Carson Hocevar showed up with an $800 Chevy Cobalt. His buddy Vernon Hale brought a Cutlass Supreme for the same price, and the plan was a cheap-car challenge, the kind where two guys with $800 each see who built the better beater. Hocevar, a professional NASCAR Cup Series driver, had the more fragile ride.

That plan lasted about as long as the Cobalt's alternator belt. Between a rattle-can paint job, a dead power-steering pump, and a tow home behind the Oldsmobile, the Cobalt never made it to a real contest. The hosts found another use for it instead: a decommissioned military tank, delivered the same day.

The budget was simple: $800 cash, one car each, no other rules. Vernon picked a Cutlass Supreme he insisted needed zero work. Carson's Cobalt needed a cosmetic fix, so he grabbed several cans of spray paint and started covering the body by hand, panel by panel, with Vernon narrating every uneven line.

The paint job took most of a day. Carson sprayed in sweeping passes while Vernon held the car's windows up to avoid overspray. That detail mattered less than the finish itself, which both men agreed looked better suited to a demolition derby than a driveway.

Fuel came next, and that's where the Cobalt's day really went sideways. Carson filled the tank with Unleaded 88 instead of the gas the engine actually needed, a mix-up Vernon called out on camera before the car even left the station lot.

Pulling out of the pump, the Cobalt threw a dashboard warning for the power steering.

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