Exploring the journey of becoming a car enthusiast, this episode dives into personal stories and nostalgic memories of the host and guests. From childhood experiences with toy cars like Hot Wheels and Matchbox to the thrill of slot cars and RC vehicles, the discussion highlights how these early interactions shaped their passion for automobiles. The conversation also touches on memorable moments, including the challenges of owning and modifying cars, and the camaraderie built through shared interests in the automotive world.
On this episode of "Becoming a Car Guy" we share our personal stories of how we got into the car world. From early memories to the moments that fueled our passion, we talk about what makes us true car enthusiasts. Tune in and see if you can relate!
Talk Cars Radio is sponsored in part by NAPA, Carcare Centers, BDG Auto Group, by Liberty Transmissions in Virginia Beach, and by Bob Barnum and the Perfect House Team. Be a
part of the program today by calling seven five seven two two two three seven zero five. Text your comments
during the show to seven five seven eight six six two one nine two. Email your questions and comments todaved
Let's Talkcarsradio dot com. Now here's the host of Let's
Talk Cars Radio. Dave Polage.
Speaker 2: Happy Saturday, America. Your listen Let's Talk Cars Radio on
WKQA Freedom Radio. I'm your host, Big DAVP hanging out
with Camera Chaos and AVB. Hey, guys, it is gonna
be a great show. I hope that you guys are
ready for it. We're gonna got something I think that's
actually kind of cool. It's something kind of goes around
our house and goes around the table quite a bit, and the reality of it is is like, so how do people become car guys? You know, we talked about
this kind of the past here and there and stuff like that, but the perspective on it is always a little bit different, but it all revolves like kind of back to some of the same things. So as we
were sitting around and we were talking before we came on the air, you know, I was recalling like a bunch of different stories of how I ever got to the point to be a car guy. And for me,
it starts really really young. I mean, forget the fact
that my family had been in the car business and has revolved around the car business my whole life. It
really started something a little different than that. For me,
It's like, so I remember I used to go to my grandpa's house, right, And I was telling the guys before it came on the air. So before in my life,
before matchbox and hot wheels became really anything I even knew about, all I played with was and you guys made some of y'all that listened to the show may remember it's a livey. I mean I had stamped steal cars,
and I'm not talking about like big cars. There are
size of a hot wheel and they were just stamp steel.
And there's like I had a fire truck. I think
I had a tow truck. I had like a Hudson Sedan,
you know what I mean, like stuff like that, and they just stamp steel and they had just little plastic tires on them that rolled. And those were my first
cars and I didn't know any different. I literally can
remember it, and I was young, and everybody goes, oh, there's no way you remember some of that stuff in it, but I do. I remember the first time that I
had a hot Wheel or a Matchbox car like present it to me after playing with stamped steel cars, and I never like, this is gold Well I'd never seen one before. It was like I was like, wow, this
is kind of cool because all I had been playing with was stamped steel cars.
Speaker 3: Well, now think about it, think about where hot wheel is now. You know what STA about to say a staple.
Everybody mentioned top outweighs, you say match Box and everybody's like what right? Well, I mean I think they procured
on what they had, right. They you know, made something
very accessible that you know, you can get multiple different models brands as well as you know, they introduced new different techniques in the cars.
Speaker 2: Also, I'll take I'll take it one step further. So
you remember this is at a young age for me.
I mean I was probably three or four years old, and people are like, oh, you cannot remember that. I do.
I don't know if it's because certain things in my life had happened that I have a really vivid memory of very young age. But I remember, like I remember
going to my grandpa's house. And now my grandpa passed
away from when I was young, so maybe that's the reason why I remember some of that stuff. But he
had the Stamp Steel cars. He's the one that introduced
me to Stamp Steel cars. Now, he was a car guy,
as you guys know. We have the Bad album that
was my grandpa's trans am, so he had I think he had a Corvette at one point time. I can't
remember what year it was, but I vaguely remember there being a Corvette around. And maybe I don't know if
it's because I saw pictures of it, because I physically saw the car. That part I can't remember. But he
was a car guy and he liked things as well, so he like said, he gave me Stamp steel cars.
But I remember the first time I ever got and I don't know if it was a hot wheel or a match box, and the hood opened.
Speaker 4: Up and I was like it's definitely a match box.
Speaker 2: I was like, holy cow, the hood opens up on this car. Like I mean, it was just like, you know,
I know that seems simple, but those little things like made me more of a car person. Like I was like,
holy cow. I mean like it was cool. And then
I got a car. I remember getting a car and
the doors opened up on it, and I was just like, the doors open up on this thing, and I'd just be being amazed. And then you know, I'd go all
the way down that that could be like five years old.
And I really really wanted this Tonka truck. And if
you guys remember, if anybody can find a picture, I've looked around. I'm sure you can probably if you dug around.
I can't find the exact one. But I had a
black and gold Tonka car carrier that carried it was you know, like carried new cars like car carrier. And
I got it when I was five years old, and I wanted it and wanted it and I ended up getting it for Christmas and it was like the like coveted thing that I owned, and it was and it was really really cool, but it it carried cars on I think of the cars were made out of plastic that it carried. That's it right there. Camera found it.
I searched for it like a while back. I couldn't
find it. How sell for one hundred fet bucks. Camera
just pulled up online. Yeah, I owned that and I
but I remember wanting it forever. And like I said,
I was five years old and you could and came plastic cars on it. Though Cameron pulled up online. I
don't see the plastic cars on it. I hadnt plastic cars.
Speaker 4: For one hundred fret dollars. It could be yours for one.
Speaker 2: Hundred fifty dollars, like relive the memory. But like little
things like that just kept molding.
Speaker 4: Me plus twenty dollars of shipping.
Speaker 2: But you know, getting those things like at five years old, like I wanted that. Now I had a Tonka truck
like everybody did, the yellow Tonka truck dump truck, I think is what mine was that got no play with me, Like I was not interested in playing with that thing at all. I was interested in playing with the car
carrier or anything. And then of course I think I
remember being frustrated, and I said, I was young, but I can remember the frustration to it because it only fit the cars really well that they.
Speaker 4: Came with it right the other ones.
Speaker 2: So I had other cars and I like to put them on that they never fit right or look right like I look at it like I look, I see.
There's a picture down below shows one with a car with cars on it right there in the corner right there. Yep,
So there you go. That's it.
Speaker 4: Childhood was different than ours.
Speaker 2: You look, every carries two cars on it.
Speaker 4: You needed a little imagination.
Speaker 3: If you're if you're on Facebook, you'll be able to see it on there.
Speaker 2: So imagination, I'll take you a different drink.
Speaker 4: They they definitely let you draw that imagination with different back.
How many times did you.
Speaker 3: Take a car? Okay, how many times did you take
a car? And go, let me tell you how bad
imagination is?
Speaker 2: Right, So when you're like when you're a kid, right and you just every love everything cars and I did, like I said, at a very young age. That's probably
reason why I just I still love car as much as I do. We used to play I can't remember what,
but I'm gonna say we called it highway. I don't
it had a name, but let's just say we played Highway.
We had a wooden chair in our bedroom, okay, and you would sit down the wooden chair and you pretend like you were driving. And then my brother, I know
you all look could be funny. My brother would get
up and would scoot underneath the chair like he was the road. And he get up and do it again,
like I was driving across the road, like he was the road. Do you understand?
Speaker 4: I get it?
Speaker 5: Okay, So he justin I'm just trying to figure out who is dropped as the kid.
Speaker 2: I don't know where we came up with this idea, but he was the road, and he'd.
Speaker 4: Have to say, like he was better than the lines of the road.
Speaker 2: Going underneath the car, right, you know, it was the road.
Speaker 4: You guys were like, you know, it's better than playing with some matchup box cars if we were the cars.
Speaker 2: Had some imagination you truly had.
Speaker 4: He would just want to know you have a spatula in your hand.
Speaker 2: I was just you kind of held it, pretend like ye had a chain.
Speaker 4: Will.
Speaker 2: But I don't know where we came up with the idea to have him keep on getting up and like he had to get up from the back of the chair, run around the front of the chair, and then sliderneath the chair again like it was the road, because I think he kind of represented you know how you go road lines, right, So that's that's it is a little nuts, I don't know, but that's what we did. So but
I got an accident one day playing Highway. He got
up too quickly, he knocked the chair over with me on it, you guys, I busted my head open.
Speaker 4: I had to go to the Hospital's faked.
Speaker 2: Now. He was going underneath the chair and he got
up too quickly and caught the chair with his feet and kicked the chair open, and I fell over and I hit my head and cracked the back of my head open. I had to go to the hospital and
get stitches. And the last time he was you're absolutely right.
It was the last time we played that game.
Speaker 3: But imagine having to explain to the doctor, oh, why are you in here? We were playing Highway. I mean
we were playing what's highway? Let me you got a chair.
Here's what you're gonna have to do. You're gonna be
the road. I'm still the driver. But no, and we
stopped playing that. But I remember we stopped.
Speaker 2: Playing that game.
Speaker 4: At that moment you realize you're little too old for that.
Speaker 2: No, you know what, I still I probably still wanted to play if I was too scared to get another car accident. But I don't know where we came with
the game, but we played that. But it just goes
to show you, like I think for some people, like the car stuff is inbreded of them, right like so, because I guess I don't even know how we even came up with that game, but we did, and we played.
I remember playing it a lot, like we played it a lot.
Speaker 4: It was just mark money, probably imagination, imagination. I remember
like taking the cars that you had packed away, Well, I still do you know I still have them? Do
you really know?
Speaker 2: One? I still probably have a couple of thousand of
the cars I bought you guys in the hot wheels and I got packed away in the attic.
Speaker 3: And then how about the big cars? So I used
to take big cars and keep them on top of I didn't take the cars and parts.
Speaker 4: What he means big cars, he means collectible hot wheels.
Play with them like they're like we're dollar car cars.
They were cars.
Speaker 2: Hold on, I made the mistake because I'm a car guy, and we we we know he.
Speaker 4: Gave me acause I need to.
Speaker 2: I broke down.
Speaker 4: I had.
Speaker 2: I bought them collector cars, like I bought them collector hot wheels, and I thought.
Speaker 4: They would it would I probably should have.
Speaker 2: But your dad like, okay, I mean, okay, just I know, so you guys understand. I have a picture of them.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: I don't even think they're even a year old yet.
And I bought them fire radio controlled fire trucks where the ladders worked and everything else where because I was for so long.
Speaker 4: What I used to do.
Speaker 2: I used to drive around. I used to drive around.
I used to bump them with the fire truck and they would crawl across the floor and I lift the ladder up and I would tap them with the ladder because ladder extend all the way out and I would tap them like on their butt with the ladder because I have it, I don't.
Speaker 3: Have anymore that they would to go sell it. And
I I remember sitting upstairs in my old room taking all the screws out, like this tells you how.
Speaker 4: Much of your car?
Speaker 1: Guy?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I took all the screws out, took the whole.
Speaker 4: Frame or the body off the frame.
Speaker 2: When all through the wiring.
Speaker 3: Reconnected, it put it back on and it drove, but it didn't turn. I got the ladder back up and working,
but I got it where it could all.
Speaker 4: The water I paid.
Speaker 2: I paid a good money for that. It was for
that fire truck. If you guys, I'm sure they're still
out there. But it was very controlled and everything worked
on like the ladder it rotated was it wasn't want to be fast.
Speaker 4: It was no. I'm talking about like just the whole thing.
Speaker 2: Like the ladder.
Speaker 4: As different though.
Speaker 2: But like I bought him met and then like I had a lot of collectible cars, so I at one point in time had an office that was nothing but die Cast collectibles, you name it, everything car related.
Speaker 4: And that's it, dude, I'm on fire.
Speaker 2: That's the exact model. But that's basically that is like, yeah,
the ladder, so yeah, but I had a complete office in fact that to tell you how ight up I was with it. And I can't remember what race it was.
I had the complete running of I think one of the Atona races. The die Cast Nascars on my ceiling
in the order they started the remember them screwed in the ceiling like they're going down the track, and they were in a complete order of the running order. And
then I had I had one point time, I probably had like eleven hundred or twelve hundred different die cast cars.
I couldn't put them all onto play, but I had a whole office. Every inch of the wall was car
related stuff. And then when.
Speaker 4: Somebody didn't give an autograph, they all came down.
Speaker 2: Right, Okay, I'll be to tell you anything like this.
Speaker 4: Did you ever try again? That was gonna be my question.
Did you try again? They like, because you know, somebody
to do, somebody to do. Get busy, right. They don't
even know what we're talking about. I told I think
you know.
Speaker 2: I think I told a story on the air runs four.
I think I told you guys about So I was a Jeff Gordon fan, like say whatever you guys want.
I was Jeff Gordon fan, and uh I had been around Jeff a lot because of the business I was in, But I never wanted to be like that fanboy kind of person. I just wasn't into being that person.
Speaker 4: Well, respect the boundaries.
Speaker 2: I was respecting the boundaries even though I had been within less than a foot of him many times. But
he was giving interviews or he was doing autographs for people, stuff like that, and because of the business way that we were in, I didn't, you know, I was, I knew how to hold my position and not. You know,
but you're still a stranger to him, right right, I'm still yeah. I had had I had did business stuff
with him. But but it's kind like me. If he
couldn't pick me out of a crowd, right, he might be my face stuff, sure enough, didn't know my name or anything like that. But we did some stuff promotion
stuff with them in the past, and so we had been around him. I finally got Jeff Gordon alone where
nobody was around, nobody was interviewing him, nothing, And I think I told I, like I swear I told this story before. Maybe I haven't. But I got toflate. I
had a pen and I had like a seventy five dollars poll shirt I just bought. There was a Jeff
Gordon shirt, just something simple. I don't do big, crazy
pictures on the front. I'm just not that guy. I
like little things around the side, pop it's whatever. So
I bought this really nice and I had sharp in my hand and the opportunity to present itself. There was
nobody around. He was leaning against this car and it
was autumn pit row, right before the race, and I said, hey, would you mind sign the shirt for me? And he
looked me dead in my face and said, I don't sign things before I get in my car, which is understandable.
Speaker 3: No not really, no, no there.
Speaker 4: I didn't want to do it type of I didn't.
I know we got as a car guy. Did it
hurt well?
Speaker 2: I mean, you just put it this way. So I
had hundreds of things of Jeff Gordon. I didn't have
it all on display because I thought that'd be tacky.
But I had a lot of stuff that people bought me over the year, so I had a lot of it in the And when we moved, I didn't put anything back up. And it was probably because I was
a little buttter from that situation.
Speaker 4: I remember.
Speaker 2: I never I never in the new house. I never
put the office back together with all the die cast up.
I boxed all up. I sat on it for quite
a few years, and then I decided to go ahead and sell it all, which makes.
Speaker 4: Sense though, because I mean, as a fan, you know, you spent dollars you want to really, you know, reaching out like that.
Speaker 2: One other thing that that killed it for me was people.
I had a bunch of Dale Earn heart stuff and people are selling it for big money after his death, and I refuse to do that. I just thought, I'm aware.
I donate a lot of stuff. I refuse to sell
the stuff off and make a profit out it. I
just thought that was weird, so I didn't do it.
So got's more for you, guys. I'll tell you how
people become car guys. Hold tight, we got more. We're
right back.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Dave Polach on Let's Talk Cars Radio.
Dave will be right back. Nobody remembers the name JF.
Wilow and so it's incorporated until you need them. But
when you have a toilet problem, drains back up, pipes freeze, your heat or air conditioning stops working, then you remember JF.
Whitlow and Sons. Don't forget the phone number three nine
nine one seven one four. That's three nine nine one
seven one four Nditioning and heating and all plumbing. JF.
Witlow and Sons have been serving Hampton Roads since nineteen forty nine. Residential and commercial. You could always count on JF.
Witlow and Sons to get to you fast and get the job done right the first time. Located in Portsmouth
and serving all of Hampton Roads. Those who know called JF.
Whitlow and Sons call them at three nine nine one seven one four. That's three nine nine one seven one four. JF.
Witlow and Sons Incorporated.
Speaker 6: Something really cool happened in nineteen seventy five, and no it wasn't the beginning of the disco era. Congress passed
the Magnuson Moss Act so you don't have to take your vehicle back to your dealer to keep your vehicle manufacturer's warranty and effect. Our NAPA Autocare Center uses the
proper replacement parts and procedures to keep that warranty valid.
Visit our independently owned NAFA Autocare Center today.
Speaker 2: Hey guys, you asked for it and I delivered. Check
out our all star team of automotive specialists at NAPA BDGHRVA dot com. That's NAPA BDGHRVA dot com. Talk to
you soon. Hey Dave, what? Hey Dave what?
Speaker 4: I've got a secret?
Speaker 2: What are you twelve?
Speaker 7: No, I'm just excited to announce liberty Transmission is headed too the future m by a Dolorian. Did you no,
but we did get a brand new building. That's right, people,
Liberty Transmission is moving to thirty forty one Holland Road to better serve the community. Check out our website for
updates or give us a call at seven five seven two three three thirty one thirty one. That's right, two
three three thirty one thirty one. And remember my name
is on every transmission.
Speaker 1: There's no place like home. Home is where the heart is,
Home suite home, like every movie, book and song, every story as a beginning and in let your story start today.
Call Bob Barnum today at the Perfect House Team with the Real Estate Group.
Speaker 8: Bob here from the Perfect House Team, from beginning to end.
I'm ready to help you write your story. Call me
today at seven five seven four six four one zero zero three. That's seven five, seven four six four one
thousand and three.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Let's Talk Cars Radio. You're automotive specialist.
Now back to your host Dave Polach.
Speaker 2: Hey, guys, welcome back. So if you're listening to the
first portion of the show, we're talking about how you become a car guy. I just think it's kind of
interesting when you talk with people in the different ways that progress. And then the boys and I got talking
about it, and like my progression to me is I think it's normal, but some people like, wait, you really did like go through some stages and stuff, So.
Speaker 4: I think it's pretty normal. I think you guys had
a weird game, but you know, we all.
Speaker 2: Wait, man, it was hot. I don't like so I
don't know how know how that game got started.
Speaker 4: I'm not going to judge. We used to we used
to have a game called Dealership. I'm not really sure
how it got started either. Yeah, so you guys my
own one. But remember the car carpet that you bought
one time we were really remember were young? Yes I
remember that, but you know, when we're a little older.
If you guys don't know, I bought them a carpet that had roads all over. It had like a little.
Speaker 2: Parking and stuff like that laid down when I was like ten, that was still the carpet I had in my room because I laid it back down. That's what
I forgot.
Speaker 4: I did. I bought it. You know, we used to
all get our own cars and used played Dealership. Sell cars.
Someone used to be a police officer and we used to play that with our cousin.
Speaker 2: You guys even did that no idea all the time.
So like I said, I was, I was, I was alluding to it and I was talking about it. So
I sold you guys, you know, I bought them fire truck before for the year one years old. Every year
for Christmas. The reason why we have so many hot
wheels probably in the attic, in matchbox cars in the attic.
Every year I bought hot wheels like throughout the year, and I just saved up so at Christmas time from the time that they were one years old, probably you guys are like five or six. I got pictures of
it for a guy they had they had. I'd buy
them like each like a hundred hot wheels or matchbox cars mixed up. Every year I got them.
Speaker 4: And that's how we ended up with so many because back.
Speaker 2: Then, if you all remember, hot wheels, you can get for thirty three cents when they're on sale. You can
buy them for thirty three cents when they're on sale.
So I'd just buy tons of them and hang on to them especially and I make sure I didn't do duplicates.
So we ended up with tons of these, and like I said, I got a bunch of them still in the attic I've saved, and a bunch of them I know, are some of the ones that i've I've looked at are now able to become a value now they're opening out of the package. But I don't know, maybe when
they're fifty or sixty years old, they'll be like, you know what the broken pink one like there's the pink bug or whatever it is. It's worth a bunch of
money right now. I thing it's worth like ten grand
or two A bunch of different.
Speaker 4: Ones, which you now remember, is a lot of them are destroyed?
Speaker 2: No case, No, there is. There's a lot of were destroyed.
Speaker 3: Look time, there isn't a lot that are destroyed. Okay,
the blue ones are the blue cases.
Speaker 4: It's all.
Speaker 3: We actually have the hot wheel case that on the front of it. Yep, blue ones destroyed. Those are destroyed
to no there. Recently I was, I was, you did
played with a lot.
Speaker 4: Now I will say there was a point where we pray a long yes we did, yes did, because here's what you remember. Because the really nice ones were all
decal they actually had real rubber wheels. They weren't plastic,
so they had like different like ones case.
Speaker 2: You guys don't know. I actually bought the plastic one
that won the platform from a collector he was selling his collection.
Speaker 4: Another one uh huh, yeah, like another set, or you just bought the.
Speaker 2: Case those cases, those clear cases, you guys. Those hot
wheels came from a collector that was selling off collection and I bought them one year for you guys for Christmas, and I think there was like it just them away.
There was like two hundred cars. Well I just bought them.
I'm like, look, you know we.
Speaker 4: Played with them.
Speaker 2: Well those they told you guys not really to play with, but you guys didn't. You guys didn't get into them.
They were stored in your guys's closet, which long ye on top top show should get to it. And then
you guys got bigger and learn how to climb up on things. Before you know what, they came down and
play with it. But curious Georges work because sat I
mean for it worked because you think about it. That
was my evolution, right, So I went from hot wheels.
We were talking about this. I went from hot wheels.
I didn't do really the die cast cars like a lot of people did. I went to slot cars, and
I became addicted to slot cars, and I think that was really like my first like really like what I thought about being on an auto mechanic kind of like was like, because you guys, remember the slot cars back in the day you used to go to if you went to toys r Us, they had one whole aisle full at least that my toys or used did, where you could buy different slot cars, and they were I think they're like thirty three dollars at that time, which seemed like a lot of money. But I owned a
bunch of them. And then I realized that you could
mess with the motors because they were just spun wire, so you could do different things motor make them fast.
I realized you could put different tires on them. I
was telling the boys, like I'd put a set of like sticky tires on one side and I put a different set of tires on the other side. It would
make my car I could like almost hold wide open.
Speaker 4: Throttle, especially if it was only a left hand turned back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. So here's the thing, so let me explain
to you how this worked. We had a really large
family room in my house, and I used to go and buy broken slot car tracks at yard sales. So
I go to yard sale and soon I saw a slot car track. First thing I asked us, does it
have the cars? If it had the cars, I was
interested in because the cars were expensive.
Speaker 4: Times were so different.
Speaker 2: It was because you were buying that you'd buy a broken like when I mean broken. If you guys remember
the way the slot cars tracks went together. They had tabs,
say two little tabs. You clicked me, They pushed on
tabs and they clicked the track together. And people constantly
broke those tabs. So you'd have like two or three
pieces in a kit that were broken, and then you get maybe six straights out of it that were still good.
And that's all I wanted. So I built a big,
huge I'd say, oh, but it wasn't it was a big square. I'd go straight away, put a turn in it,
straight away, put a turn in it the full size of our family room. And our family room was like
forty five feet by like thirty three feet, and I had a track. And then everybody'd come in to my
house in the neighborhood and we'd race for money like that, and what don't mean money back the day it was like twenty five cents on a race, fifty cents on a race, a dollar on a race, I mean, but we ran tons and tons of races me day long.
It was you were going to McDonald's with it. And
I had a bunch of cars, and they, my buddies, were building their cars and they were changing the tires, and we had different cars with different bodies. Like I
remember I had the number one and I don't remember who who the sponsor was, but it was a white Indy car with a number one on it, and it was one of my fastest cars and it was my best performing car. And then I had the yellow number
pens Oil Indy car too that I got that was really really good. But I was, you know, I thought
I was mechanicking because I'm like taking tires off, doing different rims. I'm changed. It used to be able to
pop the back wheels out of it, and you could change the back's axle a little different gear on it.
Speaker 3: And imagining that you were like changing the tires and engines like building building like an engine. I'm poor out
of popsicles.
Speaker 2: It was is you realized realized the copper spinning in it was what is what made the car faster slower.
Speaker 4: I feel like when you were how much copper engine?
I'm more mad that like the stuff that we grew up was like a dumb down version of what you guys had. Maybe it could be because like you know,
like a lot of things you couldn't like break down.
Like I will say, like the really nice r C car, it wasn't even really an r C car. It was
more like a a modular RC car, but it was more like street style, so it wasn't like, you know, not to go off roading with. There's more just for
a show style play. But you could change the wheels,
the suspension, you could change the cover of the car, the batteries. I mean, I forgot what even kind of
cars we had, but I mean you're building street cars, you know you could just well, one time I brought a show and tail.
Speaker 2: Yeah that's because like so your your first radio control car wasn't super fast. But I bought you guys once
and you really liked it. I bought each one of y'all,
and I bought them different colors.
Speaker 4: So we didn't play with it.
Speaker 2: For yours green and years was blue. So I bought him,
and then I went ahead and I got I traded I had a problem with I think it was yours, and I had a problem with it. I traded out,
and then yours was blue, and yours was a blue Mustang, I believe, and yours was red. Was a red suthing.
It was. It was correct, so and they were quick
for what they were. They were smaller, but you could
put rims on them, You could put different motors in them, You could do all kinds of things. The calibers r
these ones let you take the doors off and you could put like a golden looking style door on all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 4: It was very modular first time it was.
Speaker 2: It was and it was cool. But you guys were
like I, as a dad and being a car guy, I was just stoked because they sat for hours and hours and hours building on these cars, taking things apart and changing things, and so I just kept going buying parts.
Speaker 4: So what happened though, because we didn't like I remember picking it up years later, So like, was it something that we weren't interested in or we were just too young to really show what end up happening was, which just made me mad.
Speaker 2: The company that came up with this, that those cars they stopped stop supplying parts for him. And it was
and that's happened to you guys two times in your life. Okay,
So we really cool. We had those cars. You guys
loved them, and I was going, like I was going every week and buying different rims and buying They had body kits you could buy for them that bolted on and stuff like that, and they were all into it, and it, like I said, being a car guy, this is the best thing you want for your.
Speaker 3: I do remember, I do remember having the kits and we used to build the bit and the bill used to have the kit and stuff, and then we used to try to build like the wings and stuff, and we found them.
Speaker 2: You would buy, so you go to the store and they sold up called a mod kit. I think the
cars were actually called mot mods. I think it is
where they were. It was actually the names of them,
if I remember correctly. And you could go buy a
kit and then I could bring the kit home and they'd spend like two hours mod in the car out of this kit had all these different parts in it and you would put and then you guys would play with that for a little while, and then you'd be like, I could tell it was time to like, and then I'd go buy like another mod kit, and you guys just changed things. You guys kept on changing things of
the car, what they call mods. I see you look
them up.
Speaker 3: I remember the I remember the RC cars that we had, and then we had bigger R car.
Speaker 2: Right, so that was a whole other thing.
Speaker 3: And that happened that one were more dirt style. There
was one broke, and I remember we kept broke them the first day. Okay, that wasn't our that wasn't our fault. Okay,
a lot of it was. But it had a lot
of kick and a lot of power. So okay, tell
the story first and then I'll tell my what happened, like eight years after.
Speaker 2: They were called they were called to can RC is that they were, but they were mods, right, the word mods in them or something like that.
Speaker 4: Welcome to how we became the car guys. Yeah, but
there are at one a scale cars.
Speaker 2: So same thing still happen me. So I wanted I was,
you know, I I was doing slot cars for a while and then I decided I wanted all my friends started getting radio control cars, which happened to you guys. Well,
it's funny how that progressed the same way for you guys.
They didn't go from slot cars, but people like your friend started getting RC cars that were like faster. So
the course that you guys wanted, the same thing happened to me. So I had a series of radio control
cars as a kid, and none of them were fast.
And then my friends, I was telling the boys, uh, people are my age or maybe you know a little older, and you remember, you know, buying these, maybe for your kids or whatever. The Golden Arrow came out from Radio
Shack and no one ever really seen anything that was that.
You could buy it out of the box, and it was that fast. It was a very fast car for
its time, and everybody had one except me. I didn't
have one, and I really wanted one, and all the things got one because it came out right around Christmas time, and I was saying, they were they were displaying them in the mall and they were running them up and down in the mall. That's when Radio Shack was still
in the mall.
Speaker 4: I remember in a few young years of the mall.
You know RC cars flying around, driving around, Well they don't really do that no more.
Speaker 2: They don't because kv's toys went out of bits. So
KB Toy had a big selection of RC cars like that you could build yourself. They were one of the
ones that had them. And when KB Toys disappeared, that
was like the car, the control cars in the mall disappearing.
I'm telling you how radio control cars changed me as a gear head completely. But you got to come back
for the next episode.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Dave Palatch on Let's Talk Cars Radio.
Dave will be right back.
Speaker 2: Hey Dave, what, Hey, Dave what?
Speaker 4: I've got a secret?
Speaker 2: What are you?
Speaker 8: Twelve?
Speaker 7: No, I'm just excited to announce Liberty Transmission is headed to the future m by a Dolorian. Did you no?
But we did get a brand new building. That's right, people,
Liberty Transmission is moving to thirty forty one Holland Road to better serve the community. Check out our website for
updates or give us a call at seven five seven two three three thirty one thirty one. That's right, two
three three thirty one thirty one. And remember my name
is on every transmission.
Speaker 6: There's something special about NAPA Autocare Centers serve backed by the national strength of NAPA nationwide warranties honored by thousands of locations. You know that's NAPA know how. But more importantly,
your NAPA Autocare center is independently owned and operated by neighborhood professionals who operate by a written code of ethics.
Put your vehicle in the hands of ASC certified technicians who will greet you with a smile you can trust.
Visit us today.
Speaker 2: You've heard me say it, and now here's your chance.
Now's the time to go find your auto garage. Don't
wait until it's too late. Go to NAPA BDGHRVA dot
com and find your all star carcare center today. That's
NAPA BDGHRVA dot com. Talk to you soon. Hey, guys,
day from Let's Talk Cars Radio. So for the last
two years, if you listen to the show, you've heard me talk about my dream house. It has been a
great experience buying land, building my house, even selling my old house. One thing I didn't tell you about was
the real estate agent that I used. I used Bop
Bar them from the Perfect House team in the real estate group. It's been one of the best experiences I've
ever had. Bob has been there for us from beginning
to end and treated us just like family. I'm telling
you you've heard me talk about this because it has been one of the truly best experiences that I've had.
If I did not choose Bob, I don't think that I would have all the best things to say about building this house. So if you're looking to buy or
sell a home, definitely give Bob a call at the Perfect House Team in the real Estate Group. You can
contact Bob at seven five seven four six four one zero zero three. That's seven five seven four sixty four
one zero zero three.
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you soon. Nobody remembers the name JF.
Wilow and Sons Incorporated until you need them. But when
you have a toilet problem, drains, back up pipes, freeze, your heat or air conditioning stops working, then you remember JF.
Witlow and Sons. Don't forget the phone number three nine
nine one seven one four. That's three nine nine one
seven four. Air Conditioning and Heating and all plumbing. JF.
Witlow and Sons have been serving Hampton Roads since nineteen forty nine, residential and commercial. You could always count on JF.
Witlow and Sons to get to you fast and get the job done right the first time. Located in Portsmouth
and serving all of Hampton Roads. Those who know called JF.
Witlow and Sons. Call them at three nine nine one
seven one four. That's three nine nine one seven one four. JF.
Witlow and Sons Incorporated. Welcome back to Let's Talk Cars Radio.
You're automotive specialists. Now back to your host, Dave Pilach.
Hey guys, welcome back.
Speaker 2: Hey, So before we went to commercial break, I was telling you guys the evolution of car guys. Right, So,
like I was saying before we went to commerce, craay, I remember when and the hopefully you guys remembers when as well, when the gold arrow came out and it was really fast, and like I said, everybody got one.
I remember that whole year, that Christmas year, like I almost dreaded, Like and that tells you just how messy you are with cars, right, I dreaded going to school and not having Christmas, Yeah, because I knew everybody got one and and I didn't get one. And like I
was like and I really wanted one, like Bad Bad wanted one, but there was already other cars. So if
you guys remember it was the Grasshopper was really really popular, which I remember had a BW bug body on it, but it was it was really quick, and some people had those. But the Golden Arrow like was like nothing
we'd ever seen in my generation, like everybody was getting them.
I mean, it was just something.
Speaker 4: Just as fast as a car.
Speaker 2: And I think they came I think they tried to come out with like a spin off of that. I
think it ended up being in the Red Arrow, which was supposed to be just a little faster, like maybe a year or two later, but it didn't. It never
took off like the gold Narrow did. And but the
problem with the Golden Narrow was, and I guess after a while I was glad I didn't have it. It
was plastic and once you hit something and broke something, there was not replacement parts for it, and the car was that was it. The car was just done. And
I remember that being like everybody had one and they were fast, and then people had scrap ones laying around because they broke and you couldn't you couldn't it wasn't a modular car you to build it. It was just it
was a very fast car. Now it was the parts
car for it's time, but it was all concealed and I remember everything being sealed up in it, so you couldn't even go in and you know, mess around with anything in the car. So at that point in time,
I started wrenching on them because people had broken ones.
So I was taking parts off somebody else had a broken and lost interest in it, and then using the parts from that to put the other one back together.
Before I know it, my buddy had a running car again, you know what I mean. So I was doing that,
and then that next year I ended up getting the car called the Fox, which was the one you had to build yourself. And I built that car, and I
let me tell you how bad I was, so I used to I wanted to build a car quickly. I
was really really wanted to get the car built. So
I stayed up for a whole weekend.
Speaker 4: Building that car took you a whole weekend. Well, yeah,
they're a slow builder.
Speaker 2: Maybe I was, I don't know.
Speaker 4: And it was my buddy Aaron had had had one too.
Speaker 2: I can't remember what version he had, but it took him like two days to put his all together and build it right and stuff.
Speaker 4: So maybe Tay come two days.
Speaker 2: So well, precision on a Friday, and we stayed up Friday night to Saturday, and we were driving it a Sunday morning.
Speaker 4: Okay, So I want to take you two days so now week right?
Speaker 2: So uh, But I remember having it and then so I had that car for a while, and that car was almost indestructible, and it was plastic, and that was the only thing I didn't really like about it. But
it it had parts that you could service, that you could buy stuff for it. And I raced that one
for a while. But I wrenched on that car a lot.
Speaker 4: Like do you remember what they were breaking? Like the
front of.
Speaker 2: It was always the control arms, same thing that broke on your guys, as the cars I bought you guys are plastic. So I told you guys, we had the
mods and they discontinue. I bought them each a radio
control car that were quick, and they were very fast, and I probably shouldn't game to one at that age.
But car guys do dumb stuff. We buy our kids
car stuff, and this is what it is. And they
broke them on the first day, the very first, and then it was me. He took off at of the yard.
All I saw was a rooster tail of grass go up the air. It shot out the yard, went in
the street, went down the street, and then smashed in the curb and then broke front control arm on it.
Speaker 4: I will say the reason it broke though, was because the yard had wooden pillars around it. That's the reason
why I broke it. It was a wooden pillar. It
would have just went right up the grass.
Speaker 2: It would have. But so the problem with it was
is on that car. Once again, they were made out
of plastic. And the only defect in the car and
I fixed on your car. That's the reason why yours
never fixed and the ears never broke. It was the
front bumper was plastic, but it didn't completely cover the front wheels, so the control arm was exposed just a little bit on each side, and that's how you broke it.
So on yours, what I did is I went and took a different bumper off a different car that never belonged to your car. It was bigger, and I put
it on. So when you hit stuff, it constantly hit
that bumper. It was all right, truly for him. Now
here's where it got mat Those cars were brand new and he broke up on the first day. So I
go to where I buy him from and they're like, oh, the cars are so new, they don't have parts out for him yet to fix them, but they're coming. I
do remember that they never came. A year and a
half went by. A year and a half. I went like,
I won't say every weekend, but it might as well have been every weekend.
Speaker 4: We were definitely asking.
Speaker 2: And then the yeah, they col steadily asked me. So
I was constantly going. And then the company went out
of business. Uh, and they just stopped producing the car.
The parts never came there. They never produced one part,
replacement part for those cars.
Speaker 3: And then I remember that I found the parent company.
Like I remember about six years later, I was doing research, found the parent company that used to create the cars for the company that went out of business, called them up, was they were able to reference it and ordered the parts.
It took two months, y'all. I'm a car guy, car
guy America. We wait months for now two months car
the right part for the side that wasn't broken. I
remember that that wasn't broken.
Speaker 4: That made me mad. I remember that because I was like,
I'm not ordering another part for two months.
Speaker 2: So I had I like I said it. So I
had the Fox, and I built the Fox, and like I said, and what I mean, I wrenched on the car.
I mean I I was buying tires. I bought different gears.
I bought the long travel kit that they sold for so it gave it a better suspension. Like I was
constantly buying stuff for the car. But what happens, everybody
end up getting better cars. So everybody had the gold Narrow, right,
and then I had the Fox. And the Fox was
a lot faster than the Gold Narrow. So then of
course everybody evaulved. And that's when, if you guys remember
we go back in time, the RC ten came out and that was like the radio control car, like the future, and it was an aluminum body car, and everybody had one.
So now everybody was now faster than I was. So
the next year I went and I got the Jerks two, which was a graphite body car. But I wrenched on
that car, and I constantly was working on cars. I
ended up getting a small sponsorship locally from a team sponsorship which helped me with parts, and I was going to the track and I was racing the car regularly.
But I told the boys I probably had six seven thousand dollars tied up in parts. I had a bunch
of motors, different wheels, different tires, different rims, different bodies, you name it, and but you know, you remember it.
Think about this, and everybody's like, well, how's that know, how's that you know? Turning into a car guy, that's
a lot of money to have tied up at is twelve thirteen years old. I was buying all that stuff myself.
So I was working a job. I worked for a
place called United Teens. We sold candy door to door,
and every dollar I made, I was buying car parts for that ARC car, which two years later then involved again for me and our seat cars. I was done
with RC cars and I bought my first car with well, actually, let's go back the year before that, I bought a go cart, and I think I think I told you guys story. I bought a go kart without telling anybody.
So my mom specifically told me I couldn't have a go cart, and I said okay, And then two months later two months later, I went and bought it without telling you.
Speaker 4: I heard you buy it.
Speaker 2: It's like, I think what I heard was said you were buying.
Speaker 4: All he heard was okay, and the kids mind.
Speaker 5: That means not that I was a bad kid, because I don't consider myself could be a bad kid.
Speaker 4: But I really wanted to go kart And how what made you want to go?
Speaker 2: Because I just I was infatuate with anything that was that had wheels.
Speaker 4: Did anyone of my friends have one?
Speaker 2: Or no, none of my friends.
Speaker 4: And there was, you know, nothing but flat land everywhere right the right, so and random people. I wanted.
Speaker 2: I wanted to go kart bad, like I just I'd already like I love to drive anything, it didn't matter what it was. Car relaid I wanted, and I want one,
and I and she was like, you're gonna hurt yourself, and like anyone was, oh, you're gonna hurt yourself something like that, and she was probably right, Well you could watch me. So so now here's what I did. This's
how I want to So I bought the I went down and bought the go cart. There was a place
in Vegas that sold go carts. My buddy bought one
and they sold them to miners. He was so right,
So there's like there was there was, there was some things behind that.
Speaker 4: They were like, if you have it, we weren't a question.
Speaker 2: And I made payments on it every week. Every week.
Speaker 4: I made payments on my go cart until it was paid off, and then did you have money down? Is
that why they let you do that.
Speaker 2: I'm not surprised. I don't really know you. They don't
care like pet Boys if you guys remember so back in the door, back in the day's pet Boys sold go carts, bicycles, everything at pet Boys, they sold it all. Okay,
that's not where I got this from. I actually bought
this from from a recreational place where I bought my right.
Speaker 4: But you're just a kid though you got no job.
I did, but well you had a job, and they might not know that.
Speaker 2: I ended up buying it. I made payments every single
week on it because I didn't have the money. So
I just made payments every week until I was paid off.
And then my boss, the guy's name was Dave that I worked for, went with me to go pick it up.
And I was like, and then we so we instantly this is how you know you're a car guy, right, I take it to his house because he goes, I know how to make them faster. I used to make
them fast because he was my boss. He's like, we
used to make them faster when I was a kid.
He's like, you need a cherry bomb exhaust. You got
to take the governor off it. You put a different
sprocket on it. If we put bigger tires on it,
it's overall average speed at the time, up end will be faster.
Speaker 4: I was his car guy, like I want to.
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm in.
Speaker 4: I was like, he done me everywhere, so so he did.
Speaker 2: He ran me the store, we went and bought everything.
That's a cool boss, and we worked on it his house and the end, he'll tell you how much your car guy he was. He lived in an apartment complex,
but outside the car company. In no, no, outside of
the apartment complex. They had like an open parking area
where you could park. I'm like out just outside the
So we're out there in that parking lot working on this go card. I just bought that. We got in
a million pieces, and I started to get kind of scared because I was like, I just bought this and it was a lot of money for me, Like I had to make one hundred dollars payments every single week on this thing until it was paid off.
Speaker 4: He took a part in the first week.
Speaker 2: The first day, the first day I had it, it went straight to his house and we had it in a million pieces, and I'm like looking at it, and I'm like, I know this thing's new, and I'm like, you you in trust in adults.
Speaker 4: You're like, you know how to put this thing back together?
Speaker 2: Right right?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: I asked that guy that like ninety times, like in one day. I'm like, you do know how this goes?
Speaker 4: We're not going to a point you're like.
Speaker 2: And the things about it was he didn't have like a much mechanic tools, so we're like using like stuff that came out of like fires his kitchen drawer and stuff like that, trying to work because he didn't like he had a bunch of tools, so just like stad of random tools. But we got back together and he
brought it home with me, and my mom came out and she was like, he has the biggest I had a huge smile, but I was smart. I bought a
helmet for it.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, and I even got a helmet, made it all better.
Speaker 2: And then I got and I fired it up and I took off down the street and just and then she saw how fast it was, and I think that was probably like where the all right, there was a bunch of rules were set, but I already owned it and wasn't going back. So that's how I got away
with it.
Speaker 4: They're not taking returns.
Speaker 2: That's how I got away with having the go kart.
If you want to hear how I evolved from there, Hold tight and I'll be right back.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Dave on Let's Talk Cars Radio. Dave,
We'll be right back.
Speaker 6: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care. Well,
here's a pound of prevention from your NAPA Autocare Center.
We'll customize a preventive maintenance package for your vehicle that will save you time, money, and hassles now and down the road. We'll ask do you drive mainly in the
city or on the highway? Plan to keep your vehicle
how long and more. Preventive maintenance is a good thing
that prevents bad things. Filled yours at your NAPA Autocare
center today.
Speaker 2: Hey guys, Dave Pillocks from Let's Talk Cars Radio. Do
you currently have a repair shop you trust? Having found
the time to go to a garage for all your automotive needs, check out the all star team at NAPA BDGHRVA dot com. That's NAPA BDGHRVA dot com. Let them
show you what it's like to work with the professionals and make a front along the way.
Speaker 8: Talk to you soon so you're ready to make a move, whether buying or selling a home, you find you have more questions than answers, wondering if you're even asking the right questions, or where do you go from here? Stop?
Take a deep breath, even count to three. Buying or
selling a home is one of the biggest decisions you'll ever make. Every house has a story. Let yours begin
now by calling me Bob Barnum with the perfect House team at the real Estate Group. Call me today at
seven five seven four six four one zero zero three.
That's seven five, seven four six four one thousand and three.
Speaker 1: Nobody remembers the name JF. Witlow and Sons Incorporated until
you need them. But when you have a toilet problem, drains,
back up pipes, freeze your heat or air conditioning stops working, then you remember JF. Whitlow and Sons. Don't forget the
phone number. Three nine nine one seven one four. That's
three nine nine one seven one four. Air Conditioning and
heating and all plumbing. JF. Witlow and Sons have been
serving Hampton Road since nineteen forty nine, residential and commercial.
You could always count on JF. Whitlow and Sons to
get to you fast and get the job done right the first time. Located in Portsmouth and serving all of
Hampton Roads. Those who know called JF. Whitlow and Sons
call them at three nine nine one seven one four.
That's three nine nine one seven one four. JF. Witlow
and Sons Incorporated.
Speaker 4: Hey, Michelle, thanks for coming in, No problem. What is that? Oh?
Curtis dropped that off earlier this week.
Speaker 2: He calls it the excitement button.
Speaker 4: Every time you see.
Speaker 2: Liberty, I'm supposed to push this button. Liberty Yeah, Liberty,
ooh yeah, liberty. Liberty Transmissions for the Working Men.
Speaker 4: I don't know about this, Dave. You gotta admit it's
got a ring to it.
Speaker 1: Liberty Transmission two three three thirty one thirty one two three three thirty one thirty one, better yet, visit them today.
Fifty one sixty Singleton Way in Virginia Beach two three three three one three one. Liberty Transmission, Welcome back to
Let's Talk Cars Radio. You're automotive specialist. Now back to
your host, Dave polac.
Speaker 2: Hey, guys, welcome back. So, if you guys have not
been paying attention or you're just joining us, we've been talking about how you evolve into a car guy and how you get there. So I kind of been talking
about how I got there, so right, I was son you guys that you know, I got this go kart, and without asking, I drove that go cart. I think
I've talked about this before. I drove that go cart
like was a car. I drove that everywhere I go
twenty miles away from home, I mean on my go cart.
Now keep in mind, a it was fast. Number one,
So not that this makes any better. Uh, the chances
of you.
Speaker 5: When stature, limitations, limitations, the chances of you catching up to me.
Speaker 2: Probably was slim to none. Number one and number two,
I told you guys, we have like uh, we have all the the washways and I cammer with their call, but their their goal, the goal, you know, the concrete goalies to go through the city. So all you do
is drive down to one of those, and then you know police car couldn't fall you down there because you weren't supposed to be driving go carts like their cars. Now,
I did go out of my way as far as I was concerned, and I put blinkers on mine, and I put because And if you guys ask if I did, I think I told the story. You could buy the
blinkers that used to put on bikes. So I went
and I put those on my on my go karts.
So I had a little lever you click, left hand turn, right hand turn. I had the blinkers, and I had
a break light on it. So I put all that
stuff on it. Not that that made it legal, because
it didn't. They're still legal, it can be, but I
I mean in Vegas back in the days, guys, we all lived really far from each other as far as friends wise. It was distant, far distances to our friend's house.
And you know, you can only ride a bike so much for you get tire riding a bike to your friend's house. And when I'm talking about far, anybody who
lives in Vegas. You guys will know that. So I
lived by Western High School area off of decatured Washington, out of that area, and my buddy lived off Low Mountain Road, and we used to ride to Low Mountain Road from there on our bikes like it was normal until I got the go cart And then how far is that?
Speaker 4: Is that pretty far?
Speaker 2: I you'd have to look it up, but I want to say that that's got to be at least ten miles or better you think about ten miles.
Speaker 4: I used to do more than look up, look up, look up, look.
Speaker 2: At Decatur and Washington to Loan Mountain Road in Vegas and find out what the distances. But so I used
to drive that distance all the time. The only thing
about the gold cart was I didn't have headlights on it, so any place I drove like I had a long mountain Loan Mountain.
Speaker 4: How long do you think it takes you what to ride my bike?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to say it probably took us probably two hour ride there to get just to get to just get to the beginning of Low Mountain Road. Okay,
maybe then you would have to you'd have to ride from there, you'd had to ride up Low mountain road going up towards where the old mine was at to get to my buddy's house.
Speaker 4: So I think I did something wrong. Go it'says one
thousand and thirty.
Speaker 2: So decatur uh.
Speaker 4: D c U A T you are Kate or c A T you are to Cater.
Speaker 2: But we So I used to drive the goat cart all the time, going all over the place. But like
I said that, so I had a time it because it started to get dark and I had to get back before I got dark. So it's far farther out
I went, the more I had to think about, you know, getting back. Now think about it. So I had a
go cart. I had times I broke down, like it
just it breaks. I'd be nowhere, Yeah, I'd be going
like fifty miles an hour. All of a sudden you
just cut out and I'm.
Speaker 4: Like, change jumps off this brocket.
Speaker 2: So I used to blow up centrifical clutches. If you
guys remember the old go carts, they had some tripical clutch set up on it and I would blow up.
Because my go cart was really fast, and I don't think it was made to have it. It should have
probably been a shifter cart. But it had centrifical clutch
on it. So I was going through centrifical clutches like
every month, and they were one hundred and twenty dollars.
So centrifical clutches, a disc and the waste waste waste explaining somebody probably explained, butter I do. But as a spring,
and it has magnets, and the faster you go, the spring expands, the magnets get pulled the outside and it goes pop. And that's kind of almost like a shift
to a gear to the next step. Okay, it's kind
of how the way it works. It keeps doing that.
Speaker 4: Five point three miles that's how far.
Speaker 2: Okay, it's just a low mountain road beginning or a low mountain road.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the beginning.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 4: And that's from Washington Indicator, Uh, Decatur Boulevard.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 4: And you got tired of biking, go.
Speaker 2: Go Western High School?
Speaker 4: Okay, Western High School to.
Speaker 2: Low mountain road.
Speaker 4: I used to bike from here was your front.
Speaker 2: That's it took us a while, like said, and I ride, I'd ride my go cart. So then talk about evolving, right, So.
Speaker 4: About six point two miles is it all right?
Speaker 2: Well, that's all right.
Speaker 3: So now, okay, okay, I see what you're talking about though old traffic roads eleven point four months.
Speaker 4: That was before they before they developed there, because it was it was low mountain road.
Speaker 2: Back when I was there was just a dirt was a what it was paid and then it turned into dirt road and it was just a dirt road all the way up to people the city end up, right, that was before the city evolved. So then, so I
rode the god car for a long time until obviously I got I got to be fifteen, and I got the opportunity.
Speaker 4: To buy this car learners permit time.
Speaker 2: Well, I didn't have the learners permit yet, but I had the car and no one knew I had it.
So once again I wanted, you know, like I wanted.
Speaker 4: To go car forgiveness mission.
Speaker 2: Right right, I asked forgiveness, not for permission. I bought
this car. It's not how it works. And then it
was I bought this car. I'll tell you how sourceful
I was. I bought this car and then had to
have it toe because it didn't wrong.
Speaker 4: Obviously, I mean more impressed that you were so resourceful.
Speaker 2: So I towed it to auto shop class and I worked on it for months in auto shop class. Uh,
here's the thing. So I bought the car, and they
thought the motor was blown in it. And the motor
wasn't blown, just seized. No, I don't really. It had
a messed up and two rockers were off in it.
But that's that wouldn't keep it from start, don't They said they couldn't get a start. They told me the
engine was blown. I bought it. It had a somebody
had put a four or fifty four in it in a coultle of Supreme bro Ham nineteen seventy seven, Cula Spreme bro Hand, that was what it was. And it
was fast, and it had a set of drag slicks on the back of it already that it came with.
So of the course I was was he making a dragstrea? No, no, no,
it just I don't know if somebody just that was the tires they had laying around. That's what they threw
on it. Like I said, So I took it and
I kept it a secret, and my parents didn't know I had the car, and I was building a car at autoshop and my autoshop teacher was keeping a secret too.
Mister Lee, Thank you appreciate it. And I had that car.
That car there, and I worked on that car for a while, so I pulled the interior out of it.
I put that was the first time I ever did interior.
I put a carpet kit inside, brand new carpet kit in it.
Speaker 4: How many classes did you skip just to start working the car?
Speaker 2: I I, mister Lee was cool. I used to not
go to like certain classes. I was just stage auto shop.
I'd go back an auto shop and to keep on working on my car because nobody had a car like we had cars and auto shop that were supplied by the school. It was a Buick Riviera and some other stuff.
But I was the kid who had the car.
Speaker 4: Didn't youbody try to work in your car with Yet they.
Speaker 2: Did, and I got into it. I got suspended for
getting in a fist fight because really yeah, I did, because the kid was You don't have that annoying kid in school. Everybody has one of those ones. It's just
they think they're funny. They're always trying to be a
pranks for a jokester. Well, I had just put a
new carburetor that I rebuilt, first time I ever rebuilt a carburetor, and I put the carburetor on it, and of course on fire and off it backfired out the top and it caught on fire. And he went and
grabbed a fire extinguisher and shoved it down, and I punched him straight in his mouth.
Speaker 4: Uh yeah, And I went to shop class.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I went. So I went first, and I
got spent it for a couple days.
Speaker 4: But for good understand why though, did the kid understand? Why? Yeah?
Why you got no?
Speaker 2: He thought he was being prain Street thought it was funny.
Speaker 4: Like, oh so he was a joke.
Speaker 2: Yeah, put it down. He thought it was joke. Yeah,
that wasn't joking. Like I knew exactly what I was like, dude,
you're like, hey, ruining my car? What are you talking about?
Speaker 6: You?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 4: So, just because you don't know a car, got a car, right.
Speaker 2: So I ended up having that car for a while.
And then I think I told the story. Mister Lee
ended up buying that car from me.
Speaker 4: Oh really, yeah, so he is heyea.
Speaker 2: His son had a C ten pickup truck that blew the motor and he wanted my motor out of it to put in the C ten pickup truck. So I
sold him the car because at that point time, I was driving a friend of mine's car pretty regularly. At
that point in time, I had a different Trams station that was just become a project and I wasn't, you know, you start getting involved in girls and stuff like that, and the car was just sitting at shot class and I was only working on it every once in a while.
I wasn't skipping a lot of classes and going going to shot class like I was. And mister like, hey man,
what are you gonna do with that car? I'm like,
I'm still working on it. He's like the money was, right, Yeah,
he offered me good money at the time for it.
I mean I I had three hundred dollars in the car when I bought it. I bought it for three
hundred bucks tea and I want to say, I want to say he gave me like twelve hundred bucks or something like that for the motor. I was pretty there
something like that. So because it was it was a
built motor, you know, somebody had done some work to it, so it wasn't a junk motor. Obviously, that's the reason
why he was interested in it, right, And I ended up selling to him, and then I think they the carcass sat back there for like until like my junior year, because you got to remember, this was what my freshman year in high school, they were already making so uh, the car, the carcass sat back there in auto shop.
Nobody ever did anything with it. I think eventually they
hauled it off, uh and went to the junker. But
I mean I was already driving at that point in time.
I was already moved way moving on online was yours right right? Well, I didn't care, it didn't matter. But yeah,
I mean that that was the evolution for me. And
like I said, I've been that gear head through and through, and you guys can see you've heard the stories all the way through. I mean, I don't suggest going to
buying a car and not telling anybody. I'm not saying
that's what to do, but you know, maybe different times that look. I remember what looking. I remember the first
time I brought the car home. I know, we talked
about this. I brought the car home and I pulled
in front of the house, and it had a set of headers on it and stuff like that, so it was loud, and I pulled in front of the house, and my mom came outside, of course, almost like the go cart, and I'm I'm probably smiling ear to ear right.
No helmet this time, No no helmet and uh because I just think it's the coolest things in sliced bread.
And I didn't have a driver's license yet, but the high school was close to my house, so I took the back roads in a robe the house and I pulled up front the house and like I said, here's this seventy seven cut list. It's got drag slicks on it.
You know what I mean, it's run.
Speaker 4: It's yeah, it's up and it's running and it's worked up.
Sitting in front of the house.
Speaker 2: He hits the gas. It's like what you know what
I mean? I remember, I just tell you how much
of an idiots you are. Right, I've probably sat in
front of the house, I don't know and probably blipped that gas pedal eight or nine times, like to the wide open throttle in front house because it just it just sounded me. It was just a cool car. And
you know what I mean to me, it was it was nothing right, this is my car. It was my
car and I and I was proud of it, and like I.
Speaker 4: Said, that's your story, guys, that's how did your mom react?
Speaker 2: Quick? She was not happy with me at all, discervingly.
Speaker 4: So I mean, but did you take it right to lease?
Speaker 2: No, she did not take a ride with me, but I took it that. I remember there was an argument
about I almost felt like the scene from Christine because it was and I'd seen that movie at young There was this whole thing about like it's sitting in front of the house, and you know, because it was a project car, and it was like they didn't really want out of the car, you know what I mean, like kind of you know, and they didn't want to sit in front of the house. And I remember that's a
very similar scene for the movie Christine about them not want the car sitting in front of the house. I thought, yeah,
I felt like I was reliving that scene. So watch guy.
I'm curious how you guys became a car guy, Like I said, that's kind of my car story. And then
it progressed from there, guys, and I went on and here we are today. But I hope you guys enjoyed
the story. I thought, I share that with you because
it's just up top of conversation this week, and I thought it was something interesting and that note, guys, we gotta get out of here. Hey, do not forget tomorrow.
We were going to actually be out at seventeenth Street Automotive for their big huge corn hole tournament and to go ahead and support the firefighters from nine to eleven, the big huge fundraiser. Come out out and see us
a lot of big prize. You're not going on to
miss you guys, want to see any before we get out of here.
Speaker 4: Enjoy your weekend. I have a good one, alright, guys,
and we'll talk to you soon.
Request an explanation for:
1 cars
1 cars featured
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark.
Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.