A restomod is an old car that’s been fixed up and also improved with newer parts. It keeps the classic style, but it’s often easier to drive and more dependable than the original.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car made by Chevrolet. People talk about it a lot because some versions are rare and can sell for a lot of money at auctions. That’s why it comes up when collectors are comparing prices.
Term
mid-year Corvettes
“Mid-year” Corvettes are cars made partway through a model year. Sometimes they have special mix-and-match details from before and after the changes, so collectors notice them.
A rest-o-mod is an old car that gets kept looking classic, but gets updated with newer parts so it drives better. The hosts are saying this trend became popular and started making these cars cost more.
“Split window” is a Corvette body style where the rear window is split into two parts. The host is saying that modifying that kind of Corvette used to be considered a bad idea.
The Cadillac Escalade is a large luxury SUV. It’s meant to be comfortable and feature-rich for everyday driving. The podcast mentions it to contrast how a modern luxury SUV feels compared with an older classic car.
“Revs” means how fast the engine is spinning. In racing, drivers pay attention to revs because it changes how quickly the car accelerates and how the engine feels.
The Porsche 917 is a famous old race car that competed in endurance races. It’s known for being extremely fast and historically important in racing. Comparing it to another car usually means comparing how different the driving and design are.
The Ferrari 512 is a famous old Ferrari race car from the 1970s. It’s known for a strong V12 engine and for racing at the highest level. In comparisons, people focus on how the car feels and behaves differently.
Jump-starting means using another battery to get a dead car started. It’s a common way to revive a car when the battery doesn’t have enough power on its own.
The “drive train” is the set of parts that sends power from the engine to the wheels. They’re checking it because something seems to shift or make noise when the car accelerates or brakes.
This is a game where people wear blindfolds and try to judge a car just by touching it. The goal is to notice things you can feel—like how solid or well-finished it seems—without looking.
The Cadillac Eldorado is a luxury car made by Cadillac. The podcast is talking about an older 1959 version, which is famous for its big tail fins. People bring it up because it looks distinctive and stands out.
The Cadillac ELR is a luxury car that uses both electricity and a gasoline engine. The podcast mentions it while talking about different Cadillacs and how they feel. It’s included because it’s a specific model people can compare when looking at cars.
“Feel the steel” is a game where you use your hands to figure out what car it is, without looking. The idea is that experts can recognize cars by their shapes and details.
The A pillar is the vertical metal support at the front of the car, near the windshield. It’s a good “starting point” for this blindfold game because different cars have different shapes there.
A Corvette is a sports car, and the Z06 is a higher-performance version of it. The podcast is saying that a relatively newer Z06 Corvette can be a strong deal because it offers a lot of performance. It’s being mentioned as something you shouldn’t ignore when shopping.
The Ford Mustang GTD is a very high-performance version of the Mustang. The podcast is reacting to how extreme it is compared with a regular Mustang. It’s mentioned because it’s meant to be a serious performance car.
The Nürburgring is a legendary race track in Germany. When people talk about cars beating records there, they mean the car is setting very fast lap times on a track everyone recognizes.
A Volkswagen bus is a classic van that many people use for road trips. In this story, the host is talking about driving one across the country and camping in it.
Barrett-Jackson Auctions is a major collector-car auction company known for high-profile vehicles and dramatic bidding. The hosts describe how it can feel like “reality TV,” but with real cars and real money changing hands.
The Shelby Cobra is a famous sports car known for being fast and exciting. People talk about it because it’s a well-known performance car with a strong reputation. In the podcast, it’s mentioned alongside other iconic cars that collectors want.
Sometimes in auctions, two people get really competitive and the price can shoot up fast. It’s not just the car’s value—it’s also the excitement of winning.
The Pontiac Trans Am is a famous muscle car. This story is about how, at an auction, you can accidentally end up with a different (and worse) car than you thought you were bidding on.
Carfax is a history report for a car. If it’s “bad,” it usually means there are warning signs like accidents or title problems that can make the car riskier to buy.
A car card is the auction’s information sheet for a specific car. It’s supposed to list the car’s details, and the experts check that those claims are accurate.
“Matching numbers” means key parts on the car have the same serial/ID numbers as the car’s records. It matters to collectors because it helps prove the car is original, not a mix-and-match build.
The Chevrolet Chevelle LS6 is a special, high-performance version of the Chevelle. Here, the speaker is describing a way to spot whether a car really matches the LS6 details by looking closely under the door trim.
The Chevrolet Camaro Z28 is a performance version of the Camaro. The point here is that some experts know the exact details that make a car truly match that specific Z28 model.
The Chevrolet Caprice is a large, older-style car made by Chevrolet. The podcast is talking about checking the engine bay, which is something car enthusiasts like to do. It’s mentioned because it’s a recognizable classic.
At auctions, each car gets only a short amount of time. If you can’t open the hood quickly, you don’t have much time to check the engine before the next car comes up.
The Toyota Highlander is a family SUV that’s built for everyday driving. It’s the kind of vehicle people choose when they want room and practicality. The podcast mentions it as part of someone’s recent daily car lineup.
The Ford Mustang is a famous American car, and the convertible version lets you drive with the top down. The speaker is saying it’s a fun car you can still use every day.
“Golf” here refers to a car model people talk about when comparing different versions. The podcast is comparing different performance levels and trims. It’s mentioned as one of the options in that shopping conversation.
The BMW Isetta is a very small car with a unique look. The podcast is calling attention to it because it’s easy to recognize and not something you see every day. It’s a classic microcar that stands out at events.
A microcar is a very small car meant for getting around simply. It’s usually not built to be fast or powerful—more like practical, compact transportation.
Car
Isetta
The Isetta is a very small, quirky classic car. It’s famous for its unusual shape and the way you get in through a door that opens from the front.
The 1982 Mercury Grand Marquis is a classic American “cruiser” car known for its big V8 engine and comfortable ride. Here they’re pointing out that this one has a five-liter fuel-injected V8, which is part of what makes it interesting to collectors.
“Five liter” is the engine’s size, based on how much space the pistons move inside the engine. Bigger displacement usually means the engine can make strong torque, which is why these big V8 cruisers feel effortless.
EFI means the engine uses electronics to deliver fuel more accurately than older carburetors. An “EFI V8” just means it’s a big V8 engine that’s fuel-injected.
This is a 1999 Mercedes-Benz roadster (a convertible) called the SLK 230. The “compressor” means it has a factory supercharger, which helps the engine make more power, and it’s paired with a manual transmission.
Term
double ever overhead cam
This describes how the engine controls its valves. “Double overhead cam” means there are two camshafts up top—one for intake valves and one for exhaust valves—which helps the engine manage airflow more precisely.
A five-speed manual transmission requires the driver to select gears using a clutch and gear lever. Compared with automatics, manuals typically offer more direct driver control and can be more engaging in spirited driving.
This is a high-performance version of the Chevrolet Corvette from 2003. It uses a powerful V8 and is set up for speed, and the hosts are basically saying it’s a great deal compared to what you’d get elsewhere.
This is a classic Ford from 1931. It’s the kind of simple, old-school car enthusiasts like because it uses a small four-cylinder engine and a basic three-speed manual.
That “201 cubic inch” number is the engine’s size. It also tells you it’s a four-cylinder engine, which is a simple layout compared with bigger multi-cylinder designs.
They mean a classic car that’s a good starting point. It’s the kind of car where you can learn the hobby and still find parts and help without it being overwhelming.
Term
390
“390” here is referring to the engine size—about 390 cubic inches. Bigger engines like this usually feel stronger and more “classic V8” than smaller ones.
Term
cruzomatic automatic
“Cruzomatic automatic” means the car has an automatic transmission. That makes it simpler to drive because you don’t have to shift gears yourself.
The Cadillac CTS-V is a high-performance version of a Cadillac sedan. The podcast mentions the 2009 model and its very high horsepower number. It’s brought up because it’s meant to be fast and exciting, not just comfortable.
A clutch connects the engine to the transmission. A “triple disc” clutch uses more friction surfaces, so it can handle more power and harder driving without slipping as easily.
A “six-speed” is the car’s manual transmission with six gear ratios. The host is also pointing out the specific transmission used, because that can change how the car drives and how well it handles spirited use.
The “3.73” part is a gearing setting that makes the car feel punchier when you accelerate. A “limited-slip” axle helps the car put power down more evenly when traction is uneven, like on wet roads or during hard cornering.
This is a differential that helps prevent one wheel from spinning uselessly. It sends more power to the wheel that has better grip, which helps the car accelerate more confidently.
The Alfa Romeo Spider is a classic open-top sports car. The podcast mentions it because someone had one and used it for trips and tours. That’s the kind of car people choose when they want an enjoyable drive.
Double clutching is a way to downshift smoothly in a manual car. You do it by briefly going to neutral, revving a bit to “line up” the speeds, and then putting it into the lower gear so it doesn’t jerk or grind.
Downshifting means switching to a lower gear. It makes the engine spin faster, and in a manual car you have to do it smoothly so the gears don’t clash or grind.
PDK is Porsche’s type of automatic/manual hybrid gearbox with two clutches. It helps the car shift smoothly on its own, so you don’t have to double-clutch like you would in many older manual cars.
Heel-toe (heel towing) is a way of braking and blipping the gas at the same time when you downshift. It helps the engine speed match the lower gear so the car feels smoother.
When downshifting, a double-clutch blip means you use the clutch twice and quickly add a little gas to get the engine RPM closer to what the next gear needs. That makes the shift smoother.
Left-foot braking means using your left foot on the brake pedal instead of the right foot. Enthusiasts often pair it with heel-toe downshifts because it frees the right foot to manage throttle blips for smoother downshifts.
Formula One is a high-level racing series. The speaker is saying that in F1, drivers often try to pass by braking late into a corner and staying in control.
“Fettled” means the car has already been cleaned up and fixed so it’s ready to drive. The speaker wants one that doesn’t require lots of small repairs first.
The Alpine A106 is a small sports car. The podcast is saying you don’t have to worry too much about how pretty it looks or about having the absolute best performance. It’s being mentioned as a classic you can appreciate for what it is.
Concept
convertible roof stowage (top disappears vs sits up behind you)
When a convertible top folds down, it can either hide away inside the car or leave something visible behind you. That changes how you see out the back and how the car looks.
They’re comparing the Jaguar’s convertible roof to a Rolls-Royce Corniche. The point is that some convertible roof designs leave a big structure behind you that makes it harder to see out the back.
LIVE
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, Stuart Howden.
And here we are, show number 243.
About that.
Yeah, and lots of people strolling in today on a sunny day.
It's actually the first sunny day we've had doing the show in forever.
It is.
I make fun of the weather, although I don't know why.
Well, it's supposed to rain later.
Oh, is it?
Yeah.
Let's just enjoy it temporarily.
Well, they've got the PGA Championship right down the street from us here.
Oh, I'll say it.
They're hoping for no rain this weekend.
They're hoping for no rain there.
Or maybe they're hoping for softer rain.
I don't know.
But you're playing tennis lately instead of golf.
And you've got the sore arm to prove it.
Yeah, goodness gracious.
You realize how out of shape you are until you realize you forgot how to run.
You know, think about it.
How often do you run in your older life?
You don't run very often.
I have a doxin, so I'm running all the time.
Chasing that little doxin around.
So anyway, let's get right to our guest.
First, we will not talk about what we were talking about.
Oh, I forgot all about it.
Yeah.
How many cars in inventory, JR?
All right.
How have the consignments been?
Awful.
Okay.
No, it's been pretty good.
All right.
Steady.
I'll say 780.
Oh.
Slow and steady.
All right, Steve.
I'm going, I'm just going to undercut that a little bit.
760.
I wouldn't recommend that.
783.
Oh.
Which is the exact same as last week.
So now we're liars because we say we have a thousand cars.
So anyway, let's get to our guest.
Joining us via Zoom.
I guess I'm assuming in Arizona, Mr. Rick DeBruil.
Good morning, Rick.
Good morning.
Yeah.
Phoenix, Arizona.
I think we're up over 100 degrees today.
So summer has officially arrived.
Has anybody ever proven or disproven the crack and egg on a sidewalk on the hottest
day of the year that it'll actually cook today?
You know, it doesn't really work that well.
You wouldn't want to eat it.
It takes a long time.
But you know, my joke about, about, you know, it's a dry heat is, you know, it's great.
It's a dry heat and so is the sun.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Well, you know, it's, uh, nothing finer though, to be in that part of the world in December,
January, February.
I've, my first time going out to Barrett Jackson, Scottsdale, uh, just couldn't believe how
nice the weather was and how cool it was in the morning and just beautiful weather.
So how many, you just, you just went to your first Barrett Jackson?
No, no, no.
This was back in 2002.
Oh, okay.
I was a little concerned there.
I'm like, come on.
Where are you being?
You're not a car guy.
Scottsdale Barrett Jackson auction is, is one of the greatest events on the planet.
It's not a three ring circus.
It's a 12 ring circus.
Yeah.
What a great way to put it.
It absolutely is.
It's, it's the most entertaining automotive show or whatever you want to call it on television
without bar none.
I mean, it just, it's got the right mix of everything.
Yeah.
And, and you know, the great thing is we've got such an amazing crew that is part of the
broadcast.
I mean, you've got a guy like Steve Mignante forgotten more than most humans ever learn
about cars.
Mike Joy, who has the most amazing recall about automobiles.
And then a guy like Tyler Hoover, who just knows amazing stuff and even April Rose.
I mean, she is a car lady.
She knows a lot about cars.
Yeah.
It's, it was surprising to me because, you know, a lot of times people have little peripheral
amounts of information about cars and that's great.
I mean, it's, it's fun to talk cars, no matter how, what level you come from.
But the, the, the dialogue in the banner back and forth with you guys really, really works
well.
And, and just the variety of cars there.
I mean, it's staggering.
It's unlike any other auction in a good way.
I would agree with that.
I mean, you know, we have this past year, we had close to 2000 in Scottsdale and it's
the full spectrum.
I mean, it's the old stuff, it's the stuff.
I think we figured out we had something from every decade starting in the 1910s going up
through the, the 2020s and cool stuff and all those guys.
You know, it's, it's, I think it's given a lot of people a new appreciation for rest
omods because you guys light it up with the rest omods out there.
It is unbelievable, the dollar figures that those things from those Corvettes, from Jeff
Hayes that are bringing seven or $800,000 and, you know, all the rest of them, the Lincoln
that brought a million.
I mean, it's crazy numbers.
So what's really interesting, and this goes back, gosh, to, I think the very first time
we did Barrett Jackson auction in Las Vegas, you know, for the longest time, especially
with Corvettes, mid-year Corvettes, you know, we've talked about, you know, you modified
them and you brought their value down, just about every modification was always bring
them down.
And then one day we started to see the beginning of the rest-o-mod craze start to pop where
people were doing, you know, nice rest-o-mod conversions, adding breaks, adding, you know,
better radiators, whatever it may be, and suddenly the prices started to creep up.
And now, I mean, the thought of taking a split window, 63 Corvette modifying was a heresy
years ago.
Now we see it all the time.
And I mean, the work that these guys do is the charts.
Yeah.
It's quite impressive.
And I understand, I didn't get rest-o-mods in the beginning.
I didn't quite understand it.
I didn't understand why you wouldn't just buy a modern, you know, performance car.
But people want that look.
But you know, you get out of, and I say this all the time, you get out of a brand new Escalade
and you get in a 69 DZ302 Z20A, you're going to say, this is the biggest piece of crap
I've ever done.
And it could be the finest restoration in the world, but they don't drive quite the
same.
And you really would like that fifth gear and the better breaks stereo
and the air conditioning and yada, yada, yada, right?
Yeah.
People's memories of how great these cars were have really kind of been hazy over the
last few decades.
So like you say, when they get in them and they drive squeak and the brakes
don't work very well, they start to think, well, maybe it'd be nice if we just modded
this up just a little.
There was a reason my buddies and I all drove General Motors products is because the Mopars
drove like crap.
I mean, the steering was wandering everywhere.
Oh, Steve Mignanti will jump in here any minute if I don't care.
He may be right over my shoulder, right?
We had Steve on a couple of years ago.
He was great.
He was encyclopedic on Zoom as well as he does on live TV that you do from there.
He is an amazing guy with his automotive knowledge.
He really is.
I would put him up against any car guy on the planet for what he does.
Absolutely.
And of course, Mike Joy, like you said, has got an idetic or whatever you want to call
photographic memory, it seems like, and can remember everything and every person he ever
met, which is so amazing.
And we get that with race car drivers who will come on.
We have the guys that are in their 80s and they'll remember a race in a corner from,
you know, 1957.
Brian Redmond, who is an amazing sports car driver.
I was talking to him a couple of years ago.
We were in Monterey and he started to relate something, race that he was in in like 1954
or something.
I was like, how can you remember what you were doing?
You know, he knew the revs he was at going down the straightaway loan away by what he
did.
It's astonishing.
You know, it's so important.
Well, it's like we were talking about the golf tournament here.
Golfers remember a hole or a shot that they took, you know, 25 years ago into the green
and it was the pin was in the left corner.
I mean, it is, it's amazing.
But I guess when you're that focused on what you do and have to be that focused, you know,
you can't be loosey-goosey like us just sitting here chewing the fat about cars.
You got to know, you know, it's life or death out there and that may have a little bit more
of a factor in memorization of that stuff.
Yeah.
And also some race car drivers are also great storytellers.
Sure.
Brian Redmond is one of those.
You know, I worked, you know, for a long time with David Hobbs.
Right.
Formula one and sports car racing together.
Boy, there aren't very many better storytellers on the planet than David Hobbs.
And you realize, I mean, here's a guy who drove both a Porsche 917 and a Ferrari 512
who could actually talk about the differences between those two cars.
And Brian Redmond owned the McQueen one for a while and there was a story he told about
pushing it down his gravel driveway and jump-starting.
It's like, but his, my favorite stories from Brian Redmond are the ones where he's talking,
the German mechanics are talking to him and they always call him Air Redmond.
But he's, you know, those guys, you know, legendary, of course, you know, people say,
oh, well, the legends are all gone from racing.
That's not true.
We've got amazing legendary race car drivers today.
And we see that not only at the current racing, but we see them show up at Barrett
Jackson and their car guys just as much as the rest of us are.
You know, it's interesting because I grew up a car kid for no reason.
No one in my family cared about cars.
No, my friends cared about cars.
I always assumed when I was growing up that car people were race people and race people
were car people.
And I was shocked when I became an adult and started getting into these worlds and discovered
there's tons of race car drivers that know nothing about collector cars.
Right.
And there's tons of collector car people who know nothing about racing.
And I was like, well, wait a minute, but they're so closely tied for me.
I mean, that's the joy of it all to be able to combine both those worlds.
Oh, I think that, you know, we have equal amount of just car people on the show as we
do race car people.
And they're equally as fun, you know, authors are a lot of fun to talk to.
Race car drivers are fun to talk to media guys like you are great to talk to.
But, you know, you said you grew up as a car kid.
You also took auto shop back in high school, which they don't have anymore.
And I'm disappointed.
I want auto shop back.
You know, I grew up in Los Angeles and the high school I went to had a special program
where you could take called industrial auto.
And I took two hours of auto shop every day at the beginning of every day when I was in
the senior high school.
And I always laugh because, you know, all the other people I was in the class with were
all going to go off and become, you know, professional mechanics.
I was going to college.
I just liked cars.
And I segued from that to working at Sears Automotive.
That's how I worked my way through college.
I started off as a tire buster and ended up as a service rider.
You know, and the great thing is I was working on all those cars that today are
crossing the block as collectibles.
So you have a great memory of those as well, too, I think.
And of course, the knowledge that you learned back then, I mean, cars were a little
simpler back then, obviously, but, you know, it's funny.
Sears is such a funny thing that Sears was a great mail order company that got put out
of business by a mail order company, Amazon, basically.
I know there's a little bit of time between there, but isn't it funny how that
change, if Sears could have just figured out how to get their catalog onto a computer.
You know, I mean, at some one point in time, Sears sold houses and cars.
Oh, they were amazing.
Yeah.
I mean, when Kaiser had that hookup with Sears, they were selling those things.
Yeah.
And I was fortunate.
I worked for a good automobile.
The Sears I worked at when it was built in Los Angeles was the largest Sears in the world.
So it was huge.
And I remember sometimes on Saturday, especially when I was a service rider, I'd sit
there and look at these hundreds of cars that were lined up, that we had them in
between places.
I think, do we have any clue what we're doing with these cars?
It feels that way.
Is that one over there?
Has that actually been worked on at all today?
Isn't that funny?
Well, you know, I love the fact that, you know, the nostalgia of things.
I mean, my first motorized vehicle came from Sears.
It was a three and a half horsepower.
I think it was a Rup minibike that came from Sears.
I mean, if you think about it, Sears sold everything.
Yeah.
And of course, I mean, and back in the early 1800 or 1900s, they sold houses and Sears
had actually not only did they have a Sears model in 1910 or 11, I think it was,
that was an actual car.
And think about it, they sold road handler tires, which back then were great
tires, die-hard batteries, which back then were great batteries.
And then, of course, we had craftsmen tools.
I mean, those three things back then were setting the standard.
And it's like you say, it's unfortunate they couldn't figure out how to survive
in the modern world.
Yeah, it's and, you know, gosh, it's not the first time we're going to see it
or not the last time we're going to see it.
But I would argue that working as a service rider is one of the best skill
sets you could ever have.
Nobody's happy when they when they come in, right?
Everybody's mad and everybody wants their car fixed and everybody's certain
that there's a knock in that front wheel and you can't hear it.
And I don't know why you can't hear it.
Yeah, I used to joke.
My job was to play 40 questions, right?
You know, they'd come in and say, it's got a squeak.
Was it from the front or the back?
Is it moving or not moving?
Is it right front or left front?
You know, and I'd sit there and play those games.
My all time favorite one was we had this lady who came in and we had we put new
tires on her car the week before and she came in.
She said, my mechanic says you you bent my frame.
There's a clunk every time I accelerate or decelerate.
And sure enough, I take the car up and it was it was clunking every time
she'd accelerate or every time I decelerate.
I we had a big, huge parking lot and I'm driving along in the car.
The door is open.
But I'm hanging my head out, trying to see if I can see some flexing in the
drive train, you know, if it's popping, got it up on the rack.
Finally, I call over one of our veteran guys who really knows this stuff.
And I'm like, I explain him what goes on.
And he goes, oh, that's an easy one.
I'm like, what goes in?
He picks up the seat and there's a roll of quarters underneath the seat.
Every time she'd accelerate, it would go back.
Every time she did the brakes, it would go forward.
She the guy hands this lady a roll of quarters to say, tell your mechanic.
He sucks.
Oh, that's classic.
You know, when my dad finally made it, you know, he thought he made it.
He bought a 79 El Dorado.
And I am sure that the service rider to Cadillac dealership hated seeing
his name come up on the list every morning because he would just complain
about everything.
Nothing was right.
Everything was always wrong.
I've spent all this money on this car and it makes weird noises or it does this
or it does that.
And you just know the guy was just like, oh God, please help me.
Please don't let it be him again.
Well, you grew up in a very different world than I did.
I lived in nothing but Volkswagen's and Rambler's, which is why people like how,
you know, a lot of people, you know, have great stories about how they became
car people, their family had cars, their relatives, neighbors and nothing.
I had a string of Volkswagen's and a Rambler.
Yeah.
And then think about where you are today.
I mean, if you could have crystal balled this, this would have been the greatest
gig you could ever have being a car guy to say, OK, I get to go on.
Of course, as Mike Joy said, it ain't an easy gig.
It looks like all fun and games, but it's a lot of long days.
Yeah, it is.
But, you know, a number of years ago, I was working for it.
I used to work for ESPN doing auto racing.
I covered a wide variety of things.
And at one point I was celebrating one of my birthdays and I was at a NASCAR race
in Newton, Iowa.
And I remember it was the crew was great.
They gave me a birthday cake and everything.
And I remember thinking if I could tell my 16-year-old self that I'm celebrating
my birthday in Newton, Iowa, whatever is my 55th birthday or whatever it was,
Newton, Iowa, I would think, what a loser.
Is that the best you could do?
I told that same 16-year-old that I was working for an all sports network
covering auto racing, getting paid to be there, getting paid to wear a fire suit,
stand in the pits and talk to my favorite race car drivers.
I think, man, this guy has arrived.
You made it.
You absolutely made it.
A pit lane reporter's got to be the best gig in motorsports broadcasting by far.
You know what?
I loved it, though.
I mean, I did some play by play, but to be honest with it, being a pit reporter,
you know, I got to do the Indy 500.
And I sit there and there's 350,000 people in the stands.
And I'm paid to stand there and talk to all these people that once again,
you'd only normally get to read about and to be down in the thick of it all.
Now, a race like the Indy 500 is complicated, right?
I mean, you've got 33 cars.
Back then we would have three pit reporters.
We divide them up, you know, 11, 11, 11.
I've got, you know, I've got my headsets on.
I've got a producer in one ear.
I've got the producer and a director in one ear.
I've got the play by play guy, the two color guys in the other ear.
And then I got a scanner and I'm listening to 11 drivers.
Talk about hearing voices in your head.
And you're trying to listen to all that.
And then you're trying to second guess, OK, who's going to come into pit first,
you know, and sometimes towards the end of the race.
I remember the year Tacuma, first year, Tacumasado won.
I had two drivers and I'm like, which one of these two are going to pull it off?
Should I go to this guy or should I go to Sado's?
And I just had my gut feeling was that Sado, I don't know if you know,
he had spun a few years earlier.
I remember that.
When he was trying to pass Dario Franckini with Dario.
And I thought, you know what, that guy learned his lesson.
He's going to be there at the end.
And I flipped my coin and went to Sado.
That was right.
And was much of that scripted or was it more off the cuff stuff?
No, not at all.
Nothing scripted.
What could you script?
I mean, yeah, I mean, you may in the very beginning, you know,
we've got a pre-show and we'll we'll pre-record some of those that would
not pre-record, but we'll kind of have a script for some of those.
But once that race starts, man, you're making it up as you go along.
You don't know what's going to happen.
You don't know who's going to come in for pits early.
You don't know.
I remember one time watching Dario Franckini spin in pit lane and then
go on to finish well.
And it's like, you know, I mean, you can't make that stuff up or have Will
Power have a wheel come on or Tony Kanan one year.
I covered him when, you know, he had a problem qualifying.
He's in the last row.
You know, so suddenly you're making all this stuff up as he's charging
through the field.
But yeah, there's no nothing scripted in any of that.
It's like the Bear Jackson auctions.
We, you know, we joke.
We've got a beginning where we scripted, you know, the first segment.
You know, we know we're going to do X, Y and Z.
And then after that, we make it all up.
I mean, and I think for me, I do better just talking and just, you know,
just rambling on instead of trying to go, and now we're going to come back
to part two of the show, you know, I don't, that's hard for me.
That's, I don't know that I could do that as easily.
But, you know, the fun thing about it is, at a Bear Jackson auction, I mean,
you guys get to see, like we talked about all the different cars.
And but one of the coolest segments, I think, is the blindfold feel the car
test because that was one of my favorites.
That was so awesome.
But it's funny, it was almost as if, you know, they do the blind taste test
on these chef shows where they feed you a grape and you go oatmeal.
And they go, no, how did you get oatmeal out of a grape?
It must have been way harder than it looked to be able to just put your hands
on the car and feel what it is.
I mean, a 59 Cadillac El Dorado Brits, pretty easy on the tail fins.
Everything else, probably a little tricky.
You know, Steve Mignante was the guy who came up with this, called it
feel the steel.
And, and first off, he can, he can feel just about anything and sort it all
out in terms of an automotive perspective.
You know, and I remember the first time we did, we played it, I was like
scared to death.
I'm like, okay, we would put it in.
And for people who don't know, what we would do is we blindfold people
and we put their hand on the A pillar of the car.
And then it's like, all right, start feeling around, try to figure out
what the car is.
And in my case, I think it was a, like a 67, 68 Mustang.
And I went down and felt the side and felt those little fake grills on the side.
I was like, oh, yes, I've got it.
I was so excited.
You know, that's classic, but it had to be a lot harder than it looked.
I mean, it really had to be certain cars, I would imagine, would be
just almost impossible to figure out.
Well, do you ever play the game?
I'm sure you absolutely do.
Well, you're driving down the street and you drive by somebody's house and
there's a car covered in the drive.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And then you're like, okay, that's, is that a vet?
Is that a, you know, and, you know, sometimes my, my, my thoughts
will go a little too exotic.
Right.
I was like, is that a this?
Is that a that?
I would literally was just playing that game yesterday, driving around.
Yeah.
The core and core vets are the likely candidate because those guys are so
particular about their cars.
And of course, all you need to do is see the guy standing next to it.
Know that it's Corvette season.
He's got the cut off jeans, the new balance, white tennis shoes and the car
shirt and gray hair.
And that's the Corvette, you know, scene out there for those guys.
And, you know, it's funny.
And a new Corvette talking about when you're driving down the highway now,
how many times do you see a new Corvette pass and go, is that a
for McClare?
What?
Oh, it's a Corvette.
You know, I gotta tell you, when they came out with the mid and new Corvette,
you know, I have to admit, I honestly had doubts about it for a long time.
First off, you know, classic American front engine car.
Are we really going in the wrong direction over complicating it?
At one point, I thought they were actually going to bring the mid
engine Corvette out as kind of a secondary halo car in keep the front engine.
But but when they brought it out, boy, did they nail it.
I mean, you're looking at a car that for, you know, with a base price of $70,000,
it is just amazing.
And here's the thing, you know, people will tell you all the time, you know,
that if you're going to get a Corvette, oh, you got to get this option, this option.
And it's over 120 grand.
And you know what?
You can do that if you want.
But if you can get your hands on a base Corvette with a couple of minor
options, maybe 75 grand worth, you have a super car, a spectacular piece
of machinery that works great, drives great.
And I'll put it up against most modern supercars for half to a third of the price.
Sure, absolutely.
We tell people all the time when they come here to buy a car, don't overlook
a 10 year old Z06 Corvette, because it's a lot of car for them.
I mean, you might be able to pick that car up for 25 or 30 grand.
And like you said, it's reliable as a Honda.
The service is easy.
They're right down the street.
Anywhere you go, there's a Chevy dealer.
It's, it's an amazing car.
And I think we, we, you know, we have a tendency to overlook cars
because we're too sophisticated that now, you know, we're going to have to,
we only look at Ferraris or McLarens or, you know, whatever.
And it's so stupid.
Look at the GTD Mustang.
Oh my God.
I don't even, that thing is beyond a hybrid car.
815 horsepower.
And they're only going to make between, I think, I've heard, I've seen two numbers.
One said that we're going to make about a thousand.
Other said they're going to make about 17.
Still, I mean, that, what a beast of a car.
And of course, the whole Nürburgring thing is everybody beating everybody's record.
It's like every week you read an eight.
It's hard to keep up with what was the last car, you know, was that a Volkswagen?
You know, you're just not sure what it is, right?
I'm going to get out of my old VW bus and see what I could call.
I'll never forget my, my dad's girlfriend's daughter.
God, that's long.
We had a Volkswagen bus and we drove from, from Salisbury, Maryland to Ocean
City, Maryland on this highway that was windy.
And that thing was like driving a, it was all over the road.
It was a, I took a Volkswagen bus in 1976.
I drove from Los Angeles, picked up a friend in Tucson, drove all across the country
to the Olympics in Montreal, camped in it for two weeks and drove
back across Canada, down back to Los Angeles.
And I, I, I mean, that was one of the greatest experiences of my life, living
in a VW bus for six or seven weeks.
That's what they were designed for, right?
I mean, maybe not quite that long, but just try not to, you know, avoid going
up big hills whenever possible.
Boy, those things, they talk underpowered was certainly an understatement with that.
Absolutely.
So, you know, some of the moments that we've seen from Barrett Jackson over the
years have been incredible moments.
I mean, you know, you could just say the Ferrari hat guy and everybody knows
what you're talking about or the Bert Reynolds Trans Am or a Shelby's Cobra,
the number one Batmobile or all the 0000001 Corvettes bought by Hendrick.
I mean, the amount of fun stuff that goes in your head from doing these things
has got to be just hard to even keep up with.
So, you know, we always talk about reality TV, right?
You see all these reality shows, you know, they're not really reality.
Barrett Jackson is real reality, real people spending real money for real cars.
And once again, talk about not being able to script it.
You know, they have an idea as to what cars might sell for.
Sure.
At the end, you know, if you get two bidders going at each other,
next thing you know, it's off the charts.
And then you get the emotion tied up with some of those cars.
Like you mentioned the Batmobile, when it came into the room,
George Barris, you know, we're talking the original Batmobile,
it was like a rock star.
Right.
The room was just electric, it was loud.
The crowd surrounding the car.
And then to have this furious bidding going on,
and to have two guys in the audience, one sitting right in front of the other,
and they're going at each other, and then finally they decide,
hey, we need to stop doing this, let's flip a coin.
And they flipped a coin, and that's how they determined who won the car.
Wow.
I mean, just you can't script that.
And you know what's really interesting about Barrett Jackson is,
is that the fear that we all know it all is in the business
when Barrett Jackson's first started said,
nobody's going to want to be on TV,
nobody's going to want to be seen buying these cars.
They want to be hidden, they don't want to be exact opposite of Barrett Jackson.
Guys are raising their fists, guys are, you know, smiling at the camera,
high-fiving, it's very refreshing to see.
You know, I mean, first off, it's fun.
I mean, right, we're only talking cars.
Right, you're splitting atoms, we're not doing it.
It's not easy sometimes to win a car.
Sometimes I see people there, they'll have, back in the old days,
we went to the catalogs, they'd have all the pages tabbed and everything.
And I'd be talking to them towards the end of the auction,
like, I haven't gotten a single car, I got a bit on this one,
I got a bit on that one.
It's like, you know, it's not easy sometimes to come away with that car you want.
No, it absolutely not.
And it's not for the faint of heart to buy a car at an auction.
You better know what you're doing.
Because we've all made, I mean, I've bought the wrong 79 Trans Am,
they're both black, the one that I bought,
that I thought I was buying at 500 original miles on,
the one I bought had a caved in passenger side and a bad car fax.
And it happens.
You've got to be really careful.
One of the nice things about Barrett Jackson that I'll mention
is that they have some internal car experts behind the scene.
You know, there's several guys, you know,
a guy named Dave Weiss, who does the car stuff, for example,
and he issues a lot of the Chevy's.
And what they'll do is they'll go through and they'll check the car
before it goes up on the auction block.
And their job is to make sure that, you know,
because there's what we call a car card, a description of the car.
And their job is to make sure that what's on the car card is correct or provable.
If it says it's matching numbers, can you prove it?
You know, Jerry McNish will run his finger over this one location
to figure out if that was number repost, you know,
are we done or is that the original?
And, you know, and there's no guarantee.
But at least when you have, it's like having somebody
who's an expert helping you out with your purchase.
So when you go in there, you can at least feel like, you know, there's hope.
Now, don't get me wrong, there's plenty of times things go bad.
Sure. But I said that, you know, at least you've got that advantage.
Sure. I watched Jerry McNish one time talk to me about a Chevelle LS6 convertible
and running his fingers underneath the trim piece under the door.
And if there was holes in there,
that means it could have never been an LS6 because it had a trim piece down there.
They didn't I'm like, do what I felt as inept about knowing about cars
as you could possibly feel in your life.
Yeah, these guys are amazing.
And you know, that's the fun thing about being at Barra Jackson,
because, you know, I always like to say, you know, I'm a mile wide,
but I'm an inch deep. Right.
I know I know about a lot of cars.
I can talk to you about about 69, you know, Camaro Z28.
And I can talk about 64 amphicars and, you know, 1929 Chevy straight
six engines, you know, to a degree.
Sure. But some of these people, boy, they're just deep divers.
They can look at this and go, that clip's not right. Right.
Yeah. It's amazing when you can get those people and learn from them.
Well, it's it's not unlike doing this show.
I can read a book about somebody and I enjoy it.
I don't retain much of it.
I can read a book in doing research to do the show.
And all of a sudden I've got extra knowledge in my head that's not going to leave.
And so it's it's a different, you know, mindset.
But the most amazing thing to me about what people do
and the skill sets that people have when it comes to Barra Jackson is that
fantasy bid. How the hell do you know what that thing?
I mean, how do those guys even get close?
I don't they say that the guys who are really good at it are there at the site.
They're looking at these cars.
They understand, you know, buyers, intuition or so. I don't know.
It's crazy. You know, it's just a game.
Because, you know, internally behind the scenes every day during the broadcast,
the broadcast team picks one car and we try to predict what it's going to go for.
Just in a little game we play. Sure.
And it's amazing to me how bad we are.
Exactly. We have some of the best experts on our crew and we can still blow it.
And yet, once again, you mentioned this fantasy game and it's where, you know,
people try to predict the price of the car.
And ultimately there's a there's a prize for whoever wins for the full year.
You know, but but some of these people, like you say, are masters at it.
Yeah, it's it's hard to imagine because, you know, somebody I said this,
I think on the show last week where I said somebody asked me what's what's my
car worth and I go, I don't know.
It's worth what somebody's willing to pay for it.
I mean, because and I mean that you can look at all the price
gods in the world, you can look at all the comparables in the world.
And sometimes good or bad, it doesn't weigh out.
It doesn't have any bearing on anything.
There was a car at this last Scottsdale.
And I got to see if I can remember the exact year.
I think it was a 93 Cadillac brome.
And before right as the auction was getting ready to end,
somebody told us, we think we got a couple of phone bidders on this
who are really interested in this car.
And they're both sound like they're clearly committed.
And the next thing I know, this 1993 Cadillac brome, right, is sitting there
like, I can't remember the number now, like $90,000.
What the heck just happened?
Yeah, two people out of nowhere.
I mean, it was, you know, we were joking.
Maybe there's $85,000.
We always say that. Yeah.
That's why, you know, until you're there and until you can watch
that dynamic going on, you have no idea what it's going to sell.
You feel clueless.
I mean, there's nothing more.
And the other funny thing about feeling clueless is if you're
standing up on an auction block, not at Bear Jackson, because all the hoods
go up and down and so do some of the other auctions.
But if you're standing up on the block and somebody says, hey, open that hood
on that caprice and you go there and you're a car guy and you have no idea
to get that hood open.
It's like, what?
I feel, how could I not know this?
Trust me, I was doing one the other day and I'm sitting there trying to figure
out how do I pop this hood?
I just couldn't find it.
I remembered, oh, it pulls up from the back.
Yeah, it does.
Or it's got an inside lever, whatever it is.
So is that the year they converted to the inside latch or was at the outside latch?
Yeah. Trust me.
I cannot tell you how much time I spent on the block trying to sort out how.
And you remember a car at Bear Jackson will sell every two minutes.
Right.
So we have two minutes to talk about the car and we got two minutes
to get that hood open and inspect the engine.
Yeah. And, you know, sometimes, you know, we can walk around, look at cars in advance.
Sure. Sometimes, you know, we've got 2,000 cars.
We're not going to look. No way you can.
Sometimes you need that hood to pop up so you can look and go, oh, it's going to
often house her head on there, you know.
Well, I still have to say, lefty, loosey, righty, tidy.
So so so and and you guys have got another sale coming up
for a first time up in Columbus, Ohio.
That ought to be interesting in that part of the world.
Really excited about that.
Yeah. So there's four right now.
There's four Bear Jacksons a year.
We do January and Scottsdale, which is the mothership, the big door.
We just did Palm Beach, which is a really fun event that's been going on
for more than the first time we're going to Columbus, Ohio.
And that's cool because, you know, I don't know.
I was told that Columbus has the largest good guys event in the country.
That's right. And within like a 500 mile radius,
there's a massive number of great car events.
So we're looking forward to that.
It's kind of a Middle Middle America kind of automotive Mecca.
And then, of course, we were going back to Las Vegas
for the first time in several years.
I think that's coming up in September or October this year.
So look forward to it.
It's been kind of hard to find that third location, if you will,
between Scottsdale and West Palm and that other one that you need to do.
I'm sure to make it all, you know, the numbers look good and all that.
But it's tough to pick those areas.
You know, the craziest area.
I mean, look at some of these events that are in oddball places.
You know, the Iowa Swap Meet, you know, in Iowa, Wisconsin.
You know, how is that successful?
But it's been there forever and people go there or the cruise auction
back in Auburn back in the day in the middle of nowhere.
So, I mean, it's it's got to be very difficult to pick these locations
and to pick them and make sure that everything gels like it's supposed to.
And fortunately, you know, I'm just the broadcaster.
Once cars get up on the block, I get to talk about it.
That's right. Wherever we are.
Good night, Cleveland is jokingly say so.
Well, listen, I didn't mean I was going to talk, you know, you're
you also have a day job, too, right?
You're an author and do some motivation, you know, most of these these days,
most of what I do is just cars, you know, I have a YouTube channel
where I tend to do deep dives on collector cars.
And really, I spend more time doing that than anything else.
A couple of the names of your YouTube channel segments are hilarious.
This first one, this Vega had F1 in its blood.
The Cosworth Vega and my favorite one of one of your segments was
Can You Rely on a Reliant?
Classic. Classic.
Yeah, I mean, you might as well have at least a little fun with the title.
And you know what I like about him?
So I'm on the board for a car museum here in Phoenix called the Martin Auto Museum.
Right. If you're in Phoenix, we've got more than 180 cars.
Great collection of fun stuff.
Sure. The full automotive evolution.
And what I like is even though I know, like I say, a fair amount about cars,
each week, I'll do one profile on one car.
And I like it's a chance to really dive in deep,
do a lot of research about that car.
Come up with stuff I didn't even know about the car.
And then to put that into a, you know, 12 to five minute video, we thought I really enjoyed it.
Well, as I say, preparing for a show is the same thing.
You take in information in a different mindset when you're when you're going to have to talk
about it and learn really focused on that.
And I think it's so cool to do that because it's hard to read something
and even remember it any days because I read all day long on my computer, on here, on my phone.
I'm reading. It's like I go home.
Somebody says, you want to read a book? No.
I don't want.
What I love is when we're in the middle of a broadcast and maybe, you know,
I've been doing research for weeks and suddenly some fact will come back to me.
And I'm like, that was exactly when I needed it.
Well, you know, my brain actually works.
It's still working. It's still cognizant and all that good stuff.
So my favorite last question to ask is what's your daily driver?
Daily driver for me.
I've got a variety of things, but I've got a 2017 Mustang convertible
that's my daily driver. It's perfect.
I live in Arizona, some part of every single day where I can put the top down.
I'm one of those guys.
I'll put the top down, put the air conditioning on.
I'll put the top down, put the heater on.
You know, as long as I'm not getting rained on, the top can come down.
Yeah, I hear you 100 percent.
I, you know, it's nice to have a car that's just for fun, you know, that you enjoy to drive.
And it's not, you know, they've become they've become utility items.
You know, they're they're they're a refrigerator to most people anymore.
And I hate that. And we've got to keep this going.
I mean, I don't want to say I'm a Ford guy because I mean, I've got in my garage
right now, I have a Toyota, BMW.
I have a, well, I when I say BMW, I have a BMW, a Zeta, right?
I have an El Camino.
I've got a Toyota Highlander.
But but having said that, my my last three daily drivers have been
You know, Ford makes a great product and those Mustang
they're just talk about a bang for the buck, you know, for what you get for that car.
You'll get more thumbs up on that car than than just about anything else.
And the great thing about it is that, you know, you can have
you know, an inexpensive entry level Mustang, EcoBoost basic level,
or you can have a GTD that does 810 and 15 horsepower.
And we all seem fine with the idea that, you know what, I'm going to spend
four and a thousand dollars for a GTD or I'm going to spend
35000 dollars on a base Mustang.
And some people might not know that it's like a 308 Ferrari and a 288 GTO, right?
It's just so I'd be remiss.
I've now become a liar. It wasn't my last question.
Are those Emmys behind you?
Yes, yes, we get fortunate every now and then and people people say,
hey, you did halfway decent job of something.
Here's a big statue for you.
Well, we don't have that in.
Well, we may get that one of these days in a podcast world.
Who knows, right?
But more importantly, that's an Isetta right there.
I see the Isetta.
You know, nothing cooler than real quick story.
Real quick story. Absolutely.
I own an Isetta. We own an Isetta because when we were at my wife
and I went to the same high school in Los Angeles, Noga Park High School,
our principal had an Isetta.
He'd bring it out to every football game.
It was the unofficial school mascot painting the school colors.
I always knew about them, never had never obsessed with them.
I mean, I like cars for speed and beauty.
And the Isetta has neither of that as you can obviously see.
Exactly.
But we bought it.
Bought an Isetta because bought it from the high school principal.
Oh, how cool are that?
We went to school with 40 years earlier.
That's and that's the great thing about cars.
It's the stories that cars get to bring the way you can relate to your past,
where you can relate to other people.
That's so wonderful.
Yeah, absolutely.
And that's what perpetuates this hobby.
We have people who come in here all the time and say,
I'm not in the cars and they leave here saying, well, I didn't realize this
and I didn't realize that I saw my grandfather's car and I saw the car
that we took our first baby date in or whatever.
I mean, that's the beauty of cars is if you think about from 1920 till now,
how important cars were of everything that we did, basically,
went to the hospital, you went to the, you know, went home from whatever.
Everything evolved around a car.
First date, prom, all that stuff.
Everything, always was a car was involved.
That was the common denominator.
Okay, well, I think we've covered every base that we could possibly cover
or we could just do this all day.
I can keep talking if you want.
That's my problem.
We normally do 10-hour shows.
I feel like I'm being shorted here.
Yeah, getting wound up for nothing, right?
All dressed up and no place to go, right?
Anyway, thanks so much.
We really appreciate you being on the show, Rick.
And we'll look forward to seeing you in Columbus, hopefully,
and down the road, maybe at Scottsdale as well, too.
All right, take care. Thank you very much.
And we'll be back with a classic autumn all show in just a couple of minutes.
Clear.
Thank you so much.
That was a lot of fun.
Oh, good.
Congratulations.
Yeah, I really enjoyed it.
And we'll come say hello to you.
Where do you spend most of your time?
Are you in a little cubby hole somewhere at the auction or where are you?
If you look at the auction block, you're on the audience,
you look at the auction block.
The auction here is in the center.
I'm off on the very far right.
I'm up on time the block in a little cubby right there.
Right.
We designed it so that if I want to,
I can step down onto the block to talk about a car.
Right.
Or I can just stay in my little call-the-penalty box.
Yeah.
But it's a nice vantage point, right?
It's perfect. It's great.
So I can see the other guys who are on the block at any moment in time.
And sometimes Mike and I will swap.
Well, Mike will be play-by-play and I'll be physical.
Sure.
So we like the idea that our crew can kind of take and do what it is.
Sure, because it is long days
and you probably need to break every once in a while, right?
Trust me, we were doing Houston for a while.
And the bathroom is Houston kind of a distance from the block.
And I would like, all right, we got a three and a half minute break.
Yeah.
Three and a half minutes to run to the bathroom and run all the way back.
It's not like being a DJ and you can put Freebird on.
And it's like 14 minutes long and you can get there and get back, right?
So I got three and a half minutes.
That's it.
Well, thanks again.
We really appreciate it, Rick.
And this will be out Saturday, right, guys?
And so we'll look forward to seeing you in person maybe sooner rather than later.
All right.
Well, if you're ever in auction, feel free to look me up.
I'll come say hello.
Take care.
Now, another classic automobile show.
Here's Stuart with Eric Buil of Buil Motorcycles,
who talks about leaving Harley Davidson,
starting his company and then receiving a call from his old boss.
I made the first Bules that were all on my own.
Ten years later, Vaughn Bules called me and started talking to him.
And he goes, well, we're interested in buying your company.
She said, last year I went to all the road races and I talked to people there.
And I realized what you were all about.
You have a totally different mindset.
Those people aren't going to buy Harleys.
I need a brand that doesn't have to run on that cashier,
deeper, more affordable, also sporty, but also stuff for entry level riders.
And I need you to keep the corporation growing.
And I went, I'm Jim.
Hear more of Stuart's conversation with motorcycle builder Eric Buil
in episode 205 from August of 2025.
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And we're back with the classic auto mall show, studios,
Morgantown, PA, the great guest.
Yeah.
And that guy, you know, he's forgotten more than I'll ever know.
And he's still, you know, it's funny, we all had that same kind of feeling.
Like what did he say?
He's 10 miles wide and an inch deep.
I love that comment.
Yeah, I did too, because it's so true.
I mean, it's, I can spout off about stuff, but then there's certain things
that people will say to me and it's like they're speaking foreign language
and they're talking about something about a car.
But it doesn't, it doesn't, something yesterday that I can't remember because
I can't remember anything.
I know a little about a lot of things, but not a lot about a little thing.
Well, like I said, I still got to say lefty, loosey, righty, tidy.
Yes, I do every time.
Every time, just can't help it, right?
So where did we sell cars this past week?
Where?
We might ask that question.
Yes.
How about San Antonio, Texas, Redding, Pennsylvania, Windsor, Virginia,
Hamburg, Pennsylvania, Camberley, UK, Melrose Park, Illinois, Cleaves, Ohio,
Washington, D.C., Gulfport, Mississippi, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina,
Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, Fort Worth, Texas, Audubon, Pennsylvania,
Mikkelton, New Jersey, Atglenn, Pennsylvania, Monique, Illinois,
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, Paul Tuckett, Rhode Island and Windsor,
Ontario, Canada.
How cool is that?
Wow, awesome.
11 states, two foreign countries.
Two foreign countries, three French hands.
Mikkelton, New Jersey used to have a little car auction.
Like they'd have 25 or 30 cars and then some, you know, a pig wagon.
And a tractor.
Yeah, nice.
So we're going to a couple of events.
How cool is Emmy Award just sitting back there?
Thanks for noting that.
I didn't even notice that until like, wow, that's pretty cool.
Carefully framed.
Yes, as I would do.
Yeah, there to be talked about.
We have a YouTube 100.
Yeah, right there.
Yeah, see, we're not we're not nothing.
We're proud of that.
Put that up there, Randy.
So this coming weekend, May the 16th of 2026.
You're watching this in the future.
You probably won't get to this, but it's the bring a trailer reunion
at Lewis Delaware, which is near Rehoboth Beach.
Yes, it is.
So we're going to go do that and check out all the people show up at that.
Okay, cool.
And then the next day, we're going to drive back to the Union League
golf course to see the PA Concours Ferrari show.
That'll be.
And then in a not too distant future is Philly Concours de Elegance,
the Cars for Kids.
Looking forward to that.
That will be also at the end.
That's June the 6th and 7th.
It is.
Somebody check that.
It is 6th and 7th.
Yeah, close enough.
Some of the new inventory this week.
How about one that everybody's dying to get into is the 1982
Mercury, Grand Marquis, GS Eagle Coach, Hearst.
Does everybody say that same joke?
No, that's funny.
When they talk about a Hearst, the first time I've heard it.
You know, well, then there you go.
Silver metallic over dark blue, 63,285 actual miles.
It's a ghoulishly cool cruiser, a five liter EFI V8.
That five liter was in everything.
Everything, everything.
Yeah, sure.
We're not heck.
I wonder how many of those did they build?
Bulletproof.
How many five liters had Ford built?
Oh, I don't know.
You want me to check into that?
Yeah, I'd like you to get that podcast.
That classic automotive.
Don't cheat.
Don't help him.
Let him look at the comments in the YouTube channel
while you put the thumbs up and the belt.
Yeah, don't forget and watch it all the way to the end, if you
can, because that helps us, you know, the algorithm, the algorithm.
And then things happen wherever he is.
Maybe I can retire someday if you watch it all the way to the end.
Yeah, I'll go rhythm.
I'll go rhythm.
Another new arrivals in 1999 Mercedes Benz SLK 230 compressor convertible.
Bahama blue metallic over gray and black.
That's a nice color on the little car.
Yeah, 26,000 actual miles stunning color combination.
It really is.
I'd really love that color combo.
And it's got a supercharged 2.3 liter double ever overhead cam four
cylinder, which is not a slouch.
No, it's just a nice little car.
And it's a get rag five speed manual.
That's for you.
Get rag.
Get rag.
Did I say the little southern get rag?
Get rag.
Get rag, I think it's an irretractable hard time.
And another car that we were just talking about.
The new arrival is the 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Coupe,
black over black and red, 525 horsepower.
That's a lot of horsepower.
And this car is reasonably priced.
And this thing ought to be gone immediately.
It's got a LS V8, the Western sleeved LSA block.
It's got every kind of speed part you can get on it.
It's a little bit with a Tremac T 56 manual and a racy interior.
They are so sharp.
They are really my sister hates the new body style.
Yeah, I, you know, it's growing on me.
It's grown on me, I guess would be a better term.
I'm liking it better and better because as Rick real pointed out,
it's a lot of car for them.
And it's a lot of design for the money, too, for 70 grand.
And like he said, buy a base one.
Who cares, you know, it's still going to have way more power
than the car you had before, I guarantee.
Yeah, but it sets a radical departure from what the line was for.
Well, sure, absolutely.
Other new arrivals, the 1931 Ford Model A sedan,
Ford Maroon and black over black, just a solid model A here,
201 cubic inch four cylinder, three speed manual.
It's a nicely restored and these things are reasonable.
Reasonable, totally.
And it's and it's a great entry level.
Get into the hobby.
Understand if you need to work on it, it's not complicated.
It's fuel that spark beyond that.
You don't really need much.
Big clubs around the country.
A lot of knowledgeable guys can help you out.
And still lots of parts, lots of parts.
Always lots of parts.
Next on the list is the 1962 Ford Thunderburn convertible,
Viking blue over blue, another great color combo.
Got all the restoration receipts, 390.
This bad boy, cruzomatic automatic.
This is solid cruiser.
This is another affordable class and very affordable.
Absolutely.
And, you know, we try to focus on cars that are not just the
top of the heap and the most expensive cars that we have
in inventory.
We try to focus on things that you could start out with and
work your way up to something a little bit more performance wise
or a little bit more luxurious or whatever you're looking for.
Speaking of luxurious, the last on the list, but not least is
the 2009 Cadillac CTS V sedan, black raven over black,
556 horsepower on this 6.2 liter LS AV.
And it's a Tremac six speed and it's a got a monster triple
disc clutch kit.
I don't even know it sounds good.
Yep.
3.73 limited slip axle and 101,000 actual miles.
Now you say, oh my God, you know what?
If it was well maintained and it's got the receipts and all
the good stuff and there's nothing wrong with the car with
high mileage.
Again, this is a lot of car for the money.
Sure is.
A lot of performance.
Ford or Corvette.
It's a four door Corvette.
Absolutely.
The Z06 and it are very comparable.
It's right in the engine.
Power.
And they probably don't weigh that much different.
That's right.
I would be surprised that they're probably closer in weight
than things.
When we return, we'll be joined by our friend, publisher of
Sportscar Market Magazine, Mr. Keith Martin.
We'll be back in just a couple of minutes.
Here's a special offer from Sportscar Market Magazine.
Get a six month subscription for just 1995 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.
This is the Wall Street Journal of the Collector Car World.
Activate your six month trial of Sportscar Market Magazine
by going to sportscarmarket.com slash test drive six.
That's sportscarmarket.com slash test drive at the number
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Offers for a limited time.
Be in the know with Sportscar Market.
Now, more of the Classic Automall Show with your host,
Stuart Howden, from our showcase studio just inside the
Classic Automall, Morgantown, Pennsylvania.
Just off Turnpike Exit 298.
And we're back with the Classic Automall Show,
Classic Automall Studio, Morgantown PA.
Joining us this morning, as always, Mr. Keith Martin,
publisher of Sportscar Market Magazine.
Good morning, sir.
I'm pleased to be here.
Thanks for the invitation.
I'm glad to have you as always.
I like your painting behind you.
What is that?
The painting over your left shoulder.
An art history professor of mine gave that to me when I was
in college in 68.
Oh.
He had a picture of a little boy standing there.
And my son said to me, you know what?
I think that's me standing there.
And the artist said, just tell him it is.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because we had that kind of vision to see head
into the future, of course.
I love that.
No, I like having it there.
Yeah, I love that.
That's a great picture.
So speaking of your son, you gave him a little ride
of passage recently with the old double clutching trick.
I love that.
You know, who double clutches anymore?
Well, you better if you don't have synchro gears, right?
Well, I have to say today's episode
will be a little touchy-feely and warm for me.
Because I realized when I was driving that,
I've had that car for 40 years.
So I've got pictures of him in that car when he was a year old.
Right.
And he asked me if you could come up and drive on that old alpha
tour.
And for a teenager to ask to do something with an adult
is kind of beyond comprehension.
Sure, absolutely.
So we got there and we were talking.
You know, I realized when I was 19 years old, his exact age,
I had a very similar alpha spider that I was going on tours on.
Oh, full circle.
Full circle.
Yeah, the cats in the cradle or the, you know.
And the silver spoon.
Exactly.
But I was sitting.
I thought, how lucky I am to have lived all this time
and to have him actually want to do this.
Yeah, yeah, it's one thing to do it because dad wants to do it
and it'll just make dad happy.
It's another thing that they really want to do it.
And he, you know, specifically said, hey, I'd like to do this.
Yeah.
And then he said along the way, will you teach me how to double clutch?
Heck yeah.
You know, how cool is that?
Yeah, that's so cool because a lot of people don't really,
it's foreign to them.
So for the layman, explain to him what double clutching is.
But it's a way to match the engine speed to your gearbox speed
when you're downshifting.
So because when you downshift from fourth to third, your gearbox,
all the internals of that will spin up when the input shaft goes
into your gearbox.
So what you do is you're in fourth, put the car into third,
you rev it up to speed up the internals of the gearbox
and then drop the car, drop the shifter into third.
So it makes a very smooth shift.
Because if you don't do that, it has a tendency to get clunky
and make a noise and grind.
And you don't want to, first of all, it's embarrassing.
And second of all, it's not good for the transmission, right?
It's just, it's an art form that really has become unnecessary
with PDKs and things like, you know, it's so it's really,
to me, it's like developing a taste in wines or something else
where it's not necessary for your life, but you're doing,
you're driving better.
Sure. I mean, the first time I drank red wine, I thought it was
the most horrible thing I'd ever put in my mouth and now I love it.
So that's because it was Manashevitz with your family.
Well, it probably was.
But it had that cool, like wicker basket thing over the bottle.
So that's authentic wicker.
Isn't that funny?
It's like, what's the Worcestershire sauce that still comes in the paper wrapper?
So funny.
So there's also heel towing as well, too.
That's another little.
We didn't get into that.
I have never been much of a heel and toe person.
Yeah, me neither.
So because it's just kind of your twist in your ankle and.
Yeah, it's.
So I'm to a fast double clutch blip.
Yeah. So, you know, the heel towing is, you know, people say,
oh, you know, it's it can only be fast in a race car.
I say BS because I'll tell you another thing that I do
that everybody gets onto me about is I left foot break.
And the reason I left foot break is because a lot of the cars I drive
don't stay running very well.
And if you don't, if you don't have your right foot still on the gas
a little bit, then it's going to die on you.
And so invariably, just start left foot breaking because you're trying to keep
those, you know, to keep it from dying on you at every stoplight.
I think also when you're racing, like I had a Julietta Spyder I raced,
you really are most worried about breaking as deep into the turn
as you can break, right?
You're not thinking so much about the throttle.
You're thinking about how deep can I go?
And that's where you watch that in Formula One.
That's where a lot of the passing happens, not on the acceleration,
but on the braking, the guy who can break the latest and still maintain control
and not flat spot his tire, which when that happens, then it just it's like
a sore inside your mouth.
You can't help but bite on it every time you open your mouth, right?
So here's a question for you.
Yeah, I'm my son told me if we could find the Healy in the right color,
we could go in on halves and drive the Tahoe Convention.
I like that.
See, now we're coming back to that same question, but I like it.
Well, and the question I have is, do you think a scruffy BJ7 or BJ8
exists out there where it's already been fettled?
I don't want to spend six months fixing little shit.
I want one.
I want a car that somebody's been driving.
Like when I sold all my Alphas, they all worked, right?
Because I've taken them out, fixed the list, taken them out, fixed the list,
take, you know, they worked as long as you're not worried about cosmetics
and you just want it to run good.
And it doesn't matter if it's got a scratch or two or a blemish here and there.
I think that's your best path.
I think you go out and find one that is well sorted in the drivability
and, you know, the exterior and all that be damned in the interior.
If it's got a tear or so what, I wouldn't worry about any of that.
What I would worry about is something that's out there and reliable
and then go enjoy the heck out of it with your son.
Yeah, I don't want to spend any time by the side of the road if I can help it.
Yeah, I don't I don't know how to, you know, make that happen.
But I'm guessing that might be a $50,000 car.
That might be, I was going to say $40,000 to $50,000 somewhere in that range
if you could find the right one.
The market's not terribly strong on those right now.
And as you mentioned, as we talked last week, there's a few of them on Barrett Jackson,
or I mean, not Barrett Jackson, but bring a trailer, excuse me,
that are out there that are pretty reasonably priced.
Yeah, I've been, I've been, well, I'd be nice to find one that wasn't a $3,000 co-bill away.
Right. That's, yeah, that's the other thing too.
It's in Florida, South Florida.
And it's trying to figure out, OK, what it's, the phrase I use is,
what level of imperfection can you stand?
Right. Cosmetic, I think you don't worry about.
I think you just don't care about that at all.
I think you just worry about the mechanicals.
And if you can get something that runs good and stops good
and starts every time you get in it, then I think that's your goal.
And don't worry about how pretty it looks.
No, and I also think it doesn't really matter whether it's a 106 or a BJ7 or BJ,
for, for our purposes, we don't have to have the best performing big heelie.
Right, right. It can be the, the, you know, whatever the initial version.
What was the first year that those came out? Was that?
They had the 104, but that's a whole different animal.
Yeah. But, but the BJ came out in what,
where would that have been?
Early 60s.
Yeah. 62, 63, somewhere in there, maybe, maybe 61.
I had a BJ7 that I love, that I drove to the 50th convention in,
that we had a vinyl dash and plastic windows.
Right.
And what's nice about those cars is the top disappeared completely into the car.
With the BJ8, you've got that big thing that sits up behind you.
It's kind of like those goofy Rolls Royce Cornishes
with the thing that stands, you can barely even see out the back.
Yeah. Yeah.
So you don't think it's dumb for me to pursue this?
I don't think it's dumb because, because last week I would have given you a different answer,
but because Bradley came to you and said, he wanted to do this thing,
I think that's all you need to hear.
I think you've got to do it now.
I don't think you have a choice.
I think the earth will not, will jump off its axis if you don't do it.
Well, you know what we learn is we don't have that many chances with kids.
It's exactly right.
And when they come to you,
They get busier and busier.
Yeah.
And they come to you and want to do something and hell yeah, go do it.
And you know what?
You can't take it with you.
And he's either going to get the car or the money.
So what the hell, right?
Well, it's not, you know, I just sold my
Sport-O-Matic and I sold my V12 Jags.
So I've been trying to thin the herd.
This is the opposite of thinning the herd.
Yeah, but you got that pocket full of money that's burning the hole in there going buy a car.
In fact, I wrote four Healy on the money before I put it in my pocket.
I like your positive thinking.
I think that's a perfect way to do it.
Well, keep us posted on how this is progressing.
And then if you find something,
and we'll certainly let you know if we find something down our way as well too.
Just in general, if somebody finds a decent driver,
let me know.
I'm easy to reach on the web.
Sure, absolutely.
You know, the way I bought my Sport-O-Matic is a guy called,
I was at Portland and a guy was in Hershey at the Swap Meet.
Right.
And I was subscribed where he said,
I know you've been looking for a couple years for a Sport-O-Matic.
There's one right here in Hershey.
Well, I'm in Portland.
He's in Hershey.
He finds the car.
Yeah, I like that.
So and he probably liked it as well too.
So that made his day as well as making yours.
Although, you know what?
You did great with that car.
So it's hard to complain about the ownership of that car,
even though everybody thought you'd probably lose money on that one.
Only five.
I like that.
That's no loss at all.
That's a win.
That's a win, win, win.
Anyway, Keith Martin, thanks so much for being on the show today.
And we'll catch you next week on The Classic Automall Show.
We'll see you then.
And thanks for stopping by.
The Classic Automall Show with their host, Stewart Howden,
executive producer, Steve Sethair.
Produced and engineered by yours truly, JR Russ.
Video editor, Randy Lambie.
Available on ClassicAutomall.com, YouTube,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Music, courtesy of the Pat Travers Band,
for tour dates, contact and stuff, visit pattravers.com.
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About this episode
Broadcast from Morgantown, Pennsylvania, the show kicks off with auction talk, then zooms out to the Barrett-Jackson world—weather, bidding drama, and standout segments like the blindfold “feel the steel” game. Guests and hosts connect the dots between auction visibility and the restomod surge, including Corvettes pulling eye-popping prices. The conversation also gets practical: how to verify claims, why mechanical reliability beats cosmetics, and even classic driving techniques like double clutching and heel-toe. Along the way, there are shop stories, race-driver anecdotes, and event updates.
Show #243 airdate 05-13-26 Stewart welcomes Rick DeBruhl, Author and Commentator for Barrett-Jackson discussing the fast paced broadcasts from auctions at locations like #Scottsdale, #Palm Beach and soon #Columbus and his career from Service Writer at #Sears to Pit Reporter at the #Indy500. Also stopping by is Sports Car Market Publisher Keith Martin with this thought: "Is this dumb?" @IndyCar @NASCAR, @ESPN @Ferrari @VW MartinAutoMmuseum.org @MikeJoy500 @Joy-Riding @SteveMag426 @TweetAprilRose @HooviesGarage @Porsche @Cadillac @F1 @MrDavidHobbs #restomods #BrianRedman #Craftsman #DieHard #CorvetteC8 #MustangGTD #realityTV #convertible #CanogaPark #Rambler #Feel TheSteel
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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 610-901-3804.
