Richard Rawlings is one of the most charismatic YouTubers and automotive personalities on the planet. He has hit great success thanks to first Fast ‘N Loud and then latterly of course with Gas Monkey Garage. He has recently decided to shake things up a bit, by selling off pretty much his entire collection of cars in order to make room for new ones and to create some awesome new builds too. The auction took place thanks to Bring a Trailer, and it proved to be a huge success.
Thanks to that success, Rawlings said he was able to get over $1 million in order to start buying cars, selling more cars on that he has restored and then building new cars. With all that money in mind, Rawlings has something very exciting lined up to work on. Gas Monkey Garage’s first ever build was a 1952 Fleetline, and it is soon coming up to 20 years since he started up the Garage. To celebrate that anniversary, Rawlings has decided to give that first ever build some massive upgrades, with just a week and a half to get the build finished.
A Very Cool Idea That Just Came To Him
Rawlings said it was an idea that just came to him, and that it's something that will really challenge his team. It is also some eight years since Rawlings actually last drove the car in question. It has pretty much sat in the garage since then, and Rawlings is quite tired of it becoming a piece of furniture. It's easy to see why as well as when we get to it, there is no engine under the hood, just an array of horns. So this is one hell of a project.
Rawlings tries to remember what the car had when he bought the car. It had a 572 ci engine in it and an automatic transmission, but it will be very different when the garage is finally finished with it. The car was first built by the garage in 2003, and it's an important part of the history of Gas Monkey Garage hence why Rawlings wants to bring it back to life. Rawlings is hoping to just get it on the road, make it a badass machine and make it pull sick burnouts. He does not want to go too wild and wants it to remain as close to its current state as possible.
A Big Project For The Gas Monkey Garage Team
It is a big task to get this ready for the 20th anniversary of Gas Monkey Garage, but that is exactly what the team are hoping to do. The team seem to think that a week to two weeks is actually when they can get this build done, so that is one big task. Rawlings then says they have a week and a half to get it done, so the task just got even harder!
The team take the car over to the garage to check it out in a bit more detail and see what they are working with. There are some great details on the car too, with Brian Bass doing an awesome paint job on the trunk of the car. That is something that they don’t want to lose. Inside, they want to keep the leather as it is and keep the seats too. The door panels have fur on them, so Rawlings is considering replacing the fur with some leather to make it a bit smarter.
A Very Historic Build For Gas Monkey Garage
Rawlings himself isn’t really sure exactly how to tell the team to do the build, but he does have a few ideas. Rawlings wants the seat down at the back so it will fit tight, a lot of the work though does depend on what parts they can get in for the car. A lot of work needs doing underneath the car, especially to get the transmission in the car as well. Rawlings insists he does not want the look of the car changed though, that being a major part of the build.
A Very Interesting Build To Watch
This will be one hell of an interesting build to watch unfold on the Gas Monkey Garage channel. It sounds like a manual transmission is one of the things they are putting in the car, and there is much more besides that too. So no wonder the team are looking a little bit apprehensive at the week and a half deadline that Rawlings has set for them. But the Gas Monkey Garage team certainly do know what they are doing, so there is every chance this build will be fully completed within that time frame. We can’t wait to see what this car is like when the team are all done with it.
Source: Richard Rawlings And Gas Monkey Garage YouTube Channel