- 16 hours ago
Two Guys Garage - Season 24 Episode 10 -
Cars for Christmas
Cars for Christmas
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Once you see the reaction of somebody, they're holding a title, they're holding keys, they're holding freedom in their hand, to do it again, and then again, and do more and more, because it's such an amazing gift, a paramount change, and really a big step in the right direction for these people and families.
00:22Hey, gang, check it out. We are out of the shop, and I am so fired up, because, you know, Willie's been doing a side gig for years called Cars for Christmas, and we get to share that on our show and with you guys. It's going to be awesome.
00:41Now, you can see we're at Willie's house. It's really more of a compound. Now, back in the back, you've got his field of dreams, his car he wants to build, but all up in here are all these cars that we're going to kind of transform for people.
00:54Yeah, we give cars to needy families. I get them donated to buy them. I've got a couple dealerships in Colorado I work with, but we get cars, we fix them up, refurbish them, and we basically just give them to needy families.
01:04It's a process, and you guys get to see a little inside of it, because we've got some really cool cars, including, well, this one right here.
01:12All right, we'll be working on this car, several others. Let's take you inside the shop, and we'll show you what we're giving away and what we're turning rinses on today.
01:21All right, we're in the first bay here. We've got a Mini Cooper, which is a pretty common donor, right?
01:26Yeah, man, I've got a great relationship with a BMW Mini Cooper place up north, and they give me a lot of these because they don't like working on them.
01:33There was a certain year range where these were a particular problematic sort of car to work on, but we've got a few tricks, and a few, you know, we've done enough of them where we know how to get around some of the issues.
01:44But look, all the cars that come in, you can guarantee they need five things. They all need brakes, battery, wipers, tires, and an oil change, so that's where we start.
01:53We go from one bay to the other. Now, this is a Grand Prix, and this Grand Prix, we got donated, but let me tell you, man, this Grand Prix needed everything.
02:01Need a full-on suspension all the way around it, so stretch, the shocks, brakes, new calibers, new rotors, new pads.
02:09We're getting all kinds of stuff as far as leaks done on it. Obviously, I can't do all of this myself, so behind me, you'll probably see a great team of guys that over the years have donated their time.
02:17Like I said, we start in August working on these cars. We go August through January, so I got a great group of great friends that are tearing it apart.
02:27Last night, we got the subframe out of the car, which is what you saw me washing earlier, so we get that thing cleaned up.
02:32We dropped it out. The engine's still hanging in it, so that way you could adjust oil pan, training pan, things like that, things that were leaking significantly, and then we move to the top of the engine.
02:40Yeah, normally, these things would just end up in a salvage yard, right? But now they're going to get a new life, and they're going to give people a new life.
02:47And we got a couple of guest builders today, so it's going to be awesome. I think I'm going to take the Mini Cooper over here.
02:52Sure, you can get that one. We'll get this one, and let's meet some of our guest builders today, our guest helpers.
02:58I can't believe we got them, but I'm stoked for you guys to meet them.
03:01All right, so here we are at our little benchtop, and man, I got to tell you, with Cars for Christmas, we were really lucky this year because we had Federated come on board, huge partners of ours.
03:12And whenever Federated comes on board, that means Kenny Schrader comes on board, too.
03:17It's great to be able to turn wrenches with a hero of yours. Kenny, my man, how are you? How you been?
03:22I'm doing good, Willie. I don't turn many wrenches because I hurt myself when I turn wrenches.
03:27Man, I'm amazed at what you got going on here and how much work you're doing to all these cars.
03:32Yeah, it's wild. We do about 30 to 35 cars every year.
03:37Like this car that we're working on today, it needed a rack and pinion.
03:40So obviously, we leaned on you guys when you said you wanted to help us out this year.
03:44You sent us a great rack and pinion.
03:46Love Moog. I remember when we went out to the Moog plant, Moog is great, better than OE stuff.
03:50So I know these tie rod ends are going to work great.
03:53We have it set up here so we can get, you know, kind of close on the tie rod ends.
03:56So the alignment's going to be close. We drive and get them aligned.
03:59But it's a lot of work in all these cars, man.
04:01A lot of, you know, a lot of elbow grease.
04:03But they're nice when we give them away and it makes a world of difference to the families on the receiving end.
04:08You guys do a lot of that stuff.
04:09I know you guys are huge with Toys for Tots and a lot of programs.
04:12Well, Federer, you know, obviously the support you like to have here, they've supported Toys for Tots for years.
04:19They just, they care, you know what I mean?
04:20Everybody wants to make a dollar.
04:22You want to sell good parts and have good partners.
04:25Yeah, yeah.
04:26Well, good parts and good partners is what it's all about.
04:29These are great parts and great partners.
04:32And I know you didn't come here to work, but you don't get your hands dirty.
04:35I do. I've got them dirty.
04:38All right, Willie and his crew, they've got the whole Grand Prix really rocking.
04:42The subframe is out, got it all cleaned up.
04:44They've got the new rack in there, the new control arm's on it, going back in the car.
04:48We're going to take a quick break.
04:49When we come back, I'm going to be jumping on this 2013 Mini.
04:58We were sharing a car, and actually I was doing public transportation quite a bit and riding a bicycle.
05:04So being a mason, it was very hard to get material or tools anywhere.
05:09And the truck was an immense help, man.
05:11It still is till this day.
05:12I look at it, and I'm like, Willie gave me this truck, so.
05:18Hey, gang, welcome back.
05:19We're at Willie B's Compound, and we're all putting in some helping hands, right, on cars for Christmas.
05:25My boys are really cranking out the front of the car.
05:27Everything from battery, air filter, spark plugs, coils, wires.
05:31We've got a whole bundle of parts from Federated.
05:34Now back here from Monroe, we've got our quick struts.
05:37Now what I like about these, you can see the old one, right, worn out.
05:40Got no damping left in it.
05:42You can start to see some corrosion on it, but overall, we're going to replace it with a brand-new, complete setup.
05:47So we don't have to fight with the spring.
05:49It already comes with it.
05:50Bushings are all brand-new.
05:52Dampers are all brand-new.
05:53It's got a coating on it that's going to last better than the original, so it's not going to have this rust and corrosion over time.
05:59And what you're going to get to, like, you don't always think about just the spring.
06:03It's a steel spring.
06:04You think it lasts forever, but they actually fatigue out, and you'll get one to break every now and then.
06:08So all new is going in here along with the brakes.
06:10So let me finish getting this one out with a couple of bolts, the new one in, and we'll move on to the brakes.
06:16All right, jumping on the front of this 2013 Mini, we're going to get this engine running better again.
06:23So we're going to place the spark plugs and the coils.
06:26Now, if you look on modern engines, right, we're trying to get rid of that spark plug wire.
06:31It's trying to get the coil as close to the actual spark plug as you can get.
06:34And this doesn't get any closer.
06:36It's actually made it together.
06:37That's about as good as you're going to get.
06:39So before we drop the spark plugs in there, we're going to gap them.
06:42Now, Carlisle's been a great help on this project.
06:45They're really jumping on board, providing a lot of tools.
06:48This is a real simple one.
06:49So we've got a lot of specialty tools here.
06:51This is checking your gap.
06:52Most of the time, they're going to become pre-gapped, but it never hurts to double check, especially if it gets bumped, tapped, or dropped.
06:59So we'll take our little wire here.
07:02We'll find the right diameter, and you just want it to sneak in there.
07:06Just a little snug fit.
07:07We know it's good.
07:08We're going to get this engine running smooth again.
07:10So we're going to place the spark plugs and the coils.
07:13So from Federated, we've got NGK for both.
07:16This thing's going to be running like a top here in just a minute.
07:24Okay.
07:26So you bring your daughter back, get out of that bad situation.
07:29Yes.
07:30Start, like, grinding away.
07:32All the challenges life is going to throw at you now.
07:35I want to get back on my feet just for myself, too, so.
07:39And what would a car mean for you to be able to do that?
07:42It would mean the absolute world to me.
07:44Hey, how about that gift out back?
07:46Christmas gift?
07:46You don't have a bow on it, but we'll let you ride in it if you want.
07:50So you do realize this is ours, right?
07:53Like, we're driving home in this?
07:57This is ours?
07:58Yes, honey.
08:00It's perfect.
08:02And I want to have a free putty.
08:04Most of the people that get these cars, they don't know the first thing about wrenching
08:10or working on it.
08:11If we're fortunate, we'll find somebody that knows a little bit.
08:13That's why we try to give them these cars with a pretty good foundation.
08:17And a lot of them take pride in learning it now, too, because when you give them a car
08:21and they've not had one before, all of a sudden, they're a sense of pride and ownership and
08:26they like it and they're passionate about it.
08:28Like, hey, I got to take care of this because it's taking care of me.
08:30So it's pretty cool to watch.
08:31The amount of cars that you're giving away and stuff to people, it's insane.
08:39I'm getting goosebumps.
08:40It's just neat.
08:41Well, you know, it's funny because I was going to show you, man, this is like a trimmed down
08:46number of applicants.
08:48This is just from a couple of years ago.
08:50This is about 1,000 and we normally get about 3,000 plus entries for, you know, 35 to 40
08:56cars.
08:57It's amazing what just a couple of parts and a little bit of sweat equity can do, right?
09:03Well, the parts are what's key, man, because, you know, we got fundraised to get money for
09:07these parts.
09:07We have a great company like Federated come in who can help you and help the community.
09:12It allows it to, you know, exponentially grow.
09:15So something like this and this partnership is great.
09:18You know, back to the basics.
09:19Every car that comes in needs five things.
09:22Batteries, brakes, tires, windshield wipers, and an oil change.
09:27Well, speaking of all those parts, this is the next round to go on this Grand Prix.
09:31So again, from Federated, we got a whole setup, you know, rotors, calipers.
09:36We got all the hardware pads.
09:37We're going with low dust.
09:38These are all stainless steel guides and keepers.
09:41So this front end and rear end is going to be all tip top again.
09:45So we're going to put this one in line with all the rest for another round for another
09:50family.
09:51So this really means freedom, big time help for another family that gets affected with
09:56cars for Christmas.
09:57Hey, man, I appreciate you turning some wrenches.
09:59Yeah, I didn't do a whole lot, but I supervised some.
10:02I made sure they were working.
10:03This is one incredible consultant right here.
10:04Can you show it to me?
10:05All right, let's check out.
10:07We got a family that just showed up, a recent recipient, well, from a couple of years ago.
10:12So we're going to get a little bit of background on how that's affected them and where they are
10:15today.
10:15Yeah, man.
10:18Yeah, I was still going through school.
10:20I was working my job and dealing with some self-warming issues and ended up, you know,
10:27you gave me the car.
10:28He surprised me with it.
10:30What was it like that day?
10:31What was that moment like for you?
10:33It was a little overwhelming.
10:34You didn't know quite what to, like, feel at that point in time.
10:38It definitely helped me in that point in time, though.
10:42Definitely needed that.
10:44So where's the car now?
10:45What happened?
10:46It lasted me for about five years.
10:48I ended up donating it to another friend that needed it because I was getting a new vehicle.
10:53So I ended up donating it to them, and it's still going with them as well.
10:56It's still going to this day.
10:58You can see that cascade happen.
11:00We pay it forward.
11:01They pay it forward.
11:03If we all pay it forward, man, it'd be a lot better place.
11:15Yeah.
11:16All right, we've got the brakes buttoned up on all four corners of both cars.
11:20We're going to take a quick break when we come back.
11:22We're going to start looking at the tire selection for these rides.
11:32All right, guys, welcome back to my home garage where we really spent about six, seven months
11:37out of the year working on cars for Christmas.
11:39So you've seen a little bit of it today with the Grand Prix and the Mini.
11:43We're almost done wrapping those cars up, but we do have a Santa Fe and a Honda Odyssey
11:47Minivan we got to work on today.
11:49But one of the cool aspects about Cars for Christmas is meeting the people that get the
11:54cars right around Christmas time.
11:56We have one right here.
11:57My man, John.
11:58How you been, man?
11:59How are you?
12:00How's things?
12:01I'm great.
12:02Tell me about Reggie.
12:03Now, Reggie was a re-gifted 4Runner.
12:06You can't get on the bus with a whole pack out and go do some plumbing.
12:11So, yeah, I got up that hill.
12:12So having your truck allowed you to show up with tools, everything necessary to do the
12:16job and do it right.
12:17Yeah.
12:18It's an amazing gift.
12:19And I'm glad it served you well.
12:21And I hope it serves you for years to come.
12:23I couldn't be any more thankful for it.
12:26It got me up the mountain.
12:27Four-wheel drive.
12:27Man, really cool to hear some of the stories about, you know, the recipients of all the
12:35hard work, right?
12:36These guys are putting in.
12:37Now, Tommy, you've been out here for about four years, right, volunteering your time.
12:41And what does it mean to you to work on these projects and see the results of all that hard
12:45work?
12:45It's a change in life to see people that haven't had something to receive a car.
12:50We put a lot of hard work into it.
12:51Every car needs a couple things here and there.
12:53And people who don't have some, they receive a car, they can go to work, they can do their
12:58job, they can support their families, they can change their lives.
13:02Now, at one point, you received a car, is that right?
13:04Yes, I did.
13:05And you're now giving back.
13:07Absolutely.
13:07I believe in paying forward.
13:09Continuing the cycle.
13:10Absolutely.
13:11Absolutely.
13:11Really cool.
13:12Well, we got a lot of great sponsors and help.
13:14PriorityTire.com is donating a lot of tires for these vehicles.
13:18We're going to put on the Evo Lux here.
13:20This is their Capricorn HP.
13:21It's an all-season.
13:22There's a lot of people running around with unsafe set up.
13:26So, an all-season tire, brand new on this thing.
13:29It's going to get them rolling for years to come.
13:31So, hopefully, we'll get the whole car rolling as fresh as these tires.
13:35Yeah.
13:35So, you want to give me a hand?
13:36We'll mount this thing.
13:37Absolutely.
13:43These are going to be great tires for the happy new owners.
13:46Now, Priority Tire, they've been in business for 20 years, so it's free shipping to all 48
13:50states, and these are going to last for a long time.
13:53They're 45,000-mile treadwear warranty.
13:58There we go.
13:59We got right here another answer to one of these problems, right?
14:05So, we got a minivan.
14:07We got a Montana.
14:08Now, this one, right?
14:10We had a little bit of an exhaust.
14:11Yeah, stud broke off.
14:12Stud broke off, right?
14:14So, do you replace the whole pipe?
14:15Or can we do some fasteners?
14:17Yep.
14:17Now, typically, like on our show, right, we're doing ARP on doing some dress-up, performance.
14:23Well, you know what?
14:24They're providing a whole lot of hardware.
14:26Which is awesome.
14:27Such Cajuns.
14:28So, instead of the stud, we're going to do a nut and bolt.
14:30So, a little bit of overkill, but we're going to call it done so we can get another car out the door.
14:34Yeah, man.
14:35And at the end of it, it's another family.
14:37It's getting a ride.
14:38It's another gift of mobility.
14:40Another big impact.
14:41Thanks to, you know, ARP and great people helping us out.
14:44That's right.
14:44All right.
14:45Let's get this one bolted together.
14:46Let's roll this one back out and get another one in here.
14:49Exactly.
14:52All right, you guys, man.
14:54Here we are working on our mini.
14:56The biggest thing we fight is mice, right?
14:59My man, Matt here from Mouse Blocker.
15:01Let me tell you, he was the first guy to believe in cars for Christmas.
15:05A, I'm so thankful for that.
15:07B, your product is the best defense against the worst problem that we have.
15:13It's another thing to fight what a mouse can do in there.
15:17And it's severe damage.
15:18They go for wiring.
15:18They go for every headache you could ever imagine.
15:21And you, my man, have the ultimate defense for that.
15:24And I'm thankful for it.
15:25It's pretty impressive.
15:26It's awesome.
15:27My products are protecting the cars, but you're changing people's lives, man, building these cars.
15:31I appreciate just being part of the program and being able to help.
15:37That's what Mouse Blocker is about.
15:38A check engine light or the car going down because of a simple mouse.
15:41That's crazy.
15:43So protecting these things, being, like, number one, like, as a part of insurance.
15:48Seriously, this is what Mouse Blocker is about.
15:50Since day one, they stepped up.
15:52And let's take a look at some of these families and how a car, the gift of mobility,
15:56has 180 degrees for the life for the better.
15:59Check this out.
16:01Thank you so much.
16:02Thank you, Lily.
16:03I appreciate it.
16:05Yeah, let me get a hug.
16:08Thanks a lot.
16:10How about a high five?
16:11Yes.
16:14I really appreciate it.
16:15It's made the world of difference.
16:18I'm sorry.
16:18It's made a world of difference.
16:21It's a huge relief.
16:23I don't have to rely on just random people to take me places.
16:26And I can take my son to the doctor.
16:27And I can take him where he needs to go.
16:29And it's a huge relief with work because I work 30 minutes away from my house.
16:35Out back are two cars.
16:38And we're going to give you your choice.
16:40And step out back.
16:41We'll let you go to car shop.
16:43I love it.
16:45Oh, my gosh.
16:46It runs so smoothly.
16:48And it doesn't make any weird noises.
16:52I don't know, Mom.
16:54I don't know what to do.
16:55This is going to be a hard decision.
16:57What car are you taking?
16:59I think I might have to go with this one.
17:03This one?
17:03This one.
17:04The Ford Escape.
17:05Yes.
17:06All right.
17:07The Ford Escape.
17:08You good with that?
17:08I am.
17:09We're going to do some paperwork.
17:11And you're rolling out of this thing.
17:13Yes.
17:13Dang.
17:14This is yours.
17:15Yes.
17:15Hot in hand.
17:15Keys in hand.
17:17I get a hot five.
17:18Let's go.
17:19Come on.
17:19So, I think that is the best part of the give and the best part of what we do.
17:25In a sense, independence and freedom.
17:27We've got the mini knocked out.
17:34So, it's out in the field, ready to go in the queue.
17:37We've got our Santa Fe in here.
17:38This one's not too bad.
17:39It's going to get the usuals, right?
17:41The battery, the oil changes, filters, et cetera.
17:43So, we've got a couple of inner-outer tie rod ends, coils, filters, belts, you name it.
17:49Pretty easy stuff.
17:50And then big this year was the addition of AMSOIL.
17:53These guys brought everything to the house and some cool ones, too.
17:56Yeah.
17:56They brought us not only these ultimate oil change kits, which we're actually going to leave in the cars for the new owners.
18:02Well, show them what's in there, man.
18:03That's super cool.
18:04You got your oil change, right?
18:06You got, and it's vehicle-specific.
18:07We ordered this for the Santa Fe, so you get everything you need.
18:10From the glove to the next oil change recommendation sticker.
18:14And you get a little funnel in there.
18:15Yeah, you get a funnel, the oil, and a filter.
18:17So, we're actually going to leave these in the car because, let's be honest, when you get a car, especially on this side of the coin, you're passionate about it.
18:25You want to take care of it.
18:26You want to, you know, these people wash it, and they love it.
18:29So, part of that is maintenance.
18:31When a pallet of AMSOIL shows up at your shop, it's like Christmas Day because we've got power steering fluid.
18:36We've got some brake clean parts.
18:38We've got brake fluid.
18:39So, all of these cars on all the fluids are getting upgraded from AMSOIL.
18:43So, that's a big give this year, man.
18:45We've got everything now that we've got to do is start, well, diving in, draining, and changing, my man.
18:50That's what we're doing today.
18:51All right.
18:51Draining and changing.
18:52You know, a lot of times when you're trying to get through the oil filter, it's kind of in a tough spot.
18:57Luckily, we got hooked up with Carlyle, and they gave us this little multipurpose oil filter tool that can really get in tough spots and help out with that.
19:05You just throw it around the filter, get a little bite on it.
19:08Little clicks will eat it up and get it to where you get your hand on it.
19:11All right, guys.
19:24Just wanted to do a little recap here.
19:26We've got kind of two days in this thing.
19:27We're on three cars ready to come out of the shop, get in line up to go give to some needy families.
19:33Now, where are you guys at in your process?
19:35How many of you already processed through?
19:36We probably have about eight or nine done in that realm.
19:40This is, you know, you're looking at 10, 11, 12.
19:43We have another Honda we're going to do today.
19:44So car number 13, we're aiming for 40, trying to get there.
19:49We'll see.
19:50But really, it comes down to the crew, the guys, the great partners that showed up.
19:56You know, this has been fantastic.
19:57For us, a big blessing.
19:59Everybody here, you know, when you have a pallet of parts show up, we're like, whoa, it's amazing.
20:04So a big give, big opportunity for us to go further this year than we have in several years.
20:08No doubt.
20:09This guy's been grinding for a long time, just kind of building to what it is.
20:12But you know what speaks louder?
20:14What's that?
20:15Is a little bit of extra pocket change, man.
20:18Yeah.
20:19So this is from all of us at Brent Productions, man.
20:22This is for you, dude.
20:24Five grand.
20:25Five grand.
20:25To help fill all the gaps and the cracks.
20:28That's awesome.
20:28Hope this can help elevate another couple of cars, another, you know, higher level.
20:33Big for us, man.
20:34It's amazing what a life-changing gift mobility is.
20:38And you see that in some of the gives.
20:39And this is going to go a long way from making that impact even bigger this year.
20:43So thank you.
20:49All right.
20:50So we're doing one of many, typically, test drives here.
20:54So we've done a ton of work on this car.
20:56So how's she feeling so far?
20:58You noticed all the things before kind of fixed?
21:00Yeah.
21:00And this is one of those cars that had a little exhaust leak, obviously needed fluids, needed
21:05tires, needed brakes.
21:06But that's easy compared to what we, you know, most oftentimes do.
21:09You've seen us, well-known cars, making tools, kind of figuring out certain problems this week.
21:14And that's what we face.
21:15Every car has its own set of challenges.
21:17But this one was on the easier side.
21:19All right.
21:20So I think this one feels like it's about on its way into the lineup.
21:24Yeah, man.
21:25This is car number 13, 14?
21:27Signing off is what we're going to do right now, too.
21:29We hope you guys enjoyed the show.
21:31You guys take care.
21:32We'll see you in another Two Guys Garage.
21:34We'll see you in another Two Guys Garage.
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