130. The Pile Up EP18: A Loving Memory of Dark Mark
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Lucid Air
The Lucid Air is a fancy electric car that can go really far on a single charge. It's designed to be very comfortable and has lots of high-tech gadgets inside, making it a high-end choice for those looking for an electric vehicle.
Car
Jaguar Marks I
The Jaguar Mark I is an older, stylish car that was made in the 1950s. It's known for looking nice and driving well, and it helped make Jaguar a famous car brand.
Part
fog lamps
Fog lamps are lights on a car that help you see better when it's foggy. They shine low to the ground to cut through the fog and make the road clearer.
Car
Chevrolet Astro
The Chevrolet Astro is a type of van that was made by Chevrolet. It was popular for carrying families and cargo because it has a lot of space inside.
Part
transmission
The transmission is a part of the car that helps it move by sending power from the engine to the wheels. It helps the car change speeds smoothly.
Car
Volkswagen Bus
The Volkswagen Bus is a classic van that people loved to use for family trips and adventures. It has a fun, boxy shape and lots of space inside, making it a favorite among those who enjoy traveling.
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MoonEye steering wheel
A MoonEye steering wheel is a type of steering wheel that car enthusiasts often use to make their cars look cooler. It's smaller than regular steering wheels, which some people like for a sportier feel, but it might not be as comfortable for everyone.
Part
Borgeson U-joint
A Borgeson U-joint is a part that helps connect different parts of the steering system in a car. It allows the steering to work smoothly even when the parts are at an angle to each other.
Part
gasket
A gasket is a piece that helps seal parts of the car together so that fluids don't leak out. It's important for keeping things like oil and coolant where they should be.
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alternator
The alternator is a part of the car that helps keep the battery charged and powers the electrical parts of the car while the engine is running. It's important for things like lights and the radio to work.
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serpentine belt
A serpentine belt is a long belt in the engine that helps power different parts like the alternator and air conditioning. If it gets damaged, those parts might not work properly.
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tensioner
A tensioner is a part that keeps a belt tight in an engine. It helps the belt work properly and last longer by preventing it from becoming loose or slipping.
Part
idler pulley
An idler pulley is a wheel that helps guide a belt in an engine. It keeps the belt in the right position and helps it stay tight, but it doesn't power anything itself.
Concept
BMW art cars
BMW art cars are cars that have been painted by famous artists. They are like art pieces on wheels and are shown in galleries and events.
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horsepower
Horsepower tells you how powerful an engine is. The higher the horsepower, the faster and stronger the car can be.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
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Honda Accord
The Honda Accord is a type of car that is known for being dependable and good on gas. Many people like it because it's comfortable to drive and has plenty of room inside for passengers and luggage.
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350 small block
The 350 small block is a type of engine made by Chevrolet. It's a V8 engine, meaning it has eight cylinders, and is known for being powerful and easy to work on.
Part
push rods
Push rods are metal rods in some engines that help open and close the valves. They connect the camshaft to the rocker arms, making sure the engine breathes properly.
Part
roller rockers
Roller rockers are parts of an engine that help open and close the valves. They have a small roller on the end, which makes them work more smoothly and efficiently than regular rockers.
Term
blueprint motor
A blueprint motor is an engine that has been carefully built to very specific standards to make it perform better. It's like following a detailed recipe to get the best results.
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brake calipers
Brake calipers are parts of the braking system that squeeze the brake pads against the wheels to help stop the car. They are important for making sure the car can slow down safely.
Car
383
The 383 is an engine size that refers to a 383 cubic inch V8 engine, commonly used in cars for better performance. It's known for providing a lot of power, especially in modified vehicles.
Car
Mopar 383
The Mopar 383 is a powerful engine made by Chrysler. It's famous for being used in many classic American muscle cars, providing a lot of speed and power.
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stroke
Stroke is how far the engine's piston moves up and down. It helps decide how powerful the engine can be.
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Chevy Van
The Chevy Van is a large vehicle made by Chevrolet that can be used for transporting people or cargo. The 1985 version is known for being sturdy and practical.
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Pontiac Firebird
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LIVE
Hi, happy Wednesday.
Hi, happy Wednesday.
Welcome to the pile up.
The pile up.
The pile up.
The pile up.
The pile up.
I'm M. Doc Nightmare.
Hi, I'm the Queen of the Vans.
Coming to you live from the Industrial Arts Tool Library.
Yep.
Where have you been recording?
Outputting six watts.
That's most of the shop in the yard.
Six watts?
Six watt transformer.
Broadcasting to you.
It's like radio stations talking about how much power they have.
Yeah, yeah.
We've got six watts.
We could probably make more power with a coil for an ignition system.
But we have the power of the entire World Wide Web and the platforms at our fingertips.
Yeah.
But can that be measured in watts?
Calculating infinity.
Yeah.
Yeah, you could probably get an idea, I guess.
Well, I'm not going to call an electrician right now, but.
You could like, I was thinking about all the ways you could cherry pick the information.
Is it all the wattage used by everyone to, so you multiply, it's a pretty short number.
That would be a lot of wattage.
It's not like we have a lot of listeners to calculate.
Yeah.
Speaking of listeners, we have been picking up some new listeners.
Yeah.
Hey, thank you for listening.
Yeah, shout out to our new listeners.
Welcome.
Yeah.
We hope that you stay and hang out with us.
Or their bots.
We don't know.
Yeah.
They're not generous numbers, so we assume they're probably real people.
Yeah, exactly.
I think that they're real people.
Typically, we do hear from real people.
It's a handful.
Yeah, and if you want to comment or anything, you can always at Car Crash, C-A-R-K-R-U-S-H
on Instagram and slide into the DMs.
And tell me stuff.
Yeah, we do get quite a bit of DMs.
Tell me secrets.
Like, you know, per capita in the listenership, to have such a small listenership, we
have pretty regular interactions with people.
Mm-hmm.
It's very intimate.
I had those other people hunt me down.
In person.
To talk about ships.
In person.
When the overall crowd size is so small, when just a few people come at you, the percentage
is pretty strong, you know?
It's different than, like, you know, somebody just, I don't know.
Somebody out there in the ether?
Yeah, let's say there were like a thousand listeners, then you'd be like, oh, I've
met four of them, but when there's like 55 and you've met four of them, well, that's
a much larger percentage.
Yep, that's true.
It's an intimate, small intimate community.
Mm-hmm.
What do you want to, do you want to start?
Do you want to start a song?
I kind of feel like you should.
Okay.
My vote is yes.
Okay.
Yeah, I should.
I know we have a lot of stuff to talk about today.
Yeah.
Let's see what we can do.
Okay.
Once you know, probably from the last episode, I was in Oklahoma City to celebrate the life
of Mark McBride, our vanning buddy, first buddy, friend, Mark McBride, aka Dark Mark, aka Dark
Mark.
Total sweetheart.
What did you call him?
What was the other A.K.?
Dark Mark.
Probably, we just would morph Mark's name sometimes.
Yep.
It's pretty sad.
It's pretty terrible.
And I'm in denial still.
Yeah.
You know?
I keep thinking there's some way I can appeal it.
Right, yeah.
You know, there's some way to go back.
Go to the highest court of appeals.
Yeah.
It's just one of those things where you just like, if it was just here, it didn't
have to be that way.
Like why?
You know?
Yeah.
Just that feeling of disbelief.
Yeah.
So it's hard.
It's ultimate darkness.
Yep.
Mark was a, yeah, Mark was a very, very close friend.
The family asked if Boss and I would say something if we were, if anybody wanted
to, you know, write something and speak for a few minutes and so I wrote just kind
of like some of the highlights of our time fanning because I don't think his family
like knows what we were doing like, hey, you know, we were goofing off.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know?
Which I'm sure they knew because so many of them were like, you're Rose.
And they were like, Mark talked about you so much.
So I don't know if they were just surprised that we were real.
You know?
Yeah.
Oh, you're a real person?
Yeah.
But I was telling, I told the story of when we first, like I first met Mark driving out
to California to move to Jeans and I like posted, okay, I'll be in this area if anybody
wants to hang out and get like Waffle House or something like that.
And so this guy Miles wrote me and then was like, oh, did you get a hold of Mark?
And I was like, no.
He's like, well, I got band practice, but I think we can hang out.
So I go to their house, they're having band practice.
Miles stops playing to hang out and Mark came over and I met Mark.
He was pretty quiet.
They were super nice.
I think I just gave them shirts.
They might have bought shirts.
I don't, I don't know because Miles has his shirt on in the picture.
Okay.
So yeah.
Yeah.
He instantly put it on.
Yeah.
He put it on right away.
Mark does look noticeably younger in that photo because it was a while ago.
Yeah.
It was 10 years ago.
The other photos, it's not as obvious, but in that photo, I'm like, wow, Mark didn't
look like that very long.
His hair is pretty short because it just does when, like, when we look at the photos
that go further back than meeting him, then you're like, yeah, he looks a lot younger
there.
I'm like, that's right.
The edge.
And then I don't know.
I just feel like he didn't look like that.
I have real short hair.
Right.
He had longer hair.
Yeah.
And he just looked a little bit older, but I don't know, it's just funny to remember
him that way.
But anyway, he did write me and was kind of like, should I go to this nationals?
I was like, yeah, totally.
You should definitely go with anybody that'll give you a ride or whatever.
However you get there.
Because he was worried about driving his van, I think.
So he drove up to Kansas City and rode with Clint from Vandaleros and Clint had a cool,
still has a cool red mid forward.
Really cool van.
It's been in the magazine before.
Oh, yeah.
It's Nancy.
It's an issue six or seven, maybe eight.
I don't know.
Okay.
And it rained a lot and Mark was in a tent and like, oh no.
We were with Coop and then Clint and then Mark in his tent and we're all like around this
tree because it's like high ground.
Uh-huh.
So we're all like on angles.
Mark was in his tent.
He was in the tent.
Coop had put down like straw at one point, we were just trying to dry up this pit we're
in.
It was so gross.
Oh, God.
You know, like Mark's on the ground.
Dude, was he soaked the whole time?
Eventually we were under the bleachers and eventually like he was on the concrete under the
bleachers because we were vending over there.
The floor is still wet.
The ground is still wet.
It was cold.
Yeah.
It was cold and like we had a fire going in a barrel.
Okay.
But I don't know, I was like, Mark was always there from that point on because there was
a note.
I found a picture of a note that was like, Mark, will you be our merch guy at
the nationals?
It pays like shit, but we can sweeten the deal, you know, and it says 2016.
So that must have been for 2016.
And you were going to offer him sugar, you said?
Yeah.
It was like a Mitch Hedberg joke to sweeten some of these jokes that show business term
for add sugar to.
So we're going to sweeten the deal.
Mark didn't eat sugar actually for a while.
Really?
Yeah.
For a few years.
Did not eat sugar.
Damn.
Good for him.
Yep.
I remember, I remember when the, when it finally like broke, it wasn't a big deal.
He was just like, oh, no, I've started eating sugar again and then, you know, eating out
became a big deal.
I bet it was shocking to him when he first started eating it again.
Probably.
You know what needs sugar?
Everything.
It says big sugar.
Oh, yeah.
A peanut butter.
It can't be too peanutty, but put a bunch of sugar in it.
So let's hear some more.
Let's hear some more of that.
What you were, your vanning adventures.
We went to Florida, I think, and it was horrible.
It was like 300 vans.
I mean, they barely broke even like the skin of their teeth as far as I
know.
It's one of the lowest attended nationals in a long time, 300.
Wow.
It was bad.
There was one, there was like a, there was one tied with it that I feel like was pretty
close to when I started, could be New York, but I don't know, 300 is bad.
That's really bad.
There was a notorious like a Maryland or there was some East Coast nationals that
like flopped and I had met one of the guys and he would talk to me about how
he was like in debt to this trophy shop for years.
Oh, no, that's how many trophies they buy.
Is they get in debt?
Well, when you're just doing them the old fashioned way, yeah, they would get
the big ones and yeah, yeah, but apparently they were roundly criticized
for getting too big of trophies.
Apparently is there really such a thing as too big of a trophy?
I don't know, but I say a house size trophy might be too big, but
if you got a house as a trophy, I mean, back then,
having the big trophy was a big, it was a big deal.
Yeah, I think the trophy, the big of the deal.
Anyway, Florida was pretty rough.
Kristen and I flew Judith Lownes, a van, a caravan and I think Mark flew.
Also, we were like, we'll pick you up in this van that no AC, but the
windows didn't roll down.
Oh, no, in Florida.
Oh my God.
So at one point we went, it was so hot, we went to Waffle House every day
to sit in the air conditioning.
And so it would be like me, Kristen, Mark, probably Matt Kiefer and Coop.
Like maybe Matt sometimes maybe not, but like Coop was holding the
door open with his foot just to get air in the van.
Or like he was like, if he rode the back, he was cracking the slider
open while we were driving on the highway to get air in it.
You know, and like Mark's just kind of like silent and all of this.
He's kind of like, you know, but we were silently sweating.
Well, that year, a couple of our favorite jokes were born of that
moment, which was like in Florida at the liquor store.
We're walking in and this guy is like, like pitching his landscaping to
whoever owns the parking lot.
And the guy's like, we just hear him kind of, yeah, and I make my own rocks.
And we're like, that guy just say he makes his own rocks.
And I was like, mineral deposits and all, like he does it.
And I was like, yeah, that's pretty bad ass.
So then we were in vendors row and this guy walked by us and he's like,
maybe somebody we talked to at the truck in, but I don't know who he was.
Like maybe he was a vendor.
We, we were unsure of this ourselves.
And the guy like looked right at us and was like, I got to go check on my mom.
And it's just in lieu of nothing.
And it just cracked Mark and I up.
So it's like the kind of stuff that, you know, in the future, when I'd call him,
you know, I'd try to get off the phone and I'd be like, well, I got to go check
on my mom, you know, like sneaking those kinds of things in.
I mean, how is probably with friends like where you have.
Yeah.
You have these little inside jokes that are from things that you've heard
together that are out of context and just out of silly.
Yeah.
And like we both, I got Mark.
I think I got Mark in the Longmont Potion Castle and he had bought this LP
that you, it's hard to find now because the guy got
in an argument with a label that did it.
And so they pulled it from iTunes and you can't find it.
But Mark had the LP of it and has this song or this track, Walter's Wildline
where he calls a calls like a building supply.
And he's like, I'm just a couple of joy shy.
Just need a couple of girders there, a big guy.
And so like I would call Mark, big guy all the time, you know, like just sort of
like do it the same way.
Just be like, yeah, we need to go in town and get some changes here.
A big guy, you know, just kind of, I don't know.
That was, it was just kind of always easy and funny and we giggled a lot.
I mean, yeah, making Mark laugh was like my.
I was my game.
I loved it.
I love trying to get Mark to laugh.
What was his laugh like?
It's hard to describe even though I can hear it.
It's kind of what I liked was Mark's voice was that like he was
in the mornings, he could be very quiet, but sage like, you know,
and he could deliver a few really good lines of wisdom.
And then as the, as the night wore on and we got into party
mode or whatever, then Mark would kind of just get into like
what kind of shrug like Mark did this a lot.
And he sometimes be like, you know, just like, just kind of
make noises at you, but his laugh.
I mean, he did, he did, I don't know.
There were so many different kinds because there were, there
were just different ones.
There were different ones that like we're in town at a store,
you know, and something's going awry and Mark's like laughing
as the observer versus like cracking him up at the campsite.
Kristen reminded me that he would lose it at the idea like puppy
pooped on my engine cover on the way to the nationals in
Indiana with Mark would crack up at that.
And like, I can just see his face.
It's kind of, it's not good radio, but I don't know.
Good memories.
Yeah, like when I drove that Astro through from Maryland, I
bought it in Maryland and then drove it to California, the
$600 Astro.
It was so rusty that the shock had broken off of the axle, but
was still hanging onto the frame just a little bit.
But eventually it was really close.
And when I got to Mark's, I think I broke it off and put
it in the van and then Mark just picked it up and took
the shock inside his house and put it with his pilot
parts.
Yeah, I just joined the, you know, yeah.
Otherwise pristine van parts there, his living room, I
would tell him was like a van shop lobby, like a, like a
boutique van shop.
And yeah, he took the shock inside and kept it and just
kind of, I don't know.
One time when we were working on his spoiler, he had the
spoiler didn't fit right.
Somebody sold him the wrong thing.
And so I cut the corners off so it would fit up under
the front of his van and I got up and he handed me like
a penny and a quarter.
And I was like, what's this?
And he's like, it's yours.
And I was like, is this my pay?
And he just like, just bust in the laughter and was like, I
don't know, it just was funny to us.
And so I would glue pennies to quarters and leave them
around his apartment whenever I'd come through town.
Cause we just, I would just hit him up all the time, try
to get 26 cents off of him.
Kristen also told me the origin of Mark's arm, which
is, okay, let's hear it.
It was a photo of, well, first of all, tell our
listeners what Mark's arm is.
Mark's arm was just a thing we would hashtag photos
because we started to get all these photos of Mark's arm
in him, but I forgot that there was a reason why.
And it was because Tommy had got a photo with this guy
that we like, and he's a designer in Florida.
And that's named horsebites or Richard Menino.
But he did the first custom banner shirt and his amazing
shirt, the Econoline that says if you know
a banner, you ain't shit.
It says what?
It says, if you ain't a banner, you ain't shit.
Oh, right.
Okay.
Yes.
And he designed that for me.
I had, like he had a cool van and we'd talked a little
bit and I was like, Hey, I used to print your stuff
at Shirt Killer because he's in the band, New
Mexican Disaster Squad, played drums.
And he thought that was cool and was just kind of like,
you know, if you ever need anything, hit me up or
whatever.
And so one time I asked him about designing that shirt
and he did it and he did another shirt for us.
And Richard was pretty rad.
I don't know if Tommy ever got anything designed by him or not.
I feel like he did for a fantastic limo, but I could
be wrong about that.
Tommy might have done all that stuff.
I don't know.
But anyway, Tom really thought Richard was cool.
And so he got this photo with him, but like Mark is
in the photo and Tommy brought Mark out of the photo.
But his arm is still in it.
So we were like, who's arm is this?
And then we were like, that's Mark's arm.
And so then we started making sure we got Mark's arm
in photos of going forward.
And some of them were like, apparently immediate
because there's other ones where like Tommy is pouring
Chris in this wine and Mark's holding a course can
getting like the wine poured in it, box wine.
And so we must have started right away.
But then there's one, there's a photo I really liked
from Ohio in the rabbit barn.
And it's like, you can tell I'm like, I've grabbed Mark's arm
and I've got a marker his caption from his Instagram
because like Mark, Mark was a big documentary.
Posted a lot of our escapades.
There's tons of photos like we posted photos for a week
and we're not even not even close to done.
There's so many pictures. Oh, OK.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, no, it's a subjective statement.
Right. Like I've seen a lot of good photos.
But yeah, it was been fun going through a lot of good times.
But it marks caption says.
Like he must have been posting a bunch of stuff from
that nationals and he was like, it says, OK, one more.
I don't even know what's going on, you know, like.
And, you know, it says like he loves me and whatever.
My next comment below that is like,
I think I'm tracing your arm on the cabinet.
It was like a glass display case.
And then Matt Kiefer commented hashtag Mark's arm.
So it's like collectively it's that's what I'm getting
as it's been fun reading through the comments
because it has some of the history.
So it kind of tells a little more of the story,
but it's also like it's all just all those little jokes for us
that are in there. So, I mean, I don't mean to.
It's not a great story to hear about somebody else's inside jokes, but.
It's not sweet.
That's it. We were just goofing off and getting Waffle House.
I mean.
And he's somebody that you meant through banning.
Yeah. So that's something he came out to my place
for his birthday in twenty nineteen.
And we went to the Museum of Death.
I remember that mark like that quite a bit.
We I think we did that before we even like went up the hill.
We like went to the airport and went to the Museum of Death, I think.
And then we had lunch with Huggie at some point.
And we did go to like there's photos of him at Jean's.
But I think Jean was out on the road,
but we like took pictures in the Museum and the Star Trek room and stuff.
Yeah, it was good.
I mean, there was like there was stuff that I found posted on Mark's page
that I was like, forgot we did.
I was just like, wow, there was.
It was a lot of time like we for being a thousand miles
apart marks the halfway point between like Kentucky and California.
Or like, you know, when we're going to Ohio or Indiana, you know,
it's always so close. Right.
He was the middle point.
Yeah, it's a thousand miles from California.
So, you know, of course, Mark always wanted us to stay.
So anytime that I was driving either direction, then I could see Mark.
So it's like we could do nationals and then he would go right home.
And then I would maybe like go to Coops or something like that
or be doing something and then eventually roll through
and get like a double dose.
And I just love those days because like, I don't know, I think I feel like
one of the times when I was on the way back after Motor Mythbusters
and I was driving Hort's eight door back from Ohio.
He took a couple days off and we just hung out and just like we went to
Factory Obscura, which was the old flaming lips practice space at one point.
I think I think that's what he said it was.
But I might have looked it up and it was something else.
But, you know, it's like Meow Wolf.
It's cool, like interactive experience.
We went to that and we got chicken sandwiches next door at this bar
and had beer and we just went home and like watched movies.
I think we watched a documentary on the Satanic Temple.
Boyd Rice was in it, something like that.
And so Mark had sent me like a Boyd Rice book.
I loved when Mark would pull out movies and we would just watch something like.
I feel like that's a part of life that is sort of.
Come and go on like you go to somebody's house and they're like
show you a movie they like, you know, that's like a slice of who they are or something like.
I don't know.
I have people having VHS collections.
Mark had a great tape collection.
He had a great, you know, record collection and then like these knickknacks everywhere.
And Brian said that he would go in and like move the knickknacks all the time.
And it was really upset Mark and take him off.
Like, what are you doing?
He's like, what do you mean?
And just keeps grabbing them and turning them like around or a quarter of a turn and stuff.
And Mark's, you know, room was very curated.
He loved his place, you know, and so like the front room was all van parts
and like, you know, like very glass furniture.
So it was super swanky to me.
Oh, glass furniture, glass furniture.
It's very like, yeah, it was very nice furniture, like minimal, like glass top table.
And like, I think part of the armrests on the couch were glass, really.
And then like stainless.
Whoa, it was it was cool.
I've never heard of glass like a cow.
Like, wow, I mean, I've just I've never seen I don't know.
I'd have to look up pictures of it.
But some parts in there was, you know, it's, you know, swanky, well designed front room.
And then but then also like his wheels and tires, like some really nicely polished slots.
And then some cool fog lamps.
And I think I talked to the guy that sold him the fog lamps.
This guy, Bill Bulek, was like, oh, I sold Markson vintage fog lamps.
And I was like, yeah, I think they were on the mantle for years.
Yeah, what was he was it part of the like, was he using it as decor?
Was he selling? Well, it was decor, but it was also for his Dodge van.
Oh, OK, he was accumulating parts.
He'd had a, well, first of all, Mark had a few vans.
He had the white 79 that was Greg's old van.
And then he had the Astro that his dad bought for him.
Then he had he'd had a white Dodge when I met him.
And then I think he sold that.
And he also had a maroon Dodge that was better.
And he was always working on the maroon Dodge.
And Brian had been helping him with the electrical on that.
And I had blown some, he had some diamond bubbles
and I blew yellow lenses for it.
He had like two sets of the same style.
So he was just going to swap them out.
But they were usually on his mantle and his apartment.
Sounds cool. Yeah.
Sounds like a good idea for if you're accumulating parts,
if you can make them look.
He had a Schwinn, like a Schwinn Stingray or like an orange crate
in his apartment that he'd go right around his neighborhood.
And that looked cool in there.
And I think he he did have a mini bike in there, too.
Oh, he'd been building a mini bike.
Fun. Yeah.
Many bikes are real fun.
Yeah. When the rabbit barn came to be, you know,
that was like a 45th Nationals, Ohio.
And we we're going to build a living room outside.
Basically, we're going to build some kind of monstrosity to party in.
You know, just try to have whatever fun we can.
I mean, that's how Sleaze Lake came to be.
It was like it was, you know, they call it vanners with hammers.
They would show up and build stuff and then burn it down at the end.
So we were going to try to do something fun like that.
And so we got there and it rained.
Like, OK, great. We can't thank you.
We weren't going to buy very expensive wood.
Like we had to buy it.
So Koot put us in a barn and we went and bought wood.
We built a wall and then like Mark and I went to the Home Depot
and we bought this wood and then we like built this really kind of shoddy wall
inside this barn to make a small party space.
You know, because I kept harping about how like you go party in somebody's tiny kitchen
and it just seems crazy. It's full with like 10 people.
Right. You're like, oh, it was going nuts in there or whatever.
So, you know, the tighter you pack of in, the more fun it gets.
Yeah, you don't want to be like this huge building and be like, oh, there's six of us in here.
You know, yeah. So, but we'd brought posters from home.
I had screen printed posters and then we found in the inside of this barn.
We also like slid these glass display cases that were in there.
It was like a 4-H barn. Yeah.
So we slid all the display cases up, put shirts in them.
We were selling pre-regis to the 46 nationals that we were hosting.
That was the Route 66 themed one.
The mother load. We slid up the display cases so we had somewhere to do business
and people could, you know, fill out their forms and turn in their pre-regis.
And then we found an American Rabbit Breeders Association poster
and it had like one of the cheap plastic frames like on this picture.
And so we like put it back together and put that in the middle of the wall.
And the outside the barn on it, it was just labeled the rabbit barn.
And so we would be like, come party with us. We're in the rabbit barn.
And it just wound up being a good spot for the weekend because it was really wet, you know?
Yeah. And so it served its purpose.
We had this cool little party space.
But then it also kind of made a backstage area because Mark's tent was behind the wall.
And then we just got to stay dry.
And then somebody's astro was back there, maybe my astro.
Well, if I have to think about it, I guess it makes sense.
I didn't get to use my van the rest of the time.
So I guess my van was stuck back there and.
We just had the best time.
There were so many photos.
I found these photos on Mark's Instagram of him and I hugging and stuff.
They were like, you know, just getting like probably Mark,
like take a picture of us, you know, or just squish together.
I don't know. It was just fun.
The rabbit barn was great.
We just had an undeniably good time.
Like something changed there.
We all like, you know, our group kind of got a little bit tighter.
You know, all the 70s vanners had that with.
There was a snap land.
There was a Steel Valley street vans and Midwest vans did Midwest vans.
Did like this space theme truck.
And they were everybody talked about STS 20, which is space truck and station 20.
That sounds cool.
And they were just like, all they would ever say is like,
nobody talks about what happened at STS 20.
But if you were there, you'll never forget.
And so we all were always like, they had so many special cool things.
So like for us, the rabbit barn was a little tiny taste of that.
It wasn't, you know, we didn't have the, I feel like the more people
you have, the more excitement you have, you know, and they had a lot of people
in the 70s, but something changed there.
And we got a little bit tighter, you know, and everybody that was around
the rabbit barn just knew that was like, we did it.
We tried, I'll say that we tried to capture that again later.
We didn't quite make it.
We tried to have a rabbit barn at Burning Van, but Burning Van, I think, was
the, the ultimate embodiment of the rabbit barn.
Like Burning Van was rabbit barn, the, the van in, like, because I think
we were, we were trying to focus on like how to like, how to make a
good time out of what we're going to do.
Oh my God, it was such a good time.
And so, you know, like Burning Van, we were like, how do we have that
like fun of the rabbit barn that was this tiny little, again, it was
like, you know, a kitchen, basically, a small little party room
that was super fun.
How do we do that for the whole truck in?
So I feel like Burning Van was kind of like that, but maybe,
maybe I'm stretching it.
I don't know.
Because Burning Van was like one for the, I mean, I'm so happy
that I got to experience that.
Yeah, we had the stand up comedy and we had a bunch of bands,
bunch of bands, two stages.
We tried to have a rabbit barn in one of the other stages.
It just wasn't, there was a slip and slide.
Yeah.
Oh, the slip and slide was cool.
There was the Tommy put together the beach brigade.
Oh yeah.
The huge cruise, that huge cruise.
That was the big cruise.
I was like 300 vans.
Yep.
And there were 800 and something vans there.
So it was a lot.
Yeah, it was a lot.
There were the Van drags.
Oh yeah, I didn't get to see those.
There was broom ball, which was brutally short.
I was like, you guys did not play this one.
That's like something else I didn't get to see.
It just like, they just ran through it really quick.
And I was like, nah, you gotta, you're supposed to make that last longer.
People were just getting there with their coolers and it was over.
And I was like, oh, no.
Well, yeah, you know, a guy running it, I just told him after the fact
and he was like, oh, I'm sorry.
I was like, that's okay.
Like, we'll get it right in one of these days.
Yeah, make it a show next time.
I want to say next time, but like, I don't know.
And next time you do, next time he's in charge of broom ball, I guess he'll know.
Yeah, when's that going to be?
So who knows?
Anyway, um, yeah, we just had such a good time at Burning Van.
And like, that's hard because it's hard to have the same kind of fun
because we were working.
Yeah.
So we're not just hanging out.
Ohio Coupe was working.
We were hanging out and it was really fun.
But that was, you know, that's the deal.
Yeah.
Granna, those two weren't back to back 46 was right after that.
And same deal.
We were working again, but we had weed eater and, um, Zeke played.
Mark had just said all along, like, whatever you need, I'll do it.
So like Mark was working, but Mark made it really easy for me
because he could just get shit done, but didn't really bug me about it.
What do you mean?
Didn't really bug you about it.
He could just get, if I need something done, Mark could just get it done.
Oh, he wouldn't be asking you a ton of questions.
No, you just get it done.
And I wouldn't hear from him and he'd be like, no, I already did it.
I'm like, thanks.
And then that, you know, that was hard.
Yeah.
That, that one I wish I wish I could have hung out with everybody, but we, you
know, we worked it.
Right.
But yeah, Massachusetts, we had a lot of fun.
I mean, you know, it was just, we would go to these truck ends and Mark
would, you know, Mark was like my number one guy, like, okay, we're
going to go out and get stuff, you know, let's go get stuff.
Cause that was where, that was where stuff always happened.
What kind of stuff are you getting?
Well, when we were in Ohio, we were just like at the gas station getting,
you know, getting beer and ice and drinks and stuff.
And the woman at the counter was like, are you all here for ink in the
clink?
Mark and I just like, you know, looked at each other and locked
eyes like, what?
Like, I'm sure we laughed at tears when we got to the fans.
We loved, we loved to bring up ink in the clink.
Cause we went to an Arby's after that too.
And I think he must have mentioned it again or something.
And it like really got me laughing and I had like taking a big bite
of my sandwich and just chucked it all over the wall.
And it fell, you know, like it fell between the booth and the
wall, like you couldn't get the meat.
And we just would always talk about the Arby's massacre.
The ink in the clink to the Arby's.
We were on a roll.
I remember that stuff just like, you know, I can think of that.
I can think the way we drove out of the, I can remember the
standing line at the gas station to him, like turning to each
other when we heard ink in the clink, you know.
Isn't it really nice memories?
Yeah, thanks.
It's pretty hard.
You know, Miss Mark, he was, you know, best bud.
So, you know, it's hard.
Mark was somebody that would tell me, like, Hey, don't stop what
you're doing just because like two or three people are mad at
you or two or three people don't like it or whatever.
Yeah, he would dare for you always.
Yes, you always remind me of that.
He always wanted me to keep publishing the magazine.
That was the main thing that made me want to make another
magazine was that Mark really wanted to see one.
And I was like, okay, I gotta think of something to do.
You know, but like Mark wanted it and for that reason, I would
make one, you know, and that was, he always was a, you know,
big believer and like, I mean, your corner.
Yeah, I mean, he was mad when we really didn't have a booth
at Burning Van.
And I was like, I'm sorry, you know, I'm helping run the
event and he was just like, he was pretty disappointed and
wanted to redo and wanted to do it better.
And we just never really did kind of stopped going.
And Mark didn't like that.
You know, he did you see him at the fiftieth?
Yeah, but I got there at the like the last night, right?
Oh, I got there Friday night.
Oh, so then we hung out Saturday and then Sunday we
all left.
Okay, I forgot Minnesota.
I got there really late like Minnesota.
I got there late Thursday or.
Maybe early Thursday and like, I used to get there on Monday.
You know, so things were just changing and it was a bomber,
but Minnesota was really nice because Kristen had flown and
rode out with Rachel and so I drove in and I got there
really late and the Astro wasn't all fucked up.
The transmission was in the middle of exploding itself.
And so it had really bad vibrations.
And I don't know.
I remember getting there and I kind of just, we had a booth
and we were doing stuff, but it just, I don't know.
I sense things were winding down for that.
And so I just kind of was hanging out.
We were meeting a lot of new people.
A younger me would be getting drunk and trying to be a
goofy goofball in front of these people and like make them
laugh and whatever.
And then I was just quiet and was going to let these new
people like meet them.
So I just kind of trolled around with Mark and I remember
us being in Ryan Kittleson's van and he's got a cool van.
And I remember a bunch of us are piled in there.
There's a photo of me and bus and Mark and then Ryan
Kittleson and then I think Nate's maybe in there and
then maybe Justin is in there.
There's a bunch of us piled into the van.
Maybe you smiley.
I don't know.
It was just a good group.
And I was just, I was just being quiet and letting
everybody else do their thing.
And like, I don't need to be the center of attention
all the time.
And I was exercising that, you know, just hanging out,
just let everybody else do their thing.
And it was nice because I could just sit with Mark and
it was easy to be with Mark in silence.
Wasn't that big a deal?
And Mark's, you know, sometimes Mark would be sort
of faded into the background.
And so I kind of joined him and I remember we went up
into this building that was way up in the back,
but it was where the games and whatever, it was like
a bar room, party room, part of the fairgrounds.
And we were just sitting up there and kind of they had
benches, like booths, like old, like, you know,
those like hard wood booths that have a curved
butt and stuff that are in like, yeah, hot dog stands
like at pools or just super cheap, hard benches.
And we were just kind of like, I think we were like
sitting on the table, but with our feet on the bench
kind of thing, like perched up in the back of the room.
But remember, it's just sitting there holding hands
and like just kind of faded into the background
and just connected.
And it was good because I wasn't, you know,
I wasn't feeling a hundred percent then.
It was kind of sad and I don't know.
It was just nice.
We were just, we were just quieter that year.
Sometimes it's nice to be quiet.
Yeah, it was cool.
It was good.
I remember sitting on the bleachers and watching
the sun come up, but yeah, that was one, you know,
that was definitely one where it was just good
to be around Mark and have Mark there
because I didn't feel, things didn't feel
as together at that time.
So it was nice, you know, because Mark was just
always good, just good vibes and it's good
to be around him and kind of just remember hanging
around Mark and I thought trucking quite a bit.
And it was just like the quiet trucking.
I got to meet him at the 49th.
I feel lucky because he was had a really sweet kind,
just kind of like way about him, soft and like seem
generous and yeah, just all around.
Yeah, he had a very soft voice too.
And I don't know, I can't describe it very well,
but I can hear it and I think about it.
I also think about Mark really drunk at a party
kind of being a goofball and, you know,
making a lot of noise because that is a flip
sign to that of him being like, just doing something goofy
and kind of just, you know, almost falling down
in his big brimmed hat and, you know,
or just really like laughing hard at something
and pointing out something to us that's really funny,
you know, that Mark saw.
But I don't know, it's tough to, like that's it, you know?
Yeah.
Like I said, that's the denial part.
Every, we just, Bust and I just sat there
in the cemetery in disbelief.
I mean, I know that's what I've, I shared a picture
and that's what I said, every moment, disbelief.
I mean, that's where, you know,
my grandfather made burial vaults.
Like I've been to a lot of funerals.
It was hard when Grandma and Grandpa passed.
It was very hard.
Yeah.
And this is harder.
Yeah.
It's, you know, did not expect it.
No, yeah.
You know, Grandma and Grandpa were old.
Yeah, it's different.
That was, that was way different.
You know, Mark was 51.
Yeah.
So.
Yeah.
Too young.
Yeah.
It's, you know, it's tough.
Stuff, cause I wanted Mark to come out and visit.
We were, we'd been talking about that and just wasn't,
wasn't quite the time yet,
but I was really looking forward to him coming
and hanging out.
Yeah.
I mean, I was ready for him too, but he wasn't.
Had he been to Portland yet?
Nope.
Oh, I'm sure he would have loved it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Obviously.
But that's, you know, it's definitely what it feels like.
I mean, it's tough to lose such a good friend and like,
I don't know, just, we had so much fun,
banding together and that's how we met.
That's it.
That's all we did.
Mark would mail me, when he'd mail me stuff,
it was always had a van tune.
It says, it says it in the bottom.
It says like van tune 76.
And he would copy him on colored paper
and write his note on the bottom
and they would be folded in thirds
and stuffed in a regular envelope.
I have a folder at home that's just,
you know, I've got all those receipts
and then I've got a section that's like drawings
and friends letters.
And so I dug through those and,
you know, remember those?
Mark mailed me lots of glasses one time.
And, you know, he'd buy shirts and stuff
and I don't know, there's just a lot, I don't know.
It's tough.
Yeah, it's the ultimate pit in your stomach.
Yeah.
The bottomless pit is forever.
Yeah.
But life goes on and I've had to, you know,
deal with my turn signal, flasher.
Again.
Two weeks and it died.
Napa one lasted a year, a Riley one, two weeks.
So I got back and I didn't wanna stay in the house.
Before I move on, I should say thank you so much
to Buss and Kenzie for having me.
And Chuck flew in and, you know,
tons of the OKC vanners, the Tulsa guys came,
the skate guys came to Mark's memorial.
It was beautiful.
You know, Buss was one of the Paul Bearers.
Buss spoke, Buss communicated with the family
and helped a bunch and Mark's mother was super sweet.
And she was like, I'm Mark's mom.
And I was like, of course you are.
You're at the same height.
And her hair looks so much like Mark's hair.
It was just, I mean, it was just.
She sounds like she was cute.
She was so nice and his parents were very nice.
And stepfather Billy and they were, you know,
it was nice to meet them.
He was Aunt Poochie and he did love his Aunt Poochie.
And so it was cool to meet them
because they were like, oh my God, you're Rose?
Mark talked about you all the time.
So that was, it was, it was cool to meet them.
And I wanna say, like, you know,
I mean, not that I expect them to listen,
but I'm gonna say it out into the open anyway.
You know, thank you.
It was super sweet to meet them.
And of course, Brian and Karen, you know,
were, you know, very close in the,
in the end they were with Mark.
They were the only ones
that really got to visit Mark there
and told us a little bit about what it was like.
And of course, Brian was, you know,
Mark's friend in OKC and they talked late night
on the phones and, you know, of course,
Buss, Buss had known Mark for a long time.
And, you know, we saw Chris from Tulsa Time
and he knew Mark from, I think, like middle school
or high school-ish maybe, I don't know exactly, but.
It's a long time.
But yeah, a lot of that.
So anyway, but thanks to Buss and Kenzie
for having me at the house.
And then we picked up Chuck with Buss's van.
It was like a dream, you know?
So I got home and I didn't want to be alone.
And I just was like, I'm gonna go out
and I'm gonna drive the van.
I was like, gotta get this turn signal flasher.
So, you know, I ordered an AC Delco one.
I think it got here today from eBay
because you can't get anything good.
It's all junk.
Yeah, that's the word on the street anyway.
Yeah, and then I went through the gas station,
got gas and bought a bong from.
You bought a Rick and Morty bong.
You bought a Rick and Morty bong at the gas station.
Let's get some details there.
Yeah, full disclosure.
It's phenomenal.
It makes me want to smoke pot.
Yeah, I bought a bunch of gas and then came over here
and put my MoonEye steering wheel on,
which is cool.
Smaller diameter, don't love it.
Looks better, but like the feel of the bigger wheel.
Yeah, and you were saying it sort of,
now it's sort of showing, steering being a little bit.
There's some.
Like any problem with the steering,
it's sort of magnifying it.
The top U-joint is a Borguson U-joint,
which is a quality universal joint,
but it seems like it's got a little bit of a tight spot.
Like, so I'm gonna, I might replace it.
It might be worn.
It might, the angle is not extreme.
So I don't know.
It's kind of obnoxious.
Yeah, well.
But it is, it does look a lot cooler.
I'll say that.
The Grant adapter and the Grant adapters are a pain in the ass.
They're not, they're not like super complicated,
but there's just like a million pieces to stack.
They look, when you show me the diagram,
I was like, oh my Lord.
I did it, yeah, I did a few steps wrong.
Like a couple times, like, oh, this has to go on.
Now this has to go.
And it's like, kind of has to go together loose.
And it's not that big a deal,
but it didn't take me very long, but it's cool.
I like it, it's nice.
It's cool to get to look at something.
I mean, the old, it was the original steering wheel.
And it was kind of like cracked and looked pretty shitty.
Yeah.
The horn button was gone.
Pete had asked me how it comes off
and I like took it off and broke it.
And I was like, fuck.
And that's how it comes off, I guess.
Yeah, there you go.
I mean, it's, I only got to see a photo of it,
but it's a flake.
It's orange flake, right?
It's gold flake.
Yeah, but it, yeah.
I mean, it goes with the orange and the black.
Yeah.
It looks, I can't wait to say,
I'm going to look at it as soon as we're done recording.
Yeah.
Look at it in person.
Really look at it.
I'm going to really, really look at it.
Get in there.
Really get some eyes on it.
With my eyes.
They're going to be all over it.
Yes.
Like moon eyes.
Like fly on shit.
Like moon eyes.
No, not like moon eyes on shit.
Like cat on a mouse.
Oh, wow.
Really get on that thing.
Like lightning on the ground.
Um, what?
Is that?
I don't know.
It's very rarely.
Is that what you mean?
What?
Very rarely?
Is lightning only hit the ground very rarely?
Okay.
Like lightning on an airplane.
They like to compare winning the lottery
to getting struck by lightning.
No.
Lightning hitting the ground.
I get more likely to get struck by lightning.
Okay.
Lightning on the ground in a plane situation.
We were talking about.
If you live on a plane,
I bet the lightning hits the ground there all the time.
Cause there's nothing else to hit.
No.
No?
I don't know.
I've never lived on a plane before.
No.
Okay.
Well, that one wasn't a good metaphor.
It's, I'll give you that.
I'll take it back.
Okay.
Keep going.
Yeah.
Like a whale on plankton.
Wow.
Okay.
Very scientific.
Like a polar bear on ice.
Ice.
Also penguin on ice could work,
but I like a polar bear on ice.
I think that's one.
I think that's a good one.
Okay.
I think that's the winner.
Yeah.
All right.
So you're going to put paws on my steering wheel.
I'm going to put my,
yeah, I've definitely put my paws on your steering wheel.
Well, that's cool.
I mean, it's,
it is also like a couple of inches higher up.
So is it closer to you?
Which kind of helps.
Oh.
It puts you like less hunched over the wheel.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I kind of like that.
I mean, it's a little funny
because it's so far away from the column drop.
Like it's kind of like,
open space below your feet,
column drop, open space steering wheel.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
So it's a little visually,
that's kind of how I feel about it.
Like, but I think it's worth it.
Yeah.
It's a little quicker to steer.
Although,
As she rolls her eyes.
Although,
Another eye roll.
The spring loaded post that is your horn button wire,
basically that goes on the little copper gyro
on the bottom.
Uh-huh.
Squeaks.
No.
It's squeaks.
What are you going to do about that?
I should have put like dielectric on it
to see if it would.
Yeah.
You have to take the whole thing apart and start over.
It's a really hot pitch.
So annoying.
They all do it.
All the grants do it.
Oh.
So annoying.
Oh.
So you're never going to be able to,
it's never going to get fixed.
I don't know.
Huh.
Does it go away after a little bit?
I don't know.
Guess you're going to find out.
I don't know.
Maybe I can rub like,
is it some dielectric on it?
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Well, I'm excited to see it.
It looks good.
It's a good, it's a good change.
And it's one less shitty piece in the van.
So it's a step forward
into the reverse in shitification.
The van's been rough for a long time.
So it's like I'm making my way back.
And so we've got,
Okay.
She's getting fixed up.
We did a windshield, a gasket.
We painted the dashboard.
Now I got a good looking steering wheel.
Seats have been upholstered by Rizale.
Yeah, the seats are great.
He did a really nice job.
Which I like don't even get to look at them
because I've got those covers on them.
I know I was going to say,
why do you got the covers on both of them?
I'm so glad I've had the covers on them.
Oh, cause you've been getting dirty, huh?
The stuff that I've got on the covers already,
I'm like, see that would be in the seat.
Yeah.
Well, cause it'll look good when I have a show.
Yeah.
You want to show them.
Yeah.
But like on the cover,
I had blue chrome polish the other day
where I like cleaned up the chrome on the steering wheel
when I put it in.
Oh, yeah.
And I'm like, I got it on the seat cover.
And I'm like, well, I'm glad I didn't get it in the tweed.
Yeah, it's good you got it.
Cause it's not going to come out.
No, it's not.
Yeah.
Well, the colors are great.
He did an awesome job.
They look really good.
So next I have to like move the alternator over
cause it's like sticking out of the engine cover a bit.
Cause like I didn't have the engine cover built
when I placed the engine
or I would have just moved the thing over just a touch.
It wouldn't have mattered.
And so I've got this big lump next to my seat
where the alternator is.
So my seat, the door is hitting my seat
and making it hard to close my door.
Can't have that.
Yeah.
And so now I was like cut into the serpentine belt bracket
and like move the alternator over a touch
to clear the engine cover and then fix that spot
and then gain a little room for my seat.
It's going to be a project.
It is.
It is.
It's worth it.
Yeah.
I mean, it's going to gain me like an inch.
But that's all you need, right?
That's it.
Yeah.
If all you need is an inch, you get an inch
and you're fine.
Actually, there could be a benefit to that
because my belt size is obscure.
It's a six PK 2400.
And it's kind of hard to find.
And so what I'm thinking about doing
is finding a belt that's easier to get than that size
and then adding a tensioner or an idler pulley
somewhere to eat up the extra length
to get into a more common size.
Sounds.
Yeah.
Strategy.
It's like 40 chests with a serpentine belt.
But you didn't think I had notes on my serpentine system.
No, I wasn't expecting that.
I'm sort of flabbergasted by all that information
that you just dropped on me.
I was going to say surely it flattered you a little bit.
Flatter gassed it.
Which is too close to flatulence.
Oh, wow.
All that for an alternator.
Oh, boy.
Wow.
Wow.
Well, thanks for going it alone on last week's episode.
Oh, yeah.
Yep, that was me, everybody.
Hi.
We had an episode recorded.
Oh, my Lord.
I kicked the cord that powers the recorder.
And we didn't have it taped.
And it has some older rechargeable batteries.
I don't know what the.
We lost the episode.
Yeah.
And then that's when Buzz called about Mark's passing.
Yeah, so we didn't record, obviously.
So I had to stop.
And so, yeah, we lost the episode.
Yeah.
That's like three now that we've lost, so.
I know, well, now we tape the cord.
You know, every time we lose an episode,
we figure out what we did wrong.
And we immediately fix it.
Yeah, so sorry.
We had a whole, whole thing.
I had done a, I had a little piece about Andy Warhol
doing one of the BMW art cars.
Yeah, and I didn't get into that in the last episode.
I just talked about Larry Warsh.
Yeah, so we once again lost another episode
because we're silly.
Oh, well.
Yeah, but here we are.
We're back.
Coming up next week, I have the biggest car
conspiracy from the late 60s, early 70s.
The biggest.
The biggest car conspiracy?
Yep.
That's all I can say.
Bigger than Dieselgate?
Yep.
Wow.
What decade?
Late 60s, early 70s.
Yeah, so in the middle, middle decades.
Yeah, exactly.
Good stuff.
Be ready for it.
The good stuff.
Don't lose any sleep, but well,
you do lose sleep over it
because it's a big blow your socks off.
Big engines.
Let me see your big horsepower.
Can you make big horsepower?
I don't know.
Can you make big horsepower?
With your big engine?
What's your car got?
Like 160, 150 horsepower?
What? Which one?
Your Corvette, your 81.
No, it's like, I feel like it's 120 or something.
It's really low.
I'm going to check.
I'm going to look it up.
It's probably 150 or 160, I mean.
Oh, my phone's over there.
I'm not going to look it up
because my Honda Accord has much more
and it's got like 120 or something.
Sure.
Yeah.
But anyway, a little Corvette.
Slow little Corvette.
Apple's oranges there.
Yeah, no, it'd be cool to put anything in it.
I think it would just be cool to rebuild that engine
and make it what a 350 small block could be.
Yeah, sure, but it just, you know.
It's still a 350 small block.
It needs heads and a cam.
Yeah, so just rebuilding it.
Well, sure, but I don't know.
You could probably get, you spend the time doing the heads,
calculating the length of the push rods,
roller rockers, all this stuff.
Like you would be smart to probably try
to snag a good deal on a blueprint motor too.
Much like me wanting to rebuild my brake calipers.
Well, I sort of thought that if I just was able
to rebuild the engine and make it what a 350,
you know, like turn it into a like truth
or take all the smog shit away and everything
that and then build it right for the experience.
Yeah, well, you've been through that 318 with me
about five million times now.
And, you know, again, like it would be better
to try to snag it again.
Like Spence got a 383 from Blueprint Motors
and he bought it at some point
when they had a coupon or something going.
And so he got a good deal.
Like Coop and Scotty bought the Mopar 383
from the summit store
because it was like a scratch and dent model.
And they got it for like $800 off the floor.
Whoa, that's what's a scratch and dent model?
And just had been on the floor for a long time
and just was scratch it and dent it
and people, you know, fingered it.
All fingered all over the place.
Fingers in the exhaust ports.
Fingered all over the place.
You should have seen the hand motions
that Rose just did.
What?
Wow.
That is a hot dog holder.
Oh, my.
I heard that 383s were not as fun to drive as manual
as they were to drive as an automatic,
that they're more automatic friendly.
Yeah.
About how they wind up or something.
Yeah.
I've heard people talk about the stroke.
I love the way it's 383 sounds, though.
Not, I mean, like what it sounds when it's running,
but just 383 store stroke.
The name rolls out the tongue so good.
It just sounds so badass.
It does.
Yeah.
But when I heard that it's not as good to drive with a manual,
I kind of was like, oh, well, not this car.
Automatic's rule.
I do love that scene in Cheech and Chong.
Manual's drool.
I love that scene in Cheech and Chong
when like Cheech is having trouble with the Thunderbird
and he's like, Chong's like, what's going on?
And he's like, it's these automatics, man.
And he's like, they are complicated.
I do look forward to having, I
would actually, once the Honda is through with its service,
I think my daily driver, I would like to have it as an automatic.
Yeah.
Because being in traffic, I'm getting so over it.
Same.
It just sucks.
I was like, I got 20 good years with my five-speed Volvo.
Then I got an automatic Volvo.
Then I had the five-speed, I had the five-speed Astro.
I made my 85 Chevy Van into a five-speed
with a Firebird transmission.
I had the three-speed in the 67 with the giant shifter
that went to the windshield.
That was cool.
That was fun.
I mean, I hate three-speeds, but it was fun.
It was a 250 straight six and my three-speed
and I would wind it up.
I mean, that's what you do with sixes.
On the column?
Yes.
No, it was on the floor.
It was a big shifter on the floor.
Oh, you just had the shifter at the height.
It was like super tall and kinked and came back
to the engine cover.
But then when you shifted it so long,
it would go all the way to the windshield.
I had a big Z in it.
Yeah, OK.
Yeah, same.
My hips have had enough.
LA traffic?
Yeah.
No.
Yeah.
No.
I mean, the Honda is really fun to drive when I can just
drive it on not traffic.
But it's like my daily driver can be an automatic
and then I can have my fun cars.
I mean, both of my fun cars are manual.
And then both don't run right now.
The early model is just so much more
stressful with the extra clutching around and like,
oh, I roasted it in San Francisco one time and Horts fan.
I don't know, it was like a light at a hill for train tracks.
I think it just is not built for that.
The oldest manual I've driven is a 70.
I had a 79 Honda Accord five speed
when I was in high school.
Cool.
So that's the oldest manual.
So I haven't driven any old, old manuals.
So I don't really know what I'm missing there.
But I would like to.
I'd like to try.
I'd like to try a three on the tree.
I think for me, it's just like, yeah,
Horts fan was three on the tree.
He loved it.
I hated it because it hit my knee.
My thing with it is like on those, on that van,
like the early, the transmission's tiny,
the drive shaft's tiny.
And I just like imagine it all under load under there
and then like there's just the clutch cooking itself
because everything's so small.
The engine was, it was a 200 straight six,
303 top loader transmission, tiny little guy.
And then you just, you know, drive shafts
like an inch diameter, inch and a quarter or something like that.
It's so small.
You just imagine it twisting up like a paper towel roll.
Oh, that doesn't sound good.
It didn't happen, but in my mind, that's.
That's where your mind was always going.
Yeah, there's just not super beefy.
I mean, I imagine like, yeah, people drove them
in all sorts of ways back in the day.
But now everybody gets up your butt at a stop sign
and then you're like, you need to roll backwards a little bit.
Oh my God, on hills too.
Yeah, sometimes a hill, when somebody's behind you,
if you're on a really steep hill
and somebody's super close behind you,
it's just like, fuck, I got to nail this perfectly
or I feel like I'm going to roll back in a second.
This lady one time like bumped me
into McDonald's drive-through
and she was like, yelled at me or something.
I was like, excuse me, you hit me and I got out
to look and I was like, okay,
this is a manual transmission.
Please give me space.
I was like, I'm sorry if I tapped your car or whatever.
Oh, because you rolled backwards?
Yeah, she was yelling at me in a drive-through.
Nobody knows, people don't understand though,
they don't think about that a car
could be a manual transmission
because they're all automatic now.
Because they're all obsessed with themselves
and that's totally her.
Also, but it's just a good habit
to not be so close up on people.
It is.
It is a good thing to do.
It is, I agree.
Yeah.
So you don't get piled up?
You don't get piled up?
You done been piled up.
You done been piled up.
I'm gonna say whatever you say.
I'm gonna say, is there an echo in here?
Bye.
Bye.
You
About this episode
A heartfelt tribute to the late Mark McBride, affectionately known as Dark Mark, unfolds through shared memories and anecdotes from his friends. The hosts reminisce about their vanning adventures, inside jokes, and the impact Mark had on their lives. From humorous stories about their escapades to the emotional weight of loss, the episode captures the essence of friendship within the vanning community. Listeners are invited to reflect on their own connections and the bittersweet nature of remembering those who have passed.
Original notes
This week Rose shares her memories of her best friend Mark McBride.
Recorded, edited & mixed by Emdognightmare & Queen of the Vans
Production & research Queen of the Vans & Emdognightmare
Find us: Car Krush
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Hugs, thank you & high fives to Greg Meleney for the killer tunez!
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