The DeLorean DMC-12 is a cool-looking car known for its shiny metal body and doors that open upwards. It became famous because it was featured in the 'Back to the Future' movies, making it a symbol of fun and adventure.
A carburetor helps engines get the right mix of air and fuel to run properly. It's mostly found in older cars since newer ones use a different system called fuel injection.
The Jeep YJ is a type of Jeep Wrangler made in the early 1990s. It's known for its rugged look and ability to drive off-road, which makes it fun for adventures.
When you bleed brakes, you're getting rid of air that can get trapped in the brake system. This helps the brakes work better and feel firmer when you press the pedal.
Term
350
The '350' is a type of engine size that means it has a capacity of 350 cubic inches. It's a popular engine in many cars, especially older American ones, and is known for being powerful.
The Chevrolet Monte Carlo is a type of car that was made to be both comfortable and fast. Many people liked it because it had strong engines and a nice design, making it a fun car to drive.
The Jeep Wrangler is a tough, off-road vehicle that's great for adventure. The 1994 version is known for its classic design and ability to handle rough terrains.
Car
Dodge Little Red Express
The Dodge Little Red Express is a classic truck that was popular in the late 1970s. It was known for being fast and had a cool look that made it stand out from other trucks.
The Chevrolet Express is a big van that can be used for many things, like carrying people or cargo. It's known for being reliable and having a lot of space inside.
Fuel injection is a way to get fuel into a car's engine. It works better than older systems called carburetors, helping cars use less fuel and produce less pollution.
Car
Hyundai Excel
The Hyundai Excel 3 Doors is a small, budget-friendly car that was popular for being easy to drive and affordable. It has three doors, making it convenient for getting in and out.
The Mercury Villager is a family van that was made to carry lots of people and their stuff comfortably. It has a lot of space inside, making it great for family trips.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a famous sports car that is known for being fast and stylish. It has been around for many years and comes in different versions.
The water pump is a part of the car's engine that helps keep it cool by moving a liquid called coolant around. If it breaks, the engine can get too hot.
The Alfa Romeo Spider is a small, sporty car from Italy that looks really stylish and fun to drive. It became popular because it was in a famous movie, and many people love its classic design.
The clutch safety switch is a part that keeps the car from starting unless you press the clutch pedal. This is to make sure the car doesn't move unexpectedly when you start it.
Car
Chevy Nomad
The Chevy Nomad is a vintage car from the 1950s that looks like a mix between a wagon and a sports car. It's loved by many car fans for its cool style and history.
Frame-off restoration means taking a car apart completely to fix or replace everything, then putting it back together. It's a big job that takes a lot of time and effort.
OBS means 'Old Body Style,' which is a term used for certain older trucks that have a classic look. People like them because they are simple and have a nostalgic design.
The 1973 Ford Bronco is an older SUV that many people love for its tough look and ability to drive off-road. It's especially popular when painted in bright colors like orange.
The Jensen Interceptor is a fancy sports car that was made a long time ago. It looks really cool and is known for being fast and powerful, combining British style with American engines.
The Ford Fairlane is an older car that many people love for its cool look and good performance. It has been around for a long time and is considered a classic in American car history.
LIVE
Welcome back to all the cars I've loved before your authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia.
You know what time it is.
It's time to slip on your favorite car theme t-shirt, get a little grease under the nails
and step back in time.
Make new friends.
You know, it's what we do.
And oh, I, how you doing partner?
I see the car theme t-shirt.
I see wrenches.
I see.
It looks like somebody graffitied on your chest.
What is happening with that shirt?
It says get wrenching.
Okay.
Did you catch the guy with the paint cans or did he, uh, we'll see a little too quick
for you.
Oh, come on.
This is, this is merch from HH Wheels.
Yes.
Now I am not wearing the car theme t-shirt, but this is one I hadn't worn in a long time.
You know, I live in Florida in, you know, if you have a collar in Florida, in Florida
that, that passes it formal, but I have cat shop.
I have secret sauce.
This is one of my favorite shirts as we are underway here today.
And we don't have any, uh, new reviews as of yet, but please help us grow.
If you like what you hear, welcome back.
Telefran helps us grow.
And for, let's see, Ash, welcome back.
Asperin, Virginia, Culver City, California, Wichita, Denver, Quebec, Quebec to our friends
north of the border, like Quebec, as well as overseas France, Italy, Sweden, Israel,
Bangladesh.
Welcome back.
These are all new listeners, but in the past few weeks, I would say, yeah, so it's, it's
great.
How the algorithms work, right?
And people discover us over time.
Higher minds than mind math.
What can you say?
But yeah, so check us out carslove.com, carslove.com and our link tree, which I like to think
of as our digital switchboard is there.
You'll find our coordinates, our, let's see, again, leave a review of streaming on your
podcast platform, streaming platform of choice.
What else do we have, Doug?
Are there any more tech notes before we are underway here?
Uh, none that I can think of off my head.
Indeed.
Whoa.
Whoa.
We have very special guests today.
Let's get right into it.
So Doug, please tell us how did our guests enter our garage?
Yeah.
So our yes.
Virtual garage.
Yeah.
Our guest plural, father, daughter, Dane and Riley, Riley from Riley's rebuilds.
So I had seen Riley on YouTube many times and there's tons of articles out there floating
around about her and she's met great celebs that I've also seen on YouTube.
And when we first talked to HH Wheels, Caroline and James, and we asked them, hey, you know,
we had so much fun on our episode because it was our first father, daughter episode.
Even though we, you know, we talked to Kat DeLorean about her dad, who's no longer with
us, but we wanted to keep the father, daughter theme going and they said, you gotta get in
touch with Riley.
So I found Riley's email center of note and she replied right away and here we are.
Fast forward.
Very excited.
Yeah.
So I've had this circled on my calendar for some time.
Check out, as Doug was saying, the YouTube channel Riley Rebels, wonderful production
values and just so pleased that it's brought Riley and Dane to our doorstep.
So welcome.
How are you doing this afternoon to our guests?
All right.
Fantastic.
Good.
How are you?
Excellent.
And where is the weather?
How is the weather where you were located?
Because even though this was a Florida-based tandem, they seem to have split.
So hopefully amicably, but how are things where you are in Florida and how things are
in Connecticut?
Hey, Florida is gorgeous.
Florida is always beautiful, except for the hurricane season.
Yeah.
Why would someone leave, Dane?
Why would someone leave our fine state of Florida?
Any ideas?
I guess we're terrible parents.
She went as far as she could get.
Negative.
But you know what?
I did the same thing.
I can certainly understand.
So now let's pivot to Riley.
Now Riley, you have a very good reason for going all the way up to the Northeast.
Can you share how you escaped the state of Florida and what you're doing in the Northeast?
Yeah.
So I go to Connecticut College here.
I was scouted through my soccer life.
So I played varsity soccer here.
I got a bunch of scholarships to go here.
I'm able to accomplish a triple major in six years here.
They offer a program which is called a 4-2 with WashU.
That allows me to do a dual degree in math and physics while I'm at Connecticut College.
And then it'll transfer over to two years to get my mechanical engineering degree at
WashU.
And then if I want to add another year, I can get my masters.
Fantastic.
And as if you weren't busy enough.
Okay.
So let's count off.
I think I'm going to run out of fingers on my hands to talk about what you're doing.
Okay.
So you mentioned soccer.
You mentioned the school.
I would superimpose on top of the school, the triple major you just mentioned.
Okay.
So as well as the YouTube channel, which people would know you from.
And the thing that intrigues me, I'm not going to say the most, but I find very interesting
to sit on top of all this is the business.
How do you find time to run all of that in the business?
I think it's a very unique arrangement that you've arranged.
Can you talk a little bit about how you manage all of that in school at the same time?
Yeah.
So the business has been going for a couple of years now.
So we've definitely got down the way we flow the best as kids are working on carburetors
as we're mailing.
I have a little brother named Graham.
He just turned 16.
He's our floor manager.
So as I was doing this, my entire high school career and bringing in friends, he was also
helping me out and he was watching from the sidelines.
And then we tagged him in when I left and he ended up bringing in five amazing women
and three other boys.
And so he helps run the shop while I'm gone.
And then also Dane helps a lot with all of the things that involves an adult.
I'm able to do a bunch of the social media content.
So over breaks, we bucket a bunch of videos.
So every day we can bang out at least like six.
We change our shirts.
We change our, we say it's a different day.
We have different lighting and we pre-post those to go out on certain dates so that I
don't have to exert enough more energy while I'm at college.
And then we focus heavily on breaks.
So that's when you see the most like new content coming out is breaks when we're able to sit
down and start filming again.
Gotcha.
So do you sleep at all or is that just you'll catch up with that?
That was my question too.
I'm a very good multi-fascist.
So I'm very like early bird.
So I'm up at like six doing work and then I go to the gym and then start my school day.
The dad in me is going to come out.
I'm sorry for this.
Are you getting enough sleep?
I am getting enough sleep.
Okay.
I just had to make sure of that.
But I think that's up.
Yeah.
So, so before we go in the wayback machine and kind of talk about your, your, your earlier cars
as well as Dane's, let's see what he's going to ask you.
Whoa, what's happened?
I was going to ask you, how did you, I can, I apologize, I completely lost my train of thought.
The genesis, yeah, the genesis hop in here though.
Yeah.
So I think what Christian was thinking about and he generally doesn't lose his train of thought.
That's me normally.
But yeah, so we know the story, but we're hoping you could give us quick, quick background on
how Riley's rebuilds came into being.
Yeah.
So, Riley's rebuilds was originally a, was originally 13 year old me doing carburetors
on the side to build up enough money to buy my first car.
I grew up very tomboy.
My dad was a stay at home father.
So I was always in the garage.
I knew I wanted to be automatically inclined and I knew that I wanted to be able to build
my first car or at least know what's wrong with it if, if I ever broke down.
And I told my dad this and he said, yeah, with what money?
Because I came at him wanting like arc sevens.
Oh, good, good choice, by the way, our seven.
And yeah, so he said, yeah, with what money?
And in the state of Florida, you can't start working until you're 14.
And it's for a minimum wage, which was like $8 at the time.
So that obviously wouldn't get me to where I needed to be for a car.
So he turned me to the garage and I found a carburetor on the shelves, asked what I did,
he explained that it's an air and fuel mixture ratio device and showed me how to break it down.
And it was super simple.
It was like Legos.
And for the first couple of weeks, he watched me break them down and rebuild them to make sure
that I wasn't going to flood anybody, anybody's car.
And then I kept getting better and better at it to a point where
I was doing them really quickly.
I made enough money for my car, COVID hit.
So we stopped for a little bit and we ended up building the car.
It's a 1995 YJ, it's Jurassic Park Jeep, which is really fun.
It's beautiful.
And I continued to kind of keep it up, but I didn't necessarily need a lot of money.
I'd already made a bunch and COVID hit it.
So we weren't spending money.
And then I got into a really big accident with one of my girlfriends at the time.
And she, oh, I got into an accident with one of my girlfriends at the time.
And then it ended up being a big amount of expenses for the car.
And so I picked up Ravels.
And that's when I started running out of parts.
And I had pretty much bought out all Florida of carburetors on Facebook Marketplace.
Because I'd been doing it for three-ish, four-ish years at that point.
And so that's when I put in Facebook and we ended up going viral on Facebook.
And I had over 300 carburetors on my doorstep for free in the next like three weeks.
And then I ended up hiring my four girl best friends.
And they came into the garage and they joined me.
And then we just kept it going from there and we made it big.
So how did you, how did the carburetors find their ways to, so as I was watching the videos,
it was just kind of my jaw kept hanging lower and lower is kind of your story unfolds.
And I feel like kind of that your whole audience is there from the inception to kind of see you
walk through and you go through the garage and you see all these carburetors all over them.
How did these find you?
I know you went viral, but how did these land so quickly in your lab?
Garage.
Yeah. So we did have our addresses on the page.
And then when we did go viral, we started, I started having open communications and then
I was underage at the time.
So Dane also helped me a bunch with a lot of the communications.
We were just because like when you're in a male dominated industry, you're always going to get
non-family friendly things filtering in, but it was a really good way to learn business at the
time. And we looked at it as a learning opportunity with business and LLCs and tax write offs and
being able to show kids how to do this in a fun environment.
And so we, I'd also been on social media before.
So I went viral on TikTok during COVID for anime reviews.
I would like read manga and I would do anime show reviews.
And so I was used to having content like friends and making content every day and kind of just
going at that.
So it kind of came with second nature.
And also when you go viral in high school, that's a really big deal to a high schooler.
So they really want to jump all over it.
And so we were talking to a bunch of people.
I'm messaging a bunch of people that wanted to help me.
I ended up getting in contact with Edelbrock as a company.
So now we are Edelbrock's official rebuilding service.
We get sent pallets once a year to twice a year, sometimes a couple months there here
and there of returns that we rebuild.
And then we started going on to TV shows and talking about our tuning expertise and showing
you how we've rebuilt cooperators and people just, it sounds so weird and so niche.
And you wouldn't think there's a lot of carburetors in this world.
But there are so many.
Absolutely.
So many.
Rebuilding service.
I don't necessarily know how it gets out there, but it does.
We do a lot of podcasts.
We say yes to everything.
So our name is definitely out there.
If we don't work.
Yeah, you are a big public speaker.
That much is clear.
I'm going to put you on pause for one second.
Let's bring Dane into the conversation and not to embarrass you at all, Riley.
But Dane, I have to know, was she the kind of child that was forever picking something up,
taking it apart, putting it together?
How, where did this come from?
Or did it just, all of a sudden she picked up this piece of metal and it worked?
How did that, was there anything to foreshadow that?
She, no, there wasn't.
She was a typical kid.
Typical young kid.
If your typical young kid is an athlete, that was her first thing.
She played soccer at an extremely high level as a child.
She was on the Olympic development program and played for IMG and traveled the country at 13.
And I'm dad bragging now.
She's still officially the youngest semi pro player in Florida at 14 and a half.
So she was, but the cars were always in the garage.
I was always wrenching.
It's a hobby for me, not a career.
So I always have something.
And when I could get her in there, I'd get her in there, like bleeding brakes,
come in here and pump the brake pedal for me and things like that.
But when she wanted her first car, there was the opportunity.
I had tons of parts on the shelves and I said, look, just go in and repurpose,
polish and put them up on eBay.
Let's get all this stuff cleared out of the garage.
And then she ran across the carburetors.
And like if you've ever done carburetors, you know, they're not terribly difficult,
but like Riley said, they're like a bunch of Legos.
If you put the pieces in the right places, it'll work.
And then she started going on Marketplace and buying them all over Florida.
And it was an opportunity for me to teach her how to negotiate with adults.
And because she was playing soccer, we were traveling every weekend all over the Southeast.
She would jump on Marketplace knowing whatever route we were going,
and she would find all the carburetors between here and Athens, Georgia.
And we would buy them on the way and on the way back.
And that's how it started.
Yes. And I can see in her tremendous drive, but also tremendous focus.
So I can just sort of see in my mind's eye, in as much with my own children too,
this just hyper focus on the task at hander.
I heard somebody once say that when he looks to hire, he looks to musicians
and athletes for the reason you just said, they show up, they practice, they get better,
they show up, they practice, they get better.
So lovely. Thank you for sharing that with us.
Yeah. So before we put you both in the way back machine here, go 88 miles an hour back into the
past. I just wanted to say, before I toss it over here to Doug, the video on the Jurassic Jeep
blew my mind. It was wonderful. You got to check it out. Riley Reeve holds on, on YouTube.
And she's right next to this beautiful Jeep with the Jurassic, you know, the Jurassic Trim Edition.
And it's got mud all over it. And I'm just, you know, half listening to her about why is there
mud all over the, and at the very end, she says, yeah, that's right. And I went mud last,
mudding last night and I just didn't have a chance to clean it off. So with that,
I'm going to toss it over to Doug and let's step back into the time machine. Wonderful.
Yeah. So we'll, we'll, we, let's, let's ask Dane because we did talk about Riley's first car.
We are going to go back to it, but Dane, tell us about your first car.
So my, my first driving experience was I grew up on a farm in New England and up in New England,
back when I was young, maybe still the same, you could drive at the age of 13, if you were within
five miles of the farm. So country roads, yeah, yeah. And it was, you know, it was a way for us
to get to and from fields, you know, where, where bailing hay and you got to get to another field
or whatever it is. So I was driving farm trucks when I was 13 in a little town, you know,
drives the convenience store and it was not uncommon. It was a little farm town. So you'd
see it pretty frequently. And so my dad was an overly mechanic, but mechanical, but we always
fixed our own stuff, right? We were on the farm. So I learned, I learned how to weld stick weld
when I was probably the same age, you know, 12, 13, 14, you know, fixing tractors and things like
that. And when I was getting older and starting to look at cars, I was starting to get hungry for
some speed. And my first car was a 1977 Monte Carlo with a 350. And I did everything I could do on
that thing as a 16 year old, including putting nitrous on it, which ended up being the end of
that car. Okay. Oops. Yeah, yeah, it was, it was a kind of a funny story, but I was kind of,
it was an early morning driving home from a friend's house. And I ended up going stoplight to
stoplight with an LTD and did three or four of them in a row. And then he pulled behind me and
threw a bubble light up on his dash and pulled me over. It was a gun. And
obviously now I know he couldn't give me a ticket to arrest me. I mean, we were racing each other
like four lights a row. And he started going over my car. And then he, he said, you have no nitrous
on this. I said, no, sir, I don't. He goes, all right, lift your air cleaner off. And I lifted
it off. And there was the plate. And that was the end of that car. Got him pounded. You can't have
nitrous in Massachusetts. You can have it in Hampshire. Yeah, have it in Massachusetts.
So that car got him pounded and my dad wouldn't let me get it out of impound. So
that was the end of that car. Now that one was a hand me down from your brother too. And we,
we get that a lot. We just love, love how these kind of descend from, from sibling to sibling.
That's kind of cool. Or at least it stopped at Dane at that point. It wasn't going anywhere else.
True. But yeah, I did. Now my kids got, you know, a big block forward with the dual quad tunnel
ram at 19. So I guess it didn't really stop. Good point. No, continue, continue on. And I loved,
tell us about your radio in that car. No radio. What radio? No radio. So loud you couldn't hear
anything. Yeah, especially when you're racing Ford LTDs, police cars. And, and of course I had,
you know, headers into little thrush mufflers and no side, no exhaust coming out. So it was just,
I remember one of my buddies was behind me after a football game and he pulls up next to me on the
highway screaming for me to pull over, pull over, pull over. I pull over and he comes up next to
me, but your car's on fire. And I'm like, what? He goes, it's underneath your car. It's on fire.
And I went down, it wasn't on fire, but it was blowing flames out of the exhaust every time
it would shift. So he was behind me watching this, this debacle go down. If only we had
iPhones back then to take videos, right? That would be beautiful. I don't know. Or we'd all
be in jail and incriminating. Yeah, I was about to say, I just meant could go either way. Posterity
You know, I owned a few Jeeps. I got a 94 was probably the last Wrangler I had.
And you remember a Christian? Absolutely. And I remember the Jeep had a kind of poor man's fuel
injection system. So I was wondering from Riley, did you swap out the fuel injection for a carburetor
built by Riley's rebuilds? No, but we're going to. Oh, next on the list. Way to tease the content.
It is like the last thing that we need to do on the Jeep. We pretty much done everything else on it.
We were, we've been thinking about selling it. So or Graham has it right now, but we've been
thinking about possibly selling it and getting me a new car. So that'll be the last thing.
And it's bad though. It is sad. That was, that was the next thing to pop out of my mouth. Well,
where's the crying emoji and crying emoji slide around here? This, this might be jumping ahead,
but what Dane and Riley, when, when Riley was learning about carburetors, did she test the
carburetors on any cars? And what, what cars did you have in the garage that she used? We died
right? No. Okay. Yeah. So, so I have one of the cars we have is a Dodge Little Red Express
drag race truck. And so we did, we did a bunch of testing on that. We also have a friend that
owns a dyno shop south of us about a half an hour. And anytime he had a carbureted motor come up on
the, on the dyno stand, he'd let Riley come down and we'd work on it and tune it. And that's where
she really cut her teeth. And after she got confident, whenever we went to car shows, she would
bring her tool bag with her and convince all these old guys to let this 16 year old girl.
I saw the video. I saw one of the videos. Hi, I'm Riley. Would you like me to tune up your
carburetors? Yeah. And I love videoing those from the very beginning so that I can show
the guys reactions are like, whoa, wait, really? Like, you know what you're doing? And then once
she does it and the car just runs so much better. I mean, right, have we ever run into a carburetor
that was already tuned? Well, like now, but they all run. They just don't realize that they could
run better. Better. Yeah. Just put that extra effort in. Carburetors like Edelbrock carburetors
are out of the box, put right onto your car, go and go carburetors. That's like what they're meant
for versus, but you can always make them better. Like, I feel like a lot of some of the older
carburetors too needed to tune them to the car specifically, but that's why in we're primarily
Edelbrock, that's the ones that we normally tune. So they're never tuned to the car because they're
meant to come out of the box and be put right on the car and still make it go really well.
It's just we can make it better.
Yeah. Well, that's, and like you said, a lot of people don't realize there are a lot of carburetors
still in use today. Yeah. We actually were at the Sanford plant at Edelbrock where they build
all their carburetors, and they are making the same amount today that they were making
20 years ago. Wow. Every week they're producing the same number. That's how many carburetors are
still in use. You know, I have a quick funny about my late father in this head to be in the late 80s
when all the cars were moving to fuel injection. And I remember him saying, man, I don't want to
move to fuel injection. My next car, I got to keep carburetor. I said, Dad, I think the only car you
buy now is a Hyundai Excel. It still has a carburetor. He's like, maybe not. Yeah. Or a dump
truck. Yeah. Or we could have had a dump truck ride to school. So yeah. Exactly. Or a tractor,
right? That's right. Yeah. One thing that popped into my mind here, Doug, is something Dane said,
wrote early here pops into my mind that the salt in weather reclaimed one of your automobiles to
the ground. So have you spoken to Riley about, you know, being up north and the salt and the
conditions of the road, etc. Have you mentioned anything about that? Oh, yeah. She had never,
you had seen snow once or twice, but you had never driven anywhere near it.
So there's a lot of over the phone education I drive in snow. And then it's one of those,
you just kind of let them go and hope that they do okay. But when we do project cars,
we try to buy something that is, you know, Georgia, Tennessee South. We can do rust like
Riley's Feraline, right? I feel like I'm stealing your thunder, but we did all the panel work.
But I would much rather spend my time on the mechanical than on rust and bodywork.
But go ahead, Riley. I have a fan up here that my grandma gave me. It's like
really dinky little van. So it's four wheel. The first time I drove in snow, like
it dies on me every other day. But yeah, I definitely learned really quickly
that you can't have nice cars up here and they can't beat wheel. They have to be four wheel.
Yeah, indeed. Yeah, we had an interesting, this is the first year, first winter, my
dad had a license and had a car and it's just the debate. Dad, can I drive? No,
you haven't done it yet. And we just hadn't had it. Then the snow didn't stick around
far enough. So her car was stuck here for a couple of days. But yeah.
Did you take her out into an empty parking lot and do donuts and slide?
No, he took her to Dunkin' Donuts, I think. That's the closest we got to that.
Well, part of the problem is I drive an electric car as my daily driver and she's scared to drive it.
And her car actually belongs to her mom and her mom doesn't want me driving it. So
there you go. We'll get there somehow. Someday. Yeah, I remember great times
owning a Jeep in the snow. So much fun. So much fun.
Yeah, so at this point, let's get to our least favorite cars. Is there a least favorite car?
And let's let's let's toss this out to Riley first. Least favorite and why?
Least favorite that we've owned? Owned the one that we've worked on. Because it worked on so long.
Your choice, roll with it.
Your least favorite, Ruth? How about your 2000 Mercury Villager? Is that helpful?
Listen, I love Ruth. Okay, that's her name.
She is the best because when we need to move all our college items, we can pack her up.
It's actually a Nissan, right? Ruth, underneath the covers. I think the Villager was actually a Nissan.
Yeah. Okay. Useless trivia. Yeah. So what was yours? The corvette that we worked on on Repair to Rev,
it was a C3. C4. C4. Just the engineering of the bay was so strange. They had the water pump on
top of electrical. The distributor. So it's the water pump ever leaked. Your distributor would
get leaked on. There's just some engineering points where I'm like, it's corvette. You're
okay. You're better than this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think my worst or yeah,
1992 Alfa Romeo. And quick story on that one. And I'll tell you why it was the worst was we were
buying a house and we went to go do the final walk through and the homeowner wife met us.
She opened the door in a panic and she goes, the house is ready. We can totally do the closing,
but there's a car in the garage and we can't get it started. And I was like, all right,
that's okay. So we did the whole walk through the house. House is great. We get into the garage,
opens it up, little red Alfa Romeo spider, like not from the graduate, but like a couple generations.
Oh yeah. Yeah. And she goes, we're going to get it out of here. I promise. We're getting a tow
truck. We can't get it started on and on. And jokingly, I said, well, you can just leave it.
I'll buy the house anyways. And she goes, you'll buy, you'll take the car. I was like, wait,
I was like, yeah. Fantastic. So she gets her husband on the phone. He says, oh my gosh,
will you take the car? I was like, yeah, I'm a car guy. I said, how much do you want for it?
He goes, how about $2,000? And I said, absolutely. Yes. Go ahead. So I just told the house agent
to cut them a check at the closing. We went back to the house and they didn't realize that there
was a clutch safety switch that you had to have the clutch depressed to start the car.
It fired right off. It ran fantastic. Great car. The only problem is I'm six one. I couldn't drive
it with the top up. So I'm looking through the little down or this looking through the windshield.
That's why that was the worst car I've owned. Not not the car itself, but it just wasn't built for
a six one American. The Italians are smaller people. Now on a car that you worked on, how about
the Chevy Nomad? I like that you wrote that it was an amazing historic car that nearly destroyed
you in the restaurant. It was you in the car. So let's pull the thread there.
Okay. So this one Riley knows intimately. We've owned it since she's been alive. 1957 Chevy Nomad,
it was a full frame off restoration. Every single button bolt was restored and I will never do it
again. That was the hardest thing I've ever done brutal. And it was taking like 18 years.
I get a phone call from Riley randomly. She says, Hey, dad was on the phone with the Armo
Council at SEMA, which is the automotive restoration council. She said I was on a conference call with
them and they asked if anybody knew of any great cars for SEMA booth. And I told them we'd bring
the Nomad. And if you saw the Nomad at the time that she said this, it was a shell. There was no
motor in it, no transmission, no interior was out, no glass, no chrome. And we had three and a half
months to finish it. So we killed ourselves. We had all the kids in the garage working on it, Riley
working on it. And we got it done. And we got it done to a level that I was very proud of. We
brought it to SEMA. It was fantastic in the booth. And then it went straight from there to muscle
car and Corvette Nationals in Chicago to the McCann show and it scored a gold at a 969 for our
first restoration. So we were really proud of it. I will never do it again. Wow, such attention to
detail. Congratulations. That's really something. Thank you. Yeah, Riley, Riley knows that car from
when she was, as she can remember, right? I had pictures of her at three years old, block sanding
it. Yeah, it's like my oldest memory. And it's a great one, right? Yeah. That's what we love to
hear. And you guys are just, you've been smiling the whole time, but you started smiling even a
little bit more. Yeah, just all these kids running around in the garage. Oh, yeah, get OSHA involved,
out of control. Okay, Doug's favorite part of the show coming up. Yeah, to start with Riley,
what would be your dream car and you introduced me to a new acronym that I didn't know about?
Yeah, an OBS. It's an old body style truck. I've been really into them as a younger age,
but I never was able to buy one. So I think that would be really cool and modifying it,
putting it on some good wheels and getting it going. I also have a little spot in my heart
for like a 73s Bronco, like an orange Bronco. I think that was a trend a little bit a while ago,
and they got really popular, but I've always liked them for a very long time. Yeah, beautiful car.
Well, I'm sure one or both are in your future. I think so. Yeah, and there'll definitely be an
Edelbrock carburetor on there for sure. And for Dane's dream car, he's going to turn into Mad Max
in just driving around the Wasteland, right? I didn't forget about that. Yeah, I love movie
cars. I always have. Actually, she has the Jurassic Park Jeep. I just love that. I want to do an 18
van. I want to do all kinds of stuff, but the biggest and the best was the Mad Max Jensen
interceptor, black with the blower out the hood. I mean, God dang, you can't get any cooler than
that. Beautiful. Yeah, yeah, I remember. I remember. Yeah, and before we start to ramp the show down
here, Riley, I wanted to pivot to you. And we always like to ask our guests about causes or
certain themes or things they support. And you wrote something lovely here that I'd like to
get your thoughts on. You wrote, I'm all about getting the next generation into the industry,
and your living embodiment of that. And you mentioned that you're a huge support of the
Jesse Combs Foundation. Could you talk a little bit about your involvement with that?
Yeah, so the Jesse Combs Foundation is one of my favorite, like all female groups. I, in 2024,
won the Rising Star Award. So Jesse Combs Foundation was like part of the first women that
introduced me kind of to the industry. When we first went to SEMA, we made sure that the girls and
I went to as many women events. And the Jesse Combs Foundation, like, instantly saw me grab me,
and it was really a fun development. Because that was the first year. That was 2023. And I
heard a lot of people telling me that I reminded them a lot, like Jesse, or that they really
met Jesse. And I, like, had watched the documentary. I knew her. But I was being told all these
amazing stories about Jesse to a point that I felt like I knew her. Like, there was such
a connection. And everybody that talked about her loved her. And so I started to love her. And the
women that were part of the Jesse Combs Foundation, I started to love through Jesse and, like,
through their actions. And then the next year I went to SEMA, I won the award. So I wore the bandana
and I got to really be involved with the foundation and meet all the wonderful people
on, like, Dana and all the other, like, presidents of the foundation. And now I work with them
adamantly. We actually have been kind of throwing it around to, we have one of Jesse's trucks that
she used to work on with her dad, that we are possibly throwing around with some companies
and some content creators to make it an all female build and bring it to SEMA as a SEMA build
and then make it into a race truck and get a team going and start branching the foundation to
make it a women empowerment, like, loving. Yeah. Absolutely. That's wonderful. Thank you for sharing
that. And, you know, it's one thing that Dane was saying before about engagement, youth engagement.
And I wouldn't look, when I look at the two of you together, just the theme of togetherness,
it's just kind of oozing out of the phone with your family involved in things and you're obviously
very close. And that's really wonderful to see. And as we guide the podcast gently to the off ramp,
two things on the way out for you, and you don't have to take them in sequence, but I would like
to ask, what is next for your brand, Riley? And then tangentially, we've never had this before.
This really excites me. I wanted to mention you have something going on with HH Wheels,
who we interviewed, I don't know, Doug, what, about a month, month and a half ago? So take those two
however you'd like to interweave them. But what's next for the brand and mention how you,
what you're doing with HH Wheels? Can I take the brand thing, you take the HH Wheels?
You want to go first? Yeah, I'll take the brand thing, you take HH Wheels. So this,
you guys are going to get the exclusive. We do that. We're working with a team to develop an
e-commerce site that will be powered by Turn 14 and Motor State, so that Riley's rebuilds will be
able to sell virtually every hot rod part available. And proceeds are going to go towards
scholarships and tuitions for young men and women to go through the automotive industry.
Love it. Fantastic. How do you follow that? Riley, are you even able to follow that up?
Yeah, we are. So with part of that branding going on, we have been obviously bringing in a bunch
of sponsors with that. We wanted to make sure that the cars that I was working on, we have those
parts up and bring in brands that we really love and trust with our style of branding as well.
And then with that, for the summer, we are going to be doing the Great Brace. So that's going to
be with the Fairlane. And we were thinking about it when we originally got introduced with this
idea with Coke Retires and Hemings. And they talked it up to us at SEMA and we said, weapons,
if we made this bigger, and we reached out to 20 plus content creators, all women in the automotive
industry. And we were like, yo, if we started to pick up one or two each day and get like sponsor
money and travel money and make this a really big collaborates and have just a lot of fun with
this because it's a 10 day race through seven different states. And somehow most of the content
creators are all in these states. So this is where Caroline comes in from HH Wheels.
We initially chalked this idea up straight to her dad because her dad and my dad are friends and
wonderful people. They are wonderful people. And so normally in this race there's a navigator
and there's a driver. And so we instantly went to Caroline. We were like, we need to figure this
out. Like you are going to be main people in this. Like we're going to figure this out. And then the
dads were like, we should go in with an RV and then drive in the back and like, boom.
Yes. Sounds like it's a support team. Yeah, we're the support team. Not that these girls,
these ladies don't need mechanic support. They know more than probably we do. But James and I
are calling ourselves the support, the support team, mainly because we want to live vicariously
through our pretty much how it goes. Yeah. So that's a really big awesome thing. And we're
doing the feraling with that. And then can I say the other part now? Do not. Okay. Hold off on,
I know where you're going. No. We'll have you. Wait, pause there. We'll have you back.
Yeah, that's a good way in the future. Hey, we're great at breaking news. Not so great at putting
it back together. Well, Dane and Riley, this has been just a total treat. I want to thank you for
making time for us in your schedule. You made Doug's day. You made my day. Doug, what do you think?
We have anything else? No, I think we covered everything. This was another fantastic interview.
Again, like the gift that keeps giving, right? Even though I seized up early on in the show,
like an engine without oil, but you know what? That's what happens. It's a one take show. It's
what we do. Thank y'all for joining us and please come back anytime. Thank you. Thank you. Happy
to do it. If you need any recommendations for other father-daughter teams, we got some. All right.
So, Riley, I would just beg and you get enough sleep in school first, please. Sorry, I'm a dad.
You have just heard the high-reving, low-mileage, late model heard around the world,
authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia. He's Doug. Reach him at Doug at CarsLove.com.
I'm Christian. Reach me at Christian at CarsLove.com. They are Dane and Riley. You know where to get them.
Riley's rebuilds on YouTube, but she's probably too busy to get back with you and do not interrupt or
sleep. Please follow and check out. If you like our podcast, sell a friend, review. That's how
it allows us to grow. And I always say it wrong, Doug. So, give them our link tree.
And I swear one day, I will learn how to spell, but until then, go there. It's our digital
switchboard. I'm sure we'll see you at the next local car show, showroom, race, trip, or concourse.
We appreciate your listening and we'll see you next time.
About this episode
A captivating conversation with father-daughter duo Dane and Riley from Riley's Rebuilds, exploring their journey in automotive restoration. Riley shares her experiences running a carburetor rebuilding business while juggling college and soccer. The duo discusses their projects, including a Jeep YJ build and a 1957 Chevy Nomad restoration, along with the challenges of working in a male-dominated industry. They also touch on their involvement with the Jesse Combs Foundation and plans for future collaborations, emphasizing the importance of empowering the next generation in automotive fields.
What happens when a 13-year-old girl wants to buy her first car but can't legally work? She starts rebuilding carburetors in her dad's garage—and accidentally builds a national brand. 🔧😲
In our 2026 Premiere, we sit down with Riley and her father Dane, the dynamic duo behind Riley’s Rebuilds. Riley went from being a high-level soccer player to a viral automotive sensation, restoring thousands of carburetors for enthusiasts worldwide and becoming an official rebuilder for Edelbrock Group.
We dive deep into their incredible journey, from scouring Facebook Marketplace across four states to building a Jurassic Park Jeep YJ and navigating the automotive industry as a young female entrepreneur.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
🦖 The Jurassic Jeep: The story behind Riley's first car, a 1995 Jeep Wrangler YJ transformed into a movie-accurate Jurassic Park tribute (mud included!).
🔥 The Nitrous Incident: Dane’s "first car" story involving a 1977 Monte Carlo, a stoplight race with a Ford LTD police car, and a hidden nitrous plate.
📈 Viral Success: How a car accident and a single Facebook post led to 300+ free carburetors showing up at their doorstep.
🛠️ The Art of the Hustle: How Riley balances a triple major in college (Math, Physics, Mechanical Engineering) while running a business and managing a team of her best friends.
🤝 Women in Automotive: Riley's work with the Jessi Combs Foundation and her mission to bring the next generation into the trade.
📢 Join the Conversation: What was your first "wrenching" experience? Did you learn from a parent or figure it out yourself? Let us know on Instagram @toallthecarsivelovedbefore
*** Your Favorite Automotive Podcast - Now Arriving Weekly!!! ***
Listen on your favorite platform and visit https://carsloved.com for full episodes, our automotive blog, Guest Road Trip Playlist and our new CAR-ousel of Memories photo archive.
Don't Forget to Rate & Review to keep the engines of automotive storytelling—and personal restoration—running strong.
