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Classic Auto Mall - #211 - Stewart Howden with Guests Dennis Gage + Keith Martin
Classic Auto Mall - #211 - Stewart Howden with Guests Dennis Gage + Keith Martin
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About this episode
Stewart Howden hosts a lively discussion with guests Dennis Gage and Keith Martin, diving into their shared passion for classic cars and music. Gage shares his unique journey from musician to car enthusiast, reflecting on the muscle car era's influence on his life. The trio explores the challenges of owning classic vehicles, the importance of preserving automotive history, and the joy of connecting with fellow car lovers. They also touch on the significance of events like the Cars for Casey Show, which raises awareness for important causes. Expect humor, nostalgia, and insightful anecdotes throughout the episode.
Topics:
classic cars
muscle car era
automotive history
Cars for Casey Show
car ownership challenges
music and cars
collecting cars
automotive events
car preservation
Cars:
AMC Pacer
Cadillac Fleetwood
Chevrolet Biscayne
Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Chevelle
Chevrolet Corvette
Chevrolet HHR
Chevrolet Impala
Chevrolet Sonic
Chrysler Saratoga
Dodge Challenger
Ferrari Mondial 3.2 Cabriolet
Ford Mustang
Ford Windstar
Lotus Elise
Nissan Juke
Plymouth Cuda
Pontiac Aztek
Show #211 airdate 09-17-25 Stewart welcomes Dennis Gage as they discuss his career turns from Musician to Scientist to TV Personality. They discuss his My Classic Car show, getting to know luminaries like Carroll Shelby and Jay Leno, "finned Mopars", pedal steel guitar and his support of the annual "Cars for Kacie" charity show at the Mall, October 4, 2025) ALSO, Keith Martin of Sports Car Market discussing Classic Test Drives and figuring your fit PLUS final prep for CAM's NO RESERVE, ABSOLUTE auction on YouTube LIVE, 11am ET Sept. 19, 2025. https://kaciescause.org/cars-for-kacie https://x.com/988Lifeline https://SportsCarMarket.com/TestDrive6 www.youtube.com/@classicautomall/streams
GET OUR FREE APP: https://ClassicAutoMall.appimize.app When it opens click on the ORANGE button to install on your phone or computer for DIRECT ACCESS to our VIDEO and AUDIO shows and our website.
CONTENT NOTE: Contests, Prizes, Offers, Vehicles & other items may no longer be available or offered after each show's original broadcast or posting date.
Recorded in our Showcase Studio just inside the entrance of the Classic Auto Mall in Morgantown, PA, Host Stewart Howden, Classic Auto Mall President and Classic Car Specialist Steve Saffier talk about this unique and amazing place often with amazing guests.
YES...Classic Auto Mall is a REAL former shopping mall that covers almost EIGHT football fields with an average of nearly ONE THOUSAND classic vehicles under one, climate controlled roof and they're all FOR SALE!
Be sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to be informed of new episodes and SEE them on the Classic Auto Mall YouTube Channel. We also invite you to VISIT US IN PERSON at Classic Auto Mall, one hour west of Philadelphia at PA Turnpike Exit #298, VISIT us online at ClassicAutoMall.com or talk to real, live people about visiting, buying or selling your classic on consignment at 888-227-0914.
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Ford Mustang
"... the, you know, all the muscle cars, the Chevelle Mustangs, all the Mopar stuff. It was amazing, and they di..."
Car
Chevrolet Chevelle
"...O and for the, you know, all the muscle cars, the Chevelle Mustangs, all the Mopar stuff. It was amazing, an..."
Car
Cadillac Fleetwood
"...course, that's a big thing around here. You know, Fleetwood was just north of us here in Pennsylvania, Fleetw..."
Car
Chevrolet Camaro
"... I mean, I I love muscle cars, but I've been Cuda Camaro mustanged to death, you know, and I've had all of..."
Car
Plymouth Cuda
"...know, I mean, I I love muscle cars, but I've been Cuda Camaro mustanged to death, you know, and I've had..."
Car
Chrysler Saratoga
"... he had several of them there, but he had this 58 Saratoga. Oh, wow. He's just in like it."
Car
Nissan Juke
"...obably the ugliest car may actually be the Nissan Juke. I just think I just. That's pretty ugly."
Car
Aztek Pontiac Aztec
"That's pretty ugly. And I think the the the Pontiac Aztec. I was going to say the Aztec."
Car
American Motors Corporation (Amc) Pacer
"... ugly. They're beautiful, like the gremlin in the pacer. You know, they've grown on me."
Car
Ford Wind Star
"...But really, if I'm just bombing around, it's a 99 Ford wind star. Oh, yeah, the fans are the grand."
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
"...sold this car too. The 2011 Chevrolet Grand Sport Corvette 3LT convertible. Super sonic blue metallic over e..."
Car
Chevrolet Sonic
"...rolet Grand Sport Corvette 3LT convertible. Super sonic blue metallic over ebony and light titanium. 24,0..."
Car
Chevrolet Biscayne
"...'s another designation of a Chevelle. It's like a Biscayne. It's like a lower model."
Car
Dodge Challenger
"...way, the Chevelle is pretty darn cool. 2016 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. You've got to imagine when Chrysler ..."
Car
Chevrolet Impala
"...st but not least, I love this car, 1960 Chevrolet Impala convertible, Irmine White over black and white, 3..."
Car
Lotus Elise
"...roblem with the right vent on my daughter's Lotus Elise stopped working and I posted on in the Facebook L..."
Car
Ferrari Mondial
"you know, they ask about a Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet, right? A car that was unloved,"
Select text to request an explanation
This is the Classic Automall Show.
Broadcast from the studios inside the Classic Automall in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, just one
hour west of Philadelphia at Pennsylvania Turnpike Exit 298, featuring nearly 1,000 classic
vintage and barred-fine vehicles for sale under one climate-controlled roof.
Now, here's your host, Classic Automall president and the man with all the toys,
George Howden.
And welcome show number, oh, 211.
211.
211.
Oh, is there a 211 in progress?
Was that a thing on Adam Twill?
211 in progress.
Yeah, I think so.
I don't know what it was, though.
There was some kind of shenanigans.
I like Dragnet, though, better.
I thought that was, what was his name?
Joe Friday.
Joe Friday.
Yeah.
He was so funny.
Before my talk.
Especially when they talked about the heathens on drugs.
That was the funniest part.
All the nicknames they had for marijuana.
Mack.
Gala Smith.
So anyway, before we get started with our guest, how many cars in inventory J.R., you
can put it up for us.
I'm going to go 933.
Is there a Porsche reference this week?
There is not.
929.
Oh, 927.
Oh.
Very good.
So close.
Very good.
So close, but yet so far.
Yes.
Kind of like a lot of things.
Anyway, joining us via Zoom this morning, Mr. Dennis Gage, who's got his, looks
like he's ready to start a band back there.
You've got some guitars and we, I didn't realize your career had some music
in it.
And you and I were talking before we started about your pedal steel playing
experience.
You were one of those guys.
I was one of those guys.
It was back in, it was in a former life, but I was one of those guys.
Did you enjoy, I mean, being in the band has got to be kind of a cool thing.
And did you have the handlebar mustache then?
I did actually.
Oh, cool.
I was born with it.
Cool.
You should see the baby picture.
They're hilarious.
I can only imagine.
But yeah, I was really a guitarist at the time.
I played, you know, I played music all my life, and things like that.
But it was at the end of my undergrad career, and I played the rock bands and
coffee house circuits and stuff like that.
And I was a, you know, I'm a scientist right back in the day.
And but a musician on the side, and I'd gone to a concert in Chicago.
I was at a college outside of Chicago and it was 1975.
It was the Eagles in the auditorium, which is a stunning theater in Chicago.
Only 5,000 seats.
You know, I saw Springsteen there.
I saw Tall there back in the day when you could see these people, actually.
And you know, I was nearing graduation and everything.
And I was sitting in great seats, third row.
And the warm-up band was a band called Fool's Gold, whatever.
But right in front of me was this cat playing a pedal steel, and I didn't even know what
they were.
And I'm like, holy cow.
This is amazing.
I got to get me one of these, and I literally went out the next day and bought one.
Wow.
And then taught myself to play it, and then instead of going to graduate school in theoretical
chemistry, I started, I toured with fans for two years, and my parents were so proud.
Oh, yes.
They always love that when you take that career path, right?
Of course, then you wanted to be doing something around classic cars, and imagine
even then that was another one they kind of scratched their head about because
you were, as you said, a scientist and a physicist and all those other things.
Yeah.
You know, I grew up in that era, the muscle car era.
You know, it's like I'm a farm boy from Northwestern Illinois, and back then, we were pretty isolated.
If you weren't paying attention to cars, I don't know what you were paying attention
to.
Right.
Girls, yeah.
But the whole thing, that whole, my whole generation was really influenced, the cold
car hobby was really a Madison Avenue thing.
Oh, sure.
The big three decided they needed another consumer segment.
What's a good consumer segment?
How about youth?
Yeah, yeah.
Youth is great.
Okay, we need an unmet consumer need.
Well, how about the need for speed?
So they slapped a big engine and a grocery getter, a sedan, and poof, you had a GTO.
Yeah, it was amazing.
Yeah.
And so, I was really a product of that, so I've always been a car motorcycle
guy, and it just, you know, it's just one of the many interests that have woven their way
through my life.
Well, I'm the same way.
I love music, and I love cars.
And if I weren't, one of these days, we're going to do a music show from here, because
I love talking about music, and I love listening to music, and all of that.
And I think that, but with cars, you're so right.
You know, all of us knew cars from when the dealership had to took the paper,
you know, the paper off the windows when the new cars came out in September.
And then if you read, I mean, I wouldn't even cool enough to know what Hemings
was back then.
I had no idea that Hemings existed.
That would have been a, you know, a flashball moment for me.
But you're right.
The marketing that they did for the GTO and for the, you know, all the muscle cars,
the Chevelle Mustangs, all the Mopar stuff.
It was amazing, and they did it in a way that made every one of us want every one
of those cars.
Absolutely.
And that's why guys collect more than two cars nowadays.
What do you think about that with these people that, you know, how many people
do you know?
And I'm sure you know lots of them that have 20 plus cars in their collection
that are just hidden in a barn somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
And they just exist.
It's kind of crazy that it's gotten to that point.
Yeah. And it's everywhere.
I mean, that that exists everywhere.
In fact, that was me wrong.
I don't have as many as I used to, just because,
well, as you know, you can't just let them sit.
No, because they will return to the earth on their own.
And we, you know, I had so many cars.
And in fact, my show, the original format of the show, we had a studio
piece, kind of product piece, how we paid the bills.
Right.
But that that's that shop was actually by that was at my house.
Really? It really was my place.
That was by shop. I didn't know.
And so, you know, once a year, we would we would in over a period of one
week, we would shoot all 26 of those those segments in one week's time.
I'd spend two weeks ahead of time getting it ready and turning it into a TV
studio and with, you know, I don't know, eight or ten motorcycles and 15 or so
cars, I had to move all that stuff out, find a place for it for three weeks,
clean the place back to the walls and put in 10,000 watts of light.
Right. And, you know, and I realized I got to the point when I realized
the last time I had started this car was the previous year.
Right. I probably shouldn't have that car, you know, it's like a box of parts.
You're supposed to put a date on it.
And three years later, you have not opened that box for any reason.
You have to throw it out without even looking in it, which is impossible to do.
Right. So 26 episodes in a week, that that's grueling.
I mean, just doing an hour show that we do here, you know, you feel it.
And I mean, to do all that and to do research and to make sure that
everything comes together, that's no easy feat.
Well, you know, we got we had done it so long.
And like I said, when we were talking earlier, the head of the show
that I'm shooting my 30th season of this show. Wow.
And so we and I used to hate those segments
because they were just such a nightmare. Right.
But we finally got it down.
Right. And, you know, they're what, they're about a six minute segment,
something like four, six minute segment.
And and we just, you know, we got it to the point where it was just a science
that we could just bang these things out.
And and I think it was when we finally moved to a format where instead
of kind of talk about somebody's product, you brought the people in.
Right. So so who knows more about the product
than the person that created it or or or supplies it or whatever.
And my only real talent is that I'm pretty easy to talk to.
That's it. I got I got nothing, you know.
But and I asked pretty good questions. Sure.
So, you know, it's it was just a matter of what we would do.
It was funny because early on people would come in and they kind of have,
you know, a sheet they wanted to talk about this or talk about that.
I said, you know, put that aside, you know, we would just sit and talk for a little while.
I'd find out where, you know, I'd learn where they were going,
where they what they wanted to get across, and then I would just lead them there.
Sure. Sure. And it just went, you know, it was very natural that way.
I was just asking questions that that I wanted to know the answer to.
Right. And it really worked.
And we could bang those things out.
Yeah, it had to be a lot of fun because you probably met a lot of people
that you'd read about over the years.
And finally now they're coming to your place or you're able to interview them.
Same with me and you and some of the other guests that we've had here as well, too.
It's it's fun to meet people that you've kind of grown up admiring over the years.
Yeah, well, you know, there's a lot of those. Oh, yeah.
I got to know Carol Scholl be pretty well.
And boy, what a what a fascinating individual.
Oh, yeah. So it was just, you know, and of course,
I've been friends with Jay Leno for about 25 years
and he's just been great, great friend to be to my show.
And and, you know, it's just so cool to be able to hang out with people like that.
Absolutely. And you said something that was interesting.
You know, Leno has been like you said, a huge influence for your show
and been great for your show, because I imagine he's a guaranteed bump
of X amount of rating points when he's on just because of his
his, you know, breadth of awareness of who he is, especially in the car world.
I mean, but people know him in every world and they know he's a car guy,
which is even cooler that people that aren't car people know him as a car person.
Well, you know, it's interesting about that.
So it is that, you know, seeing I started, I first met him back in 1998.
And it's actually kind of a funny, funny story, because he he received
in 1998, he received the collector car hobby, Man of the Year award,
which is just a PR stunt by McGuire.
Right. It's really all it was.
And he doesn't usually accept awards and stuff like that.
But but he's such a he's so passionate about that that he, you know, he did.
And then I got an invitation to go to that as a media person, you know,
maybe I'll cover it. Right.
And I worked out a deal to, you know, OK, love to be out there,
you know, get me out there about in LA.
And, you know, I was hoping to be Jay because my show had only been on.
I started at a pilot series back in 96.
Right. It's really the regular show in 97.
Right. And so this was just 98.
And I really wanted to meet Jay.
You know, that's why I went there. Right.
Because it would, you know, boy, if I could get him on the show.
Oh, yeah. Change everything. Right.
Yeah. And so, you know, he hanging around ahead of time.
He's not there. He's not there.
But then suddenly this, you know, just about when the thing
is supposed to start a helicopter lands, Jay gets up, you know, he comes in.
He does a little bit of a, you know, a stick routine, except the award.
And then then he's he's going to be out of there.
And there was just and I'm still hanging around.
And it was pretty much all the McGuire's family.
And they're, you know, getting pictures with Jay and stuff.
And I'm just hanging on his side and everything.
They finally got the last, I don't know, the 30th cousin.
Five times removed on the mother's side
and the Boyer family gets their picture. Right.
And then Jay turns and he's headed off to the helicopter.
And I just kind of, you know, bolted up to us and, you know, Jay, I, you know,
I just got to tell you, I'm a huge fan of your show.
And he goes, oh, that's great.
He said, and I said, you know, I've got, you know, I've got a show.
A car show. And he goes, oh, yeah, yeah, no, I watch your show.
Yeah, I watch your show.
You watch my show.
And I said, well, wow, that's that's great.
And, you know, it'd be fantastic if I could have you.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, no problem.
Set it up. Right.
Now, it took me two more years to penetrate the force field.
Surrounds and protects Jay. Yeah.
And I finally got to him through Randy Ema.
Right. Who is Jay's Duesenberg restore.
Right. Right.
I'm familiar with these with Randy.
And I said, you know, I've been trying to get through to Jay for two years.
And he goes, oh, you know, let me call him.
I'll just give you a call.
So he calls him up and, you know, a little while later I get a call from Jay.
And yeah, sure, let's do this.
And so I went out there and this is only like his fifth year.
Just celebrated his fifth season as, as, you know, tonight show host.
But it was funny because people didn't really know at the time
that he was that bigger car guy. I got you.
And so for Jay and he's just he's got this encyclopedic knowledge
is it's like weird, right?
It's almost so much like, right?
But but he did this was a huge outlet because he had this passion.
He had these great cars and stuff.
And he had no way to kind of share that.
And so really, I had the exclusivity with Jay for about a decade.
I mean, I was the only guy that got into his collection.
He let me drive everything. Right.
And it was it was just what was cool was it was it was an outlet for him.
And so, you know, he finally retires.
He, you know, that he starts Jay Leno's garage and everything.
And he did a they did an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Did a piece in 2018 on him kind of weekend thing.
You know, Jay's retired, but not really.
And in that Wall Street Journal article, Jay goes, yeah, you know,
I started playing with this little show, my classic car with Dennis Gage
back in 2000, it looked like a lot of fun.
You know, and so, you know, so after he retires, he does the show.
But I always say, you know, I gave I gave Jay Leno to start.
Automated television, you know.
Well, it has to be great for his collecting, too.
Because now people know that a guy like him is a collector
and he gets the calls on the good stuff, you know, that we all wish that stuff finds him.
Exactly. People like that.
I do a lot of stuff through it with Rick and Jim Schmidt.
Jim Schmidt was the founder of National Parts Depot in Florida.
You know, big aftermarket restoration parts company.
And Rick is his son.
And they've got this fabulous collection of 250 or so cars.
And most of them are unrestored, original cars, ultra low mileage.
Sure. And I've been shooting with them for 25 years more, actually.
And now that cars find them. Right. Exactly.
Oh, I've got this really low mileage you need to.
So it's been great for them.
Sure. It's like the cars come to them.
Yeah. And and that's, you know, that's a huge bonus
because you don't know about every car out there.
Because as we said earlier, there's so many collectors and cars
that are out there that people never.
I mean, we find within 100 miles of here,
we find collections almost every week of a guy who's got 30 or 40 or 50 cars.
And it really is.
And, you know, it's if you think about it, it's it's replaced something.
What did people collect?
What did guys collect before we started collecting cars and all this stuff?
What was it? Playboy magazine? I don't know.
I'm up trains. I don't know.
It's like it's like it almost just created itself is to have a collection of cars.
And then, of course, the memorabilia facet of it just is exploded
because if you got a barn for your cars, then you got to have a Bob's big boy
and you got to have a Chevy neon sign and yada, yada, yada. Right.
Yeah. I think there was a lot of automobile and petrobelia that was collected
really pretty much by the same people. Right.
So it's a pretty much a usual suspect. Right. Exactly.
Well, I always say if I'm buying a die cast car, I'm buying that
because I can't buy the real one.
So if I can or can't afford the real one anyway.
But I love what you said about your show and you and in person.
And I'll read this.
You say that you're not an authority, just the ultimate enthusiast.
And no one knows more about a car than the guy who owns it.
I love that that, you know, people, people to have a tendency to think
if you're on television, then you're an expert in every part and every facet.
And you know more about cars than anybody on the planet.
And that's not necessarily the case.
And that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Yeah, that's not that is the last thing I want to be. Right.
You know, I want to be, like I say, the ultimate enthusiast.
Now, I do know a lot about car.
Well, sure. But that's because I've got really an uncanny memory.
Right. And I know just about everything I've ever been told.
So my head is largely full of useless crap.
But but but really, you know, I learn from everybody I talk to.
I mean, everybody and and and I'm just able to kind of keep it there.
We got to figure out a way to plug into people like you to, you know,
extract that information out and put it into like a barrel somewhere
so we don't lose it.
You know, that's the fear of the lost art when Gene Winfield passed.
You know, what kind of knowledge on metal bending went away that he
may be never told people a little trick or this little thing that he always did
that he didn't really want to tell everybody about, you know, how.
Yeah, Gene for years.
And he was just a fascinating guy.
I tell you another funny story because I I shot with Gene.
This was quite a long time ago.
And, you know, he had a shop out in LA and then he was finally
kind of regulated out of there because, you know, you can't you can't do
all that toxic stuff exactly.
So he so he had he had a place in the Mojave Desert and and I met Gene
a long time ago and I said, this would be a cool show.
I'm going to go out and shoot with Gene.
So it's not not far from I think Victorville, which is like in the middle of
freaking nowhere. Right, exactly.
And so we go out there and in fact, I think we're staying in Victorville,
which is quite a ways away, because they're extinct at his shop.
So we we drive there.
I get to Gene's place, you know, this was back really before GPS.
We're map questing our way around the sheets of paper that I think
we turn left here. Right.
And, you know, we get to this place and it's like in the desert.
It's just a big chain link fence around what looks like a junkyard.
Right. And and there's a big chain around the gate.
And we're there at about nine in the morning and kind of
standing on the outside, looking around and kind of, you know,
shake the gate a couple of times.
And then there's a there's like a there's like a tour bus in there.
And these two guys that look like fugitive roadies from a zizi top
you know, like staggering out of this bus.
Oh, man. Yeah.
Nine a.m.
He said you were coming.
Yeah. So you know, they go in and find the keys.
They unlock it and they were just living at Gene's place in this tour bus.
And so we, you know, we spent the day with Gene and it was just it was just
fascinating and he's got all these legendary cars sitting out in the desert.
I know just gusty and it was it was a well,
and he almost he almost blew me up, actually.
We're standing too close to something.
Yeah. You know, if you look at people like him and the and the knowledge base
and people like McPherson College are trying to, you know, replicate that
and to do those things, because it's very important that we don't lose
that art of the hobby, because there's a lot of things that are never going
to get built again, even with 3D printing and all that other stuff
that I know nothing about.
You still got to have the talent and know how to get it.
Yeah. And first and is absolutely the place.
Yeah. I've been associated with them since about 2000.
And that's all that also is because of Jay. Sure.
Well, Jay Jay calls me out and goes, dad, Dennis, you know, there's this college.
This is college on New Jersey, Kansas.
You really need to you really need to give that a look.
Right. And especially back then, when Jay said I should do something.
Yeah. You didn't say, well, I don't know.
I can get to it later.
So I was on their national advisory board for like about 10 years. Nice.
And at that time, actually, the program was going through some some tough times,
but it's completely, you know, found its footing.
There are a lot of money behind it.
Now the facility is amazing.
The people they turn out are incredible.
It's just really cool.
And and they're they've turned it out.
People with skills that just are are dying.
You know, because Jay was always talking about this.
You know, there's only a handful of people
that know how to pour babbit bearings anymore. Exactly.
I haven't done this.
This guy's at 85 years old.
I'm like, I hope he makes it through before he's done pouring this.
Yeah, it's the pals are clear.
Get that something.
Keep him going.
Well, as I Corky Coker in the wooden, the spoke wheels that he still builds
down in Chattanooga that you got to have.
And if you're restoring one of these old pre-war cars that had them,
you don't just go buy them at Walmart.
Nope, you don't, you know.
And I think that, you know, it's it's nice that people like Jay
are giving back to the hobby who can afford to do so.
And people like, you know, Rob Walton,
who makes big donations to these people and all these people
that have the wherewithal to do it, that they're not excluding
the classic car world, because we can't let this go away.
There's too much art and history and and and and just we can't let it go.
No, and it is fascinating.
And that's one of the things I just do love about Jay is this
is his encyclopedic knowledge and and so much of the technology
of today really dates back to like the 20s. Right. Right.
You know, Duesenberg's in 1929, dual overhead can for valve
for cylinder supercharged engines in 1929.
Yeah, you know, the cord pioneered the constant velocity joint,
which is used in every car today.
Every front wheel drive car today was pioneered back in about 1928.
Yeah. It's amazing. How crazy.
I mean, well, Chevrolet didn't come out with a V8 until 1955.
So that tells you that tells you, you know, the difference between
excuse me, what the technology was back then, what it is now.
And of course, a Duesenberg back then, I think just the chassis
and the engine and the suspension and the tires and wheels was 20 grand.
And then you know, that's all you got.
And that's it centered out and had a body.
Yeah. And of course, that's a big thing around here.
You know, Fleetwood was just north of us here in Pennsylvania,
Fleetwood body that manufactured cars for, you know, all of the big
the big guys back in the prewar and then, you know, became Fleetwood,
you know, with the the general motor stuff that they did as well, too.
So, you know, it's it's it's interesting the history
that you learn about all these things because, you know, like you said,
you're so much knowledge out there and to retain all that certainly helps you.
I'm certain when you're doing a show out on the it's it's hard to interview
somebody when you're not in kind of this environment to me.
It's a little bit more difficult.
Is it you find that or is it easy for you to just talk to somebody randomly in the field?
Yeah, that's what I do.
Yeah. You know, I just like I said, I'm easy to talk to
and I'm and I'm inherently curious. Right.
So, you know, what's funny is that, you know, I got these shows
and I find a car and an owner that I like.
And, you know, my shows become known for stuff that's off the beaten path.
Right. You know, I mean, I I love muscle cars,
but I've been Cuda Camaro mustanged to death, you know, and I've had all of those
and I love them all. But if I was focusing on that stuff,
I wouldn't be in my 30th season. Right. Exactly.
So for me, it's it's like there's always something at every show
that catches my eye for one reason or another.
And it tends to be kind of an oddball, you know, forgotten car.
Sure. I didn't know about that or I didn't think that was cool then.
But, boy, it's cool now. Yeah. How funny is that?
It's hard to somebody find the person in the car I like and, you know,
I'll just chat him up and learn about it and stuff like that.
And then I said, I'd like to do it. I'd like to do an interview with you.
Right. I couldn't. I couldn't possibly.
Oh, I couldn't possibly do that.
And then I said, well, look, we've just been talking for 10 minutes.
Right. Yeah. Well, that's all we're going to do.
We're going to do it again.
You're going to do it again and just don't think about that.
That camera's right there.
Yeah. And I said, just ignore the camera.
I do. Yeah. And and we're just going to we're just going to talk.
Yeah. And it always works.
It's funny how you mentioned that cars that you didn't appreciate
when you were younger that you did now.
Dear friend of mine, Bob Schmidt, who did all of Glenn Patches,
57 Heaven collection of 1957 American made automobiles,
got me into Fin Mopar's like nobody's business.
I didn't know anything about my shot with Bob was great.
He did that. Oh, just he is his level of detail.
When he would do an engine compartment for you,
it would be five grand back in the day when you could paint a car for two grand.
You know, he was just so methodical, but he got me into those Chrysler
and DeSoto's and Dodges from the late fifties.
And just I just now I love them.
That's and it's a whole new segment to me.
Yeah. I was shooting in Jersey a week ago.
These people are crazy, but it's a great show.
A dead man's curve. Oh, yeah.
Hot Rod weekend. Sure. Great.
But I met a cat there, a fairly young guy.
And Jim Raw was his name, but he's kind of become this guru in Fin Mopar's.
And he had several of them there, but he had this 58 Saratoga.
Oh, wow. He's just in like it.
It was like a paint to match color.
It was like not even a paint to sample sample. Right.
Paint to sample.
So it wasn't even a standard color.
It was kind of a metallic eggplant top and kind of what I don't.
Coral peach. I don't know.
But it was like drop down. Gorgeous.
I mean, like, holy cow. Beautiful.
Stop you in your tracks. Yeah.
Yeah. And you know, it's just stunning.
And Virgil Lechner did a lot of those.
He also did some really bad things.
Yeah. Yeah.
The 62 dart. You know, they go, huh?
Yeah. It's got to be the ugliest car.
So ugly. It's cool.
I was going to ask you what you thought the ugliest car was.
So you see, it just it just flows naturally.
I love that.
Well, actually, I think probably the ugliest car
may actually be the Nissan Juke. I just think I just.
That's pretty ugly.
That's pretty ugly.
And I think the the the Pontiac Aztec.
I was going to say the Aztec.
And like you said, some are so ugly.
They're beautiful, like the gremlin in the pacer.
You know, they've grown on me.
Those were two that I was going to say were considered ugly.
But now I actually think are kind of interesting.
They're kind of cool.
I cannot find a Juke to be interesting.
No, I will never either.
I will never either.
I promise you, as long as I die,
my collection will not hold a Juke when I die.
So you're going to actually be here today.
For those of you who don't realize,
we're talking via Zoom and modern technology,
but you're actually going to be here in Morgantown
at the Classic Automall, October the 4th for the Cars
for Casey Show, which is a wonderful event that's been here
for now there.
I think they're six or seven or eight years.
They've been here with us and they do an amazing job
for a great cause.
Yeah, and Andy Rumford, who's kind of behind that whole thing,
has been on me for a couple of years to try and get me there.
And I've always had scheduled conflicts,
but it finally worked out.
And and I'll be, you know,
full character, I'll be I'll be handlebarred then.
So this is this is the mad stash.
Yeah, I got you what it looked like.
Is it is it a mood?
Is it a mood thing where this where the stash goes?
Do I know if you're happy if it's this way and sad?
You know, it's more of a motorcycle thing.
This is definitely my motorcycle.
This is my car.
You got you. I got you.
But yeah, I'll be there.
I'm looking forward to that.
I'm actually coming in from it from Chicago area
because it is my 50th college class for you.
Oh, wow. I know.
And and it's like, oh, my God, it happened to be on the same weekend.
So it's this crazy thing where I'm going to, you know, drive up to the Chicago
where a Thursday and I'll kind of see everybody on Thursday night
to sort of a party and then there's a little bit on Friday
that I'll be able to partake of.
And then I got a bolt to O'Hare to get a plane to Philly to drive
to, you know, get a midnight to Morgantown.
Yeah. Do that.
Who do I do and drive back to Philly, fly back to Chicago
and drive five hours back home in southern Indiana?
It sounds like a fun weekend.
So then the next morning I get up and fly to Buffalo.
Oh, nice.
And it'll probably be snowing, even though it's just October, right?
Well, and cars for Casey.
I mean, it's a primary funding for what they call Casey's cause.
And Andy Rumford and his wife lost their daughter to fentanyl.
And it just, you know, a horrible story that gets replayed
time and time again all over the world.
And it's so horrible.
And it's so glad that people are focused on things like this.
I'm so appreciative of people that spend all their time and effort
on, you know, making people aware of these things that can go wrong in your life.
And Andy certainly does that.
Absolutely. He certainly does.
Absolutely. And, you know, we're we're so thankful
that we can be a part of it as well, too.
We've got a nice big parking lot that, you know,
gives them lots of exposure and, hey, listen, is it good for us?
Sure, we get car guys to our place.
There's nothing wrong with that.
That can't hurt. That cannot hurt.
But it's nice to be able to give back.
And, you know, always in our years of being in a business
where we had 20 cars in a warehouse, you know,
we didn't have to wear with all to do the kind of things
that we can do now that we're a little bit bigger.
So it's always fun and nice to be able to do that.
A little bit bigger. A little bit bigger.
Yeah. Just to say.
So I'm wondering if you if you ever, I can't imagine you ever have.
Maybe you did. If you shaved your mustache
and put a baseball hat on, would anybody on the planet know who you were?
I think you could go anywhere, right?
I used to think if I didn't, if I just didn't curl it,
they wouldn't know it, but you don't seem to.
The distinction is not there.
It is not there.
It's like, oh, there he is right there.
Did you, I mean, literally,
when did you start growing a handlebar mustache
in your early teens or where held were you?
Yeah, well, actually, the handlebar is left over
from a zeezy top beard back in the in the mid 70s.
Nice.
And I had, you know, long hair, rock and roll guy, long hair, long beard.
I was blonde, but my beard was dark, right?
My mustache was blonde, so it's really kind of striking enough.
And I got I got tired of I just got tired of it.
So I shaved the beard away, right?
But I'd saved the stash.
I don't know what can I do with that?
Well, well, you do this or I can do that.
And then, of course, you influence, you know, I sure you get royalties
from Pringles, right? They absolutely.
Yeah, right.
You know, when you when you work for a corporation
and you get a patent or two, what you get is a plaque.
It's a very nice plaque.
It's a nice plaque, but it's a plaque.
And I bet you there's a legal document
that's about that tall that somewhere says that you never get anything.
You and the intermittent wiper guy.
That's right. Exactly.
You guys are never getting anything.
So I got to ask you before we go.
My favorite question I get to ask everybody, daily driver.
What's your daily driver? Motorcycle, maybe?
Well, yeah, it's a nice day. It's a motorcycle.
Yeah, they're and they're all BMWs.
I just I like beamers.
Sure. And you know, really bad for my image, right?
But really, if I'm just bombing around, it's a 99 Ford wind star.
Oh, yeah, the fans are the grand.
I'm a huge believer in brand new.
And it's just like, I will never give up that vehicle.
It just does everything. Exactly.
So I use that a lot.
But I've got, you know, I can pick a bike or a car for just about any day
for any kind of occasion, right?
I remember my my friend, you knew him,
Jerry Darnell, who was the publisher of automobile quarterly after
he had drove a minivan and he just would expound on how wonderful a minivan is.
So I had to get one.
Unbelievable. They're incredible cars.
And we we promise you will not hurt your image.
And we we may have one waiting for you when you get here.
But it's good to know.
Yeah, absolutely.
So we will see you.
Let's see. Let's get that date right.
Randy will put it up on the screen.
But it looks like Saturday, October 4th here at Classic Automall.
And I'm sure you'll be doing your thing and signing some autographs
and all that fun stuff.
And so I would say, you know, kind of I'm just there.
It's like a politician.
I'm shaking babies and kissing hands.
Sounds like something like something in that area.
Well, I look forward to meeting you in person.
And thank you so much for spending your time with us this morning.
Sure, my pleasure.
Dennis Cage, everybody.
We'll see you back with the Classic Automall show in just a couple of minutes.
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We're back with the Classic Automall
show from the Classic Automall Studio.
I like this song.
And even though it's just like A.I. made up song, it's still kind of cool.
I made it myself.
It's got a little dancing?
That's great.
Royalty free.
Yeah, royalty free.
Just what musicians love to hear.
Music to a musician's ear.
But we do have to thank the Pat Travers band for our theme song.
We do.
It's a great theme song.
And I noticed that most of our guests, a good portion of them, including Dennis Cage, you
can see their head bobbing a little bit when they're listening to that.
That's a great intro.
It's got good energy.
It's got great energy.
It's the kind of energy that you should start your day with every morning, you know.
I don't know what that was.
So well, because I, because I had one going, yeah, I was going this, this was the Pat
Travers.
That's it.
It's a long song.
It is very long song.
It's like a seven minute song.
Yeah.
Offbeat ride.
Offbeat ride.
Yeah.
And that and the one that you ruined me for for Man For Man the other day that didn't even
have anything to do with Man For Man.
Bruce Springsteen.
Spirit of the Night.
So did, did, no, no, no.
What was the other two?
But didn't he?
Blinded by the Light.
Blinded by the Light.
Yeah.
And then the other song in you.
In you.
Oh, for you?
For you.
For you, yeah.
Yeah.
Did Bruce write that for himself?
Oh yeah.
But, but how did that become Man For Man song?
How did they become so known for that song and Blinded By The Light?
I think, I think it got more play than his.
Isn't that weird though?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Of course, when he recorded it would have been what year?
75-ish.
And Man For Man put it out in 78 or not.
Yeah.
Sometimes somebody hears it and they go, well, that's pretty good.
Let's, let's us cover it.
Well, that happened with Mel Tillis with Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town.
Right.
He recorded it, did okay.
Oh.
Kenny Rogers recorded it.
Boom.
Oh, that happens all the time.
Yeah.
So, yeah, I know that.
I love that song.
He wrote that.
Did he write that?
Oh, wow.
His wife said that's the most morbid song I've ever heard in my entire life.
It is pretty rough.
There was a DJ named Jay Cook and he said, as he's singing, oh, Ruby, don't take your
love to town.
Don't take your love to town.
And then he says, hey there, Ruby, turn around.
Let's take a look at your face.
And then Kenny Rogers goes, for God's sakes, turn around.
For God's sakes.
Ruby, don't take your love to town.
That's an innuendo on top of an innuendo, right?
So, where'd we sell cars this past week?
Where?
How about Hockison, Delaware?
How about Shoreview, Minnesota?
Sieg Gert, New Jersey.
You'll love that in the post-production.
Hellertown, Pennsylvania.
Gilbertville, Pennsylvania.
Jacksonville, Florida.
Franklin, Massachusetts.
Blue Ridge, Georgia.
Beautiful part of the world.
Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.
Santa Paula, California.
Housatonic, Maine.
Wow.
West Babylon, New York.
Red Oak, Texas.
Sailors Big Berg, Pennsylvania.
Cedarbury, Wisconsin.
Canadensis, Pennsylvania.
Paul Paul, Michigan.
And Philadelphia by God, Pennsylvania.
But apologies to Hockison, Delaware.
Hockison, all right.
Hey, if I can't mess up something, you know, it can't be perfect, JR.
We don't care because people there do, you know.
I've got some nice compliments today, so my head might be a little smooth.
Might be all swelled up.
Plus, yeah, that wasn't in the show, but Dennis Gage said what a great interviewer you are.
It was awfully nice of him to say that.
Nice compliment.
I was hoping you would bring that up.
If you have a list of towns that's so long that you mess up one of them.
Oh, yeah.
That's a good problem to have.
That's absolutely a good problem.
How about new arrivals?
How about them?
How about the new arrivals?
How about the 93 Toyota extended camp pickup?
The list.
Oh, man.
93 Toyota extended camp pickup.
You're talking about a rock solid, reliable mode of transportation.
Plus, they're cool looking.
I didn't think they were cool looking back in the day, but I certainly do now.
Yeah.
And this one's white over blue.
One owner, 2.4 liter EFI inline four, which is just a rock solid motor.
Bulletproof.
Bulletproof.
Four speed automatic.
And it's probably an up and coming collectible, I think.
Yeah.
I think it's going to be that they're, that's becoming more prevalent.
These Japanese market Toyotas and Nissan.
Some of the early Nissan.
Post-COVID Toyotas really gotten into pushing their trucks.
Post-COVID.
Wasn't that a song that was...
Yeah.
No, it was Post-Toasty.
Post-Polone.
Post-Polone.
Tommy Bolen.
No, I don't know that.
You played with Deep Purple.
No idea what you're talking about.
Is there only two artists?
Is there only two artists that you know anything about?
Bruce Springsteen and Elvis.
Yeah.
That's it.
You don't know anything about any other music.
Counting pros, I like.
That's an odd one.
Zach Brown.
I like Zach Brown.
Zach Brown's great.
Yeah.
Keith Urban.
Keith Urban.
Can we get on with this?
Yeah, let's do it.
Back to cars.
2008 Chevrolet HHR SS.
Actually, this one has just left us.
Victory Red over Ebony.
Two-liter turbocharged Ecotech.
Another inline four.
Five-speed manual.
This thing is pretty cool.
Bright red.
I had that exact car.
Really?
Yeah.
We did for a short period of time.
They were cool when they first came out.
Fun to drive and got lots of looks.
Lots of attention.
We rented a HHR in San Francisco one year and I was so impressed with the room.
Right.
The space inside.
Right.
For a small car on the outside.
So I said we got to get one of these and of course I had to have the high performance
burden.
Right, the SS.
And we traded in a very reliable Subaru for the HHR.
And your wife will never let you forget it.
Forget it, right?
Somebody keyed it like the first month we had it.
It soured the whole deal.
Yeah, that's sour.
Great car.
How about the two?
I think we just sold this car too.
The 2011 Chevrolet Grand Sport Corvette 3LT convertible.
Super sonic blue metallic over ebony and light titanium.
24,000 actual miles one owner.
This is a lot of car for the money.
If it ain't gone, it ought to be because this thing is...
Where are you going to find this kind of performance?
That color is spectacular.
I was sending this to Corvette friends saying you got to get this car.
Yeah.
And the wheels on it are really stand out.
They are really a unique design in a good way.
This may be my favorite Corvette since we had the Carlisle blue.
I love the Carlisle blue.
The Z06.
I wish I'd have bought the Carlisle blue.
I should have bought that.
I should have bought that.
Conant.
3LT also.
Yeah.
I don't even know what any of that means.
Okay.
So, moving on.
How about the 1969 Chevelle 300 coupe, hugger orange over black, 850 horsepower, 408 cubic
inch, LSX V8, Procharger Supercharger, AFR 225 heads.
What's a 300?
I don't know what that means.
I don't know what that means.
It's another designation of a Chevelle.
It's like a Biscayne.
It's like a lower model.
Like trim level.
I've asked many questions.
I don't know the answer to.
I thought you knew everything.
I thought you knew everything.
Why don't you ask the person who does the research?
Yeah.
Well, you've got headphones.
Yeah.
Exactly.
You're hearing what's going on.
No, I'm tuning it out.
And it's got a Holley Terminator EFI, which is so cool because carburetors can be persnickered-y.
Yeah.
And all these new Holley, different carburetor manufacturers where Holley or Edelbrock
are not just now making these electronic fuel injectors that are just bolt-on,
right?
Well, it's a little more complicated than that.
Is that kind of like when I say that, oh, you want to get vintage air for this?
It's like two grand.
They're like, it's not two grand.
The unit's more than two grand.
Wow.
And then you've got the labor.
And wiring.
Yeah.
You don't say two grand, Stuart.
Stuart, you say that with some tone.
Anyway, the Chevelle is pretty darn cool.
2016 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.
You've got to imagine when Chrysler Dodge-Stelanus, whoever was coming up with this name,
do you think that they went back and forth about calling something a Hellcat?
Do you think that had to be a lot of push and pull and fighting and give and take?
Are you sure we won't?
I don't think there was any middle ground.
No.
They're either like, no.
Or wow.
Or wow.
How cool would that be?
When you were in LA, did you do these research groups where you get paid to sit in on a
table?
I loved that.
I did some car ones.
I'm sure they had some research.
What do they call that?
Research?
I don't know.
Focus group.
Focus group.
Focus group.
Focus group.
And sit around a table and they show you commercials and stuff.
I did it with a couple of commercials and I did it with a couple of cars.
I don't even remember what the cars were.
It was like a Plymouth Velare.
I don't know if that's still around, but it was a thing for actors to do when they're
out of work.
It was a big network.
Well, my friend who owned Beverly Hills budget rental car, Jerry Siemens, owned a company
that did testing and research and would fly people to their track in Michigan somewhere
up there.
They would put them up for a couple of days to get their feedback on cars and the competitor's
cars, but he had the coolest rental car company in the world.
He was renting Exotics before anybody else was in Beverly Hills.
We became friends with him so we'd go out there and he'd give us something cool to
drive.
It wouldn't be a Ferrari or anything, but one year the brand new car was the Lexus LS430.
He gave us one in black and we were driving down Sunset Strip and we got more thumbs
up and more people high-fiving that car than anybody, any car we'd ever driven.
It was just like people thought that was the coolest thing.
It was cool because every time we go it's something different.
Other new arrival is the, well, I didn't talk about the Hellcat, Plum Crazy Pearl over
black, 1,800 actual miles, one owner, 707 horsepower, 6.2 liter MEV8, Tremac 6-speed
showroom fresh.
Last but not least, I love this car, 1960 Chevrolet Impala convertible, Irmine
White over black and white, 348, 3-2s, 3-2 Barrel Carburetors, Turbo Glide Automatic,
AAC-8, National First Place, beautiful car, beautifully restored.
I think we're working on a deal on that.
I think so.
Yeah.
And we think we've got our Mercedes V12 Twin-Turbo S65 so.
Oh, congratulations.
So we'll give you an update on that next week, assuming everything goes like it's
supposed to go.
When we return.
Do you want to talk about the auction now or do you want to talk about the
auction now?
You got time.
I got time.
Trust me, you got time.
I would know normally when the clock that's right above my eye.
I know.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Am I pointing out?
We'll cut Keith's short.
We'll have to talk about the auction.
So the auction is over.
Oh.
Okay.
It's already over.
It's already over.
So we had a great time.
It was awesome.
Wow.
What a turnout.
What a turnout.
I'll tell you, we are.
Breakfast was a fantastic.
Fantastic.
We've got a food truck for breakfast out here.
If you're a registered bidder or consignor, you've got a great meal that now
you'll never get ever again.
We've got a great room in the holiday end.
And like when a musician would say, oh, you should have been here last night.
Eric Clapton joined us on stage.
Oh.
Gosh, thanks.
I forgot.
The late shows.
Yeah, tomorrow night, Bruce Springsteen.
Oh, thanks.
No, I'm going to be tied up tomorrow.
Oh, no.
But our auction, I tell you, the amount of people signed up on proxy bid and guy
or auction services that's here, our local auctioneer has been short of phenomenon.
I mean, we've got 88 cars and we've got probably, we'll have a thousand bidders
registered between in person and online.
Right.
And so we'll tell you next week how we did.
So hopefully it all worked out well.
So can now we go to the break?
Yeah.
Okay, thanks.
So when we return, we'll be joined by our friend Keith Martin,
publisher of Sports Car Market Magazine.
We'll be back in just a couple of minutes.
Here's a special offer from Sports Car Market Magazine.
Get a six month subscription for just $19.95 by going to SportsCarMarket.com
slash Test Drive at the number six.
That's SportsCarMarket.com slash Test Drive six.
If you're a buyer, a seller, or just general classic car enthusiast,
publisher Keith Martin says,
We've been around almost 40 years.
It's the Wall Street Journal of the collector car world.
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by going to SportsCarMarket.com slash Test Drive six.
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This is the Classic Automall Show.
If you'd like to get more information on vehicles or anything else,
contact us by email or phone.
All the info can easily be found at ClassicAutomall.com.
And we're back with a Classic Automall Show
from the Classic Automall Studio in Morgantown, Pennsylvania.
Dear friend Keith Martin joining us via Zoom.
So editor, publisher, Sports Car...
No, publisher now.
Sports Car Market Magazine. Good morning, Keith.
Good morning. It's great to be here.
Great to have you again.
So your blog this week is...
I love the title because we all can relate to this.
Only $1,000 per mile.
That sounds like my boat ownership
except it's nautical miles so it's different.
So, you know...
You know, the rules of boats and cars and all that stuff,
rule number one is never add up what you've spent.
Exactly.
And then never divide it by like hours of track time
or miles of use.
We did that with our boat on the third time
we'd gone out on it in a year.
And when we amortized the whole thing over the year thing,
it was frightening.
A little tear came down my eye.
I know. I know.
You could have just taken that money and gone to Paris.
Yeah, exactly.
Or probably had somebody you could probably rent a boat,
have them bring it from Florida to your house,
go out in the water for a couple hours
and they take it back to Florida and still be cheaper.
You'd be way ahead.
Way, way ahead.
So, you did the 40 mile drive,
put on by the Jaguar Owners Club of Oregon,
the J-O-C-O.
Jaco.
Jaco. How was that?
Well, Jaco sounds like the name of a train chimpanzee.
Jaco. He's a good boy.
The drive was good but it really made me think,
you know, how do you get test drives in classic cars
before you own them?
You don't. That's the problem.
You really don't.
I don't know.
You and I are not going to turn people loose
with these old cars on the road.
No.
You know, as I said in my article,
when I was the GM of the Tonkin Ferrari store,
people never got to test drive a car.
Never.
Right. It wasn't allowed.
I wouldn't drive it with them sitting in it,
but they did not get to drive that car
until it was paid for.
Yeah.
Because there's too many things that can go wrong
with a car either high performance or old.
Either one of those are a recipe for disaster.
Yeah.
And luckily for us,
we have a large 25-acre asphalt parking lot
here at our place.
And we don't, but there's not many test drives.
You know, it's mostly the guys driving
to somebody around and showing them.
And every once in a while,
we'll let them just take a couple of laps
around the so-called track.
But, you know,
if the guy wants to take it out on the turnpike,
we can't allow that to happen.
It's just too much risk and too much liability.
There's too many things can go wrong.
Even if it wasn't the guy driving its fault.
I mean, if the transmission just goes out,
it may or may not have been his fault,
but it's going to be blamed on him because he's driving it.
Well, I think Stuart, the way you start,
as I mentioned,
first see if people can fit into a car.
You know what?
I'm going to turn this off.
That's hilarious.
Well, while you're turning that off,
I'll tell you that we've lost more sales
to non-fitters.
And either them physically can't fit in it
or it's too damn long for their garage.
Yep.
I think about Italian cars from the 50s and 60s
were built for people who were about 5'8".
Yeah.
Svelte comes into mind when I talk about this.
And that's just so you need to go sit.
Can you fit in the car?
Sure.
Yeah.
Is it comfortable?
Can you fit in it?
Do you feel comfortable?
Because if you don't feel comfortable just sitting there,
you're damn sure not going to feel comfortable driving it.
Right, right, right.
And it's tricky.
These old cars are tricky because if you,
you know, things can go wrong.
We've sold a car to a guy and literally he
shipped it out to the West Coast.
And about a month later, the fuel pump went out
and he was mad.
And I said, how would I ever know that?
How can I ever predict that that's going to happen?
Hey, so Stuart, you and I are sitting
at the Jaguar factory in 1963.
And so we talked to the head technician
and we say, now 50 years from now,
what do you think Michael will run with this car?
He just slapped you.
He just slapped the crap out of you.
He told you to get out of his shop.
I know.
And we're dealing with things that are so far
past their original design life.
Right.
That you end up with failures of things
that you never thought would fail.
Yeah.
How come the air vent just came out of its axis
and fell onto the ground and it's $180
for the part and three and a half hours of labor
to put it back in?
Oh, I understand.
I understand.
It's like that.
You know, it's true that knowing what's going
to fail and all that.
Yes.
I mean, a warranted car is one thing
and they do their best to make them last however many years
they need to last three or four or whatever it is.
But it's certainly hard to predict.
And even if a car is seemingly in perfect condition,
how many times have we all driven a car
and we parked it, we came back out the next morning
and there was something wrong
and it had no indication of that being wrong
the day before when we parked it?
Right.
I agree.
How do you know that?
I just was having some problems with my alpha
with the charging system
and it turned out that the super duper
duracell battery somebody put in it
that had it after three years,
it had a cell that was dead.
Right.
Yeah.
And it was impossible to, it would sit,
you would pull into a gas station idle for five minutes
and your battery would be dead.
Oh my God.
That's so frustrating too
because it's one of those things,
it's like a broken fuel gauge.
There's nothing worse in an old car
than a fuel gauge that doesn't work.
It just drives me absolutely crazy
because you know you're going to mess up.
You know you're going to forget that the fuel gauge
is not working and you're going to end up somewhere
you don't want to be with no fuel.
Well, you know, with my alpha, the fuel gauge,
it starts flickering on the yellow empty light,
starts flickering at three-quarter full.
You better hurry.
You're constantly in fear.
Yeah.
I don't, fear is not a good look for me.
No, but fear is part of what goes
into classic car tours.
Oh yeah, yeah.
You see, even on the big ones like the Colorado Grans
and the stuff that you guys do and all those,
there's fear because first of all,
something can go wrong in the middle of nowhere
that you won't have a part for.
Or even worse, you know, these cars aren't as steady
as a new car and you're going down,
you know, there's cliffs that go a long way
down into Nowhereville, you know.
And then you've got all that to worry about.
Plus you don't want to tear up a million-dollar car.
You know, it's the fun factor
with a classic car tour is the fear factor.
Right.
So the FF factor.
Yeah, we'll have to remember that, right?
That's right.
So when you, I'm sure you get this call all the time.
Guy calls you and says,
I'm interested in XYZ car.
What's your process?
Do you tell him click?
I'm sorry.
Or we broke up.
I didn't hear you and don't ever call me again.
Or do you give people advice on buying cars?
And if you do, how do you make sure
that you're not putting yourself out there, you know?
I usually redirect them to forums
or to cars that have sold on bring a trailer
that have a lot of troll answering them
or to Facebook groups.
You know, I just had a problem with the right vent
on my daughter's Lotus Elise stopped working
and I posted on in the Facebook Lotus Elise S2 users group
and there were three or four answers
that came back that day.
This is how this is connected
and this is how this comes together.
I had a friend just say he's kind of interested
in a late model of the con.
And all I know about that
is that there have been several versions of McCons
and some have timing chain trouble,
troubles and so on.
You need to go immerse yourself
in the literature that's there
and even post the question.
Say, you know, I've got 22 grand to spend
and I want to buy a McCons
and what's my best choice?
Right.
Exactly.
Because they'll tell you
and you can, if you're,
if you know how to,
it's just like bring a trailer
or any of those other sites.
If you know what to believe
and what not to believe.
It's like reviews on a business.
You got to know which ones are just a guy
who's just angry
and you got to know which ones are legitimate.
Whether it's good advice, bad advice,
stay away, buy from this guy,
don't buy from this guy.
Yeah.
You have to use your own filtering system.
Yeah.
And just because it says it doesn't make it so,
you know.
When I watch on,
when I watch the bring a trailer auction,
if it's something I know a lot about,
like an alpha,
I will be very careful only
to say positive things.
Right.
Because there,
like there'll be people there
and they'll make a sum
they'll say the wrong, like they'll declare
that these are the right carburetors for this car.
Right.
They're not.
And they're not.
And it's not my business
to be the corrector there.
I'll just listen
and let other people kind of chime in.
But my job is to be supportive
and to say when these cars are set up
properly, they're really good.
Right.
I like the five speed conversion you've done here.
You know, I mean, it's just,
why not add positive?
Because there's always somebody else
with a knife they're going to twist.
Absolutely.
And it's funny
because a guy will call him say
they never made a Mustang
in 1968 in chartreuse.
And you prove them wrong
and they go, oh, I guess I was wrong.
But boy, they were just all hell bent
for leather when, you know,
when they first said it.
But you have to be careful too
because you're known.
People know that it's you.
The people know that you're
you're the one making the comment.
So you can't just be,
you have to be a little diplomatic
in this world.
Well, you want to be,
first of all,
they say do no harm, right?
Right.
I mean, the main thing is
you want to help a guy
get a good price for his car.
Sure.
And if somebody comes to me,
let's say they,
you know, they ask about
a Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet, right?
A car that was unloved,
it's become a little more loved.
Right.
Owned one.
And I can say to them,
you know, they have a dash
that was designed by
Kukla Fran and Ollie.
There's the first reference to that
on the Classic Auto Mall show folks.
The Kukla Fran and Ollie reference.
That's great.
They have a goofy Ferrari
from the 80s electronics problem.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
The car is not bad.
No.
If they're sorted and well taken care of
and well done and all that.
I mean, you know,
we see it all the time
and we've talked about it all the time.
The newbie at the auction raising his hand
for the $5,000 BMW fill in the blank.
And he's so excited that he's bought a BMW
after all these years
he's been marrying them.
And this car new was $80,000
and he just bought it for five grand
and he's so elated.
But that's going to be a short elation
unless that car was really well sorted
and has lots of documentation
and records and all that.
Your next bill is going to be more
than what you paid for the car.
Well, my story on that
I was with my daughter at a silver auction
and she was about 14
and there was a Land Rover disco
that was there.
And I've always,
I know that discos
are money evaporator machines.
Right.
And if you just walk by a disco
with a credit card
you get charged $4,000.
You're like, what the hell?
Just because.
But there was this car
that was there
that was a burgundy metallic
with tan leather
and it was sold by a friend of mine
who has got a reputation
for being the best detailer
in the world
and every flaw is hidden.
Right.
That's how good he is.
Don't worry about all those lights
on the dash.
They always come on.
It's just,
there's a little switch here
and you turn and do the thing.
That's right.
Actually, after I bought
the car he said, look,
here's a set of brake pads.
That'll help.
You know, that's,
yeah, that's funny
that the old brake pad.
Mark Trimble,
who started the Branson auction,
used to always,
every car he would sell up
on the block
he would get to where
that stalling point
where a car has climbed
and it's got to a certain point
and there's a leveling off
and their color guy
starts talking about it again.
Mark Trimble would always
take the microphone and go,
now folks,
I've just realized
that there's something wrong
with the fuel pump.
So I've got $200 here
for whoever is the buyer
of the car
to fix that fuel pump on me
because I didn't know about it
and I just have it.
He knew about it.
It's a little marketing thing
and so people are like
ding, ding, ding, ding
and he gave them the $200
and I love that.
You know, it was great marketing.
There's also nothing
like the sensation
with your daughter
looking at that and saying,
Daddy, could we own that car today?
Yeah.
Well, you want to,
yeah, we can.
Yes, honey.
The bidding has stopped
at $3,200.
Now, why is that?
Because everybody else
in the room is stupid
and everybody else in the room
knows that that car is worth
$2,800
on the best day of his life.
Wink, wink, nod, nod.
I mean, that's the problem.
Raise your hand
and you've bought your dream car.
For $3,200.
Plus fees.
Plus you got to get it home.
Plus, you know,
but you can drive it home
but probably not.
Probably not.
Probably not.
Probably not.
Well, if we haven't answered
all your questions,
there's always next week.
We'll have you on again
and hopefully we'll
have more
more enlightening,
insightful information
for all of our viewers
and listeners.
Keith Martin,
thank you so much.
Good to see you.
Take care.
Take care.
And we'll catch you next week
on The Classic Automall Show
here at The Classic Automall
Studio in Morgantown, Pennsylvania.
We'll see you then.
Music courtesy of the Pat Travers Band
for tour dates,
contact and stuff,
visit pattravers.com.
Produced by Carsmart Media
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