ted.
For Hert and Dalal, I'm Rutledge Wood.
Catch you on the next lap.
[cheers and applause]
- To be part of Hot Wheels history
is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.