Dive into the world of custom automotive paint and the journey from a Honda Civic enthusiast to a successful paint shop owner. Matt from Top Coat Garage shares his passion for cars, detailing his first car experiences and the evolution of his business during the pandemic. He discusses the intricacies of automotive painting, including the use of different flakes and techniques to achieve stunning finishes. The episode also touches on the allure of the Acura NSX and the unique stories behind various custom projects, making it a captivating listen for any car lover.
Matt wanted a Honda Civic. He ended up building Top Coat Garage, where paint jobs "swim in depth" and customers bring cars you'd see at SEMA.
The journey from dreaming about an affordable Honda to running a custom paint shop specializing in show-quality finishes wasn't linear. It involved learning hard lessons about spray gun selection, paint booth operations, and why some paint jobs look flat while others have that mirror-like depth that makes people stop and stare.
But the real story? It's about the NSX he's been hunting for years—and why the chase matters as much as the catch.
In this episode, Matt reveals: - Why he never got that Honda Civic (and how that changed everything) - What makes a paint job "swim in depth" vs. look flat—technical details you can actually use - The spray gun mistake most DIYers make in their first custom paint attempt - Behind-the-scenes of running a paint booth operation (costs, challenges, reality check) - His ongoing NSX hunt and why he hasn't pulled the trigger yet - Paint technique secrets you won't find in any manual - How Japanese car culture influenced his entire business philosophy
Plus: Matt extends an open invitation for a shop tour where he'll show you techniques he rarely shares publicly. But there's one paint disaster story he swore he'd never tell—until now.
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"Uh, because because uh, it was a tip it was a tiptronic and it was my mistake for buying it"
Tiptronic is a feature in some automatic cars that lets you change gears manually if you want to. It gives you more control over how the car drives, similar to a manual transmission but easier to use.
Tiptronic is a type of automatic transmission that allows the driver to manually select gears, providing a sportier driving experience. It combines the convenience of an automatic with the control of a manual transmission.
"...e'll send you a magnet. Uh magnet is magnet has a delorean with our logo on it Uh cars loved uh link and"
The DeLorean DMC-12 is a car that looks really different because it has doors that open up like wings. It's famous for being in movies and is loved for its cool design.
The DeLorean DMC-12 is a unique sports car that gained fame for its distinctive gullwing doors and stainless steel body. Produced in the early 1980s, it became a cultural icon largely due to its role in the 'Back to the Future' movie franchise.
"It was a Mitsubishi Mirage. Um, the color it was a dark color. It was a black"
The Mitsubishi Mirage is a small, budget-friendly car that is easy to drive and saves on gas. It's a good choice for city driving because it's compact and affordable.
The Mitsubishi Mirage is a subcompact car known for its affordability and fuel efficiency. It's often favored for urban driving due to its small size and economical operation.
"Yeah, so pretty much I did really well in votec and I became an automobile painter in a collision shop at a really young age and 19 years old"
An automobile painter is someone who paints cars. They make sure the car looks good after it's been repaired or restored by applying paint in the right way.
An automobile painter is a skilled technician who applies paint to vehicles, often after repairs or restorations. This role requires knowledge of different paint types, application techniques, and surface preparation.
"So he can do all kinds of things including including our mutual friend Jason I mean, I think you turned his skinny 9-11 into a wide body, right? Just oh, yeah That's beautiful work. Yeah. Yeah, he had a narrow body horsesha and um"
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that looks really cool and goes super fast. It's been around for a long time and is loved by many people because it's fun to drive and has a unique shape.
The Porsche 911 is a high-performance sports car known for its distinctive design and rear-engine layout. It has been a significant model for Porsche since its introduction in 1964, representing a blend of luxury, speed, and engineering excellence, making it a popular topic among car enthusiasts.
"I mean, I think you turned his skinny 9-11 into a wide body, right? Just oh, yeah That's beautiful work."
A wide body means that the sides of a car are made wider so it can have bigger tires. This helps the car handle better and look more aggressive.
A wide body refers to a modification in which a car's body is expanded to accommodate wider tires and improve handling. This is often done for performance reasons in racing or custom builds.
"Well, my first car was a 2000 honda civic hatchback and uh"
The Honda Civic is a small car that many people like because it's dependable and gets good gas mileage. The 2000 version is known for being fun to drive and has a sporty look.
The Honda Civic is a popular compact car known for its reliability and efficiency. The 2000 model is part of the sixth generation of Civics, which was well-regarded for its sporty design and performance.
"There was just spoon. There's a an automobile performance company in japan that specialized in hondas called spoon"
Spoon is a company in Japan that makes parts to make Honda cars go faster and perform better. They are famous for their upgrades and modifications.
Spoon is a well-known automotive performance company based in Japan that specializes in tuning and modifying Honda vehicles. They are recognized for their high-quality parts and performance upgrades.
A carbon fiber wing is a part on the back of a car that helps it stay stable when going fast. It's made from a light material that helps the car perform better.
A carbon fiber wing is an aerodynamic component designed to improve downforce and stability at high speeds. Like the hood, it is made from lightweight carbon fiber material.
A carbon fiber hood is a part of a car that is lighter than regular metal hoods. It helps the car go faster and handle better because it weighs less.
A carbon fiber hood is a lightweight alternative to traditional metal hoods, made from carbon fiber material. It helps reduce the overall weight of the vehicle, improving performance and handling.
"...it had the lowest horsepower, but I tell you what it performed so well against these cars..."
Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful a car's engine is. More horsepower usually means the car can go faster or accelerate quicker.
Horsepower is a unit of measurement for power, commonly used to describe the output of engines. It indicates how much work an engine can do over time, affecting a car's acceleration and top speed.
"...he had a beat-up Corolla that just died. He didn't have it very long but..."
The Toyota Corolla is a small car that many people buy because it's dependable and doesn't use much gas. It's a common choice for new drivers.
The Toyota Corolla is a compact car known for its reliability and fuel efficiency. It's one of the best-selling cars worldwide, making it a popular choice for first-time car buyers.
"And there was a cool 40th anniversary convertible Mustang
And with just, you know, the for sale little sign in the window and I said, oh"
The Mustang is a popular sports car made by Ford. The 40th anniversary version is a special model that celebrates 40 years of the Mustang's existence.
The Mustang is an iconic American muscle car produced by Ford, known for its performance and distinctive styling. The 40th anniversary model celebrates the long history of the Mustang brand.
"I ended up making it like, you know, my spoon dream car almost, you know. We made it into a road race car. We put a cage in it."
A road race car is a car that's been changed to go faster and handle better for racing. It often has special parts to keep the driver safe and make the car perform well.
A road race car is a vehicle modified for racing on public roads or tracks, typically featuring enhancements to performance, handling, and safety. These modifications can include a roll cage, upgraded suspension, and high-performance engines.
"We made it into a road race car. We put a cage in it. The suspension was done, you know inside and out."
A roll cage is a strong metal frame inside a car that helps protect people if the car flips over or crashes. It keeps the car from collapsing during an accident.
A roll cage is a safety feature in racing cars designed to protect the occupants in the event of a rollover or crash. It is a framework of metal bars that reinforces the car's structure and helps maintain its integrity during impacts.
Individual throttle bodies are special parts in an engine that help control how much air goes in. They make the engine work better and faster, especially in racing cars.
Individual throttle bodies (ITBs) are a type of fuel delivery system used in high-performance engines. Each cylinder has its own throttle body, allowing for better airflow and more precise control of the engine's power output, which is ideal for high-revving applications.
"49 final drive. I mean this thing was like a dirt bike. You literally I mean to go like 40 mile an hour. You're probably in like, you know"
The final drive is a part of the car that helps send power from the engine to the wheels. It affects how fast the car can go and how quickly it can speed up.
The final drive refers to the gearing mechanism that transmits power from the transmission to the wheels. It plays a crucial role in determining the vehicle's acceleration and top speed.
"...keep up with traffic. I mean, I'm at like, you know, six and a half seven thousand rpms Because it's a road race story."
RPM means how many times the engine spins in one minute. When the number is high, it usually means the engine is working hard and can go faster.
RPM stands for revolutions per minute and measures how many times the engine's crankshaft makes a full rotation every minute. Higher RPMs typically indicate that the engine is working harder and producing more power.
"...own is your dream car is one of my favorite cars Acura nsx. I assume the original"
The Acura NSX is a really fast and stylish sports car that was made in the 1990s. It's special because it combines luxury and speed, making it a dream car for many people.
The Acura NSX is a Japanese sports car that was first introduced in the early 1990s and is known for its combination of performance, luxury, and reliability. It was one of the first supercars to feature a mid-engine layout and has a significant place in automotive history for its innovative design and technology.
"...just wanting every Honda out there and I've had a car. I've had like Integra type Rs. I've had s 2000s, you know"
The Honda Integra Type R is a sporty version of the Honda Integra that is known for being fast and fun to drive. It has a powerful engine and is popular among car fans.
The Honda Integra Type R is a high-performance version of the Honda Integra, known for its lightweight design and powerful engine. It is highly regarded in the car enthusiast community for its handling and driving experience.
"...but the nsx is just I mean that is the top Honda, you know"
The Honda NSX is a famous sports car from Honda that is known for being fast and fun to drive. It has a unique design and was one of the first cars to use a lot of modern technology in its construction.
The Honda NSX is a high-performance sports car that was first introduced in the late 1980s. It is known for its mid-engine layout, lightweight construction, and advanced technology, making it a standout in the sports car segment.
"...they've kind of like got hybrid electric motors in the front, you know, and they're still running that v6..."
A V6 engine has six cylinders arranged in a V shape. It's a common type of engine that offers a mix of power and fuel efficiency.
A V6 engine is a six-cylinder engine arranged in a V configuration. It is known for providing a good balance of power and efficiency, making it popular in many sports and luxury cars.
"It was painted laguna blue. I mean it came laguna blue original colors"
Laguna Blue is a bright blue color that was used for the Acura NSX. It's one of the original colors that makes the car stand out.
Laguna Blue is a specific paint color used on the Acura NSX, known for its vibrant and striking appearance. It is one of the original colors offered for this model, making it distinctive and sought after by collectors.
The DeLorean is a unique car famous for its shiny metal body and doors that open upwards. It's well-known because of its role in a popular movie series.
The DeLorean is a sports car manufactured by the DeLorean Motor Company, known for its distinctive stainless steel body and gull-wing doors. It gained fame from its appearance in the 'Back to the Future' movie franchise.
"...I'm seeing more and more cyber trucks down here speaking of stainless steel..."
The Cybertruck is a futuristic electric truck made by Tesla. It has a very unique shape and is made from strong metal, making it look different from regular trucks.
The Cybertruck is an all-electric pickup truck designed by Tesla, characterized by its angular design and durable exoskeleton made of stainless steel. It aims to combine utility with advanced technology.
"So when we're talking about flake in a paint... It's it's actually an aluminum"
Metallic paint is a special kind of paint that has tiny bits of metal in it. These bits make the paint sparkle and shine, making the car look more attractive.
Metallic paint contains small metallic particles that give the paint a shimmering effect. This type of paint is often used in automotive finishes to enhance the visual appeal of the vehicle.
Flake is the tiny bits added to car paint that make it sparkle. They help the paint look shiny and interesting, rather than just flat.
In automotive painting, 'flake' refers to the small particles added to paint to create a glittering or shimmering effect. These flakes can be made from various materials, including aluminum, and are used to enhance the depth and richness of the paint finish.
Aluminum is a light metal that is often used in car paint to make it shiny. It helps give the paint a special sparkle that looks nice on cars.
Aluminum is a lightweight metal commonly used in automotive applications, including in paint formulations to create a metallic finish. Its reflective properties make it ideal for enhancing the visual appeal of painted surfaces.
"...eleon style paint jobs Where they'll take like a prism almost and it's a different color on each side I..."
The Geo Prism is a small car from the 1990s that is known for being affordable and good on gas. It's a simple and reliable car that many people used for everyday driving.
The Geo Prism is a compact car that was produced in the 1990s as a budget-friendly option, often praised for its reliability and fuel efficiency. It shares many components with the Toyota Corolla, making it a practical choice for economical driving.
"...how to get the angle of that prism to immediately change. So is that flake? That's or there's got to be some sort of tiny piece in there that's reflecting the light from different angles..."
Chameleon paint jobs are special car paints that look different from different angles. They use unique colors and materials to create this effect, making the car appear to change color as you move around it.
Chameleon paint jobs are a type of automotive finish that changes color depending on the angle of light and viewing angle. This effect is achieved through the use of special pigments and flakes that reflect light in various ways, creating a dynamic appearance.
"...her end paint jobs, you know, like I have a, um, 365 ferrari, you know 69 ferrari 365 two by two sitting over ..."
The Ferrari 365 GTB/4 is a classic sports car from the late 1960s that is known for being very fast and stylish. It's a favorite among car collectors because of its beautiful design and powerful engine.
The Ferrari 365 GTB/4, also known as the Daytona, is a classic sports car produced in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Renowned for its powerful V12 engine and sleek design, it represents a significant era in Ferrari's history and is highly sought after by collectors.
"...Um, if you look on the instagram there, there's a bronco that we did Um, we had, you know, we had an enti..."
The Ford Bronco is a tough SUV that can handle rough roads and off-roading adventures. It's been around for a long time and is popular for people who love outdoor activities.
The Ford Bronco is an iconic SUV that has been a symbol of off-road capability since its debut in the 1960s. Recently revived, the Bronco is celebrated for its rugged design and versatility, appealing to both classic car enthusiasts and modern adventurers.
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Welcome back to all the cars I've loved before your authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia where
Every car tells a story
Every car has a culture
And hey, it's time to plug in dust off and get a little grease under the nails. Oh my favorite part
Let's get to this real quick before we toss it over to Doug here
We have some new listeners welcome if you're in Paris
Paris France
No, not Paris, Georgia or Paris, Mississippi. Although there's nothing wrong with those places the real deal Paris Paris France welcome Rome Italy
Welcome San Diego
That's uh, let's look at the numbers. Yeah, that's a new and welcome San Diego rest in virginia
Who else?
Sometimes oh in stock home stock home. So again internationally. I love checking out the stats. I love seeing that
Oh when we wanted to before we
uh
Pivot to the merch master Doug. He's got magnets. He's got a t-shirt. He had a hat until I stole it
We're gonna we're gonna do something a little different today. We're we continue to rack up the reviews
on
Where on apple pod?
Thank you for writing and
So let us know what you think
I'm just gonna read one because I think it's lovely and it doesn't say that I talk too much
Which is rare in these but how about this?
December 26 2024 from vince
Room love the name better than a day of test driving cars. So here's the review. He says I like cars
I am a car enthusiast not just new cars not just old cars not just nice cars
I like all cars each has its own flavor
The thing that makes this podcast fantastic is the scriptless format
Someone say we could use one he continues each guest brings their own car
story
And passion to the table the hosts aren't interviewing or working from a script
It's a conversation with someone about something they love
The kind of excitement that can't be scripted or purchased the variety of guests stories and flavors is incredible
You won't regret listening to it
If you're lucky, you'll have a chance to share your story and passion too. I can't wait to hear
Well, thank you vince. Love that and appreciate
Appreciate that review. Do we know who that is dog or is he gonna is this person gonna remain?
Anonymous, what do you think? They are anonymous on apple. So just one of our listeners and wow that took
You know, it only takes a few minutes to write it, but that means a lot, right?
For for our listeners. So please if you like what you're hearing
Drop us a review
If you just want to say hi
Feel free to do that
uh, you can send us a text via the
Sorry via via the podcast platform of choice is the link at the top. Yep
Go to our website carslove.com. It's going to be updated soon
And of course, there's the youtube instagram and facebook
Yeah, and and share tell a friend download
review and follow
Check out our link tree linktr.ee slash carslove and
You know reach out and tell us if you like what we're doing if you have suggestions
If you don't like let us know if you need a hat
And you can't find one and you just want to steal one from dog. It's fine. He has a never-ending supply
Um, oh the real quick though. I like that shirt
Yeah, let's talk about the shirt. Let's talk about the magnet. So the shirt has
Yeah, he's a 9 11 alum. Oh, why'd you get rid of that car?
Uh, because because uh, it was a tip it was a tiptronic and it was my mistake for buying it
Okay, great shirt that 9 11 that he bought from five below for I think five dollars
Not necessary below. I think it was right at five
So what about the magnets? Let's talk about the magnets. Okay, so
Wonderful shutter fly was having a great deal normally eight or nine dollars each the 20 magnets a dollar each
Can't go wrong with that. So instead of 200 dollars cost me 20 bucks
So we have this wonderful magnet. Yep, which is also our lead magnet
So we are going to be setting up
But this is trying to
If you want a magnet shoot us a note
Uh, we'll have a newsletter if you give us your uh name and email
We'll send you a magnet. Uh magnet is magnet has a delorean with our logo on it
Uh cars loved uh link and
And a qr code so just to make it so super easy
The first 10 people to either email dug at carslove.com or christian at carslove.com get a magnet
So hey reach out and let us know what you think
Is it do we have anything else on the merch front or can we move on? Uh, just um
New website, uh, should be going live pretty soon. Um, depending on when people hear this
It will probably already be up by that time, but it's gonna be new and improved you saw a preview of it christian
What did you think of it?
Love it looks really good sharp
It looks like a uh, a 14 year old made it. It no longer looks like a 12 year old made it. So that's that's improvement
We're moving forward. We're moving forward speaking of moving forward. It's time to introduce today's guest
really excited
To introduce our pal matt of top coat garage. How you doing today matt?
Good man. How are you guys?
Excellent and thank you so much for for joining the show, you know, uh
That there's nothing quite like seeing a beautiful unique a really distinctive paint job
On on an automobile van
truck
But I didn't really think about it a whole lot until I visited the hunday plant
in, uh, montgomery, alabama
You can tour used to be able to tour. This was like thing before cove. It's two in the whole plant and
It in somebody said, you know, it it takes six
16 hours to make a car but nine of the hours are spent in paint and I thought wow
I never thought of it that way and you get everybody on the tour was
Thinking what that much time? Yeah, it's it's really such an investment in the exterior of the automobile
And that's what top coat garage does. So could you please tell us a little bit about yourself in your business?
Well, yeah, I've been uh in the cars forever. I mean as long as I could think and then um
Eventually having the opportunity to work on them at such a young age
You know working on my own cars and then working, you know, just to make money
You know and then um and then finally
you know
kind of like
Randomly getting the opportunity to just open up my own shop and
now this is what I come here and
do every day and um
It's different whenever you're in your place, you know, you're not really doing it for a boss. You're just kind of
Doing it for yourself. It almost doesn't feel like a job anymore if that makes sense. So um
Now you just got this challenge and then that's what we're, you know, that's what I come here and do every day
Just, you know, kind of like knock out this challenge. So yeah
And one of the biggest challenges is, you know, like you said takes nine hours to
You know get these cars painted those cars are brand new, you know what I mean?
You're talking about fresh metal fresh substrates and everything and now we just have to make it shiny
How the heck does it, you know, you know take nine hours to do that, you know, and it's just like I understand it all
You know, so
But yeah, and this is just what I do every day, you know
We pretty much just make stuff shiny
Make it beautiful. Yeah, you're you're kind of Picasso or Rembrandt
Which just did a little bit of a different canvas a little bit different paint
So so what was the first thing car you ever painted? What was that like? How did that work and what what bug bit you?
Well, I um
I mean it goes back to like
Before I could even drive, you know, we used to take
Waternel what we call vintage minibikes, you know, and we all wanted a different looking one than you know, our friends
So we would take them apart and buy some cans of spray paint from
Wherever you would get them and we would spray paint on different colors and
You'd have some friends that would spray paint them and half of the paint landed on the ground, you know
And so it was always who had the nicest paint job who had the best color scheme and all that and then eventually
um
You know being a getting old enough to purchase your own car now you want a different color from your friends, you know and
um, I was uh in in high school ended up taking a vocational program
and uh
I was actually supposed to take a welding class
But the welding class was filled up and they're like well try out this auto collision
You know auto you know collision and auto refinishing class and see what you think with that and
I got in there. I I was real good with the teacher. I mean the teacher hit it off real well and
Then I started realizing, you know, um
What it took to paint a car
you know
How you could you know your coordination and
Knowing of the chemicals could create the biggest difference in these paint jobs from a good looking paint job to a bad paint job and
You know in school. I was hooked. I think I painted a
It was a Mitsubishi mirage. Um, the color it was a dark color. It was a black
It had a little bit of flake in there
and uh
I don't know. I just listened. I I didn't listen much in school. But when it came to that teacher talking about painting cars
Um, I'll tell you what the first thing I did was you know, everything that he said every step that he said, um
I followed and my paint job came out so much nicer than everyone else's
And you know, you get pumped off of that you get hooked. You just did something really good, you know
And you want to do it again and again and again, you know, and then here we are
Yeah, so go in uh, yeah 20 plus years later, right?
Yeah, and um
you were telling us before the show started that um
Before covid you were working for somebody else and that's what you'd been doing and then because of covid and
Basically people weren't driving their cars. They weren't smashing them up, right? People were buying cars
car market was going kind of crazy, but uh, including restoration, but
You um, you made a big life decision. Can you just tell us about that and
where you are today?
Yeah, so pretty much I did really well in votec and I became an automobile painter
automotive painter in a collision shop at a really young age and 19 years old
And um, you know, usually when you start out you become a helper
And I was helping but I was able to paint I was able to spray and every chance they gave me I was spraying and
The opportunity came up. It became a painter at a really young age and I mean, that's where the big money was at
So 19 year olds. I'm I'm doing great. I
I love those those years, you know, um
And uh, and that's kind of like how I built my life, you know, I was just painting cars every single day and eventually
I became the head painter
I was even making more money
And I had a great life
Um, I mean, I had a nice house. We had property. I had cars
I even had my own hobby shop at home
You know, I built a pole barn and I put a paint booth in it
So I was I was, you know, working during the day doing collision jobs and I was coming home and I was
Working on my own personal cars in my own shop, you know, um even started a youtube out of it and everything
um, well eventually coveted it
and
Body shop, you know life came to like kind of zero. No one was driving, you know
Um, no one was on the roads. It was like the first time ever getting like a zero on my paycheck, you know
And I'll tell you what I wasn't good at. I wasn't good at saving money
So now I had to figure out how to make money
And thank god that hobby shop that I had that had a paint booth out of I was able to do my own little, you know
side gig out of
You know, um, of course throughout the years when you're building cars and people like your cars
You know people want you to build their cars too, you know, so I always had like kind of like a little bit of
um, you know
Fly and tell on the side that wanted me to do personal stuff for them
And then during the whole covet situation, you're kind of panicking like what am I going to do for money?
Well, you just kind of answer those calls and bring that work in a little bit more, you know, and
And then you get things rolling, you know, um, that's kind of how I met, you know, um our mutual friend Jason Miller
He needed a car done
So we talked, you know, and I eventually started painting cars for him and then I started painting cars for all of his friends
and so on and
And then all of a sudden, you know, you got your little hobby shop, you know
1200 square foot place with a with a paint booth and now you have 20 cars sitting outside of it
You know, and then you have these other business owners that need cars done and they're looking at you and they're like
What are you doing like in your yard?
With all these cars and I'm like, I don't know I'm making a living, you know, and right it's kind of like, you know
go where the wind blows, you know, and eventually
Expand, you know, you kind of know what you you know what you can produce out of a 1200 square foot shop
I don't know. Maybe if the math is right. I can do a little bit better if I had a
You know, seven dials a square foot shop, you know, and it just grew from there, you know, so
That's kind of how it went
and and
Really, you've grown from a word of mouth. You do some insurance work, but you also do custom work, right?
Yes, yeah
We do like custom we do
restoration
Um, we do like a lot of like high-end repairs, you know
Like we have a Bentley sitting outside right now and had a little fender bender
So you just needed their fender repainted, you know repaired and painted and so on so a lot of people come to us
You know, there's actually like a hunt valley area
around here, um
Where a lot of high-end expensive cars are at, you know, and and we're surrounded by corporate body shops
We're surrounded by body shops that are just trying to get you in get you out, you know, so
It's kind of good. Um
That we have like a specialty shop like ours. We spray a certain paint like a more
A high-end paint and everything. So like people flock to us, you know, um, and then all of a sudden the higher end
You know shops that sell these higher-end cars, you know, they want they want, you know, send their
Customers to the best body shop they know about, you know, that specializes in higher-end cars
You know and just word just gets out
You know
Um
Yeah, well, that's but but he does more than paint his shop does more than paints full body shop
So he can do all kinds of things including including our mutual friend Jason
I mean, I think you turned his skinny 9-11 into a wide body, right? Just oh, yeah
That's beautiful work. Yeah. Yeah, he had a narrow body horsesha and um
We ended up putting a wide body on it
That was actually one of the jobs I was doing out of my house
And um, you know, he would bring me this bumper
He's like, man, I got this old race car bumper and I'm looking at it and this bumper does not fit that car whatsoever and
But luckily we got great experience with like, you know, fiberglass work and you know
The bumper was actually made out of fiberglass and I'm cutting it apart. I'm widening the bumper
I'm making it fit the fenders, you know and
Giving it extra mounts to make it more sturdy, you know, and then and then he brings me these
Side skirts and this rocker panel and I'm just like, where did you get this from?
You know, and here I am, you know pie cutting it in places
So it fits the wide body and everything
So the wide the body kit on his car the bumper and side skirts is 100 of one off
You know, I made it out of custom gave me. Yeah
You know and and I and I tell you what man my guys here, you know
I'll bring in a job and they're scratching their head. How are we going to make this work?
and I kind of like map it out for them and show them and
You know, they uh, they follow my steps and they're they're even more skilled than me
They just don't know it. You know, I just have to like guide them that way
That's what's really good about my team here is like I have 100 confidence in them and
You know, we will talk about how to
Map out, you know repair or how we're going to make something fit and they follow the steps and you know, they're saying back like wow
I can't believe we did that, you know
And it's all based off of experience from, you know, of giving me something and I'm just kind of like
I guess I'll figure it out. You know, I'll let you know in the end, you know, so
And that's what makes you a great team. There's vision. There's creativity. There's the skill
There's the know-how and it all comes together. It's why you're a great team and before we go any further here
I do want to tell if
If you want to put a smile on your face go check out
top coat garage
Dot or the instagram page here. I know there's a little bit of rework on the website happened
It should be done by the time this is reaching your ears for top coat garage dot com
But go look at instagram top coat garage
In it it's just really it kind of kind of transcends automobiles and it just just looks like art
What you've done with a lot of these cars so creative
And just just just really beautiful here. So we definitely don't discriminate against cars
You know, we do them all from the older cars to the newer cars to the exotics like we just like them all, you know
Yeah
And but yeah personally right and I know where christian's going with this i'm jumping in
You like japanese cars, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, so so christian, where are we going?
In the wayback machine let's hop into the the time machine and go back
Let's talk about your first car. Where'd you get it? How did it drive and what did it mean to you?
Well, my first car was a 2000 honda civic hatchback
and uh
I remember playing
Gran Turismo on playstation
and uh
There was just spoon. There's a an automobile performance company in japan that specialized in hondas called spoon
And uh, they had this spoon civic hatchback. I mean it had a carbon fire hood a carbon fire wing
It looked plain
But for some reason the way they built that motor in the game
It had it was a high revvy motor
It had the lowest horsepower, but I tell you what it performed so well against these cars and and I fell in love
I was like, I can't believe you can do this with a honda civic hatchback. I mean my neighborhood
Um, if we want to talk about the influence of cars beforehand, I mean I had nothing but
guys with muscle cars
Big motors big blowers, you know, that's literally what I grew up working on
Um, but when it came time for me to purchase my own car, I wanted a honda. I wanted a civic
I was so impressed with the way those cars were balanced the
Performance aspect you could get out of it such a low horsepower number car
And it's such a lightweight car and and what people were doing with it. So yeah, I was all about, you know, the honda civic
and um, my father knew that
and uh
he
It's crazy back in the day. We'd be in the paper, you know, you're literally looking at these little tiny paper ads
and there was
a family that
Had the car. I think the brother owned the brother had possession of the car
The owner of the car actually ended up passing away
And they were selling this car like weirdly cheap like nowadays. We will call it a scam
You know, it would be a facebook scam, but we were like
There's something weird about the price of this car
my father called and
Um, they wanted that they were they were for real. They were like, yeah, we're just trying to get rid of it
We don't really know what it's worth
um, I think they wanted four thousand dollars for it, which was a lot of money
Back in a day in um, when I was, you know, 15 16 years old
Um, but my but I had a job. I was in a body shop. Um, I actually ended up working at that body shop for 20 years
Oh
and uh, yeah, I was there for a while and uh
Since my dad knew I had a job and I had to give my paychecks to him to put in the bank
He could charge me a weekly payment on that car
And that's what I did, you know, he he purchased a car for me and I had to pay him back
Yeah, you know kept you responsible smart dad
Yeah, what a great lesson. Wow. I don't know that we've ever heard that before but but what a great sense of of kind of responsibility
Yeah, my dad was really good at a budget. Um, I'll never forget that he had 25 cents of his name at the end of every month
I mean, he had giant books of budgets. He would write it out
You would think I would have learned from that
I definitely didn't but he definitely tried to teach me that I don't know I do okay in the business now
But I'll tell you what up to coven when I was making doing really well at 19 years old and up
I did not save a dime. I will tell you that
It was pretty much I just purchased cars car parts. That was pretty much my life, you know
Well fun fun isn't cheap fun isn't cheap. I know that but but great dad
Yeah, it's funny funny. You mentioned that because just last week
I bought my I got three sons my middle son. I bought him
Uh, his first kind of real car. He had a beat-up
Corolla that just died. He didn't have it very long but
we uh
We're going down the road right near where we live here in in Florida
And there was a cool 40th anniversary convertible Mustang
And with just, you know, the for sale little sign in the window and I said, oh
We got to make that happen
So two two days later and it was it was in really good shape my son is over the moon
I haven't seen him in a week. I assume he's having fun driving around
His friends go. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah
At least he's gonna get snow experience
He better not I better not see him come and run down my street in that thing with it with the ice
I was having real fun with the snow. Oh, but don't remind me don't remind me steer with the rear buddy steer
I can't wait to get my hands on it. But yeah, I've I've not seen him, but sorry dawg. I didn't mean to interrupt
That's okay. You know what I thought was pretty cool is um,
Matt, you still have this car, right? I still have this car. No way
I ended up I've
Listen, this car is transformed like crazy. Um
I ended up making it like, you know, my spoon dream car almost, you know
We made it into a road race car. We put a cage in it
The suspension was done, you know inside and out. I mean
We stiffened it up with every bar we possibly could the motor was completely built
We ended up putting a completely different motor in it
Little bit more displacement, but we wanted a high-revving motor just like them spoon motors. It had individual throttle bodies
49 final drive. I mean this thing was like a dirt bike. You literally
I mean to go like 40 mile an hour. You're probably in like, you know
third gear like if I was on the highway
Just try to try to travel at
You know 60 70 mile an hour keep up with traffic. I mean, I'm at like, you know, six and a half seven thousand rpms
Because it's a road race story. You want to stay in high rpms through turns, you know, so we really built it out
and
I ended up, um, you know, not making as much money
one year
And believe it or not the money that I was making would be a ton of money for some people
But for me in the way I saved money, I was like, man, I got to get rid of a car here
And uh, I ended up selling that car because I had a front line that wanted to purchase it
And it was the biggest regret ever. Um, I hated it. Um, I wanted that car back so bad and
I was actually fortunate enough for him to run into a little situation
Um, I think it was going to like throw a divorce or something and he was like, dude, if you want this car back
I never even titled it in my name. Just give me what we paid and I said, absolutely. I was like
Bring it over. I got the money for you. Let's go and um, and a purchase purchasing the car back and from then on
Um, I've outed myself
Any cars that I truly liked I was never ever selling again
Because there are a few other cars that I purchased down the road that I ended up selling and I'm like, man
Why did I even sell the car? I didn't even need to you know, I should have just kept it. So
Yeah, now I'm like 15 cars and the whole now
What I can't wait to see the collection. What what was the time period between the time you sold it and you bought it back
Um, I want to say maybe like two years went by
Okay, I want to say about two years went the purchase the person that purchased it
He was a friend of mine and he kind of had like a mini car collection
You know, so he would just kind of take his, um
Think he had like a dealer tag and if he wanted to take it out
He just put his dealer tag on and he'd go run around with it, you know
And you know and he would just kind of like had all these cars kind of like in limbo
Um, but he would just swap a tag on him, you know back and forth. So he never titled it
you know, so
But anyways, yeah, I was so happy to get that car back. It's in my garage right now
Um, I definitely have future plans for it. I do purchase parts for it every now and again the parts pile is collecting
Yep, um, but eventually when I get a hold of this shop
And we get it running smooth and I can get some free time. I definitely wanted to
That's one of the cars. I wanted to give some attention to later down the road
Gotcha. Gotcha. So you've owned that car over 20 years, right? Yes. Yep. Awesome. Yeah
And then your second car
Because you like japanese cars so much was a
It was another civic. Yeah another two-door coop
Um, that was back in the days when I was working at the body shop a car would get totaled
And it was before
they would
Um, force your car to have a salvage title
You had the choice if you wanted to pay for it out of your pocket, you wouldn't have a salvage title
Oh, you know your title got it. Yeah insurance could total it so like we would have these civics
They would have like a busted headlight and a an event radiator support
And um and like and it would need like a hood
And I mean we would have these parts floating around, you know
50 bucks here and there or whatever
But of course when it's going through insurance company want to purchase everything new
You know about like a new hood from honda. You could total a car easily
So what I would do is I would go out I'd see the customer taking their tags off
And I would walk out to the customer and say hey, you know, I really like this car
And of course they would tell me this was the best car ever
Barely any mileage on it can't believe a total now to find a new one and replace it and I would offer them
I said look, I could fix this car for you, you know on the side
Our way or um, I would offer you a couple hundred bucks more and um
Whatever you can buy that car back from the insurance company
I'll give you a couple hundred bucks more than that
And of course, you know, I tell them like I really like the car when you keep the car going and you know
they see the opportunity to make more money off of you know, just handing their title over to me
And um, and and bam, I would get this car. I put a couple hundred bucks into it and I'd have a low mileage civic
which is what I had at the time and
that became my daily driver because
My first car ended up getting in a little crazy with the modification
drive, you know, and
You know that just for like daily driving, you know
So that might like little comfortable two-door, you know coop
Civic at the time, but then I ended up putting a motor in that and I started to get a little radical too for it
But but I ended up selling it
Gotcha, but till this day, I wish I would have kept that one too. Yeah, I bet I bet you're probably looking up the vin
See if you can find it somewhere
There are no secrets on the internet
No, there is it so I wanted to uh, I did want to ask you that again Japanese car and uh
One of the cars you put down is your dream car is one of my favorite cars
Acura nsx. I assume
the original
gen one
Oh, yeah, yeah, can you can you tell us why that's your dream car? Have you you've probably painted one or two over time?
I bet I have two in my shop. I'm staring at right now. Oh
Love those cars. Yeah, um, whoa
So he's coming from his shop by the way for anybody. Uh, if you're listening to it check out our youtube channel
Uh, we'll have some clips on there. Maybe the whole maybe the whole video with Matt
Yeah
So, yeah, um, I mean, you know, like I said growing up with Hondas
Just wanting every Honda out there and I've had a car. I've had like Integra type Rs. I've had s 2000s, you know
So I've had some like pretty awesome Hondas
Um, but the nsx is just I mean that is the top Honda, you know
Um, it's just it was it was ahead of the game with the technology back in the day. I mean full aluminum body
I mean, I think they based that
Chassis off of like the indy car, you know
And even in the game crayon turismo, it was such a good handling car
um, but you know there was a time when um,
You know, I mean the prices on them even on the brand new
Nsx is it's pretty out there and their technology is crazy
How they they've kind of like got hybrid electric motors in the front, you know, and they're still running that v6
You know in the back turbo now
It's just crazy to just just wear that cars that compared to other cars now, but yeah back in the day the
Older nsx is with the flip up lights, you know
Or even when you get to like the newer version like the o5s with the, you know
projector headlights and all like
I mean that is just a car. It's still dream to have I haven't owned one yet. I'm very close
I'm actually in negotiations with one now
um, maybe during spring i'm
He we're talking and it's good talk that we're having it's a fingers crossed really really rare one
um
So rare and I had I actually had the opportunity to purchase one too
Before I decided to um go with the shop
um
It was and i'm and i'm still in touch with this car too. I can talk about this one. It was um, it was an o5
nsx
With 47 000 miles on it. Um, it was it was painted laguna blue. I mean it came laguna blue original colors
That's one of 900. Um, but this one also had a comtech
Exhaust header package on it
It wasn't a supercharged one
But it was still a really rare one that made it like one of 300 of a super rare. Wow
Um, it was in florida and it was completely sunfated
um
The the sun was selling it the father. I think ended up passing away or not able to drive the car anymore
And it was uh, it was a hell of a deal
um, I could probably
A friend of mine purchased it and I think I was getting a little bit better deal than him
Just because I knew the guy that was in charge of selling it
Um, but it was it's probably worth now
You know probably in the 140 000 dollar range and I think I was I think it was like 80 90 000
Which we were kind of like talking about
but
you know
That was right about when
I needed to like do something with this opportunity of you know opening a shop
You know, I just had so much clientele so many cars coming in
I needed to do something with I needed employees. I was you know, I was working my butt to death just trying to keep up
and uh, so I had to say
All this money I made where do I want to put it don't want to put it into an nsx
You know, or do I want to put it into a shop to make you know, even bigger career move and
You know, obviously I took you know the shop move and ended up buying a paint booth
You know that would help me out with a couple months worth of rent while we built the shop and so on or whatever and
um
What's really good is that a friend of mine ended up purchasing the car too and he actually purchased it for his mother
It was um a car that she always wanted
and
It's at a it's at a shop now getting all the mechanical work done
And then the painted I do yeah
Yeah, I still get to live like through this car a little bit
You know, I get to do the paint job on it everything I wanted to do to it
I still get to do to it. So I'm really happy about that
But then like I said, I'm in a better position now and this other nsx opportunity popped up
And um, it's even more rare
That one we were talking about lower mileage
Um fingers crossed. You know, my fingers are crossed on that note
Um, can I can I come to your shop sometime in video?
Absolutely. Okay. All right. I'll see what we do for now. I'll show you around. Okay. It's pretty it's pretty impressive
The lineup of cars if you have yeah, if the weather is good and um
And I have my car back from the shop. I'll bring my DeLorean up there
Yeah, oh man, that would be awesome. Yeah, not much paint where we can do on that. But yeah, I know
Yeah, yeah, well, yeah, but the bumper might need some painting. So I'm keep you
Hey, you you got the right guy right there
The big thing and we're seeing I'm seeing more and more cyber trucks down here speaking of stainless steel
And they're all wrapped. Yeah, I see more wrapped now
Then I see then I see without but I have the dumbest question in the world that I have to ask you Matt
I wanted this my whole life and it's led me right to you
So when we're talking about flake in a paint
And flake is that little
it's it what is it
That allows the paint to almost shimmer or glitter is that metal? Is it ceramic?
What is that little flake great question different material?
What is that? Is it gold? So now nowadays your average flake in your average metallic paint job
It's it's actually an aluminum
So that's what they use a little aluminum shavings, you know, they have coarser shavings they have
Finer shavings and all depends on the effect that you're looking for but paint is changing
More and more nowadays the technology is getting crazier. You have your pearl paint jobs
um, and they they use like a
Kind of like a certain type of metallic also, but they cut it a certain way
It's died a certain way to give you this look of a pearl paint job
It's kind of like a smoother like color change look
Okay
And it's it's getting crazier now. You'll start to see it on the internet. Um, now they got some colors that are
Not, you know, we've always had like chameleon style paint jobs
Where they'll take like a prism almost and it's a different color on each side
I mean now these colors are changing drastically
To where it's almost like at one angle the car is just one complete different color. Um at another angle
It is one completely different color instead of how
The um prism paint jobs were like the chameleon paint jobs where it was kind of like as you start turning certain panels
We're starting to change. I mean it's all about how to get the angle of that prism to immediately change
So is that flake?
That's or there's got to be some sort of tiny piece in there that's reflecting the light from different angles
I wonder if it's triangular or a little piece that's
Well, that's what i'm saying. You'll see like, um, you know, you'll have like some chameleon colors that will change three colors
You'll have some of the
chameleon or color change color that would change like five different colors
I mean, you gotta think there's five different sides of different colors there
Okay, it's a little tiny microscopic piece of flake, you know
So as you're walking by you're seeing different sides that somehow lay all at the same way
You know what I mean? So now it's pretty amazing what paint does
Do you have to have so your equipment? I assume you have very high tech sprayers
Do different paints with different size flakes or type flakes?
Can they all go through that nozzle? Do you have different nozzles? Do you have different equipment?
for the different
Liquids that must be oh, yeah aerosol eyes through there
Yeah, so we definitely have a bit different size tip guns
Um, typically all of your oem paint jobs that you see on the cars that you see around they're sprayed with a
You know 1.2 to 1.3 millimeter tip
And um, but then they get they get a lot bigger
So um, and it all depends on what kind of application of paint you're trying to do like
Sometimes we have to put on these
Heavy build primers, you know, we call them polyester primers
We're using a giant, you know 2.0 tip, which is I mean we call them super soakers, you know
And we're laying out as much material as we can sometimes
And they get bigger than that. Um, but yeah, some of these bigger flakes like, you know
You'll see your bass boat flake or your your big giant flake. You'll see when somebody's like low rider paint jobs, you know
Yeah, we're taking that primer tip gun, you know, technically our primer gun
And we're running big flake through there, you know, just so we can get that to spray out evenly
You know, so yeah, you definitely have to use different guns. I mean your typical painter
Um, he probably needs a good like three different types of guns
You know to spray but me I mean I have six different guns
Most of the painters that I spray with and painters that I know have like six to eight different spray
What they're spraying. Yeah
And these guns aren't cheap. I mean they're like six seven eight hundred dollars, you know, so
I bet and I bet um, they they definitely get up there, you know
But the good news is is that these guns the quality of these guns are amazing
I mean I have guns that I've had for 20 years, you know, some of my first guns, you know
I still use to this day if you take care of them they last
Yeah, yeah, I like that. So so when you're doing these prismatic paint jobs
About how many coats does it take case primer?
Obviously maybe a couple and then is there sort of a base coat and then is there
flake and then is there kind of a kind of
Another clear coat on top of that and then a final sort of top coat on top of that. Do you just build it up that way or no?
It can get tricky
Typically when you have a paint job
You want to start out with the smoothest surface possible, right?
So you have this completely prepped panel. You're in the booth
You're going to want to spray a sealer coat down first, you know
Sealer is going to give you
Kind of like your base color, you know, if you're spraying a dark color
You want to have a dark sealer on there if you're spraying a light silver, you know
You want to have a light sealer on there, but that's a sprayed surface. It's going to lay flat
It's going to give you an awesome smooth substrate and now you can lay
You know any type of paint on there and it's going to look great on there
Um, then you get to like your metallics, you know
You can now that you got this super smooth surface
You can spray your metallics on there your metallics have no problem
Laying a certain way laying right laying even laying together, you know
Um having that sealer surface down there. You're not going to have any stripes. You're not going to have any
You know weird, you know differences in the surface. It's all even and the same
Um, but then it gets tricky after, um, you know metallics, you know, it's typically your normal silver paint job
Yeah, you're putting clear coat on after it, but then let's talk about like your candy coats, right?
You just sprayed this metallic silver surface down
Um, and then you're going to have you know, you could have like a candy coat sprayed on top
At which you have like a transparent red, you know, and you're spraying it over top of this silver
So now your silver flake is going to poke through
Your transparent red and now you're going to have like this candy looking coat, you know
Where the metallics that you just sprayed are actually turning red, you know, or they're turning yellow or they're turning
You know blue you got candy blues candy greens candy yellows candy reds any of those and it gives it this depth to it because you
Yeah, yeah, yeah
You have your silver coat
Then you know your next layer is your candy coat, you know, you're red and then you're going to put your your clear coat down on top of that
And it just makes this paint job look so deep like you can just walk in it, you know what I mean like you oh, absolutely
Like you can stick your finger in it, you know, so um, so then you're talking about layering up different things and and that's how you get it, you know
Um, and then it's like how many coats of clear do you want to put on it? You know typically our, um
higher end paint jobs, you know, like I have a, um,
365 ferrari, you know 69 ferrari 365 two by two sitting over there
We had to put on this. Um, he's got like this dark blue look to it. He wanted it as deep as possible
So we did four to five coats of clear coat on there. You know, we're trying to
Each level of coat we just want to have some depth in there, you know, so you can look like you can actually like swim in it
You know, um
So anyways, so yeah, whenever you talk about that, so I get pumped
Um, because that's like you know, I'm pumped. I'm excited about yeah
Great questions. Well, thank you
It's always interesting to go go go past a car that's got a paint job like you're describing and you use the word depth
And that is such a great word
Texture like this third dimension like you can reach into it
That's so interesting the way you said it because I feel the same and it's just very it's a very distinctive
Look, so thank you for taking some time to explain all this to us
And I tell you what if anybody is anywhere near
Okay, I gotta say it right hamstead mariland
You've got to check out top coat garage dot com for all your body needs
paint needs automotive needs
You know and and matt was saying earlier. I can't remember if it was on
If we got this on on tape or not, but it's all kind of he will take everything. It's all kind of stuff
It's for the collector with something exotic
It's for somebody that just had a had a fender bender and annie's annie knows the trades
So if it's something he can't do he's got the right people. Let's say it's engine work, right?
You can be that central guy, right right matt. Yeah, yeah, I mean it happens to us all the time
You know some guys will want like
You know an exhaust put on their car. I have no problem putting exhausts on their car
But then whenever they want to like really crack inside that motor
And they want to do some like, you know internal stuff for more performance
You know, we have shops for that, you know a really good friend of mine
He opened up his own shop too earlier than I did
And um, he's doing great with performance work, you know, and we have interior guys. Um, I eventually want to have interior in house
Um, but right now we're just trying to you know, perfect the flow of the shop at the moment
I want to add another step to it
But you know, I got interior guys next door, you know, you guys won't cost them interior or whatever man
They'll take they'll take your seat cover off. They'll mimic it. They'll change up the colors whatever
So you back together a new one and they'll fit right over like it was done at the factory
You know, so um, we've done that before. Um, if you look on the instagram there, there's a bronco that we did
Um, we had, you know, we had an entire interior shop pretty much just remake us everything
Refit everything and then we put it all together for them, you know, so
We love that
Love that. Well, thank you for educating us and spending a little time with us. This this was just wonderful. Thank you
Good
All right. So so top coat garage dot com instagram top coat
garage
Lots of fun stuff there. So any other announcements as we slide the podcast to the off-ramp there partner?
Or did we did we get it all? I think we I think
Only thing you didn't mention is folks if you
If you know somebody who would be great for the show
As a guest, please let us know if you want to be on the get be a guest
Let us know and we're always looking for duos. We've had
We've had father son. We've got some father daughter coming up
um, love to have some mother son mother daughter, but
um, grandparents
You name it. We even yeah, we even had a twist, uh, the last interview that dropped before he put this down was
Us interviewing my son about his about his first car and driving around humvees and in the army
So good stuff and that's how we got matt was a friend of a friend
So please keep the referrals coming
And you have just heard the high revving low mileage late model heard around the world authoritative podcast
On automotive nostalgia. He's dug reach him at dug at carslove.com. I'm christian reach me at christian at carslove.com
He was matt and you know where to find him. So please follow tell a friend check out our link tree
I'm sure we'll see you at the next local car show show room race strip or concourse
So keep the rubber side down keep listening. We will see you next week
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