Team Hot Wheels: The Origin of Awesome!
In the animated feature Team Hot Wheels: The Origin of Awesome!, the Rev Rod was created by Larry, powered by his greatest invention; the Cloud Engine, which runs on "liquid imagination". This special motor is capable of turning ordinary roads into what Larry boasted to be "the most perfect racing surface known to man"; sleek, orange race track. However, as a side-effect of being powered by liquid imagination, the engine's exhaust fumes could mutate animals, change landscapes, and bring inanimate objects to life on contact.
Prior to the events of the movie, the vehicle was stolen by Rev, Larry's former protege, and used it to wreak havoc where ever he went by "imaginating" whatever he pleased along with leaving behind miles of orange track. It was the first vehicle to appear on screen in the cartoon, its power used to transform a gas station and causing an iguana to grow to a monstrous size.
Rev traveled to Hilly Woodlands with the vehicle, and used the Cloud Engine's power to cause chaos throughout, leaving behind orange track, transforming the environment, causing the animatronic Abe Lincoln at the Mini-Putt to come to life and make a log cabin out of old people along with starting a volcanic eruption, and created a giant mutant pigeon that attacks the school.
Late in the film, "Rev" was revealed to actually be a nickname for the car, and that it was remotely controlled by Larry, as a means to test Team Hot Wheels on their potential as Hilly Woodlands' heroes. Just as Larry was disbanding the team and was about to erase their memories for failing to work together (as well as making a mess of his lab), Jerry, a robot butler and one of Larry's older inventions, turns evil (ironically from a malfunction caused by one of the team members) and hi-jacks Rev to go on a destructive rampage.
The pursuit of Jerry takes to the desert outside of Hilly Woodlands (transformed into "Hot Wheels City" by Larry through Rev), where Team Hot Wheels was able to stop Jerry by turning Rev into a turtle-mobile. This also returned Jerry to its normal self.
Team Hot Wheels: Build the Epic Race!
Rev makes a second animated appearance, where it is stolen from Larry's test facility by the Road Pirates and re-painted in a golden color. After Team Hot Wheels managed to defeat the Road Pirates with a help of a renegade pirate monkey, by making the villains fire on each other and blasting themselves all the way to prison for good, Larry got his car back.