1954 Ford - MONSTER GARAGE - Gene Winfield, Darryl Starbird, Frank Brown, Scottie Chapman, Hector Orlandi, Doug Hruska

MONSTER GARAGE. Unless you weren’t born yet, you have seen at least one episode of this insanely entertaining show that aired on Discovery Channel, and brought a team of craftsman and builders together under the watchful eye of Jesse James to completely transform an everyday car into a work of rolling art.



The BIG SCHWAG handled announcing duties, and made even the simple act of someone using a screwdriver reason to sit at the edge of your seat, and the never-ending parade of cars and characters were emblazoned into the collective consciousness of millions of viewers each week.




At the final end of the show, Jesse James pulled together an All-Star team of builders and designers to create one final masterpiece for the show to go out on. That machine is THIS 1954 Ford 2-door wagon, and it can be yours if the price is right.




I originally got this car in 2007, and sold it to a gentleman in Ohio who was a HUGE Jesse James fan. This past December, I was contacted by his daughter, who informed me that he had passed away, and she found my information with some of the paperwork. She told me that he never really even drove the car, just liked having it to look at, start up every now and again, and share with his friends and family. After a few emails, and phone calls, I arranged to collect the car and get it back here to Florida.

You rarely get a chance to own such a unique piece of automotive, television, and cultural history ONCE, let alone twice, so needless to say, I am pretty excited to be able to sell the car once more.




This is the one and only 1954 FORD wagon that appeared in the last episode of Discovery Channel’s MONSTER GARAGE! It is not only a piece of television history, but a piece of automotive history as well, having been built by some of the legends of automotive customizing.

Gene Winfield, Darryl Starbird, Frank Brown, Scottie Chapman, Hector Orlandi, Doug Hruska and more all took part in transforming a stock 1954 Fordomatic 2 door wagon into design artist “Fireball” Tim Alexander’s vison of a machine worthy of sending the show into the sunset.



Gene and Darryl led the body mods, and there are many of them! The roof has 1.75” taken out of it to level it out before and additional 2” was sectioned from it over the rails.

A 3.5” chop was executed on the roof, and the door posts and C-pillars chopped and slanted to keep the streamlined look flowing.

THEN, 4” inches was sectioned out of the beltline of the car, the front fenders were raised 2”, headlights and tail lamps were frenched in, scoops were fabricated into the rear quarters with 53 Merc side spears, and dual antennas were frenched into the passenger front fender.

A handcrafted grill and grill shell were made just for the car, and the roof was hammer-welded, the body was MIG-welded, and the chassis was TIG-welded by the best in the industry.

Once the body was smoothed to perfection, the legend himself, Gene Winfield, personally applied the radical custom finish on the car that changes hue like the The Big Schwag changed vocal coaches.

Stock frame rails had the leaf springs and front cut out in favor of a triangulated 4-link rear and A-ARM front end with 4-wheel air ride suspension controlled via a digital LED control box inside the car. It airs up VERY fast, and lays out quicker than a dime at a Dan Bilzerian pool party.

OASIS custom made the 20” chrome rims for the car with the MONSTER GARAGE logo cut right into them.

A 2004 Corvette donated its LS1 motor that famed engine builder Frank Brown tweaked and tuned to eek out a stated 475hp. The Vette 6-speed manual transfers that power down a custom driveshaft to a FORD 9” rear packed with 3.55 gears.



The team also made a CNC machined hydraulic clutch/brake master cylinder combo that works great, and fit the car with a custom high-rise shifter.

Inside, a thick leather seat looks like cabin furniture, in light tan with black hand-sewn inserts and skulls. It is clean and neat.

Door panels, kick panels, headliner, pillar and side covers, and rear wheel tubs were covered in matching tan hides, and are clean and neat.

Full length carpeting runs front to back, is banded, and shows well.

Dash is stock, and is just the way the team left it when the car finished, complete with the masking tape switch explanations that correspond to Jesse’s hand-drawn starting and operation instructions that come in the folder along with a DVD Manual, and car recap and info sheets from the TV production crew.

Stock radio is included, but is not installed. I don’t have a clue if it works.

One door handle is missing, but the other one and window rollers look great.

Rear aluminum fuel cell sits on a hinged panel that lifts up and exposes the spare tire well which now houses the battery, air tank, and compressor.

The car was built on a TV show over the course of a few days. If you are looking for perfection, move on. It has pretty spectacular paint, as you would expect from a Gene Winfield spray, but over the last 10 years has picked up some scuffs, scratches, and paint chips here and there.

Interior is actually really nice, save for the aforementioned tape and radio hole, but I wouldn’t do anything to change it from how it was done on the TV show.

Wheels look great, and it never got center caps during the build, so it has none now.

Tires are the same ones that were put on it in the episode. They look great, don’t go flat, and have a ton of tread, but are past the date code on them.

Engine fires up and idles clean, clutch is heavy and crisp, and the giant shifter makes finding one of the 6-speeds easy and fun.

The car drives out fine, and I have taken it about 20 miles up and down Metro without incident. Would I drive it to California? NO. Would I drive to the next town? Yeah.

It stops and turns and rolls out like it should.

Air ride stays in position when driving, and if you let it sit aired up all the way, it takes about 2 weeks for it to show any signs of sinking.

Headlights never worked when I first bought the car, and still don’t. Same with the blinkers, wipers, horn and tail lights.

Box of misc. parts like the radio and other things is included, same as it was when I got it from the show years ago.