The BEST episodes of Roadkill
Every episode of Roadkill ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Roadkill!
Ride along with HOT ROD's David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan as they continue their love/hate relationship with hot rods, street machines and other highly strung performance vehicles. In Roadkill, Freiburger and Finnegan hit the road in everything from a 1968 Ford Ranchero to a 1500 horsepower Camaro called the F-Bomb. Just getting to their destination is an adventure.
#1 - Roadkill vs. Mighty Car Mods!
Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/25/2016
This is the episode fans of Roadkill and Mighty Car Mods have been demanding for two years! It’s also a bonus episode of Roadkill powered by Dodge—the 13th installment of the 2016 season! David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan finally got together with Marty and Moog of Mighty Car Mods, Australia’s most popular YouTube show for gearheads. The four guys came to an agreement: RK would build the most American car possible for the MCM blokes, and then Marty and Moog would assemble an absurd icon of Mighty Modding for the Roadkill boys. Both teams gave all: Roadkill jammed together a 1969 Chevy Impala stuffed with the supercharged, 489ci big-block Chevy that was formerly in the Crusher Camaro; and Mighty Car Mods hacked the Subarute out of a hapless turbo WRX. There’s no way to imagine the fun that explodes across the language barrier when these four get together for some killer burnouts and mad skids!
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#2 - Project-Car Showdown at DirtFish!
Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/22/2018
Surprise! Fans assumed we’d do this for the 75th episode of Roadkill powered by Dodge, but we jumped the gun and served it up here in Episode 74: yup, it’s a Roadkill project-car showdown at DirtFish Rally School. This location became famous on Episode 32 when Subaru challenged Roadkill to a showdown and we went head-to-head on the rally course with a Subie versus the General Mayhem 1968 Dodge Charger. It made for some of the best action scenes in the history of Roadkill, leaving fans demanding more. So, on this episode, the General Mayhem is back—complete with its new 707hp drivetrain from a 2015 Dodge Charger Hellcat. We also brought a number of other cars chosen loosely because they have appeared on the show since the last project-car showdown on Episode 50. You’ll see the off-road Hornet from Episode 71; the Disgustang from Episode 66; the Crusher Impala from Episodes 60 and 65; Laphonda from 59; the frame-dragging Datsun mini-truck from 58; the Mazdaratti from 45, 50, and 51; and Nascarlo from Episode 46. Time for big action on Roadkill.
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#3 - The World’s Only "C-Body" Road Runner!
Season 7 - Episode 14 - Aired 11/26/2018
The Road Runner is a highlight of Plymouth’s B-Body platform, sought after by many a hot rodder and collector alike. It’s valuable classic muscle with parts that can be worth more than the whole. Luckily, on this episode of Roadkill powered by Dodge, that’s the case as David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan have found the world’s only C-Body Road Runner, a bent-up, crescent-shaped B-Body that had an unfortunate encounter with a light pole. Most people would toss this derelict daily driver to the junkyard, but not the Roadkill guys. They take it from an undriveable scrapheap to a driveable scrapheap in a matter of days. The wounds on this car are far deeper that what’s on the surface, and Freiburger and Finnegan have to use some real Roadkill ingenuity to bring it back to life. The rear suspension and driveshaft were crumpled beyond recognition, and the engine broke free of its mounts and pushed into the radiator. Almost every panel on the car is bent, and the body makes its own right turn, leaving the wheelbase with a difference of more than seven inches side to side. After fabricating their own suspension mounts and fixing everything to the best of their ability, the guys get the car back on the road. But if just getting it rolling again isn’t enough, Freiburger and Finnegan take it to a dirt track to see if its “enhanced” stance makes for better right turns.
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#4 - Corvette Sinkhole Adventure in a 1975 Stingray!
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/18/2014
Chevy runs deep! This time Freiburger and Finnegan find out just how deep as they visit the infamous sinkhole that opened up inside the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. To do it Roadkill style, the guys find the worst Corvette they can buy, get it running after sitting for six years, break auto parts, experience gators firsthand, and visit the Corvette assembly plant. Finally, they try and convince the Corvette Museum to let them leave their '75 Stingray behind......inside the sinkhole. ep027
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#5 - Street Freak 426 Hemi Gremmie Lives!
Season 10 - Episode 8 - Aired 7/26/2021
It runs, it drives, and it does monster burnouts! Freiburger and Finnegan finish up their 1975 AMC known as The Hemi Gremmie and take it for its first road test. With the body on a new chassis and a 426ci Hemi wedged under the hood, the guys work must out some kinks before hitting the road for some tire-devouring action.
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#6 - 700 Horsepower & 2,400 Miles! Crusher Camaro Engine Swap Aftermath
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/24/2014
More than any other episode, this Roadkill reveals what it's really like to work at HOT ROD Magazine. Follow along to get the behind-the-scenes dirt on how we pulled off the Roadkill Live engine swap in the Crusher Camaro at the 2013 Performance Racing Industry trade show, then watch the 2,400-mile trip home from Indy to LA in the Crusher Camaro--including visits with Funny Car Racer Tony Pedregon, Steve Schmidt Racing Engines, and Finnegan's dad! It all ends with a session at the drag strip where the Crusher went quicker than it ever has. ep024
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#7 - Turbo 2JZ in the Death Metal Charger!
Season 10 - Episode 10 - Aired 9/20/2021
Number matching Mopar? Nope, this is the Death Metal Charger. In this episode of Roadkill, Finnegan and Tony Angelo take the world’s worst ’68 to a whole new turbo-popping, flame-spewing, tire-shrieking level! With the addition of Toyota 2JZ engine and turbo, paired with the Tremec six-speed, Willys Timken rear axle, and Ford F-250 brake drums, the only numbers that matter end with horsepower.
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#8 - Smokey and LeMullets!
Season 10 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/8/2021
Freiburger and Finnegan set new records for oil consumption in a '74 Toyota Hilux with a small-block Chevy V8. Follow along as they road trip to Cleetus McFarland's Freedom Factory to race in the action-packed 2.4 Hours of LeMullets. Is this the smokiest road trip to date?
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#9 - Barnfind Firebird vs Crusher Camaro!
Season 9 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/23/2020
From the moment the '67 Firebird was plucked from a barn next to a drag strip, you've been asking for this race. On this episode of Roadkill, Finnegan and Newbern take the bird on an 800-mile road trip to race Freiburger and Dulcich in the Crusher Camaro. The question isn't just who will win, it's will they even make it to the strip?
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#10 - Trading Cars Across Power Tour: the Ultimate Road Trip!
Season 8 - Episode 9 - Aired 8/5/2019
Ever dreamed of having a new ride every day of the week? David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan live that dream Roadkill-style, as they trade their way through the 25th HOT ROD Power Tour! Each day the guys trade away their junk for new junk and attempt to make it to the next stop on the tour. Needless to say, their trading skills don’t land many upgrades, but the big question is: Will they make it all the way or end up on the side of the road with only a single red paper clip? Watch this episode of Roadkill to find out!
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#11 - Junkyard Rescue! Saving a 1950 GMC Truck
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 8/8/2014
One of the most incredible junkyards in the history of junk is Turner's Auto Wrecking in Fresno, California—and on this episode of Roadkill, Freiburger and Finnegan hit those 100 acres of vintage sheetmetal and go spelunking for gold! After considerable debate, the guys select a 1950 GMC shortbed truck that had been off the road for 26 years and jam to get it running and driving for the trip home to Los Angeles. At least there was a 50-percent victory. Watch as the guys revamp the Jimmy inline six, panic over a wrecked master cylinder, sweat their cajones off for four days, and explore one of the greatest old-car stashes ever! ep031
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#12 - Tank Smashes Prius!
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 6/28/2013
A tank squashes a Prius to smithereens! It runs over that junk without even noticing. That's all you really need to know about this episode of Roadkill, but if you jump straight to the tank carnage you'll miss a bunch of cool stuff. Like when Freiburger and Finnegan attempt a shootout between a Toyota Prius hybrid and a '75 AMC Gremlin, trying to prove that the Gremmie is more of a greenie. It was all fun and games until the Prius engine let go on the race track in a ball of flame. Because Roadkill. After that, you've gotta see the guys once again embrace their own Kryptonite: flat-towing. Yup, as it turns out, dragging a dead Prius with a lighter, smaller Gremlin ends real badly. But in the end, the Prius is wafer thin and the Gremlin's still on the road. Still want to jump right to the tank smash? Don't be that guy. ep017
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#13 - Twice the Power, Half the Trucks, + Leah Pritchett!
Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/18/2019
What happens when you take the front half of two separate four-wheel-drive vehicles and combine them into one? David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan are back in the junkyard to answer that question and make one of Freiburger’s dream schemes come to life! With two engines, four driving wheels, and two steering wheels, is it twice the fun? One thing is for certain: no qualms over who gets to drive—that’s until the guys enlist the help of NHRA Top Fuel Driver Leah Pritchett, who shows impressive prowess with the reciprocating saw and a lack of self-preservation when she agrees to drive this carnival ride. Will it do amazing donuts, drive sideways, or just break in half? Find out as the guys have more best days at work ever on this episode of Roadkill!
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#14 - Leaf-Blower Supercharging a 1978 Chevrolet Monza Spyder!
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/31/2013
It's fun with Leaf Blowers. Experts on the Internet said it would never work. That's never stopped Freiburger and Finnegan, and this time on Roadkill the guys put the theory to the test: can hardware-store leaf blowers supercharge an engine and make power? Step one was buying a '78 Monza Spyder with a 305 V8 and a four-speed stick. Step two was to take it to the shop of HOT ROD Drag Week racer Jeff Lutz to tune it up, swap the engine to a 350, dyno test it with five leaf blowers, and do a whole bunch of needless burnouts. Step three was to drive the Monza to Willmington, Ohio, for the East Coast Timing Association's Ohio Mile event, a standing-mile race where they'd find out if leaf-blower power adds up to more speed in the real world. The outcome? Who really cares? Because on Roadkill, it's always about the adventure. And more burnouts. ep016
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#15 - Dirt Cheap Rat Rod! 1968 Charger Buildup and Thrash
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/21/2013
Freiburger and Finnegan think this is the best episode so far! It's the longest, too. This show has it all: a Mad-Max-vibe 1968 Dodge Charger built with motorhome parts, sideways Dukes-style action, lots of low-buck wrenching, hilarious snafus, and cameo appearances by the Macho Grande from episode 8, the '66 Buick Special convertible from a pre-Roadkill episode, the ramp truck from episode 20, and the Fury from episode 22. Enjoy the last Roadkill of 2013! ep023
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#16 - Muscle Truck vs. Baja Bug! 1974 Chevy C10 Battles Fred's Volkswagen Baja Bug
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/16/2014
Remember the drag racing '74 Chevy Muscle Truck from Roadkill Episode 18? It's back, but with a twist: it's gonna become a true dual-sport ride for surf and turf, shedding its drag slicks for Super Swamper Boggers and hitting the sand dunes...hard! And to prove that a lowered, two-wheel-drive pickup can dominate the dunes, Freiburger and Finnegan set up a shootout with Fred Williams from the Dirt Every Day series on the Motor Trend channel. Fred brought out his '69 VW Baja Bug from DED Episode 23 and went head to head with the Muscle Truck on the beach at Pismo, California. The Roadkill/HOT ROD Magazine Muscle Truck is a '74 Chevy C10 shortbed, stepside, with a GM LS6 crate engine (like the all-aluminum V8 found in a C6 ZO6 Corvette). It's stock other than a small crane cam, midlength headers, and a new addition for this episode: MSD's Atomic EFI (the truck used to run a carburetor). The Atomic setup is atop a BBK intake manifold, and uses a stock LS1 throttle body. That legendary exhaust sound comes from 3-inch pipe with 4-inch Dynomax Bullet race mufflers. The truck's transmission is a JW Turbo 400 backed by a Gear Vendors over/underdrive unit. And it really needs overdrive because the Ford 9-inch rear carries 5.13 gears and a spool. The suspension features dropped spindles and Ridetech Strong Arms and air bags up front. In the rear, two leaves were removed from the stock spring packs, they were flipped under the axle, and traction is delivered by Caltrac's bars. ep028
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#17 - 2015 Subaru Legacy Challenges the Roadkill Project Cars!
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 9/5/2014
In this extra special episode of Roadkill, Subaru's all-new 2015 Legacy goes head-to-head with three of Roadkill's most famous project cars in tests of agility. Can the efficiency and traction of Subaru's Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive outrun the horsepower of the 1968 Ford Ranchero, the 1968 Dodge Charger "General Mayhem," and the turbo-Chevy-powered '71 "Rotsun" 240Z? You'll find out here in Roadkill's longest and most action-packed episode to date, as the guys thrash the cars mercilessly on a figure-8 obstacle course, at the DirtFish Rally School, and in a wheel-to wheel chase through a post-apocalyptic neighborhood. Roadkill is presented by Dickies, Built to Work. ep032
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#18 - 1985 C4 Corvette-Kart vs. 2014 Lingenfelter C7!
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/28/2014
We hack the entire body off a C4 Corvette, cage it, and call it a race car! Freiburger and Finnegan fulfill a dream that began four-plus years ago when they first wrote the "Vette Hack" article for HOT ROD magazine, slicing 900 pounds of ugly fiberglass off of a 1985 Corvette to prove that it would handle better in the autocross. Less weight means more acceleration, better cornering, and better stopping. The idea is proven once again here as the guys add a 350-horsepower rat-rod engine, rebuild the trans, remove more weight, and make it rigid, safe, and stylish with a full rollcage. Next, they head into a shootout with a 2014 Corvette upgraded by Lingenfelter Performance Engineering with an Edelbrock blower, Kooks headers, and Corsa exhaust for a wicked-sounding 640 horsepower. And then, of course, there's the off-road mayhem. The Vette Kart rocks! ep035
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#19 - Nitrous Muscle Truck and Mini Bikes!
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 7/26/2013
A Vette-powered stepside truck. Nitrous oxide. Honda Trail 70s. Drag racing, and lots and lots of burnouts. Those are the basic plot points on this episode of Roadkill, as Freiburger and Finnegan have big fun with retro trail motorcycles on their way to revitalizing a long-neglected HOT ROD magazine project vehicle and road-tripping it to the eighth-mile drags. The vehicle is the Muscle Truck, a '74 Chevy shortbed stepside beater powered by an all-aluminum Corvette LS6. It also has a Turbo 400 transmission, a Gear Vendors under/overdrive, a Ford 9-inch with 5.13 gears, and the most wicked sounding exhaust ever. The goal is to get thrown out of the dragstrip for going too fast without a rollbar, then race the minibikes instead. How much nitrous can the Muscle Truck take? ep018
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#20 - General Mayhem: 707HP Hellcat Engine in a 1968 Charger!
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 9/25/2015
See the very first running, driving vintage muscle car powered by a 707-horsepower, supercharged, 6.2L Hemi engine from a 2015 Dodge SRT Charger Hellcat! The car is the General Mayhem, Roadkill’s 1968 Dodge Charger. In this episode, the Hellcat-powered General Mayhem is built and drag-race tested in preparation for a cutthroat drag race with a reality TV show at the first-ever Roadkill Nights event, where a makeshift drag strip was created in the parking lot of the abandoned Silverdome football stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. More than 10,000 people showed up to watch! And there’s a surprise, as the Mayhem’s younger brother is revealed! ep048
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#21 - Hilarious Car Showdown!
Season 9 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/16/2020
What’s better than racing a cheap beater? Picking the worst possible beater and making your friend drive it. On this episode of Roadkill, Freiburger and Finnegan buy each other their worst automotive nightmares and put them to the test against Steve Dulcich in an epic showdown! Finnegan rides high, Freiburger works through some “cosmetic” damage, and Dulcich rampages through fire.
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#22 - The Hemi Gremmie Begins!
Season 10 - Episode 7 - Aired 6/28/2021
Freiburger and Finnegan are finally making dreams come true as they figure a way to stuff a 426ci Hemi down the throat of their 1975 AMC Gremlin to create the fabled street freak known as the Hemi Gremmie! The guys start building and also take the ’69 Mach 1 Disgustang to the Burnyard for some doughnut action.
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#23 - '67 Crusher Camaro vs '70 Super Bee 1,500-Mile Burnout-Fest!
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 8/23/2013
It's Freiburger in the Super Bee versus Finnegan in the '67 Camaro as the guys make the trip from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City and back to go race at the Midnight Drags at Rocky Mountain Raceways in hopes of running the Bee on nitrous for the first time since the Hemi was installed. Which car will work best over 1,500 miles of mayem in three days? ep019
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#24 - C2 Corvette Road Trip!
Season 11 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/31/2022
Finnegan and Newbern light the tires as they road test their bucket-list, LS-powered '66 C2 Corvette from Oakland to Las Vegas with the smokiest burnouts ever seen. Follow along as they blaze the coast and hit the drag strip with Dulcich before breaking down in Sin City.
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#25 - Junkyard Chevy Tri-5 Rescue!
Season 11 - Episode 8 - Aired 7/25/2022
Should some junk stay in the junkyard? Maybe, but most cars deserve a second chance. In this episode of Roadkill, Finnegan and Newbern give new life to a ’57 Chevy Bel Air that was pulled from a junkyard after more than 30 years. With the help of Flying Sparks Garage, the guys drop in a small-block V-8 and Turbo 350 to get the car back on the pavement for a bumpy road trip back to where it came from.
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