Monster Garage

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Monster Garage
Created byThom Beers
Presented byJesse James
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes80
Production
Running time42 minutes
Original release
NetworkDiscovery Channel (2002–2006)
Discovery+ (2021)
ReleaseJune 23, 2002 (2002-06-23) –
June 12, 2006 (2006-06-12)

Monster Garage is an American television series aired on the Discovery Channel and hosted by Jesse James. Each episode was an hour in length and was conceived and produced (along with James) by Thom Beers.

The show premiered on June 23, 2002 and concluded on June 12, 2006.

On February 24, 2020, it was announced that the series will be revived and premiere in 2020 on TLC.[1] This was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] It premiered on Discovery, Inc.'s new streaming service Discovery+ on launch day, January 4, 2021.[3]

Premise

A team of five people with mechanical, fabricating, or modifying expertise was assembled to modify a vehicle into a "monster machine." On the show this generally meant making one vehicle that could transform into another such as a

PT Cruiser which could change into a wood chipper, or a school bus which transformed into a pontoon boat. Occasionally vehicles were modified so as to hide non-vehicular functions, such as a police car which doubled as a donut shop (built by a team of cops), or a Toyota Tundra
which was modified so as to allow it to discharge a motorcycle at high speeds. Build teams who successfully completed their assignment were rewarded with expensive tool kits.

Rules

According to the show, the rules were as follows:

  1. When complete, the monster was to appear to be stock.
  2. The team had $3000 (later raised to $5000) for parts. Any 'seat change' found during the build was added to the total.
  3. The team had seven days to complete the monster.
    • The first day was for designing
    • the next five were for building
    • and the seventh day was for testing the monster

In practice, as the series progressed, some liberties were 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.

Starting with season 4, the winning team also donated a toolkit to a high school of their choice.

Host

Host

wild west outlaw, Jesse James. Jesse G. James 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 said he liked monsters that went fast and did something. He preferred hard working build crew members. His favorite monster vehicles were the Ford Ambulance Wheel-stander and the Chevrolet Blazer Pikes Peak
hill climber. One of Jesse's ambitions throughout the run of the show was to build a monster that could top 200 mph, which he was unsuccessful at achieving.

Announcer

Announcing for this show was done by Brett "The Big Schwag" Wagner who later became the host of the

Speed Channel show Pass Time.[4] He was very memorable for frequently shouting out "You gotta be kidding me!" during the tests of the "monster" vehicles and signing off most episodes saying: "The next Monster Garage challenge is JUST... AROUND... THE BEND!".[5]

Failed Monsters

With rules as strict as they were in the Monster Garage, there was a 1 in 10 monster build failure rate. When a team failed to complete a vehicle in time, it was destroyed by host Jesse James.

Failed Monsters and their Ultimate Demise

Successful monsters destroyed in Day 7

  • Minigun
    .
  • 1970
    Cadillac Coupe DeVille
    /Demolition-Derby Car - In day 7, Cindy Regimbald lost the demolition derby, leaving the car smashed from the derby.
  • 1970 Oval Racer/RC Car - During the challenge, after Jesse lapped the car about 5 times, he rammed his car into the rear fender of it and sent it smashing into wall of the short track. The monster was totalled, and it was stored outside the Monster Garage, later to be cannibalized in future episodes.
  • 1969-1970 Classic Farm Tractor/Crop Circler - The vehicle was built successfully, but Jesse decided the project was uninteresting, so he burnt it in a desert with a flamethrower.

UK version

A UK version of the show was aired in 2004 by Channel 4. The team always included a Hell's Angel known as "Cookie". There was a budget of £3,000. Only 3 days were used for the build. Cars often looked radically different from the production models. Challenges included; converting a Toyota into a lawnmower, a Lotus into a hovercraft, and an ice cream van into a riot truck. In one episode, the team sold the internal fittings of the car that was to be transformed (A

muck spreader
.

The UK series lasted only 8 episodes.

Videos

MBI published Monster Garage videos, detailing the Ford Mustang lawn mower, Ford Explorer garbage truck, limousine firetruck, and the Volkswagen Beetle swamp boat.

Monster Garage sale

The 2008 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction included 42 of the surviving project vehicles.[6][7][8][9]

Adaptations

Video games

Activision Value
.

Books

Inside Monster Garage, a book about the TV series, was published by Meridith Books.

MBI Publishing Company has published Monster Garage instruction books under the Motorbooks brand, including:

  • Monster Garage: How to Custom Paint Damn Near Anything
  • Monster Garage: How to Customize Damn Near Anything
  • Monster Garage: How to Fabricate Damn Near Anything
  • Monster Garage: How to Weld Damn Near Anything

Monster Garage: How to Custom Paint Damn Near Anything, Monster Garage: How to Customize Damn Near Anything, Monster Garage: How to Weld Damn Near Anything were also sold together as Monster Garage Gift Set and The Big Box of Monster Garage (box set).

References

  1. ^ ""Monster Garage" Starring Jesse James Returns to Discovery Channel in 2020". The Futon Critic. February 24, 2020.
  2. ^ "Jesse James 'Monster Garage' Reboot Delayed By Coronavirus Pandemic". TMZ. 21 April 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Jesse James Pushes Custom Builds to the Limit in "Monster Garage", Premiering January 4 on discovery+". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  4. ^ "The Big Schwag - Official Fan Website". Archived from the original on 2009-07-16. Retrieved 2009-07-16.
  5. ^ "Monster Garage (TV Series 2002–2007) - Quotes - IMDb". IMDb.
  6. ^ "www.barrett-jackson.com" (PDF) (Press release). Barrett-Jackson. November 14, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 24, 2009. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  7. ^ Scottsdale 2008 Monster Garage car listing Archived 2008-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ 42 unique Monster Garage creations under the hammer at Barrett-Jackson
  9. ^ "Scottsdale 2008". Sports Car Market. April 2008. p. 88.

External links