This American Pickers Rocket Car Had A Real Jet Engine

It's not uncommon to see some sort of jet engine on a car in cinema. Just about every iteration of the Batmobile has had a jet engine with an afterburner attached, giving it a boost when necessary, but you seldom see anyone in real life build a car with a rocket engine. Seldom doesn't mean never, though, and Baron Margo proved that to "American Pickers" hosts Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz. Margo is an underground artist who creates sculptures and other pieces with found objects. He was really into building models and then started incorporating that into his art pieces, making some cars based on the models he used to build. 

In the fifth episode of the show's 12th season, Frank and Mike visit Margo in his Los Angeles, California home, where they find one of the coolest vehicles ever uncovered on "American Pickers": A street-legal rocket car built around what Margo says is part of a "jet airplane." However, while the car itself is built around a jet engine, that's not the actual propulsion system that runs the car. The actual mechanical controls inside the cab are from a classic VW Beetle. The engine is a standard 1600cc dual-port from a Beetle, and even the gearbox is from a Beetle. 

Whether the car is powered by a jet engine or not, it's an impressive art piece, given Margo had to heavily modify a Beetle to build it, find all the parts, and make them work together.

The rocket car wasn't the only working vehicle Baron Margo had on his property. While he might very well have a vehicle he bought from a dealership, none are present in American Pickers, and his art pieces certainly outnumber any conventional vehicles he might own. After Mike and Frank return from testing out the rocket car in the episode, they look around at some of the other retro-futuristic vehicles Margo built. One of the vehicles under a tarp Margo dubbed "one of the rocket motorcycles." Now, the episode doesn't show what's under the hood, nor does Margo share many details about it. What he does say, however, was likely something the two television hosts would have preferred to hear before they hopped behind the wheel of the rocket car.

Margo said, "This is the one I burn up in." Again, details are scarce, but Margo shows off his arms, where he claims he needed skin grafts after telling a story about being trapped in the rocket motorcycle and his arms being burned. The cameraperson then promptly zooms in on scorch marks within in the cockpit of the motorcycle, adding credence to Margo's story.

Unfortunately for Baron Margo, the guys weren't interested in making an offer on any of the vehicles they got to look at, so they didn't leave with anything they could add to the "American Pickers" antique archaeology shop.