The Straight Shift with The Car Chick Oct 1, 2025

Classic Cars 101: What to Know Before You Buy Your Dream Ride

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Ford Thunderbird

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Straight shift with the car check, the podcast that's all about cars, buying, selling, fixing,

and driving, and sometimes running fast to hear the car check.

Now here's he is.

Hey everyone and welcome back to the straight shift, the no-nonsense podcast that slices

through the dealership BS and brings you real talk about cars, car buying, and driving.

Those of you who've been following me for a long time know that I have restored a few

classic cars myself, or at least I've helped to do it.

I was one of the hosts of a TV show called Rust Rescue where we brought russet out automotive

corpses back to life, or at least we tried to.

Let's just say I've seen firsthand what can lurk underneath decades-old paint and bondo,

but that experience taught me a lot, mostly the hard way, about what makes a classic car

a gem versus a giant money pit.

That's why I wanted to do this episode because I've had some clients over the years want

to help buying a classic car, at least advice on what they should get, and they just

don't even know where to begin.

So I want to help out anyone who is thinking about buying their dream car from decades

past, yet avoid the mistakes that I have seen and some of the ones that we have actually

made ourselves.

Classic cars can be just amazing, but they can also be heartbreakers and wallet breakers.

So I have invited someone who knows the classic car world inside and out, and is working

to redefine it.

Rudy Sampsel is the co-founder of Guys With Rides, a classic car auction site that does

not sugarcoat the truth and leaves the dealership at home.

Rudy, welcome to the show.

Well, Leigh Ann, thank you for having me.

I appreciate it.

What motivated you to start this auction website to help people find that perfect classic

car?

Sure.

So, go back to 2018, and I was an analytics executive for a pharmaceutical company.

Wow.

Yeah, well, it can be.

But I was doing that, and unfortunately I was the victim of downsizing.

That's what happens when you have seven businesses go to two.

And I came home, and my wife said, well, what are you going to do next?

And I said, I don't know.

She said, well, why don't you do something for yourself for a change?

And so you're always talking about this bring a trailer and car auctions on there.

Why can't you do something like that?

So this is the middle of 2019.

And as many of the analytics tool sets, if you will, that I have in my bag, one of the

things I really didn't have was Google Analytics, basically web analytics.

And I said, well, if I'm going to be more marketable, I need to focus on that.

So I built the website and said, I'm just going to learn all about Google Analytics,

all the things that go with it and digital marketing, and then I'll sell it.

I'm maybe four or five months into it and the pandemic hits.

So I just was blogging and I was going all in on just writing every day.

And that really grew to a small but interesting following.

And doing that now since 2019.

And a couple of years into it, it morphed into why don't you offer a marketplace?

Around the time of COVID, a lot of competitive auction sites were popping up like Whack-a-Mole.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

Nobody can go anywhere to look at a car.

So you had to buy everything online.

Exactly.

And so I spun one up as well.

But I said, marketing 101, if you're going to try to be a David in a Goliath industry,

you've got to niche a couple of different ways.

So based on my experience on Bring a Trailer, I said, I want to be dealer free.

When you look at any site out there, they're heavily influenced by dealer offerings.

And a lot of times those cars, you don't know the history.

It's lost when it's transacted with the dealer and they just are looking to sell it

as quickly as they can.

I wanted to offer the only true dealer free online resource and marketplace for

classic car enthusiasts.

They can come to me and I'll be honest, I'll be brutally honest with them.

But I think, you know, they may not like it at first, but I think they'll

respect it somewhere down the road.

When it comes to car buying, you very often have to tell people what they don't

want to hear because they really need to hear it.

But that's so true.

And it's particularly when they're thinking about a classic car,

there's a lot of romance involved with it.

And you've got to get, it's still a car at the end of the day,

and you need to take the emotion out of it and think with a rational.

Oh, preach it.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

I talk about that all the time.

Any car purchase is emotional, but a classic car, you're right.

There's so much more emotion and nostalgia.

You have to be able to take that step back and look at it as a widget.

And this is a financial transaction so that you don't get yourself

in even more trouble.

Because if there's one way to get yourself in even more trouble buying

a car, it's by buying a classic car.

Absolutely.

And you know, as we're in the middle of 2025,

we're spoiled by all of the technology and the comfort

and convenience of a modern car.

And so I tell people, if you don't know the driving dynamics

of the car without all the nanny controls we're spoiled with now,

you have to really know what you're doing

when you're behind that wheel.

One of the things I encourage people

is before you really, they say, well, I want to buy this car.

OK, have you driven it?

If you're thinking about a particular make

and get the experience of it and make sure you really want it.

First of all, you could live with that car.

I think it's very important.

Right, especially if it's something

that you're going to drive on a more regular basis.

I had a 66 Mustang GT that was with my first marriage.

And that was the car that my first husband's,

his parents bought it, knew the year they got married.

And so it stayed in the family.

And it was a phenomenal car.

We loved it dearly.

And it was not the easiest thing to drive.

There was no power steering.

Everything was super, duper heavy.

The clutch was heavy.

The throw was long.

I personally love that because I'm

a child of the 70s and 80s.

And so I'm used to driving something that

doesn't have any of those bells and whistles.

But it's still, it's a totally different driving experience.

I think that's a good segue into let's talk about what

is the official definition of a classic car these days?

And I'm starting to worry that I'm a classic now.

Yeah, well, yeah, we both are.

Unfortunately, a vintage, I guess.

No, so I go by the antique automobile club,

the AACAs definitions.

Anything 25 years or older is considered a classic.

A lot of people talk about the young timers cars.

And that's generally what I would call the rad era.

That's been defined as 1980 to 2000.

You see a lot of the Toyota Supras in that category,

a lot of your Nissan 240s.

Absolutely.

A lot of those Japanese fun cars are in that area.

My first, well, my second car, because my first one

died after six months, because it was a classic after just

10 years in Wisconsin.

But I had an 85 Toyota Supra.

And I would give anything to have that car back.

It was so much fun.

Yeah, and that was the 80s and the 90s, even

into the early 2000s.

That was the golden age for Japanese cars.

It's kind of funny that those are now considered classic cars.

Because when I think of classic cars,

and I'm sure when you think of classic cars,

we're thinking the 65, 66 Mustangs.

We're thinking 57 Chevy Bel Airs.

And we're really thinking of those 40s, 50s, 60s,

maybe early 70s.

We also still think that the 1980s were just

a couple of decades ago.

Well, that's, apparently they weren't.

Yeah, and I'm in this weird place.

Not going to ask your age, but I was born in October of 64.

So I'm one of the last boomers, I like to say.

October of 71.

Right, there you go.

So you're in the Gen X era.

I'm kind of teetering on that.

So when I look back, I can think of the cars

my parents owned and people around me.

But I never really identified with muscle cars.

The Rad Era, when that came about,

the first Radwood show I went to, it was like, I'm home.

I feel like I bought that car new.

I bought that car new.

I remember test driving that car in college.

It was like, OK, now I identify much more with these cars.

And that's really where I've gravitated towards.

It's kind of like when the 80s rock bands come on the radio,

ACDC and Guns N' Roses and Bon Jovi.

Those are now on the classic rock station.

But I'm like, wait a minute, that's what I grew up with.

That's my music.

When did that become classic?

So yeah.

And really what it fundamentally comes back to is,

people tend to gravitate towards the car they long for

in high school or college, right?

It's just what did you gravitate towards

when you longed as, what were your heroes as a kid?

And that's what they tend to go for.

When we were teenagers, getting that license,

it was all about freedom.

Yay, we don't have to ride around with mom anymore.

And cars were so much more part of our culture.

I kind of wonder if the current generation of kids

who are not as into cars, I wonder if they're

going to have the same nostalgia for a certain type of vehicle

or if that effect is going to be lost

with this younger generation.

Even if they do, it's like, what are they going to want?

Are they going to be like, ooh, they're

going to long for an electric car?

That's just terrifying to me.

And you're seeing that a little bit in what the young timers

are calling analog cars, where they don't have a computer.

Yeah, that's what they call them.

And doesn't have a computer.

They have to manage their brakes and anticipate better.

And they like the thrill of that.

And maybe that'll be a trend where

I don't want to be driven by the car.

I want to drive it.

That'll be interesting to see.

I bet you're right, especially as self-driving cars

become more and more of a reality in our society.

It is going to be kind of special if you have a car that

actually allows you to control it, as opposed to the AI.

So you know, I'm going to hang on to my analog car.

I love that term.

That's just crazy.

Oh my gosh.

Well, let's talk about some of the things

that people need to look for and most specifically look out

for when they are looking for one of these classic cars.

And especially as these cars get older and older,

obviously the one that we dealt with,

which is why we named our show Rust Rescue, is Rust.

Yeah.

Well, my advice is the first thing

you look for in a classic car is how good is the body.

Most mechanicals you can fix.

But you start the wild card becomes

if I've got to start fixing body panels,

Mustangs and Chevelles and whatnot,

you can buy literal welded bodies that are brand new.

Right.

Yeah.

But the other end, gentlemen, I managed a collection for.

He's got a 1960 Lincoln Continental we're restoring.

You can't find anything for that.

The second thing I like to look at

is how much documentation.

If a car is well documented, that's

usually a proxy that the car has been taken care of

throughout its life or periods of significant periods of it.

If somebody can produce that and knows the history,

that brings my anxiety down quite a bit.

Yeah, because you're not going to pull a car fax

on a 66 Mustang and see the maintenance history on it.

That's not going to happen.

In the absence of that, often what you'll find

is if somebody's been diligent with doing the restoration,

the next best thing is, OK, how did they restore it?

They'll have them.

They might have a three-ring notebook

or I've had cars where they provided me a stick with photographs

on it, and they documented it.

You may not know the car's history when it first started,

but at least you know they took it through the restoration.

They show you the body panels and show you

what they did to get the car back to the condition

as you're looking at it right then and there.

Right, because there are restorations,

and then there are restorations.

Yeah, right.

There's a lot of stuff that you can hide under Bondo

and Payne.

That's what we ran into so much with Rust Rescue,

because we were literally rescuing rust buckets out

of barns and garages and stuff.

But we still had to look at, OK,

are we going to be able to get parts?

We found this beautiful 1940 Packard,

but we can't get parts for this thing.

And so we're like, ah, we had to pass that one up.

We ended up buying a 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe,

which is neither special nor deluxe, by the way.

That's marketing.

But it was actually one of the cheaper things

that Plymouth made at the time.

But we also knew that we could get parts that

would be compatible for it, and we

knew we were not going to try to restore it stock,

because stock, it was a piece of junk entry-level car.

We were going to chop the roof and rat-rod it

and do weird things.

So we weren't worried about that.

Mostly we bought it because it was cheap.

And when we inspected it, the body wasn't bad.

What we did not expect was the previous owner,

whoever, quote, tried to restore this car,

they had filled the rocker panels and the A-pillars

with expanding foam.

Expanding foam.

Now, granted, that might have helped with the leaking.

But have you ever tried to chisel expanding foam out

of inside the frame of a car?

No, that can't be a fun experience.

Yeah.

That's right up there with removing undercoating.

It's probably just as painful.

Yeah.

So that's when you're doing a restoration on one

of these old cars, the only thing that is guaranteed

is that nothing will go the way you think it will.

So definitely really look over the car

if it's one you are looking to restore yourself.

But as you said, if it's something that you're buying

that has supposedly already been restored,

just like with flipping houses, there

are people that cut corners and slap lipstick on a pig,

and there are people who do it right.

So find the ones that have done it right.

Yeah, that's right.

If you find somebody that did an amateur restoration,

that should be kind of a red flag

because you don't know how they did it.

So if you're looking at a car and you find out

it's a professional restoration, that's usually a good sign

that you're going to get a quality car.

You'll pay more for it, but it'll also,

you get what you pay for.

Exactly.

I'm going to say this because if anybody wants it,

I have a free download on my website,

but it'll be a 90-point pre-purchase inspection

that they can use.

Anybody should use it.

I don't care how experienced you are because with my ADD,

even when I go to look at a car, I'll forget.

And the romance takes over.

I'm like, oh, I really like this car.

And then you've got to put your level head on.

I use the checklist.

And then I say, OK, how are the brakes?

Do the wipers work?

All those things, you don't check on a sunny day.

That you probably should.

And that applies to any used car.

I don't care if it's two years old or if it's 100 years old.

You've got to go through those things.

So that's great.

And I'll put a link to that checklist

in the description below.

Where are some of the best places

to look for these cars?

Other, obviously, than your website.

But where do you go when you really

want to find classic cars?

Because it's a different marketplace.

So it depends on your level of expertise.

If you are somebody that just wants a classic car,

but you're not going to work on the car yourself,

that's where I say, maybe a dealership

is the right place for you.

I tell anybody, if you're thinking about a classic car,

become an expert.

Absolutely.

Between YouTube and the internet,

you can become an expert on a car in no time.

And every car has an Achilles heel.

I don't care what maker model.

Generally, if you're looking at a car,

if they can provide the documentation

about the history of it and you're not that good at looking at,

those are the cars you want to look at.

I think originality is important.

If you're looking at anything newer than 81, 81 or newer,

you can pull the car fax and that's a relatively

reliable proxy of what the car's been through.

If you're particular about a mark,

you can join a Facebook group if you're on there.

A lot of Facebook groups, you'll see cars come up

for sale on there.

The online auction industry and all the talk

might have you think that everybody's

putting their car on the big guns,

but really, only one in seven cars

is sold at auction online.

Right, because it's listing them as expensive.

Yes, it can be.

So that's why so many people are just using

Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist because it's free.

Now beware folks, there are so many scams,

particularly on Facebook Marketplace

and there's a lot of very specific classic car scams.

They are fake classic car ads.

You really have to talk to the person.

And this is true just buying,

anytime you're buying a used car private party,

especially if you find it on a place

like Marketplace or Craigslist,

make sure that you can talk to the person on the phone.

Make sure they are real

because I come across these all the time.

It's like, oh, that's fake.

Okay, that's fake, but the classic car fake ones

are even harder to spot

because those are more sophisticated scammers.

Absolutely.

Than the ones that are trying to advertise

a $3,000 Honda that doesn't exist

and are preying on poor people.

If you're dealing with a seller

that only wants to deal with by text or email, walk,

walk away.

Especially if you're buying a classic car

because that person in theory should be older like us

and they know what it's like to live without a cell phone.

They learned how to communicate before texting.

So they should know how to actually speak

through their device and even in person.

Right, right.

If you're not knowledgeable in it,

take it to a mechanic you trust,

have them go through the car

or you can even hire a service like Lemon Squad.

Yeah, I love Lemon Squad.

Everybody knows I preach Lemon Squad

and they have a classic car package.

Yes.

Yeah, it's $350 worth of insurance.

So what's some of the most underrated classic cars

on the market right now?

So if somebody's, you know, they want something fun,

they're not necessarily sure what they want.

What can you actually get a good deal on

that's a great car versus which ones are

just ridiculously overpriced and overhyped?

First generation Mazda Miata's

are starting to creep up in price

and it's getting very hard to find low mileage ones.

For years you could find, you know,

somebody bought it as their third car

and they only used it in the summer and you could find these

but now the prices of those are creeping up

in the mid-teens, so I tell people.

Well, guess who's everybody's buying them

and turn them into track cars?

Well, that's the other problem.

So the next best alternative are the NBs.

Right, yeah, the second generation little Miata's.

Okay, the pop-up headlights are gone

but it went to fixed lights

but other than that it's very similar

to the original car.

So just as good of an experience and just as reliable,

decent fuel economy and it's a great reliable car.

If you're looking for a more modern, cheap classic,

anything with the 3800 V6 that Buick made,

that's a cool car I think would be like the Buick Riata.

It's a two-seat, it was essentially hand-built

but it's got the Buick V6 in it.

You know, so that's a good reliable motor

and then I come back to the Boxster.

The problem with the Boxster is when something goes

it's expensive, like any Porsche, right?

Yeah, that's German car syndrome.

Yeah, yeah, so I recommend Boxsters

because they are a great weekend car

with plenty of room that don't break the bank

and I think they're very underrated.

Oh yes, absolutely.

I loved, mine was named Penelope,

she was the love of my life.

There you go.

Don't tell my husband that.

But it's kind of nice that those are not considered

classic because I think of the old 944s

and the 924s and the 928s, which are crazy.

If you want an older Porsche,

that Boxster is definitely a good one to look at.

Beyond that, I look at 80s and 90s trucks and SUVs.

It's everybody's into SUVs now.

The trucks, if you could find a rust-free,

Chevy square body, which is the 73 to 87 truck,

very classic look, simple to work on.

You can get plenty of parts for it.

Any of the SUVs, particularly the Japanese ones

were very reliable.

Again, it comes back to how good is the body.

You just don't want to be going down that rabbit hole

of fixing rust because it's, you know, it's just.

Yeah, and especially on the newer cars that are unibody,

that's a whole different game.

Yeah, what people don't realize,

there's a fair amount of 50s and 60s cars that are unibodies,

particularly Ford Thunderbirds, up to 66,

I think they were the first generation Mustang

and Falcons, classic example of a unibody.

See, happen carefully.

Yeah, we restored a Mach-E and it was unibody.

Yeah, yeah, it's gotta be careful there.

Is there like a specific car or a couple cars

that if you see one of these,

like we did with the Packard, just run.

I don't care how pretty it is, just run far away,

do not buy.

Oh, there's so many.

There's so many.

Well, I can speak from personal experience, Porsche 928s.

Oh, yeah.

They're a very complicated car.

I would stay away from Jaguars,

particularly the V12s.

I say that, like even nowadays, like in general,

they're beautiful, especially the old classic Jags.

There's rarely been a more beautiful car.

Oh, yeah.

But they never learned how to actually build one.

Actually, the Porsche dealer in Charlotte years ago

when my car was being fixed,

and they gave me this as the loaner

because they had already loaned out

all of their Porsche loaner cars,

so they had this old, huge,

like land yacht Jaguar sedan

that had a olive green shag carpet interior.

We called it the Shaguar,

and this was the loaner car you got

if you didn't plan ahead.

Oh, boy.

And it was holy.

I mean, I had that same carpet in my dorm room

in college, and it was just hilarious.

It would have made a good episode of Pit My Ride.

I can imagine, yeah.

If there was a Jag carpeting in a car before.

Yeah.

Well, let's talk about one of the challenges

with buying a classic car is, again,

you don't have Kelly Blue Book

or something that will at least give you a gauge

of what you should pay for this car.

So how do you determine what is a fair price to pay

for one of these cars?

Classic.com is a really up and comer

in terms of getting car values.

What I like about that is you see,

they have scatter plots of what's sold,

not necessarily what's been asked.

Now, the other ones I use are

the classic car market review, CCMR.

That does it based on condition.

The old cars weekly, I believe I have a subscription

to that, but you might be able to do that

on a trial thing.

That has values by condition.

And then there's Hagerty.

So I love how you say that.

Yeah.

It's the trouble with Hagerty's values.

Anytime you rely on self-reported data,

everybody thinks their car is a condition one.

And when I say condition one,

there's four conditions, four to six conditions.

Condition one is considered concor.

That's where next week is Pebble Beach.

That would be a car that would be able

to cross Pebble Beach, perhaps win an award.

It is clean to a surgical level.

Right.

It's damn near perfect.

The numbers match.

I mean, it just, it doesn't get any better than that.

And that's probably what?

Like a fraction of 1% of the car is out there.

Exactly.

If you think, it's really a bell curve.

Everybody thinks their car is the number one

and they want that price.

But in reality, their car is probably a,

like I'll tell people, if you saw my Boxter,

it's a concor quality car.

I wouldn't repeated concors with it.

That is a condition three car all day long.

That's why I tend to avoid Hagerty's

because they tend to, and I've proven it,

their number one values,

they'll rely on one or two data points.

Yeah, that's not statistically valid.

Yeah, exactly.

So you have to take their data with it.

And they're relying on people when they,

hey, I bought a classic car.

Well, what did you buy?

What did you pay for?

And conversely, I just sold my classic car,

canceled the policy.

Okay, what did you get for it?

So there's some, there's some.

Right.

They're primarily an insurance company.

Yes.

So they would love for your car

to be one of these higher conditions

because then they can charge you more money

to insure it.

Exactly, right.

That's how that game works.

You know, insurance is an important thing

to consider too because there are just certain companies

that will insure a classic car.

You know, you can't just necessarily call up Geico

and hey, give me a quote.

You do have to make sure you do your homework

and find an insurance company that has special policies

for these cars because it is just,

it's a whole different ball game.

And owning a classic car is, it's a lifestyle.

A classic car is a toy.

It's very rarely something that's going

to be your daily driver.

They only do that on TV.

It doesn't actually work in the real world.

Yeah, and for your listeners and viewers,

that's called an agreed value policy.

That's what you wanna go for.

Okay, it's called the agreed value policy.

And you're, you know, depending on your insurance company

may or may not offer it,

but you wanna go for agreed value.

So you'll have to put pictures in for it

and you say, okay, I paid this much for it.

And generally the companies, they'll insure it.

There are a couple of restrictions,

some of them, you know, when you can drive it,

how often you can drive it,

how many miles you can put on it.

But just like leasing terms on a modern car,

you can say, I plan to drive this 5,000 miles

and they'll adjust the policy accordingly,

but what agreed value is the way to go.

Generally though, if you look up those sites,

you'll find the values for any car you're looking at.

You can get a pretty good picture

of what you should pay for the car

based on its condition.

And that's good because it's so many people

do have an inflated idea of what their car is worth.

Not only because they have an emotional attachment to it,

but because the fact that they put the Barrett Jackson

auctions on TV and those prices

are ridiculously inflated.

I mean, anybody who buys a car through one of those

auctions is probably paying more than it's worth.

Absolutely.

Because they're kind of paying for that Barrett Jackson

experience.

So maybe you have a 66 Mustang sitting in your garage,

but no, it's not worth $100,000.

If it runs and it's in good condition,

maybe it's worth 10 to 15, but it's not worth $100,000.

People have this complete russet out piece of junk

that doesn't even have a drivetrain in it in their barn

and they want $10,000 for it.

And you just have to laugh.

You have to.

It's not going to happen.

Honestly, you should pay me to haul it off your property.

With people, if they call me and they say,

I want to put the car up, there's a couple of tells.

I'll say, OK, what are you hoping to get for the car?

And if they start the conversation

by saying I have X into it, I know it's going to go south.

As you know from your story, what you have into the car

is not what it's worth.

You've got to remember that.

Definitely not.

And that's true on any car, but especially on one of these,

because you will always be putting more into it

than you'll ever be able to get out of it.

So if you can break even, sometimes you're

doing very, very well.

That's exactly how I look at it.

I bought the Boxster I have.

I've had 10 years.

Bought it was 70,000 miles for $10,000.

I've maintained it.

I did a full suspension rebuild on it.

And it cost me probably close to the value of the car.

Right now, I probably could sell that car for 10 to 12.

And I have 50,000 miles of memories with that car.

And that's the holy grail, right?

I got the enjoyment, but I still broke even on the car.

Yeah, absolutely.

This has been so helpful, Rudy.

I mean, your knowledge is just tremendous

on these classic cars.

And I love that you have built a marketplace that

is not going to get taken over by the dealers the way

auto trader and even Facebook marketplace

is getting taken over by dealers now.

And it's nice just to have a place where

us normal people can go and sell our cars

or buy our cars with other like minded individuals

and not have to worry about the dealerships coming in

and taking over or jacking up the prices

or anything like that.

It's nice to have our own sandbox.

So tell people where they can find not only your auction

site for the classic cars, but also all the great educational

resources that you provide.

Sure.

So you can go to guyswithrides.com.

That's the main portal.

And when you get there, you can see

the link to my marketplace, which is guyswithrides.bid.

I keep the two separate because it's a more secure

marketplace to do it that way.

And then all of the resources are

on the guyswithrides.com page.

I'm doing a lot of resources on what

to look for in the classic car auction world.

And if I'm not doing guides like that,

I'm doing video of whatever I'm working on behind this wall

here.

We always have a project car in the garage.

That's just the kind of people we are.

Well, I love it.

That's fantastic.

Well, thanks again, Rudy.

And folks, if you're thinking about buying a classic car,

collector car, but you don't know where to start,

but you know you want to have something

or maybe you want to get something

for one of your loved ones for a significant birthday,

I do offer a specialty car buying package.

You can check that out at thecarchick.com.

And I can help you figure out

what is the right vintage ride for you

and avoid all these mistakes

and help you get the right one at the right price.

So it's something that you want to wrench on

or just want to show off at cars and coffee,

we can handle that.

So if you're chasing your dream car

from like high school,

make sure it doesn't turn into a nightmare in your driveway.

Do it smart and just don't fall for the shiny paint trap

because it might be covering expanding foam.

That's right.

Drive safely, folks.

Rudy and I are out of here.

The Street Shift podcast is copyright Lee and Shattuck,

the car chip.

All views expressed by guest and or co-hosts

are those of the guest and or co-hosts

and not necessarily those of Lee and Shattuck

or the car chip.

About this episode

Navigating the classic car market can be daunting, but this episode provides essential insights for potential buyers. Host Lee Ann Shattuck shares her personal experiences restoring classic cars and discusses common pitfalls to avoid. Guest Rudy Sampsel, co-founder of Guys With Rides, emphasizes the importance of understanding a car's history and condition. They explore the emotional aspects of buying classic cars, the significance of documentation, and practical advice for inspections. Listeners will gain valuable tips on finding their dream ride without falling into the classic car trap.

Chevrolet Chevelle Ford Mustang GTD Ford Thunderbird Mazda MX-5 / Miata Nissan 240SX Porsche 924 Porsche 928 Porsche 944 Porsche Boxster Toyota Supra

Original notes

Summary

In this episode of The Straight Shift, The Car Chick® and Rudy Samsel, founder of Guys With Rides, delve into the world of classic cars, discussing the emotional and financial aspects of buying and restoring these vehicles. They explore what defines a classic car, key considerations for potential buyers, and the importance of documentation and condition. Rudy shares insights on where to find classic cars, underrated models, and cars to avoid. The conversation emphasizes the need for rational thinking in the buying process and offers practical tips for navigating the classic car market.

Guest Bio

Rudy Samsel has been a car fanatic since childhood—his first word was “car,” and he grew up devouring everything from owner’s manuals to magazines. Known by friends and family as a true “Car Savant,” he can recall obscure details about nearly any make and model and has the wrenching skills to back it up, having rebuilt suspensions, swapped engines, and tackled countless projects. Together with his wife Nancy, Rudy co-founded Guys With Rides, a dealer-free classic car auction site built on honesty, trust, and a passion for preserving the hobby for real enthusiasts.

Takeaways