Driven Radio Show Mar 26, 2026

Driven Radio Show #346: Live from the 66th Annual World of Wheels

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Car

Dodge Challenger

The Dodge Challenger is a muscle car made for strong acceleration and a bold look. A “70 Challenger” means it’s from the year 1970. People talk about it because older Challengers are popular with collectors.

Term

dolly

A dolly is basically a little cart with wheels that helps you move something heavy without lifting it. It’s handy at car shows when you’re moving gear or getting things around safely.

Company

O'Reilly Auto Parts

O'Reilly Auto Parts is a big store chain that sells car parts and tools. When they show up at events, it’s usually because they’re supporting the car community and promoting what they sell.

Concept

World of Wheels

World of Wheels is a big car show where people bring custom and modified vehicles to display. It’s the kind of event where you see lots of wild builds and detailed craftsmanship.

Term

train horns

Train horns are loud aftermarket horns that sound like a train. People add them to custom trucks for a big, attention-grabbing sound.

Concept

show quality

“Show quality” refers to a vehicle being built and maintained to look excellent for car shows—clean, detailed, and often finished to a higher standard than a daily driver. The mention that the underside is visible and “100% show quality” highlights that the truck is designed to be judged up close.

Company

Midwest Dream Car Collection

Midwest Dream Car Collection is a car museum or collection where Kylie works. Places like this often show cars to the public and host events for car fans.

Concept

car clubs

Car clubs are groups of people who love cars and get together for events. They might organize tours or meetups, and they help bring more fans to places like car museums.

Concept

501 C three organization

A 501(c)(3) is a type of nonprofit status in the U.S. It usually means the organization is tax-exempt and can focus on public service like community events.

Company

Russo and steel

Russo and Steele is an auction company that sells classic and collector cars. If a car sells there, it can be a big deal for its value and reputation.

Car

69 Mustang Mach one

This is a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1. It’s a classic muscle car that collectors really want because it looks great and came with strong performance options.

Concept

car covered in wine corks

This is a car that’s been decorated with wine corks all over it. It’s not about performance—it’s more like a creative display with a story behind it.

Term

drinking and driving

They joke that it’s a little weird to talk about wine corks on a car, because it brings up drinking and driving. It’s basically a cautionary/awkward connection.

Concept

coffin car

They’re talking about a Halloween-themed car shaped like a coffin. And it’s not just for show—it can actually work like a real car.

Car

amphicar

An Amphicar is a special car that can do two things: drive on land and also float and move in water. The museum uses it for rides during members-only events.

Concept

bourbon and bends

It sounds like a themed event where people learn and taste bourbon, but it’s tied to cars and driving. The “bends” part is a nod to curvy roads or the driving vibe.

Concept

route 66

Route 66 is the famous U.S. highway that became an icon of American road trips and car culture. The episode mentions an “anniversary of route 66,” which is a major theme for automotive museums and events because it connects vehicles to a broader historical story.

Concept

Hey, all you dear heads and car fiends, welcome to Driven Radio Show coming to you live.

At least live for us.

From the 66th annual, all Riley Auto Parts World of Wheels Custom Car Show at Kansas

City Convention Center.

Yeah, it's really nice.

The amount of vehicles here, you know, it's not covering the entire Bartle Hall, so you

have to walk your frickin' legs off.

Bartle Hall, Kansas City Convention Center, it's been renamed, but if you've been here

for more than a couple of years, this is Bartle Hall, is over a quarter mile long.

It's two stoplights long outside.

And what they've done is, without using the entire hall, they've condensed it.

So you've got-

It's easier to cover.

Oh my God.

And there's just so many things.

I keep looking over here.

This whole Mopar section is killing me, dog.

Look at it.

It's beautiful.

What is it?

A 70 Challenger?

They even have-

What is it?

A 70 CUDA.

They even have a super clean Jeep CJ7, and you know I'm a sucker for a Jeep.

Yeah.

Oh man.

So good looking stuff.

So that's the-

We also have the tool vendor here, and this is killing me, man, before we leave, I'm taking

home tools.

Yeah.

Going to go just get yourself a basket and just start tossing them in.

Yeah, you're not wrong.

Oh yeah.

You're not wrong.

And of course, we've got to give big thank yous to Rick Hunter and Hot Rod Express.

And don't forget Lori Burns, because she really runs that show.

And whoever baked those cookies, oh my God, thank you.

I think that is-

I've forgotten her name.

We just want to admit it.

It's the best person out of the troop.

And we also have to very much thank Larry Way.

Oh, Larry, absolutely.

So very helpful, and also, let us park right in the middle of God and everything.

Yeah, that guy back there, he was finally kind of saying, you know what, just back it

up and it'll be okay.

And we're like, we love you.

And we love you, especially because me in my amazing wisdom, I forgot to bring my dolly.

The convertible dolly, and this shit's heavy.

There's that.

And the other thing, remember that March Madness is going on down here at the same time this

show is going on.

I am so happy we didn't have to go find someplace real to park.

I would have had to hike blocks, which means you would have found me crawling on my hands

and knees somewhere down the street.

You would have been broadcasting remote from the corner of the 39th.

Well, you knew you didn't bring a dolly.

I'd have been out of luck.

Yeah.

But it all worked out and we're here and enjoying the heck out of the show.

And we're set up right on an aisle.

We get a people watch and we have been for a little bit.

Oh, yeah.

Lots of fun.

And we are looking forward.

We found some really cool vendors that we're going to talk to from a museum to people that

rebuild stuff.

Yeah, I think there's a couple guys right down the way here that do Bronco stuff.

Oh, I am looking so forward to this.

So stick around.

You know, we're live or recording live and just jazzed beautiful cars, cool stuff and

cool people.

66th annual O'Reilly Auto Parts World of Wheels in Kansas City.

We've got quite the crew here at the 66th annual World of Wheels in Kansas City.

The vehicles, I've taken like three laps now and I'm just it's it's such eye candy.

I keep staring at that giant K-10 pickup that's right over here that some of the toddlers

walking around have been able to walk under without ducking that looks like it would

absolutely require a forklift or a SkyTrack to get into and I just want to drive over

the top of everything.

Well, I absolutely want one of those in traffic.

I absolutely want the thing to have train horns on it and I absolutely want to pick

Prius out of my grill at the end of the day.

Yeah, man.

I think that that would completely drive over a smart car if you try.

I would try.

I 100% believe that started as a, oh, yeah, well, you know what I could do, but you know

what?

It's still cool.

No, look at the thing.

It's got a completely custom frame.

Yeah.

The frame is polished.

Everything about it's polished.

And because it is jacked up so high in the air, you can see everything on the underside

and it is all 100% show quality.

It's somebody's dream car and speaking of that, I'll bet you, I'll bet you the folks

at Midwest Dream Car Collection have something in their collection that's jacked up like

that.

And we've got Kylie Dickerson with us from Midwest Dream Car Collection.

Kylie, welcome to Driven Radio Show.

Thank you so much for having me.

This is amazing.

How about that for a segue, baby?

Ah, smooth.

Like butter.

Kylie, how long have you been working for Midwest Dream Car?

I have been at Midwest Dream Car since the beginning of 2026.

So this is officially my third month.

Okay.

So very new to the world of cars, but an extremely exciting opportunity nonetheless.

Have you met Ward and Brenda yet?

I have not.

So they're kind of these jokes that they tell around the museum that they just like

will randomly walk in and some of the volunteers that we have that might be new.

They're just like, oh, thanks for being here.

Hi, can I help you?

Yes, this is mine.

Yes.

I own this building.

But yeah, it's so funny.

I haven't had the chance to meet them yet, but I did hear rumor that they will be coming

to a couple of our events later this spring.

So I can absolutely vouch for both of them.

They are very sweet and kind people.

And you know what?

Back in the, in the Stone Age, I think it was our very first show.

He was.

He was our very first show when it was Road Muscle Radio.

We used Ward as a guinea pig and he was a very, very good sport about it.

And, you know, we ought to have him back really soon since we're, we're racking up the numbers

there.

And that was right when the Midwest Dream Cart Collection was kind of starting.

Yeah, it was, it was in its infancy and now it is very established and speaking of polished

and professional operation.

And because they keep hiring people like Kylie, Kylie, what does it you do for the Dream

Cart Collection?

Yeah, so it's a bit of a lengthy title, but it's one that I think is very.

I see that it fills your entire name tag there.

So, um.

And four point font.

Yep.

So I am our business development and event liaison at the museum.

So basically what I do, I go out to events just like this and talk to the public about

the wonderful work that we do at MDCC.

And then I work really closely with like car clubs and local businesses that are looking

to come in for tours.

So if anyone out there is looking to go on a tour of a really, really awesome car museum

sometime, um, get in contact with me and I can get that on the books and get you scheduled.

But yeah, let's start with some of the basic information.

How big is the museum?

What kind of cars do you have there?

Yeah.

How many cars are there?

And I know because I've seen, uh, you've got a rotation.

Yes.

There's a, there's an exterior.

There's a separate warehouse where things are kept like, uh, six wheel vans with giant

vikings on the side.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

So, um, you guys, you mentioned briefly earlier.

So we were actually founded back in 2018 as a 501 C three organization.

So we do a lot of really wonderful community programming.

We host a lot of events for the public and everything, but we have a really wonderful

space there at MDCC that actually used to be a prior grocery store.

So, um, basically an entire grocery store floor full of cars.

We have over 65 cars in the collection.

And like you mentioned, we wrote tape between them pretty regularly.

So everything from our 1886 Ben's Patton Motorwagon, which was the first

v automobile ever produced, uh, had a maximum speed of 10 miles per hour.

Although we up to a 2022 Ford GT.

So everything in between.

So classic Rolls Royces, classic Mercedes.

We have a really awesome Mustang Mach one as we talked about earlier.

But, um, yeah, pretty much anything for anyone, whether you're a

classic car aficionado or a super car enthusiast, we've got something

that you're going to love here at MDCC.

Uh, you and I were discussing that, but nobody else has heard it in 2018.

Ward and I may have been at the, uh, at the Russo and steel auction in

Scottsdale and we were shooting the breeze, having a good time, possibly

an adult beverage involved.

And there was a really pretty white 69 Mustang Mach one with a 428

Cobra jet engine and a four speed black interior.

And, uh, Ward says to me, do you think it's worth it?

And I'm thinking, God, man, I don't have a price guide on me or nothing.

And, uh, I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's probably worth the money.

And he and I decided to go look around and see some of the other

cars that were, uh, being offered and we're walking out of the tent.

And as we did, Ward throws bid over his shoulder and wins it.

He won that Mustang.

And I looked at him and I said, do you win that crisis?

Yeah, I think so.

And then we just walked right out, put it on my list.

It is my goal in life to have that amount of income where I could just be

like, I'm going to drop a bid on this Mustang and we're going to go from there.

It's wonderful.

It's not even that.

It was just to have that.

I will use the G rated version to have that kind of guts.

Yeah.

Then you can just say, yeah, I'll do it.

I'll do it.

I'll do this.

And Ward's the guy.

And Ward is the guy and he did it and he wanted, but that was, uh, in the

midst of him really starting to collect everything he could for the museum.

And he has brought some of the coolest stuff.

Now, I believe you have a fiat multiple that's covered entirely in wine corks.

Yes, we do.

So that is actually, um, my mom's favorite car that we have at the museum

cause she is a cork collector as well.

But the story behind that a gentleman was driving all around Europe and he

decided you start, start collecting wine corks and that was kind of his

personal passion project.

So not only is the car covered in wine corks from all over the world.

Um, we actually have a bin that we keep in the back with, uh, bonus

quirks in case one were to ever, you know, fall off or anything.

No, no, who sucks at the corks?

I knew you were gonna, I knew it.

I freaking knew it.

Uh, it does kind of speak oddly to drinking and driving, but, you know,

we, we cannot condone that behavior, but it is a very, very wonderful addition.

What are some of the other unique, uh, cars you have on display right now?

Yeah.

So my personal favorite car that we have at the collection, I'm looking at it

as you hold my business card, um, is actually our 2006 Ferrari spider.

So that's one of my favorites.

We also have a coffin car that we put out for Halloween.

So it's literally in the shape of a coffin and it is fully functional.

Is that the Billy Mooney coffin car from the monsters?

The month?

Yeah.

The gold one from the monsters.

And we actually, we had a, uh, a kiddo come in for one of our community events,

um, back in February and he, he was like, where's the coffin car?

So our curator took him in the back and let him see it, which was super awesome.

But, uh, we also have the Motley crew, hers.

That's my dad's personal favorite.

So that's from one of their final tours.

I know all those bands always say it's their final tour and then it's never

the last one.

The Rolling Stones have had 19 final tours.

Yep.

That's how my, my grandma's always like, I would, I attended the Eagles final

tour back in like 2002 and I'm like, and they're still touring.

I was about to say it's at the final mortgage payment tour.

Yeah.

Hey, I want a new boat.

I got an idea.

But one of the most exciting rare vehicles that we have, that's one of my

favorites as well is our Tucker 48.

So I'm sure many people who are, who are listening are probably familiar with

the iconic movie, but the Tucker 48 that we own is one of only 51 ever

produced, that's around two and a half million dollars in value.

And we have the matching luggage for all you gear heads out there that are

sticklers for a matching set of luggage.

And this our year 2026.

So have you, uh, have you gotten to see it running or see it driven yet?

Not yet, but I know that, um, our curator is taking the Tucker to the

McPherson college car show May 2nd.

And if I could ever drag you down there, it's not impossible.

Hey, we got a hide a bed in our hotel room.

You're out of excuses, mister.

But, um, that along with our Mercedes Benz goal wing, which is also extremely rare.

Um, we definitely, if, if you are somebody who is into the, the rare and exotic,

we've got a little something for everybody at MDCC for sure.

So very cool.

Uh, can you talk about some of the other things besides just cars that you

have at the museum?

I know that there was a, a membership, a club for a while.

Yeah.

So we do still have membership.

So if you're somebody who likes to come back to museums again and again, we've

got two tiers of membership available at the museum and that'll get you into some

of our, uh, members only events.

So we have, um, our members only amphicar picnic in June every year.

So we actually give out, uh, rides in our amphicar that we have there at the

museum.

So for those of you who are unfamiliar, it drives on land in and in water.

So you take it out on top, tunnel creek.

Yep.

We do.

So, um, if you want to become a member, um, you get to ride in that really

wonderful amphicar that we have, but, you know, they used to do that down in

Branson, Missouri.

You could rent an amphicar and go ride it out onto a lake, teeny Como,

basically the white river that comes off the bottom of the lake.

And, uh, I think when they had to fish one out was when they stopped doing it.

Cause those things, those are not cheap vehicles.

No, yeah.

And the maintenance on them, I'm sure is intense, very intense.

Well, it's German.

Yeah.

So there you go.

And you have to buy all those, uh, bathtub seals and a lot of cock.

Yeah.

Well, and not like we've ever discussed German car maintenance on the show before.

That's all cheap and easy.

Uh, it may have been on a car that you and I picked up this morning from good,

old classic collision, six pack of FTP and you're good.

They did a nice job on that car, by the way.

Um, all right.

And also is the wine bar still there?

Unfortunately not.

I wonder if that would last or not.

I, that was one of wards.

I, I personally really liked that was a Brenda thing.

I, I think they, they thought that that was going to, I thought it would be a

really wonderful idea, but I think as the museum grew, we just couldn't keep up

with the maintenance of it.

Cause the kegs are a lot and everything.

Plus you need the space.

Yes.

Yeah.

And also, you know, you only need so many corks for that fiat.

Exactly.

Well, and the nice thing is since the, the bar moved out, that's where our

Tucker now sits.

So it was repurposed into our whole new.

And very well used.

Extremely.

So, um, but we actually do have a variety of really fun events at the museum.

Um, even though we don't have the bar anymore, unfortunately, we do have a

really awesome event called bourbon and bends that's coming up next Friday.

So I was going to ask you, I know you've got different events throughout through

the coming months, you've got bourbon and bends coming up and tell us about that.

Yeah.

So that's one of our brand new events for 2026.

So we are actually having a guided bourbon tasting complete with catered

Texas roadhouse.

So, um, and are they going to have the roles?

Of course.

Okay.

There you go.

The roles are included.

And then we will also have, um, a brief kind of rundown on the history of the

Ben's family by our curator, Doug, and our wonderful event coordinator, Bradley.

So we're super excited about that.

Um, but on top of that wonderful event, we do a lot of awesome, uh, programming

for the public as well.

So we've got our hundredth anniversary, uh, anniversary of route 66 coming up in

April.

Um, we've got our annual car show that we're doing in September this year as well.

So that's our show and shine car show.

That'll be mid September.

So check out our socials for more information on that.

Um, and then we also have a brand new low rider exhibition come into town on, uh, in

June.

So, um, anyone out there who's into low rider culture, we're going to have

really wonderful artistic cars out there as well as some low rider

demonstration.

Almost makes me wish I still had Vlad the Impala.

Amen.

So where do we find you guys on, uh, online, on social, et cetera?

Yeah.

So everywhere we are at Midwest stream car collection.

So Midwest stream car collection on Facebook, Midwest stream car collection on

Instagram.

We don't have TikTok up and running yet, but we're hoping to get on there at some

point this year.

Do you post anything on YouTube?

We do post on YouTube as well.

Um, we do a lot of wonderful information about the cars that we have at the

collection.

Um, Doug tells us a lot about the history of cars and we do demonstrations on

there sometimes.

So, um, definitely give us a follow over there, but, um, any, any time you want to

come in, we are always happy to have everybody.

It's Midwest stream car collection.org Midwest stream car collection.org at

3,007 Anderson Avenue in Manhattan, Kansas.

And by the way, uh, well, uh, we've got some free little passes.

Yeah, contact us because Kylie has been, uh, kind enough, generous enough to

supply us with lots of free admission passes.

Contact Brett at drivenradioshow.com.

That's B R E T T at drivenradioshow.com and we will send you free passes to

get into the museum.

And Kylie, we really appreciate your coming down here to talk with us.

Yes.

Thank you so much for your time.

This has been amazing.

So this is Kylie Dickerson, business and development and event liaison for

Midwest dream car collection.

Kylie, thank you so much for being with us.

Thank you gentlemen.

Have a great weekend.

Luckily our friends over at Hot Rod Express have let us set up at their booth.

Well, they kind of let us glom on to whatever they're doing.

And we, uh, look, they're a former co-host.

We've, uh, we've got a 63 Corvette that's in mid process.

Got a beautiful, what is it?

A 69 Camaro 68.

This one's a 67.

You can always sell 67s because they got wing windows on them.

God, it's gorgeous.

We are sandwiched between great cars, great people, and also a bunch of great vendors.

Hey, lookie there.

And with us is one of our vendors that around here that I think is right up your

alley, Brett, this is, this is going to speak your language.

Luke still is joining us from a heart of American distribution.

And Luke is, uh, a representative of fireball waxes and sealants.

And, uh, Luke, welcome to driven radio show.

Thanks for having me guys.

Appreciate you.

Now, Mark says you've got lots of stuff I'm going to be interested in.

And, uh, we're going to quiz you now and see what you got.

Hey, look, there's a Corey Pratt, a former, uh, former co-host, and we'll be

with us Tuesday night in studio for the 400th show.

Is that correct, sir?

Absolutely fantastic to see you.

That is correct.

Get back to work, sir.

Take your pictures.

Look at that, man.

We'll see you Tuesday.

All right.

Thanks, Corey.

Uh, Luke, you are with fireball USA located right here in Kansas City, Missouri.

And what do you specialize in?

What does your company do?

Well, I originally have a background of 20 years and actually detailing cars and

owning a detailing business.

And so you would know.

Yeah, of course.

Um, I, we've got two shops actually, one located in St.

Joseph, Missouri, about an hour north of here, then one in the whole late

thing, Kansas, real close to driven radio studios, a little south.

And, uh, I moved down here in 2019, um, to start the second shop down here in

Olathe, and I've lived here ever since upon doing so, I was testing out these

products that we're talking about today and just playing with them at my shop,

just trying to learn a little bit about them and, uh, seeing what they're all

about, I was getting them from, uh, a friend of mine that was a distributor

in Australia at the time.

And fireball specializes in ceramic coatings, uh, liquid paste, or is it, uh,

hard-paced wax?

All hard-paced wax.

Yep.

And, uh, and cleaners, tell us a little bit about your product line.

Uh, give us names, tell us what your stuff does.

Give us a rundown.

Yeah.

So, um, it's crazy.

We started out just doing paste waxes and ceramic coatings.

There was some cleaners to kind of go along with the line, um, but all of it's

from South Korea.

I don't have any, any influence realistically on what is being produced

or distributed from South Korea.

I'm just the main distributor of the United States.

Um, obviously over the years that have kind of earned my reputation and trust

with the company and they've learned the United States market and understood,

you know, what's good and what's bad here.

And from my feedback has kind of grown the product line from around 120

products originally to now over 240 different products.

So it's doubled.

Yes.

Okay.

And tell us about the products.

Um, the easiest way to say it is everything is, is literally made by one

person, so he knows every single formula.

He knows how to adjust the formulas.

He works hand in hand with the actual user themselves.

He's also a detailer, so he's trying to make the products work for the people.

He's, you know, if he's making 240 products, that's a busy guy.

He is insanely busy.

And he's doing that from Korea.

He is.

No kidding.

Yep.

So, uh, one person, it's his formulations.

He creates them and then a factory produces it for him.

Okay.

Great, great, great.

And what's crazy is the factory is the nicest thing you'll imagine the biggest,

nicest place that you've ever seen in your life.

That's what it looks like.

I go there every year.

We, we actually are getting ready to bring out a bunch of marine grade products.

Also for boats and RVs and all the above.

And right now our first one that we just came out with is called Theseus and Triton.

And those are marine ceramic coatings.

Okay.

And I'm sure a lot of you guys probably don't know, but most ceramic coatings don't

last longer than two years in the water.

And so a lot of consumers or users that are using ceramic coatings fail to have

protection after that two year timeframe.

And so they're spending thousands and thousands of dollars trying to

re-up on that.

Well, we're making it easy for not only the professional installers to be able to

have a longer coating lasting, but also for a consumer to have a product on

their, on their boat that's going to work longer than that as well.

Well, no, this is a, if they're making it for the, also for the South Korean market,

is it designed more for saltwater and the abrasiveness and the abuse of saltwater

and would it last longer here in our clear water or in our freshwater lakes?

So every market is different, of course.

And he has to fly and go and test and check the markets.

So he's doing all the testing here in the United States.

Everything is done here from, from my country.

Chile, Brazil, Russia, you know, all the other country, he's going to those

distributors and reformulating a new formulation for those as well.

Because flash times is a huge thing with coatings.

They flash differently because of humidity and temperature and where the

installation is being done at will also change a lot of the factors of the coating.

Now, you make also, like I said, hard-paced wax and cleaners.

Now, is this strictly for detailers or is there entry-level stuff for the do-it-yourselfer?

So it originally started out for mainly professional detailers.

He was hitting just boutique shops and professionals over the years that has obviously changed.

And Fireball has been around since 2002.

It just hit the, you know, the massive scene of U.S. market in, in 2015.

So all of the coatings and everything else really got popular in 2016, 2017.

And let's talk about some of your products, the individual products.

For the guy who's doing it in his garage, he's taking care of his own stuff.

Shade, tree, detailer.

Yep.

What do you have for that guy?

What products do you recommend?

Absolutely everything, absolutely everything.

From car wash shampoo to, you know, a bucket shampoo to a snow foam.

Well, what do, what do you recommend?

If I'm standing looking at a shelf full of Fireball products,

what should I buy and take home, let's say, as an entry-level detailer?

And here in the Midwest market.

Right now, the Show Car series.

It literally says Show Car on all the products.

And it's a complete series from car wash shampoo to tireshine and dressing

to a protectant for your exterior painted surfaces and any of the Show Car series waxes.

And those are the hand-paste waxes that we're talking about.

The only differences between the waxes that you're going to look up online and find is

some of them will have different gloss levels.

Some of them will have different application levels.

So you'll see a little bit more oil or a little bit like harder paste.

And that will either help you remove or not remove.

You know, it's going to give you different attributes,

depending on the obviously the wax of choice.

Now, the waxes you're using, are they all intended to be applied by hand?

Or can you use a DA?

You can 100% use a DA in the UK.

They use their hands.

They will literally take their palms and get inside of the wax jars,

the acrylic jars, and put them on with their hands.

Well, that's what you do if you've got sissy hands.

Sorry, sorry.

I was just thinking back to when I was building, man,

I wouldn't have touched my car bare-handed and not a chance.

Not busted knuckles anyway.

No, no.

And then once you've done that, is it a step-by-step process?

Do you have a clay bar that you use to prep the surface?

You can definitely do that.

Obviously, a clean prep surface is definitely nice.

Realistically, with our paste waxes, they're non-abrasive.

So there's nothing that you're going to get,

you know, to repair scratches or anything like that.

The only thing that these are going to ultimately do

is give you added protection, added gloss, depth,

and a mirror-like finish.

And that's what you want.

So it's very, very easy to apply.

You're not getting all that crusty, nasty stuff

in the cracks and crevices.

You don't have to worry about any of that.

And if you accidentally do hit rubber moldings,

trim, you know, glass or anything like that,

and wipe right off.

You don't have to worry about, you know,

stuff being left behind like this.

We're looking at this Camaro SS here.

If you wanted to do this,

grill or accidentally lean over and touch it,

that's not going to be a problem later down the road.

You're not going to have a white residue left behind.

And then yell at yourself for even waxing the thing to begin with.

Well, and I'll tell you what, man,

a couple of the cars that have come to me that I bought

and I thought looked outstanding.

I got them and there's white residue up the cracks,

you know, in between the hood and the fender

and around the doors.

Then you're going back and spending hours removing that stuff.

Yes, sir.

Do you have a product that you would use to do correction?

Yeah, 100%.

So the reborn, I don't know if Haley showed you

the reborn product that was over there.

No, I, you know, I was running through so fast

because I did mention to them about the 50 AT birds

and the single-stage paint and how it's got character.

We will not be taking a DA to that.

Not a good idea.

Coward, hell, I'm smarter than that.

The prep that we would use would be reborn.

And then to go in and fix any of the faded paint

or anything that's going to need some type of correction,

whether that be contamination, faded paint, water spot removal,

swirl marks, you know, deep scratches, light scratches,

that would be the fireball all in one compound.

And I'm writing this down.

What was the name again?

Fireball all in one compound.

And reborn.

All in one and reborn.

Need to check those out.

Yes, familiar with Gary McCarty over here with the Challenger.

There's a guy over here with the G8 Pontiac Red.

It's got scratches all over.

He's actually in the process right now of taking

that same product and fixing his paint at the show.

At the show.

So it's a wax on, wax off.

It's a wipe on, wipe off kind of deal.

Very low dusting, very easy to use,

and pretty much anyone can grab a Harbor Freight

polish or a rotary.

If you ever want to see how that's done, I'll show you.

I'll stay and watch.

I've done that a little bit.

That is why I still own black cars.

And I custom every time I go to take stuff out.

Yeah.

Yeah, that makes sense.

That makes sense.

How many black cars do you have?

I got a black 2002 F-150 Harley edition.

Oh heck yeah.

You know, solid black with the flames down the side.

Still got their original pinstripes on it?

It has 21,000 miles on it.

Nice.

So yeah, it still has the original pinstripes

and everything's there.

But it's one of those that you're always after, man.

Nothing looks better clean and nothing's

tougher to keep clean.

So what do you recommend for maybe somebody who is not

a pro-detailer but has been at it for a while

and they might have an idea what they're doing?

So is that still the show car line?

I would say so, yes.

Because for me, there's nothing easier.

I mean, anybody can grab that stuff and be a fan of it

really quickly and never want to use anything else.

And if they did try something else,

they would continue to go back to that.

I think the fragrance, the experience that you're using,

as a detailer is part of it.

It's not just about what you're using.

It's about the experience you're having with it.

It should be fun.

Detailing shouldn't be a really big task

and chore every single time you go to grab something out

of your bag.

And for all of us that are here at this show right now,

it should be fun.

Well, there are certainly different levels.

There are guys who just want to put a coat of wax

on their car.

Then there's guys who, like me, might be okay

at doing correction and then wanting to seal it up.

And I've found over the years that your definition

of detailing evolves.

It does.

Initially, it's just I'm going to wax my car

and make it look good.

And then I'm going to wax my car,

but there's not going to be any residue this time.

Damn it.

And then, oh, I figured out how to do correction

a little bit.

Or I figured out how to do it a little bit more.

Or now I won't pay anybody for it.

I'm good enough at this.

Does it always come back to the show car line

or do you have a professional line?

I think for the past six years of experience

playing with the United States and dealing

with different types of people,

the 240 different products really allows you to kind of

dive into something new every time.

Let's just say you tried the Cherry Blossom Wax,

which smells fantastic.

Does everything you need it to do,

but all of a sudden you're out of it and you need to re-up.

You start looking at the line.

It's like, okay, maybe I want the Ghost Wax

or maybe I want a different version.

But what is it going to do differently?

How is it going to?

That's what I'm going to ask.

What's the difference between Cherry Blossom and Ghost Wax?

So that's the cool thing about Fireball.

Every single product, they give you a benefit mark

that tells you the hydrophobic level,

tells you the gloss level.

So every single product,

you know what you're going to get out of it.

What's the Show Car Wax?

What is the highest gloss?

Gosh.

Like as far as like a GU level,

like as you can get over 100 GU gloss units

on a gloss meter easily on any Fireball.

Put that in there.

Talk to me like in a five-year-old.

Tell me in gloss units,

what are we talking about here?

How shiny is shiny?

Most waxes perform like at a level one.

Like anything on the market is at a level one.

Okay.

So that's stupid turtle wax.

I actually have it home in my garage.

It's a level one.

Yep.

And a lot of times.

We've got a pool and a pond.

Pond will be good enough for you.

It's not always that easy to apply.

And like you said,

we were talking earlier about getting wax in the cracks.

They're using a lot of cheaper ingredients.

And so the reason they have to do that

is they're on a massive scale.

And obviously to keep costs down,

put them in every O'Reilly's and every Napa auto parts.

Economies of scale.

You have to do that.

And I think that that's the most important thing

with Fireball is read what's in the label.

The things that you are using should be safe.

And it should be good for your health and skin

and body and your family.

If your kids are out there helping you work on the car

and on a Sunday evening,

you should be able to have them out there with you.

You definitely don't want to spray.

Nascrum.

Why is Brian twitching?

I mean, it does happen.

Third arm is also very helpful in waxing.

Garbage pail kid.

You did mention something earlier that I'd forgotten about it.

And I can't remember who it was I talked to

that there are car waxes out that your car has a smell.

Like on the outside.

Yep.

And

McGuire's number 26 smells just like banana taffy.

I promise.

Yep.

I think that's just, is that popular in the U.S. market?

It definitely is.

I will say that understanding again back to the ingredients list

is there's solvents or alcohols that are going in there

to create that smell.

And so is that, do you want solvent or alcohol on your car?

So there's different ways of understanding that technology.

No, I want the banana taffy.

If it's going to give you gloss and do what it needs to do,

that's all that matters, right?

I remember it was one of our guests who had talked about

walking up to a vehicle and they're like, I smell vanilla.

Yeah.

I smell vanilla.

Where am I?

Oh my God, it's the car.

And it was one of those odd but kind of cool additions.

Yep.

You know, and I think that 64 Dodge I had could have used it

like everywhere.

A little bit more.

Every crack, every every fiber in that thing.

Because it had a unique odor.

Well, he has a really good looking car now.

And it will need a little bit of attention, not a ton.

Yeah.

But I think the T-bird is going to be a gem by the time

you and I get done with it and I'm excited.

Yeah, once I can get it street legal.

Yep.

Well, you're getting there.

I need to bring you guys some ghost wax over here

and if you can tell me what it smells like to you.

I would almost guarantee you it smells like your childhood.

Well, on your display, you have like four or six bottles.

She didn't know my dad.

That was one of the things I noticed was, wait a minute,

this has this has a smell.

These are these are scents.

Yep.

And I'm just it's very unique and cool.

Yeah, for sure.

Alrighty.

So what would you recommend?

You're going to pull your car out of the garage.

It's your weekend car.

You haven't touched it in a couple of weeks,

got a little bit of dust on it, but it's not filthy.

What are the products that you would recommend

in order start to finish to do for a Saturday morning

shade tree detail?

Easy enough.

If it's if it's not that dirty,

then we just use a waterless wash.

We have two different versions,

one that's ready to use.

So anyone that doesn't want to mix or learn how to dilute,

you know, adding, you know, water to their product,

you don't have to do that.

You can have a product that's already ready to go.

And let's just say, for example,

there's a little bit of bird droppings or some bug damage

or little things like that.

You can use that one product for all of the wheels,

the glass, literally everything.

No water.

Yep.

You don't rinse it off.

You spray it on, wipe it off.

Correct.

In California and in hotter states that are really dependent

on water and they don't need that.

Or they can't use a whole lot of water.

That's where waterless wash is very popular.

You see that in California and in Vegas.

Yep.

And then we have a product called Waterless Wash Max.

And that is a concentrated version to where ultimately

you can make as many bottles as you want for,

you know, a little 16 ounce bottle will make you,

you know, 20 gallons.

So you can pour that in your bucket.

You can make, you know, spray bottles out of it.

You can make foam cannons out of it,

depending on how you detail.

Oh, wow.

And you finish with waterless wash.

What do you follow with a soft microfiber?

Yes, sir.

So depending on if you're, you know,

already have a microfiber,

if you use a drying towel that's safe for paint,

you can use your drying towel immediately

and that wash media will take everything right off.

Okay.

You got the car clean.

What's the next step?

If it's clean, what do you, what do you need to do?

Well, I want to make it shiny.

I want to make it a little shinier.

Do you have a tire dressing?

100%.

And the show car series is going to handle all of that.

So if we go back to that, then you got the show car dressing.

You got the show car protectant on the outside.

And then if you are at a show like this

and just need little touch-ups, little fingerprints

or people are getting dust all over your car,

you can use the show car duke graphene.

Okay.

And that's going to be a very unique sense.

I really thought for a second he said,

it was going to say you can use a stick

to smack people who are touching their car.

I mean, that happens.

Oh, touchy.

And then is that the finishing, the finishing step there?

There would be nothing else that's needed at that point

because you're not going to really get any higher cost levels

from any other product on the market outside of those right there.

Now is that strictly for the paint?

Or are we talking, what about the chrome?

Let's say you have, I don't know,

craggers on it.

Yep.

It'll work for all of that.

So if you've already used the wireless wash

and got rid of all the dirt off the car,

the show car duke graphene will do the same thing on those craggers.

Oh, wow.

All right.

Tire dressing?

Show car tire dressing.

Okay.

It is a mix between our satin tire dressing

and then our high gloss.

So you get like the perfect sheen for something like this.

So you can go up and touch it and not have sticky residue all over.

You're not going to drive away and sling tire shine down the car

and look at it all black and dirty and nasty.

So it's a perfect formula for that.

And then for guys and girls like me who have convertibles,

vinyl convertible tops, what do you use on those?

Same thing.

The same dressing.

And the dressings all have silicon dioxide in them.

So they're all SIO2 based.

So they're a ceramic sealant basically on top of there.

So instead of it washing away on that first rain

or your first wash, it's going to stay on there for multiple months.

It's not just going to wash off.

Do you also use that like a plastic dressing

for plastic windows, that sort of thing?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Anything that needs that rejuvenation or cleansing and protecting.

Well, so Luke, how do we find you?

Especially our listeners are going to be listening online.

So start with online.

First off, we're located in Olathe, Kansas.

So we're local.

But you can find us online at fireball-usa.shop.

We're on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok,

pretty much every social media outlet there is.

That's fireball, F-I-R-E-B-A-L-L, hyphen USA.shop, S-H-O-P.

Yes, sir.

Luke, thank you so much for being with us.

Thank you guys.

We appreciate you letting us grill you.

Have a good rest of your show.

And we've got the Maxlider Brothers with us from Maxlider Customs.

Gentlemen, Chris, Eric.

Yeah.

Thank you for having us.

Thanks for having us.

Hey.

Sitting down with us.

Tell us a little bit about what you do.

He's a talkative one, so I'll let him start.

Well, what do we do?

So Maxlider Brothers Customs is a customizer of classic Ford Broncos,

builder of those Broncos.

We buy and sell a lot of Broncos, and it's a family tradition.

Now, there's a lot of companies out there that are dabbling with classic Broncos right now,

especially first gen stuff.

Are you finding that's a tougher market these days than it used to be?

So it's funny you say the word dabbling, because I feel like it.

That's the key differentiator.

Well, there are several custom builders, but there are also some builders

who are trying to imitate the really quality companies.

And I'm wondering, first of all, how in depth are your builds?

But the other question, and the one I just asked,

is it getting tougher to find first gen Broncos?

Yeah, so there's a lot there to unpackage.

Bring it on.

Let's start with how tough is it to find the cars to work on?

So they only built about 220,000 of the Gen 1 Broncos.

So the Gen 1 Bronco is the 1966 to 1977 version.

It's the boxy body style that a lot of people mistake for a Jeep

and that we're forgotten about for a long time.

For context, they only built about 225,000 fastback Mustangs between 65 and 69.

So in a four-year model run, they built the same number of fastback Mustangs

as they did Gen 1 Broncos.

When I explain it like that to customers, they're like,

oh, well, that makes sense.

They're very exclusive.

The difference was the Mustang was always the beloved vehicle.

They put them in the garage, they took care of them, they restored them,

they paid money to fix them up.

The Bronco was B to death.

It was discarded and a lot of them were gone.

It was Ford's bastard, child.

Well, and a lot of the Broncos were kind of agrarian.

They didn't have big strong, they didn't have huge power plants to them.

They were used for on farms.

Yeah, utility vehicles.

Yeah, snow plows.

For service used.

They were just utility vehicles, like Mark said.

And so people didn't really take care of them.

It was a tool.

It was an appliance.

They used it to get done what they needed to get done.

Now, people are taking them, make them into super luxury vehicles with coyote drive trains

and all kinds of cool stuff like that.

And first of all, were the first Gen Broncos as prone to rust as some of the later ones were?

Oh, yeah.

I mean, terribly.

Okay, so then the question becomes, how many still exist, man?

How many are extant?

How many of them are out there?

And if there's a company like yours that does custom work, you can do Bronco builds from the ground up,

but you get other companies and there are several of them.

How many of you are fighting over a limited number of trucks that are out there?

Yeah.

Well, so I get asked this question a lot.

How many are still left?

And I have 220-ish thousand built.

I feel like about 35 to 40% of them are dead and gone.

And so that really only leaves about 130,000 of them.

Yeah, but that's a lot better number than I thought you were going to say.

Yeah.

And there are still Broncos hanging out back in someone's ranch or, you know,

rusting apart in the field or that we do find them from time to time,

but it has gotten way more difficult because we feel like the real value of the vehicle

is going to travel with that authentic 1960s, 1970s VIN number.

Sure.

And so we're building Broncos most often based on the 1974 frame axle housings

and then we're making everything else brand new,

so that you can retain that original year and authenticity of the vehicle.

And so we feel like, you know, when it's built by Maxlider and it's an actual Bronco,

it's not a kit car.

Right.

It's a Bronco.

Those will be worth, you know, those will be at the highest level of the value chain later on.

Okay.

Well, working from that original question, how do you find them?

Where do you find them?

Do people come to you?

Do you find them in people's barns?

Is that some type of secret that you keep in a cave locked into a treasure chest?

I'm not telling you stupid because I'm not telling the world.

We find them with the stick that points to the word.

No, I just shared, for those of you listening, I just shared a photo that's on my phone

because we get asked a lot, why did you, why are you even building Broncos?

And I got a picture of our uncle Dick who worked for Ford Motor Company,

who bought the very first Bronco ever sold at our local dealer.

Oh, no kidding.

That's what that is.

Back in 1966.

Okay.

And no one, they all, everybody thought they were ugly.

So he went into the Ford dealership after the thing and sat there for 11 months and he said,

okay, let's make a deal on this piece of, because I'm tired of looking at the damn thing.

And so he bought it and it became kind of a family tradition.

His sons are cousins a lot older than we are.

Always had Broncos and then we thought they were cool.

And so we wanted to have Broncos too, you know.

So I say that all to say, what the heck was the question again?

Because I forgot it.

Where do you find them?

I saw a squirrel.

It's a, there was a, there was some, there was some girl with there's a bunch of squirrels

running around here and they're all chrome that I know I've noticed that.

So we, because we've been doing it for so long, we get a lot of people and we have a

large social media following.

We have about a million followers on social media between all the different pages and

people contact us and they say, Hey, I've got a batch of them and I want to sell them.

And we get, we get dibs a lot of times because they know they're going to get a fair deal

and they can, they can oftentimes sell us three, four, five of them and get rid of the whole lot.

But we have to constantly be paying attention, constantly trying to source them.

So that, you know, we've got a stack of frames that are ready to go,

ready to build when our customer wants to do, do a project.

But we also have a lot of people who send us theirs to have Broncos and send it to us for

the restaurant. Yeah. Okay. That happens. That happens as well.

So are all of your, all of your builds, are they all customer orders or do you build any on spec?

Do you do any, just in the hopes that somebody will see it and like it?

Or are they all, Hey, here's my truck. This is what I want.

Yeah. We did this wrong for a long time in that we, we wore our waiting list like a badge of honor.

Hey, you know, we can build your Bronco, but you'll have to wait three years.

And quite frankly, we lost a lot of opportunities and it really allowed some of these Johnny come

lately Bronco builders to jump into the game and say, you can get it faster and cheaper than

Maxlider. And so we decided to change some things. So now what we do is we do a spec build

every other build. So really spec build, customer build, spec build, customer build.

And typically when you do a spec build, what, what kind of a builder are you doing? Are you

doing one from the ground up custom drivetrain? Describe what your average spec builds like.

We go kind of two options. We do a full rolling chassis with drivetrain and usually those are

302s, small blocks, C4 transmissions. And we get it to, it's out of paint. It's driver,

but none of the interior is done yet. So we try to leave it so there's a lot of options left.

People couldn't pick and choose what they'd like to pick and choose. And then the coyote

spec builds, we do, we, we get it to rolling chassis with axles and everything built.

Tubbs are done, bodies are done, paint. Then it's left. We do get a bunch of photos from it.

Try to get it out there to try to sell it with after paint and then they still get the opportunity

when you do a coyote drivetrain, what kind of power are you getting out of them?

We're moving into gen fours right now. We don't have one on the road yet, but the gen

threes are 465 horse. Geez, that is not a very big vehicle. That's a lot of power in a small

package, man. It's where the power comes in on a coyote high RPMs where it's not like low end

torque. It's like higher end. So you're really screaming to get it out of there. Yeah, I bet you

it's a little light, you know, with power comes responsibility. And so it's not just

so our customers aren't a lot of our customers aren't classic car owners.

I was ready for you to say and a lot of your customers aren't terribly responsible

So they're not alive anymore.

Hey, no judgment here.

Hey, exactly.

And so it's very difficult to get a Bronco to drive correctly down the road.

Yeah, you got a lot, you know, front axle, straight axle and all the geometry and

everything that goes there.

And so we've built through the years, um, our process and how we get at the drive

straight and then also the braking.

So we have, I feel probably the best driving Bronco on the market and also

best breaking Bronco.

I have driven a highly original, super clean, very well, well cared for 76 Bronco.

And that leaves a lot to be desired.

So, so you're not wrong about trying to get one to drive the vehicle.

That's even beyond the driving experience at, at that level.

But, but let me paint a different picture.

What if, what if you're driving down the road at 80 miles an hour?

Not in that one.

And you've got one finger on the steering wheel, the winds blowing through your hair.

Your wife is giving you those googly eyes because she's having a very romantic

experience in this Bronco, chucking down the road, having a great time.

Sun's out, guns are obviously out, right?

Cause look at, I mean, and you're having a great time.

It's a very modern driving experience.

And, and the fact that you're wearing a Corvette shirt, I won't hold against you.

I've, there's got a lot of Corvette jokes.

I'll save those for later, but that I am not wearing new balance.

That experience is possible when, when someone builds a Bronco and understands

the steering geometry, understands the, the way to set up the, the lift kit and

the combination of parts needed to create that kind of end result.

So that's, it's, it's totally attainable.

We've got a couple of Broncos in the booth, actually.

And, um, that are Kansas city owned Kansas city owners who allowed us to bring

into the show and they just rave about how they're able to drive them long distances.

Well, can I ask about some of the changes you make and how you get those to drive

right?

Because the technology or at least the, uh, the application wasn't there when

they made them new, right?

And obviously we've got, you know, 50 plus years of technology.

And, uh, after market work to apply to that, how do you get them to drive

like nice new cars?

So the biggest thing, so you got to remember, these are not, we're not

doing independent front suspensions on the front of them.

And that's where a lot of your technology comes from is doing independent

front suspension.

So we're keeping the straight axles in the front.

Really?

Yeah, they're all straight axles.

And so when you come down to geometry, it's all about caster and on a straight

axle, you want to have, make sure you're on your track bar.

So what centers the axle in the front, it's always fighting the steering.

So as far as the truck comes up and down, when the truck comes up, when it

comes down, the axle shifts one way.

When it goes up, acceleration, it shifts the other way.

That track bar is fighting against your, um, drag link.

So they're opposite.

They're doing this all the time.

And so what we try to do is get those set up correctly between the two of them.

So they operate with each other.

Okay.

So when you take off, it doesn't pull the steering wheel one way and hit, hit

the brakes with the other way.

It's called bump steer.

We hit a bump, it'll jerk you one way or the other.

So we've figured out a way.

Um, we've got a really good vendor that we work with, uh, James Duff, um, that

makes, they make all our suspensions for us.

Um, so we work with them to build the kit that we want.

However, it is a very secret recipe.

And you're not going to elaborate.

If we told you we'd have to kill you.

That's, that's right.

There's a, I'll tell you, it's, it's a year.

It's decades of us pursuing this, um, that end result, that picture that I painted

because we knew that's what's driving the interest in the Broncos.

People want to, they want to get out and drive them.

It's like a, it's unlike a lot of cars that we all love, you know, corvettes,

Camaros, Mustangs, where, where people don't want to use them necessarily on a

daily basis.

We've got customers that want to drive their Broncos, 6,000, 10,000 miles a year.

Yeah.

And they'll do it.

If we can, if we can build that.

And so it's the, it's all the things Chris is mentioning, combined with a number

of other components that we specifically have hand selected.

So the upsetting thing to me is, as you said earlier, a lot of these, and I'll

call them Johnny come lately builders that are building Broncos, they don't

understand what that is, but the steering geometry isn't how to set

something up to drive correctly.

So they're selling their Broncos for way under our cost of what we can sell it

for. The customer's getting their vehicle from them and they get a horrible

experience and it's upsetting to me.

And it's probably upsetting to him is like, that's giving what we love and have

a passion for your Bronco.

You wind up with a truck that looks good sitting still, but not good for us to

the service.

You don't get to drive it.

And so they, they have this poor experience in their mouth like, I don't

want them in a Bronco if that's the way that y'all drive, you know, and they're

brainwashed to think from the builder that that's, you bought a Bronco and it's

how it drives.

And it's like, no, that's not how it drives.

And so they sell it and they get out of the whole hobby all together and they go,

I'm never buying a stupid Bronco again because that was terrible.

So I'm looking at your business card.

You got more than just first gen Broncos on here.

You've got the second gen.

There's a Fox body Mustang, newer Bronco on the flip side.

Looks like maybe a Raptor Raptor.

Talk to us about some of the other stuff you built.

Yeah, what we, besides buying and selling classic Broncos and building high

end custom classic Broncos, we were also asked by Ford Motor Company to become

an authorized up, up bitter and authorized dropship location.

Oh, cool.

So you can go into any Ford dealership in the country and say, I want to order a

Maxlider Bronco and they'll drop ship it from the factory to our, our shop.

We can put the outfit package on it and then deliver it.

We knew, we knew that the six gen Bronco was going to be huge because there was

this pent up demand that had been building for decades.

And so we had developed a package.

We were allowed to see the Bronco long before the, the public got to see it.

We built some great relationships in the design team because they were studying

our four door Broncos that we built for SEMA and for Barrett Jackson that made

a lot of noise in the industry.

They were studying those designs as they designed the new six gen Bronco because

it was going to be a four door.

It was the first time they'd ever built a four door.

And so we got an opportunity to build a really cool relationship with Ford and,

and, and, and put ourselves in a position where we can modify.

So that business car has a Bronco Raptor on it with our upfit kit.

Okay, cool bumpers that we design, you know, lift kit, custom interior,

all the lighting elements you see on there, the bracketry and, and everything we

designed and we use a couple of different manufacturers to help us create those parts.

And it makes that, it makes that Bronco gives it some attitude and gives it

the right stance and makes it look like the, you know, the Bronco we feel like

people want.

So when the Broncos delivered, does it come from, did the people come to you and

get their new Bronco with the upfit on it?

It, yes, all the above that they, sometimes they, they say, Hey, source us

a Bronco and build it.

Sometimes they order it from the dealership and have a drop ship to us.

Um, sometimes they have already got the Bronco and they say, Hey, I want to put

your package on it.

Now they got a, you got a second gen Bronco here, uh, near and dear to my heart.

I, uh, I didn't own a second gen.

I did own a brick nose had a 1990 and it was stacked up and had big tires on it.

And it was gorgeous.

It rode like a brick.

Yeah.

How do you go about making something that has that style and attitude and that

appearance ride like a, a regular car, just a regular car would have been nice.

Right.

Is there a way to do that?

There, there is.

We worked.

So with the, um, the second gen, we work with, if you're familiar with BDS

suspension, we work with them to develop our own kit for the second gen.

And so it ride the right quality of it's great.

It's a four inch lift.

Um, so we're not going super, super high, which yours may have been a lot.

No, it was just a four inch or 33s.

Okay.

Would you have like a skyjacker or remember?

You know, it was built when it came to me.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah.

But so, but, but with the, so you, yes, yes, technology has come a long way.

And I, I was mentioning the pet front suspension, but how they build springs

nowadays is different than how they built spring before.

Okay.

You have progressive spring, like with your, when you're riding, riding within the

first one inch, it's working on a different part of the spring.

So soften up some ride a lot.

I wish I would have known that when I had it.

And that further it collapsed, the harder it goes.

So that would have been helpful.

I did a trip to Dallas and that thing and that, uh, it made you work for it.

Did you have any teeth left?

Teeth, no fillings.

Left them in Oklahoma where they were useful.

I'm sorry.

That was really rude.

I'll be Oklahoma.

I apologize.

There was no reason Oklahoma might need them.

I don't apologize.

So you also have a Fox body Mustang on here.

Do you guys hot rod and Mustangs?

We're building a 87 T top.

Fox body right now on a roaster shop chassis.

Very cool.

We're a gen four coyote.

We're what people, uh, so when Chris and I started this business, it was,

it was really Mustangs of Broncos, but you know, 20 years ago, the Mustang

market was pretty saturated.

However, the Bronco market, there was no one doing them and people knew us as

the Bronco guys.

And so we, when we started to make that public and, and build our social media

accounts, we were, the Bronco just overshadowed the Mustang stuff.

Sure.

But we wanted to get back to that because that's really, you know, we've had

hundreds of Mustangs over the years and spent a lot of time customizing them and

making them go faster and all, all the stuff, right?

So, well, and there's a lot of guys right now who grew up when Fox body

Mustangs were new and now those guys have disposable income and they'd like to

go back and either build the car they had before, or maybe they didn't have an

opportunity to get their hands on that car and they want to find a really cool

version.

And if you have their phone number, we'd like to get a hold of it.

I know some of those guys, I'd be happy to send them your way.

And we feel like there's, to that point, you know, the Fox body Mustang, when I

turned 16, that's what I wanted my, my parents to let me buy.

You and me both.

God bless the Fox body.

The Corvette's be damned.

I wanted a red convertible Mustang GT.

You wanted a Capri and you know, well, those were cute too.

You said you'd never tell you bastard.

The, the worst part though was my, my, my, my parents said, yeah, you can have,

you can have a Fox body Mustang, but you had to pay for the insurance.

I said, oh, great, fantastic.

So I only got a quote and guess it was like $267 a month for a 16.

Payment, right?

Yeah.

Twice the car payment.

So I was like, well, apparently that's not in the cards, but those were the

vehicles that we've lusted after when we were, uh, what that took a weird turn,

didn't it during formative years, started to think about Daisy, uh, Duke,

that's here signing autograph.

We can go down and talk Mustangs with her.

I don't think she's going to have much to say Fox and body.

There you go.

But we, uh, we feel like the markets now mature to the point where, uh, people

are willing to spend that money on a super produced Fox body Mustang.

So when the roaster shop came out with their chassis, uh, about a year ago,

we were the first ones to jump on the train.

Oh, two, of course, uh, six that they produced and, um, immediately had a

customer, uh, who's actually here in Kansas city, uh, a good customer.

But I repeat customer who owns a Ford dealership and he's like, man,

I had, I had a 1990 when I was in college and I would love to have one with, uh,

his first name's not Bob.

Is it?

Oh, wow.

I can either confirm or did I have you.

So, uh, we're, we're about, you know, halfway through that project where, uh,

when you start a new, uh, uh, line like this, you learn a lot of stuff.

You know, on the first project, are you, uh, I'm sorry to jump in, but on the

first project, are you swapping drive train or are you keeping that five out?

No, it's, it'll be, uh, Jen for, Jen for coyote with the T 56 transmission.

Is that a, a fairly easy fit in the Fox body or is it wider?

How does the, how does the swap work?

So, um, the Roadster shop chassis is designed to accept it.

So that helps a lot if you're staying with the stock K member, I think

there's a little bit of modifications you have to do.

Yeah, I kind of figured there would be the, um, the issue we're running into

right now is the headers with the steering shaft on the driver's side and

then fitting around the body.

So there's some modifications, I hate to say it out loud.

It is okay to hit a header with a hammer.

You know, I'd like to say we haven't done that before.

I've, I've seen it done and you usually get it fitted and you're like, no, no,

we're right in the recovery engineering.

Yeah, it maybe messes up the flow of things, but so we're, we're, we're

going through that learning experience.

Similar to when we were, you know, one of the first ones doing coyote

engine and classic Broncos and, but we're really excited because we feel

like, um, you know, can you imagine Fox body that actually handles well,

that has nice brakes and plenty of power.

I want to see it.

I want to ride in it.

It sounds cool.

We're, we're, uh, we're pretty stoked.

Are you with the new chassis?

Are you having to reinforce anything inside?

You know, old Fox bodies, you'd have to put a cage in there to keep it from

flexing too much.

How's it?

We're going to work out with a new chassis.

We're not doing it on this customer bill.

Okay.

I say, like everybody asks us, are you ever going to put a diesel in a Bronco?

And I say, well, when a customer wants to pay for it, we're going to do it.

This customer's, I don't think that's kind of interesting.

He's not wanting a cage.

So we're not going cage, but we did, um, tub the rear and mini tubs.

Okay.

And so that's, that's been another challenge.

It's trying to get everything to fit in the tank.

You got a bit of meat on the back end.

Three feet.

Yeah, wide.

It's going to be wide.

Well, you'd have to.

You're going to run a coyote engine in it.

It's not like running your old five.

Yeah.

What, what were the entire sizes ended up being?

Three, 30, three, 35, 35, that's a pretty good time.

I need a meat back there.

Okay.

So when people come to you with these ideas, does it just need to have Ford on it?

And then the rest you'll figure out, or are there specific models that you

prefer to work with?

You know, we, we love everything for it.

And we were going to have at the show, a 74 crew cab, a 250 that has a

mega Zilla engine in it on a got on a roaster shop chassis, new 73, about a

half a million dollar build.

And it, it, you know, super produced amazing looking truck.

Didn't quite get it done for the show.

So we had a, we always have a backup planner.

When you say mega Zilla, is that a 77 three with the supercharger or turbo

charger, something else?

Have you done something more to that?

Cause that was already a hell of an engine to start.

So Ford performance has a Godzilla engine.

Yeah.

The seven three that's, I would say it's stock engine and they have what's

called the mega Zilla, which is that are about 200 horse, 200 foot pounds of torque

on it.

You could buy it for Ford performance.

Wow.

I was unfamiliar with that.

That's cool.

Yeah.

And it's pretty nasty.

And it comes with a 12, 12 month warranty, which was really kind of

shocking.

No kidding.

Yeah.

24.

So what's, what's on the mega Zilla?

That's a, what's total output?

It's gotta, it's.

There's a 650 horse, 600, like 650 torque.

Yeah.

That ain't bad.

It's nothing to sneeze at.

It will haul the mail.

And let me tell you from experience, uh, the Godzilla and the mega Zilla, uh,

engines perform really nicely in the new gen six Broncos and Bronco Raptors.

I bet they do.

And we started doing that as well.

So, uh, we, uh, we just, uh, launched that product at, uh, Barry Jackson, uh, in

January, and then took a couple of Broncos up to Sedona to run them around in

the, in the mountains and shot some pretty amazing footage with a, with a new

Bronco that actually sounds the way it should.

And that was going to be my next comment.

My real complaint or disappointment with the new Bronco was, and I'll

sound right, they pull up the lights.

You do not have that VA rumble.

You don't have, and I, I know the turbo six has plenty of output, but it just

doesn't sound right.

Man, those things are supposed to have that, that rumble when they're

sitting still.

Yeah, we call it the big fizzle.

Okay, stealing that.

Okay.

So to wrap up, I come to you.

I don't have a Bronco, but I would like to have a Maxlider brothers customs Bronco.

Smart man.

Uh, what is the process?

What do I do?

Tell me how it works.

We always try to work backwards from budget because we serve such a wide, uh,

a wide clientele.

We've, we've got used Broncos that are $70,000.

We've got super produced Broncos that are $385,000.

And so we've got a lot of different ways we can skin the cat, but it's all based on you.

How do you want to drive it?

How, you know, what's the use case?

Uh, what types of roads are you going to be on?

Most of our customers aren't rock crawling.

They're not taking them out to Moab.

They want to drive them in modern conditions.

And so we try to identify that and then establish a budget timeline.

And when we know those few details, we can kind of write a prescription for that and

help them get there.

And sometimes it's, we're taking a hundred, you know, a customer says, I want to spend one

35.

Okay.

Well, we're, let's take a Bronco that we have for sale as a hundred grand that, uh,

we can put 35 in and accomplish some of the things that you want to do with it and then

get you something that's in that budget range, or you can spend a few more bucks and get a

brand new bill.

And so we try to help a few more, just a few more bucks.

We can, we can, you know, we try to educate them and help lead them.

Doing a project with us is kind of like working with a financial advisor because we're trying

to help you put yourself in a good money position, short-term and long-term because

eventually you're going to want to sell it.

As soon as you want to sell it, guess you're going to call us.

You're going to say, Hey, we need some help.

You know, and so we want to help you out with that process.

Okay.

Last question.

How do you improve on a 2002 F-150 Harley Davidson edition?

Oh, you know what?

Coincidentally, I owned a 2002 Harley edition F-150.

I thought it was super cool, but it was horribly underpowered.

Is it the one with the supercharger?

Yep.

Crew cab.

Yeah.

Crew cab.

Yep.

21,000 miles on it.

Yeah.

Boy.

I feel like, you know, Godzilla's spot in that truck would be a pretty good idea.

Yeah.

You know, we might not just do the Godzilla.

We might want to do supercharged Godzilla on top of that.

Yep.

Faster is always better, right?

900 horse, 1,000 horse.

Where do you want to stop?

There's no replacement for displacement.

I want to do that and then let my dad drive it and not tell him.

Dude, the way you drive, you'd be parking it next to Jesus within a month.

Jesus wouldn't ride with me in that truck.

I don't know that I could come back from there.

All right.

We've been speaking with Chris and Eric from Maxlider Brothers Customs.

Guys, tell us where we can find you online and on social media.

Yeah.

So Instagram, it's the app Maxlider Motors.

And that's M-A-X-L-I-D-E-R.

M-O-T-O-R-S.

That's right.

M-O-U-S-T-O-R-S.

So Facebook, Maxlider Motors, our website, www.maxliderbrows-b-r-o-s.com.

And, you know, basically, if you go out there and type in Maxlider and Google,

you're going to see a whole bunch of stuff.

Most of it we claim, but there are a few articles out there about Christopher

that we'd like to have disappear.

There's any PR specialist listening.

What did you do?

You'll probably also run across, if you look up Maxlider,

you're going to find a band called Maxlider.

Yeah.

And this psychotic lead singer has his shirt off at all times.

Nice.

Does he drive a Bronco?

Don't judge us for that.

You need to work this in.

That was in a previous life.

We're not going to get into that.

That was before the business.

On the air, it was a band.

When your name was beef.

Got it.

In case anybody wants to go old school, you can call them at 309-204-5471.

Now, I have two things real quick.

I want to throw in just so that you guys can percolate this ticket with you,

because I think it's solid gold.

Bronco, too.

Yeah.

And one of those as well.

And international harvester.

If you like things that are bricks, that drive.

Why don't you throw in a DeSoto while you're at it?

No, these are the two.

You know, I'm sure there are a lot of Bronco twos left over that nobody's driving.

We're good at what we do, but we're not miracle workers.

Okay.

So the harvester thing, we're going to just toss that on the side.

Now that they're not cool, but boy, sourcing parts might be a little bit of a problem.

The Bronco too.

So.

Funny you say that.

I have never hit a field faster than I have in a Bronco two and survived.

Well, I just, I mean, survived.

So you've done it once.

I did it once.

It was a hair-raising experience.

Oh, good.

I, uh, you know, if we have you all back for a longer interview, the final question we ask

everybody is what's the dumbest thing you've ever done in a car?

Oh, good Lord.

It can be car or vehicle.

Yeah, I know it.

Well, vehicle.

Yeah.

What do you gotta name it?

You claim it.

You got a plane.

You got something else.

No, no.

You say car.

I was like, it was an SUV.

I think that that qualifies four wheels and stupid.

What do you got?

We've got a lot.

I mean, how much time do you have?

We have square after.

So I used to race people.

So we couldn't have the back of the story.

We couldn't have the Fox body Mustang.

We couldn't afford the insurance.

So what was the next best thing in the Ford lineup?

The Thunderbird.

Yeah.

The Thunderbird.

Turbo.

Turbo coops.

And so I knew I was the insurance on a T on a T bird turbo coop cheaper.

Four cylinder.

Less than half the price.

Oh, no kidding.

Oh, turbo charge.

I thought maybe you were going to go SVO or something.

No, Motor Trend Car of the Year 1983 and 1986, by the way.

And we were proud of that.

You know, Camaro Berlinetta was Motor Car of the Year.

Never.

I graduated in 1982 and he'd bought a Thunderbird.

It was a little red thing with a little white top.

And it was just this sweet little rolling turd.

And I thought it was really cool until I talked to my friends.

And they were like, really?

And I'm like, huh.

Yeah, no.

I'll go back to my pulling list.

Hey, back in the late 80s and early 80s and 90s,

these things came hard charging.

We thought they looked pretty cool.

But you might not know that a 1986 Thunderbird in reverse

can beat just about anything on the street.

You've got a driver with enough nerve to actually take it to that level.

And I was said, idiot, behind the wheel, that when guys would say,

well, yeah, I've got a faster car.

I say, OK, we'll flip that thing around.

Anybody can buy a fast car.

Anybody's parents can buy them a fast car, right?

But let's see how you can drive it in reverse.

You know, I get the feeling that if Eric and I sat down someplace

with some adult beverages,

it might take a solid week before we ran out of stupid.

I'm kind of smelling a little born identity coming off here right now.

With the driving.

That's amazing.

I can drive backwards down a flight of stairs.

Watch me.

You know, boy, have we seen some stuff behind the wheel of a Ford vehicle.

On the highlight reels also, one of the stories I'll tell you later on is how we,

did you know, did you know that if you land on top of a possum going 135 miles an hour?

Reckon, Reckon.

It was a possum.

If you land right on top of it, it will literally explode.

Yes.

It will explode.

Like it's like a water balloon.

Not only out the sides of the car, but front and back as well.

And back.

Back is the amazing thing, right?

Right.

To get something to, to pop like that with a velocity that it would squirt backwards.

AKA a hair explosion.

It ain't playing.

But that's.

Feets went everywhere.

Yeah.

You know, I haven't psychologically, I haven't recovered from that maneuver.

I, I may or may not have allegedly, I still see that little thing.

Like, oh, I mean, it was, I may or may not have allegedly hit a.

Oh God.

Let's not start those stories.

The cops are listening.

I, I still see this.

I think this may be out from underneath the statute of limitations.

May or may not have allegedly hit a Bassett Hound size raccoon at north of 110.

And Mark, I would have stopped and checked, except it was 110 on a snowpack road.

Wait a minute.

That's okay.

Somewhere it's somewhere between MacPherson and Hutchinson in a 97 Grand Prix GTP.

And there you have it, the rest of the story.

Well guys, thank you so much for coming by a woman winning custom Ford's Max Slider.

Find him at maxliderbrows.com, b-r-o-s.

And thank you so much for coming down and sharing some time with us here on.

Chris, Eric, we appreciate it and we promise not to tell anybody where you are.

We had fun.

Let's, let's go find a bar and start a telling more stories.

Certainly feels like it's time, doesn't it?

I'm in.

Thanks guys.

Thank you.

I bless.

Geez, the Max Slider brothers are really into everything.

Dude, those guys, and they're smart and they're fun.

And plus also they make really cool for it.

And it sounds like they might have been juvenile delinquents on par with the crap I did,

which always, always makes me feel better.

That's one of the funny things about doing this just on audio and not on video,

because watching them go, oh, the stories and watching their faces, I'm like,

you got, you got some things to talk about.

Yeah.

Well, their guy filmed all of what we're doing.

Now I get to see just how bad I look while we're doing this.

So, you know, it was great to have them on for Max Slider, Chris and Eric.

Also Midwest dream car collection.

Oh, Kylie, thank you so much for taking the time with us.

Kylie Dickerson, their business development and event liaison.

And she's got it down, man.

She knows that museum inside and out.

Yeah.

She's got it going on.

And it's only been there, what, two and a half, three months and is already boom,

nailing it down.

So appreciate that and really appreciate the tickets.

Oh, yeah.

By the way, if you want free tickets to go see the Midwest dream car collection

in Manhattan, Kansas, please get hold of me, Brett.

That's B-R-E-T-T at drivenradioshow.com.

I got a stack of these suckers.

I'll send them to you.

And we also talked to Luke Sill, who's head of distribution for Fireball USA.

The stuff that he has is 240 products, man.

And it's so specific.

I mean, you can get down, you can drill down to exactly what you need.

Great guy to talk to.

Luke Sill.

You know, I'm going to go dig through all that stuff before we're out of here.

Oh, heck yeah.

And the people that work with him are all knowledgeable.

So be sure to check that out with Fireball for shiny, shiny stuff.

Well, and at www.fireball-usa.shop.

And he says the show car line will have just about everything you need.

And that's honestly, that's kind of where I'm at.

I need somebody to go, okay, here's all the stuff you need because I just don't know.

I think you have needs to go beyond that.

Hey, leave it there.

We need somebody.

There needs to be such thing as a car therapist or a car nerd therapist.

There's got to be real money in that, man.

I'm telling you.

Nice.

So thank you everybody who came by and took the time to talk to us about what they're doing.

And thank everybody who listens to Driven Radio Show.

We love what we do.

We wouldn't be able to do it without the support of our listeners.

You can find us online at drivenradioshow.com.

You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

And on LinkedIn as Driven Radio Show podcast.

Nice.

I'm stuck.

I forgot our outro.

Uh, I'm Brad Hatfield with outro.

Okay, this is Brad Hatfield for Mark Beltgrove.

Thank you for listening.

We'll see you next time here on Driven Radio.

0:00

80:15

Driven Radio Show #346: Live from the 66th Annual World of Wheels

Dodge Challenger

dolly

O'Reilly Auto Parts

World of Wheels

train horns

show quality

Midwest Dream Car Collection

car clubs

501 C three organization

Russo and steel

69 Mustang Mach one

car covered in wine corks

drinking and driving

coffin car

amphicar

bourbon and bends

route 66

car show

low rider culture

Fireball waxes and sealants

ceramic coatings

saltwater

snow foam

Fireball products

Show Car series

Harbor Freight

pinstripes

waterless wash

tire dressing

silicon dioxide

Maxlider Customs

Ford Motor Company

upfit kit

supercharger

About this episode

Original notes