The modern West Coast Outlaw, Jesse James, has made quite the name for himself over the past decade. He’s wowed us with his mechanical propensities and we watched, glued to the TV, as he and his team built cars unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. It gave us all a chance to be living room grease monkeys and stirred our emotions of passion for hot rodding and general rowdiness around the shop. Be it a build for West Coast Choppers, Monster Garage or someone else, we’ve seen him pump out amazing machines with a haphazard crew of degenerates over and over and with impressive results.
The man truly is a master of his craft, but then there are the less-flattering moments in his career where he’s been caught sticking his nose (among other things) into and around places it shouldn’t have been—and we all got to watch that trainwreck unfold in its overplayed entirety.
Regardless of certain personal elements of his life which he is still judged unforgivably harshly for, his uncanny eye for design and steady hand at the hammer make him one of the best in the business, and right when he stops playing around with one thing, he’s off starting up something else.
Being a man in a walk of life like Jesse, one can’t help but wonder what this dude’s automotive inventory looks like! We all know it has to be rows and rows of cars stashed away somewhere, but you’d be blown away by what he’s actually owned (and just about as casually as you own a pair of socks, too).
20 Dodge Polara
When you’ve been playing around with cars as long as Jesse has, you’ve seen more than your share of sheet metal pass through your garage. While most guys will maintain an affinity for one or two mainstream models and tend to stick to what they know, Jesse can’t just build a regular, old 1970 Chevelle anymore because you’d expect so much more from him. That’s why he’ll sometimes build obscure models up that few people have ever heard of, much like this 1964 Dodge Polara. He outfitted it with twin Garretts that pump up a 426cid Hemi to 1,500 intercooled horsepower for the Honeywell-Garrett Polara build.
19 1930 Model A Five-Window Coupe
Anybody can lay a coat of clear down halfway smooth under proper instruction, and you can have an entire car assembled using generic, standard-torques tightened by a monkey, but the devil truly is in the finer details. Few builders have the touch (or the tools) to pump out work this clean. You’d almost think this 1930 is a model or the likes of some fine photoshop work, but this immaculate build is a dream come true and just about perfect from tip to tip (no matter what tips you’re measuring between). It was built by the Austin Speed Shop for none other than Orange County Chopper’s Paul Teutul, Sr.
18 1932 Dry Lakes Roaster
Some chassis are destined for glory while others are not. This 1932 lakebed racer was already a racing car (loosely defined) before Jesse got his hands on it and turned it into a small-town TV hero. Challenging his new Austin Speed Shop crew to build the 32 in only a few weeks' time, the crew pulled together to replicate a 1940s-era hot-rod rendering of the Ford that blew audiences away. It also proved (yet again) that the motorcycle builder was just as skillful at chiseling out four-wheeled chassis as he was with his motorcycle craft. This is just one iconic example of the many meticulous cars that rolls through the Outlaw’s garage on a regular basis.
17 Bill Hines’ Custom 1954 210
Everybody has drooled over a 57 at one point in their life. We’ve all imagined what it would look like holding onto the steering wheel as we inched our foot into the gas pedal and watched the engine cowling vibrate with excitement as the big-block power roared to life. When you’re Jesse James, you’ve done all that. The overplayed models are hyped up and burnt out by over popularity. It’s no fault of the car, of course, but it makes for cool builds that are able to stray shy of the “hype model” by a year or so; this 1954 210 hardtop is just a few years off from the excessively-popular “57 Bel Air” and as a result, adds an element of freshness to the table that would otherwise not be able to exist with a commoner example.
16 1936 Five-Window
Many of us would build a car like this and cherish it for the rest of our breathing days. We’d tuck it snugly inside a cozy garage, feed it nothing but premium gasoline and fully synthetic oil, and wax it every three weeks. It would be our baby. For many people, this would realistically be a once-in-a-lifetime build but those many people couldn't even dream of building something as clean, even if they tried for their whole lifetime. Jesse pumps these out like an 11-ton press at a factory and his seal of approval (in the case of this custom, 1936 five-window) is a $165,000 winning bid at Barrett-Jackson. Say what you will about him, there’s no denying his craftsmanship.
15 1969 Road Runner Dragster
Speaking of once-in-a-lifetime cars, the extensively-popular 1969 Road Runner is a land yacht with enough room up front to put a submarine engine in and is another car populating many men’s lists of cars to get one day (but never will). This is one boat that you buy and don't know what to do with because it was an impulse decision (that you just couldn’t pass up) and then it eventually ends up sitting on the side of the house for 10 years. That’s what Jesse did with it, anyway. It was claimed to have been a 10-second car in a past life, before Jesse had acquired it.
14 F-4 Phantom Drop Tank Racer
When sheet-metal legends get hungry for projects, no panel or structure is safe from their acetylene torches. And when you’re a guy famous for a show in which the entire premise was to repurpose useless junk into interesting junk that would people to tune in just to watch the transformation, you definitely have a knack for find projects in unlikely places. The belly of a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom becomes fair-game at that point and if Bonneville has taught us anything, it's when a drop tank is no longer useful for storing aviation fuel, they make great land-sleds. After all, they were aerodynamically designed by the best brains in the business. Drop tanks of all types, shapes, and sizes have been a huge hit in lakebed-racer conversions, with great results.
13 Electric 1962 Bel Air Drag Racer
Well, drag racer in its dreams, maybe—in reality, this thing is more suited to load a tractor trailer than hit a drag strip. It was a fun build, in 2006, where the Monster Garage team had to turn this Bel Air into an electric car. It was a Milwaukee-sponsored Bel Air, and to be powered by almost 400 cordless drill batteries, all stored in the trunk. It has a driveline setup that would probably make Elon cringe: two electric forklift motors were used to motivate the Bel Air that otherwise looked like a Falcon destroyer if you happened to see the car at Irwindale on a Saturday night.
12 1964 Buick Riviera
This two-door, custom-hardtop Riviera had no problem selling in the mid-$40K range in what is one of the loudest builds you can execute without running the risk of being tacky with so much chrome. As a matter of fact, this car walks dangerously close to the line of excess as far as the shiny finish and paint job are concerned. But then again, my name isn’t Jesse James and I don’t build cars for Monster Garage and what I am building is not selling for $44,000. So who am I to grade it? Obviously, somebody thought it was worth the down payment on a home. (Still, those rims do need to tone it down a little.)
11 1969 Impala
You may be looking at the chain-link steering wheel wondering why you get the odd feeling this car looks like it just got out of jail. That’s probably because it did just get out of jail, and most of the builders are still locked up inside. This 1969 Impala was featured on Jesse’s show during a special edition that took place at Folsom Prison and was built by actual inmates. They were obviously limited by a lack of tools and a proper shop, but they pulled out dents and tossed in accessories like hydraulics and (of course) a bangin’ sound system. This $13,700 Impala will remain free as long as it stays on good behavior and reports to its P.O.
10 WCC Trophy Truck
Let’s just face it, when you’re name is Jesse James, you’re pretty much set in the car department. Your dues have been paid, at least enough for you to slide behind the seat of almost anything you want and try your hand at it. Jesse is a builder, but he’s also a racer. As far as racing goes, one event he enjoys participating in is known as some of the most extreme off-road racing in existence. And Jesse and his truck are not shy about wide-open throttle plates, either. As with all things in life, however, it must be balanced: Jesse tries to keep multiple race teams going at once and spends 24 races a year fooling around with Nitro funny cars.
9 Ford GT
Some cars he’s made famous and some cars have already been famous, but if you can’t cause a scene by putting a blown big block in it because it’s already too technologically-advanced, you can still cause a scene with it by washing out onto your neighbor’s property after you take that one corner too fast. Just leave it to J-Dog to find the precise grip limitations of the Ford GT and wreck a brand-new supercar. But at least it was all minor and nobody was hurt, so insurance can just do their coverage-replacement thingy, no harm no foul. At least he refrains from driving like a fool and wrecking in the middle of a downtown metropolis like we’ve seen all too many times before from reality TV celebs.
8 1959 Apache
We usually see him bending classic cars and bikes into customs, but how about the pickup truck love? I’m not talking about some super-crazy, pumped-up street machine that swallows Camaros up and spits them out whole, I’m talking about just a good-old truck in general. After all, every builder needs a parts truck. Turns out, as no surprise, Jesse has trucks—and not just any trucks, but ones like this 1959 Chevrolet Apache that’s nearly perfect at a slight distance. Up close she has her flaws, but she was in great condition after his 15 years of ownership and looks ready to provide another 50 to its next owner.
7 Radial Bike
When you reach a Jesse James level, you’ll know it. Sure there are many guys that run small shops out there or dream of owning one someday and maybe even being on TV. Some people may even have a small level of local prestige as the “regional builder” of a particular type of “thing,” but not many have even come close to being on Jesse’s level. All fame and publicity aside, the mechanical and fabrication work alone on this radial-powered motorcycle is a testament to his work. And that’s how you should measure yourself as a fabricator: if people are calling you asking if you can build them a radial-powered bike, you have arrived at that place called success.
6 Hydrogen Lakebed Racer
Jesse has played around with more than just gasoline-burners and when you do what he does, how could you not dabble in alternative power sources for a little extra fun. I’m sure he doesn’t own a Prius (pretty darn sure, in fact), but that doesn’t mean he’s not a fan of many things that go fast. He’s just biased towards big slugs of cast iron, punched out for a set of pistons to slide into, and why not? Alternative fuel becomes even more enticing when it offers the ability to challenge land speed records, though, and it was in this hydrogen-powered sled that Jesse has unofficially broken the hydrogen-powered land speed record.
5 Hennessey Raptor
Earlier we were wondering why Jesse hasn’t been seen in many trucks, even though he has. But you have to know what to catch him in, and you have to be quick. If it’s not his Apache, trophy truck, or Silverado, you may have to catch him in his Raptor. Which sucks for you if you’re trying to catch him because, well…we’ve all seen what Raptors can do. We also all know how Jesse drives, so rest assured you’ll only catch him if he wants you to. Maybe that’s why he stays fast in things like this 600-horsepower Raptor. The Hennessey truck claims 13.6-second quarter mile times at 103mph and a 0-60 mph sprint time of 5.2 seconds.
4 Sweet Pea
This 1929 Ford was an original-paint survivor with 75,000 original miles when Jesse and his crew got their hands on it. In typical Jesse style, no stone was left unturned and the car was folded inside out, bent over, cut apart, and welded back together. Custom touches are found sparingly and in moderate proportion. A minimum of engine covering is utilized to show off the Motown small block that’s been dressed to look vintage. Despite the litany of custom work that Sweet Pea had to undergo to get to where she is today, she still wears her original paint (what’s left of it, anyway).
3 F-16 Falcon
Here’s something not even Jesse James sees every day, and no, he doesn’t have an F-16 parked inside his garage. If you thought that for one second, I've got some oceanfront property in Arizona you might be interested in. For all of you thinkers out there who more-appropriately assumed he was taken on as a guest with the 367th Training Support Squadron stationed at Hill AFB, that would be correct. But you know he wishes he had one in his garage. The whole stunt was in preparation for an episode of Jesse James is a Dead Man and Jesse got to take a seat inside one of the fastest and most dangerous machines ever built to see just how much g-force his body could endure.
2 Formula Racer
What hasn’t Jesse done? (I’m sure you haters out there had your witty one-liners chambered and ready for me to ask that question, didn’t you?) Truth is, though, he’s done a lot. Relative to the automotive world, we’re pretty aware of what he’s been responsible for, and racing is another day at the office for him. Business management and even ventures into the firearms industry are among his dabbling activities now, as well. So it’s probably not even worth batting an eyelash at when he climbs into a little, open-wheel composite chassis with nothing but a roll bar behind his head and a big, fat motor underneath his feet.
1 Volkswagen 82e
Having a hand in almost all aspects of motor-driven contraptions has become a keystone of his existence, but it’s still pushing the boundaries for even a guy like Jesse to own a piece of priceless history. In this case, a Volkswagen so rare, it commands a half-million dollar price tag. It looks like a Beetle, but it’s actually a KFD Type 82e. The significance of this particular unit lies in its nefarious preparation for delivery to Nazi leader Hermann Göring during WWII. Not that that fact necessarily earns it brownie points in the eyes of the freedom-loving world but the historical significance of one of these things to even have survived the many bombings it endured is nothing short of a miracle. This is a unicorn Volkswagen, essentially.
Sources: hotrod.com, rods-classics.com, classicvehicleslist.com, and americancarcollector.com.