It's hard to believe it's already been 10 years since the early years of Roadkill. If you haven't seen Roadkill, it's a must see. In each episode on Motor Trend the dynamic duo, David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan set out to build a cheap classic and take it for fun adventures. During Episode 23 of the YouTube series that would later become the show, we got introduced to a long term friend. The General Mayhem, a gutted 1968 Dodge Charger in need of a heart transplant. The car was missing everything, no engine, no transmission, nothing! Just a ton of mismatched panels and random parts. Freiburger had traded a set of cylinder heads for the barebones car a few years prior. Now it was time for it to come alive.
First Engine
After some searching on Criagslist, the guys found a big block Mopar 440 plant for only $1000. Only one small problem, it was in a Pace Arrow motorhome. Having no reservations about destroying the tenament on wheels, they set to work ripping the engine and transmission out of the big white beast. They slapped everything into the General Mayhem and borrowed a few parts from a previous project. A star was born. But this was only the beginning for the car.
Second Engine
Later in the series in during Episode 43, the guys got a boost from Dodge with a sponsorship. Which meant a major upgrade for the General Mayhem. When I say major, I mean a 707 hp factory blown Hemi out of a Hellcat. The crew over at Diversified Creations did the conversion, blending in the old with the new. They started with a brand new SRT Hellcat, that had been flagged to be crushed by Dodge. Not much backstory on that vehicle. But everything they could harvest went into General Mayhem. This is included parts of the dash from the new car too! At this point the car also got some major suspension and rear-end upgrades as well.
Third Engine (sorta)
The most recent engine swap occurred earlier this year on Episode 70 of Roadkill Garage. The Hellcat motor came back out of the General Mayhem and the Motorhome 440 returned. So where has this motor been all this time? Well it actually bounced around a bit. After being pulled the first time, it was dropped into a vehicle nicknamed the Crop Duster. Since then its been sitting around. But now it's back and better than ever, making over 500 hp. Steve Dulcich, along with Freiburger rebuilt and drop the motor back into car. But before that, all of the Hellcat stuff had to come out. One of my favorite quotes from Freiburger about the amount of electronics and wiring: "I think we sent people to space with less wiring.."
The Reunion
Just recently, the guys got back together for a 10 year reunion with old General Mayhem. Taking the car for a road with the fresh 440 Motorhome motor rebuild. I won't spoil too much of it for you. But you can find it on the Motor Trend and YouTube. But let's say its back in all it's glory. Till next time, keep the shiny side up!
Katy Perry and On Screen Car fans, heads up on her latest video "The One That Got Away" now on YouTube. The song talks about an older lady looking back on a young love she lost in the past. She was once happy and evolved with this young artist and things were going great. Things take a turn for the worst and she loses him in a car crash following a fight. The lady is very well off and knows no matter what she does she's can't bring him back. The song itself mentions a Mustang. This is where On Screen Cars.com comes in.
Summer after high school when we first met
We make out in your Mustang to Radiohead
And on my 18th Birthday
We got matching tattoos...
The video in addition to the lovely Katy Perry there's a Mustang sighting or two. If you watch the video closely you'll see two different Mustangs. The one shown the most is a 1966 model with 289 badges. The second is a 1967 - 1968 model (an email from our friend Jim confirms it's a 1968 model). Both are black and appear very similar. However they are not the same. One of the dead give-aways is the longer nose and different wheels. The first Mustang has factory wheels while the second has aftermarket American Racing Torq Thrust D wheels (Jim points out these are US MAG wheels). I can't give credit on identifying these vehicles on my own. I'm not a Mustang expert. But a great article on spotting the differences on early Mustangs is on About.com (great read). I have the video embedded below. Till next time keep your love in check and don't let them be .."The One That Got Away."
Nov. 12th 2011
After posting this article I got an exciting email from Jim Foster. Jim is the president of the Valley Mustang Club. He is also the owner the second Mustang used in the video! Jim shared with me the background of his car which he named "DABEAST". Jim said he was contacted by a prop company specializing in cars, called Mr Vintage Machine. The prop company was contracted by the producers to find a Mustang to use in the production. Mr. Vintage contacted Jim as the president of the Valley Mustang Club and Jim offered his car for the production. Believe it or not but this Mustang has it's original 289 V8 with over 500k miles on it! You can read the full story over at the car's profile page over at motortopia.com. Thanks for all your help Jim.
On Screen Car gaming fans prepare to drool as the Need for Speed franchise rolls out another hit, "The Run." Just this week I received a heads up from EA with this stunning preview of the Porsche 911 Carrera S from the new game installment. I thought I would post and share with you guys. As you may know Porsche has redesigned the 911 from the ground up. Not to mention the 'S' is an added bonus. Here's an quote from EA's ad.
Stunning. Sleek. Stylish. Whatever you want the "S" to stand for, the Porsche Carrera S is truly in a class of it's own...
There's a little bit of story line as well:
Jack is in a race for his life, but he's got something the competition doesn't: You and the all new Porsche 911 Carrera S. This new Porsche can be found in the Limited Edition and will let you tear past rivals as you keep Jack one step ahead of the dangers from his dark past, both inside and outside the car in this action packed race from San Francisco to New York.
Stunning. Sleek. Stylish. I can't agree more. The following YouTube video is pretty easy on the eyes as well. The game will be due out in November. Pre-orders are already being taken over at Amazon for the Need for Speed: The Run - Limited Edition. It is available for PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and 3DS. Please feel free to use our affiliate links to pre-order/purchase your copy today.
Who said all On Screen Cars had to be nice? Sometimes you just need something that works. That's the goal behind the British hit show Scrapheap Challenge. The show were teams of contestants are given the challenge of designing and building devices to complete varies tasks. You may also remember the show as Junkyard Wars on the Discovery Channel. I plan to feature more cars from this series. Growing up I remember tuning in every week to see what the teams were about to design and build. Now for Spy Cars!
In this episode the teams were given the task of building spy cars. Their spy cars had to be able to navigate through a warehouse setup as a super secret spy base. The warehouse err spy base, had several obstacles that the cars and the team had to take into account. The vehicles were required to hold all four team members while being low enough for clearance of some of the obstacles. The kicker was the fact the vehicle also had to be able to clear a high hump in the middle of the course without high-centering.
The blue team used a lawn tractor as a power plant while towing a trailer for the rest of the team. Not a bad choice for the clearance issues. I think I would be concerned about the lack of power. The back seat on the trailer folded down backwards so the team lay down for clearance. Note the outriggers on the lawn tractor. This can help the driver take in account how wide the trailer is when making turns. This also serves as a place for the driver to duck to when laying low. They navigate the course slowly but without any major problems. Until the team got to the hump. They took a penalty by disconnecting the trailer and pushing it over the hump. The lack of power I talked about earlier cost them a few points.
The pink team on the other hand didn't have power issues. They used two full size front wheel drive cars cut in half. The two front haves of the car were jointed near the back of the drivers seat. They joined the two cars using a huge hinge point. With the aid of hydraulics this allowed them to pivot the car upwards for the hump. By using the front haves they were also able to gain four way steering. They flew through the first part of the course. The four-way steering really made it sweet for turning corners. The team did well until, guess what.. the hump. A major mechanical failure caused their drive shafts to twist and sheer in two. You could hear them cracking up the motor but it wasn't pulling them along. The end of the road for the pink team.
Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth is one of the greatest custom car designers of all time. He's responsible for countless inspired designs of not only custom cars, but timeless popular culture icons as well. Tales of the Rat Fink is an exciting documentary about the life and times of Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth. Thanks to Shout Factory! and YouTube. We're able to bring you the full length feature embedded into this post. Pull up a chair and learn about the man behind Rat Fink. Note this video is not property of OnScreenCars.com. We take no credit. We simply want you to enjoy it as much as we did. As Ed Roth once said, "Keep the rubber side down and the shinny side up." Be sure to keep your eye out for incredible OnScreenCars! See ya next time.
Update 9/17/2023: The Shout Factory video is long gone. But I have replaced it with the trailer below.
. It is available for PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and 3DS. Please feel free to use our affiliate links to pre-order/purchase your copy today.
