Original subtitles

Narrator: Tonight on lost car rescue...

(Engine sputtering)

Matt: What the hell was that?

(Engine sputtering) Again.

Focusing on all the old vehicles that could have been left behind

on the Alaska highway.

We're actually after a truck just like this.

Which team are you working for here?

He's actually going to hurl! (Laughing)

Matt: This is full-on macgyvering here.

I've been to thousands of car shows.

I've never seen one.

Ready? Go.

Man: Beatton river.

Jess: Beatton river? Yeah, yeah.

Dave: Who would drive a vehicle down here?

Matt: Do you steer it all or what? Whoa!

Narrator: In northern Canada,

there are thousands of valuable classic cars

abandoned in ravines, swamps, and barns...

A hidden goldmine, out of reach...

Until now.

I'm a treasure hunter. That's what I do.

I hunt classic cars that others can't get.

Yeah, go, go, go, go, go, go!

Yes! Give me a hug!

It takes a team to achieve the impossible,

and I have the best.

Pilot Jess is our eye in the sky.

My brother Steve's our wrench.

Dave is an expert body man.

And Lee sets cars free.

And me? I set the mission, and I pay the bills.

Yes! Said it couldn't be done...

They rescue cars that were lost to history...

we got 'er done.

And sell them all over the world.

Matt: People say we're crazy,

but I say, "we're just crazy enough."

Matt and the crew were on a mission

in northern British Columbia.

They've travelled more than 1300 kilometres

to the Alaska highway,

hunting for classic cars and trucks

from the time the highway was built in the 1940s and 50s.

From the air, Matt and Jess

are looking for the number one target...

A dodge power wagon just like theirs.

Matt and his brothers found it years ago,

in this very area, and now they want another one.

Everywhere they go,

the power wagon turns heads and the buyers line up.

I've had guys come up in brand new dodge trucks

and offer to trade straight across for that power wagon,

keys for keys.

Everybody wants that truck.

The power wagon was the first civilian four-by-four,

built with muscle and drive

to fuel a post-war North America.

I'm feeling good about this. I'm feeing good.

Matt: You feel good, I feel good.

I feel like the cars are calling.

You got good instincts, Jess. Thank you.

In world war ii, the Alaska highway

was built by the Americans in record time.

The highway opened up the north

for all sorts of development,

and the power wagon was the perfect tool

to travel on such a rugged road.

Hundreds of these came into the area,

and I'm guessing that they're hiding somewhere,

just waiting to be found.

(Engine sputtering)

What the hell was that?

(Engine sputtering) Again.

Look at that rpm, that's a friggin' big drop.

Their search is suddenly interrupted.

Matt: It's shaking on my side. What is that? Is that normal?

Our pressure's good. The temp's good.

I think it's a bang.

We're going have to bring it in.

Matt: We're losing altitude, it's 200 feet per minute.

Just look for a strip.

Matt: I'm gonna look up on the maps here.

Jess: Yeah, we're just losing a lot of rpm.

Matt: There's something about two miles up on the right.

Two miles? Is there anything closer?

It's either that or five miles about due south.

Yeah, we can't do five miles. We've got to do two miles.

Luckily, they spot a private airfield to land at.

(Matt sighing)

That was a pretty blustery landing, eh?

What was the problem?

So, we lost rpm when we were coming in.

Matt: Jess is a commercial pilot. I'm just a hobbyist.

What she says goes.

Hi there. Hi.

I'm Jess.

How do you do, Jess?

Matt. Howdy, Matt.

Nice to meet you.

I hope you don't mind that we landed in your field.

Not a problem at all. Lots of people land here.

Okay.

And we do custom work here for people, as well.

Jess: Oh! Yeah.

You're a mechanic, then.

Matt and Jess meet Larry moody,

a pilot and mechanic for over 50 years.

When you flew over,

the way the thing was backfiring and sputtering,

I could tell it wasn't very healthy.

I will certainly go get some tools

and pull a plug and we'll check it.

Jess: Thank you. I'll just be a few minutes.

Matt: All right. Thanks.

It's frickin' amazing

that we happened to land in the only...

Random mechanics place. Look at the stuff around here.

All sorts of stuff.

Jess: And that he's nice. He's not shooting us off his property.

Matt: No. But I mean, all plane guys are nice.

I come from a whole family of aviators.

My great uncle was a flying war ace.

My dad's a pilot. My brother is a pilot.

I'm a pilot. My uncle was a pilot.

There's a lot of pilots in our family.

There, now we can make it happen.

There you are.

Larry: What do you got? It sounds like a (unclear) Problem to me.

That's what I was thinking, too.

The plug is full of oil, and so it's not firing

on this side, at the bottom.

So, you guys are going to have to stay, that's all.

Matt and Jess are grounded until repairs can be made.

They call in the crew to meet up at the airstrip.

So, we hunt cars in the north.

We're focusing on all the things

that could have been left behind the Alaska highway.

I know there's there's old wives tales of, like,

full battalions of Alaska highway vehicles,

military and non-military,

being pushed off cliffs

and sunken in lakes. Yep.

So, that's a bit of a true story?

Oh no, there's no doubt about it.

Like there was, oh, piles of them, for sure.

As far as the Alaska highway is concerned,

most of the people in the know for Alaska highway are all dead.

But there is a fellow up in fort St. John,

Deb fleet, and really a good guy,

and he knows the history.

You should contact Deb.

Do you think you'd be up to chatting with us?

Oh, for sure, he would, yeah. Jess: Yeah? Okay.

We're going to have to make the best of it

for the next day and a half here.

For sure.

With their wings clipped,

the crew breaks up to cover more ground.

While Matt and Steve stay at the airstrip,

Jess tracks down Deb fleet,

and Lee and Dave go to talk to the locals,

looking for clues to Alaska highway treasures.

Our team goes out hunting cars,

and we do it old school,

we talk right to the locals,

we get the leads right from the people.

It's not usually me that's doing the talking,

but I'm willing to give it a try.

Hey, how's it going?

Good. And you?

Uh, pretty good. I'm Lee.

Hi. I'm shea. Shea?

Me and my team come here,

we hunt cars, old classic cars.

I mean, this is probably random

for someone to ask something like this,

but not sure, if by any chance, you have any tips.

Nope. Okay.

Hey. You got a second to chat or...

No. Okay.

All right. That one went well.

Yeah, I know of a couple of spots.

Up the old Alaska there, there's a couple.

Okay.

I don't know if you guys have any...

Ideas, a grandfather, you know, parent

that might have some old cars that they want to get rid of.

Do you know where Braden's crossing is?

Yes, I do.

Yeah, there's an old vehicle down there.

Dave's getting all these leads. I'm fighting it.

I stick with it and I meet this guy.

My dad just bought an old farm property

and it had a black Chrysler, an older one...

Okay.

With the fins on the back.

All right.

We're cleaning the property up,

so he's looking to get rid of it.

At the airfield, Matt and Steve talk to the mechanic,

while waiting for the part

that will get their plane flying again.

Thinking about buying this?

No, we're more into the old car stuff,

old cars and old trucks,

what kind of old trucks you looking for?

I got an old truck, '54 international.

That's exactly what we're looking for.

Is it still, like, in the area or is it...

Yeah, right back there.

Right here? Yeah.

Right behind the trees? Yeah.

One minute, we're grounded with the plane. The next,

it leads to a truck falling right in our lap.

I think this is a real sign.

The Alaska highway is going to deliver.

If we like it, you know, could we make a deal?

Yeah, we probably could. Okay.

I'll never probably going to do nothing with it.

So, I don't know, 500 bucks, probably.

We'll go have a look at it first.

We'll make the deal right now, if we get it running.

I got Steve with me, he pretty much gets everything running.

We'll bring all the tools in case, but...

I love those trucks. They're never...

They're never all together.

Early that afternoon,

in search of leads on abandoned power wagons,

Jess drives an hour north

to fort St. John to meet Deb fleet,

who worked on the Alaska highway as a very young man.

The only good thing about being grounded is that, with this job,

I get to talk to the locals,

which is one of my favourite things to do.

It's a real treat.

Larry moody told us to give you a call

and you're being very kind and helping us with, hopefully,

giving us some leads

on some vehicles along the Alaska highway.

Well, most of the ones on the Alaska highway, of course,

is all been picked up and everything now.

And what did you do for the army?

Well, I was just a kid here then.

I was 12 and a half years old.

I didn't actually work for the American army,

but the Canadian army took it over

and I went to work for them.

So, how long is the Alaska highway?

Deb: Sixteen hundred miles.

Jess: How long did it take?

Deb: Nine months.

Wow, that's impressive.

They used to haul dynamite by the truckload.

(Explosion booming)

When chatting with Deb, I get the impression

that there's not a million cars lying around, which makes sense.

It's been about 70 years since they've built the highway.

But he did give me one good tip.

The road was just a trail type of thing,

and we're straightening out the corners.

Wherever there was some hard soil,

that's where they went to.

If there was little slough, they went around it...

Yeah.

And that's why the highway

used to be as crooked as could be.

And that's what the Canadians done to straighten it out

and put in an all brand new road.

Wow.

Deb's job was to physically straighten me highway,

so that means there's a bunch of abandoned twists and turns

from the original highway.

So, I'm thinking that that's a good place for us to start

searching for cars from the air.

Matt and Steve find the international truck

that could be theirs for $500,

a great deal,

if they can fix it without losing precious time.

Nice colour.

Steve: Yeah, I mean, it's all there.

We can't get our machinery in here

because he's got his crop in.

He said it's going to be like a month and month and a half

till he takes it off, so it's kind of stranded.

But we can drive it out.

I mean, is it worth the trouble?

Look at it. No rust. There's a market for this.

Steve: I mean, he probably didn't drive it that much.

Taking a risk on an international,

even for 500 bucks, is a risk.

I mean, they're not that desirable.

But there's a buyer for every truck,

and no rust, rolls. If we get it running,

we'll get two, three grand for it all day.

This should come right off.

This year was fully removable.

Steve: Oh.

It looks complete, hey? Everything's there.

What do you want me to do?

Oh... You're the motor guy.

Why don't I rig up the new battery

and you try and see if there's a key.

Doesn't look like there's a key.

(Straining)

Farmers usually keep it close.

Like... Oh, yeah, in the visor.

Steve's an engine whisperer, straight up.

I mean, he's got an emotional attachment with engines.

I don't know what it is, but he just understands them.

He's worked on everything from motorcycles to race cars,

our boats, hell, even one of my planes.

There's nothing Steve can't fix.

Well, I don't want to drain the battery,

so just give it like a quick little shot,

just to see if it turns.

(Engine sputtering) Yep.

Okay. Okay, that's good.

Steve has to get this truck running,

and when he does, that's a truck on the semi,

and we're back in business.

We can't afford to lose any time.

We've got to make every minute count.

Every day we're out here costs thousands of dollars.

And if we don't have trucks on the trailer,

we're just losing money.

You're turning over,

but now it needs fuel. Yeah.

If he has any hope of getting it running,

Steve needs to bypass the old tank

and give it clean fuel,

and there are only so many attempts at it

that the battery can take.

This is full-on macgyvering here.

Just put like a shot glass in there,

that's all you're gonna need.

Yeah, it's good. It's good. It's good.

(Engine sputtering)

We got suction.

I got throttle and I got choke.

Okay. So, try it again.

(Engine sputtering)

Try again.

(Engine sputtering)

One more time.

(Engine sputtering)

(Engine sputtering)

It looked promising and like a routine job for Steve,

but Matt's new truck is dead.

Stop, stop, stop, stop. It's a piece of (bleep).

(Engine sputtering) What the hell was that?

What you got, it sounds like a (Unclear) Problem to me.

Narrator: The crew's search on the Alaska highway is grounded

while their plane is repaired.

This should come right off.

In the meantime, Matt and Steve have made a good deal

on an international truck,

but only if they can get it running.

They can't tow it out.

It looked and sounded promising,

but in Steve's opinion...

It's a piece of (bleep).

Here we go again, I got to try and get this running.

The pressure's on me to get this thing working,

so it'll have kind of value of getting it out of here.

I mean, it doesn't work, it's not worth anything.

But Steve has one more trick up his sleeve.

I don't quite understand what you're doing here, Steve.

There we go. That's what I'm looking for.

Just clearing the cylinders.

When an engine is turning over and not starting,

it's flooding, putting fuel, excess fuel into the cylinders.

So, we've got to clean this out

every once in a while to make it be able to start.

I think we're safe enough to get these back on.

This is it, we're only going to get one more try.

That battery is pretty much done.

I'm ready.

All right, here goes. Let's do it.

(Engine sputtering)

(Engine sputtering)

(Engine revving)

(Engine revving)

Yeah, we're good!

Dave and Lee are following up on the tip Lee got

at the gas station.

It's an old Chrysler owned by a man named Rick.

I bought this property in a estate

and the car was in the shed.

Okay.

Rick: There it is. It's a Chrysler.

I don't know what year it is or what model it is.

It's a '61 to be exact

I can tell that by the lights, the angle,

and it's a windsor.

So, the windsor is a lower class of car,

but it was definitely futuristic.

It had that spaceship look, it was affordable

it had the features that everybody wanted.

It was the right car for that generation. Great car.

Lee: Looks like something been living in it for a while.

Dave: Well, of course,

Lee: It smells great.

Rick: I think pretty much everything is here.

Nice.

Nice. It is complete.

So, we look at the windsor,

and then I asked Rick, you know, if we can look around

because that's what we do.

We're in the building, who knows what's there?

Rick doesn't know. So, we're going to check it out,

see what treasures there are.

Both: Whoa!

Dave: Lee... (Chuckling)

Oh, wait a minute. Rick, close your eyes.

I'm just going to run outside with this right now.

What is it?

Holy crap. Holy...

What the hell?

Talk to me. What's going on here?

No, my heart's beating hard here.

You realize I'm into '37 zephyrs, right?

That's Lincoln Zephyr.

Dave: This is a '37 Zephyr.

Holy crap.

Did you know it was here?

No, I had no idea it was here.

Oh, god. I'm working on one of these babies,

believe it or not.

It's a 1937 Zephyr grill.

I've got a Zephyr car. I need it for my restoration.

What are the odds of finding that grill?

It's like winning a lottery, for god's sakes.

Maybe we can work it in with the deal with the car.

Sure.

What do you think on the car itself?

Rick: Well, I was thinking, like, maybe $3500.

Thirty-five? Okay. What are you thinking on the grill?

Obviously, you're not sure what the grill is worth.

Larry: I have no idea what it's worth.

You seemed quite excited, so it's 500 bucks?

Actually, I was thinking more like $750.

Oh, you're generous? Dave: Yeah.

Which team are you working for?

To give a guy $250 more than he's asking?

It must have been the grill of his dreams.

The car is a little high because you can see, naturally,

there's a little bit of work on it.

So, what do you think? Three grand for the whole works?

Twenty-five for the car and five hundred bucks for the grill?

Would you consider meeting in the middle at 2750?

Sure.

Yeah? I like that.

Okay, deal, man. Yep.

It's wonderful, we get the car,

I get my grill, done deal.

♪

The Stinson is fixed, and from the air,

Matt and Jess scour the abandoned sections

of the old Alaska highway.

We're out here, hunting power wagons

and we're not finding anything.

So, we're headed back.

We've been out here for hours

and it's not doing my stomach any good.

I'm getting a little spun in the plane.

Feeling okay?

Do I look okay? You don't look really good.

Matt: Imagine trying to scan hundreds of objects

that look kind of like a car,

and the plane is just getting...

Rocked by wind

and it's just shaking the plane,

and I'm trying to look out the window,

and yeah, of course, I'm going to get a little sick.

You wanna land?

Yup.

Okay, well, you don't have to be sassy about it.

I'm trying to be a nice pilot here for you.

I just trying to hold my (bleep) Together. I know.

(Laughing)

He's actually going to hurl!

Before any hurling is done,

Jess makes a stop at the airport in spirit river.

Matt: Ugh! Get me out of this plane!

Make it stop spinning.

There is a car over there, Matt.

We were coming in final that I saw something

in that hangar over there.

Yeah, okay. Just like you saw that tractor last time.

Screw you.

You just have fun being one with the earth,

and I'm going to go check this and find a sweet car.

The first time that Matt and I

went car hunting together,

I did... find a tractor, which I thought was a car.

This time I know this is a car in a hangar.

It's not a tractor, but I'm just really hoping

that this is a good one, so I could redeem myself.

Hey, Matt, it's not a tractor!

Narrator: After landing in spirit river,

Jess has found a classic

parked in one of the airport hangars.

Hey Matt, it's not a tractor!

I hate to say I told you so.

That ain't no tractor.

Look at this.

Matt: Wow, that's a '67 dart gt.

Not too bad, Jess, not too bad.

Jess: Thank you. Thank you.

Matt: It's all there. Look at how straight that is.

You could draw a straight line down there

and it wouldn't move a quarter inch.

The gt dodge dart was amazing,

with its v8 engine, mid-size car.

It used to wail back in the day.

It's a classic muscle car and people are nuts about them.

Let's just check the vin. Bucket seats, console.

There's a garter on the rear-view mirror.

Look, this looks like there's some memories involved.

Matt: Ooh, some fun times had in here.

So, not just a lady pilot, eh? Maybe a car hunter, too.

This is the best one we've found for this trip so far!

Kills me, it pains me to admit this.

When we had started this adventure,

Matt told me it was going to be a steep learning curve

for me and the cars.

But getting this win just feels really good,

and it's just nice to take him down a notch sometimes.

Really like this car. Got to find who owns it.

Bet you I can find the owner before you can.

Bragging rights on the table here for the rest of the trip.

Bring it on.

Jess did great finding that car, but still gotta find the owner.

(Knocking)

Matt has his trusted method of finding owners.

(Phone ringing)

Jess doesn't. What she does have

is the key to an inside network of specialized informants.

Woman: Hello.

Hey, mom.

Hi, Jessica. How are you?

Good. Matt and I just actually randomly

ended up in spirit river.

I need your help.

Phyllis grew up in spirit river, right?

Yes, she did.

I have a close family friend

that actually grew up in spirit river.

I'm going to give her a call and see if she can point me

in the right direction of who to contact next.

Woman (recorded:) 8-b1.

Your call cannot be completed as dialled.

My name's Jessica and I was just wondering

if there was a Greg there by any chance.

It just took five calls later

and I was right, which feels pretty good.

Greg: A name that comes to mind is... I believe it's Mark.

It only took me 20 minutes and I had already found the guy.

What are you grinning about?

I found out who it is.

It's a gentleman named Mark, and he lives in calgary.

How did you find that out in like 15 minutes

of goofing off over there?

It's all the small town girl charm.

You can't teach that.

Being from a small town, I know how they operate.

You can always pick up the phone and call someone,

knowing that they're willing, able to help you.

Jess found the car, found the owner,

and now she's making the call to see if it's for sale.

I figure she's on a roll, so see if she can do it herself.

We're calling the owner completely out of the blue,

but Jess does have a way with people.

Can I ask what kind of condition she's in?

Mark: Well, it's been sitting for a while,

but it had a very, uh...

Thorough amateur restoration years ago.

I'm the pilot and sometimes a historian.

I'm not the gal that's making the deals,

so I was a bit nervous.

I just really didn't want him to hang up on me.

If you were willing to sell it,

is there a number that would make you feel good?

I don't know. As I said, I hadn't thought about it.

Do you have anything in mind?

As soon as he asked that, I know we have an opening.

I have no knowledge in this department,

but I have to say, Matt is a really good coach.

Um...

What about two thousand?

Oh, well...

I was hoping for a lot more than that.

Uh...

How about $3500?

For us, $3500 is just a little bit too much.

I mean, we have a two-day drive to get this thing to the market.

How about three? $3000?

Could you by any means meet in the middle at twenty five?

$2500, eh?

Yeah, I suppose, but you guys have to send me

pictures of it when it's on the road.

Me, myself, personally, will promise

that I'll send you some photos.

Narrator: It's done. Jess makes her first deal.

That was awesome!

My first sale! How exciting!

Good job! It was tense there for a bit.

You're really good. We should get you to do this more often.

So far, Matt's team as an international truck

and now a dart gt.

But they've come to this highway

chasing a heavy metal dream, to find a power wagon.

The next day, Dave and Jess head to Charlie lake

to follow up on a tip about a local man

named Gerry itachi, who knows all about the Alaska highway

and where there might even be an old power wagon.

There's no one more knowledgeable about the area.

His people have been here for thousands of years.

Welcome to (speaking indigenous language).

They call it Charlie lake, fort St. John.

Sit down. Thank you for having us.

Yeah. Sit down.

It's a privilege. Thank you.

Yeah, we're the fort St. John beaver band.

Saaghii Dane nation.

We were here before the trees.

Bisons everywhere. Wow.

So, talking to Gerry, and I think I know history.

I'm talking about the 30s, 40s, 50s.

Gerry's talking back in the thousand years ago,

about the beaver people.

It was a real humbling experience.

The Alaska highway started,

I guess, with the army trying to get through here.

And then, next thing they know,

there are people coming across the peace river,

armies on the boats.

Some of our people were guides for them,

show them the the better way.

There's a lot of muskeg and then water, hills.

The highway was built right through

traditional lands of the beaver people

with little consideration for how disruptive it would be.

It went too fast.

Originally, I was impressed

that the Alaska highway was built in nine months.

But after talking to Gerry, I realized that,

of course, it affected the people

that were already living up here, the beaver nation,

and it affected them that people had just come in

like a swarm and built it in nine months.

Yeah, we were talking with Gerry,

and he just gave us an interesting perspective,

you know, of the building of the highway.

The conversation turns a bit and he's talking about cars,

and he's into cars himself.

'69, 70...

Dave: Oh yeah.

These Plymouth,

and then the dodge challenger.

Oh, good for you.

I got a new truck I hardly drove.

I drive old car, yeah.

Growing up, I see a lot of old trucks out here.

There's one down at the beatton river.

If you follow the creek, I heard there might be a truck there.

Oh, it's a lead. We do appreciate that.

We'll give you a map.

Perfect! Hey, perfect.

Jess: That was one of the rivers.

Gerry: Beatton river. Jess: Beatton river?

Gerry: Yeah, yeah.

Dave: That is awesome.

What a wealth of information.

It was definitely a pleasure and an honour to talk to Gerry.

Steve and Lee arrive to pick up the dart...

It's a nice car.

And Lee likes what he sees.

I like it, yeah, I really like it.

I've been looking for a car to restore

with my dad and my two sons, 13 and nine,

and this car is it.

I love it. It's got great lines.

You know, everything's almost ready,

so it's not going to be too much of a challenge.

I just hope Matt will sell it to me.

Oh, you're serious.

Yeah, I'm dead serious.

I mean, depends on what he paid for it.

I mean, this is going to be good.

I know something that they both don't know about each other.

Lee's cheap and Matt's an ass,

and that's going to come out and in spades

when this deal is being made, and I'm going to love it.

I'm gonna be sitting right there,

just with the popcorn, just loving it.

He's going to like, you know...

He's going to upsell you on this. It's the big block.

I think I've done a few favours for Matt.

I'd like to think he'd let me buy it...

He knows... he knows what the dodge guys will pay for this.

You think he wants to make money off...

'cause he knows you, play up the fact that you for for him.

Yeah, absolutely.

All right. You want me to watch it while you go?

Yeah. Watch the first turn here? Okay.

Backing nice.

I've done a lot of favours for Matt,

so he better give me a good deal on the dart.

Don't screw this up, all right?

Right after their talk with Gerry,

Jess and Dave head straight for the bush

to follow up on Gerry's lead.

Jess: He said go down the river.

Dave: He did.

Did he give us anything else? No.

Dave: He said just follow the river.

I mean, who would drive a vehicle down here

in the first damn place? It's solid bush, you know?

Yeah, but at this point, I feel like I'm not surprised anymore

on all these wild goose chases. It is.

Jess: What do we think? What's calling to us?

Left or right?

Right. Right?

Dave: Oh, look.

Well, I guess, following the river, that makes sense.

Dave: Hey, wait, wait. Look there. Look.

Jess: What? Holy (bleep)!

Dave: It's a power wagon.

Narrator: Jess and Dave have spotted

a truck in the bush.

Dave: Hey, wait, wait. Look there. Look.

Jess: What? Holy (bleep)!

Dave: It's a power wagon.

Jess: We found it!

I'm going down to have a peek.

Okay. Careful. Yep.

I've honestly never seen Dave so excited,

and that says a lot

because we've seen a lot of cool vehicles

this is like Dave's personal Christmas.

Dave: This is awesome, man! Look at this thing! Whoo!

A freakin' power wagon! Jess: We found it!

Dave: In the bush here!

It's in good shape.

The truck looks fantastic.

It's a power wagon. Obviously, something broke down.

It's sitting in a crazy spot.

What a find.

Check this interior out.

Holy crap! It's all complete.

Lookit, the key's even in here.

The interior is fantastic.

Gotta check the motor in this baby.

Jess: And so, it must have just broke and then they just left.

Dave: Just must have left it.

(Chuckling)

The power wagon is an icon.

Everybody else was following because of the muscle,

because of the strength.

It's rough, it's tough. It's going to take a beating.

You can sink it in water, you can sink it in muskeg,

you can do whatever the heck you want to it,

but it's going to be reliable.

Look at even the box and stuff.

You know it's got dents and stuff, but what the hell,

it's been on the road for what? 70 years?

(Chuckling)

Give me a high five. Careful.

(Chuckling)

Yes! We found it! We found it.

We found it!

Matt's going to be wowed.

I'm going to have a stroke or something.

Okay, don't do that.

Oh, hell no!

Should we give them a call?

I got no cellphone service here at all.

You can't phone from here. We'll have to cross.

Narrator: While Jess is busy with Dave,

Matt goes to check a spot they had sighted earlier.

Matt: Gary the farmer was kind enough to let me land in his field

and check out some of his old trucks.

The one-ton Ford was in the family.

I think they bought it new in 1941 and was a farm truck.

Yeah, no, there's a fair bit of history there. I think.

Matt: Can we walk over to the '41?

You never see these with the motor that's still in it

and a grill that's not totally punched in, like destroyed.

'41 is my favourite year.

It's got everything going for it, you know? This bling?

It's epic.

I want this '41 Ford.

It's in such good shape. I love these trucks.

It's probably my favourite year.

You gotta let me save this one.

You gotta let me have it. A trade maybe.

I'd like to let it go in some ways, but, uh...

I got '69 camaros, got model-a coupes.

You name it, we can make a deal on this.

They don't have the same sentimental value as this has,

with the family and you know,

my parents bought it

and used it on the farm for all these years.

It's still here.

It's it's hard to put a value on it.

Well, I get that. I get that.

But since you like

this particular era so much, I actually have

something you might be interested in looking at.

Matt: So, Gary walks me over to this barn.

I don't have high hopes or anything.

I mean, it's probably nothing, but you've always got a look.

You never know.

A cord.

You have a cord.

Gary: Yes.

Matt: No one has a cord.

Look at it

I'm speechless. It's a cord.

This is just not what farmers would have driven

way out here on the Alaska highway.

I mean they're all glamour and style.

It's an innovation. Like how is it here?

This is like living history.

How do you have this?

Well, back in the 40s,

my dad was looking

for a motor for a welder,

and someone told him there was a car that had burnt

just down the Alaska highway.

He brought the car home, pulled the engine out of it,

made it work on the welder, and the car itself just sat,

waiting for someone to rediscover her.

Gary, this is like opening up a tomb,

like... tutankhamun,

like that kind of emotional experience.

Two years ago, I found a cord.

Really? Yeah, beverley.

I thought you might be a bit interested

in this particular vehicle.

Interested? I mean I'm in love with it.

They were completely ahead of their time.

Front-wheel-drive, independent suspension,

no running boards. And no running boards.

I mean this is the car that Amelia earhart drove

to her final take-off.

Narrator: The coffin-nosed cord was a masterpiece of innovation,

luxury and style.

Fewer than 3000 were built in the 1930s.

By the 50s, they were already in high demand as collectibles.

So, I found a cord, which is rare enough as it is,

but it's incomplete.

This cord, Gary's cord,

has all the parts I need to complete it.

His parts with my car will make one complete cord.

I hate getting too excited about these kind of things

because Gary didn't want to sell the 40s Ford trucks.

He's not going to want to sell the cord.

I mean cord owners don't sell cords.

Is there a chance in hell

that this thing comes home with me today?

I made a big pitch to Gary

and I got to convince him because the parts that I have

will complete his car

and create one beautiful cord and put it back on the road.

I have to put this car back to its glory.

Is there a chance in hell

that this thing comes home with me today?

I guess maybe under certain conditions.

I don't want to see it destroyed.

If you can mate it up with what you have,

I would be thrilled

that history could be preserved in a in a better way.

I'm thrilled.

But, on one hand, I mean, this is an ultra-rare car.

But on the other hand, it's really just parts.

But together, with my car, it's priceless.

So, what do I even offer?

And it sounds crazy because I've been drooling over it,

but at the end of the day,

I would probably put this around...

Around $3500.

Is that... is that low? Is that high?

I think I'd probably be okay with that.

Well, if you're okay, I'm not going to hesitate.

Let's make a deal. Thanks, Gary.

When this car is done and yes, you will still be living,

we will go for a drive.

Thanks a lot.

You're welcome.

'37 cord in the middle of nowhere,

I still can't believe it.

You see it yet?

No, not yet.

Narrator: Steve and Lee arrive

to rescue the abandoned power wagon

from its forest river grave.

Lee: Stop, stop, stop, stop.

(Engine rattling off)

Steve: Are they serious right now?

How'd it even get in here?

Lee: No clue, but there's a spot over here to come down.

Yeah, I mean, don't even know how we're gonna get down there.

Let's have a look.

Lee: Oh yeah, this is lovely.

This ridiculous.

Look at the size of this bank.

I mean, this is going to be tough.

I mean, there's a reason no one's tried

to get this one out of here yet and I mean, it's going to take

everything we have in our truck to get this out of there.

But, you know, being that

it's a power wagon,

this is the truck's truck, and it's worth it.

The team's prize find

is located across a river bed about 50 meters away.

They don't have a crane to lift the truck over the creek.

So, Steve and Lee will lay ramps down in the mud

and hope they have the power and traction

to tow the power wagon over the bank.

I guess the first thing winch line over there.

I wish we had bigger ramps.

We don't have bigger ramps,

so fingers crossed, it works.

We're using the little ramps.

There's no way that's going to stay.

Okay, hopping in.

You good to go. Lee: Yep.

♪

Steve thinks, if we lay the ramps down,

we're just going to roll this thing right up the ramp.

I don't think this has got a chance in hell,

but I'll give it a shot.

I don't know what your plan is here.

(Straining)

Here we go. Keep going, keep going.

I can't... (bleep)!

That worked really good.

(Chuckling) You didn't stop it.

Lee: My foot is through the floor.

Truck's been sitting there for six years;

it ain't going to have any brakes.

I mean, the power wagon is sort of where we want it,

but now comes the really insane thing.

Now, we just got a lift a truck

that weighs the same as the truck we're lifting with.

We're going to try it and hope that this wheels up the ramps

and gets us one step closer to getting it out of here.

(Whirring)

Just watch that knot on the hook there, Lee.

I see it.

Keep going.

It's looking good.

We get the power wagon up a little bit,

but the question is how do we get it up and over?

Steve's got a plan to drive forward slowly with it.

(Engine revving)

Whoa!

The short ramps have flipped up

behind the front wheels

and are now in a dangerous position.

It was in great shape, sitting in the bush,

but this dream power wagon may about to be totally wrecked.

If you continue to pull, the ramp is going to, like,

take the box right off the truck.

Narrator: Lee and Steve need to lift a power wagon

up and over a riverbank using their power wagon

and two ramps to do it.

Lee: Whoa!

But the ramps are now jammed

and threaten to damage their big prize.

Steve: Look at 'em.

Lee: What's the other side look like?

Worse. It's protruding through the box.

This truck's a big win. One way or another,

we are definitely getting this thing out tonight.

I'm going to relieve pressure from the front.

Okay. I'm going to get the front up.

(Whirring)

Pull it.

Okay, keep going. Keep going.

Go!

Almost.

There, you're free.

The truck is now off the ramps,

but Lee sees that they might be useful after all.

I think it might help

if we wedge the ramps and just a little bit on an angle.

The ramp should give the power wagon just enough to ride on,

as we winch it forward to pull it up and over.

It's moving it.

Steve: Come on.

Lee: Yeah, it's working.

Do you steer it at all or what?

Whoa!

Well, the rope on our winch broke, the nylon winch cable.

It's way more versatile and it's easier to handle,

but the fact is this job needs

a real steel cable just to give us that extra guaranteed lift.

♪

We got to get the power wagon spun around.

There's not much room,

but we have to use the front winch line;

it's our only option to get this power wagon out.

All right.

Yeah.

Keep going.

(Whirring)

Steve: Doesn't sound good.

That's all right, we're moving.

Come on.

It's looking good.

Steve: Oh, oh! Oh!

Pulls her good.

I think you're up.

We're up! Whoo! Whoo!

Tie this part right here.

Let's go have a beer or something.

Let's do it. Tug me out.

Steve: I'll race you to the top.

♪

Matt: Hey, whoa, whoa! Stop shaking it!

All that's left for the crew on their Alaska highway mission

is to load the cord.

You happy? Matt: Yep.

I know the market and I know the people I sell to,

and those people buy exactly what's on that truck,

and I hope that we'll get at least 30 grand for this load.

I think the Alaska highway, like, did us good.

Like, I feel like this is one of our best loads yet.

What's your favourite car on this load, Lee?

Ooh... The dart.

You wanted that, didn't you?

I did want the dart.

I gave you a heck of a deal on that crane

that's mounted on your trailer.

That's right. And I remember the conversation.

"I owe you one."

You know, what you're arguing with the wrong guy

'cause it's not even my car.

Who's car is it?

Well, see, i...

Jess hunted it down. Without Jess,

I wouldn't have it. So, I say Jess,

anyone who wants to buy it has to go through her,

so, hit her up.

Lee offers Jess $2,500.

Unaware that Dave also wants the dart.

I bid $3600 on this thing.

You bid $3600.

I flashed 36 brown ones.

It's evident I'm not going to be able to compete

with Dave on his price.

So, I'm going to have to explain the significance

of why I want this car and how much this car means to me.

The reason I want the dart is because...

Oh, this is ridiculous.

I can't even do it.

My dad promised me we would rebuild a car.

When we got the dart, I messaged him and I said,

"hey, would you like to build this car with me?"

And he was... he loved it.

So, I just...

I picture building a car with my dad and my two sons,

and that's honestly the truth.

So, when Lee started talking about the gt,

and he started talking about his dad and his sons

to be involved in building this car, it was a no-brainer...

It was his car at that point.

We're here, we're in the bush, get thorns in our arms,

and then we dig this damn crap out.

But at the end of the day,

through all the discussions we have,

we're family, as far as I'm concerned.

We're solid.

Lee, if you want that car, sell him the car, you know?

$2500?

Okay, it's a deal.

Okay, sounds good.

Beers on you, Lee? Beers on you.

I'll buy.