Life Size

Get ready to jump to lightspeed. On this episode of Life Size, professional driver Nicole Lyons gets to drive the coolest Star Wars vehicle the world has ever seen. This is the one and only Darth Vader Car. Nicole gets an exclusive opportunity to look under the helmet of the Garage of Legends' only character car. But why do we turn characters into cars? Is the Vader Car just a looker with no substance? And with the millions of Darth Vader fans out there, can it possibly live up to the expectations? Watch now and find out.

We're returning to Hot Wheels®' roots with a car whose legacy has been part of this brand since the beginning. On this episode of Life Size, professional driver Nicole Lyons takes a look at the history of one of the strangest concept cars ever made and then hops in the driver's seat of its successor. To top that off, she's joined by Bruce Pascal, the unofficial mayor of Mattel. Where did this car come from? And what's its connection with the birth of Hot Wheels®? Tune in to find out.

Every car in LIFE SIZE was designed in 1:64th scale first and then built full scale. Brendon Vetusky, a Hot Wheels designer, did the opposite by making a full-sized 1967 Firebird first then turned it into a Hot Wheels diecast vehicle. In this episode, Lyons meets Brendon in California where he built the Firebird in his driveway. Brendan takes viewers through all the modifications he made to the Pontiac as he built it into a stripped down, racecourse ready monster. Also, he talks about how he became a designer at Hot Wheels, his history with die-cast cars, and the overlap between making full sized cars and working for Mattel. Because the car was built for the track, Lyons hops in the passenger seat as Brendon crushes a rallycross course at Famoso Raceway.

As kids, everyone loved sending Hot Wheels cars through a loop or off a jump – imagining what it would be like to do that with real cars. Hot Wheels decided to make that dream reality in 2012 when they sent two cars through a six-story loop and had another perform a record-breaking corkscrew jump. On this episode, Lyons meets with Alton Takeyasu, the man in charge of the stunt cars and Tanner Foust, one of the daring men to get behind the wheel. Lyons learns what it takes to make it through these crazy stunts and what modifications had to go into the cars. Afterwards, Lyons and Foust hop in the stunt cars – the Loop Coupe and the Corkscrew Buggy – for a drive around Willow Springs Raceway, learning that these stripped-down powerhouses were not built for comfort.