160. Vanek's Christmas with me and Danny

Yo everybody what is up welcome to the people's car podcast my name is Ryan

Bielman and sitting right next to me is Danny Mercado what's up sitting next to Danny is

John Vannick John Vannick and where are we Danny we are in Long Island with

Lindenhurst you're on Long Island you're not in Long Island and you're also in

the North Pole it's it is very festive here actually it's extremely festive yes

he has decorated every inch of this house outside has some really nice

decorations this is fantastic we are on location at the Vannick household on

location on Long Island and we just got back from a Long Island dinner yes yeah

and no we just ate at a diner it was really good had a Reuben that's exactly

hit the spot so it's nighttime here and there's like a snowstorm coming this is

like the dumbest thing we could have done this week but it's great you're in

the smallest house hopefully you don't stay here because there's nowhere for

you to stay I could sleep like on the floor yeah yeah yeah so it's very much

just to give like people an idea so we are so we haven't officially Danny's

been here to pick up parts or something once yeah but we haven't officially come

and hung out with Vannick yet and now that we're here this is a very cool like

a little cozy house like you said he decorates like crazy he's got the

bull molds outside he's got all kinds of shit there's a little train behind

me shit everywhere there's eyeballs on everything everywhere yep it's just a

bunch of crazy shit everywhere harranger stocking hanging out I have I have lights

above my head or they're red and green yep he literally had to take the bulbs

out of the lights that were there I mean they're ceiling lights and now they're

red and green but very festive I hope everybody appreciates that we came all

the way out here did a five-hour drive for a Christmas special yes so that's

that's where we're at and yeah man what's up what's going on not much if you

tell I'm very congested I have sinus issues so that's what's going on it's

really good being older and having all of these issues ever since you became a

pickle yeah it's been since then downhill from there I feel like you've

had chronic issues constantly it's great yeah you can call me glass yeah but

um no I what we were talking and I went through exactly what you went through

we had a deviated septum before I had fucking polyps in my what are they

called like I guess colon what right my sinuses yes you got it sometimes you

got to get that shit taken care of dude so Vanick is right in the middle of it

PSA take care of your face or whatever yeah polyps and your colon yeah and

everything take care of everything Christmas polyps yes Christmas colonoscopies

but yeah so okay we should be good here yeah so we were gonna do maybe like a

little bit of a recap we're gonna talk a little bit about Christmas actually

we're talking about Christmas now why don't we talk about just some stupid

gay stuff first well there's all these left to Christmas let's get it I don't

think that's accurate I haven't I haven't changed that countdown in like two days

yeah it's the 13th so we are yeah 12 days yeah we're right now it's Friday the

13th it is Friday the 13th yeah that wasn't

Danny's getting a calendar for Christmas yeah I ordered one this is not oh yeah

are we gonna plug one of the calendar that is targeted ads on everyone's

Facebook page I said to Vanick like we went in his garage when first got here

and I haven't seen his GTI since you know a few months from now we just were

talking about some stuff and I said I have not seen your car less than 1500

times in the past two and a half weeks yes the more the more things coming out

and you know everyone knows about that calendar and some goodies that come in

that package so that's cool yep and you also have your Jetta out there yeah we

can get into all that sure it into a little bit of that later but Christmas

cookie oh Christmas cookie so I'm not a big fan of the ones that come in the tin

that everyone's out about yeah I am the Danish ones yeah the Danish ones cuz I

never had them they're not even made in Denmark anymore India yes we just had a

conversation about this it's like some dude with like no shoes on with like

dirty hands making your cookies he's making breakpads and then he's also

putting the cookies in the tin sometimes they'll get mixed up so if you get a

breakpad then you know quality control one out of five it's okay yeah so I mean

what do you guys what's your goat I don't know man like a Christmas cookie I

always think of like a rainbow cookie or a what are they what are the Italian

what are the Italian people actually call it is it a four-layer is that what

you're calling a rainbow cookie yeah the little like square things with a

different fun fact about those cookies they're not easy to make no they're

horrible to me yes I actually spear experience making them for a Christmas

cookie competition and actually won this competition because of this cookie it

was so ridiculous to make it no one made this cookie like because everyone

does like you know just right you know what I do easy stuff process to make

this fucking cookie but they're fantastic what did you what did you win

you get like a gift certificate to work it was like you know one year

subscription of Joe month club or something so it's good that's the gift

that keeps on giving yes isn't what's your favorite Christmas cookie Danny

favorite Christmas cookie so I don't know man we do these s'mores cookies every

year and they really come out really good so it's graham cracker always see

chocolate marshmallow and they're very good they're very very good I think like

so all right chocolate chip cookies well I was just talking about this with you

actually coming down we made and this wasn't for Christmas we were just kind

of like an experiment thing because we're gonna make some chocolate chip

cookies with M&Ms and didn't have enough butter for recipes we're like you know

what what else we have we have large not like Crisco not vegetable actual real

large sure these cookies were fucking phenomenal of course they were there

were like hamburgers yeah it was like a week and a half ago or two weeks ago

and they're still soft like it's not a cookie that you leave out like it's hard

it's like a store like edible cookie nobody likes a hard cookie no it's

actually is that true yeah I'm gonna speak for everybody he knows everybody

what is like the best texture of a maybe not just a Christmas cookie I mean

there's some people who are like they're like masochistic they love cookies that

like you have to eat with a spoon oh you know like those you were like cookies

that you get at school and it was like the chocolate chip cookie that was like

the size of a dinner plate right and it was like soggy yeah I'm not into that

that's not me what what I like is if it's like maybe on the edges a little

crispy but if it could still be like a little like gooey in the middle you know

what I'm saying that's what I think for Christmas I I don't think you can go

wrong with the chocolate chip I think a chocolate chip is like the one that it's

just fucking solid all the time but it's almost like it's not hard yeah but

you can't have like a like it's like pizza like even shitty pizza is like

it's pizza yeah so like to me that's kind of how that chip falls but what's the

one that looks like that the elf took a turd right in the middle of it it's just

a big the big Hershey kiss in the center of it peanut butter gumdrop is always

called I didn't know that had a name I thought it was just cookie with a chocolate

kiss yeah yeah and then the other one is the do you know the ones with the it's

like peanut butter and chocolate and there's oatmeal pieces in it but it's

like no bake like it's just they're always in like when you get the cookie

fucking things oh the cookie the platter yeah so yeah we always get those you

know that's the shop yep yep that's that's what yeah those are usually in

like the those are the in the in the bag of cookies yeah come you have like the

jelly sandwich cookies you have like your regular sugars there's like a

chocolate chip in there maybe like two rainbows and whatever that shit is you

were talking about that like turd cookie that's not good yeah yeah yeah no

there's a gross yeah so those are my favorite yeah don't ask you don't ask

you about anything so it doesn't matter I wouldn't know yeah we know we know

um Christmas crack ever have Christmas crack it's like with saltine

excuse me sounds like something fucking Connor would talk about Christmas

crack crack oh Christmas great it's like it's made with saltines and you have

like chocolate a layer of chocolate on it so this is a saltine cracker the thing

that you eat after you throw up all night and they put chocolate chocolate syrup

on it and that's and that's what is what kind of culture is that from well

Danny's like a Greek Puerto Rican or something so it's probably something they

just figured out I just made it up it's a delicacy yeah but yeah it's true okay

what I was gonna say what is one of the things that you can remember that was

like a fucking hit like something you got for Christmas you were like this is

the shit or something maybe you get like you want every year so what like a

memorable gift oh man so I was really into remote control cars and slot car

tracks and you know late 80s early 90s it was like you know the the the track

that you would get and you'd have the two cars and you you know you have one

was a white Diablo yeah you had that but I was also really into the show rescue

911 where they had those reenactments of you know crisis situations for now

that wasn't a kids show no rescue 911 that was like kind of a it's kind of

like a very graphic you know yeah William Shatner was the host on it and

they would have these somewhat graphic reenactments of like accidents and

rescues and stuff somehow that transferred over into a rescue 911

emergency racing set it's a remote it's a it's a it's a racetrack with two

cars one of them I think was an ambulance the other one was like a police

car and like it had a you had to drive it over a jump and it would like attach

itself to a helicopter and the helicopter would go I still it's at my

mom's house this sounds like a furious seven it sounds like I'm making it up

yeah not I see you guys can Google this or AI it or chat GBR at whatever the

hell you guys do it exists and I still have it that was the coolest thing the

only problem is so I'm like four or five sure you know I grew up in a in a

single parrot household right just my mom so like she wasn't that

technologically you know advanced as far as like setting up a giant fucking

race car set yeah so it's kind of a downer but I don't think I ever played

with it yeah I think it was set up but I don't think it ever worked yeah so but

it's still at my mom's house so you know what I think tomorrow right now pause

the podcast we're going to my mom's house okay guys will be the table be right

but yeah that was that was I think the coolest thing that I ever got for

Christmas and yeah I mean you can't top something when you're that young and

you because again I didn't know that even existed yeah yeah so like for it to

just show up was like mind-blowing yeah I had it's funny that you it just like

triggered something in my mind triggered I got a gi Joe like jet it was like this

fucking jet that was like camouflage and everything else said gi Joe in it but

it was like a model slash toy or whatever so you had to put it all together

and shit my dad was always like a very like like he was a banker he was always

like very busy he was always like fucking there's that meetings or he had to

travel whatever right and it was like one of the he would be devastated if he

heard me saying this but he was one of things like we'll get to it I always

wanted to but it's just funny you said that thing about the track and I always

wanted to build this thing and I was super young too I might have been like

five or something you know deck you help me yeah we'll get to it we're gonna do

it and we're gonna do it and I think when I moved out like maybe when I went to

college or whatever I think I was like 18 I still like I see the box and

all in there was in there and I just fucking threw it out oh my fuck this I

was like I'm not even putting this together out of spite are we gonna do

this 18 years old yeah I'm shaving it up but yeah so that was that dude my

grandmother gave me this like fucking bus once it was like a school bus yeah

and like you could hit these things and the lights would come on and shit it was

like super heavy who's like this cast like bus and that was like I fucking

played with that bus forever that was I don't know why but I was like enamored

with this bus I remember that it wasn't a short plus either but what about you

Danny I was probably five years old no it was the house five code we're living

in Paterson New Jersey which is a shithole but anyway I remember getting a

metal Tonka truck oh yeah and I remember there's like a dusting of snow

outside on Christmas morning and I just went out started playing this Tonka

truck and I just remember playing that thing for like years to come it was like

the go-to toy it was just there always and like it's crazy because like you

think back on stuff and like what happened with that like did it just get

thrown out on the track right rust out it probably was outside for so long just

like so many metal Tonka trucks sure rusted to shit you couldn't move it

anymore you couldn't open the the dump bed yeah kid like you cherish this thing

and then it's like all Suns is gone and you don't remember it being gone it's

just gone and it's like I didn't throw it out because if I would have thrown it

out well first of all I would never have wanted to throw it out this is like one

of those tear-filled moments from like toy story Jesus these things just get

thrown away to the side yeah it's crazy because now looking back on it because

my son has a Tonka truck he's he's got a few of them are they plastic shit no

it's the metal one with the metal dump bed and everything I made sure that I

would like got you know good one for yeah for him looking back and like how

many like toys you have that you can remember like because again so many

different toys but like that was like the most memorable for me because I guess

I wanted that yeah you know and I got it and I gotta say the second the second

most memorable will probably be when I first like when we got to Nintendo that

was a that was a gift for me and my brother together so we open up all our

gifts and like we're Donald Christmas and you know we got whatever and it was

cool and everything and then like that my parents brought out this other gift

and like here's bowl for you nice Nintendo and it was already a few years

after it came out so it was probably like 89 90 maybe 91 that's that's kind of

when I got mine and it's and it's funny you mentioned that so I think it was it

was when they weren't they weren't being made at that or maybe they were but they

were kind of limited you couldn't find them yeah the one that I got was just in

a plain white box okay I think it was it was bought from a like a video store

okay and I remember opening up and I was confused because I remember seeing them

in the box yeah and I thought it was like for some reason in my mind I thought

it was like a suit for me because it was a giant like long white box and I

opened it up and it was an NES and I'm like where where's the box I love the

the art on the box because it looked like it was in space it had like stars in

the background and yeah and I was just like okay cool like well I got a

Nintendo and I that's another thing I still have yeah you know what's cool

about my Nintendo which I also got around 89 90 I didn't only keep for some

reason as a kid I don't know why I just I didn't only have all my games in the

boxes that they came with but they were in the sleeves as well yeah so they're

in the sleeve and the original box do you still have the boxes yeah they're all

there yeah yeah I have that's just how I say for some reason I don't want boxes

out because nobody thought of it then no it comes in a sleeve right yeah and I

just put them and they're all they're all in there in that little bin yep all

the sleeves yep yeah exactly but I still have like all of them um all right

that's cool uh so we're on Long Island and Danny and I couldn't fucking believe

it's been like 12 15 years since I've been here last I was on a month Montauk

at like some wedding or something a long time ago but we're coming down here it

took us dude the fucking war and I know you deal with this shit all the time and

I'm still I'm just I'm just astonished that like this fucking island exists and

it really is like I don't know you probably hear the shit like all time

it's a whole nother world out here sorry yeah edit that out it is yeah it is a

totally different world but what's so fucking crazy is like this is its own

entity and you guys can do anything you want and you never have to leave if you

don't want to it could be its own state they've they've tried to see the country

yes they've they've tried seceding from sure the Union like constant like they

have the we have like our own flag you know and all another crap but no like

it's one of those places where you have to be here to like understand like I

can't just tell anybody like like oh yeah I live on Long Island they're like

what do you live in like Rhode Island like what's Long Island what do you live

on an island are you an island boy people honestly don't even know I have no

idea what this is like it's a little chicken cutlet hanging off of you know

Manhattan yeah but but you cannot like we have to the thing is like so it

costs like what like fucking $50 to get here and like that's an ongoing joke of

like whenever I see everybody at at shows and shit they're like oh you're

paying $60 to hang out with your friends again yeah exactly but like you do that

you come in and my wife was like even she's like you're going to Long Island

and I'm like yeah she's like it's gonna go to like 50 bucks just to go out there

and bullshit tolls and stuff and I was like we were talking about this coming

in and you're like bottlenecked into a certain couple of roads to get in here

yep but then when you do it's just this huge like what would you look up it was

like a hundred and seventy four miles long or shit well twelve or nineteen

miles whatever it was a hundred and ninety like eighteen miles wide yeah so

it's just a straight it's just strange and then we couldn't believe every well

whatever the road we came in here I don't even know what that is like the

main fucking I don't know yeah Main Street yeah oh yeah if you passed all

American burger you're on it's like Merrick Road Montauk High it's called

Eric Road it's called Main Street it's called Montauk Highway that runs the

entire length of the island right right and it makes sense goes through all like

the goes every town each town yep yeah it's just it was it's just wild it is

just a wild thing I actually looked at a car on the way to Vanix yes we had to

check out a 77 rabbit that was basically like for sale for the last year or so I

think longer than that you asked me to look at that car like three years ago dude

was it that long okay so that's how long I've been talking to this dude so that's

crazy it was if anyone doesn't know there's there's a fucking red 77 rabbit

that is out on Long Island you it's gonna be the only German rabbit you'll see

pop up yeah it's like 36,000 miles no one has this shit anymore and yeah I

guess I sent it to Vanix like at least two years ago and I was like yo how far

is this from your place well coincidentally the car is still for

sale and it's wonder why yeah he's just asking way too much money it's an

automatic car he's probably listening to this podcast now because we were talking

because you told him we're doing a podcast yeah we did and he's like wait

what's your podcast we told me he's like dude I already follow you guys and I'm

like so he might be listening I don't know but so it's just it like it's a

solid car yeah it's a good car it would be a great car to just fucking you just

get it you drop it you put wheels on it make sure the thing runs well and you

just drive it you know the car is clean enough to where like it should be out

there like it should be taken places super it's super clean it should be seen

somewhere yeah and in the way that it's in the condition that it's in now or if

somebody wanted to lower it and put wheels on it and just drive it yeah it's

a super straight driver for a hundred percent um so anyway we had I had to

knock that off the the checklist when we got out here then we got out here and we

went out to eat or whatever so yeah now we're here the lock of that car being a

fox be sorry for sorry that's automatic it's an automatic so I think that's what

hinders it on price because of you know people are just lazy and they're like I'm

I don't want like it would be an easy swap but it's like again if someone's

looking to buy something you don't want to have to do this extra work and source

it's also like that like I I'm fine with automatics like the Jenna that I have

was was automatic when I bought it and I drove it for you know three years

automatic and had no issues with it until it's decided to you know leak two

courts of transmission fluid every five minutes right but like you know it's

77 rabbit like yeah you're not you're not racing no fucking car you're not

anybody and that would be so nice is that's just a car you just get into and

just go yeah a lot your scooter probably faster yeah absolutely but like still

like who cares yeah you know yeah I think we're all way beyond the automatic

you know like so what it's a 77 rabbit who cares yeah that's true I feel like

it's even I feel like it's even more desirable if it's automatic because it's

kind of rare that you don't really see a lot of automatic cars anymore there is

somewhat of a novelty when you see that now where you're like oh yeah like it's

not you don't see it yeah oh it's not a four speed oh wow you know yeah especially

like I saw those a pickup truck for sale rather pick up that was an automatic and

it's like wow you don't see like wrap pickups at all automatic it's no you

don't seem at all so when you see one it's so odd rabbits in general I think

they sold way more manuals than they ever did automatics because that was like

you know an upgrade you know what's another weird like rarity is finding a

I think they I think 92 GTIs had a lot of automatics and G 60 carados yeah

automatic I've seen I've come across a lot of automatic G 60 carados I've seen

a decent that's true and then but you're right I never thought about that with the

carados but then like the VR sixes there were there weren't many no not really

yeah that's that's a crazy thing so dude as far as your cars go yes you've I

don't even know if like some people I'm sure a bunch of people know about your

GTI but if not just real quick just go over what you have in the garage so the

GTI is a it's an 85 GTI it's a Mars red VR six swapped you know the car is out

there it's a it's cammy kitted it's it's been out there in this condition it's in

I think I had it painted in 2023 no early 2024 I had it painted and I had bought

that car in 2021 actually no I bought that car in 2019 and it was just a regular so

the car had like a make-up paint job on it right the original plan with that car

was to keep it as like as almost like a nice driving restoration 85 GTI make it

look stock whatever and then Matt a friend Matt from Eurocraft had a cammy

body kit that was passed around that was cut in half and he told me that if I

could you know fix it I can have it so I wound up fixing it had my buddy Joe

Milazo paint the kit match it to the car and it was all kind of downhill from

there we that that cars had a lot of work done to it I'm finally at the point

where I could say that I'm happy with how it is now it's been it was shot for

PVW in 2020 I think or 2019 I might be getting the dates wrong it's been it's

been a while but it's funny like I think that everybody says like you know once

you get shot for the magazine like your car comes out better like in the next

three years you know right and I'm totally grateful for that opportunity of

getting it like it's definitely a bucket list thing of having car car in the

magazine especially like having a little piece on the cover sure but we had I had

Danny from DH Auto save that car because that car had a lot of windshield rust it

had a lot of quarter rust you know it was the car was a good 10 footer yeah and

then like you know before that we had Matt do the VR swap on it and it's it's

a really cool car and now now that Danny's painted it we've we had new

graphics on it we different wheels different suspension and now we're

gonna be turboing it because why not yeah because why cuz I drove next to Tony

Grimmel one day and I was like that car sounds cool let's put a thing on this car

too yeah exactly but no that car is that car is timeless I think it's in the

it's in the calendar if anybody hasn't seen the advertisements for more than

15 times right off the bat right in the beginning of the advertisement yep it

looks good yeah um and so you've had that car for a while yeah I kind of first

like noticed you I guess or maybe more so your car mm-hmm at Colt classic when

you had your other Jetta yes the old the 87 the Vesta tech car right yeah so that

car was I kind of wanted to talk to you about that car a little bit because I

don't know if we ever really talked about that I know you've been on the

podcast before but like we kind of talked about that the first time I was on

the podcast at Colt classic with Matt yeah that car I wish I still had that

car but that car had I call them crimes had a lot of crimes yeah it looked great

right but that car had a very bad just nothing went right on that car that's

why the Euro plate on the back of that car said cursed because every time I

tried to do something that car I was like ten steps back it was so that car

that was another car where I just kind of collected body kit parts for it that

was the first car that I had done body work on yeah and helped paint that that

was a very that was probably one of the first like DIY cars like I did that

engine swap and like my mom's garage you know with like very limited tools you

know and that was an ABA swap with a new speed charger the same setup that I have

in my current Jenna yeah it went to a gentleman for paint that I mean the paint

job looked good until it peeled off right and then at that point I was just so

over the car it had one last good run I think in 2017 it went to the first May

Day in Jersey and that was the last time it went out and then it was kind of part

it out and went away but that car like like I had a vision with that car that

car I kept calling at the time machine yeah because it was like just every any

piece of like 80s and 90s like auto styling you could find I threw it that

car what I thought was really interesting about that car was that was the

first that when did that car come out what was like after it was painted and

assembled yeah like 15 15 probably 2015 because the first time it went out

after paint was that cult classic yeah and it didn't have any graphics on it

was it was just painted gray right yeah you had a lot of iterations of it yeah

so that that the first time it came out let me see was 2016 okay June of 2016

was when the car first came out what I thought was really interesting about that

car was crazy yeah it it is crazy it's crazy how fast fucking time flies but

when that car came out and then when you really started like making it like

super in my eyes like a retro style like the graphics and stuff yeah the

graphics the grill the lights the the stance the wheels like that car got like

so did you ever see the car before it was yeah oh oh so no 2016 is when I had

the kit put on it yeah no I saw before yeah okay so 2016 we're talking I'm

about the kit then because I thought it looked amazing before that is yes when

it had the zenders on it was so very clean and yeah that but what I'm talking

about is when I really noticed and I put together that it was like the same car

and everything you know yeah it was probably one of those deals were you

see the same car happen like come out multiple times you don't even realize

sometimes yeah your brain goes ah ha you know but when you were doing that in

2016 and you did the kit and everything else that car to me was like super

ballsy at the time yeah because now I would say in the last say three four

or five years it became very popular again yeah so everybody gimmicky everybody

wants to go and they want to say well I want the period correct I want everything

else and and I respect what they're doing and putting a car yeah that looked

like it came from 92 and it's just sitting out there with all the stuff

throwing at like I like that your car in 2016 I was like whoa like I saw that and

I was like like I didn't know you but I was like that's balls where did that car

come from that's kind of the and it's funny the inspiration I had from to do

that was actually Kellyn's Green Mark 3 yeah okay because he came out with that

and I was like holy shit like that car has everything on it like in that style

yeah I'm like I could do that yep and that's what I did and it's funny you

say that like when the one so I'm looking through my phone when when I had

painted the car with the Zenders on it that was in 2013 okay so three years

after yeah three years later I decided to do the whole I redid the entire car

exactly and to your to your point no disrespect to anybody who's doing any of

this it's and I'm not saying I'm the one who started it obviously I'm taking you

know examples from other builds of course but now it's it's I don't know if

it's an oversaturation thing but what I always said is I like the cars when

they're done like how like my Jetta had everything on it painted there was a

theme it wasn't just like oh I have a cami valance or I have a you know a

hella wing or you know it's like like my GTI like it's the whole X1 kit yeah

like I like the cars to look like you know oh this this is the styling of the

car yes you know rather than like oh cool I have this one rare piece on my 90

Jetta which is cool yeah right I'm into that yeah no no disrespect at all to

anybody with that but my preference is like finish the car yeah I even said

that you know when the whole ricer thing was like a big thing like any gaudy

chopped up looking Honda was like you know a body kit from eBay on it like if

it was painted and installed I'm like oh cool the car's done yeah instead of just

like okay well the bumpers blue and the door is red and the hood is flat black

and whatever like you know I could I could respect the car that's like put

together see I will even go as far to say that you were in almost like at the

time like if anyone can really go back to 2016 nine years a lot of things change

right oh yeah so like people might go oh it's only 2016 like what is he talking

about no there was the 90s styling then the early 2000s happened and then

everyone started taking the body kits off yep and all that shit went away and

everyone was getting very very clean everything was clean and everything was

like oh I will I was so it was ironic for you to do what you did and that's why

I thought it was balls like I was like this is fucking crazy and it was almost

like it was like a very like an anti everybody else because kind of what I

was going with the green yeah like it was very punk dude was so punk rock and

that's that's what I was like gonna say I thought it was very like that car was

punk rock I don't know what how else to describe it that was exactly what it was

because if you look at like like I said the last time that car was out was the

first May Day which I believe was in 2016 or or might be 2017 I think it was

17 17 I have the shirt somewhere I think it's 17 but if you look at all the

pictures from May Day there's not there's really not one car that looks like

that Jetta there everything is there's a lot of quality cars there but like

nothing that looks like that and I don't know you know maybe that's a good

thing or maybe it's not I know for a fact it's not everybody's style that's

what's that's what's punk about it yeah and then and then I think what it did I

I honestly think that that car was more important than maybe you even realize or

I don't okay I'm very you know and this is you know everybody you guys can make

fun of me whatever I'm I'm very like oblivious to like impacts of cars yeah

I like I don't know to me it was an eye-opener to be like you can do that

again and it can be fucking cool right that was a thing like I didn't want it

to look I didn't want it to like people could say it looked ugly and that's

fine people could have their opinions on that well it kind of almost did in a

great way yeah you know what I mean and I remember somebody came up to me I went

to the the West Side VW show up in New Hampshire I think the first and last

time it happened okay but I remember I pulled the car in and this is like when

I was really taking the car on like a fucking tour of the East Coast I was

trying to go to every show and this person came up to me and he's like wow

you managed to put every ugly part on a car ever made for this and I said go away

yeah like fuck yeah what a what an odd thing to say it is an odd thing but I

will like I'm not I'm not fending like defending that guy but it was at the

exact point where and I'll stop harping on this I just I think it was at the

exact point where I think it was like ironic to do so and that's why I thought

it was cool and now so many people have opened their minds to like oh this is

cool again because everything goes in like a roller coaster fashion things are

very very cool and then they get very very stupid and then they get ironic

and then they become very cool again you know I mean cars at H2O like you know

it was like you know painting your engine bay like a completely different

color than the car like it was it was like an attention grab type you know

look at me you know look at I want attention which and I think I even said

this in a in a video that I did you know somebody had asked me like you know why

did you do this to your car and I'm like I don't I want attention yeah and it's

of course like the pulley video it was the pulley video yeah and it's like it's

the truth like why why what do you think I'm gonna build this GTI the way that it

looks with all these graphics and fucking gold wheels and this crazy paint job

for me to be like yeah it's okay you know it's whatever right like the fucking

car is it looks like it came out of a fucking like a hot VW's magazine in

like the 90s like yeah it's come on let's let's be objective right now yeah

but something for to be said about you when you touch base with like seeing a

car that just has one part so like fast and furious craze you have all these

cars that look good you know with these body kits on and everything maybe it's

not everyone styling but everything was complete and then like as years

progress you'll see a car with just a wing yeah you'll see we're like oh it

looks cool and it's like oh it's not finished cuz like it's just pieced

together with like one part here one part there when you have a complete car

with a complete kit on it from start to finish front to back it looks good

because it's complete it's just and it's not everyone's cup of tea it's not

everybody's look but it's just at least going that extra step to complete the

look well I think it takes discipline to yes that's the other thing like it

takes discipline to finish a build like that yeah anybody could just put a bumper

on or a grill on but like let's take the time to like have a vision of a car of

what you want it to look like and what you want it to sound like or perform like

exactly so you have that and then you have like we just so yeah the Jetta long

gone basically ripped apart but now you have another one in the trash and then

you have the GTI that we were just talking about and yeah so then then I

have the same car again right so you're like you know what I almost did you

think like a recreation in a way at first I know it's not really recreation

honestly no okay because this this Jetta so the original Jetta that I had was an

87 just GLI it had manual windows had no sunroof right it had you know it was

just it was what actually that car I bought that car for $400 because I blew

up my 92 GTI and I sold that car to a friend of mine I needed a car to drive

and this was back when daily driving mark twos wasn't like a crazy thing it's

like oh it's just a car right I bought this Jetta for $400 it's the same color

it's got the same style it's whatever turned it into the Vesta tech car with

all the crap on it and then I had brought the GTI to Matt's to have the VR done

and our friend Bill was selling this GLI which is a year younger it's an 86 but

it's still an Atlas gray and it's a Pirelli edition so it's got piece lot

wheels it had the gray and black vinyl interior it's got power windows it's got

a sunroof it's got air conditioning power steering you know power locks

central locking power mirrors like it's it's a souped up it's a Jetta but it's

got everything all creature comforts that like you know a BMW at the time would

have drove that car daily for like three years and it was an all the other

weird thing was an automatic this back to my automatic rant right I have no

problem with automatic mark twos they you'll do 80 miles an hour at 5,000

RPMs and it'll just take it it's it's fine but unless you're going up a hill

trying to get to Euro Summit that was that was terrible yeah with it with a

Xcargo fucking Xcargo roof carrier filled with proton packs from yours and

garbage yeah that was stupid that was fun though yeah of course but yeah so the

car currently as it sits is his ABA swapped again with a new speed charger

again and right now oh well back back to that I had Matt do the swap on the GTI

and I bought this car and drove it home and daily drove it right and it was fine

for a couple years automatic and eight valve and then it just started acting

weird and just doing stupid CIS problems and shit that we just couldn't we just

didn't have time to figure out sure so we tossed an ABA in it did the manual swap

supercharged it because why not and honestly the the car is so clean and so

original and unmolested and I'll use that term because it really is like the

story with that car was pulled out of a junkyard in New Jersey and the car didn't

run and Matt found out that the muffler was clogged so he cut the muffler off of

it and drove it home that's crazy yeah that car had wait you're saying Matt

your craft Matt drove that car home I believe it was either Matt or Bill drove

that car from a junkyard Bill's surreal atrocities or whatever yes okay yeah

yeah like horn yeah yeah so um that's crazy yeah so I drove that car

automatically put like a TT exhaust on it and you know the I picked it up and

drove it for three years and now it's the way that it is but right that's

fucking awesome the only thing that I've done to that car other than super

charging it with the with the swap I got rid of the Pirelli interior because

unfortunately those interiors fall apart especially if you don't take care of

them and again the cars 30 years old 35 years old yeah so the interior was was

you know shredding it was folded I had it I I took a seat apart from another car

and made a driver seat and long story short it's got power Velour or caros in

it with matching door cards and all that crap I was gonna ask but as far as

recreating another 80s styled car it it's there is a foe ha body kit on

marketplace right now for a Jetta that's new old stock and I'm like well but

then you start going down the rabbit hole like all right well if I if I get a

body kit I'm gonna have to paint the car and if I paint the car I'm gonna have to

do X Y and Z and it's like the car has the car presents very well it's it's not

a show car by any means it's it's not a patina car either right no but it's like

just good enough to wear like you don't have to park it away from people at the

supermarket you know I mean like a door ding here or there it's clean it's a

clean it's clean survivor it's an 86 right it's gonna be 40 years old and

it's got that sick bullet hole air intake you know God yeah so that car the

story goes before I owned it that car was being driven in Philly during 4th

of July and somebody shot the car from a rooftop with a 22 and there is a 22

caliber hole in the hood and the previous owner airflow did not treat it so it it

has like a nice pepperoni mark on the hood with a hole in the middle of it and

that's like the talk of any mark and I hate it I hate that's like what

everybody else car with a bullet hole even my neighbor the next door who knows

nothing about cars so oh is that the bullet hole car yes it's the bullet hole

yeah of course that's honestly if that hole was a little bit lower it would have

a bra on it and you'd never see it right but it's like right over it's

actually right over the alternator yeah so when it rains water gets right it's

great it's whatever I have a hood in the garage for that I know you go on it

eventually we'll see that being said we're kind of talking a little bit

before this now now that everyone knows some of Vanix cars and his past car and

everything you aren't only into Volkswagen's and this is like something

that I think you know Danny struggle with this is definitely something that I

struggle with and not it's not necessarily a struggle sometimes just

like talking to a fucking star yeah you're 100% a song going through the

story right now sometimes it's very much a struggle oh yeah so that's kind of

where I'm getting at so I just have in my notes it was like Volkswagen verse

muscle car or whatever and let's talk about that a little bit right so I've

been there where you know there's there's times where you just want to like

we're we're here we have this podcast for like the quote unquote scene and we

don't want to see the dying I yeah right right so it's like it's all part of it

right and we we like what we do and people message us all the time and do

there's been times where I'm like I just want to like I just want to even stop

this yeah and just like or at least like take a break or we'll do season two like

this is all season one like 160 some episodes we'll do season two four years

from now or something you know what I mean and like I've thought of all

different ways of like doing that at some point I think realistically we may go

to and it'll take a little while but maybe episode 200 or so and then we take

a little bit of a break you know I mean well the saying goes and I always say

this about you know a lot of things whether it be over saturation of car

shows it's how can I miss you if you won't go away yeah you know what I mean

like oh here it's another episode it's another car show of it's another meat

it's like sure all right well we're into it yeah but can we be doing something

else or do we want to be doing something else that kind of that kind of battle

yeah and it is a battle I think this is how I kind of think of it sometimes where

I don't know if you ever think of it like this but like it doesn't matter it

might not matter at all this is just like thoughts are just gonna start pouring

out right now so we all established ourselves just like you do in high

school when you get a first car just like whatever we somehow established

ourselves is like you have somewhat of an identity right yeah and that identity

for us and all of our friends has been forever sometimes decades sometimes

longer Volkswagen's yeah specifically early Volkswagen's we're all in this

super niche thing but we all know each other and we're kind of all in it

together and that sometimes makes it even harder if you were if you want like

to do something else because you you did say candidly and I'm not saying you're

gonna do this but sometimes you think of just saying like fuck it the GTI can go

yep you could sell it you could go get like an old muscle car something not

even a muscle whatever just a cruiser cruiser something like that yeah I'm

just saying fucking you like cycle yeah exactly you can do something else or

just say fuck all the cars in general and fucking I don't know get into fucking

hot air balloons or something like that into real estate yeah exactly venture

capitalism all right guys thanks for coming we're gonna end it here no but

John had to go to his home planet but like how I'm just kind of fleshing this

out how do you guys think of that sometimes because sometimes I honestly

struggle and I think it hurts us as we get the holy shit it's already November

now the fucking cars go away and you can't go anywhere and you can't do

anything and I understand you also say like what you just said it kind of goes

against what you just said as how can I miss you if you don't go away because

we're you know there's so many but then sometimes throughout the winter that's

what I'm just like fucking get rid of all this shit like what am I doing yeah

exactly yep no this shit matters and and honestly like this is kept this kind

of sane because like we have to keep coming back to this and then we

interview someone else and then you talk to someone and it fucking sparks and

you get that that it sure okay same thing happened with me you know again

we'll talk about how sometimes we don't want to VW anymore not anymore but like

not right now right I want something else and like you were saying I haven't

always just been into you know early Volkswagen's I've had Beatles and stuff

like that but sure you know I like pre-64 cars American cars you know I've

had my fair share of of early American stuff I had a the most recent one that

I had was a 64 Mercury Comet and I had that car when I had the the Vesta tech

Jetta yeah and I was daily driving that thing too yeah and you know but it the

same thing happened like a winter time comes and you're like why the fuck do I

have this 1964 car I can just sell it I can just get rid of sure but you know I've

had a 54 Pontiac chieftain I've had a 49 business coop like I've had like weird

cars and for some reason I always get cursed with like the last year of the

car so they make no parts for or the first year of the car right which they

make no parts for like I'll never although the the only car that I did have

that was like you could build out of a catalog was I had a 64 Nova that was a

Ford or straight six two-speed power glide it was it was just a car yep like

you get it started every day I remember I changed the water pump and a

Pep Boys parking lot and it was just like this is the easiest car to work on

and stupidly I'm like I want something else I want a GTI and sold that and then

I bought a 92 GTI and then it's like okay well now I'm back yeah you know like

sometimes you need to go into orbit to come back to that's true and I I think in

some ways like maybe the reset for us is just a winner yeah sometimes like

honestly when you first when you walk out like that porch like just right here

you go outside and you get that first smell of of spring and like you can

actually like there's no salt on the road anymore and you can bring the car

out like that's pretty fucking exciting too and you know I don't know maybe it's

just me like bitching but do you have anything to add to this because I know

like you Jesus Christ Jesus we didn't even get into the is this gonna be part

of it yes your bucket why not cuz Danny hit another fucking deer like and this

one was like a hit hit and guys oh this is a good one if you're confused the last

time you're new to the podcast if you're new to the podcast or if you if you

don't understand like why is he talking about the deer again it's not the deer

again this is another new year it's not the same deer it's not the deer from

fucking Halloween yeah Halloween deer which was just six weeks ago I didn't

know about I'm out of date with my dear information he hit one on Halloween yeah

with my silver besot wagon not the Jedi one are you sure it was a deer or was

it somebody dressed up as a deer this one dress it was that's a great idea

the day before no it was the morning of Halloween because I had to go into work

working overtime and doing a fair for my boss so I go in at four o'clock in the

morning so I'm commuting between three and four in the morning and about two

miles from work smashed a deer right so we already know about that that was a

silver but now you just fucking annihilated your deer slayer card now

dude let me tell you something we've got a bunch of messages that I didn't

really talk to you about because he got we got in the car to come here Vannick

and we're like he's almost starts out I'm like stop we'll just talk about when

we get to Vannick so people are saying you should you should start like

literally as a hunter get deer tags people are saying we were serious we

were serious about the brush bar why hasn't he got I got a lot of messages

about the brush so did I as well and they're like what is he doing are they

like angry messages like dude you motherfucker put that brush guard so that

there I didn't I didn't get any angry messages like that but I did get some

that people are like are you fucking serious those people are actually

getting mad was this picture posted anywhere was the picture of the car

posted anywhere I posted on my Instagram social media okay because obviously I

don't have Instagram anymore and Ryan sent me a picture of the car okay and

the first question I had was was it made of cement was the deer made of cement

because there is no fender on the car but there's hair there's hair and when

she'll gone to no which was good okay which is intact so I haven't like all

right so backing up to the actual event it says uncanny I fucking

laugh every time you hit one or is it like a panic so the last so the last one

I actually saw coming across the road I was like oh fuck hit it that was a

Halloween laughed yes this one same exact spot about two miles away from my

job there's like a little farm has an opening is a like farm property to the

right and then like to the left is like a little bit of a hill going up until

like the woods yeah I didn't even see this fucker coming this time I'm just

cruising along about 60 65 and then just I didn't even like to have a chance to

slow down or even know what the fuck happened until I saw like the legs in

the air and a thing like staring at me like fuck this thing is not gonna come

through the window is it so I smashed it here and then I just kept trying like

fucking I gotta go to work that's what he does because I'm like what am I gonna

do stop and like this is exactly exactly what you said on Halloween this is

exactly what it was deja vu for me because same spot early in the morning

going to work working overtime doing a fear for my boss and the last time I

couldn't do these favors anymore for my boss because I fucking told my listen

I'm not coming to work and more in the morning between 4 o'clock at like 3

4 in the morning you're not doing it do you have those like gimmick deer whistles

dude Ian Rubin sent them to yeah you should put them all over the hood like

it'll your car will sound like a fucking exhaust it'll sound like a kazoo going

down the road it might just need that you need like gun turrets or someone

said Ryan should get one of his buddies that's a hunter and his half and rides

shotgun with me with the right yeah with the right flot side the car really

riding shotgun right need like floodlights or something dude I know it's like so

this is what's even crazier so I'm going to Danny's house today and I have just a

Honda pilot my beater right I'm going to Danny's house and I am not 150 feet

from pulling into his driveway where I literally had to slam on the brakes and

skid a little bit because a fucking deer came running across the street and he

has this deer mojo that is just like swirling around his his whole essence

it's unbelievable you're like the the tiger king but for deer but you kill

them with your cars dude I told the story for Scott Norton came like to buy

my my red mark one and then he when he took off he fucking smashed a deer in

in what in the mark one no in his mark seven but he just he just rebuilt the

whole thing like he actually totaled it like it sucks and it's it's just so

ironic the whole thing like people are gonna stop never never going up to you

guys you can unless I'm in like a fucking tank I think you can come to my

house you just can't talk to Danny just don't say his name he's like yeah he's

like the Blair which one you're already there you already got there yeah yeah

then I'll come over so God you're like an urban legend it's stupid dude people

were messaging me they kept literally I must have had eight different

unbelievable I have a lot of messages about this just and I need to get a

brush bar custom fabbed up for itself anyone wants to help me with that yeah

I seriously need to get a brush bar fabbed up he's got a box he's got a

build the car again yeah so just you should just build an exoskeleton around

the fun fact it is I still haven't fixed a silver basalt wagon from the last year

but I have all the parts for it now so the short-term goal is to get the silver

wagon back on the road to have all the parts already have a silver fender a

silver hood I'm not gonna paint them black for that and then go back to the

deer slayer the original deer slayer because the car has 257,000 miles on

it I feel like it's earned to get 300,000 out of the car oh now it's done

the deer have anything to say about it right this is number six for this car

this is like 16 in total a six for this car you're not reporting any of these

two insurance right who I did with the black one where they were like really

like the first like you you're fucking kidding yeah so stop hitting them the

first time I got paid out for by insurance yeah they gave me like 2,800

bucks or car whatever to fix the car second time they don't even believe you

the second time I hit the deer as close to home this that one at that

time and I went right to the fucking state police barracks to get their police

report because I knew that they were questioned me hitting this deer because

I didn't even fix it from the first time but that second time when I hit it then

they totaled the car and then took it I'm like no I want the car back so they

paid me out again for the car but then I bought it back less money yeah and I got

the car back yeah so it's like after those two I took it off of like comp and

I said basic liability on it yeah so now I'm just paying it out of pocket so

whatever every time it is what it is yeah and there's been like three or four

after three more yeah great sense yeah or two no two more since because I hit a

small one like before that I hit a small deer it was like a dog just like mows

them down you actually drive it you actually drive towards them yeah that's

not a big deal no this do people don't even want to hear this anymore yeah like

it's just the same thing all right so we got that you hit another one like going

to have to make these smaller segments because you know literally be like all

right and we're almost done but then he hit another deer have a great day yeah

but so going back to our like what we're talking about yeah I'm contemplating like

is this like fuck should be the end of me buying fucking B5 and half a sauce

because of this well that's almost a given because it's like is it the cars is

it because of these besides what is it because I mean yes I've hit dears all

the cars so it's not the car obviously yeah you hit tears with carados and yeah

yeah I've had two three hit that car in city do you ever get the insurance

information from the dears that you hit no they're usually dead oh yeah I mean

it was an honest question yeah they're usually just they're laid out yeah or they

run away and then like probably die somewhere in the way any straps to get

well soon balloons to their hoofs I thought about what he was gone like or

she was gone after I got out of work yeah I didn't see it so I don't have someone

picked it up yeah you don't like go into the woods looking for right you're like

looking for a deer limping I would know no no um this last one I see I was pretty

pissed sure I was kind of mad about it because like I don't fucking want to hit

these things of course I do like my car I like dear joy the car I want to drive

the car and like get it to 300,000 miles sure now it's smashed up in the fucking

yard and like it is fixable it doesn't look like it did any structural damage

any frame everything else is just pretty parts so yeah yeah so back to what I was

saying about and we had to just get that over with back to what I was saying

about these cars and your identities and everything else I mean you know you

you go through this too and I mean sometimes don't you like is it just

like another notch maybe it's a deer hit maybe it's you know you want to get

something else I mean to me sometimes I don't know sometimes it's just are we

still doing this you know what I mean am I still hitting deer yeah no I mean not

just that we still are we still doing the same thing every year with you know

Volkswagen's buying into the car doing this to it bringing it to the show yeah

leaving fucking in my case driving four to five hours home yeah you know I don't

know if there's an answer or do we just go and you know buy you know buy the

Comet or buy the Road Runner and just be you know hanging out in the parking lot

you know at the gas station yeah you know sometimes that seems pretty pretty

cool but then you're the guy at the gas station yeah you know there's not no one's

coming up to you and well no that might be another problem you might get too many

people coming up to you if you have a car like that yeah you're just like get

the fuck away from me like you don't know anything about this car right you

know like or you're like I had this car no you had a different car yeah this is

my car yeah you know you get a lot of that's what I had one when I used to

daily drive the Comet I would get like I had this same car and blah blah blah I'm

like uh-huh okay I always made the joke like you know you're you're a young kid

and you're driving around in this you know cool old hot rod or whatever I'm

getting all the girls no you get a lot of like old men at like the hardware

store who want to like ask you like what fucking displacement your straight six

is a 170 I couldn't tow shit you know it's like okay cool can I just like go to

McDonald's now right you leave me alone right that's what you get I think at in

the same token though as what you're saying I bet of course I'm flipping the

coin again I bet if you were to go and you do that so many times whatever but

then you like you don't really have the people to hang out with anymore no you

don't you know what I mean the thing that we did create yeah the thing that we

all know each other for and you know and all people say like it's not about the

cars about the people and like is that true yeah it definitely is but like then

I think you kind of really feel it if you're you know hanging out like you're

just driving around some comment and you keep talking to some fucking weirdo

yeah and it's like you know what fuck this I'm going back yeah I'm gonna go

back to the show we're all my friends exactly yeah because if you look at like

the classic car shows it's weird because you have a lot of like newer muscle

cars say yeah you had the classic cars that the guy will never leave his car

he just stands next to it the whole fucking time where he sits there or sits

behind it yep and like you pull him next to you he won't even fucking say hello

to you no no it's the weirdest thing because we have all these things in

common about you know liking these classic cars and then he just looks at

you like well yeah mine's fully original yeah you don't have matching no you

don't have the right air cleaner on it yeah why am I even doing this like fuck

right you know it's crazy it's a different world completely it is it's

like going to like an I guess how would like I don't know an air-cooled show would

be with like the top of the line air-cooled you could have in the

country or something I don't know it's it's different no these guys take those

cars like every every you know cars and coffee is like the fucking you know

museum tour or like no we're at the Coliseum like no you're in the parking

lot like there's a roach coach next to you right it's not that serious right

that's why I thought it was cool with Toby's Jetta that he was at that one

show that was more of a concourse style show they have a lot of these like one

off cars or like a GNX that's worth $250,000 and you guys mark one there

yeah I thought I was really cool because it's like something you don't see every

day or something you don't like spirit because a lot of those shows they're

just it's just a different kind of vibe um not that I didn't like say the last

thing that we went to is like rabbits on the rocks I had a great time you were

dying I think yeah I was very sick yeah but I know you wanted to come out and

like that's that's the kind of thing where it does revitalize you definitely

and you're like this is fucking cool and all these cars are cool and I don't

know maybe it's part of because we're in this niche group that you're not seeing

stuff like when we used to go to H2O your fucking eyes would be open left and

right you'd be like where did that car come from what's this car did you see

this going down the road now it's very much like oh like you know this is Tony's

Joe you know every car you know everything yeah you kind of do it's

again that's I don't know heavy is the head that where's the crown I guess I

don't know how to explain it yeah you know it's I just I hope that in like the

next five to ten years that and hopefully sooner that there are gonna be you

know the younger and you know we sound old saying this but like the younger

generation coming up that are into these older cars that can pull something

cool out of their ass and you know and wow us not that we're really going for

that but like it's cool to see something where it's like holy shit look at did you

see that thing like yeah you know you get you get that kind of vibe but you're

right in the sense it's not a bad thing no of like you know you go to a show like

Rabbits on the Rocks or Mayday or you know I went to Northeast Unity you know

which was a super super cool show super laid-back super organized like awesome

show but like you go there and you know you just oh hey everybody yeah we're in

this state now you know Kyle said we're the traveling circus we go where you

know at Euro Summit or or roots or cult it's like it's we're all I guess it's

also because we're also friends with everybody yeah you know if I made this

joke at the diner before like you know back in like 2006 2007 why I didn't know

any of these people or any of you guys it was a lot easier I didn't have to go

anywhere right I could just like go to English town and turn around and go home

yeah you know I didn't have to drive five six hours you know I think there's

something kind of special about like the mystery then though like there's

something about like wait whose car is this or like oh it's that guy's car and

you know I I I hope people can appreciate that we've been trying to open up the

lanes of like almost communication to where like people kind of know like

where people are from or they make connection oh he knows that or that was

his car and everything else but when back then like when you don't know as

many people no you had vortex yeah was it you had vortex you had the spotted

forum yeah and then I remember it you know show and goes and waterfests like

the only way that you knew somebody's car was if they were next to it yes or if

they had a build sheet that had their vortex user name yeah that's truly that's

what I remember seeing I remember somebody had like they would have these

poster boards that were like all photoshopped together terribly and it

would say like you know the vortex user names a.k.a. you know Tom Smith's 92

karate or whatever he's like oh okay cool that's Tom's car now but now

everybody has a username and everybody has an Instagram and if and people are

putting them on their cars it's like oh that's that's what's his name's car oh

cool but it's also like like you said there's no mystery there's no unknown

like you see everybody's life and what they're doing to their cars and it's

like when you see it in person it's sometimes kind of a letdown sure you

ever feel that way like you see a car that's like super hyped up on the

internet and then you see it in person you're like oh yeah that happens a lot

and I honestly I say that about my own car about the GTI you know when when I

first had that car out after the kit was put on it everybody was like dude that's

awesome and I'd be like well yeah look at this right you know and I would

fucking call out all the shit I'm better on it now yeah but like I'm my own worst

critic when it comes to any of my cars and I'm not saying I have the best cars

either but you know it's it's tough when you know something gets so hyped up and

you turn into that guy and it's like oh well it's not really that good yeah it's

not to get like too philosophical I guess but go for it yeah um you like a

year and a half ago or whatever it was was like fuck Instagram like I'm done

yes and me on my personal page I still have the the people's car but I don't

go on that as much and I actually keep it on my computer yeah so I got off

Instagram like right after roots this year mm-hmm and there's something about

that even where it's like I guess the the real question to me is and I I don't

know maybe I just dwell on this sometimes like in my own mind but it's like

why are we doing what we're doing why do you build the car why do you get a

certain like pair of wheels or you know set of wheels why do you why do you do

this or that like why are you swapping this car what and if you really enjoy it

like if you can really say especially after you get rid of that shit yeah when

you get rid of like Instagram and everything else and like there's not

that hype or you don't care like it's actually nice to probably go to a show

and be like oh I don't know what that is who's is that like yeah it's cool to see

I didn't know about that yep it's almost like a privilege now yeah to say I

didn't know about that it's a privilege to be uninformed yeah yeah which which

like crazy like very crazy in these in this in this day and age now when you

have every piece of information at your fingertips isn't it nice to be like oh I

didn't know that it really is I feel like there's something very special about

being like unplugged and and it's not only cars it can be about politics it

can be about anything and when you don't know something it's actually like it is

it's almost like a burden that can be like lifted you're like cursed with

knowledge yeah exactly why do I need to know about and the thing that that I

always said is like why do I need to be engulfed in somebody else's trauma that

I don't know sure and I'm not saying people that we know like people have

their traumas people lose people every now I understand that and now I'm not

talking about that at all I'm talking about like the explore page like why am

I why am I being engulfed with with like people's disabilities and hardships and

and stuff like it almost takes you out of your own mind sure of like well what

do I what am I doing now yeah if I'm just and that's kind of why I got off of

the whole social media thing is because I was just being distracted with bullshit

yeah just nonsense and now with all this like AI shit that you can't tell is

that's what's real and what's and I mean honestly I think it's all a ploy to

trick old ladies on Facebook of just like bullshit videos of like dogs and

shit but like there's a lot of wacky stuff out there's a lot of wacky stuff

we're nothing to do with yeah I don't want to do with that so I just saw

something within the last like week or so and it was like it showed in 2023

an AI video of Will Smith eating spaghetti and then I know yeah 25 and it

looks like Will Smith eating spaghetti so normally in 2026 and a half will Smith

is gonna be in your living room eating spaghetti spaghetti you're like

pushing around his mouth and what I like so when you say that whole my huge

thing was also like when I it's funny that you just said that and this this can

get deep I don't want to go too far down around talk about cars yeah but like it's

like when truth when truth goes away yeah like what are we fucking doing like

I'm not even like I don't even know what I'm seeing anymore so like and that's

only gonna get worse and worse and it's literally taking you and putting you

almost like in a different dimension in a depression state in a constant state of

anxiety and worry and it's not healthy yeah you know it's just fucking stupid

I like basic stuff and getting back to like basic technology and like just like

I was like what's behind you yeah I was excited about getting a cassette

adapter to have Bluetooth I could put it into my monsoon system and this is the

thing like not not going back to the deer hit but like that morning it was a

first morning I was I got this cassette adapter and it has a little Bluetooth

like a button on it so you can actually do like a hands-free call to call come

through the speakers as well so I was listening to reload podcast while I was

driving to work and like this was a little bit this is the shit this thing

is fantastic and I know everyone has touch screens in their cars and big

fucking computers and everything I got a Bluetooth cassette yeah it was like

$20 on Amazon it's fantastic sure it's it's also a thing that you know another

reason that I got off of Instagram and whatnot was like I'm trying to limit the

amount of like information I'm getting yes from everybody yes and like and again

like you said not to get too deep into this but like it's it's really chained

and I've been off it January so I've been off it since January January 5th I

think I got off of it of this this past year we're coming up on a year I got I

went back on for roots roots weekend because a lot of friends were down there

and like I wanted to reconnect with people and like share pictures and locate

whatever you know message people whatever and then I got off it like

immediately after roots weekend and like it just puts me in a better mood not

being like on my phone constantly and like scrolling but to your point when

you were talking about like once you're off social media and you're like building

a car and you're like what am I doing am I doing this for me yes or I'm just

getting more I'm getting more and more congested as this goes on so anyway what

I learned is like so I've been off for a year and I've been chipping away at the

Jetta yeah and the only people that I send like I'll send pictures to like you

or like Matt or you know whoever but I'm not I'm not like posting on Facebook I

obviously for like marketplace and VW tech pages but like it's it's weird

because like you know there's some people that every time they turn a fucking

wrench they got a fucking tripod and a ring light and like all right guys like

you know this is the the suspension build today and it's like 45 minutes of

nothing on a YouTube video it's like are you doing it for the for the for the

likes or are you doing it because you're actually into it or do you even

know why you're doing it exactly why are you doing this yeah you even know

bring you joy right does it bring you joy I mean seriously and these are

sometimes like the things that I you really sorry yeah you really do think

about and I feel like when you do turn it off like I haven't had it now for what

what's it been three months or whatever four months or whatever it's been and

dude it is just like you know you go home and you do you're outside I'm fucking

cutting wood because I have to or do you notice more or less people reaching out

to you because that was one of the things that I it wasn't so much of a I

wouldn't even call it an experiment because it sounds very like selfish and

vain like I'm gonna delete social media to see who my real friends are like I'm

not not one of those but like do you feel like you talk to people and

interact with people less or just about the same because obviously like

Instagram thought about Instagram was like you know anybody could leave a

comment on a picture sure like you know I'll post a picture of like new wheels

and everybody you know be like oh sick you know fucking jerking off all over it

but like do you think if I did that and just showed up at a show would you get

like the same response right which I think that's another weird thing in

society now where it's like people are lazy to like give you the time of day

when it's not on like a social media thing you know because you could be

behind your phone you'd be whoever you want and this is getting kind of deep

but I like it but in the same sense like it's so easy to just leave a thumbs up

like yeah but are you leaving a thumbs up because you actually like it or is it

a thumbs up like hey don't forget about me that's true it's weird yeah

percent or like you ticked that box because you know other people would too

huh so like you want to be like oh yeah guys just so you know I like that as

well yeah I know that's common that's on that team yeah I'm on I'm on team you

know H&R coilovers yeah I'm on team fucking you know air ride it's just

it's weird and maybe it is a little bit too deep to think about because at the

end of the day it's fucking cars and like you guys have families and like real

stuff I have Christmas decorations to worry about but that but that is like

real too yeah like and you have you have a life and when you to I don't know you

could you could say and you could almost like run in circles you could be

chasing your tail because like and I've said this before too but like you could

be running in circles saying well why why does anyone do anything isn't like

then you're like what is free will yeah and this is tall we're talking about

like fucking RMLs supercharger you know it goes it goes so far but what I will

say is I feel better when I got rid of that yeah and it is it's a big it's a

big thing that a lot of people are having difficulty with it there social

media is a real addiction yeah there's real tiktok addictions Facebook and

and stuff like that and if it works for you if you're making money off of it

fucking you know mazeltov good for you guys but like the people who like

myself admitted that I had a problem with this of just doom scrolling and not

paying attention at work and fucking being on it when I'm driving and just

and it's like what am I doing am I it's it's just this weird like generational

thing where we want instant gratification and like I want to see how

many likes my car could get so so like I know I like my car but I want other

people to like it too or I know I like this tattoo and I want other people to

like it too it's weird and like it shouldn't be that way yeah but it is and

it's probably just gonna get worse but hey I'm not on it anymore speaking of

tattooed look like you did get some fresh new increase yeah no yeah shout out

to Anthony mealy and blue honeymoon tattoo another really cool old Volkswagen

guy it's funny how you were asking about like are there any cars on the island

because Long Island is like a vortex of nothing of nothing you know what I mean

but no there are there are a couple of cool cars out here there's a lot of cool

people you know Anthony's been in it for forever and he owns a shop tattoo shop

out in Iceland blue honeymoon tattoo and yeah he does a lot of work for me on

me and he's got a really cool rabbit mark one rabbit on air with a swoops

built weird engine stuff on it so cool what color is the car it's baby blue

okay yeah it's been it's been around yeah yeah okay yeah um yeah so good it's

funny cuz like now you know I said vortex on pun intended but like there's

something to be said about that like having a desktop computer and then

going on to your VW vortex page and then like following a build an actual build

not like something you know you're just liking instantly on yeah not a 60 minute

or 40 minute YouTube video of like you know a sped up fucking build thread you

know weird stuff this is like the days of like hey guys like sending this stuff

off to powder right you know updates later and then like a week later yeah

like you're actually going through like I don't know 30 to 70 pages of a build

thread five years in the making you know you said to you said you like have it on

yes a place to go yes like physically you would walk into a room you had the

computer room yes and you would then sit down and look at your stuff and then

when you were done doing it whether that be a couple hours or not sure but like

then you would get up and do something else you know I mean absolutely I guess

that's that's my whole thing I don't know just some shit to think about let's

talk about something else Christmas movies okay did you see what was the

what are some like good like slasher type Christmas movies oh god I mean the

first one that comes to mind is black Christmas mmm yeah Christmas is one of

the first slasher movies yeah that's black Christmas Gremlins Gremlins really

isn't a slasher horror movie but it is it's a more of a horror scary Christmas

movie but it is a Christmas movie like that's one thing it's like you know what

it is and what is in a Christmas movie yeah I hate that that argument it always

goes to die hard it's like who cares yeah whatever it's like hot take I don't

like die hard yeah it's like fight me I'm like like people are like oh Grimms is

not Christmas when like he literally gets it as a Christmas present yeah it's

like it is a Christmas movie a freaky movie to watch as a kid oh yeah

definitely I actually just watched Krampus Krampus is a good as a good

scary Christmas movie silent night deadly night yeah I was just gonna say

that one what's what's another one I was just thinking slay damn it I don't

remember I had one in my I don't know do you remember not that this is at all

scary but it's kind of corny too but did you ever see the the Mel Gibson one

like Fat Man or whatever no when the dude like comes for him because like he

didn't get what he wanted so he's like trying to shoot up Santa Claus no I've

never even heard of this no this sounds like a fever dream it was only it was

only like in 2021 or something oh really yeah oh is a recent movie yeah I

don't know yeah um what was that other one I was thinking of shit passion of

Christ I just did Mel Gibson I was like oh passion of Christ there's a

Christmas movie that is a family Christmas violent night that's what I

was violent night is that the one with David Harbor I don't remember I just

know I never got around to seeing it was it a recent movie like Santa Claus is

like a badass and he's like beating up people I think so yeah I think that was

it violent night yeah um yeah what's your favorite Christmas movie Danny so I

was talking earlier with Vannick and asked if he ever heard of a Christmas

movie called a night they say Christmas it's a corny like B movie that was on

TV in like the early 80s and I remember always wanted to watch that as my favorite

Christmas movie growing up but it has like Jacqueline Smith in it and it's

like the basically they're blasting around the north pole and I guess they're

blasting for well or whatever they're blasting for around there and like they

keep blasting around North Pole they're gonna blow up like Santa Claus's area

because like they're too close to it so they gotta like stop blasting and they

have to like this family has to like kill like the blast like countdown it's

going on and everything this quote-unquote safe Christmas yeah so that

was like one my favorite Christmas movies growing up nice did you guys ever

see the the claymation the California raisins like Christmas shit of course

yeah that's one that was like it always stuck in my head like I like that yeah I

always wanted to be super small and then go in the building coming out of

shit like the bar they're closing up they're singing and shit so another

another good one is Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas special oh shit that's

fucking crazy yeah a lot of celebrities that are on that and like it's

incredible like just I don't know I mean I'm a big Pee Wee fan obviously you have

the Pee Wee bike yeah what's up with that dude I don't know that's that's talk

about it yeah that's weaponized autism right there yeah what do you have what

do you have in the garage that is a so it's more of a tribute bike it's not his

exact model of bike but it's a it's a red Schwinn cruiser bike that I kind of

did a replica build for Pee Wee's big adventure where the whole premise of that

movie is that his bike goes missing and it's like the coolest bike ever so yeah

I had some pieces 3d printed for it it's got fucking streamers on it it's got

saddlebags that I custom painted and pinstriped it has tail lights it's got

it's it's got pretty much all the identifying markers of the Pee Wee

bike yeah but now you know it's like I built it funny story about that I built

that around the same time that the wounded warrior project had their bike

marathon on Long Island oh shit and I snuck into that with that bike no shit and

rode it for a couple of miles with them and everyone was like what the fuck

because I had no bib with a number on it right I was just in there on this bike

and everyone and it's like like anybody could sign up for this so there was like

kids and like you know people on on cruisers and mountain bikes and road

bikes and trikes and all sorts of shit and then there's me with this fucking

Pee Wee Herman bike you didn't put on like the suit or no I don't know I didn't

I didn't go that crazy into it did people recognize everybody recognized

by nice everybody was screaming Pee Wee and I mean it's it's cool though it is

honestly that was that was it's almost like how I got into like the ghost

buster stuff where I was like I like this I'm an adult I have a bank account I

could buy and build and and do stuff like this and that was literally like

all right I'm gonna put my full ass into this and build a Pee Wee tribute bike

like I wanted to see how accurate and close I could get to it with with stuff

that I had access to because there's people on like the replica parts forum

that like one-to-one screen accurate build one of those bikes and it's

insane like just the frame alone is like two grand like it's a 1957 Schwinn DX

Cruiser frame that was only made like for three years like good luck finding one

right like you're not gonna find that you're not gonna find that at like

fucking Walmart right so um yeah no I just I really wanted to have a Pee Wee

bike and and I it's it's got in the saddlebags it's got like 200 feet of

chain so I could pull out the chain just look like it so I rode it to um my barbershop puts

on a hot rod show in in my town okay and I rode it into town and like everybody was freaking

everybody wanted to buy it and like it's one of the things where I was like that could also be

for sale but like I don't I don't feel like I enjoyed enough because like I built it and then

I never wanted to ride it because it's a pain in the ass to ride it is super heavy and it

like it handles like shit yeah you know and then next to it is the uh is the wizard because I had

my little interest in in in motorized bicycles you know because I'm too much of a we need to get

a motorcycle so I got a bicycle with a motor on it which is the original motorcycle is it yeah

is it super fucking loud it's it's loud enough to wear some of those are like so twang no this

one this one has a muffler in it like this isn't like some kit like these were these were built

but it's still it's sketchy like it does like 40 miles an hour like a bicycle and and it's cool

because like it's it's very chopper looking yeah you know like I did some modification like I you

know I lowered the handle bar as I like took the mirrors off of it and like put white walls on it

and saddlebags and shit so it's it's just another like I I need to keep busy yeah like I need something

to do constantly and if it's not like old volkswagens it's pee wee bikes I guess I don't know you know

it's crazy as though you have a bike there's no the wizard bike and like when these bikes came out

they were racing these things and hot rodded them so it's like I think I'll sketch you that was

back when like no one knew anything about anything yeah and like this might blow up underneath my

fucking pants like this is oh yeah you know it could explode like right in between your legs

and just you know you'll be losing like a calf muscle I guess right and it's like unless there's

let's go race him too all right and do it on billboards like do it on like you know banked

curves yeah in like inside of an arena it's all right you got a helmet yeah a leather helmet

you know leather hell leather goggles you can't see out of it's getting oil sprayed on you while

well it's like it's insane yeah it really is do you guys have like cars and coffees out here we do

but it kind of goes back to the same thing that we were talking about with like the muscle car

people where it's like a bunch of people that just sit on like a fold out chair and don't say

anything to anybody yeah so we have a very famous one that's been going on for decades and it's

it's right on it's called ocean parkway so long island is a strip and then there's the bay in between

like fire island and the the land so they have a there's a parkway that that runs that length

of the island that there's no traffic lights there's no anything and there used to be a

a restaurant nightclub called obi and it burnt down they demolished it but the parking lot's

that's where they have cars and coffees every sunday morning oh shit for every every season

and dude like in the summertime if you don't leave by like 4 30 in the morning you're not

getting a spot wow like it's packed but it's it's a lot of muscle cars classics motorcycles

like if i brought the gti like i'll get like like a look right you know but it's weird like

it's another one of those things where like they're everywhere they're all over the island like

there's not one like okay this is the so-and-so cars and coffee on this day like they tried having one

in my town at the train station parking lot this past summer and like it only lasted like

two times because like the people who hosted it like didn't show up like it was like yeah here's

this is the so-and-so cars and coffees this week and then yeah we'll be back next week and then

no one showed up yeah so it's i like cars and coffees you know it's it's cool yeah it's it's

something to do yeah you know it's you know but i don't know maybe like once a month or so

is fun but like not like every weekend yeah people do get a little crazy about that do you uh

have you ever seen jerry sign fell out here yeah no i see him all the time i see jerry sign yeah he

lives he lives next he's next to billy joll too they walk down the street together i thought so

yeah no believe it or not like so everybody's out in the hamptons yeah that's where everybody

lives how far is the hamptons from here like an hour oh jeez yeah mon mon talk is like i actually

have to go to mon talk tomorrow tomorrow morning really snow uh because my yeah so my buddy a

friend of mine who actually is the he's responsible for getting me into volkswagens and i think we

discussed this the first time i was on the podcast uh his name is joe uh he's been my one of my best

friends since i was in high school we actually we were in a band together we were like so this is

before social media this is before everything we met each other at the mall because we were like i

lived in in one town he lived in another town we were punks we were you know street punks mo hawks

whatever and we would we saw each other at the mall and this is when like you would like go up to

somebody and like talk to them yeah in person yes like in real life yeah and then and then like you

know we were we would see each other like shows and like we all had like this giant group of friends

and he was the first one in the group that had his license and he got a he had a 9620

jetta yeah five speed and it like blew my fucking mind i'm like this is the coolest car

and it was like a gl yeah like 10 10 seats tornado red and um that car we wound up getting to an

accident in somebody blew a stop sign right in front of us and i'll never forget he's like

had an airbag light on and it so had an airbag light on the horn never worked so it needed a

clock spring but he told me that the airbags didn't work in the car at all so so i was in the

passenger front seat and this car blew a stop sign i put my hands on the dashboard to prevent

myself from whatever and the airbag went off and i punched myself in the face and i had two black

eyes fucking bloody nose or whatever but anyway so he's been my best friend for a while he has a

a little small business him and his wife do uh they make like candles and soaps and shit and

they're gonna be at like a like a show like a fair or whatever out of mon talk so i'm gonna go

cruise over there get some last minute christmas presents nice that's cool so and that's like

two hours that's almost two hours from here yeah it's crazy and we're already like we're in central

suffolk county right now okay yeah are we kind of in the middle of the whole island right now

yeah we're we're definitely we're actually you know we're a little west from the middle guy but

we're we're like so when you're coming into the island you have you have like queens you have like

brooklyn and those boroughs and then you'll have naso county naso county's only like maybe 20 miles

and then from there on it's all suffolk county that goes all the way to montauk crazy

yeah we're out here we are you're here yeah we're here right dab in the middle of it

i've never been out to the end of the island so it's spooky yeah i want to walk there that could

be another another topic we've touched we've kind of touched on that on the halloween spooktacular

yeah yep so what was uh i guess we'll do like a recap of of what happened this year yeah and then

we can kind of like close it out yeah yeah so what was everybody's favorite i wouldn't say

favorable what was what was the most eventful good time that we had well you still need to come down

to helen i know like i know it's crazy are you guys going next year yeah we always fine i'll go

next year yeah i say that i've been saying that for like seven years yeah but it really is to me

like kind of on the east coast ironically because we have most of it up north here

but to me it's like kind of the pinnacle of like that's something i think we need to touch on yeah

let's touch on it in a minute but um it's it's one of those things where like that is the pinnacle

for me it's it's just big enough where it almost can't get any bigger which is awesome that's a good

thing it's a great thing we've had problems with that before yeah yes and and even paul had problems

yeah so well the the problem was when it was so well yeah but i mean even he had problems like

the last couple years with like you know the BMW guys the Porsche guys who drive like ass

yeah they're just dickheads they're all but the problem with those guys are is like until they're

really blasted publicly which like that guy last year was yeah in the pink fucking Porsche that

was like rented or whatever they almost killed arrow yeah killed and like Callahan was gonna

go beat the shit out of it that was great that's like that's that needs to happen it does and then

everyone started calling them out and i think they got super super pissed and then they fucking like

laughed because they sucked you know they're not wanted there they're not wanted there it's that

simple and you know that really hurts their feelings so you have to leave yeah when when

Porsche people see that people aren't impressed by them yeah they're like what do i do i do now yeah

what do you mean you don't like my car dude it's probably devastating which is awesome so so no i

really enjoy Helen because it's like it's like three little roads yeah and you just kind of like

go in circles and it's fucking great yeah i've never been every year it's a fucking FOMO and yeah

yeah so you gotta come down um i had a lot of fun this year and rabbits on the rocks it's the

first year that Danny and i got to go yeah we didn't go the first two years another another

fucking FOMO for me yeah and i was super pissed because i was ready to go i had the car packed

and i woke up and i'm like i can't do this fucking yeah this four hour drive because

the like two weeks prior was junk food and i was sick there too and i powered through

to get to that right which i was happy with because i had a great time yeah and i was like

all right yeah see you guys at rabbits on the rocks and then like i woke up that morning i'm

like fucking mother fuck really like yeah so what do you guys think of about junk food and be in the

last year and it sucks yeah that's one of my favorite events again it's is it is it the event

or is it the fact that we're all in one place again yeah you know we're out we're in this state now

like okay cool let's get i like i said that because literally like we're in we're bringing kids now

and like my kids are like yeah we're in georgia like how do you know all these people i'm like

because it's the same yeah exactly retards that are going down there yep it is funny from a kids

perspective oh yeah 100 because like they're like just amazed by like we just took a yeah like yeah

like you're like the president like how do you know if how yeah all these people on this other

state we're all doing the same thing it's it's funny like you know just going to uh different

shows like you know i remember the first time i really it really felt like a uh uh like a family

get together was like uh it was like a vag fair one year and i remember i pulled into the hotel

parking lot and then like within a matter of like an hour like oh there's teddy across the street

it's like oh there's kyle cruising down the block oh here's tony grimmel it's like okay we're all here

but like nobody was it's not like we're like oh hey i'll be here at this time it's like everybody

just naturally showed up it's like within like by the end of the night like everybody is sitting

on the grass outside of the hotel in chairs just bullshitting and it's like it looked like

fucking thanksgiving like every thing everybody was everywhere just talking to each other that's

true and i think that's what i like about it as far as like it's it's a communal aspect of like

okay we're all here for the same thing but like we're not all talking about like

hey what what size turbo do you have but it's like oh hey how's your son like oh hey how you

feeling oh how's your how's your wife like oh cool you do this oh wow this business like it's

how's work like it's that kind of shit which is honestly like that's i think is the most special

thing out of this particular area that we're in which i would say the east coast northeast area

it's like there's a lot of us yeah and like we were saying before i don't feel like and i could be

wrong because i'm i'm i'm a novice i don't know anything i'm just a little baby i don't know anything

but i don't think another area has this kind of group you know what i mean like i don't know

what the florida crew is i feel like we're kind of we're we're out there like we're on as far as

like like a different levels shows yeah we're on another level no but dude in a way i think you're

right and we've talked about this on the podcast too like i don't know what the fuck these people on

the west coast are doing yeah and on midwest or pacific northwest whatever like the coolest weather

and besides like you know the fact that your state's on fire every month right like you you have

like everything out there like i don't know of any shows on the east coast but everybody but people

come out to us yeah they travel 18 hours 24 hours like whatever just to just to hang out and i think

we've said we have a guy that comes from ireland right yeah we got a couple of a few from right

like that's awesome it's so cool um you know everything we said a while ago i think like

sometimes you shoot yourself in the foot you say something like that but then it's like well

yeah of course we're gonna do this because it's fucking awesome and before you know it

mark my words we are gonna say it's five years from now say it's 10 years from now say whatever

we're gonna go those times were so awesome yeah because we say the same thing now about

things that happened 10 15 years of course but no i'm saying like when it really like when things

really disband at some point stop yeah if people get older they're fucking you can't even fix a

car because there's nothing left to do you know i mean like everything's like you can't literally

parks are just fucking gone stuff like that and i'm sure you know there's always innovation and

stuff but like there's gonna be a part will be like man fucking from like 2018 to 2025 was like a

good time you know um but as far as shows go i don't know what about you guys like i mean roots

was fun this year like it's always good when you can get down to a beach and hang out with a bunch

of friends yeah roots is roots is definitely like a a gigantic gathering of everybody and i feel like

that's when you kind of get that feeling of like okay cool there might be some new shit coming

out that i've never seen and like i i really want to go to the the northeast unity thing that was

such a cool yeah i wanted to go to that for two or three is it is this the third year this is the

third year so i wanted to go to that now since it started but i i just we just can't it's right

rachel and nick doing a great job up there um hopefully next year this was the first year that

i went it's a really cool it's it was such a pleasure again the drive was what it is it's

it's still you know hours from me but like it was such a pleasure driving north instead of like south

yeah you know like it was such a nice just cool drive like you know just it was just when the

weather was cool down and like there was no humidity and uh yeah that whole area up there that unity

park area is super cool did you bring your gti i brought the jeta oh you brought that nice yeah

that was like the first shakedown of that car ah you know because i had taken it from mats after

the swap was done and it's you know it was back you know that's like an hour and a half two hour

drive this was like a three and a half four and a half hour drive and uh yeah no just just cruising up

in a supercharged jet with like air conditioning and power steering and whatever yeah it was cool

but what else is cool about that is that coming home i got to take the ferry from connecticut to

long island right and that's a cool experience that's cool hundred cent like you just don't

worry about anything i always said like once i get into the state if i break down i'm fine

because at least i'm in new york at least i'm familiar i never want to break down on the

fucking turnpike or 78 or anything like that like i i'll just i did break down once going to cult

in the gti and that was the biggest fucking nightmare sure and it was funny because i had a

pothole so bad on 78 that it unplugged my distributor jesus and i had people stopping and trying to

help nobody could figure it out at matt coming down he's like dude i don't fucking know we use my

triple a we'll get it to the show or whatever and i'm like dude the fucking distributor's unplugged

and we literally put it back together with like a band-aid because like the clip came out yeah yeah

and uh we had a first aid kit in the back of the gti and i just put a band-aid over it that band-aid

stayed on there until we swapped the car just fucking stupidity but yeah northeast unity was great

um junk food was great as usual you know mayday is is great i didn't i wanted to go to rabbits on

the rocks like i said i couldn't uh dci toys for tots was was awesome that's not much of a show

that's more of just like a charity thing yeah but you know that's always a good time because it's

it's just a weird experience there and when i say weird it's like you're you're at fdr skate park

which is like objectively a dump yeah like there's just garbage and shit everywhere but like you're

right out of the bridge and it is fucking freezing always and everybody is cold and everybody is

upset but we're all upset together yeah for the kids exactly you know they get a ton of donations

you know you got norman dressed up as a santa claus it's great yeah that's like the first year

we didn't go in quite a while but yeah we we just couldn't make it down there this year um it is

always a wind tunnel oh it's literally it goes through your fucking bones torture it's so strange

the show so it's like funny like we're talking about shows that you know you know kind of recapping

but one show i do want to hit up is going out west like towards the midwest is the euro district

every year i see that i'm like that looks like a really cool show um gates goes to it with mark

too mayday and like that looks like a cool show to hit up because uh it's something different it's

going out towards west it's not too far out right exactly it's not like it's not like california

west no it's not it's drivable you know right i think it's uh indian i believe it's what it's

that so and what was that one that was like that weird like elitist show okay so it's funny that

just came that just popped into my head and i forgot about it because it was such a cool

unique experience it was uh it was grassroots and it was in northern new jersey and they had

reached out to me last year when i had instagram i got this random message from some guy and was

like hey man like we really want your car at the show that we're doing and i'm like eh that's weird

like yeah what is this but no thanks like they had i don't think they had had the show yet and like

not coming off like you know like i have a big head but like i didn't know what it was and like

yeah like my time is kind of valuable because i again driving out to these shows takes a

fucking long time it does you know like it's not only four hours to get there but it's another

four and a half five hours to get home so it's a lot it's like almost 10 hours it's only 20 miles

exactly yeah it's it's it's supposed to be a half if i wrote a bicycle it'd be half hour

but no so this was this was grassroots and uh the first show they had i think they had had two

since the one that i i went to with uh kyle uh kyle williske was was invited to

and we were talking about this at roots wait a minute the one you guys went to the one you

guys did they've already had two since yes so they had whoa this and this one was euro only

this was like they called it like the european vacation oh so they do all kinds of different

like yeah so and they were at different different locations i think because this was the first

the first time they did the show at this location and it was pretty cool like it was it was definitely

it wasn't a show it was like it was a gathering like it was a it was like a meet but it was a very

professional meet like put together like obviously they had permits and shit and it was like i guess

this place was like a farm at one point okay so it was very like aesthetically pleasing like it was

definitely like a photo area type show like we want good pictures of good cars or whatever

and uh yeah they had all different types of euro cars i mean there was like a hundred nine

elevens there but right you know they had kyle's car my car uh mel's mark two was there um it was

cool because like the first thing that happened like i pulled in and this guy with this ferrari

like saw my gti rolling through he's like oh that's fucking awesome i'm like you want to trade

right you could drive the golf home and i'll take whatever you have yeah but uh no it was it was

cool but like it wasn't a judged show it was just like all right the the meet is from 12 or one to

four or whatever and it was really chill and it was cool because like it it was such an easy thing

it was just like it it was kind of an invite only show but you could register but i don't know if they

were like denying people or approving people okay but like you know it was it was interesting because

like you know there was my car and then there was like you know a fucking m3 like you know

competition yeah like or there's like a cone of sig over there like it was like weird it was a very

weird like dynamic of of cars there but it worked out it was super cool it was in the middle of

fucking nowhere to me um you know i had to it wanted me to take the gw and the cross Bronx

expressway which is like the equivalent of driving on the moon so like i had to go all the way south

to go all the way north but it was it was cool it was worth it we all had fun and then i think

we got pizza after so it was it was a it was a good time but that was definitely that's definitely

a show i'll i'll return to i think everybody should check that out because it was it wasn't like

anything else it wasn't in a parking lot it wasn't you know gimmick trophies it wasn't you know it was

just like oh here's a bunch of cool cars everyone hang out and talk to each other yeah that was

that was cool what was that um is that big show that retro nine eighties nineties what was it called

uh rat the rad stallions show oh rad rad well radwood you know so radwood is like the more

commercialized one in right okay so yeah that one is so that even is that is that over i haven't

heard anything about that so they had it a couple of times this past year oh okay um but there's

different locations yeah there's different locations i know they have one in pennsylvania

i know they have one out in maybe chicago area i'm not sure but what i heard about radwood is it's

it's very expensive to register i think it's like 120 dollars and i could be wrong don't quote me on

this but it i think it's over 100 to register and like once you're in you can't leave even though it's

an outdoor event guy so like i know a lot of people you know kind of you have their opinions on roots

and like i get it but like roots is an indoor car show like that you can't just start your car up in

the middle of right roots and like drive over people to leave right the radwood thing is weird

because it's like if you want to be in the show like you got to stay until it's over okay um but

there's another show in connecticut i believe that's that's put on by this group called the rad

stallions and it's like an 80s style retro car club that's like does the same shit which is pretty

cool maybe i'll check that out next year i think next year i want to start going to shows that

aren't volkswagen specific guys like a box yeah like i'd like to take you know our cars out to

like a different event and like network with people and just you know kind of do cool stuff see what

happens yeah see what it is if you know if if we get a good you know rapport from it cool i'll

return if your show sucks then oh well i don't know do better yeah whatever yeah

that's a good motto i don't think we should end on that it's a do better show sucks do better

that's the people's car podcast everybody very christmas very christmas very christmas go fuck

yourself better yeah do better at your show that i didn't know about what would you like to talk about

that was great because we're we're hitting i don't i don't really remember but at some point we're at

the point no return well at some point like we're at 155 right now so at some point i can't upload

something after like so many minutes or you have to do a part two it's so fucking stupid we don't

need a part two on this well we're real close really i think uh i think it's like right now we're

at the threshold of hell yeah so either we have to like end it like now or whatever i should you

should insert like some crash sound effect and just say like a like a car drove through my house

or something like that we had to end it early um but yeah simpson's like yeah like the ufo

comes down and just like takes you out of here you know beamed up yeah actually speaking of

simpson's do you have any i don't see any christmas simpson's shit it's up in the attic oh okay

it's like how much stuff do you have up in the attic of christmas stuff we'll go we'll go after this

okay that's all there's boxes and shit up there that's great it's like uh oh gee simpson's guy

i am and like i can't i can't believe i don't know i just thought i'd see a little bit more i'm a

disappointed to say the size there's not much simpson's in the living room yeah there's simpson's

in the in the other room there's a fucking arcade machine in there that's true there's simpson books

on the shelf over there okay i remember this picture like one from like the fair when i don't

know it's probably 12 or 14 years old and it's bart sitting on the toilet and it's like a magazine

he says i'm studying mom and like it's like a bootleg simpson shirt it's like it's like a picture

it was like a picture of it yeah um this is like a knock off or whatever you know but

yeah it's cool like the simpson's memorabilia it definitely like goes back so like it's like

when it was the first year 1987 89 89 it's crazy how long they've been on was it was which episode

was the one where he did it was a christmas episode and he was he was at the track that's the first

episode right simpson's roasting on an open fire yeah yes that that was a great episode

it's funny like the first season of the simpson's is almost unwatchable oh i thought it's so bad

oh because the animation is completely different the fucking voices are awful the yeah when you

go back but like i i remember like that specific episode like i thought was awesome but that was

like i was watching as a kid yeah and it was like new yeah i mean things evolve and it's always hard

to like well even like sopranos and shit like it's hard to watch like the first season yeah

because then everyone like understands like their role you know what i mean yeah um but

anyway yeah let's try to end it before two hours and see what happens okay um so that's like two

minutes away all right um so vanik thanks for having us of course thank you for making a trip yeah

and uh your house looks great thank you um merry christmas to everybody uh and

in the new year we'll try to have on a bunch of new guests and have some fun shit with that

and uh you know go to shows and do all the things we always do yeah we're just gonna keep it rolling

yeah yeah yeah we're gonna do we're gonna keep doing what we're doing yes we're gonna keep doing

and we're gonna question why we do exactly on the next podcast god love it all right thanks

everybody for listening have a merry christmas catch you next time peace everybody

you

160. Vanek's Christmas with me and Danny

About this episode

Volkswagen GTI

Volkswagen Jetta

Lamborghini Diablo

Porsche 911

Volkswagen Rabbit

automatic transmission

transmission fluid

Volkswagen Corrado G60

VR6 engine

windshield rust

VR swap

turboing

body kit

DIY

engine swap

build

Volkswagen GLI

RPMs

ABA swap

manual swap

unmolested

muffler

supercharging

survivor car

bullet hole air intake

Volkswagen Beetle

Mercury Comet

Pontiac Chieftain

Dodge Road Runner

Buick GNX

BMW M3

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