A restoration shop is where people fix up old cars and make them look and run like they should. It’s more than just repairs—it’s about bringing the car back.
They’re saying the bus isn’t just cool because of how it’s built—it’s also cool because of how it’s presented, especially the paint colors. Color can make a car feel iconic.
A wrap is a vinyl film applied over a vehicle’s paint to change color or add graphics without repainting. For classic buses, wraps are popular because they’re reversible and can protect the original paint underneath.
A strong crosswind can be especially noticeable in older vans because of their boxy shape and high side area. The speaker describes the bus drifting multiple lanes, which highlights how crosswinds can overwhelm stability if tires, suspension, or steering feel are compromised.
“Original tires” means the tires that were on the car from the start. Even if they still look okay, old tires can become unsafe and are more likely to fail.
“Cannot shift” is basically a joke about not being able to change gears. It usually points to driving a manual car where you have to move the shifter correctly.
“Driving feel” is how a car feels to drive—how the steering and shifting respond. They’re saying the bus feels totally different at first, but then it starts to feel natural.
A gear is a specific ratio selected by the transmission that determines how the engine’s power is delivered to the wheels. The speaker is describing uncertainty about which gear the shifter is engaging until it “clicks” into the right one.
“Play in the wheel” means the steering wheel can move a bit before the car really turns. That often happens when parts in the steering system are worn out.
Suspension controls how the vehicle absorbs bumps and how stable it feels during cornering and steering inputs. When the host says suspension is “good” on some and “questionable” on others, they’re describing differences in ride quality and handling balance likely due to spring/shock condition, bushings, or alignment.
“Discontinued” means Ford stopped making that model. That can make it harder to find the exact car or replacement parts later, but it can also affect resale value depending on demand.
“80,000 miles” is how far the car has been driven. The speaker is basically saying their Ford Flex held up for a long time before they gave it to someone else.
The 1994 Ford Mustang Cobra is a special Mustang version from 1994. The speaker is excited because they found one with extremely low miles, like it was barely used.
“13 miles” means the car was barely driven. That’s exciting for collectors because it likely has less wear than a typical used car, though cars that sit can still have problems from age.
Concept
preservation vs driving (putting miles on a collectible)
This is the classic collector argument: keep the car pristine and barely drive it, or enjoy it and accept that miles will add wear. The speaker is saying people online criticized them for removing the new-car protections and driving it.
“Virgin car” here means the car was basically never used or modified. The speaker points out it still had protective plastic and the original window sticker, like it was new.
The window sticker is the original paper label that shows what the car was priced at and what options it had when it was new. Keeping it helps prove the car’s original details.
A cassette deck is the old-school music player that plays cassette tapes. Leaving it in the car means the car still has the original kind of stereo from that era.
These are cars that try to feel like classic “muscle cars” but run on electricity instead of gas. They’re still meant to be fast and exciting, just with electric power.
LIVE
You know what's crazy is that I cannot plan out offstage if it's going to be funny or
not.
It happens in the moment.
Really?
It's in the way that you say it, it's in the tone.
I'm Jim Farley and this is Drive.
Today on Drive, we're joined by someone who brings horsepower of a different kind, comedy
horsepower.
Fluffy's a nickname that my mom gave many years ago when I was a kid.
I called myself Fat and she said, you're not Fat, you're Fluffy.
And so it was just one of those, I told that story on stage.
I got a big laugh on it and you know, at the end of the show, people would say, hey, you
know, good job Fluffy.
They would call me Fluffy because of that one joke, Fluffy's what stuck.
You know him as Fluffy, one of the most beloved comedians on the planet.
Gabrielle Inglisius, welcome to Drive.
So thank you.
Should I refer to your omnipresence?
Is it Gabrielle, Gabe or Fluffy or?
You can call me Gabe, you can call me Fluffy.
Is it, Gabrielle is when you're in trouble, your mom calls you Gabrielle?
Gabriel was always when I was in trouble.
So it's Gabrielle Jesus Iglesias.
The full name.
Oh, forget it.
If you heard your full name, man, that was it.
Get the tungsten ready.
That's it.
So where are you right now, Gabe?
Right now I'm in Wichita, Kansas.
And how long are you on the road for?
Eternity.
If my agent and manager have anything to do with that, it will be forever.
I love doing this, so it's not like, you know, it is work, but it isn't work.
You know what I mean?
Yes, that's cool.
First of all, it's a pleasure meeting you.
Thank you for this opportunity.
Right back at you.
You're a superstar in my family and being a Farley comedy is, you know, our indigenous
sports.
Incredible background, man.
And that's amazing.
I was a big fan of your cousins.
Well, I know he would absolutely love your work.
I wanted to ask you a question that I wish I asked my cousin and I didn't and I really
regret it, which is, is there a bit of moment or moments where you felt like you truly made
a difference in people's lives with your comedy?
There's been many moments, but it's not until I meet someone that lets me know what my comedy
did for them.
I can't just assume that what I'm doing is life changing in any way, but I have had
many people come up to me and tell me, I was going through a certain thing and, you know,
your comedy got me out of a funk or a weird, just uncountable place and they would thank
me for that.
And I'm like, oh my God.
And for me, I feel like every time I hear these stories from people, it reminds me that
I'm doing something that's special.
And anytime I get in my own little head where I'm like, what am I doing with my life?
And then one of these moments happens and I'm like, that's what I'm doing with my life.
And just, you know, just remember that what I do does make a difference.
You often talk about your family in your comedy.
Is there any awkward moments that come out of that?
I think that anytime I've talked about my family is because it's something that I haven't
been able to address with them face to face.
And I figure if I'm doing it on stage and I got the support of the people already, I'm
in the right because everybody agrees with what I'm saying.
And so if they're in the crowd and they hear it, it's just like, oh, yeah, like my son
was one of those people where I know my son gets annoyed that I talk about him in my act.
But at the end of the day, he's the last for money, so this is how you pay me back,
dude.
Deal with it.
You're going to be okay, you know?
I'm sorry if you're traumatized, but crying in the new car I bought you.
That's funny.
Oh, man.
One of your shows, I heard you talk about therapy, which I thought was so cool and so awesome.
How did you discover that vulnerability or what gave you the confidence to put it all
out there like that?
I think once I started talking about myself, because basically my comedy career is all
my insecurities.
Everything that has ever messed with me, everything that has ever been something that at one point
made me cry or made me uncomfortable or made me feel bad about myself.
At some point, I don't know exactly when that was.
I just said, let me start pushing that back out there into the world during my comedy.
It just became a comfortable place for me to just start venting and telling stories and
doing what I do, at least on stage.
But as far as the therapy part, I think that was one of those when I was dealing with something
in my previous relationship, and she had made a comment about therapy.
It was my last ditch hurrah to try to save the relationship.
It was already done, but I said, you know what, let me at least give it a try.
So we went to therapy and we both took our turns explaining our lives and why we're there.
We wound up breaking up and I wound up continuing to go to therapy because it actually felt
good to open up and to talk to someone who wasn't going to be judging the entire time
I was talking to them because anytime I'd open up to family, it was just like this.
I was like, oh, oh, you're like, oh, should I slow down?
Should I stop?
Should I, okay, whereas with the therapist, it was very just neutral.
I went to therapy for a little over a year, one-on-one.
And one thing it taught me was it taught me how to question myself.
I think that was one thing I never really questioned myself.
I just assumed that as long as I was doing what I was doing and people were laughing
people were having fun, people were, you know, I was making money and my career was doing well,
that automatically that meant that I was doing well.
And I couldn't be further from the truth.
I had to really slow down and just get in touch with what was going on in here and address certain things.
And that just helped me out more because then I started doing it twice as much on stage to open up.
And this is what's wrong.
This is what's going on.
But ultimately having those moments of vulnerability, I think is what made me stronger.
Because you got to be willing to admit fault, admit that things aren't going well in order for you to find a way to correct them.
If you're always masking them, you'll never address the issues.
And so that was, I think, also one of the reasons why I would drink because I would drink a lot.
Not saying I don't anymore because I do it, but now I know why I do it.
I appreciate that answer so much because as a business leader, you know,
people really do not invest in vulnerability.
But if you want to be a leader of people, you know, you have to learn from your mistakes.
And there are lots of vulnerabilities that are so valuable.
Like you said, I really identify with that because I see that as a kind of a courageous thing.
I appreciate that.
And I admire and identify with your approach.
And how does a process work for you as an individual?
How do you find a joke?
Is there a process or is it just you kind of explain the situations that you find worthwhile to investigate and where to push?
But is there a process for coming up with a good joke?
Well, for me, I've never been traditional when it comes to the way that I do my humor in my show.
There's no sit down, write stuff out, look at it, try to dissect it, and then perform it.
I can't do that.
That's, and it's not to say that I can't read or write.
I'm not a literate.
It's just that it's not fun for me.
Then it becomes a script that I have to try to follow.
So what I do, and like I said a little while ago, it's one of those things where I take whatever is messing with me, whatever I'm dealing with, whatever is really just kind of getting at me.
And I take it to the stage and I talk about it.
And I feel like there's something there.
People can always relate to a struggle.
They can relate to you being put in a corner.
They can relate to you having to deal with something that's uncomfortable, that's putting you in a situation where you have to think on your feet.
And so, for example, I just started telling a story about how I'm being sued for the first time.
Automatically, the whole room goes, whoa.
And I'm like, yeah, and I know you guys are probably thinking, oh, it's like an ex-girlfriend or something that's coming after me.
And so I start talking the whole thing out and then eventually I get to what the situation is and how I'm still in the early stages.
So I don't know what's going to happen, but we'll see.
But it's interesting to just watch the entire room when I say I'm being sued for the first time in my life and the whole room just goes, whoa.
So it's something that just grabs everyone right away and they're like, oh, shoot, this guy's dealing.
And, you know, so whether I'm talking about something like that or traveling, talking about being a fish out of water, people can always relate to situations like that.
You want to share moments that people can connect with.
Even if it's on a level that's different financially, it's one of those where people can still relate to you being put in a situation that's uncomfortable.
So sharing uncomfortable moments, it's very relatable, especially when I talk about family.
People can always relate to issues with family.
On that note, like I understand the concept and kind of your methodology of finding the right zip code, but you still have to make it funny.
Like, what, is there something in your brain that says, okay, that's really funny before you say it?
And then you're like, okay, and then you have to say it.
How does that, how does the funny part work?
You know, what's crazy is that I cannot plan out offstage if it's going to be funny or not.
It happens in the moment.
It's in the way that you say it.
It's in the tone.
For example, your cousin never had set up punchline jokes.
He was never a joke.
No, no, no, he was funny because his personality was funny.
His, his energy was funny.
The way he carried himself and just a look at the tone in your voice, a mannerism is what brought, you know, the laughter out.
It was one of the, you can't plan it and write it out on paper.
You know what I mean?
So it's just, it's in the, it's the instinct of what you're doing.
And so I don't know if it's funny until people laugh, but I always feel like there's something there.
And that's my instinct is there's something there and we're going to, we're going to find a way to make this work.
All right.
That, now that makes perfect sense to me.
Are there any off limits or when your family's in the audience, do you have a different limit?
I do slow down a little bit, especially if my son is in the crowd.
He's the only one I really worry about how he reacts to, you know, a little bit sensitive.
So I try not to go in too hard when he's in the crowd.
Otherwise anyone else, it's, oh man, I don't pull punches at all.
And so I try to keep, I also keep it very diplomatic if my ex is in the room.
If for some reason I find out that she's in the crowd, I will kind of just make sure that I, you know, tread lightly because I don't need that phone call.
Yeah.
So I am fascinated with your love of VW buses.
I think as an automotive professional and, and I love old cars and I, you know, I worked in a restoration shop.
I've done a lot, work on all my own cars.
I find your, your bus collection, one of the most interesting and appealing collections of cars I've ever seen.
And I wondered, where did that start?
Well, thank you.
First of all, are you allowed to talk about Volkswagen?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think people know who I am.
They know I'm a car person and they know that I love all sorts of different companies.
You know, I think the Type 1 VW bus colors are still the best colors in our industry.
Like literally you could put them on a modern car and everyone would go, that is a breathtaking color, like every one of them.
And so to me, the Bully bus was not only a super honest design kind of icon of our industry, but it also came with it a whole philosophy around marketing and colors.
You know, that is, that's inseparable to the appeal of the vehicle itself.
So anyways, I'm kind of obsessed with the Type 1 buses.
And so I don't really care if they're upset.
We'd like to bring something up at your review.
Press place.
Yeah.
That's happened before.
Yeah, another, the VW bus has always been for me a fun car.
It's just, it's fun.
Fun.
Yep.
And anytime I take one out, it's rare that I take one out just because I'm always afraid because they're as beautiful as they are, they're not the most reliable in today's condition.
So no matter how much I work on them or make sure there's fuel and oil and everything's good, there's always a chance.
So if I do take it out, I let everyone know and I stay within a certain area.
But when people see it, it's always a thumbs up.
It's like, there's memories.
Oh man, I remember that one time, my dad, I remember my mom had of, you know, so there's always stories when people see it.
Yeah, the classic colors.
Don't get me wrong, I have fun with them because there's so many.
I've some of the colors that I've put on these buses are far from original factory, but, you know, it's an incredible canvas to have fun with.
And I've seen buses that have had wraps.
I've seen buses that have had different color schemes, just things that you would never think to do to a car.
I've seen done with these buses and it just, you know, people have fun with them.
So I've had, I had a type one bus that my family grew up in and I built Cedar cabinets in it and it was that putty gray color with like an off white accent.
It wasn't a 21 window or anything fancy like that, but my kids loved it.
But there are two reasons why I couldn't hang on to it.
My wife wouldn't let me.
The first is the 060 was like 27 seconds.
So it was totally dangerous to get on, you know, any kind of highway.
Number one, number two is I once got caught in a really bad side windstorm and the car literally moved like over three lanes at any given moment.
It was totally random.
Have you had any sketchy moments in your buses?
So you were like, okay, it's better to look at these.
I have had many as as cool looking as it is.
It's not the most practical for today.
You know what I mean?
I mean, and even then back then, it's the, they're top heavy.
Remember the Suzuki, Suzuki Samurai?
It was like kind of like the same thing.
I got up on two wheels one time and I just terrified me.
I was getting on the freeway and sure enough, got up on two wheels and I felt the van come back down.
And I'm like, oh my God, I almost flipped this thing.
That for me was probably the scariest moment.
I've had one of them catch fire.
That was fun.
Wow.
Had a little back to the future moment with a little shwala.
Why you were in it?
Yeah.
And so that that was, you know, fortunately, the flames just kind of once I shut off the car, it died down.
But seeing fire was was one of those like, wow.
And I've, you know, blowouts, try to keep the original tires.
Not a good idea.
I've had, let me see, the oil, yeah, the fire, I think was the biggest one that really like, oh, shoot, this, this, you know, might not end well.
But the cars have broken down.
Every single one of them that I've driven have all left me on the side of the road.
Every last one of them.
And for me, I'm wondering, like, is that something that used to happen back then?
You know what I'm saying?
When the cars were new, was that an issue that was always happening?
I think so.
I think it happened a lot.
Yes.
I think it happened.
And people used to get flat tires.
We don't get flat tires anymore.
The tech has come so, but when I was growing up, people like, oh, I got a flat tire.
I'm late because I got a flat tire.
I don't hear that happening at all anymore.
Do you know, mostly like a lot of the technology, it's like they're run flats, you know what I mean?
The sensors let you know.
Fix your tire, you know, I still got another 40 miles to go on this tire.
I'll just write it out.
I know.
Sometimes in Detroit or other places, I'll see someone who has like three good tires
and then they have their donut spare, but they're on like 20,000 miles and they haven't
like changed their donut spare in like two months.
And you're like, dude, you got to get a new tire.
You can't just keep running around on three tires.
But Gabe, you have 20 VW buses.
Like when did you get to, did you get to 19 ago?
I think I have too many of these.
So we're closer to 30 and there's another one being built right now.
So it's, I get one delivered every year.
Really?
Yes.
Every year and a half.
That's the average.
There's a new bus coming.
I'm building a museum.
So it's one of those when I already said it in my trust, when I'm long gone, my building's
going to get turned into a museum for the public and everyone can come and check out the buses.
Right now, they're not on display for public.
I just bring in people privately to see the collection.
But yeah, it's, it's something else.
It is definitely a museum of Volkswagen buses.
There is one Beetle.
There's one Carmen Ghia, but the bulk of them are Volkswagen buses from 1952 all the way to 1974.
So I have the, the Whittles Peak one and the Bay window, the two different versions of it and one electric.
I see.
So if you take all your 30 buses and they were all like in a room and they were people and
they'd be one who could roast you the best, what bus would it be?
And what would they say about it?
It's a good one.
So what would they say?
They're like, this guy cannot shift.
Oh, yeah.
No, no, no, I'm actually good.
I can work a clutch and I'm really, I'm really good.
I am, I can pass the hill test.
That's always the one that I take people in the car and see how they drive, you know,
stick shift, if you can hang on the hill and not roll back and hit the car behind you.
You're good.
So my, my, my, you know, my driving skills are pretty good.
If anything, my original bus would probably say this guy's a little too big to try to be
riding up in front because the steering wheel and the seats are really like the steering
wheel is really big.
And so my really close.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So like basically I'd have a red line on my stomach from the steering wheel.
Other than that, I don't know what they would say.
I love driving the bus.
I find like the steering angle where the steering wheel is not straight, but I mean flat, but
it's pretty close to flat.
It feels like a completely different driving experience.
And then the shifter is like, feels like two miles long and it's kind of mushy.
You know, you're, you're not quite sure what gear you're going to get.
And it, but when you get it, when you're in sync with the bus, it kind of, you know, it
feels like a part of your body.
It's, it's, it's actually really cool to drive.
I will tell you that every single one of those buses drives differently.
Um, and, and you feel it in the, in the, in the bus.
It's like, it's just, it's the strangest thing.
They all have their quirks.
They're somewhere it's like, you know, it's easier to shift.
There's some where it's more challenging.
There's some that have a lot of play in the wheel.
So when you're driving, you know, some of them, it's instant, uh, you know, reaction
and some it's kind of like sailing where you've got to, okay, start turning.
And then the car will start to turn and you kind of, you kind of do what you're
doing, one of these.
And so, uh, you know, suspension is good on ones.
Suspension is a little questionable on the other.
They're all very different.
And I just think it's, that's fascinating in itself, where it's like, they
literally have their own personalities.
If you're only driving one, then you definitely get in sync with that one.
But you notice immediately when you get in another one, whoa, this is, this
is not like the other.
That's really funny.
Oh, I think, I mean, part of it is obviously there are old cars and so
things change in different rates, but I think cars were hand, you know, not
hand built, but they, they weren't all the same.
Um, so you have a Mustang too.
Tell me about your Mustang and your other cars, like your Fords.
Well, let me, uh, let me talk to you about my Ford collection.
This is actually really cool.
Um, my favorite, favorite Ford, I just want to tell you this one.
You, you tell whoever, but my favorite Ford of all time, and unfortunately
it's been discontinued is the Ford flex.
For me, this was the most useful, practical vehicle I've ever owned.
Um, I, uh, I had one that made it up to eight, you know, it was 80,000 miles
before I passed it on to a family member who's still driving it.
But I had so much fun with that car.
It never let me down.
The mileage was always incredible.
And if I went to Costco, I could fill that sucker up to the brim.
If I wanted to take, you know, seven people in the car, it was always ready.
It was just, it was one of my favorite cars ever.
In addition to that, uh, Mustang, of course, I have a, uh, a 1994 red, uh, Mustang
Cobra that I managed to find with only 13 miles on it.
One of Jay's guys helped me find this car.
People said, Oh, you're going to drive it?
It's, you know, you're going to, you're going to put miles on this, this
basically virgin car that had plastic on the seats, plastic on the steering
wheel, still had the window sticker.
And I, uh, yeah, I, I, I took everything off the car.
I got all the comments online.
How dare you do that?
All right.
Yes, I did.
I took everything off that car and I, I filled it up and I put miles on it.
Um, that car is awesome.
And, and it's from my time.
I graduated in 1994.
Everybody wanted this car in 1994.
And so the fact that I got to have it and mint condition and started driving it,
it's, you know, I even, I didn't even change the stereo.
I left it with the cassette deck in it.
Oh my God.
Yeah.
There's a beautiful car.
So what, what kind of music would you play in your cassette deck?
Oh man, from, let's see, from 1994, what the heck was I listening to?
I was, I was big on Color Me Bad.
That was my thing.
I love these, you know, the nineties always had those, those, those love jams.
And I think that was my peak of wanting to be in a relationship.
Oh, I got to find someone, but you'd hear these songs.
And he's like, oh my God, Mariah Carey, you know, MC Hammer, Paul Abdul.
Well, those were the, those were the, you know, music of the time.
I also have a Ford excursion.
That's another one I missed so much.
That car's a monster that you get on the road.
That is the only car that will intimidate a Hummer is a Ford excursion.
I got lucky enough to find one that only had 10,000 miles on it.
And I swooped it up and I drove it.
Oh my God.
I bought it in New Jersey.
That's really rare.
Yeah.
I bought it in New Jersey and I drove it from New Jersey all the way back to
California.
It was the ultimate road trip and everything gets out of your way when they
see an excursion in the rear view mirror.
Big old windshield, big wipers, just massive front seat, so much space.
Yeah, it's, it's awesome.
Should we bring the excursion back?
Yes, I think they should and just my two cents.
Make it hybrid because the, the excursion was getting maybe what, eight to nine
miles to the gallon.
Yeah, or it wasn't super efficient.
It was like, no, it was like a brick.
If you were to make it a hybrid, it might get normal gas mileage, which is kind of
cool.
Yeah.
I really love that car.
Um, I did modify it a little bit and put, put some, you know, put a little bit
more juice in it, but, uh, aside from that, I put a reverse cam because it needed
it.
It didn't have a reverse cam back when it first came out and it was super helpful.
It's awesome.
Yeah.
Cause it's like a block long.
You got to know what's going on in the different zip code on the back of the car.
Yeah.
I heard there's a rumor that you're going to get a Hollywood star.
What's involved in that?
Uh, I was so caught off guard when they told me about this.
I was doing an interview in Long Beach, uh, for a magazine and during the interview,
my publicist got his phone and he goes, dude, check it out.
And basically, uh, finding out that it was just announced about the star.
Now, um, I know that you have to, like there's some petition, but you know, you
got to put yourself out there that, Hey, this would be cool.
To be part of something like that.
Cause people have to vote on it.
There's a voting process and a vetting process and, you know, what category do you
fall in and then, you know, it's, it's one of those that they vote and either
yay or nay, it's that simple.
It's just this or this, you know what I mean?
And so the fact that, uh, I was, uh, voted, you know, I found out that, you know,
someone said that, Hey, I think Vin Diesel might have had a, uh, had a, had a, you
know, something to do with that.
And I'm like, if that's true, cause it's a rumor, but I'm like, if that's
true, I'm like, cool.
But I don't know.
For me, it just felt weird to, uh, to be considered for that.
And maybe it's just, I don't think enough of myself, uh, that like, you know, to
be deserving of something like that.
Because I feel like a Hollywood star is for a Hollywood star.
Um, I don't consider myself, uh, you know, an actor worthy of that.
Although I've done parts, I don't think that that's the thing.
But for my situation, it was a star for live performance.
And, uh, I didn't know that there was a category for live performance.
So I'm, I'm, I'm thrilled.
I've been, uh, doing this for almost 30 years.
So I guess if it's going to happen, now's a good time for it to happen.
And it's on the same year that I got my hands in the, uh, in cement at the
man's Chinese theater.
So two incredibly huge honors there in Los Angeles in Hollywood.
And I'm just like, wow, I can't, you know, it's very surreal.
I'm not going to celebrate too much until it actually happens.
And then I can be like, wow, look at that.
People are still stepping on me.
Well, as a car person, we're all so happy for you.
Congratulations.
You have made so many of our lives richer because of who you are and the way
you look at life and the way you help us enjoy this journey of life.
And I, I always like to end with one big question, which is what advice would
you give the CEO of Ford Motor Company?
Ooh, the flex in the excursion.
I heard it already.
The best advice I could give would be open to listening to everyone, um, at,
at Ford from, uh, from the bottom all the way to the top, especially people
that have been, uh, working at Ford for, for a long time.
They've obviously, uh, found comfort.
They trust the brand.
They depend on it.
So finding a way to give everybody a, of a voice and, and letting everyone know
everyone here matters, everyone here at Ford matters from the bottom, all the
way to the top, we are a team.
And if there's anything you think we can do to improve and make our brand better.
You know, I'm all ears.
I've been surprised many times by, uh, giving, giving people that
normally wouldn't have a voice, a voice.
So for what it's worth, I love that perspective.
And that appreciation, I was at a plant on Friday in Kansas city and I met a
gentleman who's worked for the company for 50 years in the same plant.
And, um, he's a Vietnam vet that tells you kind of what he's been through in his
life.
I asked him, you know, what can we do better?
And you were exactly right.
Okay.
You are exactly right.
He looked at me and said, Mr.
Farley, no one's going to tell you this, but you can't believe it.
A big impact it would be if you just paint the bottom of the roof because it will
lighten the entire plant up 20 or 30% if you put white paint on the bottom of the
roof and everyone will feel more proud to come into work.
And I was like, Holy smokes.
It was something that's been on the line for 50 years.
It was so helpful.
So I love what you just said to me.
It is such a great suggestion.
Um, because we are often attracted to those that speak the loudest, but we can
learn the most from those that will listen with both ears.
Absolutely.
That, and please don't make electric muscle cars.
There, I said it.
Haha.
Don't, don't worry about that.
We got some good ones coming.
I am going to, I'm going to, I'm going to make it very tempting for you to
trade those 30 buses for 30 forwards.
If I do my job right.
I got some good stuff coming.
And, um, you know, the last thing that I wanted to say, which is so cool is,
um, there are a lot of different kinds of collectors, but there's a truism in
the car business that most people don't realize.
It took me 40 years to realize it, which is there is no such thing as a
commercial vehicle that didn't wind up being very successful as a retail vehicle.
So a pickup truck, a van, these were all designed just to do work.
They were a tool and every one of them, because of their functional honesty,
wound up being really popular with people who don't use them for work.
And I think you're the first person I've talked to in my 40 years in the car
business that has a collection of vehicles that were really designed to do
work first and foremost, and you have not only celebrated them.
You've reinvented them with electric.
You've made them fun with colors, you know, and it's, it's very, um, it's
very heartening for me to meet someone who in the car industry, car hobby, who,
um, appreciates, you know, these vehicles, uh, the way you have.
So thank you for highlighting a key part of our industry.
And I can't wait to see your collection.
Open invite anytime you want to go to Long Beach.
They're all, they're all there.
It is, uh, it is.
Yeah.
Okay.
Expect to smell gas.
Hi.
Yeah.
Well, I just love your collection so much.
And I love your appreciation for the bully boss.
Thank you for taking time out.
I know how busy it is to be on the road.
I'm on the road all the time.
So thank you for taking the time and we'll talk soon.
Okay.
Thank you.
About this episode
Gabriel “Gabe/Fluffy” Iglesias talks comedy craft and vulnerability, explaining how jokes can’t be fully planned—they land through tone and instinct. He credits therapy with teaching him to question himself and address insecurities instead of masking them, and shares how family stories and even awkward audience dynamics shape his material. The conversation shifts to his VW Type 1 bus obsession: sketchy moments, reliability fears, and plans to turn his growing collection into a public museum. He also covers his Ford favorites, a Hollywood star rumor, and advice for Ford’s CEO focused on listening from the bottom up.
Gabriel Iglesias discusses how his comedy is improvised in the moment through tone, instinct, and relatable uncomfortable situations, and how the nickname “Fluffy” came from a childhood story that became a signature joke. Iglesias reflects on audience feedback, showing his comedy has helped people through difficult times, explains why he talks about family on stage, and shares how therapy and vulnerability strengthened him and influenced his material. The conversation shifts to his automotive passion, including a growing collection of nearly 30 Volkswagen buses (with plans for a future public museum), their quirks and breakdowns, and memorable scary moments. Iglesias also highlights favorite Fords like the Flex, a 1994 Mustang Cobra, and an Excursion, discusses a possible Hollywood Walk of Fame star, and offers leadership advice about listening across an organization.
00:00 Comedy In The Moment
00:09 Meet Fluffy
01:26 Tour Life And Making Impact
03:08 Family Jokes And Awkwardness
03:57 Therapy And Vulnerability
07:38 How Fluffy Builds Bits
10:03 Finding Funny On Stage
12:04 VW Bus Obsession
15:18 Breakdowns And Close Calls
17:45 Old Car Reliability
20:46 Driving Bus Personalities
26:21 Hollywood Star Surprise
28:58 Advice For Ford CEO
DRIVE with Jim Farley is produced by Jesse Baker and Eric Nuzum of Magnificent Noise. Our production staff includes Sabrina Farhi and Kristen Mueller with help from Lori Arpin, Angela Brewer, Max Owen-Dunow, Anne Roberts, Samantha Singhal, Darnell Macon, Brandon Kennedy, and Mark Truby.
Follow Jim:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Jim.Farley
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-farley/
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