From Mustang GT Builds to Pontiac GTO Restorations: Weber State Automotive Tech & Education
To All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History
From Mustang GT Builds to Pontiac GTO Restorations: Weber State Automotive Tech & Education
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42:35
Part
fuel injector
A fuel injector is a part of the engine that sprays fuel into the engine so it can mix with air and burn to create power. It's important for the engine to run properly.
Part
Bosch CIS injection system
Bosch CIS is a system that helps deliver fuel to the engine continuously. It's an older technology used in some cars to make sure the engine gets the right amount of fuel.
Brand
Tesla
Tesla is a car company that makes electric cars, which run on batteries instead of gasoline. They are known for their advanced technology and features.
Car
Chevrolet Chevelle
The Chevrolet Chevelle SS is a famous muscle car from the 1960s that is known for being fast and powerful. The 'SS' means it's a sportier version with better performance.
Term
EV
An EV is a car that runs on electricity instead of gas. It uses batteries to power an electric motor, making it more environmentally friendly.
Term
hybrid vehicle
A hybrid vehicle uses both a gas engine and an electric motor. This helps it save fuel and produce fewer emissions than regular cars that only use gas.
Car
Chevy Volt
The Chevy Volt is a car that can run on electricity and gas. It can drive a certain distance on electric power before needing to use gas, making it a hybrid vehicle.
Brand
Hyundai
Hyundai is a car company from South Korea that makes different kinds of vehicles, including cars and SUVs.
Car
Dodge Journey
The Dodge Journey is a family-friendly SUV that has a lot of space for passengers and cargo. It’s designed to be practical and is often used for everyday driving.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a popular sports car that many people love for its speed and design. The 2002 version is part of a long line of Mustangs that have been around for decades.
Term
turbocharger
A turbocharger is a part that helps an engine get more power by pushing in extra air. This allows the engine to burn more fuel and go faster.
Car
Land Rover Range Rover
The Range Rover is a fancy SUV made by Land Rover. It's great for driving on rough roads and is very comfortable inside.
Car
BMW E90
The BMW 3 Series is a popular car that is known for being fun to drive and comfortable. It’s a small luxury car that many people like because it combines style with good performance.
Term
supercharged engine
A supercharged engine is a type of engine that gets extra power by pushing in more air. This helps the car go faster and have more strength.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful a car's engine is. The more horsepower, the faster and stronger the car can be.
Term
L322 chassis
The L322 chassis is the framework that supports the 2011 Range Rover. It helps determine how the vehicle handles and feels while driving.
Term
SUV
An SUV is a larger vehicle that can carry more people and is built to drive on different types of roads, including rough ones. They often feel taller and bigger than regular cars.
Term
pulley
A pulley is a round wheel that helps move belts in the engine. When modified, it can help the engine work better and produce more power.
Term
ECM mod
An ECM mod is a way to change how your car's engine computer works to make it perform better. It can help the engine run more efficiently or produce more power.
Car
Ford Crown Victoria
The Ford Crown Victoria is a large car that was popular for use as police vehicles and taxis. It was built to be tough and reliable, making it a favorite for many drivers.
Car
Pontiac Grand Am
The Pontiac Grand Am is a car that was made by the Pontiac brand. It was popular for its sporty look and was sold for many years until Pontiac stopped making cars.
Car
Pontiac Grand
The Pontiac Grand Prix is a comfortable car that has been around for many years. It’s known for being a good mix of a family car and a sporty vehicle.
Term
Coyote engine
The Coyote engine is a powerful V8 engine that Ford uses in some of its Mustangs. It's designed to give the car great speed and performance.
Term
twin turbo system
A twin turbo system means the car has two turbochargers that help the engine get more power by pushing in extra air. This makes the car faster and can help it use fuel better.
Part
airlift performance system
An airlift performance system lets you change how high or low your car sits using air instead of traditional springs. This can help with how the car rides and handles on the road.
Term
CAN communication
CAN communication is a way for different parts of a car to talk to each other. It helps all the electronic systems in the car work together smoothly.
Car
Dodge Neon
The Dodge Neon is a small car that was made by Dodge. It was popular for being cheap and fun to drive, especially in the sport version.
Term
dual overhead cam
A dual overhead cam engine has two rods that control the opening and closing of the engine's valves. This setup helps the engine run better and can make it faster.
Term
reverse gear
The reverse gear lets your car go backward. If it stops working, you can't back up, which can make parking and turning around tricky.
Term
head gasket
The head gasket is a part of the engine that keeps oil and coolant separate. If it fails, it can cause serious problems and make the car run poorly.
Car
Blazer
The Blazer is a type of SUV made by Chevrolet. It's known for being able to drive off-road and is popular for outdoor activities.
Concept
off-roading
Off-roading is when you drive a vehicle on rough ground instead of on regular roads. It's often done for fun in places like dirt trails or mountains.
Term
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive means that all four wheels of the vehicle can move at the same time. This helps the car drive better on rough or slippery surfaces.
Car
Pontiac Gto
The Pontiac GTO is a powerful car that was popular in the 1960s and is considered one of the first muscle cars. It’s known for its strong engine and sporty design.
Car
Pontiac Solstice
The Pontiac Solstice is a small, sporty car that looks great and is fun to drive. It’s a two-seater convertible that many people enjoy for its performance.
Car
Mazda Miata
The Mazda Miata is a small, two-seat convertible sports car that is very fun to drive. It’s known for being light and nimble, making it a favorite among driving enthusiasts.
Car
Delorean DMC-12
The DeLorean DMC-12 is a unique car known for its shiny metal body and doors that open upwards. It’s famous for being featured in movies and has an interesting backstory.
LIVE
ListenerLand, you have found the best car podcast you've never heard about, or I think some people
may not have heard this, but we are heard around the world, promise you.
Two people in Nepal have listened to us, which is fantastic.
Thank you to our Nepalese listeners.
If you want to be on the show, it's as easy as reaching out.
This is Two All the Cars I've Loved Before Your Podcast, where every car tells a story,
every machine has a soul, every car has a culture.
I am Christian at CarsLove.com, yes, that's my real name, I changed it, says it on my
birth certificate.
He is Doug at CarsLove.com.
Good afternoon, partner.
How you doing?
Hey, doing great.
Good to be back here with you.
Now, are you still in your garage with Tim, who is a season one guy inhaling gasoline fumes
trying to fix that fuel injector, or have you given up for the day, or was it sorted
or what?
So fuel injectors all checked out, manual fuel injectors, a Bosch CIS injection system,
so stuck all six in Gatorade bottles, thanks to my kids, and empty Gatorade bottles, ran
the fuel pump, did some measurements, also watched the spray and everything was consistent,
the amounts were the same, so was hoping to find one, that was bad, but no go.
So when Gatorade says it has electrolytes, that has nothing to do with gasoline or brominated
gasoline or anything like that, right?
Don't drink the light yellow, Gatorade, not a good idea.
Yeah, that's not good.
Today's theme, moving on quickly, I was so excited about today's guest, today's theme
is Italian.
Our podcast goes back to school, so back to school, not Rodney Dangerfield, a classic
movie from the 80s, but we're going to get serious, a fantastic movie, but we're
going to get serious about options for young people at a high school.
We're going to talk about a hybrid of trade school, tech school, college, two-year degree,
four-year degree, and then job placement thereafter.
If you were young and you were in Utah, you came to the right show, because we're, again,
we're so excited about.
Yeah.
Along with, don't forget continuing ed, because I'm always thinking about going
back to school.
Yeah.
Everybody can always have 50.
Long learner, except for me.
I don't need to.
I know it all already.
I know.
I've heard it.
We have a new section.
Where are they now?
But it's really kind of what our previous guests up to recently.
So can we give 30 seconds to this here?
We got a lot going on.
We can hit a couple of things.
I can talk about my son, but I want to hear about season one, one of our favorite
episodes, Brian Paoni, who's also a writer, and he's coming up, he did something
interesting.
Doug, tell us a little about that.
Yeah.
So Brian, being the very creative guy that he is, he was down in Missouri, and he
just knocks out books left and right.
He spent, I don't know, nine nights, overnight nights, he made a band-in slash,
I don't know how a band-in it was, but certainly shut down old penitentiary in
Missouri.
And he brought his computer in there, and he just rode away.
He's going to have a book, I believe it's coming out in 2025, called These Walls
Still Talk, and he's actually going to have the book review or book coming out
party, if you will, at the penitentiary.
So we'll try and post that in our show notes.
But what a creative guy.
He is the one, just a complete creative genius.
Yeah, and his books are kind of this tech noir sci-fi thriller, just
interesting stuff.
Yeah.
Really good stuff.
Speaking of very interesting people, my son, who was on an episode a week or
two ago, goes to George Mason University in the D.C. area, and also
when the Army Reserves qualified, we had him talking about a Humvee that
he drove during drill one weekend, and he just passed his weapons
qualifications past weekends.
So you want to talk about that?
So calls to action.
We don't need to spend a whole lot of time on this today as we're going to
get back to the pivot back to the show theme in a minute here, but hey, every
car has a culture.com resolve to carslove.com.
If you're new to the show, check out carslove.com and remember that
you can get to everything by way of Apple Podcasts, Spotify.
We have stood up a YouTube presence, which is making a little buzz there.
You may want to start, though, by hitting up the link tree, linktr.ee slash
carslove, and that'll give you all of our presences.
Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, Apple, what else?
We mentioned YouTube, Castro, the pod, podfriend.
I think there are so many.
We're on all of them.
We're having YouTube music heard around the world.
So and if you like what you're hearing, tell a friend, email us with if you want
to be on the show and show ideas, feedback.
We love it.
We love it.
All right.
So let's revisit today's show theme so that we can introduce our guests.
As we mentioned, back to school, back to school.
Doug, any back to school stories from you?
What did we learn?
What did we learn?
So I learned at least college initially was not for me and I went on and
did really kind of a trade, kind of unofficial trade, network engineering,
which is now a, not real engineering, but now that's available in colleges as
a two year degree, thanks to former employer, Cisco, Cisco Academy.
There are so many options, but go back 30 years ago, there weren't.
So I took some classes and got a certification and the rest is just great.
Fantastic.
Yeah.
And now, when I went to college, I studied things that are really valuable in
the workplace these days, poetry, socialism in classical Greece, and
basket weaving was a little beyond me.
But yeah, I mean, so basically, what does any of that have to do in the
tech field at a major financial institution?
Nothing.
So that brings me to today's guest who have a heck of a story.
I would like to introduce Cade and Dallas.
Gentlemen, how are you today?
Doing good.
How about you?
Doing so well.
Thank you for joining us.
And the reason these young men came across our radar is that they're
involved at a program in Weber State.
Cade is an instructor, is an instructor.
Dallas is a student.
Whereas we were talking about earlier, trade school, tech school, college,
Collide, it's a hybrid program.
You can get a two-year degree in automotive science, a four-year
degree of bachelor's, and they get you ready for the world.
I am so pumped up about this program.
If you could tell us a little bit about your life arc and story,
Cade, of what brought you to this program and what it's done for you.
And then we'll bring Dallas in after we hear from you.
Yeah, of course.
So kind of like Doug, I graduated high school, went to
Utah State University, only ended up going there for a semester
and decided college wasn't for me, ended up going back five years later.
But over that five-year period, became an automotive technician
and decided I needed to advance my knowledge a little bit.
So was talking to a few of the guys at the shop.
One of them was a gentleman named Scott Holland.
He ended up telling me to go to Weber State, looked into it,
ended up enrolling there, studied there for just, I only
going in for my associate's degree because I was like, oh, I'm going to stay
as a technician and stuff.
But as I stayed there at the college, started getting some industry contacts,
decided to go on for my four year after my four year,
ended up graduating and going out to Ford Motor Company
and then coming back to Utah over COVID and securing a job
at Weber State University as an instructor.
That is fantastic.
Now, wait.
Yeah. So you, how long did it take you to get a job at Ford?
Was that easy? Was that hard?
Oh, so my interview process at Ford,
I always say it was one of the hardest interviews of my life,
mostly because of the length.
I was in a job interview for three hours.
It was the only job interview I've been in that had a water break in between.
Whoa. But as for preparing me to go out to Ford,
um, Weber State had great industry contacts.
So, and still does, Ford would come out every semester
and they would present what job positions they had and all that.
And I would keep talking to the recruiters.
They'd come out with some of their teammates and talk about with like alumni
because they've hired Weber State students before.
So they'd bring back alumni and we've talked to them
and they talk about how great Ford was and everything.
So after four years of talking to them, I decided I was like, OK,
I'm going to Ford.
And I had a Dallas.
The other guest on this here that I brought with me,
he was a classmate of with my or with me
and ended up coming out to Dearborn, Michigan,
to Ford Motor Company with me as well.
Perfect segue.
He's a segue machine, ladies and gentlemen.
Dallas, good afternoon. How are you?
Hello, hello. It's nice to be here.
Hey, man, it's great to have you.
So let's hear a little bit about your your story
and and and and how you came to know. OK.
OK, so I was actually blessed enough to have a high school instructor
that was very involved at Weber, his name is Ed Scherner.
So I was actually a student before I even had graduated high school.
And then I went into the program right after high school
and that's where I met Kate.
We were classmates for a while.
Our associates degrees together and I actually went off
and did some traveling, working for a couple of years.
Kate got as bachelor's.
I had actually come back home by then
and that's when we both interviewed for Ford.
My interview was only two hours.
Sorry, Kate, and I didn't get one.
But we both got hired.
We both moved out about the same time.
We both worked until covid hit covid hit.
We moved back home.
I actually kept working for Ford until 2022.
And Kate went off and did his thing.
I graduate this spring and I'm actually hoping
to become an instructor at Weber as well next time.
Love that, love that.
And before I hand over to Doug here,
if you want to see.
As soon as you're done listening to this interview, let's put it that way.
Check out PBS News Hour.
They aired a segment.
It's about about a seven minute segment on October 7th, 2024
about the program these gentlemen are talking about.
OK, and it's it's under there.
So go to PBS dot com slash news hour.
Just type in rethinking college.
OK, Weber State University in Layton, Utah.
That's W.E.B.E.R.
State University in L.A.Y.T.O.N.
Utah, the couple of quick notes for I handed over here.
Doug, the automotive program is in the same building
as the computer science department.
Very telling work hand and glove as Cade was saying
is when we're chatting with him, there's really no distinction
between automotive and I.T. anymore.
The two or one in the same.
And in the piece that you can see on PBS's
news hour site, the sign in front of the building says
the College of Computer and Automotive Engineering,
which I think is just so fantastic.
I'll let Doug talk about how he reached out to the program here.
And you're going to hear about how major automotive employers
will come and talk to these gentlemen.
But go ahead, Doug. Yeah, yeah.
No, thank you, Christian.
Yeah, I was watching PBS news hour as I have done quite recently
and sitting there with my girlfriend and I see Cade's face pop up.
I didn't know him, but and he's talking about the automotive tech
program and I just thought it was wonderful.
There was a segment on there was also part of that segment on
women in automotive tech being a I.T. guy.
There was a good discussion about the crossover between computer science
and automotive technology and I'm a I'm a EV owner as well.
So as well as a old car owner.
So it's pretty interesting to see.
And, you know, I just thought to myself, you know,
had I been 30 years younger or so,
like I would have loved to have been in a program like that.
And then so I reached out to Jessica Slater, I think is her name.
She is the department chair and she referred
gave me several contacts, including Cade and another one of his colleagues.
We're going to have on the show very soon and along with one of his students.
And it was just it was really inspiring.
And just for what it's worth since then, I've talked to a museum curator
who the museum also donates money to help with automotive tech
programs done by Pennsylvania Tech.
And, you know, I just love what you guys are doing.
I mean, it's it's, you know, turning a trade into a career.
And there's definitely a crossover with computer science
and just making it more interesting, right?
Cars can do as a Tesla owner.
My car can do so many things that you wouldn't think possible.
And it's it's overwhelming, right?
And thank God it has a warranty.
But I'd be taking it down to you guys and I'd get it fixed.
But yeah, with that, it was a great it was a great segment.
And it really opened my eyes.
And as I said, and then next thing, you know, I'm talking
to the St. Michael's Car Museum and they have a similar program
where they work with colleges and help the students.
So it's great to hear.
And yeah, is so I have three sons
that are about to start making that thought process
and move through high school and into college.
And it's an interesting discussion when you say to someone
who's young these days, who has the world at their fingertips
in any given device, you're bombarded with so much,
you get to see the whole world.
So, OK, what do you want to do?
What is your next step?
And I took two of my younger ones,
that three sons took my two younger ones to a college fair.
And it's very overwhelming.
You see more and more trade schools there.
So I want to pivot to Dallas and ask.
What what do you like most about the program?
What do you like most about it?
And in and what what lights you up
when you think about where you go to school?
Definitely the knowledge base that I mean,
as soon as you walk in there, you can tell the world class.
And then all you need to do is talk to one of the instructors.
You can tell that they know what they're doing.
And there's there's just really not a better place to be
if you want to learn about cars.
So that's definitely the most appealing thing to me.
I like I don't think I could be better off anywhere else.
I like that.
What? Yeah, what a glowing endorsement.
And from the piece, you can see in this classroom, it is hands on.
I mean, engines, engine parts are everywhere.
And so, OK, tell us a little bit about when a new student comes in
and for the first hand gets there, walks through the door
and is just like like like a kid in a candy shop
with with all the tactile things there, we can get your hands dirty.
So it really opens up with orientation.
And this is really where we show them and show them what they're getting into.
We have a brand new building.
It's about three years old at this point, going on four years.
So we have the latest and greatest equipment in that building.
So we open you up through the door.
We show you our main service shop area where we teach the bulk of our classes.
You'll see anything in there from Teslas to old right now.
There's a 65 Chevelle SS in there.
There's a Tesla with the battery removed in it.
There's a triumph that we're converting to EV.
And then there's our normal instructor cars that we teach all of our
normal equipment on.
And then you walk through another set of double doors
and then you enter into the engines lab that on the PBS special.
You would see that's where we house all our engines.
And that's where the students tear down engines.
They do manual drivetrain in there as well.
So they do some manual transmissions, axles, tea cases from there.
You go into our electronics lab where they get in-depth knowledge on Ohm's law.
They learn electrical faults.
They learn how to diagnose them and they learn what causes them.
And then then kind of comes to our showpiece and what Weber State
is currently known for, which is our EV program.
You open up into another set of double doors that are locked away and kind of right now.
Windows are covered in everything because of the current curriculum that's being
developed in there, but you would open it up.
And in there there is about, like I said, about 20 cars in there that are EV,
hybrids, anything from Teslas to Toyota's to Ford's, Subaru's open batteries from
these vehicles out there.
We have Chevy Volt batteries, open drive units.
So this lab you can fully explore the inner workings of an EV and full electric or hybrid vehicle.
Fantastic.
So learning about these different engines, motors, drivetrains, et cetera would all be
are they sort of different classes?
Are they almost electives?
Are they linear fields of study or certificates that you can get?
So they are sectioned off.
You can get a certificate if you do all the level one courses.
But how it works is you would start with us in the fall.
So in the fall is when you would start off with your introductory courses.
So you'd get your automotive introductory course.
You would do engines and you would do your electrical courses.
Then from there, it's a very structured pathway to get you graduated
because of how the courses are laid out.
So we always start our students in the fall so they can finish in two years.
So every fall, the classes are the same.
Every spring, the classes are the same, et cetera, et cetera, as they go through their program.
Dig that.
And can you say one word about the boot camp or the boot camp program?
Now, is that the continuing ed portion?
Yeah.
So that's our continuing ed portion.
So we offer our full EV boot camp.
This is a two online courses.
And then once you complete your two online courses, you'll go in for a five day boot camp with John.
And he will teach you the inner workings of drive units.
You'll drop batteries out of vehicles.
You will learn the inner workings of all these vehicles.
So you'll be comfortable working on them.
Now, we've had engineers from various makes and models or makes or manufacturers.
We've had Ford Hyundai engineers come out.
We've had instructors come out.
We've had even first responders come out and we've teach them some of the military as well.
So the unique thing we do offer, though, is that we are able to turn this into college credit.
So if you wanted to continue on with your education, we would actually roll these certificates into your bachelor's degree and give you credit for it.
Now, if you wanted to continue on, say if you wanted to need a bachelor's degree for your next step or whatever in life, if you need it for career advancement or just looking for fulfillment,
you can take your automotive associate's degree and your automotive ASEs and we can vet them out and apply them towards an AS or an associate's degree to get you up towards a bachelor's degree.
Got it. Fantastic. Fantastic.
And thank you for sharing a bit of your experience here and in your life's journey, especially as it went through Weber State and has served you both so well.
So we will have on our presences as we load up this, you know, links to the program and links to Weber States is exactly what we're talking about here.
But so now one thing I bet you don't have in the engine lab, greatest name for a classroom of all time, is the Wayback machine, a time machine.
And I'm going to put both Kate and Dallas in it because we're going to go back to your first cars in Dallas. Let's pivot to you.
How did it all start, your automotive journey?
So my senior year in high school, one of my classmates had a 2002 Mustang. It was black and manual.
He didn't really like it. He wanted a truck. And when he was talking about Selena, I scooped it up.
There was VA and everything. And I drove that for a year after I went straight to Weber after high school.
And then after my first year, I thought I was smart enough. And I put a turbocharger system in it and built a D engine for it.
Increased the displacement and ruined it essentially.
Made it really fast and I built a race car. And I had that for a very long time until recently.
And now I'm just driving around a Range Rover. I love that thing to death.
So there's a great story and it's close to home, right? What happened to your Mustang?
So I really didn't drive it that much. Honestly, it is scary. It was like driving a rocket ship.
No driver assist at all. ABS, power brakes, nothing.
So I just I wasn't really scared of it. I just didn't drive it a lot.
And it sat in my driveway and I'd have people come by and knock on my door asking about it.
Because I was getting to that age, frankly. I've had the car for a long time.
And I was telling Kate about it one day and he just said, well, I'll buy it.
And so I sold it to him and that was it. And he's got it now.
Nice. And it's still with him. That's awesome.
That is awesome. So tell us about the Range Rover, right?
Obviously quite a different ride from your Mustang.
Right. Still fast though. Tell us.
Actually, very fast. So when we moved to Michigan, I had a I actually paid to ship the Mustang over
and I had a E90 BMW that I was driving around as a daily driver, you know, a car that was actually functional.
But the roads were so bad that in the 10 months that we were commuting there before COVID,
I blew five tires and cracked a wheel on that poor BMW.
And so it just got to the point where, you know, it was just financially feasible to have something else.
So I started shopping for, you know, something with off-road capabilities for the roads in Michigan.
And I stumbled across that Range Rover. It was cheaper because it had been crashed twice.
Yeah. But it has the five liter supercharged engine.
It makes 500 horsepower. It's triple black, you know, trim, interior, outside, all of it.
It's just a ton of fun. I love it to death.
Everyone kind of cringes when I say I drive a Land Rover, but it's never broken.
And I've had it played three or four years now.
What year's the Rover? Sorry.
It's a 2011.
Okay.
So the chassis is L322.
Got it.
And if you're thinking of a Range Rover, the like the box one, it's that one.
That's the fast box, fast box and wheels.
It's very fast.
The only problem is it's an SUV.
So if you go around a turn, it feels like you're going to roll it.
Maybe if you're going 30.
But in a straight line to it yet, Dallas.
You know, there's just not much out there.
I've done a lot of shopping and I did find there's a company that does a
pulley with like an ECM mod.
But you get like 50 horsepower and they want like five grand for it.
He doesn't need to modify this.
Yeah. I think I'm going to leave it alone.
Well, I know as soon as I modify it, it's going to blow the blow.
Yeah.
He looks like Darth Vader driving down the street with the triple black.
So he's he's he's a bad man.
We all know he's he's good.
He's good.
So part of the wayback machine somewhere in the middle, right?
You had a Crown Vic, maybe more than one.
For Crown Victoria.
So during during all the years between the Mustang and the Rover,
you know, I had I had to have a car that I could actually drive
because the Mustang was a full blown race car.
You know, sometimes it was a Pontiac Grand Am that had.
Oh, yeah.
Rusted out exhaust.
Oh, yeah.
That was sweet.
I drove that for a while.
Then I got a 2011 Crown Vic.
I paid a thousand dollars for it and only had like a thousand miles.
And wait a minute.
I know.
I know it was an amazing car.
Absolutely beautiful.
And I got rid of it because I decided that having a BMW would be cooler.
So I got my first E90 after that.
And that was when I started doing the traveling.
I worked for a company called Vivint.
And I lived in Texas and I worked for them.
And I put that BMW into a wall.
Like the third day I was down there.
And some poor lady crashed into me.
So I ruined that car really fast.
And at that time I'm in Texas.
You know, I live in Utah.
So I'm away from home.
I just moved.
So I don't have any money.
So I go out and I buy the cheapest POS I can find.
And it just happens to be another Crown Vic that had been spray painted black.
The lights would randomly turn off.
Not like all of the lights, not just the headlights.
The engine would keep running.
The wipers would randomly turn on.
And I just drove that for the whole summer.
I was working down there and got rid of it.
I got another BMW after that.
And I got rid of that pretty recently.
But that's about the full story.
And I got the Range Rover after that.
That's been my daily ever since.
Gotcha.
And what would be your next car or what will be your next car?
So I'm a senior at Weber State.
And we have to do a senior project called a capstone project.
The essentially contributes to the knowledge of automotive.
And my plan is to build a car.
So I want to get a second or third gen coyote Mustang.
So 2015 or newer.
And I found a computer that can hijack an HDMI input into the sync screen.
So I want to install that.
And then I want to install a computer in the trunk that runs Windows.
In the recent years, they've made just little box PCs that are super powerful.
And I'm going to run that.
And I'm going to run that to the sync screen.
And I'm going to have that do the tuning and run some other software and stuff.
And then I'm going to put a twin turbo system in the car.
And I'm going to use the computer that's on board in the car to tune the twin turbo system.
I also plan to do an airlift performance system on like airbags and stuff.
Hopefully I can get the computer to control it all.
So that's going to be built in the spring, hopefully.
And right now I'm just working on paying for it.
Right, right.
And yeah, you get to use all the tools and facility of Weber for that process, right?
Yeah.
I'm going to be allowed to build it in the shop, which is way more fun than laying on the ground.
And between the electrical knowledge and the mechanical knowledge,
I can build a Windows powered twin turbo Mustang.
Because that's just the kind of thing that Weber teaches you.
Well, not specifically, but the knowledge that Weber gives you.
That's only for the second semester evil geniuses amongst us.
But yeah, I mean, it's cool.
There is a crossover with computer science, right?
Very much so.
Very much.
Caden Dallas.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So there is a there's a big crossover between computer science and automotive.
So now you guys are dealing with us as automotive technicians and you guys as consumers
are dealing with ethernet cables and vehicles.
And we have can communication lines and all the modules like your vehicle can now have
upwards of 100 modules in your vehicle that all need to communicate with each other.
So you have to be able to diagnose that as well as still your base engine concern
of misfires and drivability concerns, squeaks and rattles, suspension clunks and all that
good stuff too.
And now that we've pivoted to Mr.
Cade, how did it all start for you?
How did it all start for me?
It was a pretty, pretty amazing Dodge, Dodge neon, right?
Yep.
Yep.
So when I was 16, my automotive career started with a 1997 Dodge neon sport had
dual overhead cam in it.
So that's what made it a sport.
Made my insurance go up a little bit higher because of the sticker on the
side of the car.
Ended up driving that for probably about a year and a half after about a year of
owning it though.
My reverse went out and ended up having to park it in places that I can either
pull forward or just pull it back out of the football or out of the stall.
I was a football player, so it really wasn't that big of a deal.
It was a light car.
So, but yeah, started off with that.
Ended up getting selling that for $3 to my uncle.
We then moved into a...
Did you say $3?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
How did that happen?
So that happened because it was...
I bought my blazer and then that car just sat off to the side of my house,
just more or less gathering dust and my uncle came by and he's like,
hey, are you wanting to get rid of that car?
And I was like, yeah, he's like, well, how much?
And I was like, how much do you have in your wallet?
And he opens it up and he's like three bucks.
And I was like, yeah, sure, I'll take it.
He drug it out of there, put it on a trailer and took it and fixed the
transmission in it and drove it for a little while.
Ended up getting in an accident with a Jeep and getting that fixed
and then blew the head gasket on it and wiped out the timing belt
and they decided that was enough for the neon.
So the neon lived a very generous life after I was done with it,
of course, after abusing it as a high school kid.
So, but yeah, then I got my blazer.
The blazer off opened up a little more doors for me because it was
four-wheel drive.
So I started doing some off-roading a little bit there here in
Boxhiller County before they started building the houses
more and stuff up on the side of the mountain.
There was a dirt bike track up there and me and a few of my
friends in high school were just up there messing around
and we were doing a little bit faster than probably what we
should have on the side of the mountain.
Turns out we ended up right into one of those dirt bike
tracks and I ended up jumping my blazer probably about 30 feet
maybe getting about six foot of air out of it.
Landed it.
My buddy just pulled up next to me.
He's like, are you all right?
And I was like, I think so.
And got out, looked the blazer over and still in one piece,
still drove fine.
No clunks or rattles, anything after that.
So the blazer held in strong.
You never told me.
Did you turn around and do it again?
Oh, no, I was a little scared after that one after.
I mean, I was scared.
I mean, a surprise jump scares anyone a little bit.
Speaking of surprise jumps, you jumped over a 2004 car that you
own.
This one really excites me.
Now is this one black too?
So this is the start of all my black vehicles.
There we go.
Now they call them like vision boards or dream boards or whatever
the ones where you put your goals and stuff on the boards of
your school where you're like, Hey, this is what I want to
achieve.
You can put your house up there.
Cars, whatever you want to achieve your life goals that
they want you to do.
Well, I did one when I was a sophomore in my computer
sciences class.
Funny enough.
And I put a 2004 Pontiac GTO on there.
Oh, yeah.
And she's seen it.
And I was black and everything.
It was the car I wanted.
And she's like, Oh, that car is too expensive.
You won't have that.
And I was like, Oh, okay.
Whatever.
We'll see.
So I mean, I held on to that little notion.
She told me anyways, fast forward into graduation day as
a graduation gift to myself the day before graduation.
I went out and bought me a black 2004 Pontiac GTO with
the black interior that I've always wanted.
I drove that to my graduation.
And I showed my instructors a picture of it in the parking
lot.
And I was like, look, this is what's parked outside.
Yeah.
Hence the vision board, man.
When somebody tells you, you can't do something.
You put it up there on the vision board.
You look at it every morning.
And that's fantastic.
We used to call that the five year five year plan,
right?
Or what did we call it the list?
I don't know.
But vision board just sounds so much better.
No, that's it.
I agree.
I agree.
Totally.
Oh yeah.
So that's drove that for a few years.
But at that time is when I started really getting more
and more into mechanics.
So growing up, I really like to just tinker on things.
So I always like to modify and just take things apart
and rebuild them.
So like I built PCs guns and stuff like that too.
So I just like to take things apart and build them
and modify them.
Well, I found out that I can do that with cars.
I can express myself on visually with cars.
Love that.
Yeah.
I can take them apart, do some, do things in the motor
to make it faster, raise it, lower it, do whatever.
Freedom of expression with cars.
You can do anything you want with them.
Yeah.
It's funny you mentioned that.
We've had people on the show in their car.
Is there art?
It's a piece of performance art.
It's a piece of themselves.
And you can drive that thing from here to Alaska.
And everybody knows, you know, something about you every time
you drive by.
So funny you mentioned that you like to tinker, et cetera.
Can you talk for just a little bit as we wind the show down
here about what you did it for?
Yeah.
So at Ford, after graduating, I ended up working
for the technical assistance center.
So that's the center that is like if dealerships can't fix
their car, technicians are having issues and they need
like a different set of eyes or a different perspective on
something they can shoot us an email or call us.
So I was the guy on the other end helping the techs fix
your guys' trucks when they were down for an extended
period of time.
I was the guy on the other end of the phone when
they're saying, hey, I need to contact Ford for help.
That's me.
And my commodities were syncing module programming,
hybrid EV.
And so module programming, audio and EV.
Gotcha.
Good deal.
And then I did that and then COVID ended up hitting and
after that, worked at back at a dealership for a little
while as a service writer and then got the call for
Weber State to go be an instructor.
In full circle.
And it all came full circle.
Well, what do you think, Doug?
Do you have anything further, any more thoughts to add?
Well, I have a little piece of trivia and this is more
for Christian.
By the way, Christian owned a 07 Pontiac Solstice,
the Miata of GM, as I call it.
So much fun.
And that didn't end well either.
Well, go ahead.
Go ahead.
You're not a real world drive guy.
Maybe not.
Let's just say that.
Nobody is.
So two piece of automotive trivia.
Christian knows one of these.
So John DeLorean invented it, came up with the Pontiac
GTO.
I don't know if you guys knew that.
The original GTO and it was actually an option package
because at the time GM wouldn't let you couldn't
have a car with an engine that was either so big
or had so much horsepower.
So they made it an option on the Pontiac Tempest,
I believe in 64.
And then it sold like gangbusters.
And so in the Pontiac GTO.
Now I believe in 04-ish, right?
The GTO was reborn, brought back.
And 0406.
Yeah.
And I wanted to ask Christian if he knows.
But I'm going to ask, I'm going to ask Kate
to answer if he doesn't.
Christian, where was the Pontiac GTO built?
Pontiac mission.
Kate?
Not this one.
This was built in Australia.
It's a rebranded Holden Monero.
Yes.
Yes.
Oh yeah, that's right.
Yep.
And then the GA is a rebranded Commodore and et cetera.
Good pull.
These guys, man, knew it all.
Well, we can stump you but not them.
Well, you know what I think.
I think Kate and Alice need their own podcast.
But can it please not be about cars?
We don't need the competition.
But I got to tell you, it was so nice meeting both of you
and having you on the show.
So impressed.
Thank you for telling us all about Weber State.
And it was just great having you on.
Yeah.
Yeah, of course.
Thanks for having us.
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, thanks.
We're looking forward to talking to your colleague
and one of his students.
Oh yeah.
Actually, we're going to do the recording tomorrow.
So that'll be fun.
So you guys had the hard part.
Oh, the maiden voyage for Weber State?
Yeah, exactly.
But yeah, we're huge fans of Weber, what you guys are doing.
PBS News Hour, man.
It's the gift that keeps giving.
So who would have thought?
And thanks to Jessica and everybody for your responsiveness.
Yep.
That's right.
Yep.
So we would love to have you guys back maybe in a future
season as we hurdle through.
I forget what season we're in.
We're about to be either buttoning up a season.
It depends.
We have a lot of episodes in post-production right now.
We sort of slice and dice and throw them out there.
However, the evil genius Doug sees fit.
So we just so pleased to have you on.
I would like to have you on in a future season to see
Caden Douse where you are.
So what do you think, gents?
Maybe doing a year or two?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We can surely do that.
Yep.
Thank you guys so much.
We're about the capstone project.
And yeah.
See where you guys are.
Yeah, you hear how it works.
Oh yeah.
We'll add that on to our stories.
We got plenty of them.
Well, good luck to you both.
Can't wait.
Yep.
And feel free to email us, right?
You guys have our emails because Christian will repeat
them shortly if you don't.
It's what I do.
I'm a broken record.
You had just heard the high revving, low mileage,
late model, heard around the world,
automotive authoritative automotive podcast on
automotive nostalgia.
He is Doug at CarsLove.com.
I am Christian at CarsLove.com.
There were Caden Douse.
If you like the show, please follow and tell a friend.
That's how we can keep the velocity, the inertia going.
Hey, if you want to be a guest on the show,
go to our link tree.
And hey, it's as easy as just sending an email,
setting up a time, and we'll make it happen.
Again, check out our link tree, linktr.ee slash CarsLove.com.
It's a bit like the old yellow pages,
but I like to think of it as our switchboard.
I'm sure we'll see you at the next local car show.
And again, thank you for listening.
Keep the rubber side down and we will see you next week.
Thank you, Listener Land.
About this episode
Exploring the intersection of automotive technology and education, this episode features Cade and Dallas from Weber State University, who share their experiences in a unique hybrid program that combines trade and college education. They discuss the hands-on learning environment, industry connections, and the importance of adapting to modern automotive technologies, including electric vehicles. With engaging stories about their personal automotive journeys, including classic builds and restorations, this episode highlights the evolving landscape of automotive careers and education.
Original notes
Click here to share your favorite car, car story or any automotive trivia!
PBS NewsHour connected us with Weber State University’s leading Automotive Technology Program—where hands-on automotive education meets real-world automotive technology. In this episode, automotive enthusiasts Dallas and Caid share their most memorable car stories and vehicle restoration adventures. Dallas recounts tuning his 2002 Mustang GT to 667 whp, navigating Dearborn’s automotive universe in a Range Rover, and the driving experience thrills that fuel his passion for cars. Instructor Caid revisits his first rides—from a Dodge Neon Sport and off-roading in a Chevy Blazer to restoring a classic Pontiac GTO—and dives into restoration stories on a Mercedes 190E and a Mustang GT. Packed with classic cars nostalgia, craftsmanship discussions, car memories, and auto adventures, this episode is a must-hear for automotive culture fans, restoration hobbyists, and anyone curious about the future of cars. Tune in for insider vehicle stories and the road ahead for tomorrow’s auto restorers!
Caid and Dallas' favorite episode is "Campus of Cars – Makenna and Brandon’s Educational Restoration Adventures" https://pod.link/1733902541/episode/6101fe7007f56a999211944be3a14faf
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