155. @retrowheelz_ (Dimitri)
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Welcome to the People's Car Podcast.
My name is Ryan Bielman, and sitting next to me is...
Dan Mercado, what's up?
All right.
And with us, we have...
Dimitri, from Out the Wheels.
What's up, man?
How are you?
I'm good.
I appreciate it.
Thanks for asking me.
We're still at the Starbucks right now.
Yeah.
We're sitting at the Starbucks in a little conference room.
They were nice enough to have us.
It's a pretty cool setup, actually.
Yeah.
They said, we were out front, and they said, if you want to do a podcast, just do it
in the room here.
Yeah.
We got kicked out of our condo at, what, 11 o'clock, 10 o'clock?
Cleaning people came.
Yeah.
Literally, the cleaning people were kicking us out.
So...
Next time.
Yeah.
I'm sure a bunch of people know who you are and maybe something about your business, but
you're not in America, so maybe a lot of people don't know.
Maybe?
Yeah.
Let's talk a little bit about...
We always start from the beginning.
What got you into cars?
What got you into Volkswagen's?
I think my dad got me into cars.
Okay.
He's been...
As long as I know my dad, he's been doing stuff with cars, not especially Volkswagen's.
And then I don't know why, but something at Volkswagen's catched me.
Yeah.
It was really affordable back in the day.
My dad had more, the older cars, the 60s, the 70s, and they're not really reachable for
someone that's 18 years old, so my first car was a Mark I diesel.
Nice.
And it brought me to school, and yeah, it took me everywhere.
Yeah.
What kind of cars did your dad have?
What were, like, when you were little, what did he have?
He had Opel Manta, which is also a 90s car, also an Austin Healy, and an Alpha
Romeo.
Gotcha.
A Giulia.
So not really my cars, but I appreciate them.
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah.
So when you were in high school, you had a Mark I.
And then, what did you know, like, that's what you wanted to get?
Were you into Volkswagen's, or did you just have it because that was a cheap option?
I don't really know what got me into it.
I just think the form and the overall, yeah, the things around it.
I was a cyclist before I got into cars, and I always, when I did many car shows with
my dad, we went to races, we went to hill climbs, we went to a bunch of different things, and
I think always the goals catch my attention, and I started liking them, and that's what
made me choose a Mark I as my first car.
Yeah.
That's cool.
Yeah.
And I feel like you guys, more so than we do, have, they're around more, right?
I mean, do you think they're harder to come by or easier to come by over there than we
have?
I think they're easier to come by, but now when I come to Roots, the show here has lots
more of pre-2k cars than we have at our shows in Europe.
I think the environment is moving a little bit.
The people that have the Mark I, the Mark IIs, Mark IIIs, they are now the old
guys.
Right.
Well, I'm turning to us, but you see, we have some smaller shows in Europe where still
the old guys come through, and then you, that are the Mark I, Mark II shows, but like the
regular shows, it's more young people don't drive old cars.
No.
They drive Mark VI, Mark VII, Mark VIII.
Right.
It's changing a little bit.
Yeah.
That's true.
So those cars might be out there, just not seen as much at the shows.
I know from some Performance VW cars are still with the same owner.
They were with 15 years ago, and they just take them out every two, three years.
Right.
That's it.
Yeah.
It's like a treat to see them come out.
Yeah.
For people that know those cars, they're like, oh, fuck, look at that.
They haven't seen that car in years, and it's gone.
What we find is, especially in the Mark I community, the early German cars, they're
just gone, and we used to see them all the time.
Now we see late Westies all the time.
So that to us is kind of just, you know, it's just whatever, it's just another late Westie.
But when you see a nice German car, I mean, they are constantly, they're just, we don't
know where they all went.
Yeah.
They're just gone.
They're just rusted away.
We have the people that say are at this show, and we all kind of know each other.
But man, there were so many good cars 10, 15 years ago that were at H2O that
no one knows where they are.
They just kind of disappear.
Maybe still with the old people.
It could be.
It's possible.
It could be.
So you had the Mark I in high school.
And then what did you move into after that?
My dad decided, my parents decided once I graduated, I need to have a reliable daily.
Because if you drive a Mark I, you'll break down E four or five times a year, smashing
old pants and whatever.
So when I graduated, my dad said, now you need to have a, you're going to work for a
boss.
So it's time to move on to a daily driver that's reliable.
And then he forced, a little bit forced me into buying a Mark 3 caddy.
You guys don't have those.
You'll probably know them.
And I drove it for a year and then it got gearbox issues.
It had a DSG automatic.
Okay.
Is that a diesel?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Two liter TDI.
Yeah.
It was a fun car.
I always missed my, my Mark I was standing at home and I always drove the caddy to work with
once it was weekend or I would go out with friends.
I would jump in my Mark I and I would drive around my Mark I.
But the caddy broke down, the gearbox failed and it was seven or eight thousand euros in
costs.
Wow.
And I was like, dad, you see now what I put all my spare, my saved money into that
car.
It breaks down.
I need to put again all my spare money into the, into fixing the car.
So I fixed it.
I sold it.
And then I bought a Passat P3 wagon.
Yes.
That's great.
I still have it today.
And I still...
Is it black?
No, gray.
Gray.
Oh, right, right, right, okay.
And I still use it as my daily.
And when my friends come over from the States, they can have the car.
It's my...
That's awesome.
Yeah.
It never breaks down.
It keeps on running.
Is that a diesel too?
Yeah.
Okay.
1.9 D without the turbo.
Right.
Oh, wow.
Very reliable, but also very slow.
Yeah.
But it's a good car.
My friends from Cali visited me and they did a Euro trip.
They went to Wurtezee.
Yeah.
They went to the Nürburgring.
They went to Rome.
They did, I think, almost 5,000 miles in two weeks.
Wow.
Wow.
And yeah.
That's great.
And they did it again this year in the car.
Yeah, because we never got any of the diesels here in the B3.
Okay.
We just had the B4 for a very short time.
Yeah.
So for us, it's like, we don't even see those cars.
Okay.
And we don't even see B3s anyway because they didn't make that many from between
1990 and 1994 for us.
They just didn't make many of those in general.
Even the late Mark IIs or Genoesee cars, anything that air carados, they just didn't
make the numbers weren't there.
The production numbers were terrible.
Yeah.
Those cars are common in Europe, but you won't see them driving a lot around because
no one has a connection with the B3.
It's just a B3.
Right.
Everyone wants a Golf or a Carado.
Right.
You don't see many B3s around.
Yeah, that's why it is kind of cool to see one around here.
It's like, oh, shit, because we never get to see him.
He's always been in the B3.
Yeah.
I have two Syncro G60s.
He's one sitting in one's wagon.
That's cool.
And it's like, there's maybe a handful wants to have any B3s.
And when you see one, it's like, oh, that's cool.
But it's like, if that was a rally, $30,000 on a car, to be three, $300,000, $300,000.
I was like, is there worth anything?
Yeah.
Everyone wants the drivetrains on them to swap.
Yeah.
They don't want the car.
That's true.
Yeah.
You were saying Werthersee.
Have you been to Werthersee many times?
Yeah.
So how far is that away from where you live?
A thousand kilometers, which is about $607,000.
Yeah.
That's a decent trip.
Yeah.
It's OK.
I would drive it every year.
That's the reason I switched out my Passat for a GTI as I was going to Werthersee and
I had the Passat the year before and I didn't want to take the same car.
So then I bought my 1984 Mark II GTI 812.
I restored it during the winter together with my dad.
And then we left for Werthersee with the car.
That was his first test drive.
Oh, nice.
And it did great.
Yeah.
I've been doing Werthersee since 2014.
OK.
And we would go every year.
Sometimes we would go two times a year because you have the main show in May, June,
and then you have Reloaded in September.
Yeah.
And we would just drive down and have, yeah, have fun like we have here.
And your dad would go with you?
No.
Oh, OK.
Is he into any of that?
Like the show stuff?
No.
He'll hate on me because I lower my cars and I make them unpractical.
Right.
He likes to have, yes, now he has a Lancia Stratos and some other cool cars.
Yeah.
And he likes to have them practical.
Yeah, right.
I finally convinced him doing a call over kit on his Honda NSX.
Did you?
Yeah.
And he, yeah, he did it.
So yeah.
Yeah.
He raised it up already because I thought I put it too low.
He said NSX?
Yeah.
He has a Q NSX.
Really?
Yeah.
Wow.
That's crazy.
Did you have them in your country?
No.
We had the Honda NSX.
Right.
But he bought an important Acura.
Gotcha.
It's, yeah, it's basically the same car.
It just has different batch.
Yeah.
Right, right.
And I gifted him last Christmas.
I gifted him the BB SLMs.
Oh, yeah.
And then I tried to convince him to put some KWs on it and he finally did it.
Wow.
That's awesome.
Have you driven that car much?
Yeah.
What do you think of that car?
I've always thought they were amazing cars.
Yeah.
It's the sad thing.
It's an automatic.
Oh, okay.
But he uses it to go on holiday.
Yeah.
He'll leave for sort of France or Italy and he'll drive it with my mom through the
Pyrenees and go on holidays.
That's sick.
That's his, yeah, daily driver.
She can go on holiday.
Right.
Daily driver.
Right.
Wow.
What happened with Worthersee when it kind of, there was those couple years that
it just kind of like dissipated into.
I think pre-COVID were for me the best courtesy days.
Right.
The Mark I's, the Mark II's and then it already started changing pre-COVID.
So 2019, you saw a big difference and we got COVID 2020.
Right.
And it didn't happen for two years.
So 2020, 2021, there was no 2022.
We went back, but I think a lot of the old guys again stayed home and the younger
people made a big mess.
A lot of BMWs came in and it burned out and they, yeah, they messed it up really
bad.
You know how that goes.
The cops got really strict on everything and they would impound your car because the
license plate was not in the right place.
Right, right.
They would, if they stopped you, you're sure you're getting impounded because they would
find a reason.
They didn't care about anything.
So I think they gave a little bit the feeling, or they wanted to give us the feeling,
guys, you're not welcome anymore.
Yeah.
Please stay at home.
You're making a big mess.
Right.
And I think it's, I understand them.
Yeah.
The city is a nice, a beautiful city, our beautiful lake.
There are a lot of beautiful little villages around it and we COVID, we just drove around.
We searched the parking spot.
We had our drinks.
We had our barbecues and everything was quiet and slow yet here and there.
You always have someone doing a pull or doing a burnout, but it was a little, it was
small.
And then after COVID, people came to party and made a mess and accidents happened.
So they shut it down and then this year there was, they asked, they didn't ask us to come
back, but there were again meetings and they were giving the word out, guys, you're welcome
again.
Please come back.
Yeah.
Please behave.
Right.
Yeah.
That's what it seemed like on, just from way over here, looking at it on social media,
you could tell that there was, you know, seemed like things were starting to roll
forward again.
So I of course booked my hotel.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because I was missing it.
Yeah.
I went the first time with my wife and my kid.
And my wife said, as soon as you drove in emergency, I can saw tears in your eyes.
Yeah.
Sure.
Because it's, for you, for European Volkswagen guys, it's the second home.
It's the best place in the world.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That makes sense.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
For all the Americans that haven't visited, fly over, do it.
Yeah.
It's, yeah.
I've always wanted to.
It's impossible to compare it with anything else.
Yeah.
It's a lake that's huge and you just drive around and chill and drive some more
and chill.
It's so beautiful.
Yeah.
It's so beautiful.
Yeah.
You can take your wife and your kids with them.
Exactly.
I do it.
Yep.
And they'll have the feeling it's a holiday.
Absolutely.
You go out, watch some cars.
As you park, they can take a walk next to the lake.
They can drink something.
Yeah.
You're with your friends.
They are having fun.
And it all works.
And that's what's nice about Wadwood here, where we're at.
Because you can bring your wife.
You can bring your kid.
Yeah.
You have the boardwalk.
You have a lot of restaurants and places to go.
Yeah.
So you want to be able to do it.
We're partying.
We're drinking.
We're doing dumb things.
But now we're older.
We want to just be able to enjoy it.
But also bring your family, too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's part of it.
Yeah.
So you, before we talk, like, get into your business, you've had a couple really
cool cars, notably the rally that you've had.
Yep.
So where did that come from?
How did you, is there a cool story about the rally here?
Yeah.
The rally was always my dream car, maybe, or my most desired Mark II.
And I think in 2014, my dad has always been into cars and he's following the market.
And he's always, he never, he has now some crazy expensive cars, but he never, they're
not from my family.
He always traded them up.
He started with the Manta and he sold it.
He bought something more expensive.
He sold it.
And that's how he got into his expensive cars right now.
And he said to me, Dimi, I think if you want to have a Mark II rally, it's going to be time
because I see the 90 era cars, the Lancia deltas, the BMW M3s, their prices are going now.
So if you really want one, I think it's time to spend your savings and to buy one.
It's smart on his part to actually be able to see that because that's the problem.
You see the trends and then you just miss the mark.
Yeah, maybe next year.
Maybe next year.
And all of a sudden now it's two, three, four years down the road and that car money jumped
$10,000.
Yeah.
You know, it's funny.
We always talk, we're bad influences on each other because you see a car and then you
go, but you have your father's going, I think you should buy a rally.
He's like, well, okay, dad.
That's a great influence.
He always showed me that it's possible to trade your way up and you don't need
to be rich or I don't know what to have.
Right.
Cool cars.
Normal dad and have cool cars.
Exactly.
Just if you invest your money smart, you'll end up having, yeah, some money over.
So that's cool.
I went checking, I think on four cars in the Netherlands and Germany, but my dad
is also, he worked as a body shop.
Okay.
So he can see when a car is wrong and I've learned a lot from him.
So we went on looking cars and the first four were bad.
They had rust or bad repairs or when we're in the crash.
So he was getting bored of driving me around with the trailer to pick up a car and
end up coming back with an empty trailer.
Yeah.
So one day a car I had in all of our neighbor countries, I had a tag on
whenever a rally come for sale, I would have got an email or a notification.
And then one day a rally came up for sale in the south part of France,
which is also 1,000 kilometers, 700 miles.
And the car was the first owner.
It had 220,000 kilometers.
So it was quite high mileage.
Three pictures and he wrote, I'm the first owner.
I have full service history from kilometer one to where we are today.
And I'm like, hmm, this might be the right car to buy because the south
of France doesn't have any rust.
So I called the guy.
I'm like, I think, can you tell me anything more about the car?
Yeah.
I'm the first owner I bought it.
I still have the bill, the bill of the sale bill.
Yeah.
And he's like, it's been my daily for since I have it.
I'm now 60 years old and it's getting too uncomfortable for me.
I want to sell the car by something more comfortable.
And I call my dad and I'm like, I think we need to drive down to the south of France.
He's like, no, we're not going to do that.
The people in the south of France, they're always optimistic about everything
and the car will be bad.
So I'm like, hmm, I call the guy again.
And he's like, yeah, you can come and watch the cars.
I don't mind taking.
I don't want to take more pictures.
The car is good, as I said.
Yeah.
So I call my dad back and he's like, yeah, you can drive down your Passat
and if it's good, you can call me and I'll come down.
So I drove down the Passat.
I told my boss I'm not coming in to work for two days.
He was a little bit angry, but it felt like the right car.
The price was good.
It was a red one and I really wanted a red one.
Oh, OK.
And his story just, yeah, worked.
Yeah.
So I drove down.
I arrived late in the evening.
He opens the gate of his house.
The rally is there.
And I already saw it was, yeah, it was just in a garage.
At a normal house, it wasn't third owner.
All the other ones, they could have 150,000 kilometers,
but they would have no service history.
So I checked the car.
I called my dad.
He drove overnight.
We paid the guy.
We loaded it up and yeah.
That's great.
That's awesome.
I'd rather always have a car that had way more miles on it
that was actually taken care of absolutely in history.
Because you know the guy, especially if it's a one owner car
and he's had documentation and everything else.
I mean, you can't ask for anything better than that.
Yeah, because if it's mechanical, you can take care of that.
You can rebuild the engine, you can rebuild the gearbox.
But if the car is not solid, it's all rusted out.
Yeah, crash free.
Yeah.
Yeah.
How far away was that car from where you live?
700 miles.
Yeah, OK.
So it was quite far.
Quite a ways, yeah.
I've now been driven around the whole of Europe to buy cars.
And it's better to maybe drive something longer.
Absolutely.
It's a solid car than to buy a car in the next village
and it's a shit box.
Yes.
That's true.
How many years ago was that?
2015.
I bought it.
OK.
So you've had it for quite a while now.
Yeah, and then I did because my money was gone.
I just did.
I did change out the G60.
I did a full service on the Syncro, the engine.
We checked everything.
So I was sure the mechanical part was good.
And I started driving it just nearby me
because it's south of France.
We have a lot of sun.
Or they have a lot of sun.
So the clear coat was peeling off and not so nice anymore.
And then my friends of Blackfish knew I had the car
and I was driving it around.
And they were like, Dimi, why are you not taking the car
to shows?
And I was like, yeah, the paint is bad.
I need to save some money before I can repaint it.
And then I'll be taking it to the shows.
And they told me, bring it over during the winter
and we make something fun with it.
So I brought it.
I didn't know what they were going to do with it.
Yeah.
And that's how it ended up to be the Belga rally golf.
Oh, that's cool.
So you just said, go ahead.
And then you came back and you said, holy shit.
And it was like, wow, that's awesome.
And it looks so cool.
Yeah.
And now I never want to change the look again.
Or I want to change it.
But I will not restore the car.
I bought all the parts too.
I have a new set of fenders, new bumpers.
I have everything to build it back to original
because the arches are old now.
And you know how it goes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I now do, I didn't do any track days this year.
But last year I took it on some track days on Spa Franca Show
and on Zoller.
And I do some rallies with it.
And I have just so much fun with the car.
And whenever I'm going to start restoring it,
I'll not go and take it on a track day because then.
Right.
Yeah.
Because now at least, you know, you can have fun with it.
Yeah.
And you can enjoy it.
Once you restore it, that fun kind is taken out.
Because now you're like, oh man, I don't want to paint that messed up.
I don't want this to happen.
Yeah.
So just enjoy the car.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What was I just, oh, what are your thoughts on people that have rallies
that have like swaps in them?
I don't like it.
Yeah.
But that's, everyone has this car and you can do whatever you want.
Sure.
Of course.
I was just curious what you thought.
I'm in the, we're all, I'm in the rally Facebook group.
And whenever I do a rally on gravel, I'll post a picture.
Or whenever I do a track day, I'll post a picture.
And they're like, dude, you're, you're crashing your car.
Or you're crashing your car around.
It's made, it's made to have fun.
Absolutely for.
But I have respect for the guys that have a pristine rally,
with every bolt and nut is new.
And they drive it on a trailer to the show and they display it.
If that's your kind of thing, it's fine.
If you want to swap an engine, it's fine.
But I think a rally without the G60 sound is, this is not a rally.
Right.
It's different.
Right.
But that's, that's my opinion.
Yeah, of course.
I have a life song twin screw charger and it's, I mean, it's,
you either love her or hate it because it's so loud.
Yeah.
And like, the only reason why I put that on is because of the
reliability issues with the G60.
We build them every 25, 30,000 miles, but you're right.
Like a good running G60, nothing sounds like that.
No.
It's such a great sound.
And if you rebuild it in time, many people say it's not reliable,
but I guess all of us, we don't drive our cars that much.
Yeah.
I rebuild my, I rebuild my G60 every 50,000 kilometers,
which is for three and a half thousand miles.
Yeah.
And rebuilding a G60, it's easy.
You take the bearings out, you put new, it's not a hard job.
So if you, if you maintain your G60, right, I think you can
have a really reliable car.
Yeah.
It's not hard to deal, but the only thing for us here is getting
the parts and housing a lot harder.
Yeah.
So if you have a connection for parts and have the rebuild kits,
no problem.
Yeah.
That's, I mean, there are people that do still have kits available,
but it's a little harder to find that's all.
And Europe, it's still a common thing.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
So were you a wheel guy?
Like, did you, you know, some people don't really care about
what wheels they're running, or they just like something,
say, a vintage wheel that, you know, is kind of rare,
but then they never mess around.
But like some people really get into wheels and they know
a lot about wheels and stuff.
Were you always kind of like a wheel guy?
I think it grew into me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
When I bought the Mark I, I had it on some 13 inch PLS wheels
and then three, four months later you see something else
popping up, your local marketplace or your local.
Yeah.
And I'm like, hmm, maybe you can switch around.
Yeah.
And that started, I used to drive three months on a wheel
and then would sell it and do something else
because it was, it was fun.
And you could, you could make some money on it
if you buy them.
Yes.
Yeah.
Buy them the right way.
Yeah.
And then I ended up, I ended up redoing them.
First I brought them to companies and I was like, hmm,
that's quite expensive.
I think maybe I tried to do it myself.
And that's how the ball started rolling.
Yeah.
Then there is no end.
So, so what were some of the first kind of multi-piece wheels
that were like your holy grail, like the one you got
and you're like, oh man.
The BBS RSS.
Okay.
And then afterwards the BBS Magnesium ones,
the Motorsports, the Transports, they are of course,
I think they're still the holy grail for, for all of us.
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree with that.
Yeah, for sure.
E30s in particular I think are just.
Yeah, E30s, E50s, E52s.
Yes.
An endless list.
Yeah, yeah.
So you, you start, you start buying and selling some wheels
and then you start breaking them down.
Yeah.
You know.
I started rebuilding them and I bought a polishing machine.
First you start polishing with your hand on a drill
and then you're like, okay, maybe we can do it better
when you buy a polishing machine.
And yeah, that's how I started in the, in the back garage
of my parents' house.
Okay.
And then I, yeah, I moved to another place and to another place
and it's.
Right.
It just got bigger and bigger and bigger.
When, when, was it like maybe you said, I could do that
for you, a friend?
Yeah.
And then they, then they, of course the word starts
getting out, right?
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, you started with, you started with doing your own
and then a friend is like, hey, Dimi, I have this wheel.
Could you, do you also want to do it?
Yeah.
You know, if you're happy with the finish that's on my
previous wheel, I can, I think I can do it.
And then the ball starts rolling and you buy, you see
a set, set for sale and you think, oh, if I finished those,
I can earn some money.
And then I know in the first three, four, five years I
did it, it was just all the money.
I would keep the money and put it in my car.
Right.
So I could, the money that I got from my job was
for savings and for living.
And now all of my wheel money would just go into my
stupid hobby.
Yeah.
And that also makes, that also is like an addiction
because you earn the money and your friends are
every month, not complaining, but they're like,
oh, you're, you're again buying parts.
Yeah.
I, I worked for it so I can buy more parts.
Exactly.
And that's how you started buying parts and cars and,
yeah.
And did, did your dad kind of start helping you
with some of this stuff or he just watched you?
Because I don't want to totally get to the
end already.
Okay.
No.
But we'll work through it.
Um, because I know your dad is like, I see in
your YouTube, which I'll also talk about, you
know, he'll come in and he'll help you out for
a few hours and stuff, which is really cool.
Um, but you had, you were doing it in your
parents' back garage, right?
Yep.
And so you started like just polishing lips
kind of thing and then throwing them together.
Did you, did you at some point say like,
what am I going to do with these faces,
powder coating, talking, maybe paint, anything,
you know, whatever.
Stuff like that.
And you started with simple work, like just
buying and selling, maybe fix a small
curb damage.
Right.
And then the next time you buy a wheel
that needs more work, so you learn your
way into it.
There's no school on refinishing wheels.
Yeah.
There's only finding out.
And my, my dad always at the beginning
he was more looking after me that he
didn't make any stupid financial choices.
So he would always, back then it was
all wheels, two, three, four hundred
euros.
There weren't the expensive VBS's of
five thousand I do now.
Yeah, exactly.
But you're all into, you're all into that
when you, yeah, when you get older and
you do more wheels.
And yeah, he always also advised me of
learning stuff and when he saw you're
getting somewhere, okay, maybe we need
to buy you a real polisher because
you're now every night with the stupid
hand polisher doing on your knees.
Yeah.
Maybe we should watch, look out for a
real polisher and then you can start
working on a real polishing machine.
Yeah.
He always, he was always there to
help me and to guide me into.
Yeah.
That's good to at least a supporter.
He wasn't like, dude, what the fuck are
you doing with your life?
It was, it was always.
Enough of these wheels.
It was always funny.
My mom, my mom is like, you're
pushing him against two cars and then
he needs to study and he needs to
have a career and he needs to, I was
back then working at a cycling shop
and I had a good, I had a good
pay check and everything was fine.
I would have fun in the cycling shop
but I also didn't have the feeling
that was going to be my work for life.
Sure.
So my mom, I graduated as a teacher.
Oh, okay.
How do you call it?
Sports teacher?
Yeah.
Gym.
Gym.
Yeah.
And I never, I was back then
already working, when I was
studying, I was working in the
cycling shop and when I graduated
the owner was a steamy water
urine as a teacher and I was
like this and he was like, okay
if I give you this more, do you
want to come work for me
full time?
Okay.
So I was like, yeah, why not?
I have, I got a contract.
I can work with you.
I have money.
Yeah, fun.
But my mom always, I think at
the beginning wanted me to go
back to school maybe.
Yeah.
But my dad kept pushing me.
Not pushing me.
He was just always there to
help.
I would not call it pushing
but he was like, if this is
what you like to do, you
should do something with it.
I think that's, everyone should
do that in his life.
Yeah.
I have friends that go to
work every day with a sad
phase and they come back with
a sad phase and I don't think
that's life.
You're right.
Yeah.
You're 100% right.
But some people also say, once
you start doing something you
love for your job, then it
becomes, you know, people say
the common phrase that we
have over here is if you
love what you do, you'll
never work a day in your
life.
Yeah, that's true.
But then some people
counteract that and say, yeah,
if you love what you do and
then turn it into a job, then
it becomes a job and start
hating what you love, you
know what I mean?
And that may be a pessimistic
look at it.
Yeah, it's like a mechanic.
Someone that works in a shop
all day doesn't want to go
home and work in their car.
The project might fall back
a little bit.
Yeah.
Do you feel like that ever
happens to you or do you
just love what you do?
I think it's a thin line.
Yeah.
And sometimes you're on the
wrong side of the line and
of course there are weeks
that I don't like to go to
work as a wrong phrase, but
I don't enjoy it sometimes.
Yeah, it's hard weeks like
that.
I don't like to go to work
as a wrong phrase, but
I don't enjoy it sometimes.
Yeah.
The weeks like the months
coming up to where to see
I'll have so much work.
It's also the months coming
up to show season.
So then for me that's a
crazy busy period and I'll
work 70 hour work weeks.
Right.
So of course at the end
of that period you're killed
and you don't have any,
the motivation goes a little
bit away.
It's the same with I've
done YouTube last year and
that was really fun and
that gave me a lot of
motivation.
But then when work comes
in you need to make
choices and you need to
say okay for me work
brings me money.
YouTube is fun but doesn't
bring any money.
Okay.
So now YouTube
for now Instagram for the
next three months and I
focus on getting
getting the work out.
But I was always impressed
with the fact that you
were doing all the work
you were doing and also
a lot of people don't
realize once you start
a YouTube channel you have
to document so many things
and of course then you
have to edit it and
everything else later which
you know.
But every time you do
something you're like
wait a minute I should just
set up the camera.
I just have to do this.
And let's do another
angle than we did last time.
Absolutely.
So it looks better.
Exactly.
And a lot of people
don't realize that and
I really enjoyed the
videos you put out and I
just recently went to
look at your channel I
saw it's been about a
year or something.
Yeah it's been about a
year.
Yeah and I get it man.
Like we do this
whenever we can.
We try to fit it in
here and there because
life happens right.
That's true.
But so at what point
did you realize that
you had to
go from your parents
garage into something
bigger.
I mean was it just
did you just have
boxes of wheels and stuff
everywhere it was just
too much or the
equipment was getting
too big and you
couldn't fit.
It was at the end of
2018.
I was I worked
then in the cycling shop
for five years and the
shop got taken over it
got new owners and
we didn't reach
agreements on my new
contract.
So I was going out.
I had some other
opportunities to go
work in other cycling shops
because the world got out
I was quitting and
I also back then
my relation my
eight year old
relationship with my ex
girlfriend ended.
So I was at
a turning point in your
life.
Yeah sure.
And I was in doubt
I ran the place
for my own.
Do I go back to
my parents because
my mom and dad said
just come back.
I was living
together with her for
two years three years
and my mom and dad
just if you want
you can come back
free.
We don't we don't care
if you don't want to
rent a place and save
some more money.
Come live with us.
Right.
And back then
my dad also said it's
maybe retro wheels was
a side business for
five years.
And I was
I would work
four days in the cycling
shop then two days
at my parents house
in my small garage.
Yeah.
It worked out
it was big enough
it was
barely big enough
that we made
we made it work.
Yeah.
And my dad was
then why not
maybe start
pushing me in the right
direction.
I was like yeah
but what if it doesn't work
because it's all
if I look back at it
when I was
when it was twenty eighty
and you told me
I would have had
the business I have today
I would say now
that's impossible.
Yeah.
It's just wheels.
Wow.
Yeah.
And my dad said
yeah you're living
come live at home
you don't have any rent
you rent yourself
a small shop
don't choose a big one.
Yeah.
And if you fail
you go back to work for
I don't know what
back in the cycling shop
right.
Or you go
as a gym teacher.
Sure.
We don't care
you live at home
there's no
you don't dig a big
depth hole for yourself.
Yeah.
So
I rented out a place
in the next village
it was
200 square meter
it wasn't big
but it was
decent size.
It was three times as big
as the garage
I had with my friends
so it was in the beginning
I was like wow
yeah.
This is cool
we put my
dad
and I
started rolling
and two years later
that place was too small
and
I went to my
accountant
and he was like yeah
you're doing
you're doing great
let's
you can start
searching for a place
let's buy a place
you don't need to
buy it tomorrow
but just keep an eye
out
I think if you
go to the
to the banks
with your
with your
previous papers
and your years
that you've had
you'll get alone
and you can
as fast as it did
that you outgrew
that second location
just stock
yeah
I always
I always
I try
I try to have
100 sets of wheels
for sale
at any
at any time
but it will go up and down
of course at the beginning
of the season
a lot of people
buy wheels
so my stock goes down
but then I can
during winter
I build up again
where do you
find this stuff
everywhere
and how are you
doing it
because like
on your YouTube
guys would like
go out
and all of a sudden
you come back
and you'd open up
the back of your truck
whatever
and you have
just a shit little
wheels
you get
just scouring
all the time
do you find it
it's getting harder
yeah it's getting
much harder
yeah I know
back in the days
when I began
with it
a BB-SRS
was still affordable
yeah
these days
when I buy
a BB-SRS
it's at the price
that I sometimes
really?
wow
so
at the beginning
Europe was
or
Belgium, Netherlands, Germany
was big enough
to find enough stock
but it gets
harder and harder
and of course
I also do normal
Audi wheels
from the newer models
you buy them
people have curved them
and they want to get rid of them
you just re-finish them
you take
a small amount of money
on them
but it keeps the
it keeps
rolling
and whenever I
I'm powder coating
wheels
if I have
20 wheels
or 5
they're on there
the powder is in the machine
so if I need to do
more wheels it doesn't
make it
take a lot longer
so
I also do a lot of
not retro wheels
but it
it pays the bills
something that's quick
to get in there
yeah
yeah it's just like a
mechanic
you gotta do
the timing bell
jobs
you gotta do the
oil changes
the stuff that
makes money
but then
you do cool stuff
as well
doing the
normal 20 inch Audi wheels
of course I'm not having fun
because it's
stupid Audi wheels
yeah
it's not stupid
there is no love in it
but then the next day
I'm building
I'm polishing a set of RS
lips
and I will put them together
and then when it's finished
and you put it on the table
you're like
wow
yeah
it really is cool
I think
I think watching you do that
and just assembling them
and then when you
finally put them together
there's something about
you know
it's not really
yeah you could say
it's monotonous
but when you do it
you know
the last
torque
and then you just
like put it together
and just the final look
of everything
man it just
it really comes together
and there's you know
gotta be
it's gotta be gratifying
to see that all
you know
happen every time
especially like
you know that
some of those
baller sets of wheels
are going on some
badass car
and if you go to shows
and you see the wheels
there
you have so much
enjoyment of
seeing them
and the people
was there any score
that happened
that you
that you remember
was like
holy shit
I can't believe
you know
one that sticks out of your mind
I think my
first wheel
my first set of magnesium
BBSs
yeah
because it was my first
right
so that makes it special
because you start saving up
money
they are
not cheap
so
I know I started saving up
money
and I wanted to have them
for my GTI before
were to see back then
and I made it
and it came for sale
with which friend
and which car
I drove down there to pick him up
so it was
it was
yeah
and then when I flew to Greece
I got a lot of
my dad has some friends in Greece
and they told me like
in Greece
you still have
20 year old
20 year old wheels
sitting in the
in the shop
of the seller
of the rim plate
of the wheel places
and they just
they just didn't sell
and I was always like
yeah
how
how
maybe one said of
and he was like
there was many
and then one day
he went down there
and it took some pictures
he's not a wheel guy
he's just a friend of my dad
who is in Greece
and I saw
a new
new BBS RSS
in the shop
I saw
new
yeah I saw
a new
was that
in the same
shop
and I was like
now this is
this is impossible
so we
me and my dad
we book
we book our tickets
we fly down
I can show you the pictures
I still have them
on the phone
the new RSS
in the shelf
20 years old
that's
yeah
those are the two
most unbelievable
moments
so with those like situations
of like
the shop
owner
just like
have these wheels
and nobody just
really wanted to
purchase them
I think the
Greece has always been
I wouldn't call it
a poor country
but it's
it's different
yes
and I think
it was all stock
Greece had also
great periods
yes
I think it was all
stock that got there
and then
replica started
replica wheels
started arriving
and people would say
oh no
I'll matter
yeah
and I think the car community
in Greece is also
a little bit smaller
I think they're still
a big community
I don't know the community
but it's different
yeah and people do it
with another budget
maybe
my cousin was
an athlete
so my mind's racing
right now
after we get
those pockets
hey man
you need to check out
some wheel shops
yeah but
I guess
the company
that
whoever the vendor
was
the people that own the place
it just kind of
went under
or something
and then
they also
for
they weren't cheap
also for the item
but
the price
like
I bought
I think a set of
new RSS for
2000 euros
which is not cheap
but it's also
in
Germany
or Belgium
it's
it's fucking unbelievable
you know
you know
when you get there
you're like
I have to
I have to get this
because
for a Greek guy
it's expensive
for me it's also expensive
but
the market in
Belgium and in Germany
is different than the marketing
you know you're going to be able
to sell those
and make money on them
but not only
yeah that's crazy
not only that
there's something to be said
about
if you can say
new in box
there's something
so special about that
original
original
new old stock
yeah just I mean
it's crazy
on a wheel like that
that's 20, 25 years old
yeah
it was crazy
to visit that shop
and
it blew my mind
what are some of the
the hardest
most pain in the ass wheels
for you to work on
like what
what's an easy wheel
that looks great
what's a wheel
that you work on
and just
it takes a ton of time
it's a big pain in your ass
it'll all depend
on the
on the condition
where you start
sure
so sometimes
the wheels are really corroded
right
and then
if you then have the corroded
negative lips
where you need to
right
then I'll have
I'll be swearing
the whole day
yeah
because
every bolt off
yeah
and but that's
that's also part of my job
yeah
and if you then want to
you can buy
reproduction lips
but they're not as beautiful
as the originals
some lips will take me
three four hours
just to
get them ready to
polish
or I'll be sanding
down lips with together
with my dad
so we can sand twice
as hard
to get a lip finished
but it's
it's also then
when the wheel is finished
the reward is so much
bigger
because you see
you took in a
a 20 year old wheel
that's full of corrosion
into something
that it's
beautiful again
but it's not really
that it's
you can have an RS
that's
the RS's I bought in Greece
they don't have any salt
I also bought
some used ones
they're easy
to restore
because there's not really
much
damage and where on them
you do new paint
you polish the lips
and you're done
then you buy a RS
in Belgium that are
the worst pain in the ass
to get refinished
because they are corroded
and
why do you say
the re-pop
um
uh lips
are not as beautiful
as the original ones
because some people don't
they don't know that
you know
and I think
90% of the people
even don't see it
but when I
when I see a lip
I'll see if it's
I think it's the shine
the old
it's so much better
than the Chinese
aluminium used today
right
and the shape
it's just more round
it's all
it flows so much better
yeah
but that's
that's for me as a real guy
I think 90% of the people
will never
yeah but I think
when you
when you do notice
stuff like that
the 10%
that does notice
that's such
a cool thing
you know
and when you put out
you know quality work
and that
that 10% of people
is almost the people
that
come in you anyway
yeah
you know
it's the same as
if I
I always take some pictures
of wheels
when I'm at a show
and I'll post them up later
and when I
when I see valve holes
not matching it
a one wheel
it's at a spoke
and another wheel
it's three bolts down
and then I
I don't get crazy
but then I think it's
it's just
a small attention to detail
if you put the wheel together
make sure they're all
the same
right it's not that hard
yeah
yeah that's cool
what else was I going to say
I was just thinking
another question
so you're in the shop
the
the second shop
for how long
before you had to move that
three years
three years
such a short period of time
from going from
the garage
to the next shop
and then now you're
too big
yeah
that shop also popped up
I bought it
at the beginning
of covid
yeah
it was
it is 500 meters
from my parents house
mm-hmm
and I've knew
that place for
it was a clothing store
for
and I wasn't really
interested in buying it
because the seller
was asking
a lot of money
it was for me out of my
pocket
so then covid hits
and
my dad is like
I've heard the guy
saying he wants to sell
the shop
for a lot less
because he's
he's not able to
sell any clothes
he
back then
he already had
a new store
in a village nearby
and his shop
was from the 60s
so it was all
that needed
new walls
new floors
everything
but in his head
he wanted to restore it
one day
and bring it back
as his original shop
yeah
and then
we sat with him
around the table
and we discussed
the price
and he went down
a lot
so I was able to buy it
yeah
and that moved
things
faster than I maybe
wanted to
but it was okay
because it was
in my parents village
I knew the shop
for many years
it was not
an industrial area
I'm just between
the houses
so I was also like
okay this is maybe
once in a lifetime
opportunity to have
my shop not
in an industrial area
so we bought it
and then I restored it
I did
everything
what I could myself
because I needed to
yeah
save every penny
I could
I needed to turn
around 50 times
to get it done
but we got it done
and the shop
is now
again too small
but I'm not moving
okay
so
yeah the shop
that you have now
you even have
like a showroom
you did it
you did it right
it's not just a shop
that
you know
someone goes by
and they don't know
what it is
I mean you have a
like a storefront
yeah that's the
that was the
the thing I like the most
of being able to buy
that store
I could
design it a little bit
as I saw
how I wanted to
have a shop
if you buy
an industrial
place
you just have
big rooms
yeah
and you just
have a rara
you can make it
like 20-30 years ago too
because
there's no wheel stores
around anymore
I was just going to say
everything's online
here's the store
you're going to go
and that's it
in theory
I didn't need a showroom
because
90% of my sales
go online
but I wanted to
have a showroom
on Sunday
my friends will come over
we sit in the showroom
I have
a barbecue
you can hang out
I have a big television
we watch
from the one together
we have fun together
that's so awesome
yeah
you're watching
we're hanging out
I mean
just like Danny said
if
like
what's your town like
because
in a place like
where we live
it would be
and I understand
it's kind of just like
the showroom is just
like a beacon
because it's like
this is your wheel place
and not
that you sell a lot
out of the showroom
but
just to have a part of it
we would never have
something like that
in any town
anywhere near us
no one would ever come in
no one would ever look
but it's different
like in Europe
you're kind of like
in the heart
of an area where
you know
I mean
where we live
compared to
four states over
is
12 hours away
driving
yeah it's different
it is
I try to do
two times a year
I do a chilling grill
awesome
and I'll have
a Honda car
showing up
and the street is
packed with cars
and we have a barbecue
but I think
my showroom is more
also a little bit
my man cave
yeah for sure
so here have
beautiful man caves
but it's a man cave
it's not a showroom
I just use it as
as boat
how far away do you live
from your shop
five minutes
oh you're close
yeah so I live
five minutes away
when I drive through
my shop
I pass my dad's house
so it's all
I think that's
also a European
I don't know
maybe not
European thing
maybe you try to stay
or we try to stay
close to each other
so it's more fun
same as us
yeah
what's your town like
just to get
like give people an idea
is it a very small town
yeah it's very small
yeah it's
yeah it's a small
country town
gotcha
there are more cows
than other people
yeah
but it's nice
we don't have any
also if it's small
I'll have my car
sitting outside
and
I'm not afraid
of them getting stolen
or something happening
with them
people are
relaxed
and everyone in the town
knows me
yeah it's
it's a cool
I would never
change it for anything else
that's awesome
very cool
do you
I'm sure
a number of your wheels
have been
on like in pvw
like certain cars
and stuff
do you
do you kind of track
which wheels go where
and then you kind of pay
attention
or it's just once
they're out the door
it's like
good luck guys
have fun
I try to
but
it's a lot
yeah it's a lot
I have
I have a map in my office
oh do you
when I sell wheels to
a new country
I'll put in a flag
and it's so
when people come in
they're like
oh have you visited
all these countries
as no
but I've sold wheels
to those
wheels have
yeah
and it's
it's crazy
so many in America
even in
Brazil
in Mexico
it's
it's crazy
where
all the wheels
end up
and I try to
follow people's
their instagrams
to see what happens
with them
I try to
get the third owner
but you see them
banging
you're like
oh these are my wheels
oh I bought them
from this guy
right right
right
it's fun
what is a
wheel that comes in
that you'll finish up
and you know
immediately
it's going right off
the shelf
I mean it's just
like boom
what is it
like you know
is it your typical
rs
yeah
some
some
in like
in Germany
BMW
E30s
so if you have those numbers
and I will finish them
I know I'll
have them ready
I put them up for sale
and
they will be gone in
half an hour
and even some wheels
I have a list
on my
my computer
some people are
searching for
certain wheels
so I know
I buy them
I give them a call
I got them in
how do you want them
or I want the gold face
chrome hardware
what's the price
okay this is the price
and then they're sold
before
even someone
is the gold
in BBS gold
a secret
do people know
how to
actually create
that color
I can order the gold
from BBS
you can
yeah but
the biggest problem
is the gold
which they use today
is completely different
than the gold
they used in the 90s
right
so a lot of people
order the gold
or the color
or
I said to them
if I do your faces
in BBS gold
of today
you'll not have
the same feeling
that we have
in the 90s
also all the people
think that
BBS gold
in the 90s
was more satin
but it was not
we just see wheels
back that are 15 years old
they got satin
that's true
interesting
I always
I have a bunch of
gold options
in my shop
all my wheels
on faces
so people can choose
and I always
tell them
choose whatever you think
is the most beautiful
I'll not say
which one of these
is BBS gold
but if
for me
it's all
it's
it's some people like
the glossy clear coat
someone like to have it
more satin
it's always personal
it depends on the build too
oh yeah
and even the first
really in the beginning
of BBS in the 80s
the gold was more brown
so it all depends on
it changes
not every year
I would say
but
some products are not
allowed to use anymore
in Europe
so the color changes
a little bit
I don't like the color of today
but if you like it
I'll
I'll paint your wheels
in the color of today
I can order the gold
from BBS directly
so they send me over
I can
so can you
so you would be able to
match
the gold
of
the old
colors or
I mean because
I know you're saying
yes
quote unquote
BBS gold is different
but
would you be able to
do something
where it's closer to
the old stuff
whatever you would get
the problem is no one
knows what
it was
so
I can compare
I can compare it
with the gold that is on
an old wheel I bought
but then that wheel
has been outside
for 30 years
so the gold has changed
yeah that's true
so that's why
I have the different
options of gold
laying in my shop
and I'll just let people
decide what they think
is best
is there anything that
you won't do
is there something
that you're like
I don't like doing it
I'm not
okay
I think we're all
on the same page
people can come in
and I
respect every
of course
build and every budget
and
but when people come in
with wrap wheels
with plastic bowls
I just say no
that's
that's not
nothing for me
it's not
where my time
and it's not worth your money
yeah for sure
also when you
start rebuilding
a set of wrap wheels
with polished lips
with the plastic bowls
you'll end up
on a bill
that's so high
you might as well
have bought real
I don't do
a set of wraps
yeah and also
if you need to weld wraps
or straighten them
it's just one big
mess to work with
so
yeah
I'll do
are you doing all that
in-house
like you're straightening
and everything
everything except
paint is in-house
I used to do
a friend of mine
as a powder coder
and I used to go
there after
his hours
I would rent
out his equipment
and I would do
that all myself
but I just
don't have
the time
I just want to keep it
to me and my dad
and that's
that's good
because then
you know
your limitations
you know what you can do
and you're not having
to worry about
somebody else
and relying on them
you know if this
things happen
friends
you know
you might have a friend
helping you
and then you get
between friends
or maybe now
you know
he might get sick
he might not
be able to do something
now your
production gets behind
yeah I have friends
that help
for hours a day
and that's something
I can trust on
and also
it's your dad
he's not going in to go
sick if he's not sick
now as he retired
this is kind of retirement
just for him
he is
I've known him now
longer retired
and I've known him working
in Belgium
you had a rule
if you worked
underground
in the coal mines
then you could
if you worked
25 years
you would be done
and my dad
started working
in the coal mines
when he was 16
but the coal mines
but he still had a contract
with the Belgium government
yeah I
so he started working
at another place
but he knew
the day I got 41
it's my birthday
I can stop
that's wild
that's wild
yeah that is crazy
yep
where did the name
retro
did you ever have other names
or is it always going to be
retro wheels
it's
it's always been
retro wheels
stay retro wheels
I don't really know
you don't remember
where the name come from
I know I have a friend
who has a company
it's called retro works
yeah
I think
I just like
the name
and I love retro wheels
yeah
that's awesome
well I mean
I think we went over
a lot of stuff
man I really appreciate
you coming on
I've really enjoyed
getting to know you
and hearing some of the stuff
can we briefly talk to you last year
there are so many people
you know you come in
and you're
talking for a little bit
but those nice people
actually sit down with you
and talk to you
and see what your shop
is about
and what your process is
because
everyone's a little different
you can do things
yeah of course
and before we close out
just
can you shout out
your business
and where people can find you
yeah you can find me
of course on Instagram
it's just Retro Wheels underscore
and that's it
you'll find me
and for the rest
I don't use much
socials
you can find me on YouTube
if you want to watch
the older episodes
of me buying cars
and doing fun stuff
with wheels
you can see it there
and I'll
been trying to
get up YouTube again
yeah it's on my list
but I need to
be working on that again
cool man well thanks
thanks for coming on
we appreciate it
we'll talk to you next time
peace
you
About this episode
Dimitri from Retro Wheels shares his journey into the automotive world, starting with his first car, a Mark I diesel, and his passion for Volkswagens. He discusses the evolution of car shows in Europe, particularly the iconic Worthersee, and the changing landscape of car ownership among younger enthusiasts. Dimitri also delves into his business, Retro Wheels, detailing the challenges and joys of wheel restoration, the importance of quality parts, and the thrill of discovering rare finds. His father’s influence and support throughout his journey are also highlighted.
Original notes
In this episode we had a chance to sit down with Dimitri and talk about some of his adventures, his business (Retrowheelz_), and more. Check it!
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