Classic Car Road Trips - Aimee and John - Family Adventures & Automotive Love Story
To All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History
To All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History
Aug 20, 2024
Classic Car Road Trips - Aimee and John - Family Adventures & Automotive Love Story
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Car
Volkswagen Bus
The Volkswagen Bus is a famous van known for its boxy shape and spacious interior. It was used by families and travelers, especially during the 1960s and 70s, and is still loved by many car enthusiasts today.
Car
Chevrolet Malibu
The Chevrolet Malibu is a car that was popular in the 1970s. It was known for being spacious and comfortable, making it a good choice for families.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a popular sports car in America. A 'five liter convertible' means it has a powerful engine and a roof that can be opened, making it fun to drive.
Part
water tank
A water tank holds fresh water for use in the camper, like for washing hands or cooking. This camper has a 30-gallon tank, which is a good size for trips.
Part
diesel tank
The diesel tank holds fuel for the engine to run. This camper has a large 44-gallon tank, which means it can go far without needing to refuel often.
Car
Ford Expedition
The Ford Expedition is a big car that can fit a lot of people and their gear, perfect for family outings or camping trips. It has a powerful engine and comes with lots of features to keep everyone safe and entertained.
Term
Detroit diesel
Detroit Diesel is a company that makes powerful engines for trucks. Their engines are built to last and work well, especially for heavy work.
Term
5.9 Cummins
The 5.9 Cummins is a type of strong diesel engine made by Cummins. It's popular in big trucks because it can handle a lot of work and last a long time.
Term
super duty Ford
Super Duty Ford trucks are heavy-duty vehicles made by Ford. They are built to carry heavy loads and are very strong.
Term
Duramax
Duramax is a type of diesel engine made by General Motors for their big trucks. It's known for being powerful and efficient.
Car
Chevrolet Suburban
The Chevrolet Suburban is a large vehicle that can carry a lot of people and stuff, making it great for families or trips. It's been around for a long time and is known for being tough and good at pulling heavy things.
Car
Oldsmobile Aurora
The Oldsmobile Aurora is a type of car made by the Oldsmobile brand. It was a luxury sedan that had a unique look and was popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Car
BMW 5 Series
The BMW 5 Series is a luxury car that is known for being comfortable and fun to drive. It's popular among people who want a nice car that also performs well.
Term
V6
A V6 is a type of car engine that has six cylinders. It's shaped like a 'V' and is popular because it gives a good mix of power and fuel efficiency.
Part
Northstar V6
The Northstar V6 is a type of engine made by GM. It's known for being powerful and running smoothly, and it's part of a family of engines that includes bigger V8 engines.
Car
Mazda 626
Term
aftermarket
Aftermarket means parts or features that were added to the car after it was originally made. They are not from the car's manufacturer but can improve the car in some way.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful a car's engine is. More horsepower usually means the car can go faster.
Term
emissions regulations
Emissions regulations are rules that control how much pollution cars can produce. They help keep the air cleaner and healthier.
Term
safety regulations
Safety regulations are rules that make sure cars are safe to drive. They help protect people in case of accidents.
Car
Fiat 124
The Fiat 124 Spyder is a small, sporty convertible car that was made in the 1970s. It's known for being fun to drive and has a stylish look that many people love.
Part
Weber carburetor
A Weber carburetor is a part of the engine that helps mix air and fuel for combustion. It's known for helping cars run better and is often used in sports cars.
Term
parts car
A 'parts car' is a car that you buy to take pieces from it, like engines or doors, to fix another car. It's not usually driven but is useful for repairs.
Concept
rat rod
A rat rod is a type of car that looks old and rough on purpose. It's built to be unique and fast, often using parts from different cars.
Concept
Colin Chapman
Colin Chapman was a famous car designer who started Lotus Cars. He believed that making cars lighter would make them faster and better to drive.
Term
add lightness
'Add lightness' means making a car lighter to make it faster and easier to handle. It's a common idea in car design, especially for racing.
Car
Alfa Romeo GTV
The Alfa Romeo GTV is a sporty car that looks really cool and is fun to drive. It has been made for many years and is loved by people who enjoy driving cars that are stylish and fast.
Car
GTV6
The GTV6 is a sporty car made by Alfa Romeo that has a powerful V6 engine. It's known for being fun to drive and has a stylish design.
Car
Fiat Spider
Part
Chevy 200 automatic transmission
The Chevy 200 is an automatic transmission that helps cars change gears without needing the driver to do it manually. It's used in some older Chevy models.
LIVE
Welcome back, everybody, to your podcast about cars, life lessons through cars.
You know every car tells a story, carslove.com, and it's good to be back.
We haven't reported in a while.
I went on vacation, Doug went on vacation.
My sister and her family came and visited me.
We've spent the past three days at the beach, so I sit here, sunburned and staring
from the fine, air-conditioned interior of my house, and I'm looking at my podcasting
partner here, Doug.
How you doing, pal?
Doing great.
Great to be back with you.
Indeed.
Indeed.
And we have a tandem here, a couple of guests, which we've never done before, and as I look
into their window in our podcasting software here, I see the both of them delightful couple,
Amy and John Russell, and right between them, figuratively speaking, of course, only beautiful,
maybe blue fiat that we're going to get into.
But you know what, take a step back here.
The theme today is going to be friends, partners, and people who go way back and have stayed
together.
It's been an important theme in my life.
Indeed, this podcast was really Doug's brainchild, and I've known Doug College
pal from, I think we're over 30 years into this life together, man.
And when he fired this up, he asked me to be his co-host here, and there's a reason
we can finish each other's thoughts and sentences, because when you spend that much
time together, there is a shared history, and our guests today have a shared history.
Before we talk about them together, I would like Doug to do the proper formal introductions
and tie up in a bow how John knows a previous guest of ours, Joe Gibson, who's, I believe,
this episode went up about a month ago.
So if you could take me back to how these two gentlemen crossed your paths, Doug.
So it had to be in the mid to late 80s.
Right.
I don't, I can't remember if I met these guys in middle school, junior high, back when
they had that, or high school, but definitely in high school, and, you know, things got
really interesting in high school when we started driving, right?
That's when people's personalities really came out.
Yeah.
You know, Joe mentioned that that Volkswagen bus, which I do remember, and John, you know,
the thing I always remember about John is that he had this, he shows up one day with
this four door convertible, Oldsmobile, which they didn't make four door Oldsmobile.
You guys went to a cool high school.
Why couldn't I go to a high school like this?
You got this is like 90210 or 21 Jump Street.
How can I go back in time and be part of this?
Yeah.
And John and Joe and their close friends, I remember seeing them driving this huge thing.
And it was quite the story.
And John, fortunately, is going to share some of that story with us as we go through
some of the cars.
But and I would love for John to step in here.
And John tells just a little bit about yourself and then you're please introduce
your lovely wife, Amy, as well.
Well, hey, hey, Doug and Christian, thanks for having me.
My name is John and I'm here with with my wife and she's the enabler.
If she was a superhero, she'd probably be the rearranger.
But she's been she's been she's been the best.
She's been the best part of my life for over 26 years, 13 and a half
this year is my life.
Sorry, that that joke, that joke never gets old.
But no, no, got old after year 10.
But it's OK. Hey, a flip side to go in.
She's quick with a zinger, too, ladies.
Oh, she's good.
OK, I got it.
I got a gang of stuff I can talk to about her.
But the thing about Broadneck is Broadneck was kind of a 90210.
And I didn't even realize it back then.
I ended up moving to Florida at the middle of my 10th grade
and go into an inner city, finishing an inner city high school.
So I really got to appreciate what we all had up there.
And how did you come to know Joe?
I've done Joe was Joe was a great story of, you know,
my wife and I both come from military families or dads were both retired army
colonels, so we moved a lot.
I just moved back.
I'd lived in Maryland, D.C.
and moved to another assignment, moved back and.
We're at the local crab restaurant, Cantler's Riverside Inn, which is still there.
Back in the day, it was it was still an undiscovered lowdown place.
And here here here on Beldheith, Joe Gibson's a little shorter than I am.
You know, we both have ball cuts and we're playing video games.
And we hit it off.
You know, we we you know, we ran around our dad sat at the bar.
You know, we begged for quarters and the next day I started new.
I started in my new school and there Joe was in my class.
So we've been a we've we've been for better or worse, best friends for.
But how does that work for 40 40 years?
Yeah. And before we get into the into the car part of it, I'm just curious.
How how often do you guys talk?
You're obviously close.
But how often do you and do you guys talk a lot of the phone?
Do you text a lot?
Or is it one of these relationships where there's not a ton of together this
in that way, maybe go months and months without any contact?
But it's you pick up immediately when you do.
No, I don't work for you guys.
Hey, I have those kind of relationships with past friends.
But no, Joe and I, man, he's my hetero life mate.
We talk we talk regularly.
I mean, we might we might text multiple times a day three three times a week.
And we might we might pick up the phone and talk for an hour here and there.
And we're partners in cars and boats and businesses and you name it.
But cars cars are the real are the real passion.
Indeed. I like that. Thank you.
Well, over to you, Doug.
Would you do we get into the sheet metal part of it or?
Yeah, yeah. And and, you know, I teased out John's car.
But I first car because I remember it so well.
But just meeting Amy, I'd love to hear about Amy's first car.
Hi, all. I'm Amy Russell, and I did not grow up in Maryland.
I am. So anything that was John before Amy, we call VA.
But my first car was given to my mom by her best friend's husband.
And it was about a 70s Chevy, early 70s.
Yeah. OK. Malibu.
Malibu. And it took it.
That thing was a beast for a 80 pound 16 year old girl in Minnesota.
Boats. What color was it?
It was like a goldish, brownish, bronzy.
I call it metallic chocolate.
With a white interior. Nice.
Yeah, I think GM had to. Yeah, go ahead.
Good, good. Yeah. You know, you remember that color.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I literally would just keep my head on the steering wheel
whenever I got into it after work and just pray, please start.
Please start. Please start.
We've all had a few of those, absolutely.
Had to put both feet on the brakes at every stop light and stop sign.
Otherwise, I'd just keep rolling right on through and didn't
appreciate what I had.
So I sold it and that was my first car.
And I look back at it now and I just kick myself.
So. But I was a 16 year old girl.
I didn't want that kind of car.
I wanted, you know, something cool and modern and, you know, automatic.
Right. A convertible, fiat, light, blue, made just guessing.
I much appreciation for that later in life once I met John.
I also didn't like asparagus or clams or muscles before I met John either.
So yeah, see, she didn't she didn't grow up in anapolis, you know, seafood town.
Yeah. Yeah. Midwest, Midwest.
Yep. I get it.
So so so with that, since Amy shared her first car, John,
tell us about what you what you're allowed to tell us in our listeners
about that 1973 Olds 98 custom convertible for the war.
I mean, that was a great that was a great first car experience.
There was a restaurant that had been closed for many years, just a block from my house.
It was getting ready to reopen.
And they were they were paying me five dollars an hour to pick up trash.
And I work just long enough to put a hundred dollar bill in my pocket.
And pretty much the week of turn 16, Dave Gregory
and I, we rode our bikes to the Annapolis Boat Show.
And I don't know if who knows about that show.
But it's a very crowded event.
People come there for all reasons.
And here was this this this black four door Ozenbeel where, you know,
the car, they didn't have the B pillars back then.
The front windows and the back windows rolled up together.
So they'd cut that they'd cut the top off it, but leaving the windshield
and the back window and it had for sale spray painted on the side of it.
So, you know, being the brave guy, I was 16 years old.
I go into the Fleet Reserve Club, suss the place out, find the barfly owner,
sit at the bar and I said, hey, I'm here to buy your car.
And he goes, he goes, well, how much money do you have?
And I go, I got a hundred dollar bill and he he took the hundred dollar bill.
He handed me the car keys.
He wrote his number down on a bar napkin and he goes, call me in a week.
And that's that's pretty much when the reign of terror began.
So I put we put our bikes in the back of the car.
I dropped Dave off, drove straight to Joe's house
in the like the front foyer of his house was the old credenza where
nothing ever moved on it and was the the door's greatest hits on an A-track.
And that that A-track went in the player and Joe and I just
caused havoc around, you know, the broadneck high school region,
you know, all all fun stuff, you know, knocking over road cones,
things, things like that.
But I can still quote every lyric of the door's greatest hits
because that that that album played for two straight soundtrack of the first car.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
We painted that car up for homecoming.
You know, we gave it reverse white walls, you know,
where the the whites were like stars, you know, broadneck rules.
But it got to the point where when we drove around,
you could just see people pointing and read their lips.
They were going, that's the car. Yes.
I ended up, you know, I never told my dad about it.
I parked at the neighbor's house, another neighbor I did lawn work for.
And, you know, I ended up selling it to a to a friend and a friend.
Well, he was a friend.
He might not have been a friend after that.
And can I can I tell what happened?
Yes, please. So so that night
they went out and, you know, the car had a tag, but no registration,
no insurance, and I didn't even have a driver's license at that point.
But he got the car, he got the he drove into the high school park
and a lot of three in the morning.
There was a police officer there needless to say the car got impounded.
Three in the morning, the police call my house.
My dad wakes me up three in the morning and says, hey, the police are on the phone.
So I'm talking to the police about this.
No, no, no, no, that's not my car.
You know, that that that car belongs to this other gentleman.
You know, so, yeah, here's this number, if you will.
And I hang up the phone and my dad goes, what was that about?
I got his wrong number.
That was that was the end of the end of that story.
And my dad, who was pretty iron fisted military guy,
he did when the when the fellow I sold it to his parents called him the next day
and said, hey, you know, your son sold my son a car and they got it pounded.
And, you know, he owes him one hundred and fifty bucks.
My dad said, well, that's not really how it works.
You know, they they made a deal.
My son made a mistake.
And I was like the first time he'd really ever gone to bat for me.
So I was pretty excited about that.
Talk about life lessons through cars.
The old man had your back.
That's pretty fantastic.
And they didn't have my bag.
Hey, for and for those who don't know, the Annapolis Boat Show is a big deal.
Down where I live in the Florida Panhandle, people will make a pilgrimage
up to Annapolis, the Boat Show.
For breadth and scope and in depth of.
Of what's out there, it's it's really something to be seen.
It's it's it's quite the event.
It's quite the event.
Go ahead, Doug, you were going to say something.
Give me a jump in.
Sorry, you're taking notes.
All right. So, OK, so we saw what was the second car
or what was the car after that?
From from John or?
Yeah, I can tell my my my story.
It was a continuation of the the Ozmobile.
You know, we we named that car the Deathmobile.
It was very similar to Animal House.
It was just that that kind of car.
So I, you know, I I ended up causing enough trouble where my dad said,
hey, would you like to go live with your mom in Florida?
And I said, man, if I had a known cause in trouble,
would make that happen.
I'd be out of cause to hell of a lot more years ago.
Yeah. So I I got I got straight out of the movies.
Complete restart life.
I got a fresh start, fresh high school.
And I had my mom and my stepdad.
And they said, well, John, if you get straight A's,
we'll give you three thousand dollars to buy a car and we'll insure it.
If you get straight B's, you can buy your own car and we'll insure it.
If you get straight C's, you know, you're on your own.
Anything below that, no car, no privileges.
I didn't know anybody and I was going to an inner city school
pretty just to kind of show up and graduate kind of place.
So I paid attention in every class, but.
But algebra, I came in as the new kid and I just slept through the class.
So I got straight A's and an F in algebra.
And my parents and my parents go, well, I don't know what to do about this.
And I said, I got it all covered.
I'm going to summer school.
So I ended up so I ended up getting straight A's for the first and only time
in my, you know, in my student career, if you would.
So my stepdad's retiring.
My my mom's buying him a brand new flanella ice, five liter convertible Mustang.
And he had a man triple white with a blue interior.
I mean, that was that's a that's another story.
But he had a really nice late model Fiat,
which is where my affection for these cars come.
And it was it was the 83 that was actually built by Pen and Frana.
So they gave me this car.
So I went from, you know, a hundred dollar car to the nicest red black interior,
shiny convertible and its school had a good job, made made more good friends.
I'll tell you, I just had I had the the greatest second round of high school
you could imagine.
And that car was legal, right?
And that car, that would be legit.
Totally legal. Yeah, absolutely.
And they've they've pretty much all been since then. Yes.
Excellent. And so I know you guys being together, 26 plus years, right?
You mentioned earlier in our talk,
or pre pre show talk that you've enjoyed doing road tripping around around the U.S.
You have some plans to do it overseas as well.
But I heard about a very interesting camper,
a camper that you created thanks to Joe, Joe Gibson again, right?
Exchanging cars and hoping you could tell us about that.
The camper, the trip.
Yeah, that was, you know, that was another car that I inherited from Joe Gibson.
We've passed back and forth probably close to a dozen cars or boats or something like that in life.
So I acquired his 1998 K
twenty five hundred diesel suburban and we we outfitted into an expedition camper.
I installed a 30 gallon water tank next to the forty four gallon diesel tank.
I put a window unit air conditioner in the back door and a disguise box.
Another box had a Honda generator, inverter,
ice maker, you name it, hot and cold running water.
So it's complete, a complete under complete under cover expedition camper.
And we we took off and we drove we drove the whole country off grid.
All Pacific Coast Highway.
But the fun thing about that car, it's my it's my Joe Gibson voodoo doll
because he he seems to remember it being in perfect condition when he sold it to me.
And I've since drilled twenty five hundred screws into it.
And every every time I put a screw into it, I can just feel and cringe.
Yes, he that can of bottom paint, I think,
or something that's filled in the back battery acid, but it was a really
it's it was it it's still have it.
It's been a great truck and, you know, that truck has that
that kind of bastardized Detroit diesel started as the six two
and then it went to a six five turbo.
So it doesn't have the performance of like a five nine
Cummings or a Duramax or, you know, a super duty Ford.
But it's, you know, when you know those cars, it's a good car.
And I'll start it in the morning, sub zero temperature.
And just last week, I towed a car down from Maryland
and a truck ran for twenty one hours straight.
I don't shut it down once it starts up.
You run it until you're done driving it for the day.
And that's how that's how we went across the country.
Yeah, nice. Nice.
And that was a couple of weeks, right?
Well, we, you know, we did it in ten weeks.
We got a case of the stupids.
It had been raining out of the Pacific Coast Highway.
And we kind of we'd made it across the country.
You know, we stood on the beach in California, looking at Mexico.
We drove the entire Pacific Coast Highway up, looked at Canada from Washington.
And now we were heading back east and we said, for some reason, we came home
and we got home and we looked at each other and go, what have we done?
So we just kept saying the next spot's going to be prettier.
The next spot's going to be even greater.
And it was, but then we should have stopped.
It was just it was just it was just a taste.
It was a tasty.
We were saying, well, when we come back, we'll do it again.
And, you know, life goes, we haven't made it back since we went back to work.
We did do a pretty decent trip last July for my 50th birthday.
And it was it was great and nice and wonderful.
And and of course, the last spot we found was so ideal and so perfect.
And we were only going to stay a day and we wanted to stay two.
We were low on gas for the truck.
We're low on diesel for the truck, low on gas for the generator, low on food, low on water.
And but mainly low on beer and mainly low on beer.
So we we came home, but we've had some amazing trips in that truck and just.
We we lived a pretty good lifestyle.
You know, we stayed in the hotel room.
So would make James Bond blush, but we had a we've had a better time in life.
Living off red living, then living on a super yacht or, you know, in some fancy hotel.
Right. You were in Utah, I think, somewhere.
And this kid comes into the we're at the gas station and filling up and everything.
He comes in, he's like, is that a diesel suburban?
And he was in a nice truck, too.
And we're like, yeah, it is.
And John and him are talking.
He's like, oh, man, he goes, I'd love to get that thing.
We're like, yeah, we're far from home.
So sorry, but it's it's nice to appreciate.
I had two young kids at Lowe's about two weeks ago.
I drive a 2001 Oldsmobile Aurora and the symbol on the hood is, you know, different.
And this kid grabbing cars is like, what kind of car is that?
Like, you're kidding.
Or he's like, oh, he goes, I thought I knew all the emblems.
Hey, that's that's another story that rubs.
Yeah, that.
Yeah. He mentioned that car to me.
And most people don't know what that is.
I do. But that actually, that car, I'm at probably 75 cars now,
let last count over the course of my life, 13 and a half right now,
one being a partnership with Joe.
And that Oldsmobile Aurora, I bought it when my 84 diesel suburban
got stolen and pre another truck I had. OK.
And that's a dirt. That's a great story.
I should have mentioned earlier.
But I found myself looking for a five year old fully depreciated
$30,000 sedan to have a, you know, kind of a professional car, if you will.
This was in 2005.
And, you know, the BMW five series and Lincoln's and Lexus, they were all in there.
And I bought this car.
$5,000, 50,000 miles, five years old.
And in 2005, I'm still driving at 20.
I'm still driving at 20 plus years later.
It looks like new and it's cost nothing but brakes, tires and oil.
So anybody that wants to give us give us grief about that particular car,
Joe, it's been the greatest car I've ever owned.
I just drove a mile last weekend.
Yeah. I mean, that was a neat experiment, if you will.
Oldsmobile trying to be different, front wheel drive V8.
It had, yeah, it had a terrible, had a terrible reputation at first
because all the other cars way seemed to weigh out classic, but it's aged really well.
That, my particular one has the 3.5 liter V6, which only the only GM I know of.
That's the that's the six cylinder version of the North Star.
OK, that's the only one that they did that to kind of like a 4.3 is a six cylinder 350.
Yep. Yep. No, I didn't I didn't realize they had V6 as I only knew
about the eight, but no, that's that's a yeah, you guys have it.
So, Amy, we were talking earlier, so you did mention your Malibu and you got rid of it.
And I just I love the story about what your second car and what happened to it.
And it was really a family story.
It is Mazda 626.
I want to say it was 1985.
It was a manual red with black interior four door aftermarket AC,
aftermarket cruise control.
And we drove that car as a family down to Oklahoma or Alabama to visit
our family, because we never flew anywhere.
So as my sister got to drive it, she's two years older than me.
And when she went to college, it became my car, only one of my friends
that knew how to drive a stick stick ship.
So I always said, if anything happens to me, you guys are screwed.
Yeah, best friend still does not know how to drive a manual.
But I was driving a friend to the airport.
He was he was joining the army.
And I rear ended a slit into the back of a truck in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Yep. And it didn't puncture the radiator.
The tow truck tied the roof down or the roof, sorry, the hood down.
And I made it and my father
had some issues, but said, I'm going to have the mechanic look at it.
And if it didn't hit the radiator, then we'll fix it.
It didn't. So it got fixed.
And the day my sister was leaving to go to
Czech Republic to teach English in high and college,
I was coming back from depositing my check from work in the bank,
going over the highway and every single light lit up on the dash.
And I just was Christmas tree. Oh, crap.
Yeah. This was in July.
Yeah, well, I wish it was July. It wasn't.
It was December and I had to walk about a mile to a sketchy 7-Eleven.
A phone to call my dad before cell phones, everyone.
He came out with the Ford truck and he was literally in a snow suit.
And I was actually in a skirt, you know, in jacket, everything.
You put me in the cab of the truck and I towed him home in that car.
It was about three miles and he said it was the worst three miles of his whole
entire life that every time I put a fist out.
And it's dark in Minnesota at this time at four o'clock at this time.
It was maybe five thirty six.
My sister's at home, her boyfriend, that his family, my family, they're all
saying goodbye because she's leaving that night to fly out.
And ours got to break down on me.
And can I can I remind you guys or bring this up that her her father was
an entry in infantry officer in Vietnam and some extra.
So for him to say, it was the scariest three miles of his life.
Saying something right there is really is really saying.
Let's just say I told you not to go above 10 miles an hour.
And I swear I didn't, but I'll be honest.
When I met Amy, she was not the greatest driver in the world.
But I'll tell you, she she is now.
She's, you know, oh, boy, didn't grow up flying.
You can now fly jet aircraft, you know,
merchant marine officer, ship captain, and she's a great driver these days.
So so we started with cars through planes, through boats, through the boat show.
But that kind of brings us around to the lighthouses.
Now, I know this show is called to all the cars I've loved before,
not to all the lighthouses I've loved before.
But I was so taken when when y'all were telling us about the lighthouse,
please tell us about how how a lighthouse came into your life.
I find this so interesting.
And Joe Gibson is part of this story, too.
He's he's everywhere. Here's the car. It goes like this.
Long shadow.
You'll never meet anybody that doesn't like train cabooses, dolphins,
and especially lighthouses.
So in the region we're from Annapolis, Maryland,
there's a number of fairly famous lighthouses,
one of them being the Baltimore Lighthouse.
And it's it's sad.
Abandoned is not quite the right word, but.
Unused if Bill and it had it had a neat history.
It actually had a in an experiment in the 60s.
It had a snap seven Bravo, strontium,
90s, 60 watt isotopic atomic generator installed in the basement of it
about the size of a 55 gallon drum of water that would weigh
seven hundred pounds, if you will, this generator weighs five thousand pounds
in a two and in a two inch iron box.
So this this abandoned lighthouse
in view of Joe Gibson's family house, you know, something we would.
I'd rent a boat from the Navy.
He had a little boat.
We just we'd go out and we'd do a hundred turns around it every summer.
And Joe and I as 12 year olds would sit back and we'd go.
Wouldn't it be cool if one day?
Well, one day I got word that it was getting it was coming up on a government
auction and short story long, I I ended up winning the auction.
And then I brought I thought about who would be a good fit.
So Joe Gibson had the waterfront property
and he's the he's the go getter can fix anything.
He's he's got a he's got a set of tools that will make any mechanic blush.
Our other friends, Mark and Jane, they're involved with another local lighthouse
and she's involved in Maryland Historical Society.
And then, of course, you need a lawyer and that's our our good friend, Ron.
So they came in and we basically kept equal shares for everybody.
It's a little bit different.
And we're our mission is to restore, preserve and enjoy this this local lighthouse.
So that's a Baltimore lighthouse dot org.
If I can plug that.
Yes, if you ever have a spare second and want to get in some trouble,
the lighthouse was for for sale at auction on the GSA dot gov website.
And you at one time could buy a whole town on that website.
You can buy you can buy a navy base.
You can buy a ranger station.
You can buy space shuttle parts.
You can still now I can do this GSA auctions,
General Service Administration.
And that'll that'll get it.
But if you want to if you want to buy a cargo van, it's there.
If you want to buy a of a fire, an airport fire truck, it's there.
If you want to buy equipment, we looked at it was a landing craft.
If I'm not allowed on this website anymore for obvious reasons.
Yeah, you we got to keep you locked up in your eyes.
You're you're you're trouble, Mr. Yeah.
Well, so can sorry, Christian, can question,
can you buy some of the cars that we see in your garage behind you on that website?
Oh, no.
Well, everything's for sale.
Perfect. Oh, you know, my my cars are
are for the select few, you know,
my my joke has always been, you know,
some guys want to drive around in a $50,000 car.
I'd rather have 10 $5,000 cars than I do.
And, you know, that's that's that's what I like, you know, Fiat classic Fiat's
Dotson's, you know, I'm a I'm a 1972.
So I gravitate toward 72.
It was a good car years kind of the last of the no emissions,
you know, horse power, war cars, less safety regulation.
And then going to high school, you know, in the late 80s, early 90s,
that's this, you know, that the same year.
So all of my cars are early 70s or late 80s, early 90s.
And that's just that's just what I like.
Good, good choices, good choices.
So can you give us a brief tour of your garage for for our listeners?
They can't see it, but hopefully we'll put some pictures of your cars up online.
OK, OK, well.
I'm looking for as we see not only right now,
I'm looking at my favorite car and it's my 1972 Fiat 124 Spyder
Russo Red Black interior with everything you'd ever bolt,
everything you'd ever want to bolt on to one of these cars.
So it has a hot cam as a stainless header,
as an anti exhaust, as a Weber carburetor, as Coney shocks.
It has pans, you know, pan of sport wheels.
So it's in it. It runs great.
It sounds great. It drives great.
But I'd be nervous to leave the county in it.
Next to it is my two four thoughts.
And I had one of these in high school.
I bought this not long ago and to convince the wife to let me buy this car.
I told her, said, honey, she goes, what are you going to do with it?
I said, we're going to I'm going to ship it to Europe.
And we're going to put two backpacks in it.
We're going to backpack through Europe without any walking.
And she goes, OK, so she let me buy the car.
And it's very original.
It has every nick and scratch.
It's red on red.
And I drive it to California.
Then behind me is a 73 Fiat
that I bought from Joe Gibson's brother not long ago.
I just trailered it down from Maryland.
And it's a it's the parts car for my car.
But when I'm done with it, I don't want to take it off the road.
So it's going to be a rat rod.
It's going to be a rat rod race car in the full Colin Chapman treatment.
And I don't know if you guys know which viewers know,
but he was famous with Lotus and his his motto was add lightness.
So I'm taking everything off of it.
The door panels, all the glass, the windshield.
I'm going to put a low cup windshield on it, the spare tire.
And I want it just to be as absolutely light and clean as possible.
Just, you know, one, maybe two seats on it if my wife wants to hang out.
Then I've got a beloved 82 Fiat, similar to the one I had in high school.
I bought it for my wife as a present.
She wanted a convertible when my GTV six alpha
burned up on me on the Skyway Bridge.
We recently stripped the original purple paint.
Well, the car had been repainted by the eclectic first owner purple
and 20 years into the ownership, we decided to restore it.
We stripped the paint down to bear and the the the paint change,
the heavy refresh turned into more of a restoration.
And it's come out really nice, 40,000 miles beautiful.
And it drives as good as it looks, drives like brand new.
And then across from it is an 81 black Fiat Spider.
Which is unique when it's fuel injected and it has an automatic transmission.
That automatic transmission is a Chevy 200, I believe,
which you might have seen in a Chevette,
but a lot of the European cars with automatic transmissions,
you know, used GM transmissions, Jaguar was a big, a big person.
And this the sad thing is it's become the parts car on the 82s.
Right.
But it's actually the nicest car in the whole fleet.
It's 40,000 miles.
The spare tire is still wrapped in plastic, you know, the cosmoline on.
And it's just a really clean car.
So it's black with a it's black with the red interior
that it's about to get from the 73.
So I'm going to have a black one with a red interior,
a red one with a black interior.
And then we're going to have the 82
that's restored to look like new.
And then a 73 ratty race car.
So that's not the collection I ever dreamed about,
but that's the way it's worked out and it's a story.
Yeah, you're smiling as you're describing it.
And yeah, thank you.
Thank you for the tour of the garage.
And I will say, if there was ever two people made for each other,
it's you and Amy.
And I just think it's wonderful.
It's been it's been such a pleasure and a privilege
to get to know you here and thank you for bringing us into your world
for half an hour and sharing, you know, the stories of your past,
what makes each of you, you, what makes you tick.
And I think you should patent.
I'd rather have, you know,
ten, five thousand dollar cars and one fifty thousand dollar car
because because I think a lot of us can can relate to that.
And also when you reach back into your past,
there are these beautiful cars that don't mean a whole lot to anyone else
from this generation, but something that just inspires you,
sparks the memories of stories and stories of family, of the people, of the friends.
And that's all wonderful.
The fiat's to me were always the we're always the poor man's Ferrari.
You know, they have Lampretty engines.
He designed, you know, the famous Colombo V12s that were designed by Tom
Giarda. He designed some of the beautiful Ferraris at three thirty.
So when I look at it, I I see a I see a million dollar Italian exotic.
Well, you did. Yeah, you definitely have a type, as they say.
And again, it was a wonderful meeting you both.
Thank you for being on the show.
We'll have to have you back.
And this the show is a bit of a curveball for us.
So interviewing two people at once and then having the
wide-ranging conversation that we did, it really kept Doug and me on our toes.
And so we appreciate the challenge.
We appreciate your time.
Can't wait to further the conversation.
Have you back, maybe even meet you in person.
And thanks for being part of the show.
We appreciate you being here.
It's a pleasure. Yeah, we're we're excited to have you
interested in our story. So thanks a million.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you.
All right. Have a thank you again.
Good good reconnecting with you, John, after all these years as well.
Excellent. Well, I'll run into you for sure.
Small world. Yeah.
Next time you're in Annapolis, East and let me know.
Definitely. Yeah. All right.
All right. Take care.
Thanks. This was to all the cars I've loved before.
CarsLove.com.
Check us out on your podcast streaming platform of choice.
Reach out to us.
I'm Christian at CarsLove.com.
He's Doug at CarsLove.com.
We'll see you next week.
Next time. Have a great summer.
See in the fall. See you soon.
About this episode
Aimee and John Russell share their heartfelt automotive journey, highlighting the significance of cars in their lives and relationships. They reminisce about their first cars, including a 1973 Oldsmobile convertible and a 70s Chevy Malibu, and discuss their adventures on road trips across the U.S. The couple also dives into their unique experiences restoring a lighthouse and their passion for classic Fiats. Their stories reflect the deep connections formed through shared automotive experiences and the life lessons learned along the way.
Original notes
Click here to share your favorite car, car story or any automotive trivia!
Aimee and John share a unique dual-perspective tale of love, family, and vintage steel. This husband-and-wife duo fell for each other and for cars, embarking on what they call a “vintage lifestyle” centered around their shared automotive passion. They spin the odometer back to the ’70s with memories of cruising in a classic Chevy Malibu and wrenching together on a Datsun 240Z – a car that taught them both the art of patience and restoration. The heart of their story is a retro Chevy Suburban camper-edition, which became the ultimate family road-trip vehicle.
John and Aimee had a hard time with picking their favorite, but turns out Joe - a friend from HS is number one on their list - "Wanderlust on Wheels – Joe’s Westfalia Camper Tales and Sporty Miata Memories" https://www.buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/15521761-driving-a-1971-vw-westfalia-bus-joe-s-vw-tales-and-sporty-miata-memories
From cross-country camping adventures with their kids (and even a tale of a lighthouse restoration project where the Suburban hauled supplies! Aimee and John illustrate how car culture can weave into the fabric of family life. This episode delivers plenty of classic car talk – engine sounds, vintage design quirks, and road trip tips – but it’s also brimming with romance and humor (imagine a couple navigating map directions and carburetor tuning in equal measure!).
By the end, listeners will feel like part of the family, inspired by how a shared love of cars can strengthen bonds and create a legacy of adventures for generations to come.
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Listen on your favorite platform and visit https://carsloved.com for full episodes, our automotive blog, Guest Road Trip Playlist and our new CAR-ousel of Memories photo archive.
Don't Forget to Rate & Review to keep the engines of automotive storytelling—and personal restoration—running strong.
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