Hot Rod TV: Big Dog Muscle Part 2
Jay lets the mechanics get to work on his Leno 572 big block while he gives us a tour of some of his favorite and unique rides!
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00:00 At Jay Leno's big dog garage, his 55 Buick needs work.
00:08 Jay drives his cars hard, and that can often lead to a busy repair crew.
00:12 It hasn't had an easy life either.
00:14 Well, it hasn't had an easy life.
00:16 No, no, it hasn't had an easy life.
00:18 That's a great motor, 572.
00:19 I remember when 283 I thought was big.
00:20 When the 265 came out, oh, 283.
00:21 And then it went to 327, and then it went to 350.
00:22 Of course, this is not based on the small block, but 572, that's pretty big.
00:23 Jay knows a thing or two about big power.
00:33 Next up in his stable of muscle cars is a hot rod that dates back to World War II.
00:37 Kind of.
00:39 You've seen our giant hot rod before.
00:42 This is our turbocharged M47 Patton tank engine hot rod.
00:47 Of course, a hot rod doesn't always have to have four wheels.
00:49 I think this would be a modern interpretation of a hot rod.
00:53 The Boss Haas is for the motorcyclist who wants to be driving his car on two wheels.
00:58 Now, the Boss Haas normally came with a 327.
01:00 Well, that's like the wife's bike.
01:02 And this has got a 502 big block in it.
01:05 It puts out about 500 horsepower.
01:08 It rides really nice.
01:09 It drives really well.
01:11 It's really comfortable.
01:16 So here's a question.
01:17 What do you do if you want a hot rod, but all you have is a Ford Festiva?
01:20 Well, you take the four-cylinder engine out.
01:22 You throw that away.
01:23 Then you take a Taurus Show V6 and you put it in the back seat.
01:28 You need a little extra power.
01:31 You've got your nitrous right here.
01:33 In 1989, when we built this thing, with the nitrous, it was about 325 horse, something
01:40 like that, 220 stock.
01:42 It meets all emissions.
01:43 The engine is basically stock.
01:45 But because you've taken it out of the Taurus, you've dropped literally 1,000 pounds of weight.
01:49 You put it in the back for good traction.
01:50 And you can't quite do wheel stamps with it, but it comes close.
01:55 Another version of a hot rod.
01:58 Let's go from a pocket rocket to the reinvention of a classic.
02:04 But this, I think, is my ultimate hot rod.
02:06 It's a '66 Olds Tornado, but it's hardly stock.
02:10 On a normal car, this would be a hubcap.
02:12 This is a solid wheel so we can get the big Corvette disc brakes underneath it.
02:19 I wanted to build a hot rod that was different than any other hot rod that I had seen around.
02:25 They did that by making a front-wheel drive businessman's car into a rear-wheel drive
02:29 twin-turbo, 1,000 horsepower monster.
02:33 It's a tire shredder and a tux.
02:36 This car is about 600 pounds lighter than stock, even with all this extra horsepower,
02:41 because there's a lot of aluminum in it.
02:43 I think it's a really good-looking car.
02:47 And by the way, beyond collecting and rebuilding, Leno's giving one-time wrecks a whole new
02:52 life.
02:53 I'd like to think by putting some value into these cars, we're saving them from the Crusher.
02:59 Well, the Crusher won't be seeing these rides anytime soon.
03:03 Around here, there's one great car after the other, and some of them are certified hot
03:07 rods.
03:08 It's not really a hot rod.
03:10 It's a 1910 Stanley steam car, but in its day, they were hot rods.
03:14 They were pretty quick.
03:15 Jay's thinking about taking one of the steamers out for a cruise today.
03:18 To do that, he'll need to get the kettle boiling.
03:22 Before long, one of those classic cars is all fired up.
03:26 So with a little steam at his disposal, Jay's ready to roll.
03:34 Don't go away.
03:35 Jay's garage is filled with hot rods, and we're getting that 572 on one heck of a dyno.
03:43 So don't go anywhere.
03:43 [MUSIC PLAYING]