Classic Auto Mall - #244 Stewart Howden and Guest Brett Mezrow

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, what did you say it was, 244?

We have a body of work.

There you go.

We're solid, Ken.

We're solid.

Where's JR?

Our engineer extraordinaire is out today.

That's all right.

We can handle it, can't we?

Absolutely.

Wherever many had you.

Are you about to lose it in there or something?

So, we won't, we'll change the question of the day and we'll make it.

So, how many, let me see, what can the question be?

How many subscribers do we have today, Steve?

Oh, that's, I saw it hit 250.

250,000 on YouTube.

252,615.

Wow.

A year ago today, we had 18,000.

But I have applause here.

Don't mess it up, please.

There you go.

16,301,000 views and 1916 videos.

Randy's getting tired of shooting all these videos, I would imagine.

Anyway, let's get right to our guests joining us, not via Zoom, but in person.

Mr. Brett Mesro.

Brett, good morning.

Good morning.

It's a pleasure to be here.

Glad to have you.

We were, we just saw you Sunday at the Ferrari Concours event down at the Union League Golf Course.

That's a beautiful facility.

Beautiful.

God.

And the cars they have down there, just, you know, you say, oh, I want that.

No, I want, if you had to pick one, was there one you would have picked at the Ferrari

show?

Probably the DF.

Yeah, I think so.

It's just because, I mean, first of all, you don't see most Ferrari shows you go, unfortunately,

or fortunately, or whatever, most Ferrari shows you go to, you see later model for us,

drivable for us, which I understand.

The TDF Ferrari is not something necessarily you would daily drive.

Exactly.

I mean, you could, and you'd be the coolest guy in the history of cool guys, right?

But that's such a great and unusual color combination.

Yeah, the white-red.

Yeah, so.

Race at Sebring too.

I mean, what an amazing history of cars.

Yeah, that's the coolest thing about, you know, finding the history of these cars.

There's nothing better than buying a car and knowing some information about it.

And then you open the trunk and you find just a treasure trove of photo albums and receipts

from back in the day and the original title bill of sale and all of that.

And, you know, so, that's so important.

And we try to make sure that people understand how important it is because when you go and

the person that takes care of your estate of how many Ferraris you're going to have when

you go, right?

Hopefully a lot.

Well, I think exactly.

Then all that stuff needs to be making sure that it goes with the car.

That's important, you know.

I mean, you can't lose the history on the car.

No.

I mean, like, that's what's so special about these.

It's not just, you know, the looks, the styling, the engine histories, the provenance.

I mean, the racing history of that.

I mean, nothing can.

No.

And Ferraris, you know, for those of us in the car world, they're kind of the top of

it.

I mean, you know, there's cool cars out there.

There's hypercars that are, well, Ferraris makes hypercars, but there's, you know, lots

of cool cars out there.

But Ferraris, you know, there's something about that myth and exclusivity about Ferris.

Yeah.

Pretty amazing.

So, tell us how you got started in the car world, because you're putting on the Philly

Concours, which is coming up in about three weeks, but you started out with a high school

project?

Yeah, it was more of a passion project.

I mean, post-COVID, I started what was originally just a small little car and coffee and a little

municipal parking lot in Bryn Mawr, and it has grown into something so much more.

Never expected it.

Never knew, you know, what it was going to become.

Did you get an A on the...

Yeah.

I mean, it was more of, you know, something that it was post-COVID.

Right.

Right as it was ending, not many events going on.

And, you know, I grew up, I have 10 minutes drive from Algar Ferrari, you know, my most

famous Ferrari dealerships around, and see the craziest cars driving down the road.

There was really no, you know, I ain't car culture in the area.

I know events like that, especially during COVID, and I think we just started at the right

time, and everybody was excited to get their car out of the garage.

I mean, also get out of their own house.

Sure.

Our first event, we had 131 cars show up, and, yeah, I mean, so...

Still a good show.

Still a great show, yeah.

I think what really put us on the map was we had a McLaren Speedtail show up at the first

event, which, you know, that was the first one on the East Coast.

I mean, Jess came out, 106 in the world, you know, the three-seater.

McLaren's based on, you know, McLaren F1, and I mean, it kind of went viral online.

And, you know, the next event, we had an Elva show up, and, you know, we just started growing.

Oddball stuff that, you know, people want to see in person.

Exactly.

I mean, we had Miros and F40s our first year, and, you know, it just really started picking

up, and now we're at a point where we're getting 2,000 to 2,500 vehicles a month.

I mean, our season opener, we had about 5,000 cars show up.

Too many.

I mean, it's a lot.

It's a lot.

We like to stick around the 2,500.

I know the feel.

I mean, a logistic standpoint.

I mean, there's just so much that goes into it.

How many volunteers do you have?

Take a guess, because I guess you would never...

You think I'm going to guess lower?

I'm going to guess high.

Let's see.

So, volunteers for an event like that, you've got to have, what, at least 50?

We're about 7 on a regular basis, and then, you know, it's all about directing traffic.

Traffic is the main issue.

That's the most important thing.

And that's volunteers.

We also hire a full detail of police officers, you know, to make sure that we have traffic

safety, to make sure that if traffic's building up, you know, we change the lights.

We actually have, you know, the button that opens up the light.

Can I have that?

Yeah.

I'd love to have it myself.

That's a handicap parking sticker, and that's what we do.

Okay.

And then, we have, you know, stop signs that are there, but they're able to, you know,

push cars through if, you know, we're building up traffic.

We're lucky enough to, you know, be at the Chesterborough Corporate Center, which is

right off of 202.

There's nothing else off of that, you know, on ramp.

So, essentially, we're able to just blow cars in.

It's in a huge corporate center.

Nothing's open on a Sunday.

Really, no residential houses within, you know, a third of a mile.

Sure.

And that helps for the noise.

Helps with the noise.

And for the guys who want to get a little heavy-footed, which you highly discourage.

I mean, again, you, we've been able to maintain an event that is of this scale, of this size

for, you know, six years now, because of how organized it is.

Because we hire, you know, police detail.

We have lease agreements with all the venue.

I mean, every venue that we've ever had, we've always, you know, done it the right way.

We didn't just show up to a parking lot and just hope we don't get kicked out.

Right.

Which a lot of people do.

Exactly.

I mean, and we get the permits from the township, you know, we have to bring in, you know, portable

toilets in order to make sure we have the infrastructure, food trucks, make sure that

all the food trucks are permitted within, you know, local health codes.

Right, right.

There's so much that goes into it, rather than, you know, just showing up at a parking

lot, putting an Instagram post out that, you know, I'm not sure if everybody understands,

but...

I don't think they do.

And you've got to be really good at social media.

And that's got to have been a huge driver to your...

It has been, yeah.

I mean, Instagram has grown rather dramatically over the last couple of years.

And that's really been the main driver for, you know, how we're getting all these modern

exotics out.

Right.

Classics, you can still, you know, get through Facebook and then just going out to events,

talking to people and then word of mouth.

But Instagram just allows you to have such a huge reach for, you know, and we don't pay

for ads at all.

It's one-to-one outreach through DMs.

It's, you know, putting out a flyer, posting it.

And, you know, we get double the reposts as we get likes on our posts.

I mean, people are just sharing these everywhere.

Sure.

It's pretty great.

Yeah.

And you can draw from a larger area as well, too, right?

You don't have to focus all your concentration just on Philly or just on the main line or

anything.

Yeah.

I mean, we have cars come down from Connecticut for the events.

I mean, we've had spectators drive up from West Virginia and stay in a hotel overnight,

drive eight hours.

I mean, which, I mean, such a compliment.

I mean, that was when we were back in Brynmar when somebody came and they said, you know,

we just drove eight hours for this event.

You couldn't believe it, right?

I mean, that parking lot could hold about 250 cars and somebody was coming to an event

just for that.

You were getting some amazing stuff back then.

We still, I mean, and we still do.

But even at that small scale, quality of cars that we're attending were second to none.

Yeah.

I saw GTD Mustang at the last one, which was kind of cool.

It's funny that Ford was the thing that caught my eye at a particular event.

Exactly.

I mean, I think that one was one of the first, you know, in the country.

I mean, we have a couple that, you know, have been around at our events.

I think had white, which is like an American flag striped down the middle, red, white and

blue, you know, white one.

We've had a black one, a gray one.

And now a green one is going to be the area as well.

Yeah.

We're getting pretty lucky with some amazing cars in the area.

Great car culture, great collectors.

And these are collectors that like to share their cars as well.

It's not just, you know, you purchase the car, put it in a garage and, you know.

And nobody sees it.

Exactly.

And that's also what I like about these events is, you know, you get to show, I mean, kids

that have never seen any of these cars.

I mean, we get everything from a 1906 auto car all the way up to the newest and greatest

modern exotics.

And we can show, you know, a kid that's never seen something, you know, older than 1960,

a free war car and show somebody that, you know, has a old Packard, the newest and greatest

from the, you know, car world.

So but also what we do at our events is we section out all the vehicles by, you know,

country of origin and everything like that.

So within, you know, this huge event, you have all these different subcommittees.

You have the, you know, guys that like to take the lawn chairs out from the car, put

them behind the car.

Old school guys.

Yeah.

We have a whole lot just full of classics.

We have a whole lot just full of Porsches because we get so many.

I mean, the main line has such an amazing Porsche collector base.

And then same goes for our supercars.

We just have a whole lot full of, you know, modern exotics, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, McLarens.

I mean, it's really unique where you can go to a show, you can, you know, just look

at the cars that you want to see, but also walk around and you see so many different

sides to the automotive community from, you know, classic guys to the young guys that

just bought their first, you know, M3.

Yeah.

And M3 is a great car.

It's a great car.

It's a border racer car, but it's a great car.

Yeah.

And, you know, I think that seeing those type of events or the kind of events that the future

holds for the car world, because the cars and coffee satisfies two niches of the crowds

and you just set it.

The guy sits on his folding chair all day long and tells you everything about his car

and the guy wants to just go for an hour or two and equally welcome and you can come

and go in a car, not come and go, but you don't want to, you probably won't come back,

but you can leave when you're ready to go.

Yeah, exactly.

I mean, it's not like you load onto a show field at six in the morning.

Keep it there till, you know, every spectator is gone and you have to load it up into your

trailer.

Very different kind of experience, but also two, I mean, needs in the car world between,

you know, a cars and coffee vibe where it's, you know, a monthly event.

I wouldn't say it's informal in any way, but, you know, people can show up and enjoy the

event versus a Concorde elegance where, you know, super curated.

I mean, we have placards that we have to write in front of the cars.

We have, you know, caviar service.

We have that kind of stuff that's, you know, just making it a whole different level of

automotive event where it's not just about the experience, about being there.

So, I mean, I think there's definitely a need for both of those in the automotive world.

And a natural progression for you to go from learning all of this kind of car world in

the cars and coffees side of it and then moving into the Concorde elegance side as

well.

Before we get to the Concorde, quickly, where do you see the cars and coffee going?

What's next?

What's the vision future of that?

At this point, scale isn't our main thing.

Again, if I put a post out, if I really wanted to push it, we can get 10,000 cars

there on any given month.

I mean, we've done it before, but it's really about, you know, increasing the quality of

cars, getting the collectors that never bring their cars out to the event.

Because, I mean, like I said, we get mirrors.

We get, you know, classic Ferraris.

We've had Goddys, Paghanis and getting that stuff that, you know, don't find Pennsylvania.

There's cars that we've had shipped down from Greenwich, Connecticut to the events just

because there are none in the state of Pennsylvania.

It really allows us to, you know, share automotive world with such a, I mean, diverse

audience, but also just show people parts that they've never seen before.

So I'd say it's really about increasing the quality of cars rather than, rather than

quantity.

Seeing a car in person is sometimes photographs don't do any cars justice.

I mean, there are certain photographers that do make them, give them justice.

One of them being Michael Furman, who's involved, who's arguably one of the greatest

photographers of our generation or wherever, probably.

100 percent.

I was amazed when watching him shoot for the first time, how far away he is from

car when he shoots it.

He's like, like 50 yards.

It's amazing.

But that's the way it's the way that I don't understand all the ins and

outs of it, but he's pretty darn good at what he really is.

And I mean, even from shooting that far away, I mean, he sent me photo files in

the past where we asked for a larger photo file.

I get it.

It takes me like an hour to download just like three photos, just because you can

zoom in from, I mean, a photo 50 yards away onto the headlight and you can read,

you know, all of the stuff.

It's amazing.

It's so impressive.

You know, I had a friend of mine send me a high res Ferrari picture one time.

It was like 45 megabytes.

This was back in the day and I sent it to my printer and ink just started

flowing out of the printer.

It just didn't even know what to do.

Just overloaded with it.

So, so, um, so you do the, the, the main line cars.

And I guess I imagine that your school is done.

Are you, are you finished three weeks ago?

So I just graduated and I'm very happy about that.

And your degree will have nothing to do with what you're going to do for the

rest of your life, right?

Probably not.

I mean, entrepreneurship and finance with a minor in data science, the

entrepreneurship side, you know, really, really helps with, I mean, all of this

from, you know, understanding a P&L and how to, you know, make a budget for an

event that's, you know, of the scale and magnitude of the Philly concourse.

So, I mean, um, there is some useful classes that I had, but I'd say, you

know, um, large majority were, you know, okay, sure, good.

Well, that's undergraduate.

I mean, that's an undergraduate degree.

I think that school is, is important for learning how to learn as, as what you

learn, you know, learning how to take in information.

You know, when I do the show here, I'll read a book about somebody who I've

known all my life or I've thought I knew all my life.

And then I realized I know nothing about that person.

You know, we have Bobby Ray Hall, Indy car, famous Indy car driver on.

And I, I knew all about Bobby Ray Hall.

No, I didn't.

I didn't know anything about him.

I didn't know 11 hundredth of anything about him.

So, uh, it's always interesting when you deep dive into something that we find

out, you know, really a lot of information comes through.

The Philadelphia Concorde elegant started out at the Simeone Museum and what

year?

2017 was when it was founded.

And I mean, Simeone, the greatest collection in the world.

I mean, it's rated that year after year, the best, I mean, race car collection

in the world.

And, well, I mean, it was a great spot for the Concorde to start and begin.

Um, cars are amazing.

The venue just wasn't the right place for a Concorde elegance and not enough

room either, not enough room again, as we, as we were scaling and as, you know,

the cars were increasing and, you know, prestige and everything, um, really

needed to move on to a golf course needed to be on the grass rather than, you

know, in South Philly, which again, amazing collection could not say

greater things if you haven't been to the Simeone Museum.

You got to go.

I mean, from Porsche 917 to 250 test races.

I mean, stuff that you won't see anywhere else.

I mean, Fred Simeone really just had the ability to see what these cars were in

a time where we really didn't.

He bought some of these cars.

Who was throwing away stuff.

Exactly.

I mean, I mean, the stories that getting cars out of other countries that you

just, you know, you really couldn't.

I mean, the Cobra Daytona.

Exactly.

I mean, you know, lots of stories.

Lots of stories.

So, I mean, uh, if you haven't been, you have to go.

Absolutely.

But for what you were doing and for what your vision was, you've done

your research, you've done your homework, you know, that a good

Concord elegance isn't in, isn't in a warehouse in South Philly.

And I'm nothing wrong with that, as you said, but it's, it's a different animal.

It's a different animal.

And again, after, you know, going to concours across the country from

Pebble Beach and Mealy Island, I really saw, you know, we have the cars in the

area to make this a success.

And I really wanted to, you know, make it happen that way.

So the event was originally started by cool cars, which is a charity benefiting

children with rare genetic disorders.

And, you know, they are still the sole beneficiary of the event.

100% of net proceeds goes to benefiting them.

I'm not making a dollar off this.

Sure.

Nobody's making a dollar off this other than the charity.

So it's an amazing cause.

And as they were, you know, scaling and everything, they reached out to me

to really take over the operations present of the event and, you know,

continue to have them be the beneficiary.

And I was happy to do so.

I mean, I was running Mainline for six years at that point.

So like, this is going to be the first year that we've changed the venue.

It's a event reimagined for a new era is the way that I like to put it.

Sounds perfect.

It's a modern take on a concor.

If you can say, you know, modern, but it's a post-war event.

So picking up in, you know, the late 50s, 60s and going through modern rather

than the traditional concor, which, you know, is focused on pre-war cars

going until about, you know, the late 60s.

So we're really trying to make it so we bring in the younger audience, the people

that are excited about the hypercars.

We're going to have Koenigseggs there.

We're going to have Gany's there and, you know, put them in the same environment

where you see a 50 Testarosa where you see, you know, a 250 TDF and, you know,

get them excited about those cars as well.

I mean, we have a Monza SP2, then, you know, newer Monza.

Yeah, exactly.

And we also have a 750 Monza coming from, you know, California.

I mean, an amazing car.

And our goal is to, you know, put them in the same audience, put them almost

next to each other to show younger audience.

Where did these design elements come from?

Where's the history of the brand?

Well, look at hypercar owners.

A lot of them don't know anything about the older Ferraris.

Yeah, that TDF that was at the Ferrari show, they might not even stop

and even look at that if they didn't know that it was a Ferrari.

You know, they might just go, I don't know what that car is.

You know, that's odd, different.

Tell us about the venue, though.

The venue is amazing.

We were talking about before we went on.

My gosh.

That was our first choice of the venue.

I mean, again, it's at the Union Leagues Liberty Hill Golf Course.

The Union League has been around well over a hundred, forever.

I mean, Abraham Lincoln was a member, that kind of stuff.

And I mean, we were looking for a place that would be the ultimate venue for a

Grand Concorde and I went through every golf course within probably 50 mile radius.

You have the clubhouses, what use as the show field, what the layout would be.

And this was our number one choice.

And we were lucky enough to, you know, be able to work out a deal with the venue.

And they are all on board.

They're actually redoing, you know, the front lobby of their their hotel

on site at the moment, and they are putting in a big amphitheater in front of it.

Grass amphitheater.

And as part of, you know, us coming in and doing this event there,

they've actually changed the architectural plans to increase the width of each

of the layers of the amphitheater, decrease the steepness of the slope.

So we can get cars on it in future years.

So how cool in an amphitheater setting to have exactly the cars running across.

It would be so cool.

So I mean, that would be amazing for future years.

It's not going to be done just yet.

But I mean, again, something to look forward to.

Yep, February of next year, it's going to be done.

So we'll have it for 2027.

But to have the venue so on board with the event, I mean, we could not be happier

with, you know, Union League, the Liberty Hill team.

Everyone's been absolutely.

Well, the Union League, I spoke at one of their dinners they had during the

Christmas dinner or whatever down in downtown Philly.

And they have a huge car contingent of people that are really into cars.

And they have a subgroup of the Union League that's the car part of it.

So that probably helped your, your, your cause quite a bit.

Definitely.

I mean, the Union League Automobile Club, they host an event every year,

you know, in the parking lots on site, great event.

And I mean, they're, they're happy having us there.

They're promoting it.

We're, you know, discount code for, for all of the Union League

Automobile Club members.

So all in all, again, the experience of working with League, with, I mean,

the staff at Liberty Hill could not be a more enjoyable experience.

Yeah.

They, I remember when you and I were out there a couple of weeks ago and we

were talking to them and they, you could tell they wanted to accommodate us.

And anyway, I mean, there are certain things that they can't say yes to.

And you always try to ask for more than you want, right?

But, but I mean, there are certain things that just logistically won't work.

But man, they were just all in, you could tell.

Yeah.

That's, you know, that's exciting.

A lot of times venues, they're not all engaged.

And it's just another paycheck to them.

But it seems more than that for those.

100%.

I mean, I've seen it with my cars and coffee venues.

I mean, my current venue with Chesapeake Corporate Center, all on board.

Love working with them.

But I mean, we've had past venues where, you know, it's, we're putting

thousands of cars on their property.

It's their, you know, extremely focused about, you know, making sure

you pick up every piece of trash after, which we always do.

Sure.

It's just, you know, they're trying to make sure that, you know, we know

that all the time.

Right, right.

Yeah, they don't let you forget it.

Exactly.

But I mean, this venue is so much different than anyone else.

I mean, we've really appreciated working with them, but also the

prestige, the optics of the venue, the clubhouse.

Right.

Stunning.

Yeah.

I mean, nothing compares.

And also the show field of how it's laid out.

I mean, we have an area when you walk in where you can look over everything.

I mean, and you can see the entire show field.

And I mean, I was just at Amelia Island.

Amazing show.

But, you know, you have to cross a little bridge in a river in order to see, you

know, people might not have seen some of the cars there.

And there's so many there.

And what we're trying to do is really create that ultra curated environment.

Make sure that, you know, as you walk in, you can see everything that you want to

see.

Even driving in, you know, when you come in the driveway there, you can see the

whole, because it's the driving range, basically, is where the event's going to

be, which is a perfect setting because it's, it's sloped downward.

And it just, it lends itself well to what you're doing.

It truly is.

I mean, and I mean, this event has an Italian focus this year.

And we're trying to really just push that.

I mean, we were getting gelato carts and cannoli carts.

We have some caviar service, some oyster shuckers on site, not as a talent with

the oyster shuckers, but really trying to make this like a very curated, luxurious

environment.

We're not trying to emulate, you know, any other show with this.

We're trying to be our own concor.

We're not trying to say we'll be the pebble beach of the East Coast because,

I mean, can't emulate that.

No, the history, you can't ever, you can't buy that.

Exactly.

And, you know, with that, I mean, we're picking a country of origin each year and

really honing in on it.

So this year's our Italian year.

Next year's going to be German.

And that doesn't mean that we're only going to have Italian cars.

But it's the focus.

It's the focus.

We have, you know, individual classes that we're breaking out of it, such as, you

know, our hypercar class.

We have Koenigsegg, Swedish brand.

I mean, we have some truly impressive cars coming out.

And we're also trying to, with the modern take on the concor, we're trying to

transcend generations with, I mean, I've been going to concor's for years now.

You watch the age of the cars, you know, stay within that same, you know,

bracket at an age.

But you're watching the age of the demographic continuing to, you know, get

older and age out.

And, you know, we want to bring in people that, you know, I'm not saying we're

bringing in, you know, the eight-year-old, Jesse, I think that we are, but I'd

say that we're decreasing the average age of the attendee at the event by

bringing in these, you know, newer cars that we're more interested in.

And there's nothing wrong with exposing people to something that maybe they're

not used to, that maybe they're not, they haven't ever been around dressing up a

little bit more than usual.

You know, people have gotten out of habit of dressing up for anything that they

do, and there's nothing wrong with making a little fancy.

I bet you that there'll be a lot of people there that have never had caviar

and they'll have it for their first time and they'll say, wow, this is, this

isn't what I thought it was.

You know, this is delicious, you know, I bet, you know, and that's the thing

that you want to do, expose people to a different, different style, if you will,

and a different feel, if you will.

And to say, here's something you can strive to achieve.

You too can have a car on the show field.

Exactly.

And I mean, and we have a full weekend of events.

It's not just the concor.

I mean, we start out with our tour de elegance, you know, rally through some

of the best driving roads in the Philadelphia suburbs that ultimately ends

at Liberty Hill for our Sunset Motor Social, which is like a upscale cars

and coffee vibe, kind of like a golden hour gathering of music.

It's nicer than a traditional cars and coffee.

We have, you know, much more curated environment there.

But that ultimately ends and goes into our gourmet gala and live auction, which,

you know, will open bar live entertainment, live auction.

We've got some great food throughout the night.

I mean, all in all, great auction items as well.

We were lucky enough to have Dick Vermeel, the old coach of the Eagles,

legendary coach on our board of directors donating eagles tickets to any game

throughout the season.

We have F1 tickets, you're a bourbon drinker, you know, Pappy Van Winkle 23

bottles that you just can't get anywhere else.

We have Tag Queer as a sponsor donating watches to the auction.

So all around, I mean, we're just trying to make this ultimate,

ultimate automotive experience.

And then it leads into the next day on Sunday, where we have the Concorde

elegance. How many cars will you have in the Concorde approximately?

Around a hundred cars on the show field for judged vehicles.

And then we'll have more with, you know, sponsor cars and brands

that are bringing vehicles out.

So ultimately, again, it's a very curated environment.

It's not quantity, it's quality.

Exactly. And we're only accepting the best of best.

And, you know, that's tough.

I mean, we're reviewing.

We have over a 145 cars on the waitlist.

And all of them are of the quality that, you know, they could make it onto the show.

Sure. Any any other Concorde, they would probably be accepted right away.

Exactly, exactly.

And the reason being, I mean, again, we're not taking too many duplicate cars

other than for, you know, certain vehicles.

So, you know, we're sitting on, you know, five, you know, nice 48

piece does, but we just got a piece to pelote, which, you know, there's forty

in the world of, you know, how many made it to the U.S.

And then it's in TDF blue, which they only made it in four colors.

So you can only imagine maybe if, you know, a quarter of them,

maybe 10 of them were in blue, how many of them are in the U.S.

So it gets to the one of one dynamic.

Exactly. Exactly.

Well, and, you know, having an event like this obviously brings out people

that have the wherewithal to have these type of cars.

And but but as you pointed out, it's important not only just the cars

on the show field, but it's all the other ancillary things that are going on,

the cruises, the different things you're doing, the auction, having vendors

that that, you know, people will spend money with and therefore the vendors

who want to come in for all intents and purposes.

This is a brand new event.

Yeah. I mean, while we have the history of, you know, since 2017,

really the only things that are continuing to stay the same are,

you know, the name of the event and the beneficiary and everything else is,

you know, brand new. I mean, and then you the focus, the team behind it.

I mean, we have an amazing team from our selection committee.

Oh, my gosh.

Michael Furman, Mike Tilson, Toby Ross, Trey Dusik.

We have, I mean, Bill Rothmell is our emcee who's done, you know,

he's Mr. Encyclopedia. Exactly.

Over 200 and something concourse that he's done at this point where he's emceed.

Tim McNair is our chief judge who's judged everywhere. Amazing.

So all in all, I mean, our team is just world class.

We're pulling from all different areas to get cars to the event.

And also, you know, promoting it through all of these different channels,

I mean, such as we're here right now.

Absolutely. And that's what we want to do is we want to help promote as we are

full disclosure. We're a sponsor of the event and excited to be involved and also involved

with our kind of not sister event, but cohort event with the Ratner Hunt Conqueror,

which a lot of the guys on your crew are also from the Ratner Hunt Conqueror,

which are two separate internet. You know, the great thing about it

is they both can exist in this beautiful world, right?

Exactly. And that's part of the reason why we chose this, you know,

new focus of a first war event. We didn't want to compete head to head with Ratner.

Again, we're, you know, in the same geographic area, but while they kind of end in the early,

you know, 70s, late 60s, that's where we pick up.

So I see this as a complementary relationship where we're able to expose the car world to

these newer cars in the same kind of curated environment.

We're also, you know, working together, cross promoting between, you know,

our audiences. We get the younger crowd out to Ratner who might, you know,

Oh, wow. Yeah, this is cool.

And then vice versa. So we've been working very closely with the Ratner team and cannot be happier.

Well, that's great. I mean, you talk about a great historical thing. I mean,

been going on for 27, 28, 29, 30 years. I don't know, Steve. I don't even remember.

Thank you. Please do. Randy put that on the screen.

But, you know, that's an event that is high up there in prestige as far as

if conquer. I mean, you talk about Pebble Beach and Greenwich and Amelia Island and

Ratner is certainly in that conversation. 100%.

So, but you're right. I mean, there, there's a different take to it.

It's just like the success of different types of cars and coffee,

different types of car shows, different types of car gatherings,

whether it's a rally, whether it's all the different things that you can do.

And the other thing that's important is just getting these cars out and being seen,

not just in, as we said, in your garage. Exactly. I mean, sharing it with these

new audiences is really, I mean, it's rewarding. And I mean, I'm around these cars on a regular

basis. I get to see some of the most amazing cars in the world. But my enjoyment and my excitement

now isn't, you know, just seeing them running up and taking a picture like it used to be. I mean,

when I went to Pebble Beach back in 2021, I was a kid in a candy store. I jumped out of a moving

car. So, I, Claire and F1 driving down the road. Right. And I went to go run up and take a picture.

But my enjoyment now comes from, you know, getting these cars to my events,

getting them, you know, on the show field, being able to share them with, you know,

the world where, you know, people really don't get to see this kind of stuff.

You must have a hell of an elevator pitch to get guys to bring some of these cars,

the distance they're bringing them and the thing they're bringing. You've thought this through.

A little bit, a little bit. Yeah. I mean, and I mean, people are generous. People like to show

their cars. And, you know, by telling them about how curated the environment is, how safe the car is.

But they're skeptical too. They are skeptical. You gotta overcome that.

But by showing them that, I mean, even for my cars and coffee events,

that this isn't a normal cars and coffee. Right.

We have a full detail of police. We have armed security. I mean, we really make this

an event that you feel safe bringing your car. Part of, you know, sectioning out the cars is,

one, we have all the different sub-communities. But also, if you're bringing your Lamborghini

Miura, you're not having, you know, I'm 22, but you're not having a 20-year-old that just bought

their first, you know, Mustang, parking it right next to you. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, or you're doing donuts in the parking lot.

Exactly, exactly. So by having, you know, only the cars that are of that, you know,

quality value in the lot together, I feel like people feel a lot safer bringing their cars out

in that environment. And that's part of this, the pitch, elevator

pitch to get them out. But all in all, I mean, everybody's there. Everybody can look at the

cars. It's not like we have a ticketed area. The event's all free for them.

And that's a troked off, right? I mean, maybe a display car might be troked off or something.

Even so, I mean, everything's open. You can walk around. You can take pictures of the cars. I mean,

you talk to an owner and the owner might let you sit in their car. Absolutely.

Especially if you're a younger kid showing enthusiasm for it. And, you know, hey, listen,

we've got to perpetuate this hobby, right? 100 percent.

Have to. And of course, to see someone of your age group this excited about perpetuating the hobby,

whether it be pre-war or post-war, it doesn't really matter. It's just perpetuating the,

listen, cars have become such an integral part of every part of our lives from the early 1900s

until now. And almost everything you've ever done, a car was associated with it. Somehow,

some way, a car was involved. And I think that as long as we can continue this, and hopefully,

we'll continue to see events like this prosper, because they're not cheap to put on. Caviar,

Service, and, you know, McCall and Von, or Scotch is not cheap to serve. It is not.

And people, you know, you hope people realize that. And what we want people to realize when

you come to an event like this is there's other ways to give, too. You can just write a check,

if you like. You can just say, you know, here's a check for $1,000 that I hope goes towards the

goodwill of it, because that's what it's all about. I mean, we have some amazing donors that are,

you know, helping make this event happen. Like you said, it's not cheap to put on an event like

this. And, you know, we're lucky enough to have amazing sponsors like yourself. We're lucky enough

to have amazing donors. I mean, the auction is going to bring in money, but also ticket sales.

And, you know, pushing that, I mean, all of this is run through a 501c3. It's all for charity.

Nobody's, you know, nobody else is pulling from this. Nobody else is making money.

Everything after putting on this event, you know, all the costs involved goes directly

to the kids in need. I mean, that's an amazing, the cool cars for kids is an amazing charity. And

it's, it's a thing that supports kids who have diseases that are just not fashionable or, you

know, not something that there's enough people that have it, they can afford to spend the money

on it. You know, if there's five people in the world that have something, they're not going to

probably find a cure for that. Like they could find something that has 5000000 people.

Exactly. I mean, we fund research, we fund, you know, treatments, and I mean, we fund individual

families. And it's an amazing, amazing cause. And I'm lucky enough to have now joined the board

as, you know, putting this on. And to hear some of these stories, we have some of the, some families

that, you know, have children with rare genetic disorders on the board, you know, and talking

about what's going on. Right. And how they live through this. Exactly. Yeah, it's amazing. So

the question begs, when are you going to get a real job? Great question. Hopefully never. Well,

I need to get through this event first. This event, I mean, well, I mean, I love a lot of work.

It's a lot of work. So I need to get through this first. And then, you know,

hope you have a good right hand guy, because that's very important when you do these events,

because they take off quicker than you think and go, uh-oh. We've got a great team behind

this event. Well, and that's, that's as important as it can be. And the date on this is June 6th

through the 7th. Correct. And to be held at the Union League in Lafayette Hills.

Yep. Hills or hill? Hill. I don't know my area. I'm from the city, so.

And last, last but not least on the, oh, and the website is to further the concours,

philadelphiaconcours.com. Yep. Cool. You got it. So we'll put that up on the screen. And my last

question is my favorite question I ask everybody is, what is your daily? What is my daily driver?

Well, I've been up in Boston for the last, you know, four years, you know, over eight months out

of the year just going to school. So a van? I'm in the market for a car. I'm gonna,

hopefully I'm gonna walk around here and purchase something right now, but you know.

Absolutely. It's a Volvo XC60. Nothing too crazy. It's a nice SUV, daily driver, nothing too crazy,

but hopefully I'll get into something a little more exotic. Hey, listen, Toby Ross drives a

minivan. Yeah. You know, and he loves the practicality of it. Exactly. So we do as well too. So,

Brad, it was wonderful to have you on today. And we'll have one of your cohorts, Trey Dusek.

Trey Dusek, yeah. We'll be on next week on the Classic Auto Mall show. We'll be back in just a

couple of minutes. We'll see you then. Now, another Classic Auto Mall 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 Buils that were all on my own.

Ten years later, Vaughn Buils 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 Harley's. I need a brand that doesn't have to

run on that cashier, cheaper, more affordable, also sporty, but also stop for entry level riders.

And I need you to keep the corporation growing. And I went, I'm good.

Hear more of Stuart's conversation with motorcycle builder Eric Buil in episode 205 from August of

2025. The Classic Auto Mall Show. Flashback. The Classic Auto Mall is like going to the greatest

indoor car showroom in the country with more than 1000 classic and collectible vehicles for

sale via consignment in our eight acre climate controlled showroom. We've got something for

everyone. We're open to the public most days. Plus, you can easily search our inventory online

at classic auto mall.com. Buying and selling via consignment is safe, easy and secure. Plus,

we advertise, sell and ship worldwide. Find your dream classic vehicle at classic auto mall.com.

This is the Classic Auto Mall 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 the Classic Auto Mall Show from the Classic Auto Mall Studio,

Morgantown, PA on a sunny 90 degree day outside. Man, it is warmed up. We have certainly gotten

past the whatever. Going back down to 60 next week. Pennsylvania. Hold on. Tangled up here.

Tangled up in blue. See, another song we both know and like. Tangled up in blue.

How about that Brett Mazuro? I tell you, knows a lot about cars, doesn't he? I see a lot of

similarities between him and Garrett. That younger age, but once you talk to him for a minute,

you forget how old they are. And not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just,

it's unusual to see that poised and from a younger person. You don't see it as much anymore. We see

a lot of people who have no poise and nothing. So, where did we sell cars last week? Where?

How about Treasure Island, Florida? Florida. Stanhope, New Jersey, Fleetwood, Pennsylvania,

Levittown, Pennsylvania, Blakesley, Pennsylvania, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, the villages, Florida,

East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Keller, Texas, Brick, New Jersey, Hamburg, Pennsylvania, North

Huntington, Pennsylvania, Preston, Idaho, Coastville, Pennsylvania, eight of our 14, Pennsylvania.

That's right. And only five states this week in no foreign countries.

So, looking forward to the Concord elegance coming up. He's putting on at the Union League.

We were, like I said, we were out there for the Ferrari event. We were out there one time prior,

and boy, it's a beautiful setting. It's just a gorgeous part of the world. Excuse me,

I'm going to set the clock. Please do. Well, how do I, what's my factor now?

A point? Plus one. Plus one? Okay, good to know. So, some of the new arrivals, how about this week?

The 2021 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody Hard Dopp. Yes. My goodness, that's a lot.

Cinnamon stick over black, but cinnamon is not spelled with a C, it's with an S.

That's right. You got to be on top of your game if you're going to fool me.

2,775 actual miles, 717 horsepower, 6.2 liter supercharged MEV8. This is one bad mofo.

Yeah, this is a great car. Really just unbelievable with the power on these things. And

tuned and bigger injectors. The guy got a 717 horsepower engine. This isn't quite enough.

Not enough. I need just a smidge more. I see that. We see that all the time, don't we?

Isn't it amazing? With the Z06 we have? With a supercharger, or with a turbocharger,

or with aluminum this and aluminum. A little more power.

But what's the difference between 717 and 750 horsepower, say? Could you tell the difference?

About $2,000 worth of add-ons, I guess. But I mean, could you tell the difference?

I could. I don't think so. I'd be afraid to floor it. So, but you know, hey, listen, I get it.

So, each their own. Each their own, and speed is king.

And somebody will see that online and go, that's exactly what I was,

I want, and what I was going to do to my car. Like our friend Bruce Meyer, who wanted to go

to Bono when he wanted to go as fast as he possibly could in a 32 Roadster, and he did it.

Right. And, you know, to some people, that's crazy, and to other people's that makes,

other people's that makes perfect sense. So, other new arrivals, the 1937 Pontiac, Silver,

Streak, Deluxe, four-door sedan, Starlight Blue and Black, seven-year long restoration. Wow,

when somebody spends that long of time on a restoration, that they're very particular,

that they're probably doing it mostly in their garage or their shop out back,

and they're taking their time and doing it right. And it's got a 248 cubic inch L-head

inline eight cylinder, and 37 and eight cylinder is a big old motor.

That's right. Smooth.

Yeah, well-sorted poncho and very plush interior. Other new arrival is the Everyman's 1992 Mazda

MX-5. Some burst yellow over medium dark gray. You don't see them in yellow very often.

It's very bright.

It's very bright. It's unusual for a Miata. Usually they're red or black or silver.

We had a Monster Miata here once.

I think we still have.

Was yellow.

No, we had a Monster Miata. You're exactly right.

Then we have a Racecar Miata.

That's right. We have a Climb Miata.

This one, 30,000 actual miles, garage cap, one of 1500 in Sunburst Yellow,

1.6 liter double overhead cam inline four, nicely preserved. These are way more fun than you'd

expect to drive. If you just, if you have any skepticism, go drive one. If your buddy's got one

or a neighbor or something, go drive them. They are fun, fun, fun. I'm like driving a go-kart.

So other new arrivals, the 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am Coupe. Cameo white over Carmine.

Survivor WS-6 Trans-Am, 400 cubic inch L-78 V8. Numbers matching T10 four-speed manual transmission.

Got the four-wheel disc brakes, which were always a great option.

WS-6?

Yeah. And very well-optioned car and lots of documentation on this one. Don't miss this one.

Absolutely.

Quite the one to have. So other new arrivals, the 1967 Chevrolet Corvette convertible.

Sunfire yellow over black and white. Numbers matching 300 horsepower, 327 V8.

Window sticker and the tank sticker. Wow, it's amazing that people salvaged that stuff and saved it.

Thank goodness.

Other yellow car, very nice.

And a power glide, a two-speed power glide, which is interesting. And it used to be,

it was a little difficult to sell a muscle-type car with an automatic transmission, but not so

much anymore. People were a more enjoyable driving experience when Kathy and I went to

Rehoboth last weekend and we were going to take the Porsche for kind of one last fling in it.

Oh, one last.

Yeah, one last hurrah.

But I'm glad we didn't. Hope you got caught stuck in traffic. And that manual transmission,

my left leg would have been, I mean, you get stuck in enough traffic, your left leg is really

feeling it. So, and this one's got both hard and soft tops, this 67 Corvette convertible and

very well-optioned. Great car. And last but not least, the 1964 Pontiac Tempest Custom Sport.

We have two Pontiac Tempest.

We do. Amazing.

This one's Marimba Red over Marimba.

So that's great.

Marimba.

PHS documentation, Muncie M24 speed manual. This thing's got to be thrive.

Hit it. There it is.

Yeah, 12-bolt axle, very subtle muscle car.

So fun it led to the GTO, didn't it?

Yeah, it exactly did. That's exactly what happened. So that's some of our new arrivals.

If you're interested in those or anything else, classicautomall.com is our website.

And don't forget, we've got our auction coming up June the 19th at 10 a.m. here at Classic

Automall. You can bid in person. You can bid online. by telephone.

And the inventory is online.

It's online as we speak. So we've got a little bit of inventory, probably 20 or 25 on right now.

We'll probably end up with about 75 to 100 cars. We're going to serve complimentary breakfast to

the bidders and consignors. Register to bid. Go online, classicautomall.com or register.

If you've got a car that you want to bring that's not here, certainly let us know.

Or if you have a car that is here, you want to put it in the auction, let us know as well.

Certainly help you with that as well too. We expect this will be, we'll start getting more

regular on doing these at a consistent timing and give enough notice. We kind of, we didn't rush

into this one, but it didn't give ourselves quite as much time as we normally do for an auction.

So, but we'll give it our by golly biking best and hopefully it'll turn out the way we like it

and we'll sell some cars and feed some people some breakfast and sounds like a good time.

Sounds like a good time to me. So people in the doors. Yeah, absolutely. We like to do events

that bring people in the door. And of course, we've got all kinds of events coming up. If you

get our newsletter, you would have seen that yesterday. Lots of events coming up that are

here on property and then events that we'll be at, including the Philly Concours at the Union League,

Golf Course in Lafayette Hill. Oh, we're going to have a set up there. We're going to have a set

up there. I'm torn. I'm torn. What to do? So, um, so anyway, we've got all that coming

up and all of this information is on our website. So feel free to go there at any time and it's open

24 hours a day. What's that? The website? Yeah. So, you know, there's no time. And you get it from

your phone too, which is pretty amazing. Get it from your phone. A lot of people do that. It's

amazing how many people are on their phone. It's pretty amazing. So, uh, and joining us next week,

we'll have another gentleman with us, Tray Dusick, who is a part of the Philly Concours,

as well. And he'll be joining us, hopefully in person as well too. It's nice to have somebody in

the studio. Another young up and coming car guy. Yeah. And that's, he comes from a family of car

guys. His dad, his grandfather, they're all just equal car nuts. And, you know, you love,

you love that it transcends. Absolutely. We'll catch you next week on The Classic Autumn All

Show. We'll see you then. And thanks for stopping by.

Every 40 seconds, a child disappears. That's 2000 children every single day. Find the children is

a non-profit organization fighting to bring them home. But we can't do it without you. Your unwanted

car, running or not, can help find missing kids, reunite families, and support the search and

rescue efforts that protect children every day. We'll pick it up fast and free with a 24-hour

response. And your donation may qualify for a tax deduction. 800-366-3307. That's 800-366-3307.

Find the Children provides crucial resources to help locate missing children and educational

programs that teach kids how to recognize and avoid predators before it's too late. Together,

we can give families hope and bring children home where they belong. Donate your car today

and help bring a child home. Find the Children because every child deserves to come home.

800-366-3307. That's 800-366-3307. This advertisement was paid for in partnership

with Courseraus and Find the Children.

Classic Auto Mall - #244 Stewart Howden and Guest Brett Mezrow

About this episode

Koenigsegg

1937 Pontiac Starlight Blue and Black Deluxe four-door sedan

tank sticker

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from Classic Auto Mall SHOW