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Ansley Metzmaker From The Other Guyzz - EP.149
Ansley Metzmaker From The Other Guyzz - EP.149
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About this episode
Ansley Metzmaker, a 15-year-old drift driver and importer, shares his unique experience bringing Australian right-hand drive vehicles like Holdens and Utes to the US. He discusses the challenges of importing rare cars amid tariffs, the thrill of drifting a 1,000-hp Holden Ute, and the discrimination he faces as a young driver. Ansley also talks about his passion for racing, the technical aspects of these Australian vehicles, and his hopes to transition from importing to competitive drifting. The episode offers a fresh perspective on niche car culture and the next generation of enthusiasts.
Topics:
right-hand drive imports
australian holden utes
import tariffs
drifting
youth in motorsports
vehicle technical challenges
car culture
racing aspirations
vehicle sponsorships
australian engines
In this episode, we sit down with Ansley Metzmaker from The Other Guyzz — a 15-year-old with a gearhead’s ambition well beyond his years. Kelly has carved out a unique niche, importing cars from Australia and selling them to eager American enthusiasts. From navigating the complex world of cross-continental automotive sales to getting sideways in the Holden Utes he brings over himself, Kelly’s story is equal parts entrepreneurial hustle and motorsport passion. We talk import logistics, Aussie vs. U.S. car culture, and what it takes to drift a machine built for the other side of the road. Buckle up — this one’s proof that age is no limit when the drive is real.
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Pontiac G8
"...eard about the hold-ins after we bought our first Pontiac G8 and we heard about them and we heard about this c..."
Car
Toyota Land Cruiser
"...nging more and more of the rare, the rare, Fords, Land Cruisers, Toyotas."
Car
Audi Rs7
"...on, honestly. I feel like I would go with like an Audi RS7 or maybe like a, just a G8, like a G8 GT GXP."
Car
Nissan Skyline
"...e, for, for an example, something out of a Nissan Skyline that's right hand drive would work, but it's not ..."
Car
Ford Falcon
"...ype deal. Do you know what comes in the Ford, the Falcon? The Ford Falcon, the engines that go in those ar..."
Car
Nissan Gtrs
"of enthusiasts that, you know, whether it's hold-ins or GT-Rs or Hondas, you know, you guys are the ones that are going to carry this forward for us."
Select text to request an explanation
Hey, and welcome back to the next episode of the Right Hand Drive Guys podcast, the podcast
for guys who like right-hand drives.
I'm Bobby.
This is Aaron.
There you go.
And this is Ansley from The Other Guys.
What's up, man?
What's up?
How are you?
Pretty good, man.
And if you hear a little noise in the background, that is because we are live from import
alliance, the 20th anniversary.
And I know, Aaron, you had heard of The Other Guys prior to this.
I had not, however, I have seen the cars that, the type of cars that you guys bring in.
And I've always wondered, like, dang, how are they doing this?
And why don't you just kind of give us a little rundown of what you do, what is The Other
Guys, and, you know, if somebody wants to work with you, how they can do that.
So The Other Guys started off as just kind of like a whim, like, we didn't really
know what we're doing.
We heard about the hold-ins after we bought our first Pontiac G8 and we heard about them
and we heard about this cookout in Indiana and we were like, so how can we get these
over here?
And we had some connections.
We've got turned down, turned down to ground until one guy decided to help us out and
we bought our first Ute from Australia.
It took us about almost a year or two years to get it over here, very unconsciously and
like confused, not knowing if you would get it at all.
But one day we got a call from a guy in Indianapolis saying, your Ute here, shipping taxes,
it's here, figure it out yourself from here.
And it was, it was a 2016 holding Ute from Australia.
And after that we just started bringing more and more of the rare, the rare, Fords, Land Cruisers,
Toyotas.
We've brought about, I reckon, 70 of all these cars in.
Wow.
From Australia?
Yes, sir.
Oh, wow.
That's pretty impressive.
And you don't really hear that many people doing this type of thing with the Australian
specific vehicles like the Ute because like, that's a very unique thing to Australia
I feel like.
Yeah.
And you just never see them.
And yeah, I originally heard of you guys by scrolling on Facebook Marketplace, you know,
typing in right hand drive just to see what pops up and it's these Utes and I'm like,
what the hell?
This is a 2016.
Like how are they doing this?
Yeah, it's not really like, it's kind of not how I know how to do it.
It's just, they get them here, they're a boat and they don't tell us how they
do it.
They won't say work to us.
They give us the car and then they make us leave.
But it's nothing against them, but it's just how they do it and to like get it away.
But it's definitely like a win because if they get caught or anything, it's gone.
It's over.
Yep.
And so, you know, you mentioned this to me last night and it really kind of made
sense.
How have the tariffs affected your business?
So the tariffs recently, they've increased like pretty high and that's one of the charges
we get whenever we bring them in.
So it's around 35 percent and it's increased to where like it's 35 percent off the value
of the vehicle.
So the higher value, the more we have to pay from them and it's got us good lately.
So we've been thinking about stopping, but not really.
Yeah.
It's like one of those things to see is this is this still worth it?
Is there still a demand?
Um, yes, for some cars, we've since we've imported so many holdings, we feel like we've
had less of a demand when we've tried to sell them or just like get rid of them.
But lately we've had a couple of Ford Falcons and Toyota Land Cruisers and Ford like just
Ford Falcon Utes and Ford Falcons.
And those have been amazing sales currently because there's not a lot of them in the U.S.
Okay.
Yeah, they're unique.
That's pretty wild that there's also a tariff on something that's kind of an American
company, right?
Oh, yeah.
That's an American company, but you're importing one of their Australian products
so it still gets hit.
Oh, yeah.
And same with the holdings, right?
They're like, they're, they're pretty big on like GM stuff.
Yeah.
They're 90 percent GM Pontiac.
Yeah.
Which is wild.
So that's interesting.
That's an interesting fact.
Right.
They're still getting hit just because it comes from Australia.
Yeah.
And so how much does a Ute cost?
Like if I, if you have one, I want to buy it.
What's the price?
It's really just depending on the year, the base model, or like if it's a Ute,
a wagon, like just what it is, I feel like a base model Ute LS3, we can sell
for like the cheapest one we can sell around 20,000.
That's really not bad.
What year would that be ish?
That'd probably be around 2000 to 2010, most likely.
That doesn't seem bad.
No.
And most of the time we end up fixing them for the customer, even if we have to paint
them or just bodywork or this, they just help them out.
Okay.
That's pretty cool.
So, you drift these things, right?
Mm-hmm.
Wow.
So you're out there drifting Utes, is it?
Yes.
Yep.
And so had you drifted other vehicles before that?
No, sir, since I'm only 15 and I got into my first vehicle, which was a drift
Ute that originated from a different owner named Josh Robinson, and I bought it off
him, and it's making around a thousand wheel for my very first drift car.
Holy cow.
Dang.
Whoa.
So you stepped into drifting with a thousand horsepower.
Yeah.
It's been a blast.
Wow.
So...
To say the least, I bet.
So being like a young guy, right, like you're 15, I didn't realize that.
That's cool that you're able to be involved with your dad in this business and also
do this drifting at such a young age.
What are some of the challenges you've had, you know, kind of just stepping into a thousand
horsepower drift car from the rip?
So I feel like it's not much of the car.
It's more of the discrimination of drifting an Australian car in America.
Bringing them here, we've had a lot of discrimination and just hate.
But it's also me learning how to drive in just a right hand drive car makes it so
much more easier to where I've never drove a left hand drive car in my life.
That's crazy.
He's a real right hand drive guy.
Yeah, he is.
Official.
Yeah.
So it's been like that for a while and the power, it makes it really easy to drive.
But I'm thinking about buying a slower one to make a real, like, car that's not fast
and me to learn better.
Right.
Maybe sometimes, and obviously Aaron, you know better than I, maybe sometimes that power negates
skill.
Is that like a thing?
It could.
I mean, there's some things you can learn in a low-power car that you'll never feel
in a high-power car.
So there's definitely that.
And also the cost to operate a lower horsepower car is obviously way less.
You're not going through all the tires.
You don't have to run as big as a tire, like all that, which I'm sure you know.
Yeah.
The tires are expensive.
Yeah.
Replacing the end of the parts are through the roof, but.
So what it like, okay, so you're drifting a thousand horsepower ute, that's dope.
What, you must have a dream car, even at your age, you know, beyond utes, you know, and
that stuff.
What's like, if somebody said you can have any car you want right now, what is it?
Besides like holdings and utes?
Yes, besides what you have.
That's a tough question, honestly.
I feel like I would go with like an Audi RS7 or maybe like a, just a G8, like a G8 GT
GXP.
Okay.
So I would assume you grew up around that, like that Pontiac stuff and whatnot.
Yeah.
Grew up around Pontiac.
We've always had a G8 or a GTO laying around, just, we would always have one since I
was young.
And that's just how we've had them.
So you were kind of inspired by that because that's what you saw growing up.
Yeah.
That's just, that's just how I was and how my family's been an entire life.
And then I don't know where someone says, Hey, have you ever had a hold in or heard
of it?
And that's when we got into them.
That's pretty cool.
And it's still kind of meshes because of, because of the fact that holdings and all
those parts.
A lot of like newer holdings, like the utes and the wagons, they kind of resemble
like a Chevy SS.
It's pretty close.
And then the older ones resemble a Pontiac G8.
And then like some holdings will have a GTO front end.
Oh, yeah.
They're so super close on them.
But it's all just GM, but in Australia.
So is there a lot of crossover parts?
Oh, yeah.
Like if you have a, let's say I buy a ute from you and I need parts, can I actually
find them?
Yes.
And no, it really just depends what you're looking for.
We've had issues, like we've had one big issue is steering racks because it's on the
opposite side.
That makes sense.
Yeah.
That's tough because now, now you're what, having to buy one from Australia?
Having to buy one from Australia, waiting at most a year to get it.
Wow.
That's quite a while.
Like you got an event next weekend, but you got to wait a year for a steering
rack.
Yeah.
There's, it's not just waiting a year.
There's other people out there that can make them for like, for, for an example, something
out of a Nissan Skyline that's right hand drive would work, but it's not going to be the best
for it.
But it'll work.
It'll work.
Yeah.
That makes sense.
I mean, is like as far as like the body and stuff goes that none of that was ever
made in the US as far as like some of the front ends are like, obviously the panels
for the utes, like those aren't existing here.
Yeah.
No.
Like for the utes, it's really just from the doors forward and for the wagons, it's, it's
like all the doors will fit, but the front end will fit too, but nothing else is the
same.
Dang.
That's crazy the way that manufacturers will kind of cherry pick these things to use,
you know, and in the end, the end user, if they're not from where it was designed
to be sold, they get screwed, you know?
Yeah.
So, you know, I had planned to be like, you know, what was your first car?
Like I said, I didn't know that you were so young.
It's actually really cool.
You're definitely the youngest guy that we've had on the podcast.
Oh yeah.
And so I had planned to be like, you know, what was your first car?
You know, but your first car was, was like a you, right?
Yeah.
It was realistically.
You don't even have your license, do you?
Yeah.
I only have my permit.
Dang, dude.
Good for you, man.
The fact that you're out there sliding stuff sideways, doing your thing with
a learner's permit.
Mm-hmm.
Dude, a lot of our listeners probably wish that they had had that opportunity at your
age, you know?
Oh, yeah.
Like I said, it's another thing on discrimination because of my age.
Not a lot of people trust it.
Take you seriously, maybe?
Yeah, they don't take me seriously.
They'll be like, I'll tell them, yeah, I drift holding you and they'll be like,
no, you don't, like, I'm like, and then I'll show them pictures and they'll
be like, oh, that's your dad.
And then I'll come out to the track and I'm out here driving.
Yeah, yeah.
And actually, like in nowadays in Formula Drift, there are younger people, like
in William & Noia.
Like there are those younger people that are coming in.
Is that anything that you're looking towards in your future is trying more
competition drifting?
Oh, yeah, for sure.
I've really, I've watched Deep into Prospect and Formula Drift all the time.
I see these younger kids go out there and do pretty good.
And I'm like, I think I can do that.
And I feel like that can be a future for me.
Yeah, hell yeah.
And so this isn't just the youth that you're drifting isn't just any old youth.
Like this thing is like done.
Like it looks like a drift car that will be in.
It's, it looks pretty done.
It's full carbon fiber, the body panels, the doors, the fenders and the hood.
It's all carbon fiber and normally they weigh around 2,400, 2,600.
It's only weighing around 1,900, 1,800.
Damn, that's really good.
The power to weight on that must be crazy.
Oh yeah, it's insane.
So what, you know, beyond, beyond the discrimination and people maybe not
taking you seriously, like when you're driving this car at 1,000 horsepower,
where do you find yourself like maybe having the hardest time?
Like what's your biggest challenge driving a car of that stature?
I feel like the biggest challenge is since the youths are so long is
tandeming with short cars.
OK.
I feel like that's my biggest challenge right now.
Is tandeming with short cars because of the length difference?
The length difference, yes.
It's so much different.
Wow.
Does it, does it not like transition as fast as not a snappy?
No, the, the longer cars, I feel like they transition so much quicker
than the shorter cars.
Oh, I see.
Because it does, it can carry that momentum since it's swinging
like a longer pivot point, I guess.
That makes sense.
And so where do you see this going, man?
Like you're 15, you're drifting a 1,000 horsepower car.
You only got your learner's permit.
You guys are bringing 70 of these things in.
Like where does this go from here for you?
I feel like slowly just getting out of the importing and coming,
going more into racing them and going farther into racing,
drifting, drag racing and just everything and like kind of just
getting out of the holding scene and importing and getting
more into racing scene.
I see.
So would you say that the sales that you're doing
are kind of supporting the racing?
Like is that how it works for you?
Yes and no.
It's, it's really just based off of what the sales are
and like what cars it is.
OK, I see.
So sponsorships, do you have any of that?
Yes, I do.
Wow, that's cool.
You want to shout if you out?
I'll shout out tick performance, Edelbrock, race threads,
graphic effects, ignition speed.
And that's all I can remember right now.
Dang, he's got so many sponsors.
He can't remember them.
He's stacked up, man.
No, that's cool, man, like to be 15
and being able to experience these things, especially
in a car that is not plentiful around here.
You know, I can't imagine like, you know,
do you get a lot of people just being like, what the hell is that?
Yeah, I'll go to gas stations and one of the holdings.
And it's always it's always a conversation with someone
no matter what.
It's it's always what type of car is this?
And is this an El Camino or something?
That's a new El Camino.
Oh, yeah, that's those are just how it is.
Whenever we go like places or if I'm drifting,
they'll be like, you can't drive it.
It's too long.
It's it's got too much power for you.
You're young.
You don't know how to drive.
Yeah.
And so you're going to be out here showing them
they don't know what they're talking about.
Yeah, it's I'm going to try my best out there.
Yeah, when I can go out there.
And so you've already done a little bit today.
And when you walked up, you were talking about how
it hadn't been a good morning.
Tell us a little bit about how the morning went, man.
So I went out there and, you know,
we did a routine check before we got here.
And we went on our first lap out and blew our rear axle.
Oh, damn.
Off the rib.
Yeah.
First lap out.
These aren't stock axes, right?
Yes and no.
It's yeah, it is basically.
OK, so those will, well, they won't.
They will kind of handle that power that you're putting out.
They they should.
It's just the rear axle that was in it.
It's it's had a good life.
I see.
And it's it's been in there for a while.
Speaking of the suspension and axles and stuff.
So do the youths have a solid rear axle,
like, you know, a typical muscle car would?
Or do they have independent rear suspension?
Again, it's just it depends on what you're getting.
Yeah.
Some like some youths will come with like leaf spring.
And some will come with like I feel like a lot of them
that we bought have just came on coilovers already
because the community over there is all about lowering
their cars and just getting them ready for like like whatever
shows they have over there.
Burnout competition.
Oh, yeah.
Have you ever drifted against another youth?
No, I have not.
I wish I could see that day come.
But I don't know anybody who has a drift you in the US.
OK.
I saw you.
I think I saw you pull out in a green one yesterday.
What is that?
So that one is a 2016 Spitfire green holding you red line.
What's a red line?
So red line is just it's like a package that comes with for like
an interior package.
So OK.
It's kind of just like it's close to a base model,
but it's an LS3 that comes with a tune and like exhaust
and coils already.
OK.
That's pretty cool.
Do they all come with the same motor?
I don't know nothing about this one.
No, the older ones we've got have
tend to come with five sevens LS1s.
And then the newer ones have tended to come with LS3s.
And then some have V6s.
It really just depends.
Dang, so there's a lot of options.
It wasn't really a one size fits all type deal.
Do you know what comes in the Ford, the Falcon?
The Ford Falcon, the engines that go in those are Barras.
OK, the Barras, which is like that's
what everyone calls like the Ford 2JZ.
The 2JZ killer.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dude, those are insane.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's that's an insane engine.
They can take a ton of power.
Oh, yeah.
Australia just has like a different flavor
that they build even their stock cars with.
Yeah, it's it's really just like a it's stuff
that they can't do over there.
Like they're not allowed to lift their trucks up high
or slam their cars or put big engines or loud exhaust
on theirs.
But they'll prepare for a week of just a big car show.
And they'll just have a fully built engine
ready for one week of a big car show.
And they just let them do it the entire time.
Yeah, they'll put a big blower on it.
Oh, yeah.
They'll put a huge blower or they'll
have the Barras with the twin turbos and everything.
Dude, that's it.
What's the Barras?
Like I don't know nothing about it.
So a Barras, it's a straight inline six.
And it comes stock with a turbo, depending.
And it can also depend on power with there's a blue cap,
there's a red cap, there's a green cap, and there's a white cap.
Oh, wow.
So each cap has like a different meaning
and like how much horsepower can hold
if it takes E85, 93, or propane.
There's one a propane one that I've heard of.
You guys have never gotten those.
No.
We've only gotten the red tops so far.
OK.
And so what, is it a four liter?
It's pretty good.
It's a pretty big one in inline six, right?
Damn.
That's crazy.
That is crazy.
I didn't even really realize that that was a thing,
that they had these pretty much tougher than 2J motors.
And we don't get them here, right?
Nope, not at all.
It's really just Australia exclusive.
And you can get them here.
But you've got to import them.
I see, yeah.
I mean, it's too bad, some of these things
that we just don't get.
We never got the RB over here.
We never get the Barrow.
They just keep these things from us.
It's like, come on.
Man.
Oh, yeah.
Man, so OK.
I know you're trying to get out of importing,
but can we tell the audience if they want to hold in?
Somebody that's listening, they're like, dude,
I've always wanted to just look like an Aussie just
sliding around in this place.
Can they still get one from me?
Currently, yes.
We have around 20 right now.
What?
That we're trying to sell.
You have 20?
And there's a couple other people
that are real popular and famous with them
that you can get them from, too.
So what does the other guys mean?
The other guys, it really just started off
as not a lot of people have hold ins,
not a lot of people knew about them.
And then the other guys became a group
of people that have them in the US, people we've sold them to.
And it's only people that's right-hand drive true hold ins.
OK, so it's almost like a group.
Yeah, it's basically kind of like a group.
No re-batch Pontiacs.
Yeah, no.
Yeah, no.
Unless it came from Australia.
Like a buddy here, he has a right-hand drive,
like a priest imported from Australia.
No shit.
And he's in the group.
But if it was a G8 from Australia or a Commodore known as
like a holding Commodore, they can be in the group.
That's what the name's for.
Hell yeah, that's pretty cool.
Is there like socials that we can find you on?
Let's hear them.
It's the.other.guys with two Zs.
And then me, I have a motorsports account called
Anzly DM for DM my last name.
And that Kelly Metzmaker on Facebook, that's really it.
So where do you see your drift career going from here?
I hope it goes more towards like competitions,
Formula Drift, Pro-AM, Prospect, go through all the stages
and get farther in that.
That's pretty cool.
Where are you located?
I am located here in Nashville.
Oh, you are.
You're a local guy.
That's pretty cool.
So you might, if you're in or around Nashville,
you just might see this guy whipping a hold in,
but his dad's going to be in the passenger seat
because he can't quite drive it alone yet, right?
Sometimes you sneak it off, hit the gas station.
I ain't telling nobody.
Man, Anzly, this is cool, man.
I like the surprise that you're a young guy.
I'm actually really excited about that
because you're kind of, you're the next generation
of enthusiasts that, you know, whether it's hold-ins
or GT-Rs or Hondas, you know, you guys
are the ones that are going to carry this forward for us.
Oh, yeah.
Last question, do you see your generation
being into this as much as the previous generations?
Honestly, I feel like, no, I feel
like I haven't seen many people getting more into cars
and drifting.
I feel like it's just slowly declined and bringing
these cars in.
Yeah, people might bring in some cars,
but there's not going to be people out there who just
knows how to do it.
I see what you're saying.
Yeah, it's kind of sad, you know, just in that sense,
the decline, you know?
And obviously, there's a lot more in 2025
to be into than there was in 1999, right?
Like, there's just so much to be into
and so much to try to be successful with.
But, dude, we wish you the best of luck.
Like, we're always cheering on the young ins, man,
because it's like we were you at one point,
except we weren't, because our dads were not
letting us drift 1,000 horsepower cars at 15.
So, like, hella props to you, dude.
We'll be out there on the fence cheering you on, dude.
All right, thank you.
Yeah.
Dude, we appreciate you coming on for sure.
For sure.
For episode 149, I'm Bobby.
This is Aaron.
And this is Ansley.
See ya.
Peace.
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