The Volkswagen Beetle is a famous car that looks very unique and has been loved by many people for decades. It has a long history and has been redesigned several times over the years.
An electric vehicle is a type of car that runs on electricity instead of gas. This means it doesn't produce exhaust fumes and is better for the environment.
An electric car runs on electricity instead of gas. It uses a battery to power an electric motor, which makes it different from regular cars that use fuel.
The Ferrari 360 is a high-performance sports car made by Ferrari. It's famous for being fast and having a beautiful design, making it a dream car for many.
The Chevrolet Corvette C8 is a modern sports car that has its engine located in the middle, which helps with balance and handling. It's known for being very fast and fun to drive.
The Pontiac Grand Prix is a car that was made by the Pontiac brand. It was popular for being stylish and had some versions that were designed for better performance.
The Ford Thunderbird is a car that was popular in the U.S. for many years. It started as a small sports car and later became a bigger, more luxurious vehicle. Many people have fond memories of it.
The Audi A6 is a fancy car that offers a lot of comfort and technology. It's designed to be a nice ride for people who want something more upscale than a regular car.
The Volkswagen Jetta is a small car that's great for everyday driving. It's comfortable and saves you money on gas, which is why many people like to buy it for getting to work or school. It's known for being reliable and a good value for the price.
Car
Volkswagen Wolfsburg Edition
The Wolfsburg Edition is a special version of a Volkswagen car that usually has some unique features or designs. It's named after the city where Volkswagen is based.
The Lamborghini Gallardo is a fast and stylish sports car made by Lamborghini. It has a powerful engine and is considered one of the brand's most popular models.
The Ferrari F430 is a really fast and stylish sports car made by Ferrari. It's known for its powerful engine and amazing looks, making it a dream car for many people. Driving it is an exciting experience, and it's one of the special cars that Ferrari is famous for.
The Bentley Continental GTC is a fancy convertible car that's all about luxury and comfort. It has a powerful engine and a beautiful interior, making it a great choice for people who want to drive in style. It's one of those cars that really shows off wealth and taste.
The Porsche 911 Turbo is a fast and fancy sports car that many people dream of owning. It's known for being really powerful and fun to drive, especially because it has a special engine that helps it go super fast. The 996 version was one of the first to combine modern features with the classic 911 look.
Ultra high performance means cars that are really fast and handle well. They're often supercars that have special designs and technology to make them exciting to drive.
The Ford Pinto is a small car that Ford made in the 1970s. It was cheap and easy to drive, but it had some safety problems that people talked about a lot.
AMG is a special part of Mercedes-Benz that makes faster and sportier versions of their cars. They add more power and unique features to make the cars more exciting to drive.
The Porsche 911 GT3 RS is a super sporty version of the 911 that's built for racing and high-speed driving. It's lighter and faster than regular models, making it really exciting to drive, especially on a racetrack. People love to talk about it because it's one of the best cars for performance enthusiasts.
The Porsche Macan is a small luxury SUV that's fun to drive and very comfortable. It has a sporty feel, like a sports car, but with more space for passengers and cargo. People like it because it combines the best of both worlds: luxury and practicality.
The Countach is a famous sports car from Lamborghini that looks very cool and is very fast. It was popular in the 1980s and is still loved by car fans today.
LIVE
Welcome back to All The Cars I've Loved Before, your authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia
where our guests are unique.
Each auto has an era and every car tells a story.
So you know, indeed you know the time.
It's time to plug in, get a little grease under the nails, fingernails, toenails, whatever
your nails and slip on that favorite car themed t-shirt, hat or jacket.
How you doing partner, what's going on up there in the mid-Atlantic?
Not too much, feels like summer, getting there, 80 degrees, whatnot.
And the Florida Panhandle summer is about to come with a huge cudgel over the head with
humidity and warmth.
Speaking of, yeah, I was just going to welcome back listeners all over the world.
We love looking at the reporting and analytics.
Welcome back to people in countries such as Israel, Finland specifically.
All right, let's see if I don't butcher this.
Turku in Southwest Finland, welcome back.
We had three return visitors, return listeners we should say from your state of New Jersey, Doug.
Northfield, Egg Harbor, Egg Harbor in Tuckerton.
Have you heard of those three?
I know you lived in Jersey before.
I wonder if my friend Tim, who was, I think he was our second.
I remember.
Episode.
Yeah.
He lives in Minnesota, but he has family in New Jersey, he's from New Jersey.
He might be, and I know he's in New Jersey now, like him.
Yeah.
I love seeing listeners hop up where I can triangulate and have a good idea of who that
is.
Welcome back to listeners north of the border in Ontario, St. Catherine, and in Quebec
Montreal, Gulf Breeze, Florida, where I'm located.
Who's listening?
Probably my kids.
Navar.
Welcome.
And back up north, Syracuse.
Syracuse, New York.
Welcome.
Great to have you back.
I had one question here before we get into the show.
Did you see anything interesting on the road today, Doug?
Well, not anything or this week today, but over the last couple of days and they're
popping up more and more, the Volkswagen ID buzz.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
I saw one too.
Really sharp looking.
Yep.
Love the, I think it was wide over yellow, something like that.
Yeah.
I think they're all two tone.
I mean, you know, Volkswagen is brilliant at the nostalgia, right?
Design.
Yeah.
The new Beetle, right?
For example, which sold like hotcakes initially.
This is different, right?
Because it's electric.
I think it's, it doesn't have the range, right?
I think it's hopefully more, you know, it's probably more of a fad car than anything.
We shall see.
And like everything, you'll see somebody who bought one and then they'll be selling it
quickly, just like a sports, just like a small sports car, like a Miata, right?
They've got it.
They're like, ah, I don't really use it that much.
Oh, it's too loud.
In this case, maybe the range, certainly availability of charging is something to get used to when
you have an electric car.
Yeah.
Perfect segue because I was thinking, I was going to ask you this, when you, and when
you look for cars, where do you look?
Do you go?
You know, it used to be the classifieds used to be, or you drive by the lot, but there's
so many ways to get that content today.
Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, how do you, if you're looking for a car for the kids
yourself, where do you go?
What do you do?
I would say Facebook, Facebook marketplace, and there is a Facebook forum for every car
or...
Yeah.
...multiple...
...seas manufacturer.
Like, I recently got on the Miata one, probably because of a couple of our pass gas, John from
Mazda, as well as Nigel, and now I just see Miata's pop it up left and right.
And then, of course, they're popping up on Facebook marketplace.
I'm like, hmm.
What do you do?
Big brother, eavesdrop.
Yeah, we were in one of my cars, my son said, he was asked, I can't remember, he was asking
me something about, what are you good, this problem or that problem?
And I told him about the many online communities.
Just online.
You go to this website.org and they have, it's just a discussion board.
Any question you have, you can just search up there and, yeah, see what other people
have come up with.
Yeah, you can become a YouTube certified mechanic.
We've had several, still waiting for my plaque, my certificate to come in the mail, but yeah,
all looking forward to that.
So, carslove.com, carslove.com, reach out to us, Christian at carslove.com, Doug at
carslove.com.
And so, what's been happening with the website?
I know the car sale continues to fill up, and for those not in the low cars love, not
in the no, carslove.com slash photos.
So send us photos of your automobiles.
If you had those interesting first ones, you and your family, because the show is, it's
about family, if it's at all about cars.
So, we've been, we've, I have some snapshots to send you of my first thing.
So, are you still getting them?
How's that working?
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm between car spotting and then some of our guests who've been able to maintain
their pictures, right?
They still have it.
Maybe they still own the car, if it's some of our guests.
And, you know, we should also mention, because our guest mentioned it, we have an events
page, I would love for the events page to be maybe someday us going to an event.
But there you go.
Our events page is typically, who we're going to be interviewing on what day and
an approximate time.
Yeah, good stuff.
Good stuff.
So, it's fun to do.
It's nice to hear that people actually look at it.
So, makes for a good time.
Good work.
So, slash events.
Yep, a lot of blood, sweat and tears goes into the website.
Doug's always busy.
So, hey, thank you for that.
And now, I'm going to toss it over to you and ask you, how did today's guest, very
excited about today's guest?
By the way, how did he find his way into your virtual garage?
Yeah, as you've been hearing more and more, just due to the podcast getting out
there and people hearing about it through his PR rep, they found us on
quoted qwotd.com and reached out and we've actually gotten some fantastic
guests and our guest today is not going to disappoint.
None more fantastical than Adam with the extreme experience.
Adam, how are you this afternoon?
I'm fantastical, apparently.
I'm doing good, boys.
Good to see you.
You're the best.
You're the best.
Yeah, so tell us a little bit what you do.
You have a company called The Extreme Experience.
Tell us a little bit about it and then what got you into that enterprise?
Well, I suppose that I'm here simply to fulfill Doug's need of putting an
event on the events page and I happen to know.
Are we all?
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm a selfless guy.
Who'd I find a way to host 50 to 60 automotive themed events nationwide and
make sure that people had stuff to do and that's what we do.
But long story, really, really short, almost 15 years ago, I was in the
luxury concierge business helping connect people with rentals and fancy cars
and boats and things like that.
But man, oh man, everyone called and said, I just want a cool extreme experience.
Can you be the guy to help put that together for me?
And I said, who would I be to say no?
And so I did.
And 15 years later and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of drivers later.
Here we are.
Yeah.
And if you want to put a smile on your face, everybody, if the nearest
device plopping the extreme experience dot com, the extreme experience dot
com where you can rent set one of many.
And it looks like it's it's a dozen or two supercars.
It's this whole tour, as Adam was saying, that kind of goes around the country.
And you can drive these cars on a racetrack.
So so what was the you told us about the aha moment that led to that?
Was it hard to put together a fleet of supercars?
That's such a maniac sentence.
But how long did it take you from inception to making that happen?
And did you always know that you were going to be co located kind of kind
of making this happen on a on a track on a real deal racetrack?
It happened really fast.
I was no different growing up than most car guys and girls.
I had the poster on my wall.
I was in the back seat of my parents car.
I was spinning around to see what just drove past us.
Didn't matter if it was a sob or a Honda Odyssey or a Ferrari 360, whatever it was.
I was noticing it.
But, you know, then I grew up and I got distracted.
Then I went to college and I did other things.
And ultimately, after college, a few years later, I just happened upon the car
business and it reignited this excitement.
But by that time, I was a lifestyle guy who met the car industry.
And so I figured, you know, I wasn't a race car driver.
I wasn't wrenching on the cars myself.
But instead, how could I provide this lifestyle that I wanted to experience?
And then how could I share it with other people?
And so in less than a year and a half, I went from working for this
concierge company to listening to our customers who really wanted to experience
automobiles to putting together our first racetrack driving experience.
And no, Christian, I didn't notice a single one of these cars.
I knocked on the doors of every car dealership, every owner of a super car
in Chicago, and I said, I need to borrow your car.
I'm putting this cool thing together.
And I got enough people to allow me to borrow their cars and hosted our first event.
Lovely. Now, what was the first one like?
What was the first one that you put together?
Was it a comedy of errors?
Was it a Swiss watch from the from the word go?
No, I mean, a comedy would probably still be giving it some credit.
I had no, you know, I had no experience.
I did not put two two moments of thought into the fact that we should probably have
helmets on. We should probably have walkie talkies in the car.
We just put people in supercars and we said, go that way.
We'll see you when you come back around.
And most people never made it all the way back around.
They spun themselves off.
They ended up in the sand.
You know, it was what it was.
It was a comedy of learning, I guess, I suppose.
And we learned really quickly because hurting people is definitely not my
vocabulary, but, you know, we learned it was an industry that
that realistically did not exist.
And so we were creating our industry one driver at a time.
And quite honestly, I still take that outlook today, which is what keeps us growing.
For sure. And the enthusiasm, the enthusiasm must have been there
from the word go with the people that showed up.
And so how did you how did you get the word of mouth out?
Was there buzz very quickly?
Because like you say, it's a super exciting thing.
Great gift, great gift to give.
So what was that? Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, we we use local Chicago channels in the beginning.
Groupon was big here and getting started in Chicago right down the street.
When we founded this, we jumped on the Internet and you could start buying
Facebook ads, you know, 15 years ago, this stuff was kind of an infancy stage.
So we leveraged all these new digital technologies to say, hey,
you want to test drive a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, a Porsche, whatever it was,
150 bucks, that's all we charged in the beginning.
So you got to you got to imagine coming from a world
where I was initially marketing the rental of a Ferrari for $2,000 a day,
minimum of three days, I excluded 99.9% of the population.
But for 100 bucks, oh, man, our first day, thousands of people showed up.
And that was the light bulb moment right then and there.
I was like, I don't know if 150 bucks is enough to maintain a supercar
and do advertising, run a company and still make money.
But that's OK.
I have enough people here where if I figure this out, I've got a business
and we figured it out.
Yeah, in your the listener is going to ask, OK, where is this?
How do I find out when they're coming to me?
Well, it's a it's a sort of a circus where they just load up the trucks
and they go to the next city.
Three of them, you have three working in parallel.
They can go all the way around the country west, Midwest, South, Northeast.
So whether you're in Phoenix, Arizona, Denver, Colorado,
Solid City, Utah.
Now, New Orleans is the closest one to me, but they've already done that this year.
OK, South, Northeast, New Jersey.
OK, let's see what I have up here.
New York City, Philly, Michigan.
So it truly comes all the way around the country.
I got to ask, what is the most popular car that is rented?
Or what is the one that really seems to move people the most?
Oh, that's a good question, because it might be different answer.
I think the most popular car to and you hit it on the head.
This is a fantastic gift.
This is a bucket list experience.
So a lot of people sign up for the Italian prima donnas.
When once they check the Ferrari and Lamborghini off, which obviously tie for
number one, the Ferrari may edge out the Lamborghini just a little bit.
They they release new models.
They get a little bit more press.
So Ferrari one, Lamborghini two.
Then there's a big gap to numbers three, four and five.
But the car that moves people the most when they get out of it.
And I'm going to I'll take my hat off to them right now is the new C8.
Man, people get out of that car and they are blown away.
We had this.
We generally ran a Corvette generation in our in our fleet for a year or two
before they said, well, my neighbors got one now to see seven, they see six.
So I don't need this car.
We put the C8 in our fleet.
It lasted five years and we only switched it because the zero six came out.
And we said, well, if you guys have been driving that for five years,
you deserve to drive this.
But that car hands down people's favorite car.
And that was going to be my guess.
I was holding out because, yeah, that car for the money, right?
You can't beat it.
No, it's mind boggling.
And now that the ZR on that's getting all the press,
where they just released a couple of days ago, holy smokes.
Yeah.
So with these kind of Doug wants to hop in here.
Is it hard to keep a fleet of cars like these running
because being run costs, they're being handled a lot, OK,
by people that aren't used to handling them.
These are temperamental cars to begin with.
Is it hard to keep them mechanically sound?
Do you have people that sort of travel with the show?
You have people on contract when you go?
If it's a trade secret, we can move on to the next question.
Here's the trade secret.
Everything that's mechanical can and will break.
And so it's just a matter of how often it breaks and how prepared we are.
In the beginning, we traveled with a pickup truck,
a few wrenches and a spare tire, hoping we could MacGyver that situation.
But 15 years later, I've got 20 mechanics.
I've got two semi trucks and they travel with the tour everywhere they go.
And we're we're doing a fantastic amount of work on these cars in Pit Lane,
just like a race team to keep them going and to keep you safe.
Pop Nuts, love that answer.
What do you think, Doug?
Are we ready to go back in time or do you want to still
still throw out some questions about this incredible
business, the extreme experience?
So many questions.
I did want to ask, so 13 years later, I think I have that right.
Yeah.
Do you have do you have some numbers, metrics on how many, how many smiles,
how many cars, how many cars you've gone through?
Just just curious if you could share that with us.
That is a good question.
We'll start with the smiles because that was really important to us.
Yes, because just like myself, you know, I'm our ideal customer.
And so smile number one was the first time I ever saw a Lamborghini pull up in,
you know, I was in Chicago and it came over a bridge
and it was theatrical and that was this is awesome number one.
So now in our warehouse, we actually raise a banner every single year
with the number of people that rode or drove in a supercar
thanks to the extreme experience, because we're really proud of the fact
that we're changing lives and we started our first year in 2012
with 8000 people driving supercars enough to create a business.
Last year, 88000 people drove supercars
because of extreme experience or rode in supercars.
And so if you combine all those up over the last 13 years,
the number is just shy of a half a million people have been in supercars
thanks to to what we do.
Now, how many supercars did that take?
Well, we've got about 70 cars in our fleet today
between ride along cars, driver cars and as you so astutely mentioned
cars that are on a lift somewhere, getting some type of repair done.
So that's what it takes to keep the program running.
As far as how many we've gone through in the past,
I wish I had a more accurate answer.
But I know that we flip about 20, 25 percent of the fleet per year.
So at one point, I did the VinWiki show with Ed Bullion.
He has a similar question.
I think back then it was 200.
So, man, oh, man, I bet we're we're well over 350 supercars
that I've owned and I've loved in my day.
Yeah. Wow.
Good stuff. Yeah. Good stuff.
Well, I think we have to we have to climb in the way back.
We have to climb in the way back, go 88 miles per hour.
And let's go back to the beginning.
And and when we talk about Adam's first car,
great answer, he's had.
We've never had this answer before.
And he says, we always ask people, well, what was your first car?
And Adam says, well, it feels like he's had three
experience or births of this experience.
And Adam, what did you mean by that?
Well, I mean, there was the first car when you're 15, 16 years old.
The first time that I ever made tires squeal
because you just got to feel that, right?
You know, they always say that racing,
the racing was invented the moment the second car
came off the production line.
And that's kind of how you feel as a teenager.
So, you know, you've got to get that out of your system
like I am now in control.
So there was that first car.
There, of course, was the first car that I bought with my own money.
And then there was my first super car,
which really opened up this whole new chapter.
But each of those, you know, cars come into your life
for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
And so they each had their own reason and their own season.
And that's that's how I had to answer the question.
Good deal. I have to write that down.
The reason, season or a lifetime?
Yeah, yeah, it's making me re-evaluate my first cars as well.
Yeah, it's a good point.
You know what? So there's the first one you touch,
the first you bought with your own money.
So let's see, the Pontiac Grand Prix, the Jetta.
And then and then the super cars he has, he has right now.
What do you think, Doug? Where do we go with those answers?
Yeah, well, let's start with the Grand Prix.
And as we talked in the pre-show, I think my dad
owned one of those when I was probably in my 20, early 20s.
And Christian, I think I took you for a crazy ride in it.
It was a pretty cool car for the time when it first came out.
But, Adam, what do you what do you remember about that car?
I remember I've always been big on the aesthetic.
That to me was something that mattered.
And so this was white.
It was a 95 Grand Prix.
I'll never forget the tail lights.
They kind of had that waffle pattern tail lights with the string of lights.
Perfect way to credit, yes.
Right. It went across the trunk and in the front,
they had the slim headlights and it just kind of felt like a race car.
And it felt sporty at the time.
I wasn't familiar with the composition of the car, you know,
the plastic versus the steel, we were doing aluminum and stuff.
And carbon fiber was a long, long dream away.
But, you know, a Pontiac felt racy, it felt sporty.
And when I was driving that car, I felt like people were looking at me.
I will say this so that I don't forget to say it.
I think it's important that no matter what your car is,
whether it's your first car that you touched,
your first car that you bought or the car that you aspired to own one day,
it should always be a car that when you get out of it,
you turn around and look at it one more time just because you want to see your car.
And for, you know, I'm 40 now.
And so for the last 25, 26 years, I've been turning around looking at my car.
And so I guess I'll give my dad a little credit for he chose the Pontiac Grand Prix.
I didn't get to choose that one.
That's what he what he gave me to drive.
And ultimately it became mine in college.
So that, you know, a lot of good memories
about how you learn to feel about a car that way.
Yeah, love that. Love that.
Yep. And that translates well into your day job, right?
Just the feeling of the cars, right?
And, you know, you're you're seeing the the super
you're seeing the smiles of your customers, right?
And that just, yeah, all ties it back together, right?
From your first smile of that car.
Yeah, it's also kind of a good life
lesson for the people in your life, that's the anything that you own.
You know, does this thing make you happy?
Does it lighten your soul?
Or for some reason, any reason, does it bring you dread?
Asshole, or do you have some sort of negative association with it?
You know, you're not living someone else's dream in your life.
You have to optimize your own best life out of just random thought.
But something you just said really, really struck me and good stuff.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's what I'll never forget.
My mom telling me how she was.
I think she had a thunderbird in college
and then she got married, had kids, sold the car
and was driving a minivan when I learned all of this.
And I said, Mom, you know, going back to what you just said, Christian,
do you have regrets about that?
Why don't you have a sports car?
And I think that's probably when she went and bought that Audi A6.
There you go. You know, I created this lifestyle
where I never want to feel regret about passing something up.
Life is a journey and you spent a lot of time in your car.
So you better maximize that journey.
Agreed. Agreed.
And take advantage of the car being able to do what you can do
with what it's capable of on a safe track, right?
Safe environment. Yes.
I have hyperbolized that example for sure.
But daily driving, you know, some people say a car gets you from A to B.
And I said, No, it does more than that.
Yeah. Yeah.
Agreed. Or on a racetrack like you do, the car gets you from A to A
because you end up at the same point all the time. Good stuff.
Oh, yeah, that almost seems crazy, but it's worth it.
Yeah. Yeah. And there's there's definitely a
let's see, we had a Nigel Tonacliff from
he does a coastline driving academy out west.
So teaching young, young, young drivers had a drive and really great guy.
But like just how important that is and letting
respecting the power of a vehicle, right, and what it's capable of.
I the one negative I see of the C8 is because it's so affordable
and so available.
People get it and they're just they shouldn't be on the road in that car
or they should get some track experience and learn what the car is capable of beforehand.
Yeah. No argument there.
And there's plenty of great schools out there, right?
Learning to drive programs.
And a lot of times when you buy the Mustang or the Corvette,
they'll they'll gear you towards something.
But for whatever reason, this Corvette just going back to it again.
I got pro drivers who try to turn it loose, who try to get themselves in trouble.
And man, the engineers are nailing it because that car continues to save us
day in and day out.
But either way, that's no excuse to go get to go learn how to drive.
Yep. Yep. For sure.
Yeah. And it's a it's a great endorsement for that car.
So so you moved on your second birth of your car was the first car
you purchased on your own. Can you tell us about that?
This was inspired by my mom.
Fine. And you'll get him back to that.
So when we send this out to the world, she'll be happy to listen to it.
And she got she got that 01 Audi A6.
And I got behind the wheel of that.
And then you had a little luxury, plus you had the power, plus you had the engineering.
And that's when I felt the car.
This is this is what you should drive.
This is how you should feel when you drive.
And so it was a foregone conclusion that when I finally graduated from school
and had some money, I bought the Jetta.
I bought the little little little brother, little sister of the Audi.
And I got I got a place in Chicago and I just ripped that thing around
and I took full advantage of it.
And at the time, you know, that's before I even got into the supercar business, obviously.
And so I didn't know as much about the motor and the power and displacement and all that.
You know, I was just do I feel it or do I not feel it?
It was a gut it was a gut feeling.
And that car gave me that gut feeling.
And so my friends still give me a grief today about the Wolfsburger
because I still talk about it because it was, you know, who knows where I'd be today
if I wasn't doing what I'm doing, how that ladder would have looked
from Wolfsburger to what to what, but that was that was the one and only car
that I bought until, you know, the shipment until it got crazy.
Yeah, yeah.
So and in that your first supercar or supercars post post of the Wolfsburger,
what were they?
Well, and so after I transitioned from there,
I got into the rental business and we had an O8 Lamborghini Gallardo.
We had an O7 straight piped F430 coupe.
And we had a Bentley with the W12, that continental GTC.
So suddenly I was driving these cars and I was like, holy smokes.
This is this is crazy.
This is a different world.
And and that's really what changed my life.
Although the first supercar that we ever bought is extreme experience,
I believe was a 996, 9-11 turbo.
They was the first one we ever actually we ever bought and put into our fleet.
So but either way, those three, four cars really kind of brought me into the world
of ultra high performance.
And I have a lot of fond memories, feeling those out of the warehouse
and creating young teenage memories or teenage, but you know, early 20 memories.
Yeah, those supercars.
Yeah, it makes me and you mentioned 996.
I just keep thinking of the the beginning of gone in 60 seconds.
The reboot movie where he goes in and he smashes the window.
That's not what you're doing because it's your warehouse.
But he steals that brand new 996 out and just goes flying.
Yeah, we have back in the day, we have plenty of memories.
You know, before I could afford car haulers and everything,
we had to get these supercars places.
And so like like crazy 20 something year olds, we drove them.
And so you would just see this line on the highway of 430s and 9-11s
and Gallardo's and Audi R8s and Nissan GTRs.
We survived, which is the most important part.
But man, you that's just that's as good as it gets.
Just having that and then doing it with your friends was such a cool feeling too.
You know, driving a car is great, but sharing that looking over to your side,
your left and your right and seeing other people driving these cars
and then the people looking at you, it's a whole thing.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So so and we didn't talk about this in the pre-show,
but I like what you answered when you think about music.
What do you like to listen to and is there a song?
Is there a band that you like that kind of defines you and your role?
I don't know that.
I don't know that I have a moment that defines why I chose this band or this song,
but I know that the answer is and always will be ACDC,
because it's just something about the way that they play their music
and especially their song for those about to rock,
because you sit down in a Ferrari or any supercar, you know,
you click your buckle on and you turn it up and for those about to rock
and then you rock and that's always been my it's always been my supercar music.
Yeah, no, the reason I like it a different,
slightly different time, but the gentleman we had on
one of two gentlemen we had on earlier this week before you,
Tim Kearns, who's we talked about this in the pre-show,
his dad invented the intermittent windshield wiper.
So we asked him what his favorite song was and he was like Stepan Wolf,
born to be wild.
And he had a 1971 Mustang Mach 1 and man, what a what a perfect song for that car.
Just ACDC as well.
Yeah, yeah.
And then the the oil embargo crisis of the 70s happened
and he switched from that to to the pinto
and they probably played the carpenters that that might have been his go to there.
But anyway, yeah, back to you.
Yeah, so I'm sure everybody wants to know what the owner,
founder of Extreme Experience drives.
Can you can you tell us about that?
What your daily driver is?
Oh, it's a supercar, of course.
Yeah, with his his children, he's a dad, right?
Why not? That was the that was the slippery slope.
I think that once I got into the business,
there was a certain threshold of car that I was never going to be below.
Yeah, no many.
And so Honda Odyssey.
Oh, so it's a lot of pressure for a guy like you, isn't it?
Yeah, I didn't think about that.
Oh, I think he owns all these cars.
What's he going to pull up in now?
I know, right?
Now, the good part
for me or the excuse, I should say, is that I live in the city of Chicago.
And so there is really no way to drive a supercar down here,
whether it's traffic or whether it's potholes or whether it's seasons.
Yeah, I've tried and I've done plenty of pushing a supercar
the eight feet back to my garage.
So I thought it would be a good idea, but just a little bit of snow made it a bad idea.
So unfortunately, owning a supercar is just not a thing
outside of what we do for work.
So I've always been a truck guy.
Well, I've gotten in trouble for calling them trucks and SUV guys.
So but so Land Rovers and Mercedes Benz have always been my brand.
I love the AMG.
And so today I drive I drive and it's in color uniform.
I drive a Burnt Magno copper Mercedes G 63.
And so it's the extreme experience wagon and you can see it coming.
Yeah, that's that's sorry, Christian, for those who don't know, right?
That's the I'm going to get the pronunciation wrong.
That's the old Galado wagon.
I'm saying it wrong that they didn't have in the states till what
nineties, early 2000s and then.
But people were always importing them.
And now they've just become this suit, ultra luxury, ultra fast.
Comfortable, but very capable.
SUV.
Yeah, that's why I called that's why I called it a wagon.
Yeah, yeah.
It yeah, I think mine has five seventy one horsepower.
I think it's right in that neighborhood somewhere.
And I got the last now that the five eighty just came out this year
and it's an electric car and so there's juries out on that one.
But I saw I'm still I'm still driving that that eight that eight cylinder
that burns about three gallons of gas a minute and sounds like a boat.
And I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Yeah, twin twin turbo.
Twin turbo. Yeah.
Got to have it.
Well, at this point in the show, we typically ask our guests
what their dream cars are.
And I don't know if that makes sense because every dream car you've ever had,
I think you've owned and sold.
That's the problem, right?
You know, you need new dreams or someone else's dreams.
What are we going to do here?
Yeah. Yeah, it is a tough question.
But it is it is the number one question, of course, that I get asked.
I go to the racetrack.
I start talking to my customers and the first question they ask me, not really.
You know, they do like to know what I drive,
but they want to know what my favorite supercar is of all times
because they're comparing it to something, a memory they have,
a model they build, a poster on their wall.
And my answer really still remains the same,
although it's being challenged for for almost 15 years.
I've been answering that it's been the Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Black Series.
So if I could snap my fingers and put an SLS Black Series in the garage,
yellow black, that would be the car that I would choose.
The only thing that I think I would hesitate and consider
these new 9-11 GT3 RS is or the GT2's.
Man, Porsche is just knocking out of the park and these things are animals.
And so that would be something new that I've never or we throw all that out
the window and we go get a Kuntas and we just call it a day
because that's the poster I actually had on my wall as a kid.
I did, too. Didn't we all?
Yeah. What was it?
Justification for higher education, right?
Oh, yeah, that was one of the that was like the first meme of all time
was the old Lamborghini person like hanging on the wall.
Yeah, yeah, indeed, indeed.
So yeah, Adam, as we guide the podcast gently to the off ramp,
one last question for you on the way out here is I just got to tell
maybe it's more of a statement.
I can't wait to show up at the extreme experience
and drive all these fantastic cars while wearing my, you know,
I live in Florida and all we really wear for foot footwear,
even in the dead of winter is flip flops.
So I cannot wait to show up and wear my flip flops while
while having your cars fly around the track.
That's not a problem, is it?
We have a whole rack of shoes for people just like you.
And a rack of flip flops, right?
You've got a rack of flip flops.
Well, yeah, we'll call them closed toad flip flops for you, just for you.
Just for you.
For those we have, yeah, there's there's worse, worse,
but there's 47 lower states plus Florida.
And so we're fine. We'll figure it out.
Yeah, all right.
And so what's the point?
And yeah, I tend to have tall friends.
I don't know why I have some friends that are not so tall.
So my six foot, two, six foot, four, six foot, five friend,
can they fit in these cars?
They can fit in these cars, right?
And and and and if you go on the website,
there's actually sort of a guide for the different cars you have.
And I think that is just ingenious.
You got to check out this site, the extreme experience dot com slash
how dash it dash works.
So much great information, really rich FAQ section.
And they'll just tell you, hey, you you can, you know,
if you're five foot two will be fine.
The helmet that we put on you is two inches.
You'll fit in perfectly.
So you've got an answer for everything, Adam.
And I think it's fantastic.
Well, we've been having fun for a long enough time
that I think we've just about figured it out.
But then I always learned something new.
So I'll never never I'll never guarantee I know it all.
But we're enjoying the process.
And if you got to learn by driving supercars around race tracks,
but sign me up.
Exactly. Yeah.
And and you would yeah.
Yeah, would tell our listeners to check out the extreme experience dot com.
Of course, it's going to be in the show notes.
And hey, Adam, thank you for taking time today.
It was an extreme pleasure meeting you.
We had a blast. Come back anytime.
Done. Yeah, I would be happy to.
And I expect you guys to meet me at the racetrack and we'll do this again.
Next time you're in New Orleans, I will show up with my flip flops.
You have. OK, it rolls his eyes, but gave me a thumbs up.
What does that mean?
You have just heard the high revving, low mileage, late model heard
around the world authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia.
He is Doug Richmond, Doug at cars love dot com.
I'm Christian, reach me at Christian at cars love dot com.
And he was Adam with the extreme experience, the extreme experience dot com.
Check him out. If you like our podcast, please follow and tell a friend.
Cars loved dot com cars love dot com.
Also, check out our link tree, which is L.I.N.K.
T.R. dot E.E. slash cars loved.
There you go. I'm sure we'll see you at the next local car show, showroom,
race strip or concor.
We appreciate you taking a lap with us and we'll see you next time.
About this episode
An engaging conversation with Adam from The Extreme Experience, a company offering thrilling supercar driving events across the U.S. Adam shares his journey from the luxury concierge business to creating a fleet of over 70 supercars, including Ferraris and Lamborghinis. He discusses the challenges of maintaining these high-performance vehicles, the excitement of customer experiences, and the importance of safety. Listeners will also hear about Adam's personal automotive history, including his first cars and dream vehicles, making this episode a rich blend of nostalgia and automotive passion.
Fifteen years ago, Adam Olalde knocked on every supercar dealership and exotic car owner's door in Chicago with an audacious pitch: "Can I borrow your Ferrari? I'm putting together this cool thing."
Enough people said yes. His first track day event? Pure comedy. No helmets, no walkie-talkies, just people in borrowed supercars told to "go that way." Most spun into the sand and never made it back around.
He charged $150 (versus $2,000/day rentals). Thousands showed up. Light bulb moment achieved.
Today, The Xtreme Experience runs 50-60 events nationwide with 70 supercars, 20 mechanics, and 2 semi trucks. Last year alone: 88,000 people drove supercars. Total since 2012: nearly 500,000 drivers.
Most popular? Ferrari edges Lamborghini, but the C8 Corvette "moves people the most" when they exit.
Adam's philosophy: "Always turn around and look at your car one more time." His first car was a '95 Pontiac Grand Prix from his dad. His AC/DC anthem: "For Those About to Rock." His dream car: Mercedes SLS AMG Black Series in yellow.
His daily driver? Burnt copper Mercedes G63 AMG—"sounds like a boat, burns 3 gallons per minute. Wouldn't trade it for anything."
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