We bought a $3,000 rat rod jeep, drove it from LA to the desert bar in Park, Arizona and sold it to these guys for $407. That's Finnegan economics. [SOUND] [NOISE] [MUSIC] [SOUND] [MUSIC] On this episode of Roadkill, Freiburger wanted to go off roading. So he said, buy a Jeep. And I did, just not the kind of Jeep he was expecting. I bought this Jeep in the dark in the dead of winter and I parked it under a tarp for the last three months. Freiburger's never seen it, I forget what it even looks like, he's in for a hell of a surprise. [SOUND] >> This is gonna be the least organized Roadkill ever, and that's saying something. Its gonna make a mosh pit look like a precision military operation. He wants something and I have not even seen it. So this is gonna be bad. [NOISE] >> [LAUGH] Wait till you see your new Jeep. >> Hey. >> We're friends right? >> So this is the surprise? >> It's your Jeep. [LAUGH] >> Okay. >> You wanna go off roading. I know of a bar that you can only get to by dirt and what better way to get to the bar than in a Jeep. This is your jeep. >> It's a flat rod isn't it? >> Jeep Rod! Yeah! >> It's not quite ready to go for a test ride. >> No! >> It's cool. >> It's cool for a minute until you really start staring at her. >> It's an MB. It's a genuine World War II grill anyway this tire's touching this fender. >> It's got airbags, it lifts up. >> Great, that always works out. [LAUGH] >> As long as they never leak, that's not a problem. And because it sat here for three months and I haven't looked at it, it's puked all the guts out of the tranny onto the pavement here. So we're gonna have to remedy that. >> Good. And- >> That's not that much. It'll be fine. >> And there's no compressor for the airbags. So, we're gonna have to rig something up ala Grand Cheryl style. >> Chevy, does it run good? >> No, it needs a tune up. We need to obviously top off the fluids. It needs a cotter pin for every single castle nut. I am a little concerned about the fact that the airbags are mounted single shear no gas this is ugly. >> But I think if we put fluids in it and cotter pins. >> It can't weigh in it. >> Get air in the bags, we can at least go drive down the street and see if it will make it. >> Where are we going? >> We're going to the Nelly E Saloon, a bar in the Buck Skin Mountains in Park, Arizona, that you can only get to on a dirt trail. >> I don't know if you noticed, but those are not BFG mud terrains. >> Well I mean, we're not rock crawling, but it is. We may high center her. >> It looks cool. >> It's got style. It has no substance, though. >> So, where do we begin? Does it run? >> I don't know. It's been three months since I seen it. Crank it over. >> No. >> As usual the batteries dead. Air compressor, lift it off the ground, fluids, get a battery, test drive. [MUSIC] >> Do you get the feeling that we buy the same stuff over, and over again every time we do this? >> Yeah, how many jacks have we bought for road kill? >> I don't understand why they won't let us take brake clean and jack handles on airplanes. >> It has oil with only a little water in it. >> Well we're by the beach, there's a lot of condensation. >> Tastes okay. I'm the editor of Hot Rod Magazine but a lot of people don't know that I was also the editor of Four Wheel and Off Road for a long time. I'm really hardcore off road guy and especially a hardcore Jeep guy. I've got seven flat fendered jeep bodies, and half rollers, and all sorts of stuff sitting around my house. And I always wanted to do this to one, well not exactly like this, but make a hot rod out of it. [NOISE] I can get the front wheels off the ground, check it. [NOISE] >> You can watch the shock mount bend as you're doing that. >> Look at the front axle. Look at the rotation on it. We're dead. I've been 250 miles an hour in a Camaro. I'm more scared of that. >> The first time I welded on my mini truck right after high school it looked better than what I'm seeing under here. [MUSIC] You realize nothing about this, even the button to start it, is right? [NOISE] It runs bad. So that needs a little bit of attention. We only had two days to get to parker and this was going to be the last day of the year that the desert bar was open. We found out there actually was a compressor on board and we got some air into the rear bags but we had to make the engine run right and it did not help that the firing order was wrong. I've seen sketchier hot rods in my life, I just haven't driven it. Two cylinders were switched, I have a feeling that's not gonna fix everything on this pile, though. >> The airbag is rubbing the frame and the shock is hitting the airbag mount. So as we drive down the road, that airbag rubbing there rubber against steel puts a hole in that bag. And then that blows and we crash. >> We've gotta redrill this to move this airbag further riding in this might be so miserable that you just crave the relief that only sweet death can bring. [LAUGH] [MUSIC] [SOUND] >> Getting the shock out of the way so we can cut this part of mount off that's wedging its way into the shock. >> This mount that I can flex by hand. [SOUND] I was thinking to myself why does this look weird to me and I walked over here and I went the shocks installed upside down. >> The bat wing do hickey here is hitting the shock body so when the axle twists like this, which we know it does. Because it's a meth it's gonna bend and bind that whole shot so that's why we're putting back upside down right now. >> You're supposed to put spacers in between them when you weld them together so that they don't [NOISE] do that. He didn't do that. >> Put band aids on the suspension, tune the engine as best we could, topped off the fluids and then it was time to hit the road. >> [SOUND] Ready for first drive? >> Why does the steering wheel have to be this large? >> It's a stock seat wheel, it's good. >> It's not good cuz the brake pedal is, okay so that's what I'm gonna have to do to get to the brakes. This is the sailor Jerry car without a roof. Look at this. >> It is. [MUSIC] >> I'm more comfortable than the rat rod, significantly. >> Well, that's cuz you're not over here. You don't have a steering wheel in your crotch. When I run into the back of a semi let's go. We're leaving in the middle of traffic. You know that, right? >> The slow speed will save us. Okay. So much for talking to each other. >> What? Yeah. It's great, I know. >> This is not connected to anything, you know. >> I know but it feels better, using it, you know? >> Okay, yeah. >> Is there any brake fluid in this thing? >> There was. >> Cuz I'm having to use both feet to stop. >> Yeah, we've never tried to stop before. >> Will it stop? It's fine. >> Yeah with two feet. >> We can make it the whole way. >> Like this? [MUSIC] >> [LAUGHS] Runs good, [LAUGHS] sort of. I just set off a car alarm. >> [LAUGH] >> Okay, here we go, ready? [MUSIC] Woo hoo! [SOUND] That it's loud. No turn signals. >> Slow too. Not that I'm challenging you! >> [LAUGH] Wait, we're in the wrong lane. Getting back over. [NOISE] [LAUGH] >> If you wanna know what death looks like. This is what death looks like. [SOUND] Shit, this is going to hurt. Railroad tracks, hold on. Okay, now we're going to test the brakes now. I have to push my knee down to make the pedal work good. This thing's hater proof. [NOISE] Dude. [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] >> That was bank. [LAUGH] >> [NOISE] You're getting played. [LAUGH] >> Whoa, little bumps here. >> It doesn't brake straight. [NOISE] >> [SOUND] [LAUGH] [MUSIC] >> We headed back to the office to meet up with our official naysayer KJ Jones from 5.0 Mustang Magazine. There go like travel. >> No bro no. >> No? >> No this is gonna. >> You don't like the batman theme the. >> This is gonna break severely man. >> Look at this right here. >> What are you saying? Come on dude. >> Come on bro, it's got a latter bar man. >> Yeah, but they're attached well. >> [SOUND] [LAUGH] No [BEEP] way. [LAUGH] No way. >> And then there's this problem. [SOUND] [LAUGH] >> Open headers. >> These guys have really done it this time. >> So, while KJ headed inside to take out a life insurance policy on us, we needed to go over to a local hardware store and fix the suspension before hitting the road. But first, we were gonna live up to one of its dreams and take one our utter piles of garbage and valet it at a high end restaurant. [MUSIC] >> Yeah. >> Dude. >> I think this place. >> I'm going to eat good tonight. >> Show you how to work it? Who can blame the valet guy for not wanting to park this thing? He was a bit confused when he went to put the ticket on our windshield and discovered we didn't have one. [LAUGH] We lost our window. [LAUGH] This is swank. >> Let's celebrate. >> Yeah. [MUSIC] >> When we've done road kill with beater vehicles for the past year, every single time we've wanted to go through the high end valet. So we finally did it at that steak house back there and they were unphased but now we're at the hardware store because we still have to fix the ladder bar mount and ratchet strap down our junk. And what else? >> Fluids, gas again. >> That junk's fine, but yeah, let's go get some stuff to hold things together. [MUSIC] Most of the bolts have nyloc nuts which are great for holding things together that vibrate. Except when the bolt doesn't protrude all the way out the end of the nut, so the nyloc can grab it, they tend to fall apart. And when they fall apart on the suspension you die. So we're gonna remedy that situation with longer bolts. [SOUND] It's 9 PM on day one, we've gone mile, we're continuing to wrench on the Jeep. Remains to be seen if we're gonna hit the road tonight or if were gonna end up hitting the the morning. [SOUND] >> It was late and we had to hit the sack. [SOUND] >> No one took it. Dang it. >> I don't think they could figure out how to work it. Did you call your wife and say it's been nice knowing you? >> [LAUGH] I called her and I said- >> I love you. >> You'll be happy to know that all the work we did yesterday wasn't for speed or efficiency, it was just to make sure that we didn't die today. And she thanked me, cuz she said she'd like to have another child and she wants that child to have the same father. [MUSIC] All those rabbit turds in bottom of this car feel like I need more safety equipment than usual. Protect my hearing so I can hear my baby some day. All right, ready? Can you even hear me? >> No, that's the good part about that. >> I'm going full on Darth Vader. >> Good to go. >> Yeah, this is comfortable. >> This is like going on the freeway in a skateboard with a Briggs and Stratton on the back. [MUSIC] [LAUGH] Hey, how fast are we going? >> I can't hear you. I think this is the first time in my life I heavy traffic. >> Don't worry, we'll be fine, runs like a champ. >> 3.18 gallons. >> And 51 miles, what do you think, keep it or sell it? >> I'm gonna have a lot of fun getting to the bar. After that, I don't need to drive this every again. >> [LAUGH] >> I'm fine with disposing it. So here's what we do, right? We turn on glimpse so people can follow us but they don't know where we're going and we tell them follow us to this bar. Whoever's in this seat at last call which is six o'clock at this particular bar has to pay our tab and they can take it home. >> Right now, it makes me kind of sad to make it think of being gone, but after another 400 miles, I'm thinking I'm anxious for that. So I'm going to put it on Facebook, you've got to follow us or figure it out. >> Yeah, we're going to a bar. >> We're going to a bar. >> We really weren't sure how many people were gonna show up to buy this jeep but within an hour we actually had 500 people following us online. [SOUND] >> Finnegan seemed happy to drive and I think it's because there's a steering wheel to hold on to. You don't sit in this thing, you sit on it. And there's one of a hundred things that could break on this thing and then just throw it right out under the pavement. [NOISE] The oil on the floor. >> It's coming out from the floor. >> Coming out of the clog right there. >> Like lock down the firewall from the bottom. >> Yeah, how's that possible? That kinda looks pink. >> Yeah, that's transmission fluid. >> All right. >> Transmission fluid catches on fire. That'll be fun. >> We'll just drive faster. >> It'll blow it out. No, semi, and go. At one time, this was the world's largest military installation. It went from here in California, all the way to Arizona. It's where Patent trained a million guys to go fight in Africa. And a lot of the surplus jeeps in California came out of here. This is a genuine World War II Jeep, it's a 41 to 45, which you know cuz it has a different grille, blackout lights, the hood doesn't say Willy's like the civilian ones do. Phantom initially came up with the design for the World War II Jeep, and they were two small to do it, and so Willy's ended up getting the contract, and they were too small to build them. So the government actually had Ford make a bunch of them too. This could be a Ford. So, yeah. It's a Willy's or a Ford. It's a hot rod. [SOUND] [MUSIC] We were cruising down the highway at the end of the day of getting passed by every car, and I'm even falling asleep. So I pulled over to hand the keys to Finnegan. What does he do? Gets us stuck immediately on flat ground. [MUSIC] >> How pathetic that a jeep is stuck here. >> This jeep sucks man. >> See, this is why the jeep rod concept is completely wrong. Cuz you remove the front axle, you make it two-wheel drive, you take all the jeepness out of the jeep. And then you get it stuck at the side of the road. >> Because we didn't fix the shifter earlier today. We're gonna fix it now with a cotter pin and a zip tie to connect the linkage back together. And here comes someone offering to help. >> Hope they got a toast wrap. >> You need a hand with anything? >> Do you have a yank strap? >> Got a yank strap. >> We're gonna strap his car to our car with an extension cord. That's right. An extension cord. That's what's gonna get us out of this mess. [MUSIC] [NOISE] We just traded four gallons of gas for a three-foot tow with an extension cord. >> How did you end up over the edge like that? >> We were making a U-turn. >> [LAUGH] [SOUND] [MUSIC] Right now it's 11:15, and we're in the middle of nowhere fixing this thing because it's puking so bad. The desert bar opens at noon and closes at 6 PM. Hopefully this junker is gonna make it on a 12-mile dirt road, all the way out to this bar in the middle of nowhere. Wow, that's leaking bad. Once I cleaned everything off, it was really hard to tell where it's coming from cuz it's not running and the fountain's not moving. David wants me to start it up on the jack right now. Shouldn't be afraid. Cuz I think this thing is just gonna ghost-ride itself off into that field. >> It'll stop, when it hits the ditch. >> At that point, I'm leaving it. I'm not even gonna pull it out if it ends up in that ditch. [SOUND] >> [LAUGH] >> Flashlight's right there, have fun. >> Okay, it is the transcooler line. >> It wasn't leaking out of the fittings. So the line must have a hole in it? >> It must cuz it's squirting up and then running down. >> Okay, we're not fixing that. So it's fine. Right? >> I'm okay with it. Just keep going more ATF. >> When you know the rules, you're allowed to break them. And we know that that's not suppose to leak, so we're good. [NOISE] >> Like that. >> [LAUGH] My God. [MUSIC] There's the car wash. >> And there's nobody in line, that means it's all ours. >> We need this cleaned. >> They're all like, what the hell is that? >> Yep. >> Notice how nobody is jumping up going, >> You're not leaping to action. [LAUGH] They're like, we're not washing your car. >> See, we're selling this today and we need it to be spiffy. >> I want you to use the good soap. Not the stuff you use on everybody else's car. >> That's right. >> Are you brothers? >> No. [LAUGH] >> That's my dad. >> Yeah. >> Don't forget the chrome. >> Right. >> It's like the one nice part on the whole car. There we go. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for the donut. [MUSIC] This thing is a smoke machine, so of course we did burnouts before we left the pavement for the last time. [NOISE] [MUSIC] >> I'm thinking greater speed might help. >> All right, here we go. >> [LAUGH] It's brutal. Man. >> I thought this thing was bad on pavement, but we hit the dirt and I felt like I was inside a paint shake. >> This is why I told you I wanted a jeep. >> [LAUGH] >> You know what the funny thing is? Is these people think that they're roughing it. They have no top on their full-on rock crawling jeep. >> No, no it lights them out. You're rocking outdoors with them dude, have fun with your radio communication. Yeah, we're tougher no front brakes, or no rear brakes. [SOUND] What was that? It must have broken, right? >> The bag might have blown. >> Yeah, the bag mount broke up. >> Wait, wait, don't make it worse. >> You knew that was gonna happen. Make it worse? >> We're close, let's just keep going. Okay, so now we have no suspension at all. Cuz now that, that bag broke. >> This one's also flat. >> Yeah. >> Because they're together. >> Yes, they're teamed together so we have no air in the front suspension. I don't care, let's just get to the beer. >> [LAUGH] [MUSIC] >> The desert bark is legendary and I had this picture in my mind of what kind of oasis it was gonna be. And we rounded the corner and- >> There it is, wow, we're gonna make it. >> The only problem is this place has no phone, no internet, so we couldn't call them in advance to get permission to shoot roadkill there. And when we got there, they said no cameras, no way. >> The problem with this deal is that we showed up 45 minutes before closing time. And we didn't feel we could really run up a tab that was what the jeeps worth, but we tried. You do not want to see what it looks like when Finnegan and I drink 400 bucks worth of alcohol in 45 minutes. And there was a couple people who showed up who had driven all the way from Phoenix and Scottsdale, just to look at the jeep and see if they could buy it. Yeah, those guys took one look and hit the road. But there was a guy in the bar though who recognized me from Hot Rod Magazine. I told him the story, he walked out into the parking lot and made the flash decision. He had to own this thing. Sucker. The most incredible thing is not just that we lived, but that we made it all the way to Arizona without getting arrested. With no windshield, no mufflers, no seatbelts, no license plates, no registration. No common sense. Come to think of it, that's pretty normal here on Roadkill. >> Go for the best beer at work ever. >> Best beer at work ever. Wait, hold on, that sounded drunk. >> [LAUGH] >> That's Finnegan economics, Finnenomics. >> Finnecomics. >> Most drunk road kill ever. >> All the ladies come back, why would you want them out? >> Wait, you're not in the photo. You gonna come around front. No, both of you, all the way in front. Cuz you're not in the photo. >> This is like girl boy kind of. >> Yeah, yeah. All the girls on my side. You wanna do that again? [NOISE]
Roadkill is the real deal!
This looks much better than the one I've shared yesterday.
Knew this was going to be roadkill before I clicked it and saw.
Those guys are geniuses and idiots. :)
Oh roadkill... And Frieburger...