155. @retrowheelz_ (Dimitri)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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