Building a Car and a Career: The Story Behind Tim King's Automotive Journey

Melanie Henry: Hey everyone, welcome to the Driven by Enthusiasts podcast. I am your host, Melanie Henry, and today we are joined by Tim King. I have known Tim King for years in the industry, but for those out there who don't know Tim, Tim, introduce yourself and where you're from and what your role is in this automotive world.

Tim King: Yes, my name is Tim King. I've been in automotive world for, I don't know, almost 20 years now. I'm located in Fort Worth, Texas. And I do marketing. So I have all different kinds of marketing at various levels for different companies.

Melanie Henry: Very cool. And so you and I met working in automotive and that is how we became great friends and are still friends to this day. So that's been a lot of fun and working with projects back and forth, like in our own separate lives and how we still come to each other for automotive help. That's been a lot of fun.

Tim King: Yeah, no, it's been great to keep up the friendship and like I there's some things in the marketing world that I don't necessarily do that you do, so it works out great because I can say, hey, Melanie, I need help with this and we can bounce ideas off of each other too.

Melanie Henry: Yeah, absolutely. Yes. So how did you first get into the automotive world? What sparked your love of cars?

Tim King: Probably like most people, most gearheads, I hung out in the garage with my dad a bunch and he was always working on stuff, you know, fixing the family car or this or that or the other. And I just always sparked an interest with me.

you know, I played with Legos a lot too, I guess. And I remember some kid did a science fair experiment that he found out that people that played with Legos like had a greater chance of becoming engineers.

⁓ And I did not become an engineer, although I was a drafter for a while there and was on that route, but I don't know, maybe it was like a Lego thing too, you know, just putting things together and taking them apart.

Melanie Henry: very well could be and I never I never made the connection with with like Legos. I am not an engineer either but I definitely feel like it transfers over to playing with cars but I definitely had a lot of Hot Wheels.

Tim King: Yeah, I had a lot of those, and like the little NASCAR Hot Wheels and stuff, you know.

Melanie Henry: Yeah, ⁓ yeah, for sure. What was your first car?

Tim King: So my very first car is a 66 Chevelle, which you can probably see over here under car cover that I still have to this day. ⁓ was blue, had a big block 454, four speed and 12 bolt Posi in it.

And why my parents thought that'd be a great first car, I have no idea, but I'm very thankful for it. Surprisingly, I was very responsible because I was so afraid of like breaking it or anything else.

And I actually drove I drove it very, very conservative for quite a few years before I even like, even did a burnout in it. Cause I was like, well, if I break it that I can't get to school. And so, you know, surprisingly I was actually pretty responsible with it, but yeah, I still have it to this day.

I've redone it bumper to bumper two times. I'd love to do it a third time now, but yeah, it's not, there's a lot on it that's still original, but at the same time, it's a completely different car than when I got it.

Melanie Henry: Joelle, share that story. How have you built the Chevelle up to what it is today? What was your inspiration with its current build and where would you like to go with it on the next one?

Tim King: So when I had it, ⁓ when I first got it, first it was, it had already been restored once. Not very well done, but this was probably done in the 80s when there wasn't necessarily a lot of parts available.

So I went through and basically was fixing all this stuff. So I ended up working at a place called True Connections, which was in California, and they were Chevelle Parts warehouse. So they sold parts for Chevelle.

It's kind of like CJ Pony Parts sells parts for Mustangs. So for me, it was like great, because I had a Chevelle working at a place that sold Chevelle parts. So I learned a bunch there, but two, they gave me like the employee discount, whatever that even was.

And so I just, my paychecks, I just bought parts and stuffed them on the shelves and then ended up redoing the car. When I redid it, ⁓ originally it was kind of just like what we consider like a resto mod.

So I still kept the big block, but I did like five spoke American racing wheels, but they were 18s and 20s if I remember right. ⁓ And so I kind of, I kind of, you know, kept like just a more modern take on a classic build.

Then right around that time is kind of when pro touring started to take off and get real popular. And I fell in love with that. So I did some like 10 spoke wheels that are still on the car. And around that time or a little bit later, I had a buddy that had 65 Chevelle and he said, Hey, I have this LS2.

I'll pay you to put it in my Chevelle for me. And I was like, cool, I'll do that. So we put it in there and I had never done that before, but. put it in, whatever. We got it going. He's like, all right, let's go for a ride.

We went up and down this block doing burnouts and stuff like 30 seconds after we got the thing running. And I was just sold. I couldn't believe like the modern fuel injection, like how much power it made, how drivable it was.

Like you set your Coke on the intake while it was running, it wouldn't even spill. And I was just like, I'm sold. And so sold the big block, did an LS in it. And you did all the modern suspension, huge brakes, all the, all the pro touring stuff to kind of go with it.

But, you know, I always said I was, I was too poor to have a stock car. And, you know, like my thought was like, if, I was filthy rich, I could have like a bone stock, you know, 66 Mustang, just how it rolled off the assembly line, you know, and that'd be cool because it'd be like, this is exactly how it is, but like, I can't afford that.

Like I need a car that I can do anything with. So. That's how I built this car, was kind of like, I can do anything with it. So I've taken it on power tour and it's been all over the United States at different shows.

It's been to SEMA twice and everything. And I can hop in this car right now and drive to CJ Pony parts and not even think twice about it.

Melanie Henry: That's amazing. All from your very first car to still have it today and to take it all over the country. And it reminds me of this little lady that comes to my car shows and she has like a newer Ford Thunderbird, but she's like, I'm 97 and I'm going to take this car everywhere. I just feel like that'll be you on like your 66th power tour. yes.

Tim King: Yeah, yeah. Well, how many shows have we been to where, you know, there's the old timers there that are like, Oh, I used to have one of those. I should have never sold it. And I don't know why that always just resonated with me so much.

And I was like, I don't want to be the old guy at the car show. And it's like, I used to have a 66 travel and I, then I sold it like an idiot or, know, so I've, I've held onto it for all these years. mean, 20 some odd years now, but, um, you know, so I've, I've been lucky enough to hold onto it.

And in reality, that car really kind of like changed my life in that that really put me head over heels into the automotive world and falling in love with cars and then building it because I was more so like, I'm not gonna say one of the first guys, but like that pro touring style, like I was kind one of the first guys to kind of go that route.

⁓ It got a lot of attention and a lot of people knew me from that car and still do for that matter. So, I mean, it really kind of like helped. my name in the industry grow because I was able to show off the car and show what I was doing with it and go to all these events and everything.

Melanie Henry: Yeah, that's amazing. So what's one story from one of your early days in the industry that really sticks with you?

Tim King: man. ⁓ know, I mean... I guess so, you know, grew up in the, garage with my dad. And then right as I graduated high school, I was friends with a guy that lived about a half an hour from me.

was a few years older than I was, but him and his dad owned a auto repair shop. And it was just them as a father and son operation, ⁓ like a single bay type thing. And they hired me to come help. And that's really where I've learned a.

about working on cars on like how things assemble or this or that or whatever. And they really focused on doing anything with the car, but I would say probably 75 % of their business was pulling the engines out, rebuilding them, putting them back in.

And I remember I was, was, you know, low man on a totem pole. So they go say, go pull that engine. And I'm like, okay, I go pull the engine. We would just literally, I would strip it all the way down to a long block and just throw all the bolts and everything into a big bucket.

And then when we'd send the engine off to a machine shop, it'd come back as a long block. And the guy that I was working for, he would sit there and have this big bucket of bolts and lay them all out and assemble the whole engine.

And I was always like amazed by that, but that was, you know, it was a great place because I learned so much. Like the dad had been, mean, he was, he was a second gen mechanic. And then, so my friend was a third generation mechanic and like their whole family was mechanics.

⁓ lot of knowledge there. But at the same time around that point was like when Orange County Choppers was real big. And I don't know if you remember that show where like, it was the dad and the son and they would like constantly poke at each other and piss each other off.

And that's exactly how it was in that automotive shop where like, the dad would sit there and poke at the son till he eventually just blew up and he'd be throwing wrenches and cussing up a storm. And the dad would look at me and smirk and laugh like, haha, I did that.

And then the next week, then the son was doing it to the dad and it was just like,

Tim King: always entertaining working there just cause they like, were always just missing with each other and pissing each other off. But I mean, they loved each other to death too. And I don't know, there was just a lot of fun memories there that, that, that I had just learned a lot and you know, but also at that, that job was kind of where I learned that like, I love cars, but I don't want to necessarily turn wrenches for a living.

Like it's a great job. You earn, you earn a good amount of money doing it and you feel like you've earned that money, but It's a hard job too at the end of the day and like working on people's hot, greasy engines and stuff wasn't like my passion, I guess.

So I ended up leaving there after a year and half or something like that.

Melanie Henry: Okay, very cool. Well, with the people you worked there and other folks along the way, who were some of your biggest influences or mentors that shaped your career?

Tim King: Um, let think here. mean, one guy for sure would be Larry Ashley. So he was the marketing R and D guy for TMI products. So after I worked for as a mechanic, I went to school and all that, um, originally become an architect, fell in love with business and marketing and went that route, then got out of there and it was around that point that I was working at a cardboard box factory, you know, a bachelor's degree, like, but you know, whatever.

And I, I found this job with TMI because they had actually borrowed my Chevelle to take it to SEMA. And so I reached out to them and was like, Hey, you looking for any help? And they're like, yeah. And so they hired me as like a sales guy there.

And I was like, this great. And, um, there's this guy, Wayland that hired me and Then Larry was like the marketing and RD guy or whatever, but Larry had already tons of experience in the industry for like 20 years at this point or more.

And so he was just always just like, kind of took me under his wing, so to speak, and like taught me, like even to this day, like if I'm thinking of marketing, like, Hey, I want to try this or do this or like, what do you think?

And like, so he's always like, even to this day, kind of like he's become a really good friend like you have, but at the same time, like he's always kind of been this like mentor that like, I'll bounce ideas off of or like, I'm thinking of this and he'll be like, well, why don't you do this?

I'm like, man, I never even thought of that. So there's just, he's definitely had a big influence on me as far as like being in this industry and doing what I do, just a nice guy.

Melanie Henry: That's awesome. What's a challenge that you face in this industry that made you better at what you do, whether that be in marketing or on the side of restoring cars?

Tim King: You know, if you actually sent me these ahead of time, like could have come up with better answers. A challenge, know, marketing in itself is quite a challenge. I think a lot of companies view it as kind of the black sheep because we cost the company's money at the end of the day. We spend money, we take money and we spend it. Right. So it's always a hard thing for a company or the owner of a company to do, but

Tim King: I think one of those challenges is showing them, for every dollar you spend, you get $2 back, or whatever that return is. And that's always the challenge is trying to build that trust with them so that they will trust me to spend that money and know that what I'm doing is what I went to school for, what I have all this experience in, and what I'm pretty good at.

I think that's just something that's made me a better marketer over the years is learning how to like... communicate that to the right people. then two, like the more I do it, the more of a track record I have to, you know, it's made it easier in the long run, right?

Like, ⁓ yeah, we know Tim, he's worked over here and here and done great things and blah, blah, blah. Like, yeah, we'd love to have him help us. So, I don't know, that's definitely a big challenge within the marketing world, especially in the automotive world, where a lot of the companies that I've helped, now some of them are huge, some of them are just really small, you know, single guy type thing.

⁓ And a lot of them are guys like me, or you know, like they're in a garage and they build a part and then their buddy wants one and the next thing you know, they have this business and they're really great with car parts and working on cars, but not so much business, but they're like, well, I've built this business.

I know what I'm doing. It's like, you did great up to this point, but now it's time to like hand over the keys to a professional to let us do what we do best, you know? So exactly. Yeah.

Melanie Henry: Yes, take you to the next level. So, well, tell us about what you're doing now and how do you specialize in that?

Tim King: So I'm kind of all over the place and I always have been. ⁓ So I own my own marketing company. So I help out different companies, just with whatever they need. You some might say like, Hey, I just need you to post on social media or some say I need a whole new website or, whatever, whatever they want, I can pretty much do.

And I'm happy to do it there's so many different aspects within marketing that it's hard with, you know, juggling as if you're a business owner, juggling marketing plus everything else. And ⁓ You know, so like I do that and I'm working with Holly right now.

So helping them with just like, just their websites. And one thing that's really interesting there is they have me working on their websites, like merchandising, and I'm able to just like hyper-focus on their websites and making them better.

Where when it's just me, like if I'm running the entire marketing for a company, like I have to do everything myself. Right. And so, you know, it's not saying that I'm half-assing something. It's just like, only have so much time in the day to dedicate to social media or the website or writing stories or taking product photography or whatever, right?

But like when I'm able to just like hyper-focus on something, it's really been interesting to like, and I've learned so much there that I've been able to use my other experience to do that. But then at the same time, like I'm getting a lot back there too.

So it's been interesting there. ⁓ And I don't know, I just, I guess I don't know if that answers your question, but you know, I'm kind of like all over the place and always have been a little bit. And like a lot of people ask me like, what do do for work?

And I'm like, I just say marketing because you know, not everybody understands the full breadth of what marketing is or what it can do. And then trying to explain like why I'm doing stuff, you know, it doesn't always make sense to them either.

You know, so it's, it marketing is just like the easiest. thing and most people just go, okay, yeah. They like just assume what that means to them, you know, because everybody has their own definition of that.

But that's really, you what I'm at, but in the automotive industry. And it's funny because when I was a mechanic, going back to that, I thought in this industry, meaning the automotive aftermarket, that there was basically two jobs.

You were either a mechanic or you are a car salesman. I didn't want to be a car salesman. So I was mechanic. And then I learned a bunch and was like, ⁓ And so I went to school and said, okay, well, you know, going to do marketing.

And it wasn't until I actually started and, mind you, I had worked at the Chevelle restoration parts warehouse at this point and everything. wasn't until I finally got to TMI that it finally clicked for me.

Like there's so many jobs in the automotive aftermarket. You know, there's just different levels, like whatever you want to do. You want to be an engineer, you want to do marketing. sales, operations manager, logistics, whatever you want to do.

But if you want to work with car parts, there's a ton of jobs here. And at the end of the day, it's a huge industry, but it's kind of small too. ⁓ I don't know. I'm kind of rambling here, sorry. But that was always eye-opening for me too.

So it's like if somebody's watching this right now and they're like, man, I wish I did what they do, do it. There's a lot of jobs here and there's a lot of companies that need help.

Melanie Henry: Yes, I've been invited back to my eighth grade career class at my local high school that my alma mater and I'm like whenever I took this class, I said I wanted to go to school for cosmetology because I didn't realize how many jobs are out there and it is so eye opening like and not just automotive but in career in life like I'm sitting at a desk, someone made this desk, someone designed the desk, someone designed the chair I'm sitting in.

And cars are the exact same way and touching base on TMI like the wide and not just TMI, all the interior companies that are out there and just every single aspect of a vehicle. There's hundreds of companies that are out there making all of those separate individual things so that you can build exactly what you want.

Tim King: Yeah, and within each company, there's hundreds of people. I mean, there's there's, mean, SEMA, SEMA's a, know, I know it's an organization, but I always think of it as a show. And I think that's what most people associate it with, but like, it's the number two largest show in Las Vegas every year. Like it takes up multiple convention centers and everything. And it's like that, that, you know, I think that should click for more people like.

Tim King: Those are just like sales and marketing people you're seeing there too, right? There's still people back at the factory making things happen. it's crazy when you really think about it, like how big this industry is and how many jobs there are.

Melanie Henry: Absolutely. And so do you want to share with us some of the some of the parts that you're making?

Melanie Henry: I'm not gonna force you, but I mean some shameless self-promotion.

Tim King: Yeah, let me see here. Yeah, we can. I don't know. I guess we'll see how goes. I just don't want like Holly or some of these other companies like, you have your own deal going on? Or you know what I mean? Like that's my only hesitation that I've been somewhat staying behind on scenes. with all that.

Tim King: Yeah, let's just skip it. I mean, I would love to, like I need to do that kind of stuff, but like I said, just, I don't want to bite the hand that feeds me too right now, you know?

Melanie Henry: Yeah, no, I get it. That's fine. What are some new technologies and trends with marketing that you're seeing that you're really leaning on right now?

Tim King: Well, I think every industry right now is leaning on AI and that's just the wave of the future. Whether or not we like it, I mean, there's obviously some pros to it and a lot of cons to it, ⁓ but that's definitely one thing within the marketing world that you see.

⁓ Like me, I've done always like more content marketing type stuff. like a lot of writing stories and like SEO, data, things like that. And it's great for that. You know, like I can tell it how to write things, what I want it to write.

You know, I can kind of just like throw out some halfway thoughts and it'll like polish it up for me. Sometimes I use it directly. Like I'll just copy paste. Like I'll read through it. Like I proofread everything, but I'll, know, like that sounds good to copy and paste it over other times.

It's like, it just helps me like kind of like, Hey, I need to write about this. And I have these random thoughts about the topic. Like how do I, know, and it'll organize it and like, okay, that makes sense.

Or like. I like that and I'll take it and move it over. yeah, I mean, I think in marketing and like I said, in almost every industry right now, we're seeing AI taking over whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

You know, at the same time, like I use it as a tool, but then I see other companies using it, like copying and pasting it for press releases and stories and things like that. to me, it's just like, it's so obvious that it's written by AI that I'm like, Well, now I think less of you, cause I think you're being lazy.

You couldn't even just like change it up to make it sound more human. Cause it just has a different tone to it even. So I don't know that's probably going to be one of the biggest things. mean, the other thing from like more of an enthusiast standpoint is obviously a lot of companies work with influencers now, like sponsoring them and everything.

Tim King: Hey, do you need this widget? Cool, we're gonna send it to you and then you will do a video promoting it, whatever. Now there's turned into people that are full-time influencers where they're going, hey, you pay me X amount per year and then I will do this.

you think like that, that's crazy. Why would these companies do that? But you think about it like when we were kids, right? mean, all the TV shows, we grew up watching Stacey David and Chuck Hansen, all those guys.

mean, like that's what that was, right? It's a full blown production. So they have to pay for the building, the lights, the cameras, the editing, all this stuff. It's not just, you know, for the most part anymore, like these serious influencers, they have people shooting stuff and editing stuff and everything.

so it's, you know, those things take money, you know, and that's what people expect too, right? Like I have a YouTube channel that I do.

Tim King: little installs here in my garage. It's literally just me and usually my phone and I just and and they're crap videos right like they're very much like if you want this very specific thing and it's a very dry like not entertaining but like when you get to more that entertainment style where like you have more of a personality and you know multiple camera angles and all that like that stuff takes a lot of time and money like my videos very basic

Tim King: I don't care. I'm not trying to make a living off of it. I'm literally just putting them out there just for something to do. then hopefully if a guy's in my same position, I'm trying to figure out how to install this part.

They can watch this video and I do that, you know? And I get a lot of people that have thanked me or asked questions like, hey, well, I saw you do it this way. Why is that? Or how do you do this? And I'm always happy to help.

But to me, like, that's going to be one of the biggest things with marketing that's changing is kind of how we approach marketing and those traditional outlets. Like obviously magazines have more or less gone by the wayside.

There's a few out there that are still great and there's some that are kind of picked up that torch and carrying on. But as a society, as a whole, we've gone away from that magazines, everything, everything's on your phone, right?

And the argument used to be like, well, what do you read when you're sitting there going to the bathroom? It's like, well, everybody's on their phones now, which is kind of gross to think about, but nobody reads a magazine in toilet anymore.

Tim King: Going that digital route is obviously huge, but then even going further is now companies are paying people to advertise their parts, but they have to have that quality and that, that reach, right? They need to have millions of people that they're reaching. That's why the companies are paying them, you know? So those two I'd say are like the biggest things I see is AI and then actually paying influencers nowadays.

Melanie Henry: Yeah, that's a great answer. And it is crazy to watch that, the evolution, because I remember watching, know, Motor Trend eating my cereal on Saturday mornings with my dad, and now that is just all transferred over to social media and YouTube.

Tim King: Yeah, absolutely. mean, it's, it's kind of, I always said like with digital marketing, like before, if CJ Pony Parts came out with a new product and they wanted the world to know about it, they would go to the magazine companies and they'd say, Hey, we got all these people over here. You want to, you want to talk to them. You pay us the middleman and we're going to tell people, Hey, CJ Pony Parts just released this new product. Right. But now with the advent of

Tim King: social media, and everything else, CJ Pony Parts is like, we got all these people over here already. Like, we're just gonna go right around you and talk to those same people, which is great, but that obviously hurts the magazine industry and everything else, but it is interesting that they're able, like we're able to do that.

And I think it's great. Like it's now, I don't know, more direct and it seems like too that changed. the narrative of people's buying to where they're like, want to buy directly from the manufacturer or whatever, you know, and so I don't know, there's just a lot of differences with, with how the market went with everything.

Melanie Henry: Yes, that is definitely something with marketing as a whole is adapting to the changes and something with every with all of this with parts transferring over to social media as you have that like human interaction where you would watch people on TV and saw a thing and you couldn't ask the follow up question and now it's like we have those people right at our fingertips and we can just ask away.

Tim King: And that's what people expect. They want to be able to go to CJ Pony Parts Facebook page and ask a question and get an answer or go on the website and talk with, you know, live chat with somebody and everything.

So yeah, I mean, the downside is that now like companies have to have somebody doing that. ⁓ you know, it's like, if you can't, you almost just can't just make parts nowadays and put them out there and have dealers selling them.

And that's it. Like there's gotta be this whole. interaction that people expect nowadays.

Melanie Henry: Yes. And with interactions, do you have any fun or memorable customer stories? was there ever an experience while you were at like SEMA or Power Tour or just at a local car show and someone that just really touched you? Any stories you can share?

Tim King: Hmm, there's a lot of those over the years to think.

Tim King: know, I I've been in this ⁓ for a long time, so there's definitely a lot of stories or whatever that I could, I've ⁓ forgot more than I remembered, but you know, like ⁓ time I was at, ⁓ there is ⁓ parts warehouse in the Northeast, now it's in Florida, but it's called Ground Up Restorations, and they specialize like in Chevelles and Camaros and stuff, and I probably shouldn't be talking about them though, huh?

Tim King: Don't you guys have like classic muscle now or something like

Melanie Henry: Yeah, we do. This is CJ Pony Parts. It's fine. You're just sharing a story. You're not promoting them.

Tim King: Okay. Well, I think that one was just more of a funny thing. So let me start over. So when I was at TMI, I was a salesman and one of my accounts was ground up restorations, parts warehouse for Chevy parts.

And they at the time were based in Connecticut. And so I flew up there and mind you, I was living in Southern California. So, and I born and raised in Southern California. like snow and cold is just not my thing.

And I flew up there and there was a storm. So they had like a little expo, we did that, it was snowing a little bit. Woke up the next morning to like three feet of snow on the ground. And I'm like, what do we do here?

luckily my friend was with me that's from New Jersey, so he was used to it. we were out there shoveling out our cars and stuff. We basically just lived off of the vending machine for the day. And at that night managed to take his truck, which is a four by four, and go to like a grocery store and got some like sandwich stuff or something.

And, you it's just like, I don't know, always think about that, that kind of that crazy storm. just, was so out of my element with it. Cause I'm like, I'm from Southern California. Like I don't, I don't feel snow and anything below 70 degrees.

Right. So, ⁓ know, that, and, you know, just that I've worked a lot of shows, you know, from like marketing side of it, or like a sales guy side of it. mean, I've worked half a dozen power tours. And so there's just tons of people like, all walks of life you meet in this industry.

And, you know, there's always just people with some really interesting stories that you're like, I don't think that's true, but okay, you know, or like some stories you hear and you're like, that's amazing that that even happened, you know, and I don't know, it's just, it's hard to think of just one specific story of something, you know, special that happened to me or, you know, I will say one time, and this is not really automotive related, but kind of.

I had called and I was talking to this insurance company about something, insuring the car or something. And the guy was just making small talk. He's like, ⁓ well, what do do for a living? And I was like, ⁓ I'm in marketing and blah, blah, blah, blah.

And he was like, ⁓ I kind of started off in that industry and went into insurance, obviously. But he told me this quote, which I think applies to like marketing. And it's a quote I still use to this day.

And he said, and I don't know who said it cause I've looked it up. I've looked it up, trying to figure out like, who do I credit for this? So I always credit this insured random insurance guy, but he, but he said, don't tell them how great your grass seed is.

Tell them how great their lawn is going to look. And I don't that like to me just super resonated with me, like from a marketing perspective. And I, and I like to this day, you know, at least once a month in a meeting, I quote that, you know, to just drive this point home to people.

Cause they're. You know, we get so caught up in like, look at our, you know, our latest bottle of whatever. And like, it does this and it does this and it does this. it's, know, it's like, those are features and benefits, which are important, but I'm like, what does this actually do for the consumer?

Like that's what the guy wants to know. Right? Like CJ pony parts, like, you know, they can say like, Hey, we have the suspension. does this and it does this and does this. And it has all this, but it's like, at the end of the day, then you tell people like, Hey, you know what?

It's going to drive nice and smooth. You're going to feel confidence going around the corner. You things like that. It's like, got to tell them, like, what does it do for them? And to me, that was like a huge revelation, even though silly as it sounds, I don't, it always stuck.

Melanie Henry: Yeah, yes, for sure. And I can't believe in all these years. I don't think I've ever heard that from you.

Tim King: Yeah, don't know. I'm surprised. I'm surprised, yeah, because I've used that one a lot.

Melanie Henry: I am too. I am too. So, and with that, how do you stay connected to the automotive community? What are you still doing today that keeps you in it?

Tim King: So when I was younger, I had a lot more energy. I was at a lot of events and it seemed like, you know, it was like going all day long, talking to companies, let's go to dinner, let's meet up for breakfast, getting like two hours of sleep.

that really like helped grow my name in the industry. And I'll admit nowadays, I don't do any of that stuff. And I just, I don't know, like I have somewhat of a name in my industry, but like I don't actively put my name out there anymore, which I should, you know.

⁓ cause I got a long ways to go before I retire, but you know, I mean, still talk to people, you know, meet with them. Like if I go to like good guys comes into town, like I'll go up there and just say hi to people or, know, like if I'm at an event, I'll make sure to go say hi to people just to like, keep my name fresh in their minds, you know, or, you know, friends with them on Facebook or LinkedIn or things like that.

But I'm definitely not, I'm not putting myself out there as much as I should with all that, but. ⁓ I tried to, you know.

Melanie Henry: Yeah, yes. Is there something in the automotive industry as a whole that you think could be doing better?

Tim King: Mmm. I mean, that's a hard one to answer just because everybody's looking for something different in the automotive world, right? So, I mean, look at how many different ways you could build a Mustang.

You can have your concourse restoration, your resto mod, your pro touring. I I'm sure there's low rider Mustangs out there. And it's like, there's so many different ways that people are going about it.

One thing, mean, and know there's a lot to it. This would be a long conversation, but like modern automotive manufacturers, think just aren't putting anything out that terribly excites me personally anymore.

Like you look at sixties and seventies cars, fifties cars, they're such personalities to them. And they did stuff because it looked cool, not because of, you know, it, got 0.1 more miles per gallon. And I understand nowadays there's lots of restrictions and safety.

And if I was going to be an accident, I for sure want to be in a brand new Honda Civic and not my Chevelle, know, hands down, right? But so I get that, but it's like, you know, and I don't know how, how we would ever go about that, like getting that more style back to cars.

But, know, you look at, you know, like everybody drives a white SUV or whatever, you know, it's like SUVs. narrowed it down to like, you know, a sedan, an SUV or a truck, you know, it's like not too many options.

You look at back in the day, I mean, like this 57 behind me, I mean, there was like 15 or 20 different versions of it. Granted, I mean, like two door, door, coupe, sedan, wagon, but still, you know, it's like, I don't know, they're just, I don't know, like to me, I think that would make things exciting again.

And, you know, obviously too, like people aren't as concerned about driving nowadays. Like when I was 16, I mean, that was freedom. Like I, I couldn't wait to the day I could hop in the car and go by myself, you know?

And I, uh, I think I was sharing with you just the other day was the day I got my Chevelle. So we picked it up, drove it home that night. And the next morning I had sent you some pictures of that. And.

I remember waking up in the middle of the I had to go out and sneak out in the garage and look and just to make sure like this actually happened, right? Like I didn't just dream this, right? And I think like a lot of kids are missing that nowadays.

And I don't know. mean, obviously there's just change in like for me, that was freedom, right? Cause I could go visit my friends now they all have cell phones. just call and text all day long and everything.

like people are still connected, but you know, is it because cars aren't exciting nowadays? I don't know. You know I mean? And there's just so many different personalities and tastes in the industry. Like how do you.

determine what's something that the industry as a whole could be doing. And I know we all want to relive these days of the old cars and fixing them up and everything, but you know, the other day, like that, that's past, right?

And I think sadly, less and less kids are getting into the industry. And I don't know if that's just a preference thing or it's a cost thing or a combination of things. ⁓ I mean, right now it's, hard for kids to even move out and rent and rent an apartment, let alone.

have like a daily driver and then a classic car, you know, so there's a lot of things that affect it, you know, but I I would think we're all doing the best that we can and trying to keep people engaged and excited and, you know, moving our industry forward and keeping it alive, you know, because I think like you and me, like, we don't want to see this industry go away.

Like this is where I make a living. is where all my friends are from this industry, you know, everything like, so, you know, like I don't know what the answer is there. And I don't think anybody knows truly what that answer is, I'd ⁓ say just try to keep the spirit alive, keep people engaged.

Melanie Henry: Yeah, for sure. What advice do you have for someone that's looking to get into the automotive industry?

Tim King: ⁓ I mean, the automotive industry, I guess, are you asking like from a job perspective or like a car, like getting an old car perspective?

Melanie Henry: I mean, I'm thinking like work wise, industry wise, like someone comes up to you and they're like, man, I want to get into the automotive industry. What advice do you have for me?

Tim King: One is definitely make sure it's a passion thing. And there's a lot of people that I've worked with that don't know cars at all. And they're in this industry, which on one hand, I think is great because they might know like they worked for Target or something like that.

And they can take this completely different experience from a different industry and bring it to our industry to help us. So I think on that end of it, it's great. But at the same time, like We're getting to the point now where there's more people that are not car people that are in this industry than there are.

And I feel like you still need somebody that like is a genuine car person, you know, like sometimes I feel like, you know, like the one company I work for, there's thousands of employees there. And I'm like, I wonder like how many of those auto any given weekend are actually out in the garage, like wrenching on something.

You know what I mean? Like I think there's a lot that goes behind it when you like have that passion. You're like, I'm doing this and I want to build this part because I think it's cool. Cause I'm a car person.

I think that's awesome. You know, we're not looking at it necessarily from a spreadsheet of like, well, you know, it don't, it, it doesn't make enough profit or whatever, you know, like, and I think a lot of the companies in this industry have are from that, like it's a car person in the garage.

Like I'd mentioned earlier, they built something because they thought it was cool or they needed it for their car. Cause nobody else made it or whatever.

Tim King: then their buddy asked for it and then the company went off, but they have that passion, you know, and they did it because it was cool or whatever it was or needed. They didn't look at it from like these business eyes, which sometimes I admit I do too, where I'm like, ⁓ well, that doesn't make sense, you know, from a business perspective, but like from a car person perspective, you're like, that thing's awesome.

We should make that, you know? So I think having the passion for it, you know, and I think anybody can tell you like this industry,

Tim King: you're not going to be raking in the bucks. This industry I think pays well, but it's not like the medical field or something like that where it's historically known to pay really, really well.

Maybe if I went and did marketing in the medical field, maybe I make double the money I do now. I don't know, but at the end of the day, I don't have the passion for medical devices like I do car parts.

To me, it's great because I get to sit around, talk cars all day long with people, your car parts, like, what are you working on your project or I'm working on this or like, I'm thinking about this or that.

And, you know, like it's great, you know, like there's never usually any bad days for me at work because it's, it's just car stuff. You know, it's like, none of it's that serious, right? Like nobody needs any of this stuff right now.

Like medical devices, you're saving somebody's life. Nobody needs a brand new carburetor, you know, like it's just, it's an adult toy industry, right? Like we're just, this is all just toys. Like we all grew up.

the addiction of Hot Wheels and now they're full-size cars.

Melanie Henry: Yeah, yes, absolutely. What's your favorite project car you've worked on? And I know you have quite the list of them.

Tim King: Yeah, yeah. So that guy Larry we were talking about earlier, he always said you're not a real car guy unless you have more than one, right? So like if you have one classic car, you're like, eh.

Because, and mind you, he's, he at any given time, he has like a dozen or more classic cars. So I mean, obviously the Chevelle is always probably going to be like my favorite because that was my first car and I learned so much restoring it.

like, even now there's stuff on the car. I'm like, oh boy, when I was a teenager, I really did a half baked job on that. want to go back and redo it, right? ⁓ That's why I said I would love to redo the car again at some point and fix some of the errors of my ways.

that one is always going to hold a special place. When I first started getting into cars, my dad was like, we should get you a 55 Bel Air because he had one in high school ⁓ he sold it. Should have never sold it.

You know, the story we just talked about. ⁓ like that, like the tri-fives were really my first. love with cars and when it was time for me to get a car the tri-fives have always held a little bit higher price than like Chevelles and stuff so it was just out of my price range couldn't afford it we went the Chevelle route which is a car that my dad wanted in high school so pretty much you know just picking up my dad's high school passions but so that now now actually it's kind of come around full circle and I have two tri-fives so the hood up behind me is a 57 Bel Air And right outside the driveway behind the garage door, there's a 55 Bel Air that I have.

So those are like awesome. like now I don't know. It almost re-sparked my love for working on cars. Cause it's like, just like, this is what I've wanted since I was like 15 or 12 years old really. And a couple of years ago, we restored a 55 Bel Air for my dad.

And that was really cool. ⁓ Cause it was kind of like me like, I finally get to build the car I've always wanted. But the two, he got to build the car he had in high school. Three, was his brother had a 55 Bel Air also and his brother passed away when he was like 18 years old.

So my dad's always kind of wanted to build one as a tribute. So that's kind of cool to like help my dad with that was he, you we built this car as a tribute to his brother. So it kind of same color scheme and everything else.

And, you we modernize it. has an LLS and tubular suspension and all that. So, I mean, it's nothing like his brother's was, but you know, same, same paint scheme, same car and everything. And so like, that's kind of cool.

And That was really special for me to build that car and help my dad out. He loves the thing. He drives it pretty much every single day unless the weather's bad. Sometimes I don't even have anywhere to go.

I'm just going to go cruise around for 20, 30 minutes. Off he goes cruising. It makes me happy to see too that he's actually using this thing. It's not just sitting there. He always says, all my buddies all build these cars and they're so nice they don't drive them.

He's like, I didn't want one that nice. It ended up turning out that nice, but he's like, I want to drive this thing. That's the point of them. And it's funny hearing him saying that because like, for me too, like that's always the point of the cars is like driving them.

Like that's why I've done power tours so many times and all these other things is because I'm like, the whole point of a car is to get you from A to B, right? And I know some people like look at it more of like an art thing where it's like, they have this vision in their head and like they're picking, you know, the palette of colors and the feel, the texture of the materials for the interior and things like that.

Tim King: That's all that's fun stuff too. But like that payoff and to really enjoy it is like cruising down the road or cruising PCH or you blasting down a highway in Texas, you know, or whatever, you know, it's just like, that's what I, that's what I love is just, is just driving them.

Cause it, to me too, not to like keep ranting on here, but to me, like an old car is kind of like a time machine, right? Like we can get in it and we can like feel and see. physically something from the past and we can interact with it instead of just a picture like here's a picture of a car like or you know a picture of how it used to be or whatever like we can get in and experience that and You know like you just there's nothing else to me in the world that you know you can get that kind of experience I mean you can buy old houses sure you know like that that would be another way or you know like I'm sure your house like my house has trinkets from days gone by, know, of old stuff and everything.

that's another way too. But like for me, like an old car, nothing beats that where I can roll down the windows and just smell the smells, hear the sounds, know, the engine revving and smell the gas and things like that.

And I don't, to me, just like takes me back to like one, my youth when I daily drove my Chevelle, but two, just like maybe how people envisioned, you know, or enjoyed these cars, you know, in the fifties.

Melanie Henry: Yeah, I love that. was... It definitely resonates with other car people and that's how I feel in my 49 Chevy because you drive it down the road and you hear the windows rattling down inside the doors or like when it is in gear I still got like a nice four inch circumference of play in the shifter and that's something like you get into a new car and you sometimes you don't even hear them running.

or it's so smooth going down the road and that's hearing those windows rattle on the doors is what does it for me.

Tim King: Yeah, mean, new cars, some of them are like self-driving and everything else. You're just like so disconnected from the car, you know, it's like, don't get me wrong, like that's nice too. You know, if you're driving 12 hours and you know, sometimes you're like, it's nice, you don't get beat up, you know, it's not so much work, you know, but like, I don't know, it's still, I guess prefer to kind of be in an old car and experience all that. And yeah, the noises, the rattles and.

Tim King: everything and you know they don't ride as nice and you feel more vibrations and stuff and but that's just part of it you know that's the experience that's what you're after.

Melanie Henry: It is, it is for sure. If you could go back and give your younger self a piece of career advice, what would it be?

Tim King: ⁓ I don't know, mean, what I want to say is don't move to fucking Pennsylvania. ⁓

Tim King: You know, I don't know. don't know if I'd really change a whole lot of anything there. ⁓ know, when I originally... So when I was in high school, I hated school. Actually, let take back. When I was in kindergarten, I hated school.

Let's go back that far. I hated school all the way through. And my mom was just happy to see me graduate high school. And in high school, I started taking drafting classes. And my dad's boss sat me down one day and was like, what do you want to do in life?

And I was like... I want to become a crane operator, you because my dad worked heavy construction. so I was like, I'll just do that. And he's like, no, you don't. And he kind of shot me down. And any excuse I had shot me down.

He's like, you need to go to school. And I'm like, OK. So I ended up going to school. And my original, I started going just to get like a couple of certificates in drafting. Then I ended up getting an associate's.

And then I went to go off and went to. college, like a four year university and somewhere in there is, is, is when I went into business, but I originally was trying to become an architect and I still have like a love for architecture.

And I, like part of me wishes, you know, that I, would have stuck with that, ⁓ you know, cause that's still like a passion I have is just neat architecture, old houses, mid century, modern, kind of going back to what we were talking about earlier, houses nowadays, it's just like a stamp and they're just all about big houses.

There's no personality to them. everything's maximum space and it's just like super boring, just like new cars are, where the old houses had personality and character and style to them and you hear the wood creaking and the windows rattling, windy outside and stuff like that.

so, I don't know, part of me wishes I would have stuck with that. I probably would have made more money, but at the end of the day, I still love cars and love what I've done. And I'm sure there's certain...

jobs, like, Oh, I wish I would have taken that job or whatever. But I mean, I guess at the end of the day, like, we all are a sum of our experiences, good and bad, right? That's what makes us who we are.

you know, I don't overall, wouldn't say I'd really change anything. You know, I mean, I've had a lot of fun in this industry and built some cool cars, met a ton of great people. And, you know, I don't know, I just don't think I'd change any of that.

So my only fans is going to be... ⁓ You know, I'll be... Like we were talking earlier, I don't put myself out there as much anymore. I very rarely post on Facebook, like maybe once a year. Pretty much Instagram is the same way.

⁓ So I don't know, I'd say I'm maybe a little more private nowadays. I don't put myself out there as much. ⁓ you know, my website is redgoatmarketing.com. You can always find me there. um, you know, see some of the companies I've worked with and what I've done there.

So there's always, there's always that. I mean, you can always reach out to me. I have my YouTube channels, red goat garage, like I think it's at red goat garage. So you can always comment on there, you know, said Facebook, Instagram, you can message me on there.

I'll message back, but I just don't, I don't post very much on those stuff anymore, you know? So I never got into tick tock or any of those either. So Awesome, thank you so much. It great chatting with you.

Building a Car and a Career: The Story Behind Tim King's Automotive Journey

About this episode

12 bolt Posi

big block 454

four speed

Chevrolet Chevelle

True Connections

CJ Pony Parts

restomod

pro touring

LS2 engine

modern fuel injection

huge brakes

modern suspension

1966 Ford Mustang

power tour

SEMA

Ford Thunderbird

machine shop

long block

Orange County Choppers

TMI Products

automotive aftermarket

AI

content marketing

SEO

influencer marketing

social media influencers

digital marketing

Chevrolet Camaro

four by four (4x4) drivetrain

daily driver

project car

Chevrolet Bel Air

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