MIKE MUSTO: It's got over 1,600 pound-feet of torque.
It's made from a combination of old tractor parts and light
poles and has the ability to actually tow New York to Los
Angeles if you so choose.
And I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to drive it.
Welcome to Big Muscle.
My name is Mike Musto.
Each week, I travel the country with the goal of
showcasing the best and baddest muscle cars and hot
cars around.
Every car has a past, and every owner a story.
Welcome to the world of "Big Muscle."
Here, at "Big Muscle," we love rat rods.
To some, there's just rolling rod boxes cobbled together
from scrap metal and baling wire.
But look closer, and many times you'll find that the
workmanship, artistry and overall uniqueness of these
vehicles far outshines many big money builds.
The frame rails, for instance, are made from old municipal
light poles.
The gas, clutch and brake pedals are a mix of an old
spider gear with a few nuts and bolts
thrown in for good measure.
And the little scoops on the hood?
Yeah, they're from a pair of old steel-toed boots.
This car is about as far out as they come, which is exactly
why we needed to film it.
HENRY KESSLER: What we have here is a 1931 Ford, with a
1952 Diamond Rio tractor motor.
The motor, the trans and the rear tires are all from a 1951
whites water truck, which is old farm equipment.
The motor has 275 horse, with right around 1,640
foot-pounds of torque.
The frame rails are light poles
from the city of Hollywood.
They act as resonators for the exhaust.
The wish bones are fence posts.
The headlights are from a '42 Buick.
It's a real Duvall windshield.
The motor's got over a million miles.
The cases have never been cracked open.
It smokes and pukes oil, but it runs like a top, and it'll
do another million miles.
MIKE MUSTO: So Henry, I'll be honest with you.
I'm a little bit nervous about driving this thing.
Take me through the process of what we've got, what the
switches do and so on and so forth.
HENRY KESSLER: OK.
Well, you've got your standard clutch, brake, throttle.
To start the power on the car, there's one switch.
Lift it up.
That'll turn on the pump for the airbags.
It'll turn on the charging system.
Then make sure you're in neutral.
It's one button.
[CAR STARTS]
HENRY KESSLER: It starts right up.
MIKE MUSTO: It's like a hybrid!
HENRY KESSLER: Yeah.
It's my Prius.
First button up is front bags.
Second button to the side is rear bags.
MIKE MUSTO: OK.
And that's the whole deal?
HENRY KESSLER: You're ready to go?
MIKE MUSTO: Today's going to be a cool day, man.
It's going to be a really cool day.
HENRY KESSLER: Should be interesting.
MIKE MUSTO: Yeah, it should be interesting.
HENRY KESSLER: We're rolling!
MIKE MUSTO: All right, so here's something you
don't see every day.
My big ass driving a 1931 Ford tractor.
I'll be honest with you.
I've driven a lot of stuff.
This isn't one of them.
The body is a 1931 Ford.
Transmission--
it's a five-speed.
And believe it or not, it likes to rev. We don't need
to, but it does.
The main job is to piss off Prius owners, scare women,
scare children, and basically, just have fun.
I mean, the thing is unbelievable.
And it's a bitch to drive.
I'm not intimidated by a lot of stuff.
But this thing?
This thing intimidates the hell out of me.
I mean, some of the things that--
you've got to take notice over this thing, right?
I didn't know where the gas tank was.
Then I learned, it's literally right here.
It's a six-gallon.
It's an old settling tank.
And it was put in under the dashboard.
You know, so this way, if you crash in a head-on collision,
the motor comes straight back in and you hit the gas tank.
And you just blow up.
The frame on this car, there are stress parts of the body
that are welded to the gas tank.
Not really sure how I feel about it.
All I know is that it works.
We all know, obviously, this is not a canyon carver, but
believe it or not, it does actually go around a corner.
I don't know how he's going to stay in his seat, because you
slide all over the place.
And you're wrenching this wheel.
I mean, look at my hands!
This is nuts.
I'm going to come out of this thing.
I'm going to be black from top to bottom.
And you know what?
I'm going to love every minute of it.
[LAUGHS]
HENRY KESSLER: The air bags are off of a RTD bus which is
a old LA transit system.
There's one dead center right here, and
there's two in the back.
It raises up right around 9 and 1/2 inches.
There's a shock on each side of the bag and then one on
each side over here.
And then there's two in the back.
And that's just to kind of keep the car stable.
But it pretty much all rides on the bags themselves.
And then the wishbones are connected to a Heim joints,
which are off of a landing gear off of a Lear jet.
So this thing's built bulletproof.
It's made to run.
And you look at it, and you're like this thing's not going to
go anywhere.
But aside from you sliding around, this thing's on rails.
And it'll do a canyon all day long.
I mean, granted, it'll do it at 45, but it'll do it at 45
pulling your house.
MIKE MUSTO: You know, this thing, this grenade shifter,
let me tell you something.
It's a bomb for a reason.
Whoa!
[LAUGHS]
You go into these turns, and part of you is
holding on for dear life.
Part of me was waiting to see if there's something around
the next corner. 'Cause if you hit it, you're finished.
There is literally a piece of mesh leather on the bottom of
my ass and his ass, and as soon we turn, we're sliding
all over the place.
As far as back support, I have news.
I'll definitely be in the
chiropractor's office on Monday.
Because I mean, this is ridiculous.
Oh, yeah!
See that short shifter right in the car.
HENRY KESSLER: Keep rolling.
MIKE MUSTO: I'm like a professional now.
[LAUGHS]
Holy [BEEP].
I want one of these.
I want one of these, and I want to drive through downtown
Berkeley with black smoke belching out of the six pipes.
We got to find a Prius owner and just suck him in.
That's what I want to do.
And you got to picture this, right?
We're up in the Hollywood hills.
And this is some of the most expensive real
estate on the planet.
And I feel like as we're driving by, people are just
feeling like their property values are going down, which I
really don't give a crap about, because
I think it's hilarious.
I mean, never have I driven a vehicle where I literally rest
my hands on my knees to drive it.
And you want to talk about fun.
Since we've only got a six-gallon tank, we're going
to get some fuel because, like we said, wow, this really
doesn't hold any.
And if we want to keep shooting, we got to
fill this sucker up.
I mean, this is nuts.
I mean, we've got gas.
We're all over the place.
It's crazy when you think a straight six-cylinder gas
engine could literally make 1,600 pound-feet of torque.
That's nuts!
That's simply nuts.
It's a mind-boggling thing.
The best is next to us, we've got a Fisker hybrid.
You know, the company that went out of business?
Those guys.
It's kind of funny, this thing's been around for 100
years or whatever.
We're still going strong.
And that thing's been around for six months.
It's not doing too well.
This car is a spectacle.
It's the fly in the ointment and the black
sheep of the family.
Therefore, we could think of no better place to take it
than down to the most look-at-me strip
to the United States--
Rodeo Drive.
Not only do we get looks and comments from everyone, but we
even got up close and personal with one
of the local residents.
MIKE MUSTO: How do you read this day?
We are rolling down Hollywood Boulevard in something that
people just don't know what to do.
Yeah, I mean, what you guys can't see right now is that we
just stopped.
And the crowd of people-- what's up, guys--
that just crowded around this thing.
It's insane.
I mean, how do you beat Hollywood Boulevard in a rat
rod that looks like this?
You want a picture?
Absolutely take a picture.
Yeah.
One of the best details about this car is not the car
itself, but it's owner.
Henry is a guy who loves to see reactions.
He likes the people, young and old, smile and scratch their
head at this thing.
And his philosophy about the car couldn't be better.
HENRY KESSLER: If you've got a hot rod that you put $150,000
into it and $20,000 paint job, you don't want anybody
breathing on it.
You're not going to take it out.
This thing, I could care less.
I enjoy it.
I love it.
It would kill me if something ever happened to it.
But when I go to a car show, I'm the only one that tells
people, oh yeah, you're taking a picture next to my car.
Why don't you throw your kid in there?
Are you serious?
Absolutely.
You know, that's how you get the next generation into
wanting to get into the car culture.
MIKE MUSTO: I honestly don't know what to
say about this car.
You look at it.
You drive it.
And it beats you to death.
The clutch is like pushing in a sledgehammer every time you
try to engage it.
It belches black smoke and soot and dirt, like literally
the likes of which I've never seen.
Like you see this is like a white cloth?
And if I go like this, that's no longer white.
Guys, thanks for tuning in to another episode of "Big
Muscle." Obviously, email us at DriveBigMuscle@gmail.com.
And I'm going to take a shower in a little while, because I'm
just dirty.
And like I said, worth every second of the day.
Thanks.
The best is everybody that just looks.
People have no concept of what to make in this thing.
How you doing?
What's going on?
Good to see you.
Hi, how you doing?
Good to see you.
Hi, how you doing?
How are you?
Good to see you.
How are you?
Good to see you.
Nice to see you.
Well, welcome to Hollywood.