IN THIS FEATURE Vot is zat? Ze Terminator car An automotive Godzilla

There's a difference between the US and the rest of the world: here, you can pretty well drive anything you want. A few weeks ago I had some Germans here from a TV station. They come in and take a look around. On one side of the workshop, they spot my fire truck.

So they say, "Is zat your fire truck?"
I said, "Oh, yeah."
"You cannot drive zat on ze public roads?"
I said, "Oh, yeah. Yeah."
"But is not possible!"
I said, 'come on, we'll go for a ride".

So I take the Germans for a ride, and they're just hysterical. I asked them if they'd like me to flick on the siren. "You cannot do the siren! Surely we'll be arrested! It is not an emergency!" So I get the siren going, and people are getting out of the way. And the Germans are frightened! They're going: "Surely we'll be arrested! Is it possible to blow the siren?" I said, "this is America. You can blow the siren all you want". They thought that was the funniest, and the strangest thing.

Jay stands proud with his unique Tank Car

Then they come back to the workshop, see my 'Vettes and all the other stuff. Then they spot my tank car. It is the same all over again. "Vot is zat?", they ask. So I said, "it's my tank car, it has got an 1800 cubic inch 900hp M47 Patton tank engine. And a 190 inch wheelbase". Again the same response: "Surely you cannot drive zat on ze public roads!" So I said "Oh yes. Come on, we'll go for a ride in the tank car." So they thought that was hilarious, because in something like that, the cops in Germany would just shoot you off the highway.