Put four invention-oriented individuals (almost all guys, it seems) in a junkyard with a problem to solve, 10 hours to do it in, and another team to compete against, and you've got what the Engineering Times calls "probably the closest thing to an engineering game show."

The show was created in Britain and proved so popular in three seasons that the U.S. cable-television network The Learning Channel (TLC) broadcast their own version in May and June of this year.

As the TLC Web site bills the show, "If you locked Tim Allen, Mad Max and Monty Python in a garage, you'd end up with Junkyard Wars—the engineering contest of harebrained schemes, incredible tools, and lots and lots of duct tape. This program pits two teams of tool-toting gearheads against one another to see who can create the biggest, fastest or strongest whatever with parts they scrounge out of a junkyard."

The rest of this summer on TLC features competition from the third season of the British series, which included one American team, the New England Rubbish Deconstruction Society (NERDS). You'll have to watch to see how far the NERDS get. (On the June 25 and July 1 rebroadcastings, they built an "underwater chariot" that beat out a team of British undersea-drilling-gear designers.) Here's a little comforting preview, though: There's still reason for more jingoistic chest beating before the summer is out.

The schedule through July and August (check local listings to confirm):

July 9, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT
July 15, 7 p.m. ET/PT
Missile Launcher—Throw a rugby football as far as possible using only muscle power. Hint: Create something that can store muscle power gradually, then release it in a controlled burst.

July 16, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT
July 22, 7 p.m. ET/PT
Bridging Machine—Build a vehicle that can carry all four members across a 30-foot ravine. The vehicle must deploy a bridge and retrieve it once the team is across.

July 23, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT
July 29, 7 p.m. ET/PT
Giant Mower—There's an acre of wheat to cut and collect. (Salvaged vehicles are involved, but keeping it simple wins the day.)

July 30, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT
August 5, 7 p.m. ET/PT
Steam-Powered Car—Make a vehicle that drives on steam power.

August 6, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT
August 12, 7 p.m. ET/PT
Fire Boat—Two challenges for the season's championship match: Build a boat and a powerful pump with which to cross a lake and put out a burning building.

August 13, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT
August 19, 7 p.m. ET/PT
Dragster—The ultimate in testosterone inebriation pits the season-three champions against the champion team from the year before.

Copyright 2001 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.