I would like to see the semi-finals or the final challenges really difficult or complex. How about alowing them 20-24 hours to build something like a landing craft and road vehicle where the whole team would have to traverse a small lake or wide river, land the vehicle on the beach, race to a flag, back to the landing craft, and on back to the other side? The show could still be the same length, just more editing. (Or not? Perhaps a double length season end finale?)

Or how about a mobile artillery unit? We've seen the episode where they built cannons, how about a mobile unit that fires tennis balls or something with pneumatic cannons at multiple targets on an offroad course? (I say pneumatic cannons because of the obvious safety concern with explosives).

I remember the episode where two tractors were in a tug-of-war, but I would also love to see something like our tractor pulls. You concoct a hugely overpowered tractor/truck like thing that pulls a sled with a sliding weight on it (which makes it more difficult to pull over a certain period of time). The team with the longest, straightest pull wins. More V-8 power! If you get a couple of the good old boys who actually build them for a living to be experts, we could really see some interesting machines!

-- Thomas Thatcher (tthat26413@aol.com), January 06, 2001

Answers

As I've written elsewhere, I'd rather see more simple challenges, which demand a lot of work from a team to accomplish a simple task. The wind-powered coffee grinder episode was a prime example of Rube Goldberg engineering. The results are usually hilarious. Hydraulic-powered toothbrushes would be good, I think. LOL...

But one thing I've REALLY wanted to see on Junkyard Wars is, perhaps, too elaborate. It's acknowleged that deep-sea equipment showcases the pinnacle of human technology---most deep-space equipment is not as advanced as deep-sea. Super-high-pressure environments are a BITCH for engineers. So what I'd like to see is a JYW challenge for the teams to build a deep-sea CONTAINER that will protect an ORDINARY LIGHTBULB at, say, a depth of 1000 feet. Can this even be accomplished using scrap materials? I'd love to see the attempt: Ten hours of work culminates with lowering the capsules into the Atlantic, 120 miles offshore, to a depth of 1000 feet. A simple switch inside each capsule relays the moment of its implosion. Tensions build as the capsules are raised. Just because a capsule didn't collapse doesn't mean the lightbulb survived. Oh, yeah, I'd love to see this episode.

-- Charles Austin (Veiocity@aol.com), January 06, 2001.

I think they already made episodes with amphibious cars and deep diving machines.

-- Richard Manahan (rjcyclesk8@hotmail.com), January 06, 2001.

No, not amphibs. A landing craft carrying a wheeled vehicle that is separate. The landing craft would just be a boat or barge that had to support the weight of the vehicle, and the vehicle would have to carry the team...

(...and yes, I did see the amphibious vehicle episode. I thought it was really good. Except how easily Bowser found the prop and brand new bearings for his prop shaft).

-- Thomas Thatcher (tthat26413@aol.com), January 06, 2001.

How about a man powered amphibious craft. All 4 contestants would have to row, pedal, or whatever else they can think of. Or what about a man powered mobil crane that would pick up items and put them in a dumpster. How about building kites that are capable of lifting weight. The one that lifts the most for a minimum set time wins. I am a tinkerer and love to build simple machines that do fun things. I don't think that project ideas are hard to come by. Wayne Green.

-- wayne green (wesayso@@yahoo.com), January 07, 2001.

Sorry, I mistyped my email address in the previous post.Wayne.

-- wayne green (wesayso2@yahoo.com), January 07, 2001.