Monster Garage
From Freepedia
Monster Garage is a popular television show for the Discovery Channel. It is hosted by Jesse G. James. The show is an hour in length and was conceived and produced (along with Jesse) by reality automotive show mastermind, Thom Beers.
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Premise of the Show
A team of five people with mechanical, fabricating, or modifying expertise builds a "monster machine." A usually stock vehicle is turned into something else (EX: PT Cruiser / Wood Chipper), a race car (EX: Lincoln Continental / Open Road Racer), or a custom car (EX: Ford Model A ratrod)
The Rules
According to the show, the rules are as follows:
- When complete, the monster must appear to be stock.
- The team has $3000 (later raised to $5000) for parts.
- The team has seven days to build the monster.
- The first day is for designing
- the next five are for building
- and the seventh day is for the test of the monster.
In practice, as the series has progressed, some liberties have been taken with the first two rules, at times becoming punchlines. In one episode, when a Chevrolet El Camino was turned into a Figure 8 race car, James discarded plans for a spoiler on the vehicle, sarcastically citing the first rule.
The Host
Host Jesse G. James is the great-great-grandson of the cousin of the legendary wild west outlaw, Jesse James. He has both mechanical and metal fabricating expertise, and is the founder, owner, and head bike builder for his custom chopper shop, West Coast Choppers. Jesse says he likes monsters that go fast and do something. He prefers hard working build crew members. His favorite monster vehicles to date are the Ford Ambulance Wheel-stander and the Chevrolet Blazer Pikes Peak hill climber.
The Monsters
Over 60 "monsterized" vehicles have come out of the Monster Garage including a special two-part, two team face-off build. For more information on the monsters, go to http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/monstergarage/episode/episode.html
Failed Monsters
With rules as strict as they are in the Monster Garage, there is a 1 in 10 monster build failure rate. When a team fails to complete a vehicle in time, it is destroyed by host Jesse James.
Failed Monsters and their Ultimate Demise
- Cadillac Hearse/GraveDigger - First failure on Monster Garage. The build team spent more time goofing off than building the car. In one cut scence, the original Batmobile appeared at the shop, to which Jesse quiped "working" when asked what he was doing. It was then sent to Terminal Island to met it's fate in a Scrapper. At the suggestion of the Scrap Machine's owner, the Hearse went with an explosive end with a propane tank in the back. In GraveDigger II, the team spoofed the demise of their first project by having the car they came in to Terminal Island met the same fate as the first hearse.
- Mazda RX-7/Doom Buggy - Unsatisfied with how the Sandrail performed, Jesse decided to send the car packing via a Mini-Gun send-off.
- Scion xB/Rock'em, Sock'em Robots - In this 2 Episode Special, Jesse handpicked a team of the best Monster Garage participants (so far) while the Producers picked a "mis-fit" team of quirky and somewhat anti-social participants to build outta two new Scions Rock'em Sock'em Robots. The winning team would win a Special Edition set of Mac Tools while the other team would see their creation turned into scrap. Jesse's handpick team managed to secure the Scion xA because of a lower profile than the Scion xB. In a bit of ingenuity (or as claimed by the eventual losers, "cheating"), Jesse's team weilded on their head to the body, while the other team complied with the rules. This eventually led to Jesse's team to win, and sending the xB to the scrapheap. But allegations of cheating were met with deaf ears, and some of the losing team stormed off the arena. Jesse eventually gave Toolsets to the remaining team memebers that didn't run off angry.
- Delorean Hovercraft - In an early attempt to shave time, the team skinned the outter bodywork of a Delorean and put it on a donor Personal Hovercraft. Jesse was extremely mad about this (even thought he himself declared early on that he didn't like the project), that he sent one of the team memebers home after a snide comment. Working again with a "new" Delorean donor, the team unsucessfully tried to make the hovercraft hover. The car was eventually towed to a Naval Base and an Amphibious APC made short work of the Delorean.
- Mazda Miata Jetski - Some fans have noted that the reason why this build failed was the engine might have contributed to the air intake being flooded due to the heavy weight in the nose area. Nevertheless, three of the build team opted to send the Miata to the scrapheap with a Dynamite explosion.
- Dirt Track Camaro - In the second time in MG history, this build was the second All-Girl Team (The First was the Black Widow Demolition Derby Car, which got heavily gutted moments before a Demolition Derby). However, a plague of miscommunication and personal differences sent this Camaro to a Steel Smelter and eventual recycling into rebar.
- Midget Peel Car - With a team comprised of mostly "Midgets", the team attempted to put a Hayabusa Engine into a tiny Peel Car. Some fans felt that the team was compromised due to their small stature, but Jesse coldly stated that he gave no team any exceptions; they were equal. After the fail, Jesse took out some arms of his personal gun collection and with a .50 cal sniper rifle, took out the Peel Car.
External links
For more information:
