JP Kraemer [JP Performance] & Scotto Discuss Everything! New Longest Pod Record!
Very Vehicular · Jul 1, 2026
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Person
Brian Scotto
The host of this podcast and a co-founder of Hoonigan, the famous car culture brand. He helped create the famous Gymkhana drifting videos with Ken Block.
Person
JP Kraemer
A very famous German car enthusiast who hosts a massive YouTube channel about building and tuning cars. He is incredibly popular in Europe, similar to top automotive creators in the US.
Brand
9ff
A German tuning company that takes fast Porsche sports cars and makes them incredibly, mind-blowingly fast, often aiming for world speed records.
Car
9ff GT9
A highly modified, custom-built supercar based on a Porsche that was designed specifically to go over 250 miles per hour and beat the fastest cars in the world.
Car
Jaguar E-Type
An iconic British sports car from the 1960s and 70s that is widely considered one of the most beautiful cars ever made. Even Enzo Ferrari famously called it the most beautiful car in the world.
Car
Ford Pinto
The Ford Pinto was a small, inexpensive car sold by Ford in the 1970s. It is best known historically for safety issues involving its fuel tank when hit from behind.
Concept
restomod
A classic vintage car that looks old on the outside but has modern parts underneath, like a new engine, modern brakes, and air conditioning, so it is easier and more fun to drive today.
Car
Toyota Supra
A famous Japanese sports car that gained massive popularity in movies like 'The Fast and the Furious' because its engine can be modified to produce huge amounts of horsepower.
Term
TÜV
The ultra-strict government-approved safety inspection agency in Germany. If you want to change anything on your car in Germany, even the wheels or suspension, it has to be tested and approved by this agency, or your car can be confiscated.
Car
Audi Quattro
The Audi Coupe Quattro is a classic sports car from the 1980s made by the German company Audi. It is famous for being one of the first sporty cars to use all-wheel drive, which helps it grip the road in slippery conditions.
Car
Audi RS2 Avant
A special, fast station wagon from the 1990s that Audi built in collaboration with Porsche. It is famous for having Porsche parts and a powerful five-cylinder engine.
Car
Rolls-Royce Phantom
The Phantom is an extremely expensive, hand-built luxury car made by the British company Rolls-Royce. It is designed to offer the absolute highest level of comfort, quietness, and prestige for wealthy passengers.
Car
Volvo 240
A classic, boxy Volvo from the 70s, 80s, or 90s known for being built like a tank. JP Kraemer modified one by stuffing powerful electric Tesla motors inside it.
Car
BMW M2
The BMW M2 is a small, high-performance two-door sports car made by the German company BMW. It is designed to be fast, loud, and highly responsive for drivers who love sporty driving.
Car
BMW Z3
The BMW Z3 is a small, two-seat sports car made by the German company BMW in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was sold as a convertible or a unique hatchback coupe designed for fun, sporty driving.
Car
Volkswagen Golf Mark II
A classic, boxy Volkswagen hatchback from the late 80s and early 90s that is incredibly popular to modify and customize.
Part
VR6 engine
A special engine made by Volkswagen that squeezes six cylinders into a very tight space, giving small cars a lot of power and a very distinctive, growling exhaust sound.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Corvette is a famous two-seat sports car made by the American company Chevrolet. It is designed for high speed and sporty driving, featuring a sleek look and a powerful engine located behind the seats.
Car
Ford RS200
A rare, futuristic-looking race car built by Ford in the 1980s for the wild and dangerous 'Group B' rally racing class.
Car
Porsche 911 (993)
A specific version of the Porsche 911 built in the mid-1990s. It is highly prized by collectors because it was the last model to use an air-cooled engine instead of a modern water-cooled one.
Car
Volkswagen Kid
The ID. Buzz is a fully electric van made by the German company Volkswagen. It is designed to look like a modern, futuristic version of the classic VW hippie bus from the 1960s.
Car
BMW M3 (E46)
A highly celebrated high-performance BMW sports coupe from the early 2000s, famous for its incredible handling and high-revving six-cylinder engine.
Car
BMW E46
The BMW 3 Series is a small luxury sedan and coupe made by the German company BMW. The older version from the late 1990s and early 2000s is highly loved by car fans for being very fun and smooth to drive.
Car
Toyota Gt86
The Toyota GT86 is a small, sporty two-door car. It is designed to be fun and easy to drive fast around corners, rather than having a massive, high-power engine.
Car
Toyota Prius
The Toyota Prius is a hybrid car made by the Japanese company Toyota that uses both a gasoline engine and an electric motor to save fuel. The mid-2000s version is a practical hatchback known for its reliability and very low fuel consumption.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a sporty, two-door car made by the American company Ford. It is famous for its powerful engine options, aggressive styling, and long history as an affordable performance vehicle.
Car
F-150 Raptor
The F-150 Raptor is a large, high-performance pickup truck made by the American company Ford. It is specially built with heavy-duty suspension to drive fast over rough off-road terrain and sand dunes.
Car
Audi RS6 Avant
The RS6 Avant is a very fast, high-end station wagon made by the German company Audi. It is designed to carry a family and their luggage while performing like an exotic sports car.
Car
Audi R8
The Audi R8 is a very fast, high-end supercar made by the German company Audi. It is famous for its sleek design, loud engine located behind the driver, and for being easy to drive every day compared to other supercars.
Car
Audi RS4
The Audi RS4 (specifically the 2007 version) is a high-performance version of Audi's compact luxury sedan. It features a powerful V8 engine and all-wheel drive, making it fast and stable in all weather conditions.
Car
Tesla Cybertruck
The Cybertruck is a large, electric pickup truck made by the American company Tesla. It is easily recognized by its futuristic, sharp-edged design and shiny, unpainted metal body.
Car
Audi Sport Quattro
A very rare, shortened version of the classic Audi Quattro built in the 1980s so Audi could race it in the wild Group B rally championship.
Car
Audi RS5
The Audi RS5 is a very fast, high-performance version of Audi's luxury coupe or sportback. It is designed to look aggressive and go very fast while keeping the driver comfortable.
Term
torque vectoring
A smart computer system in modern cars that sends different amounts of power to the left and right wheels when turning, helping the car steer around corners much more sharply.
Car
Audi S8
The Audi S8 (specifically the older 'D2' model) is a large, fast luxury sedan made by the German company Audi. It was built using lightweight aluminum and featured a powerful engine, designed to carry passengers quickly and quietly.
Car
Mercedes-Benz Sclass
The S-Class is a large, high-end luxury sedan made by the German company Mercedes-Benz. It is designed to offer the ultimate in passenger comfort, smooth riding, and advanced technology.
Car
Hyundai Genesis
Genesis is a luxury car brand created by the South Korean company Hyundai. They make high-end sedans and SUVs designed to offer premium comfort and technology at a competitive price.
Car
Hyundai Elantra
The Hyundai Elantra N is a special, high-speed version of Hyundai's everyday Elantra sedan. It is modified with a louder exhaust, a more powerful engine, and sporty suspension to make it fun to drive on racetracks.
Car
Tesla Model
The Model Y is a fully electric, mid-sized SUV made by the American company Tesla. It is designed for families, offering a spacious cabin, a glass roof, and high-tech features controlled by a single large touchscreen.
Car
Dodge Viper
The Dodge Viper is a high-performance sports car made by the American company Dodge. It is known for having an extremely large, powerful ten-cylinder engine and a reputation for being challenging and exciting to drive.
Car
Porsche Taycan
The Taycan is a high-end, fully electric four-door car made by the German company Porsche. It is designed to be very fast, comfortable, and quiet, making it a relaxing car to drive daily.
Car
Audi Etron
The e-tron GT is a high-end, fully electric four-door luxury car made by the German company Audi. It is designed to look futuristic and sporty while providing a fast, quiet, and comfortable ride.
Car
Porsche Cayenne
The Cayenne is a luxury SUV made by the German company Porsche. It is designed to combine the spaciousness of a family utility vehicle with the fast, sporty handling of a sports car.
Car
Smart Electric Smart
The Smart Electric Drive is a tiny, two-seat electric car made for driving and parking in crowded cities. It runs entirely on battery power and is much smaller than a typical compact car.
Car
Hyundai Ioniq
The Hyundai Ioniq is a practical, fuel-efficient hatchback made by the South Korean company Hyundai. It was sold with hybrid or fully electric motors to help drivers save money on fuel.
Car
Volkswagen Egolf
The e-Golf is a fully electric version of the classic Volkswagen Golf hatchback. It looks and drives like a normal small family car, but runs entirely on battery power instead of gasoline.
Car
Ferrari 812 Super Fast
The 812 Superfast is an extremely fast and expensive sports car made by the Italian company Ferrari. It has a very powerful twelve-cylinder engine located in the front of the car and is designed for high-speed travel.
Car
Ford Bronco
The Ford Bronco is a rugged, boxy SUV made by the American company Ford. It is built for driving on rough dirt trails and off-road paths, and its roof and doors can be taken off for open-air driving.
Car
Ford Fiesta
The Fiesta Active is a small hatchback made by the American company Ford, designed with a slightly higher ride height and plastic body trim to look like a tiny SUV. It was sold in Europe but not in North America.
Car
Ford Maverick
The original Ford Maverick was a small, budget-friendly car sold by Ford in the 1970s. It was built to be simple and cheap to run, rather than fast or luxurious.
Car
Chevrolet Nova
The Chevrolet Nova is an older American car made by Chevrolet, most famous for its models from the 1960s and 1970s. It was originally a simple family car, but many people now modify them to be fast muscle cars.
Car
Lucid Air
The Lucid Air is a premium, fully electric luxury sedan made by the American company Lucid Motors. It is designed to travel very long distances on a single battery charge while offering a quiet, spacious, and modern cabin.
Car
Porsche 911 Turbo (964)
A powerful, turbocharged version of the Porsche 911 from the early 1990s, famous for its wide rear fenders and classic 'whale tail' spoiler.
Car
Audi A5
The Audi A5 is a luxury car made by the German company Audi. It is designed to offer a comfortable, smooth ride with a high-quality interior and good fuel range for long trips.
Car
Chrysler New Yorker
The Chrysler New Yorker was a large, comfortable luxury car made by the American company Chrysler for many decades. It was designed to offer a smooth, quiet ride with lots of interior space.
Car
Toyota Hilux
The Toyota Hilux is a mid-sized pickup truck made by the Japanese company Toyota. It is famous around the world for being incredibly tough, reliable, and almost impossible to break.
Car
Land Rover Discovery
The Land Rover Discovery is a large, rugged SUV made by the British company Land Rover. It is designed to carry families comfortably while being able to drive through deep mud, water, and rough terrain.
LIVE
Welcome back. It is another episode of Very Vehicular. As always, I'm still your host, Brian
Scato. Today's episode is a really, really good one. But I want to start by saying, if
you're an American, there's a good chance you might not know today's guest, even though
he is quite possibly one of the most important automotive YouTubers of all time. He has built
hundreds of some of the coolest project cars ever. And he has an entire universe that kind
of surrounds the content he has created. And we're going to get into all of that. But he's also
like a bit of a celebrity in his own country. And if you speak German, you already know who
JP Kramer, aka JP Performance is. I am really excited to have him on the show today. And we get into
such a good conversation across the gamut of things. We talk about cars, obviously. We talk about
the business of it all. We talk about new cars, old cars, the cars we want to build, the cars we
love the most. But we also get into, you know, maybe some cautionary tales that America needs to
learn from what's happened to car culture in Germany and how quickly it can go away. And we
talk about what's next in car culture and building things. I don't know. We talk forever.
Actually, we talk so long that we set another record. Sorry, TJ Hunt. But this is now the longest,
very, very good episode to date. So cut it up into parts, devour it a whole. I don't care.
Just eat it. It's a good one.
JP, welcome to the show. I'm like really stoked you're here, man. It's been a couple years.
Yeah, yeah, us too. I think last time. I still have a box from your car.
I thought you shipped some of it, but you may still have another box.
Right. I sent you a picture and said you don't want the other stuff.
Yeah, maybe that was it. But I still have it.
The only thing I'm missing is the hitch, which looks like a dildo, like your European hitches,
which might be weird. You used it. Might be weird. Yeah, that's what I figured. I figured it might
be weird to ship in the mail to the US as well, you know? Is it? Yeah. Hey, I want to start because
there's, I thought about this walking into the show. You are, without question, the most successful
automotive YouTuber I know of. So not just know, and I probably know all of them, but I know of,
right? But at the same time, there's a good chance a large percentage of my audience is
listening to this, might not know you. That's true. Is that a weird thing for you?
I know you now for a few years. And I hope this question is not coming up. It is the first question.
But let me let me explain that to you. For some reason, it is a very nice feeling.
Yeah. Because in every situation I come in, I come into the situation and it's very open and very
free because normally when I move around in Europe, it's not like right. It's like before I come,
everybody knows he will come in the next 10 minutes. So it has this feeling of when the
door opens, everybody stops talking. And here when I come into, everybody still talks. And
what is very nice. But on the other hand, when I'm very open now, is that you worked for it and
you get used to it. And sometimes maybe that's not cool to say, I want them to know. Right? Yeah.
Because you worked for it and you're a little proud because I really had a problem of being
proud for such a long time. And so sometimes there are people that are very known in America
and they talk and they explain to me and I go like,
Oh, yeah, I did this too. You know the first time we met, I had no idea who you were. You showed up,
I think with Brian Henderson of Rotiform, to Hoonigan. Yeah. And you showed up and you're like,
Hey, do you mind if I film this like walk around? I had no idea that you were German,
because you were talking to me like, you know, and I was like, All right. And then all of a sudden,
you started walking through speaking in German, walking through Hoonigan. And I'm walking with
you and you're talking in a language I don't understand. I'm like, All right, whatever. And
you'd asked me a couple of questions in English and we did like a 10 minute walkthrough. And I
didn't think anything of it. And then the video went up and it was huge. And we got this massive
bump in subscribers. I was like, Who is this guy, JP? And that was sort of my first introduction to
one, realizing that American exceptionalism definitely exists. And there's people who exist
outside of America who have a large following, but also got to kind of like see all your stuff. And
you know, this was 10 plus years ago, I think when that happened or about 10 years ago. So,
you know, we're obviously been to your place. 10 years? No, no, that was probably
maybe that was 2017 or 2018, so eight years ago or something like that.
I was nervous because from... You didn't seem nervous. You have a very like, yeah, because that
was actually one of the things that took me off guard. Because like you showed up, just you,
single camera, which like to sort of the American YouTubers, like the classic vlogger model. And
then you just like, the camera went on and you became a different person. You did your thing.
We moved through the building. We talked about all these cars. I think this is the point,
because I am nervous, but when I am allowed to talk about cars or I can drive, I can do,
everything is gone. And so up front, I was nervous. And I thought, this is,
these are the guys, because even in Germany, people know Hoonigan, not the way it is maybe now,
but the way it was. And for everybody, it was crazy. And then I'm just ambassador for this
country. And I was allowed to go there because I think I was the first German real car guy who
went to your place. So you get nervous and you have this whole thing about it and your style and
how it looks. Because at that time, workshops and tuning everything in Germany was not that way.
And I think for me, it was always very important to give the German style or the German audience
a feeling of you, Hoonigan, America.
Yeah. I mean, we definitely think had a very unique aesthetic then. I think it's become
a little bit more commonplace, but it was like backyard garage in a warehouse.
Like was this this kind of mixed vibe? Let me, I want to get back to this though,
because for those people who are not that familiar with you, can you give us a really
short primer? No.
Really short, just keep it five minutes. You started in television, but even before that.
So you started in tuning and then you got into TV and then you went to YouTube.
I tried to do that. Give it short.
So I'm 45 now. Yeah, you look it.
Keep going. You want me to tell them? No, no, no, no. I'm just getting you back.
I'm coming back to it later. So then I had the chance to work at Porsche as a salesman to learn
that. And it's called Ausbildung in Germany. And then the owner changed. So everybody had to leave
and then I was working for at 9FF, the Porsche tuning company. Right.
I worked with them when I was at zero to 60. We drove that crazy long GT9. Yeah.
Yeah, right. Incredible.
And then I thought, you know what, I think I can do better and I everything what I do,
I do it with more than I really can. I give everything. And then what came out was not
really what I thought. And then I sat very early actually, you know what, I'll do my own job.
And then I started five-star performance with Sydney together. And we did this for
four or five years or something. And then we talked and I said, you know what, I think I
want to do it by myself. And I think also for you, it's better if you do it also for yourself.
Because I think we are too different as a person. And why should we fight so strongly to fit
together? Because we did the TV show also together then later on, or during that time.
And then the TV came up to me and asked, you want to do a TV show? I said, no.
Because I was, I'm a car guy. I want to just build cars, the coolest cars that are around.
And they asked for one and a half years. Every three months, the guy from the channel, I mean,
real big guy, what I found out later, he called me personally, you want to have the TV show? So
now, and again, you still don't want to have it now. So then one time I said, yeah.
And what year is this? Well, we're talking now 2000 and
oh, five. Okay. Yeah, four or five. And then I said, okay, I would do it, but only with my friend.
But who's your friend? Sidney is my friend. So they came around and filmed him just without a show,
just filming him to show the boss. Okay, this is the guy audition. Yeah, right. And then they called
again said, yeah, we can do it. And this is how I started. And then it was three shows. And on the
end of the second show, I said, only one more to go. I'm happy when they're leaving. And then
they call, I said, can we do another 10? Another 10, another 50. And at the end, I think was 130
TV shows. And in that time, I did also five different TV shows. And then I was always
explaining things because I'm pretty much known to explain technical things with humor.
How things work. Why is the car doing this? Or why is the engine doing that?
And I was explaining, explaining, and I didn't watch the show that was on TV. So I didn't know
what they're cutting out, how they're editing the video. And then I, somebody showed me something
that what you explained is wrong. So no, and then I looked at it and was wrong because they
take this out and that out and this out. And then I went to the TV to the channel and said,
look, man, you can't do that. People want to know how this works. And they said, no, they don't.
No, they do. Trust us. They don't want to know how it works. They just want to get entertained.
And I said, no, I don't think so. And then I started YouTube while I was
doing TV. And while I was doing TV, doing YouTube was when did you start YouTube? 2013.
Okay, yeah. Which is early for that YouTube 2012, we started the channel and 2013 was the first video.
And I got problems with them. You're making a fool out of yourself.
So no, yeah, you do. You can't do YouTube and TV. Okay. And then I stopped doing TV.
And they were shocked. Which now seems normal. But back then it was wild. It was wild. Right.
Because I didn't want to do the TV show at all. So the money went up and up and up. So they paid
me more and to keep because until this day, the most successful car show in Germany,
they still show it. It's still running in TV. It's old. I don't look that way. I'm a different person.
But it's still on TV. And so I stopped doing that because it was at the end, not freeze. TV is
horrible. TV is wrong. And the culture in TV is lying and
on any costs. And so I didn't want to be there. And I'm anyway, not a money person at all. So I
thought, no, I'm not doing that. So I started YouTube and it started slowly. And the way it is,
there came out one video, I think it was a thing on Facebook even. And then I think in one single
day, I think 24,000 followers on YouTube in a day at that time. And I thought, wow, that's crazy.
So it started. And I would say in the German language, we were the first
YouTube channel about cars that is not uploading a TV show about cars on YouTube.
So I would call it then OG, the beginning of the whole stuff in Germany. And I think this is where
we still live on. And then from there, you just built, I mean, you went and took the YouTube thing
and funneled it into all these other businesses. Right. So I mean, just to list some, you've got
16 companies. You have 16 companies, including a burger shop, including a museum, including
all kinds of all things. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. And the thing is, and I know it's always very
awkward where people think he says he's not a money person with doing all this. It is not the
money because when you go to work and you are a doctor, it's not the money. It's you get this.
Right. But I like the game. I like to have an idea and make an idea to real life. And
being while you do that, a good person and give things back to people in my world, maybe not
to skaters or swimming cars or technology in general. And honestly, this is all what I do.
And then why so many companies is I look for somebody and I talk with them and I feel
in many cases, they're not good people. And my employees know when I go somewhere and this guy
is not really a cool guy, they know what will happen. We're going to build an army. And then I'm
always starting then my own stuff and producing it myself or building developing it
myself. I mean, speaking of building cars, I was just I was looking up and I was like,
how do you know how many cars you built? Do you know how many cars you built?
Because it is an insane number. Yeah, I know because of the
tax department when you have who helps you with taxes, that's called an...
With taxes? Your accountant? Accountant. Yeah. Not in the company. He's in the...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like your bookie bird. And they send me a list how many cars I own. So I know
this exactly now. Oh, but you sell some of your cars? I should sell more. How many do you own right
now? 121. Oh my god. I feel so normal at 26 right now. No, 121 cars. And the sad thing is when I go
through the list, I remember cars. Right, like you completely forgot about 100% and they are cars.
I mean, real dreams. And this is for me something where I really have to work on myself. It's not
a good feeling. Yeah. But at the same time, we little boys want to collect. Yeah. It's not enough
that you can say to a friend, I had this car. You want to say, I have this car. Of course. Yeah,
yeah, I get it. This is the way we are. So... And you built like a really wide range of things,
right? I mean, I just I just saw the other day that you built, you had like an E type. Is that
something? Is that one? Yeah. I completely missed that. And I love E types. I was like excited.
I was excited to see that. Not many people do. Yeah, my father had one. So my quick story,
my dad had one. He sold it right before like I came into this world. V12? No, the six. And he spent
most of my childhood telling me how great that car was as we drove around in the Ford Pinto. He was
forced to buy because he had a son that was constantly breaking down. So like most of my life
was a guilt trip about how great his E type was, even though it broke all the time. But it was an
issue with how much he loved it. But he gave it up for me. So when my son was still in the oven,
I went and bought an E type to the chagrin of my wife. Yeah, I have it's a project car. Like it's
it sits in a shed, but they make problems. One day, the plan for me is I want to build it with my son.
That I think it'd be kind of a fun thing. And hopefully, while my father's still here,
so I could get like three generations working on it at some point. Yeah, they're becoming more and
more difficult. But I'm going to do not the same thing you did, but I'm going to I'm not trying
to restore it. I want to build like a rest on mod type thing. Yeah, yeah. A lot of a lot of potential
in it. Yeah. But but to get back to it, like you, you build everything. I mean, you've got modern
cars, you've got classic cars, you have Japanese cars, obviously a ton of euro cars. I think you've
you know, you've built a bit of everything. You know what I feel? When you talk about this,
I'm in America and for me, all my adults and all the people who really built a very,
very, very good cars are here. Always when I walk to the Seamershow or car shows here and I see the
quality, how they build cars and what they do to them and how they do it. I feel so really,
see, I feel the some knots. I think that what is impressive to me is not just like the collection
that you have amassed, which is slightly problematic on some levels. But but I mean,
you build really incredible stuff. You know, like there are cars that you build, you're like,
that is a that's not just like, oh, I slapped some parts on it's like no concept. Right. I made the
same problem. I made the problem up myself because this YouTube game, I saw another podcast, another
thing where people were talking about this. Everybody's trying to beat the other guy. Yeah,
in this video, Vinny and I talk about it all the time. Yeah, we talk about you build cars for views
and you don't always end up building the car you want. You build something that's clickable
because in my case, I stuck a V10 in a Supra. See, things like that. Yeah, see, things like that.
See, in my case, is my brain is a little awkward. Yeah. And when I I dream a lot. And I think
the problem is when the idea is a little good, it gets a spark and then it goes. And from that point
on, yeah, it has to happen. So that's why there's so so many cars in storage, including parts,
the project is not known and never started because I want to be ready. Same in that moment.
Same. Okay, that gives me a good feeling. I collect cars not because it's
like a blank canvas for an idea I have in my head. And I just want to eventually see that idea out.
I'm sorry, but you say that because people always attack me like, why have you finished that? I was
like, it doesn't I'm preparing for the future. Like I want this now, I might not be able to afford
it later or it might not be available later. And the idea is there and I need to start like,
you know, bringing it to life. You're a lot better at finishing them than I am. No, but it's the pressure.
Yeah, it's the pressure out there because of comments like that. And so for example, we always
build in cars. And the first video will maybe be out 2028. Yeah. And the videos are being
shoot now. So because when the people the audience have no idea how difficult it is,
you work that far out to ease yet to know if he is. That's incredible. This morning, I got videos
from a dyno. And engine finished everything finished. And the first video is coming out
mid summer next year. What? You do realize that like the standard model for a lot of people is
like, I work on the car this week, and then I film and I upload it. Like Mike Burroughs from
Stanceworks is building that at 40. I know. And it's like, people ask, he asked, what's going on?
He said on the pod last time, he's like, the what you saw in the last episode, like literally that
was last week. No, we are years. Has it always been that way? When did you decide to make that?
Yeah, I love numbers. I love, I love organization. And I think at the end of the day, everything is
numbers. Yeah, you, the microphone, everything. And if you have control over that, easy.
Yeah, we can get into that because I'm a huge data guy, which I think a lot of people are
surprised to hear because I like I am a creative. But you know, you don't get to make a Jim
Conner series be that successful for that long without really looking at numbers. Like you just,
you don't just keep making this thing. It's like, you have to analyze it. You have to see what
moments worked, what didn't. And then you kind of have to continue to distill it to make it better.
Right? Even when people are not that way. And I also feel I'm a little more open always when I'm
a different country talking on interviews. Because in Germany, I wouldn't say that. I'm a little
offended sometimes when people are not that way. I'm not offended when they will never complain.
Right. But they will complain. And the answer or the solution is there. And my head then goes,
you have two choices, don't complain or do it. Because at the end of the day, luck,
I don't know, there is luck sometimes. Yeah, but people love this word luck. It's not luck.
No, you can, the more you put in it, the more tickets you buy with where's luck underneath,
that when you turn them around. And some people just buy one and go, ah, no luck.
Shit. But that's not the thing. So when you have imagined, some people have one and then you have
15,000 cards. Yeah. You'll be, and you only need one lucky card. You don't need then 10,000 or
you only need one. Deirdic used to have this saying, Rob Deirdic, he's of the saying,
which is said, make your own luck. And I love that because it's true. It's like,
if you work hard enough, the luck finds you, but you got to put the work in to find the luck
sometimes. Like there are moments I'm like, we were just lucky. For example, I think this is
interesting. Do you think you could do what you did starting today versus when you started in 2013?
Right? I was talking with Vin about this the last three days in a row.
I think we are in a, I think we don't know now how important this time is for cars.
In 10, 20 years, we will talk about 2026. Like, it was right on the edge. It was right turning point.
Okay. I'm going to ask you a question then that I ask a lot of more OG people on the show.
Do you think, and your perspective maybe being slightly different coming from Germany,
do you think that we are at a peak moment in car culture or do you think we're at a lull?
Who decides what is peak, first of all? Then, um...
You do. That's why I'm asking you. For this moment.
For me. So, peak for me.
Not just you, but when you're looking around at car culture.
When you have a mass of so many people and you also, I was lucky to travel around the world
and then you are somewhere in China and they love scooters and they are in their prime.
For me, they're in the same culture as me. I don't know about it and never heard about it.
So, I think to say the peak is difficult when you have such a mass of people.
So, I think it's a very, very good question and I would love to give the big answer.
But I think it will take too much time because...
Oh, trust me, this podcast got nothing but time. This audience loves a long podcast.
The producer doesn't.
So, they love it. Okay. So, I would say when you think back to the 90s,
then there was magazines and in the magazine, you had a chance to see a car from a certain angle.
You don't know how wide the rear wheel is, but you can guess.
And many magazines had the numbers also wrong and then stupid shit like 175 by 19.
What?
And so, you were there in your mind. Now, we have Internet and we have Instagram and YouTube
and all this. So, the information amount is so big. You can see whatever you want.
I don't know how to install this. I got 10 different languages and 20 different guys who
explained to me that. So, we are growing culture. It's because more people get infected.
Maybe somebody stands next to a guy who's not owning the car things.
And then you can go in your car on your phone looking for cars.
But the last two things he was looking for was maybe video games.
So, we can infect a lot of people. So, is car culture the amount of people or the quality?
So, the quality always when... And this is the way human beings are.
When they do something often, we lose quality.
Often we lose quality. And so, I would say we lose quality.
But then the next question is quality in yourself or in what you watch.
Because when I was young and I'm looking at the magazine and I was dreaming and I didn't know
what wheel is there or how it looks from the rear from that angle, I think the quality was higher
because it happened in me. And this is something where I think we are not able to give that quality
to people nowadays. Because when I see people, younger people watching Instagram, and I didn't
know this function, they can't watch a video in normal speed. They push the...
They can push on the display and it speeds up.
I didn't realize that for Instagram. I know people listen to this podcast at 1.5,
which makes us sound like chipmunks. But I didn't realize that people actually do that for IG as
well. That's terrifying. Yeah, they do. And so, it's only...
In, in, in, in, in. And I don't think that... Back to your question is are we at the peak?
Yeah. Do you miss the 90s? Oh, yeah. When you see my cars, I would say, yeah.
You know, it's interesting because as you were thinking about talking about that,
I think something that I loved about the 90s was how uniquely different, different regions
scenes were. Like even in the US, what we were doing in New York, which is where I'm from,
was very different than what's happening in California, Florida, right the South, they were
all very unique. I used to read VW scene magazine, which is a German mag. I don't. And I used to read
it in print. I would have to, I actually had a German to English dictionary just to try to translate
a few words, right? And understand that. And something happens in you. And there was something
that made me feel when I would want, read those magazines, I felt like I got this,
this peak into something I wasn't supposed to. There was a culture that I was like not allowed.
Like I wasn't supposed to be seeing it. And it felt so much richer to be able to do that,
including lowrider magazines, right? Lowrider culture was not a New York thing. I never had a
lowrider, but I thought the culture was cool. And reading those magazines felt like I had stepped
into something that I was not invited to, right? And like there was something cool about that,
where now everything is built to you for you to be invited. And like there is no more,
I don't want to say gatekeeping, but there's no longer a threshold to go enjoy something. It's
not just cars, it's everything. Like tomorrow you could become an expert in Anvils if you want to,
but I'm watching an entire night of YouTube. That's true. But this is a small thing I want to
say is young people think when they saw Instagram or YouTube, you did they know. Yeah. Oh, they don't
know. Yeah. This is where I have a big, big problem. Because I have 115 employees now. And a lot of
them are very young. And what they think, what they know, they don't have to do it. I saw a video.
Now they know. No, that's just not true. But one thing, when I was young, and my father's from
the Bahamas, so I was flying back and forth as much as possible. And when I was at the airport in
Miami, I bought this low-rider magazine and DuPont registry and all these things because
Germany wasn't that way at all. So I can relate very good to it and buying these American car
magazines. And I also had then the connection to this scene a lot because I couldn't have
stayed just in Germany and do my thing. Yeah. But I always knew that your culture and your
way of doing it and the freedom, especially that, is the right turf, the right playground
to give this culture the energy. Is it weird then for you that myself growing up in New York
spent all this time trying to emulate what was happening in Germany? We were importing parts
from Germany. We were building our cars to look, stretching tires, which is a tooth thing. That's
why it started was because the tires couldn't stick out. But we were doing all these things to emulate
what you guys were doing. And then there was this weird moment in the Volkswagen culture where all
of a sudden, Germany started building Volkswagen's that looked like low riders. And we were like,
wait a second. Wait, wait, wait. Why are we looking at Germany for what's happening here in America?
I mean, it's very often that what the kid has on the other playground is always what we want to
have. Do you think social media is in some ways maybe ruined car culture because it's made it
like too accessible? Many people talk about it and try to blame it for that. Do I think
social media destroyed or? Destroy ruined. Maybe destroys probably, you know what, that's probably
a little hyperbolic. Do you think social media has like, has been a positive or a negative?
I think social media is too fast to take care of every new member of our car club
to give them the right information. It's like you have to go to school 10 years. Okay, we do it in a
week. Yeah, because they go like, this is the price for this car. And when I do suspension,
we just this, they go like this, I have this amount of money. I buy it. And then I go to the spot and
I talk with the guys about the same shit. So then he's there. I have nothing against people like that
at all. But they should maybe sometimes give a little bit more to it to fit in.
Yeah. Because I think sometimes some of these people just do it for the trend.
Right, like they're doing it for the purpose of social media, not for the culture of cars.
Oh, a lot in Germany, big time, I guess here too, but in Germany, big time. I mean, when it becomes a
business, that sort of changes the whole dynamic of it, right? I mean,
female, female YouTubers buying a cool car. I didn't say that, but surely like that's a piece of it.
Yeah, I talk openly about it because they use this guy, I mean, how can I explain that correctly?
They have their business. Yes. So how do I get people into my business?
Right. You're saying only fan models who buy cool cars to get boys to watch?
No, no, you said that. I didn't say that. You said that. So guys like cars.
I buy a car, what they're dreaming of, pretending I'm going to a track day
or doing this, I'm super car guy. So they start dreaming on another level.
And then luckily by chance, she's doing what you said, how you call it? Only fans?
Only fans. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've never seen that before. Yeah, you guys don't have that in
Germany. No, you don't. No, you guys put your porn right out in the open. Yeah. We get the big sets.
And look, I think this and this is what I call where social media has,
I mean, I'm dreaming or I'm talking about a time years ago, it will never change. It is the way
it is. And I'm not the kind of guy who always wants that back from back in the days. So it's
just an adaption. It's something like, it is the way it is now. So if I like it or not, it's my
decision, but it is the way it is. But I want to say is this is where it makes us sometimes a little
difficult. Yeah. And look, for me, my career is based on the success of things I've done on
social media. So it's like, it's a weird thing to parse because in a way, I miss what the culture
was for me when I was younger. But at the same time, I wouldn't have the career I have without
being involved in it. So yeah, it's like, it's a weird one. There's a piece of me that wants to
pull it back in. Like I think it's gotten a little like it was really good at a moment. But I think
now it's become, it's not just over saturated. It's like, why are we doing this became the question.
And we, I don't want to go too far down the line, but like Hoonigan got to this point where like,
we were building stuff we weren't even excited about anymore, because like it was just good for
clicks. And like the minute we started to lose interest in that, you know, you start to, and I
think the same thing starts to come out of a social media world too, where it's like, you're
doing things just to get this done. Yes, but I think you invited me also because of a certain
quality. And Hoonigan had this certain quality, because when sometimes when you look at it now,
how fast they do it and how they do it, especially in Germany, because I was talking with Vin
also about quality on YouTube and you guys now play a game of very high quality. Because when
people do YouTube, they have that amount of camera guys, this that team, this, this is not existing
in Germany. It's still a little bit more pure. You feel very fast. He has an idea what he's talking
about or not. If you're not, I mean, still works, but not in that level. Here it is more like
lights, tone, guys writing things and all this. Nobody has that.
That's a good point. Do you think it's better to not have all that?
100 million percent. Yeah. I don't want a new TV.
That's a good conversation. We're going to take a quick break and come right back into that.
Oh, hey, everybody. Here we are for another storytime interruption brought to you by
my good friends at FCP Euro. If you're at all familiar with my builds, you know that I'm not
really good at, um, let's just say this, I'm the king of scope creep. I had an Audi Coupe Quattro
that I was going to build into a 500 horsepower driver. It was a pretty simple established recipe
to do this. But no, instead, I decided to make it into a 1000 plus horsepower race car.
That still doesn't run. The bad news is, is I also scope creep maintenance. The other day,
went for a nice drive in the RS2. It was a spirited one, hit some canyon roads.
Everything was great. So I went around one corner and I heard a very familiar clunk.
This clunk, the Volkswagen Audi guys is nothing other than a blown struct bearing.
It happens a lot, especially when driving slammed cars. And while most people would probably be
dismayed at the tedious task ahead of them, not I, I saw this as an opportunity. Yeah,
an opportunity to finally fix that clicking CV joint, get after the bushings or the brakes
that needed an overhaul, you know, head on over to FCP Euro and just fill the car with everything
I can find underneath suspension brakes and even steering. Hey, why not? And you know,
then take apart other parts of the car and probably never put it back together. This is
kind of what I'm known for. If you too are like this, you can go to fcp euro.com and scope creep
even the most basic maintenance. FCP Euro doesn't judge. They'll be your plug to this horrible
bad habit we have. All right, so let's come back into that idea because I think this is a really
interesting conversation of like what YouTube is meant for. Like is it meant to be a place to do
YouTube changing every day? Or is it meant to be a place that's like
access to TV style stuff and everyone's doing something different? I think I think this YouTube
or whole social media is a moving morphing ball all the time. Yeah, it's just changing
all the time TV. Look, look, look at TV. From 80s to 90s, nothing happened. No, Jerry Springer
then came up some of this. So a new always one person comes and brings a new energy and then book
it makes a turn and YouTube or this whole social media thing, you can make a book because it's
it's turning something I found interesting when you talk about the TV stuff. So when we were younger,
we had regular television, right? I'm sure it was same in Germany as it was in the US. And then
five channels. Yeah. And then all of a sudden we had the talk show got really big, right? So here
we had like Jerry Springer and Ricky Lake and Maury and all these shows. And that became like this
new type of low buck high visibility kind of show. Few years later, Germany. And then we got the real
world from MTV and that created the reality TV show, right? The unscripted world. And for me,
I grew up before that. So like, I got to watch that in a certain way. And then all of a sudden
everything, everything was unscripted. Like it was just everything was a reality TV show,
the bachelor, the survivor, right? It's like all that was on TV. And I quite often try to think
about a generation that's probably about 10 to 15 years younger than you and I. And that's all they
knew. All they knew was fake reality. It was clear that it was fake. It was clear that it was produced.
But it was being presented as reality. And to me, I think that's why so many people went to YouTube.
Because YouTube actually felt like reality. YouTube was a guy talking to his-
At that time.
To his GoPro that actually felt there. But then we all just sort of kind of like, okay,
well, we have to make that, we have to stand out from the rest, especially as it gets more and
more saturated and everybody wants to make something that looks different, looks nicer. I
am, I'm obviously a huge car guy, but I'm also a huge media person. I enjoy media. So I enjoy
making things look nice.
How? I mean, oh, okay. Well, how it looks.
Yeah.
You too.
Well, you know, I started in magazines, but I started outside of cars. So I came from magazines
and culture into cars. So I've always loved the art of storytelling. I've always loved movies.
Like that's the thing for me. My eventual goal is to direct more and more movies. And that's
the world I like to be in. So for me, that's why I sort of tend to drag the content that way,
because it's my, it's my other love. But I do, I know what you're saying. There was a purinous
to the early days of Hoonigan, when we did daily transmission, that the audience just,
we were never able to replace. How do you keep doing that though, for what is now 16 years for
you? Like how do you keep that there? Because that I think is the most difficult part.
100% especially in yourself, because we're doing five videos a week a week.
No, which is incredible.
It's incredible. And 45 minutes average, 40 minutes average. And the thing is that
I can't hear myself anymore, because I explained and I said that 100 of times, 100 times. So
it is so difficult to keep that up to be so interesting for people. But then you have to
understand every day new people come and other people go. And also that I enjoy myself while I
do it. So then you have a feeling, I don't want to explain a central lock or I don't want, you know,
because I did it. And then you have to think, well, it's also my business. And then you are very often
not grateful for yourself because how lucky am I? That how lucky am I that I'm able to do this?
I grew up. No money. I mean, honestly, nothing, no food, nothing, right? And, and, and sometimes I
sit there and I look and I think I own all this shit. And then I check out World's App. I said,
you got to fly tomorrow morning, do this, go on a racetrack and test the new GT3 something. I go,
I don't want to go. Right? Yeah. So yeah. And I think, no, relax, my friend.
It should be, there should, there is a planned version of you that you have to do. I don't know
what tomorrow morning. So be happy that you are able to do this. And this is not easy sometimes.
It sounds, I'm not, I'm not complaining. But I think everybody has his problems and they become
always their problem. I am in a very lucky position. Somebody have maybe more luck or less luck.
But for every human being, the problem is the problem. And sometimes you really have to look
twice to understand if that is really a problem. I always tell people, it's still a job, but it's
a good one. You know, like it's still a job. There are days where it feels like a job. You don't want
to do it in the morning, but it's not a bad one. Right? Like to be out there and do all the kind
of cool stuff we've done. And, you know, I, you know, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say I came from nothing,
but I didn't come from a lot growing up as a kid. And, you know, parents didn't have a flashy house.
They didn't have flashy cars. That just wasn't a thing. And I look back at it now and I'm like,
man, like I got to travel the world. I got to do all this really cool stuff. Like you got to be
grateful for that. But that doesn't stop me from some mornings being like, I don't want to do this.
I mean, like Vinny and I will get into it because there's a business of it where Vinny's like,
I got invited to go travel somewhere to go drive something really cool, but it's like four days
of travel. But I get to go to this really cool place to go do that. And I'm annoyed that like,
I have to go do this. But there's so many people out there who are like, I would go do that tomorrow.
And I do think separating yourself from that is actually really difficult. I mean, it's a
nice problem to have. But I want to go back to how long you've been doing this. Because I wonder,
have you had this happen to you yet? Where someone approaches you, they're like, maybe in the early
20s. And they're like, dude, I love your stuff. I started watching it with my dad when I was a kid.
And you realize that you've now been making something for so long that an entire generation
has grown up around it, right? Like, like I think about that with the Jim Conop franchise,
like this is something that started in 2008. There are people who watch that young, grew up,
had families, had kids have now introduced their kids to it. So you have something like the new
unicorn Lego drops. And I've got a dad sending me a photo of him and his kid building this and saying,
like, man, I'm so stoked that I got my kid into this. And I'm like thinking because like, I still
think of the audience in one place. And it's, it's, it's a fun thing to watch and experience that.
But back to your initial point, you have to constantly think about like, is this the same
audience I'm talking to? Or is this a new audience? Am I repeating myself? Have I done this before?
You know, the age thing. And when people come to me, because in Germany, for some reason, I,
they don't understand how my age is or how old I am. I'm 45. You don't look 45. I said it before
because I'm mad that you don't look my age. I'm 46. But you do, you keep it a little bit younger.
It's good for you. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. But then hoping it just catches up to you one day.
Rapidly. And so they walk up to me and said, I'm watching this all my life. I said, how were you?
They go, I was maybe seven. Look, look, look. And then, and then we talk a little bit and said,
and then they asked me, how are you? And then they echo 45. And they go,
wait, wait, wait. The same age as my dad. Yeah. Or you're older than my dad. Yeah. You're older
than my dad. You can't imagine how much pain that is. Because in his face, this JP thing,
it just goes like a glass. And you feel like, I don't watch this anymore. I can't watch him.
And he's older than my dad. And this is extreme. But in the same conversations,
maybe this doesn't fit right in this thing right now. But I talk with them. I love talking with
them to get an idea who's watching it. Very often they say, I don't have a driving license
in Germany. Yeah. That is crazy. Yeah. We used to get that a lot of the time. Because I'm asking,
I'm watching all my life and I love what you do and say, what are you driving?
I don't have a driving license. I don't have a car. Yeah. And the conversation for me is like,
yeah, yeah, okay, okay. But you want to have a car? Maybe, maybe, I don't know. You want to make a
driving license? Yeah. And then I start thinking, what are you watching? And then I had a very cool
phase where people in the comments write, it's funny that he still thinks we are watching it for
the cars. Yeah. And this comment went on for a few weeks. And it really got me. Because I still,
I truly thought they're watching it because of the cars. But I would say 50% of the people are not
watching it because of the cars. How do you feel about that? I was surprised that I was so wrong.
Because I thought, I don't know, 90, 95% watching for the cars. We had something similar,
sort of kind of strike us at Hoonigan where people started saying to us that they weren't
into cars when they started watching it. That they were watching it because it seemed like a great
group of friends. Which is a weird thing because in one way, I get it, it's probably one of the
reasons I was attracted to Jackass. Jackass seemed like a group. It was a group and what they did
was fun. But man, I wanted to be friends with them. I wanted to be part of that group. I saw
them as this group I could be a part of. And my friends and I emulated the things they would do.
We would antique each other, flower at each other while you passed out drunk or something.
And we, I think there became this moment where for you, a lot of people probably want to be you.
Right? Like they're like, I want to be JP. You don't think so? They're like, I wish I was JP.
Because I think for Hoonigan, everyone's like, I just want to be a part of the band. Like I want
to be in the group. I'm very open on the channel and they see how much I work and how much I do.
And that I'm not able to go outside in Germany anymore. And people know that.
Which is crazy because you have a different kind of celebrity than any,
any like car YouTuber has here.
He know where I felt it strongly with Ken. Ken was then in Germany. And he had the signing
after me at the Zonax booth. It was full. Ken came and half of the people left.
And I thought I'm the startup guy and then Ken comes and then shit's going down.
But that didn't happen. And for some reason, I was lucky to meet so many people, famous actors
and all these people. And I always felt that sometimes very famous German people, they ask them
to take a picture of me and the person. And I thought maybe there's something different.
And I'm not saying this, I'm the greatest guy. I think it's that I never made a difference
between anybody. So I, they feel very connected. And they feel very, and I really mean it.
Because I don't see a difference in anybody. You have a car, you don't have a car.
Okay. You do this or you do that. I just, if you're nice to me, I'm nice to you.
And maybe I don't, maybe I'm not your opinion. And maybe you're not my opinion, I don't know.
But I'm always very, very, it's important for me to be very neutral. And I think this is for
the people, something where they think I, I think I like this guy.
I, there's like this thing that I've realized, like the YouTube celebrity, whatever you want to call
it. I like, I refer to it as like economy class celebrity, right? Because like you're still amongst
the people. So you have to act like the people. Right? Like I have traveled with Sun Kang. Sun
Kang is like real famous. Like we don't walk through the airport. We get brought outside the
airport, right? Like I land in Charles DeGaulle and I'm put into a Citron and driven to a special
lounge and I never walk into the terminal. I go through private security with him. That's
amazing. That's real celebrity. I sometimes sit in the middle seat. You know, like that's a different
type of thing where people know you, but you don't really, you don't, you don't have the ability to
like escape them. You don't have the ability to distance yourself from them. But I think something
that's, that's very different between movie star famous, which is also I think race car driver
famous, right? Like I think a Lewis Hamilton or something like that versus YouTuber famous,
right? Is that because of the way, and I think maybe it's the rawness, it's the anti-television,
whatever that is, that there's a, people feel like they know you more.
There are sometimes the cameras on in some situations where the, can I explain that shortly?
Yeah. I feel it. Because the, the, the, the movie famous person has an edited thing
that gets shown to the people and he has a certain picture that he wants, how they see them.
Very curated. Exactly. And the YouTube is like that, that the camera is on in any kind of situation.
He decides if he wants it online or not. And this, this is a totally different
generation of famous that that's growing. I think that this new famous or whatever
it's weird to apply the word famous, but I guess it is very much what it is.
There feels like there's no boundary. So for example, when I first started traveling with Ken,
I was always there. People would walk up to me and would say, Hey, can I get an autograph with him?
Can I get a photo with him? They'd ask me like I'm his fucking handler. Because you're so big.
Yeah, your body guy. I mean, big old trucks are body guys. Yeah.
I knew you were going to bring it here. I knew you were going to bring it here. This is nickname for
me. So that I love language. But like, but people would come to me and be like, Oh, can I,
he's standing right fucking next to me. Like just ask him, right? But then when I started to have a
certain amount of like notoriety and people would recognize me, there was no barrier of entry.
Like people would interrupt me at dinner with my wife, people would just come up and they wouldn't
be like, it wasn't like, Hey, can I have your autograph? It was like, dude, how's the coop going?
What's up with the rabbit? Like as if I had ran into a friend. Do you know what I'm saying? And a
lot of times I do. A lot of times I didn't know if I knew them or not. So I would just be like,
Yeah, just start having a chat. And then at the end, finally, like, Hey, can we get a photo to get
back? Oh, yeah, sure. But like that wasn't the original intention. The original intention was to
create a connection. And that is something that I realized is extremely valuable. It's a very
different connection that you have in this YouTube, whether it's parasocial, whatever you want to
call it. It's a very different connection you end up having with an audience than you do as like a
tried and true celebrity, right? A sports athlete, a movie star or something like that.
May I ask you something? Yeah.
Isn't it also because I know exactly what you mean, but when you feel over years, and in my case,
it's now nearly 20 years, that when people start this conversation to get a picture,
isn't there something happening in you? What do you mean?
That they ask these questions. But actually, they just want to have a picture. Because in me,
something broke a little bit because they are just not brave enough just to ask directly. So they do
this thing. In my mind is just don't don't give me just ask for the picture. And then
see, I think one, I think you are 100 times more famous than I've ever been. So for me,
I have a very core group of people who actually have the same interests as me. And I enjoy talking.
So like, I have definitely, I think the people who have come up to me who just wanted a photo,
and then they're like, Oh my God, Scott, I won't shut the fuck up.
So we might be different there. You know, we might be a little different there.
So because I've seen the phantom.
I've seen the phantom.
I imagine how he is looking to the group of his friends like,
yeah, yeah, yeah, cool. Yeah, I'm going to watch it on you.
He's like, I just I just recognize him because I saw him with Ken. He just won't shut up about
this. You want to have my number? Maybe we can talk on the phone.
I can try to group chat. Me, JP and Vinny.
Oh boy. But no, but I mean, I've seen the phantom that you've dealt with, like,
you know, I've been to your spot in Dortmund and it's like, there was thousands. It felt like
there was like hundreds of people just standing there waiting for you to walk outside. It's a lot.
It's a lot. I get that from your side. Working in Disneyland.
Yeah. It's pretty crazy. And you're Mickey Mouse.
I want to rewind a bit back because we jumped right over it.
I want to talk about because you built so many cars. Do you have like a top five
builds? Yeah, like a top 10. Like what are they?
Or even just what currently is your top five? Like it doesn't have to be your all time greatest.
But like right now, when you're looking at it, you're like, these I am really excited about.
And now's the thing. The time. Yeah.
Because we are building something from 28, what I would not don't want to talk about.
But this is absolutely in that. I show you a picture. Okay.
Wow. Yeah. That doesn't look like a car YouTuber would build. That looks like something that would
be like revealed at, you know, all right. Yeah, that's pretty damn cool. Three years.
But that makes sense because it looks like something in automaker reveal like an auto show.
Yeah. Yeah. Or so for the Beetle, I think it's a very, very cool car because it feels very
really out of the video game. Yes. The Gonto is. Yeah. Yeah.
Then the Volto, the Volvo with the two Tess P100D engines, this has also a very high level of
complete. Yeah, I really enjoyed that. We built a 140i. Okay. But the body of an M2,
but it has the hatchback. So it's a wide body. So it's like a Z3. Yeah. But in the modern world,
it has a 1000 horsepower. I like this. It's nothing super special. Yep. But when you look at it,
it feels nice. The Jaguar gets very cool. It's a lot, lot of work. I completely missed it,
but I got to look at it this morning. Yeah, it looks pretty cool. And then in the moment,
also one we're building right now. Also, I can only. I love that you're only thinking about
the cars you're currently building that don't come out for two years. You've built, you have 120
some odd cars. You're having a hard time naming more than four.
First of all, check this out. Okay. Oh, wow. Wait. Oh my god, that thing's beautiful.
Wow. So it's a Nissan. And when's that? This will start the first videos coming out in
August. Okay. That's pretty badass. Yeah. What was the inspiration behind building that?
You've had a couple before. Everybody, no, I still have them. And it's always overdrive. And I wanted
to do something with the cheap version of it. And rear wheel drive and make it a GT3. And
look alike like the R36 could have. How could it look? Because I think the R36
versions that they show right now. Yeah. So I wanted to do something that is
34 like, not a 35 and something. I mean, you just gave away that it's a Skyline. So yeah,
that's fine. All right. So a car that's one of my favorite that you built,
just because I feel like it's really unique and is the golf, the Mark II golf. Yeah. But I remember
when I looked at it, I was really disappointed that it had a basically a stock VR6 in it. Not
anymore. But at the time it did. And when I called you out on it, you said, yeah, if it did, and I
couldn't drive it here in Germany. And this was like a bubble bursting moment for me. As a child,
grew up, got it first into Volkswagen's, loved German cars, loved all the culture around tuning
in Germany, all the history there. And I think I just wasn't paying attention to like what was
happening in Germany with car culture. Because you know, and at that point, I'd went through the
process of like two-fing my own car. Is it two right? Two, saying all right, which is to V to
all of you who see that stamp. There you go. That's the stamp that's on all the quality wheels.
If it's two, then it's proper. And I went and proof that s2 that I bought. And it was a huge
nightmare. And I think, you know, I think what Reuven said was the guy who toothed it had had
two blind eyes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And no fingers. It's like something like that. And so,
like, I didn't really realize how difficult that is. I mean, you come to California and you are
like, I love the freedom you have here with car culture. We're all sitting here in California
feeling like that's all disappearing. But it seems like Germany's in a much worse place now.
Because for me, I went back to Germany to go look at tuna cars and realize they all went to Poland.
Like, I realized that the culture has just disappeared from Germany. Like, when was when
really did that start happening? And like, I realized that's been a big part of sort of your
time in Germany, like as an auto creator that like you've been dealing with this, which is
like something I just never really thought about. 19. Yeah. 19 is really start hard. Really bad.
Yeah, really bad. And I talked with this daily in America, because you guys complaining,
saying, yeah, it isn't that and that. And I always, I say it. And but I, you know, when you
tell somebody something and he does not understand how much I mean it, you have no idea.
You have no idea what problems mean, because you're telling me with the corvette, right? Right now.
So yeah, man, smacking this and that you can't drive like that. Next sentences, but the cops don't
care. Right. Okay, so what is it that the problems they are the cops don't care because in our case,
we have 30 times more things and the cops, oh, they do care. You do get caught. The car's just gone.
See, the thing here is in the US to be a car enthusiast in California, especially, like you
just have to agree that you're going to break laws. But it's a dice roll if you're going to get caught.
Do you know what I'm saying? Like you might you're probably not going to what happens then.
It's like one in a couple hundred kick caught. Yeah, but what happens then?
It depends. I mean, sometimes they will take your car and deal in impounded or they'll force it out.
Yeah, if you have, let me paint a picture. Right now you can get what's called state ref in California,
which means that your car is shown to be illegal for emissions purposes or something like that.
The car is no longer allowed to drive in California. You either have forever. Yeah,
you either have to sell it out of state or you have to return it back to what it was and then get
it ref together. Daily business in Germany. Daily. I mean, daily. So I see, yeah, the way you eyes
wear like you have to sell it out of the state or you have to build it back. It seems like a huge
inconvenience for us currently, but it's where you guys are. It's a lot worse. It's the country's
trying to make sure I don't want that anybody likes cars. Just use it to come from point A to point
B. This is the only reason that you, when you think of cars, I want you to have the only thought of
it has a door steering wheel and then I can go to the other place. Do you realize how different
that seems from the appearance we have? Because for us, we're like Porsche, BMW, like Audi,
the Autobahn, DTM, like we just think of this really cool car culture there and also,
he put in mind and also all the great tuners that came out of there, like historic tuners.
All gone. Yeah, I guess. Tell me one, Schnitzer gone. Yeah, or they just do racing.
Right? Like the name or something like that. No, the name is still there, but there's other people.
So it is one, if you love cars and you live in this country, it's one of the saddest stories you
can really think of. Even the manufacturers have, they're fighting with problems and they have stuff
to do, what you never think of. And I see always an office, the TOV guys,
so we made that much money. What else can we invent to make more problems? Let me think.
And then I go, we can make them pay to do this and that and that. Yeah, that's good, Ben. Yeah,
let's put this on the table. That's a good idea. And this happens every day.
We have regulations for things you won't believe. So there's three things right now that are moving
in the news in the US. One is that in Minnesota, there is a conversation around collector plates.
So it means that you have, you've registered your car as a collector car. You're now only allowed
to drive your car on weekends. You don't have collector plates. Which is like, I know, but
this is like a huge scare to car collectors because the thought that like eventually, could there be
a world where like, we're only allowed to drive our cars certain days. Obviously, this is a bill
to become a law. So it hasn't even passed yet, but people are worried about it. Second one is,
is that we are here, you know, there's this new patent from Ford where they've have, and I don't
want to get this wrong, but there's some sort of facial recognition software that they have in the
cars now that reports immediately to the police. What, why is Ford doing that shit? Man, that's a
whole other conversation, right? And then we also have this other thing called right to repair,
which is that basically the US manufacturers are saying, and you know, and then global
manufacturers as well are saying that you're not allowed to work on our cars. So like that,
you cannot fix that car because we own the IP of the technology in that car. And now,
because you need to be able to plug a laptop in, we're not going to give you access to that.
These three things are sort of coming together to create a bit of a conspiracy theory that like
eventually they're going to be able to just shut down our ability to do anything. And like one of
the four things with new cars, but they're also going to try to limit our ability to
drive old cars. Again, I'm going to place this as I don't know if I fully believe this, but it's a
bit of conspiracy theory in our community right now, that that's where it's going. But it kind of
feels like you guys are already there in a way in Germany. Yeah, we absolutely are. But I think
America is very, very different. In America, the government listens a little bit. They listen
to the people. It's because we got guns. But yeah, yeah. See, in Germany, they don't, you can vote
whatever you want. You can say whatever you want. They do exactly what they want. You can say I want
a blue, red. Yeah. So and let's say 100% of people really say I want a blue.
There you have your red car. And now it starts that the people are not accepting it anymore.
Let's put it this way. Right. Kind of late. Let me ask you a question. Is someone who is,
but we don't know how, what we're going to do now. So it's just, it's just the energy gets higher.
Like you said, funny. Yeah, you have guns, but we're going like, yeah, yeah.
But how are we going to do that? Yeah, look, I, I guess as I look to you to ask the question of like,
how do you keep car culture alive through that? Because you've now been doing stuff for six years
since it's gotten really bad, but explain that it helps you in your mind that it is a very nice
thing to have something that you work on and brings you somewhere. It gives you a space where
you can sit in. It gives you smell. emotions. memories. It brings you
two memories to explain to you that the human being was always moving ships, horses, everything.
And I think that very, very deeply in every human being moving is a very important thing.
So jogging is also a big thing. But I think cars is also a big thing. It comes with money
because you can run. We can just go outside just run. So this is why I think it gets in certain
groups of people, especially in Germany, very offended because they don't like that you are
able to buy this and I'm not able to buy this. And so I think cars are way more emotional and
way more important than we think. Very often when we delete something, we found out or find out later
that we say, well, wasn't that bad, right? Because I think it's also crazy that
if we would put all this energy and all this money into emission, how the petrol engine works
and how all this works and to modify it even better, honestly, emission wise, we're fine.
And also synthetic petrol and all this, we are fine. And when we're not, when there's no more gas,
okay, there's no more gas. Got it. No more gas. But that we can change. But I think we should always
try to keep things. And this is now something that many people don't understand. That is just for you.
If it's a Fiat, if it's that, or if it's a Go-Kart, or it's a motorbike, bicycle, we need
something. And now I said also bicycle. If your body, if your brain decided it is a car, then it is a car.
Yeah, I look, you don't have to sell me on the idea. Like for me, I think car culture is hugely valuable, especially to
It's more than a car.
To young adults. I mean, it gave me a community. It gave me escape from bad communities.
It gave you energy to work out.
It gave me motivation. It was a carrot to not do other things. I mean, I grew up and
And then think about it's just a car. Look, look what you said, how much it gave to you.
Yeah.
And at the end it's just tires on the steering wheel.
Oh, but it's, I mean, it's way more than that.
Exactly.
I mean, it's something to spend your time thinking about. It's something to build friendships over.
You and I, you live in Germany. I live here in California.
Now you're sitting in your garage.
You're sitting in my garage because of cars. But also, I think if we're, especially for young adults, and like, I don't know about in Germany, but in America right now, we have like a major problem for like, especially young men.
It's like, what do we go do right now? Right? Like what give them a focus? It's like, for me, growing up in the 90s, in a scary time in New York, where like crime and drugs was the route and most my friends took cars and BMX bikes, two things that gave me mobility is what got me out of that.
Yeah.
It's what changed my path from all of my friends, right?
So for me, I always will strictly, I will strongly defend why even if there's an emissions thing or there's this like as a whole, car culture is a positive impact to culture.
Yes.
Right. Like, and I, when I say culture, I mean, large scale society, right? But I want to go back to the question for you is how do you as sort of like a leader in the automotive space in Germany deal with watching this decline and trying to keep people
positive and excited about car culture when it seems like it's almost impossible? Because I think that that is a huge fear, especially with the younger generation now is like, well, I don't want to buy this car and modify it only to have CHP, pull me over and cost me all these problems.
And it's a little, it's more of a deterrent to get into it versus where when I was a kid, you were, I mean, America was pretty free other than have intense on the windows. We pretty much could do whatever the hell we wanted with our cars in the 90s, you know.
So I'm trying every day to make little human beings fall in love with technology. Because nowadays, when you swipe and you like something or you comment, you can comment something and just duck.
The big differences with technology is when it's not working, it's not working. When it works, it works. When it breaks, you can make it work. This is something what is, I think, very important for every growing human being to understand that.
It is not about he can do it.
I can ask him to understand I can do that. I can make it work. I can make it move. I can make all these things.
And I'm trying every day to find people to feel that. And my key to that is, and this is something where I don't see so much in the American YouTube thing.
I think it's humor, knowledge, humor, knowledge, because when you don't laugh, you can only listen nowadays young people can only listen for 30 seconds max max brain closed thinking about all kinds of stuff in the room.
So make him laugh again. Oh, brain door open again. Knowledge.
Laugh, knowledge.
If you just, because some YouTubers try to use it to show how smart they are, I can explain it so difficult that you don't have a fucking idea what I'm talking about.
And and then I, the video is over and I want him to think I know so much and you don't know anything.
So this is absolutely not my route for me. It is very important to explain it the way that it is super related to something what everybody knows in life, a door or a club or anything like that.
And make him laugh.
And even as it gets harder and harder to become a car enthusiast through that period, you think just connection to that content is a reason for them to be like, I want to go build this.
Like if you're, if I'm a young German and I come up to you and I'm like, I want to build a car.
What should I build JP?
What should I go do?
And I'm going for and then then the kid builds it and he gets in trouble because he breaks all the two and then he just and then loses his car.
Is that what happens?
Like cars get impounded.
Gone.
If he's the right guy.
Yeah, can happen.
That sucks.
It does.
We get that here for violations like driving violations.
Street racing stuff like that.
Takeovers.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He too.
Does take over shit comes to Germany.
No, it comes to Germany now too.
It's bad.
It's what has accelerated the problem we have here in the US.
And like, and rightfully so, like I have 100% stupid.
Like you came into my neighborhood.
It's pretty nice here.
Well, fucking they were doing donuts in the intersection down a block for me.
No.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And like as the guy who did Hoonigan, I'm kind of like, well, fucking a.
But I imagine walking down.
So you just, hey, can you?
Aren't you Brian Scuddle?
Yeah, I actually did yell at some kid for doing donuts at an event I was at.
And the guy was like, you're the dude from Hoonigan.
I'm like, yeah, but like, we did it safely.
There's fucking children here.
What the fuck are you thinking?
Yeah.
And this is bad for all of us.
You know, see, we got 15,000 people a week coming to our shops.
Coming in.
Yeah.
And I'm there roughing.
I walk by.
By the way, for those who don't know, your shop is pretty incredible.
I just want to paint the scene.
So it's like really cool building, some cars on display.
There's a burger shop.
There's a dyno that feels like a theater.
Like you literally built a dyno where you can just kind of come up and check that out.
And then down the block is this awesome museum that has a bunch of your cars,
but also has like just some of the more important and legendary cars in the world.
Yeah.
Right.
When you had our donk there.
So obviously most important.
Yeah, most important.
But just to kind of because it's not just a shop.
Like I just want to get to the audience that they're not just pulling up with like a single door open.
Like it is.
It is.
Um, it is.
It feels like an activation or like an it's almost like an amusement park for
car guys in a way on a small scale.
Right.
Like there's that element of that.
Like that you have this cool thing.
And maybe the future.
Every time that I've been there, I leave going, this is what the model is.
Like this is what was cool.
Right.
Like we that if I had stayed with Hoonigan, where we would have gone was that.
And Henderson and I were talking about Henderson.
I had talked about that kind of concept of like building brick and mortars that
could be this really cool place that people can come to.
And it becomes like the hangout on a Saturday, the destination to go there.
And like you get to experience the brand, you get to buy some things.
There's a commercial element to it.
But it also feels like a home to us car enthusiasts, which is like something
you have done very well at building Dartmouth.
So I just want to give you your flowers on that.
So anyway, you're at the shop.
So, uh, I see this guy rafting and I woke up, Hey, when you leave the parking lot,
please keep it cool.
And he looks at me like, Oh, it's JP.
I said, no, for sure I will not.
Yeah.
10 meters later.
And I understand when you 18 and you have your car and 30 people looking at
you, you worked for this thing and you pull off.
You say, this is my moment.
And it really happened.
They look at me and I got contact and I go like, and he goes, I will send it all
the way and they really, they can't stop it.
And he goes full.
And I talked with him 30 seconds before he just, they can't.
Yeah.
So, um, we, we used to do this event at Irwindale Speedway and it was, it was
where we started burn yard.
So it's basically like all the things we would do in that small parking lot in
Long Beach, you know, on a big kind of show experience.
Did you come to the Irwindale event?
Yeah.
I mean, it's kind of like we do it.
Only a year, 11 and a half years was able to do that.
Right.
And then they close it down.
Yeah.
Cause it was COVID happened and then not.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it kind of slowed down.
But anyway, I've been there at the end, I would stand in front of the audience
and I would say the only reason we get to do this is because you don't leave
like an asshole.
And I'm like, and let me explain what that looks like.
And I was like, today the police are waiting on the offer on the on-ramp for you.
Do not leave like an asshole.
Six cars pulled off on the side of the offer.
It's like they just can't help themselves.
It's like they just can't help themselves.
And I get it.
And look, I was a bit of that kid when I was younger.
So yeah, I used to go to H2O and water fast and we just do burnouts everywhere
and front wheel drive cars, which is, you know, it's own crime.
You do a rollback first.
And your friends are holding you back.
When your friends can hold back your car.
Yeah.
That shows you how little horsepower and grip you have.
You're not playing.
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Speaking of old, what you get into first?
What was what got you into cars was like, was it Volkswagen's?
Like are you was that your first kind of thing?
I mean, I was lucky because of the no money situation.
I got together with the daughter of the boss of the Porsche dealership.
So my ass was in a 993, 996, 996, very early.
You fucked your way to the top.
Nice.
Right.
Yeah.
So no, I remember that very clearly.
He gave me the keys that you got to bring this car to this hold off.
And I walked parking lot.
Like like in a dream.
Yeah.
Honestly.
And the first thing I remember was my foot goes beneath the front window.
So you feel on the window, very close.
Yeah.
And then I was looking for the key.
Oh, okay.
Left side started engine in the back.
It's when you don't have any experience.
It's a normal in the front.
So yeah.
Okay.
Then try and then the clutch from a 964 18 years.
Yeah.
Also the bottom hinge is weird when you get used to pedals.
Yeah.
Right.
So get it going and no music on.
And I was driving young and I felt.
Who, this is, that's me.
It's me.
And not the acceleration.
It was just like you felt that this car was put together to make people feel that way.
Yeah.
And then it happened.
And that was it.
That was like that.
Opened it up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, before that too, but it was so unrealistic for me.
Honestly, I mean, having I did not think that I will own a car.
Maybe I will own a car in my life.
Never a new one.
Never something, I mean,
Never 126 amazing project cars.
No.
Yeah.
Not on the plan.
Yeah.
It's kind of nice, right?
I mean, I, I, I,
It's still I catch myself.
And I'm waiting that I wake up.
Yeah.
I think that I can't know.
Oh, I think I made a deal maybe some way with the devil.
I don't know what's what's what's what can't be, man.
Yeah, there's something really nice about that.
I everything I have is something I never expected to have.
So like it's just that much sweeter because of it.
You know, like it's just like nothing ever felt like entitled.
Like I never thought I'd own a Ferrari granted an older one,
but I never thought I'd own a 911.
Like I was really happy being a Volkswagen kid.
I was like stoked to have a Mark one.
A Mark three felt like really nice to me when I got one, you know,
and I never really wanted more than that.
And it's funny because I'm actually now in a way where I've gone back to that.
Like I've gone back to the simple-ness of those things
and don't actually enjoy the other things.
But it's nice to be able to have it.
That's why the price also goes so high because we now understand that.
Look, in 2010,
we were dreaming car 2040
It must be so fast and so loud, so extreme because we thought it will go on.
And the energy was there in the industry.
And then this thing came up first when we were afraid of autonomous driving.
And I would drive myself.
OK, well, not so interesting anymore.
And then electric cars, they want us to drive.
Everybody has to drive.
It has to drive electric cars.
So we were afraid and then emission got more strict and all this.
And new cars come out.
They read very exciting numbers.
OK, maybe design, not really my thing.
And you fall in love.
You think, OK, I want to have this.
You got to wait one year and then you sit in the car and it lasts for 60 minutes.
After 60 minutes driving this, you feel like
that's the huge display as a thousand horsepower.
And yeah, OK, got it.
People look at me because they think I'm rich.
Done. And then you sit in the 46 M3.
First of all, acceleration takes time.
My foot is long on the pedal.
But it's good because in the new cars,
if you stay on it for five seconds, you are in deep shit.
Yeah, you've committed even in Germany.
You it's just going down in the 46.
You going.
And.
And when you honest to yourself,
you don't have this thing like 2010.
I want to have the new stuff because it will be better and faster and faster.
Now we hunting emotions and feelings and sounds and and and pureness.
So everybody goes back.
And because I think we had the best car time in the world.
When do you think that was?
In in emotions.
Yeah, what do you think was the best era?
9598
I'd agree with you there.
I agree with you there.
Vinny and Ron strongly pushed for like the mid like early to mid 2000s.
I'm I'm either 809, 46 things like that all came.
You know, that era was really good.
But, you know, it was.
But it might be our age.
But I don't I think it's hard to argue that 2015 was the greatest moment.
Like if you were to add another 10 years, like there's something happened
in 2008, 2009, where it all just started to change and not not for the better.
Infotainment.
Got so important and I enjoy infotainment, to be honest.
When I'm when I have to drive somewhere, I enjoy it.
But when you look in E46, when you have even the big navigation system,
what you can see is nothing.
And people were happy with the normal radio or in a go for when you have, you know,
a radio had a display.
I mean, I have to put my fingers like, I mean, I mean, like this.
Oh, yeah.
Like this. OK.
I mean, no, honestly, have it in front of your eyes.
It's like this big.
New S class or something like this.
We got this place.
I can't.
I can't show it.
So where in this car?
And so we went from from this.
To this. I know.
And this can show you what.
It decides what to show you.
I mean, how can I spend it?
You can maybe switch it three times and then you got three different things.
This shows you the world.
Yeah, everything, everything.
Too much. Yeah. Yeah.
And it's extremely distracting and also it ages really badly.
Like there's something about like you get into like I sit in my RS2.
It's like it feels like it just still works before.
But I get into a 2013 and it feels like old.
Yeah. But there was a time.
I think it's always a wave.
A Goal 4, I think is one of the best goals ever.
Really?
One and four and seven.
Seven is seven is a good car.
Yeah, absolutely.
And so you have this.
A Goal 4.
Now I love it.
But when there was a Goal 6, a Goal 4 wasn't that nice
because then it has this ditch.
And then it comes up again.
And I think this happens to be there was a time at 360.
I was saying, I don't like it.
The headlights and everything.
I don't know.
You know.
And now.
So yeah, 360.
And it's because Ferrari took a really weird turn.
All of a sudden you're like, future classic.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, it's so much is happening.
That's why I'm saying what I said in the beginning is I think in a in many years
we will say 2026.
That was an important year or important time from 2020 to 2030.
And important in what matter, like car, like the culture cars that are available.
Like what you made the turn that cars look very different.
Body shapes, size, function.
Do you think we're going back a little bit though?
Because I feel like what's in the United States?
Well, when I say backwards, I'll clarify that.
Yeah.
In the United States, we went through the everything's going E V from about
2020 to about last year.
Jonah.
And last year is I think when everyone woke up.
I mean, when I was working with Audi, Audi was like, yeah, the future is electric.
And clearly it's not anymore.
Clearly Audi is like, no, we're going to give you guys RS.
Is you want to you want that in an Avant too?
Yeah, we'll give you that too.
And it's like, they're realizing that they probably went too far down that line,
right, that there was a thought, mandate from people that this is
what we wanted, but people didn't really want it.
They found out.
I also think the technology is not really there yet.
Drive an EV in America from here to Vegas with only one charging station in between
and realize like, yeah, the infrastructure is not really there.
Like it works for cities.
It's great. I don't mind it, but it's not what people were going to be.
And all of a sudden there was this turn back.
But I really only find.
Really high priced cars to be exciting.
And I don't like high priced cars.
I feel like there's this major like void in what we had as kids, the GTI and,
you know, these the SI, right?
Like with Type R, like these accessible hot hatch.
It doesn't really feel like that's a community anymore.
There's the the GT86, like there's the, you know, BRZ, whatever.
There's the obviously there's the new type R.
But like that community just doesn't feel like it's there.
It feels like, oh, there's GT3 RS's.
Like, yeah, well, fucking you buy a house for that.
Like, like the left like.
And the young kids have these coaches.
Wild. I don't understand how they do that.
In LA, it's pretty normal.
In Germany, we have it in Germany too.
Yeah. And LA in Germany, where I live is a huge difference.
Yeah.
But they have that.
But what I want to say about the Audi thing, which you just said is
all the company factors, it sounds so simple, but it's very, very true.
They just found out, hey, we can't go on email if they don't buy the cars.
If we don't get money.
No, it sounds silly because they were used to.
They made their own problem.
We bring something out and they buy it, maybe more, maybe less.
And now we're changing to that.
And we explain to the cool that they they will buy it.
Or they're not buying it.
And then we teach them from day one, how the emotion has to look and what you like.
So the same person is now saying, yeah, I know last year I said that the tailpipes
from an R6 are that big and they look like that and the sounds like that.
And I know I said it was cool, but now this is cool.
So this will not work that easy.
And so you teach over years also a certain dream and emotion.
So you also very quietly, what nobody talks about, you're trying very rapidly
changing their dream, because not everybody's able when they see they buy.
So you dream something what is maybe eight years old and can get it then eight years later.
So he's still in this dream.
You saying, nah, that's it.
No, I don't want to have it.
No, no, no, no, no.
This is it.
And and many companies have different ways.
I mean, this company did that way.
And three things doing it right right now.
BMW.
Yeah.
I don't love.
I don't love the look of the modern BMW.
I was never a BMW guy to begin with.
So it's a hard one to look at.
But I respect what they are as a car.
You know what I'm saying?
Like I can't deny the quality of of a BMW.
The package.
It's great.
It's just it's just for some reason.
I don't know.
It just was like, yeah, no, I understand.
I think Porsche and BMW, they do very good jobs in keeping the motion in 2026.
The way it is legal.
And there for me, especially in the US, like I think I think Toyota is actually
very good.
Yeah.
I think they're showing up right now with like they continue to be doing more
stuff in performance.
They actually I just read something yesterday that they're building a cart
like you go cart for 2200 bucks or something.
And like so they're going to probably start to roll out some sort of series
around that.
That's around GR.
It's like, I think that they have shifted from being like almost the anti-performance
group, which is what we saw them at.
It's like the mid-auts, right?
The Prius was all anyone cared about from Toyota.
They didn't make anything.
No, you're right.
Cool.
And now it's like there's a bunch of good stuff.
Toyota is absolutely out there.
And in Germany for what you can get, I think I like Ford products in the moment a lot.
Yeah, we don't really have Ford cars.
So I mean, the Raptor is cool, but like Ford, we have Mustang, but like
there's nothing else.
No, they're doing they're doing good.
What else?
I mean, here in the US, like obviously there's like Dodge and they make
thousand horsepower, huge things.
Like not my cup of tea, but I still give it to them.
They're building the modern muscle car.
Like it's still fun and performance oriented.
Thousand gasoline.
Whatever that.
Yeah, they're whatever, like the one of the.
I mean, no, the ZR1 I just drove for the day.
Whoa.
Yeah.
What the hell?
And I know, and I know them very well in many other German companies.
They go, yeah, COVID coming out.
Yeah, new car.
Yeah.
The lab record.
What a joke.
That power, that time.
Wait until other guys drive this car, the same laptop on a Nordschleife.
Yeah.
This potential on that beast is not bad.
And I know they in some other companies, they sitting there and go, well,
our next model, because they always 78 years behind.
It will not beat the car that is out there now.
It's so fast.
Oh, yeah.
You know, Genesis.
Yeah.
Did you see the thing they released?
The Magma.
This week.
Yeah.
Yeah.
GT3 program.
Like that stuff gives me hope.
Yeah.
Because I felt like for the longest time, all we were seeing was EV concepts.
No, and now we're starting to see performance concepts start to come back again.
Like that gives me a little hope.
Yeah.
But at the same time, the laws seem to not want that to happen.
So there's, there's a part or a French about a job in me that I don't talk on YouTube so much.
So I'm very much involved in all these things.
I just showed you a car, for example.
This is not so easy to do.
Yeah.
And so I know all these cars and I can promise you they all have that, but they never see light.
Not in pictures, not in promotion, nothing.
So they feel it's the right time and they just ignite the ideas or the project cars that they have.
And I can tell you, we are dreaming of they should bring out another dude.
They have 34 different versions of it.
Mm hmm.
But some board leaders, some guys that nah, we're not showing it.
It's sometimes very sad and they are sellers or they get crushed or something.
This is the way you think.
My opinion is if you bring this out.
Are you really successful?
Yeah.
It dies.
I mean, the RS6 Avant in the US is a really good example of it because they never brought wagons here.
No one thought anyone wanted a fast wagon, which is why I had to come to your place to pick up my RS2.
Because it was never something they thought the Americans wanted.
And then the RS6 Avant came here and it was selling like 40 over sticker.
Like it was everybody wanted it.
And then they're realizing, oh, well, maybe there actually is a market for it.
And it also created a new halo for Audi because I think for a while Audi just kind of became.
But yeah, they became like, they look like everything else, right?
Audi in the US had this really nice moment in the early 2000s.
The B5, the TT, the R8, right?
Really kind of set them, right?
And it was this great place.
And then we got the RS4 later in 2007.
And then they just kind of got, and I think the RS6 Avant came out here and people started looking at Audi in a completely different way.
I can't write like, oh, wow, this is this is really cool.
And you know, the brands need these halos.
I know.
Mark.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
He's a very, very, very, very cool guy and a very good friend.
Yeah.
And he's not at Audi anymore.
Oh, okay.
Did he happen to design the new?
No.
Who, what do you think of that?
What is it called again?
The Audi?
That's it.
Yeah.
The Audi.
Yeah.
So, that's the first time I've ever skipped the question, maybe.
All right, I'll give you my opinion then.
No, it's not like that.
It's like.
You're involved in the conversation.
You're, yeah, it's just.
Yeah, go on.
Explain to me what you think about it.
I guess I kind of understand where they're going, but, and I love Audi.
I mean, not only do I love Audi, I have a lot of friends who work there.
Right.
Yeah.
Timo, right?
I mean, a bunch of people who over there who are really great.
And, but I look at that car and.
I think what makes Audi great is that they're very good at doing and they do subtle aggressively.
Like they know how to do like very subtle with an aggressive piece to it.
The RS4, B5, the current RS6.
That car feels like it's trying too hard.
And I don't think Audi's try hard.
The reason I like Audi is because it's an understated car.
Right.
And it is handsome, right?
D2S8, to me, that is a perfect car.
It is just simple, but it's like very handsome.
It's like they're strong.
It was also very close to the prototype.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
And that that world, like that design language, the TT was certainly a design.
It was Audi stepping outside of their zone.
And in a way, that car actually didn't like live long well from a design point of view.
It was really cool when it came out and every magazine and every auto show was like,
this feels like the future.
And then it got really dated.
Right.
But most of their stuff stays iconic.
Like you look at a D2S8 and you're like, yeah, that still looks great.
A B5 still looks great.
Amazing.
I still think even, you know, my RS2, B4 era, like there's still something about that.
You're like, that car is really handsome.
But the Porsche Vipe, the Porsche Vipe helps a lot.
Of course.
Of course.
I don't think that this current thing will age.
I there and it's already polarized.
There's a whole group of people who hate it.
I'm not saying I hate it, but then there's a whole group of people who are like, oh,
this is super cool because it's different.
Can I ask you something?
The sake of being different.
Can I ask you something?
Yeah.
Would you think that something can be that way?
Like you said, H12 or very nice in the future when there are thousands?
Um, or 10,000.
I mean, a 100000
Would you think that's possible?
You mean that it still looks really good in the future?
And that people admire it?
The 911.
I mean, the 911 is not a small volume vehicle.
Not anymore.
Not anymore.
Even back in the day, they made a lot of them and it's just a classic silhouette.
I don't the Mark one rabbit.
The mini.
That like is a fantastic.
The yeah, like is a fantastic.
I think there's certain, but I think in the six, but those designs, every design
I just mentioned, there's a subtleness to them.
There's like an E30 M3.
Like there's certain things that just work.
And I think that they pushed a little too hard and it feels like they're trying
very hard and that to me seems very unouty.
And that's the problem is that people are still like the person who's buying that,
they want to buy it because it's an Audi.
The R8 was the supercar in a sport coat.
You know, like it was like, it was wearable.
It was like, I could drive it to go to the, you know, the movies where the Lamborghini was not.
Right.
And I think like that.
In the way of the same cars.
Yeah.
They were the same cars.
Right.
And it's like that, I think is a really nice place where Audi has lived.
And this feels like, you know, that they've left that.
And obviously a lot of people are saying there's Cybertruck influence and all these
other things.
And I don't know.
It just, when I looked at it, maybe somebody wanted to make a statement.
I wanted to love it.
And that makes it even harder for me to not like it.
Do you know what I'm saying?
Like I walked in the door wanting to like it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Maybe somebody wanted to make a statement.
Yeah.
Oh, it's definitely a statement car.
Yeah.
Also.
Yeah.
Also.
And look, they're only going to make 500 of them.
Like they'll sell them.
It's not going to be a problem.
I just don't know if it's the poster halo car that Audi needs right now.
You know, I think design wise, there's a few spots only from my opinion that are
not working very well.
And I think that Audi in the moment in their project or prototypes, putting a
lot of weight in their design point in the middle of the car, they're cutting
the car very much into two pieces.
So the door line has a very big attention.
You look at the store line is nearly invisible.
And so they making sure that you recognize where you open and where the middle is.
And in this case, I would say it looks like two cars in one.
The rear and the front.
The rear feels like an old Mercia logo.
It has like that.
Yeah.
It has this vibe.
And also feels like they run coated or something.
I think it's very difficult if you have big services or big, big when you have
after the B pillar going all the way to the back.
If you do that that way and have that high over shoulder and have not so much
attention into detail in that plate, a car can become very easily heavy.
It looks looks very silly.
Because from the bay B pillar to the front, it's a working thing.
It has an idea.
It has nostalgic ideas how cars look back in the days from Audi.
And it works, but.
And the rear itself, it works.
But in between from B to the rear, it has no emotion for this kind of cars.
Right.
It looks heavy.
It looks.
It does look heavy.
It looks wrong.
It's funny when you just said it, I guess I didn't really think back to like the
early Audi designs.
Like I guess that's where they're coming from.
Absolutely.
Like the class auto union era.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
I don't know if that's a good place to put inspiration from.
I think people don't know modern super car.
I think people don't know.
But I could see how in a design room, you're like, look at this, we're blending these things.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's so much DNA here.
Always.
Always.
I'm in a lucky position that they present that to me privately and then I see this and
when they music and this and that and then the pictures and the designer we're drawing
together and showing you, you get that.
But this is not when you sit in the garage and see the picture.
You don't have all this show.
No, I know.
You just see the pure shit.
And when that it has to work there, not with all the attention.
It has to work in that moment.
Yeah.
And difficult.
Yeah.
I always had a mixed feelings on the Hoonatron was the vehicle that they built for Ken.
I have it right now in the museum.
I know you do.
Yeah.
I don't I don't dislike it.
There's parts of it.
I like a lot.
I like the concept of what it was.
I think Ken and I were both extremely both excited and really honored that like Audi put
in they did it very fast.
They did so much work to create a single purpose vehicle like an a concept car that
actually went and did a thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which I thought was really impressive.
But in our heads, we were thinking sport quattro.
So like it was such a like we walked in the room thinking boxy and awkward in a sexy way.
And then there was this thing that was slick and so different and whatever.
Yeah.
And Mark and Mark is furious.
But it was interesting because when I sat with Mark, he made me love the car.
When he explained it all to me, I was like, OK.
He can he can he walked me through that.
And he showed me.
I love him.
This is this.
This is this.
That was actually that made me change my mind about it.
I was like, OK, I now really enjoy it.
And now when I look back at the car, I look at it in a very different lens than when I first saw it.
Because again, I'm waiting for the you know, I'm waiting for the curtain to open and it's a sport
quattro that looks like the sport quattro met the unicorn.
Yeah.
And instead it was this spaceship.
I was I was able to drive it a whole day and and really had good fun in it.
Yeah.
This also gives you a new feeling because the power is pretty cool.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But when Mark goes through you and I think really he's one of the greatest ever
because golf seven and all these cars really he's he knows are six.
He knows what he's doing.
Yeah.
You fall in love.
Do you do you think that the automakers were in a better era when they had outside
design companies building cars?
You know, like the Pina Farena.
100 percent.
You know, they still do.
And they often say they don't.
OK.
Yeah.
I know they're still involved, but like it seems like a lot of it.
The lot of the design stuff has moved in house.
I think sometimes when it's external from the campus, it lives somewhere else.
It's experienced like I know Audi has their big, you know, they have a big design
center up here.
The new one.
Yes, huge.
But I just look back at, you know, Kigaro, right?
Like this the design era where they actually worked for a lot of different companies.
So it gave them like this cross DNA of the German German.
I think especially the German manufacturers, they always think DNA, DNA and all this.
This is wrong.
Yeah.
For example, and now I'm very open.
They brought me the RS5, the new one.
And I like the design.
It looks cool.
Yeah.
And I was really mad after driving it because you see the competition.
Yeah.
The BMW switch, four wheel, switch, two wheel, but a real two wheel drive.
And then they go, oh yeah.
But we had to hang on in a crutch row and this and how much percentage of the power goes
still to the front.
No, no, no, we got to do it.
No, no, no, no, no.
How much is still going to the front?
Yeah.
But we got the talk vectoring.
No.
And this is exactly what happens.
They love their shit so much.
This is not the point.
See, I'm the customer and I drive it and I don't like how it drives.
Yeah.
So when I don't like how it drives, I don't buy it.
I don't mind how much technology.
I don't mind how much put you put into it.
I don't mind what it can do.
And we don't drive up the hill every fucking day in the snow.
No.
And for some reason, the BMW all-wheel drive is even better.
You think so?
It is.
Yeah.
The modern version of it.
Yeah.
They're great in the snow, everything.
So you have to understand it worked very well for me to have to hang on all-wheel drive
and all this.
But time is over.
Because only for the name, keeping up with the same Crato technology, what is not in...
You're doing things to have the...
Fertile to have the...
We better to...
Advantage.
Advantage.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm doing to have the advantage.
This technology is not offering it anymore.
But we have the logo and the name.
So are we going?
That would...
What?
No.
You know, you make a strong point because I wonder how much they limit themselves
because everything has to be Quattro.
I mean, just to go back, the reason that the D2 S8 was built as an all-aluminum car
was because it was heavier than a 7 Series.
It was heavier than an S-Class.
So they had to throw all this technology to make it as good as what BMW and Mercedes was offering.
Because of...
Because...
Because Quattro.
I like Quattro, but guess what?
I live in Southern California.
But you...
I don't use Quattro at all.
First of all, and the modern all-wheel drive systems that they are out there, they beat it.
Yeah.
I mean, it would be interesting because I think it would change what they could make,
what they can offer, and also the cost on it too.
Because there's a whole additional system there that they're not thinking around.
Because imagine what would a cool rear-wheel drive sports car look like from Audi.
It would open up a completely different market for them.
But I do think that...
So, again, this goes back to DNA thing.
I think so much of their brand is attached to that.
Same thing with Subaru.
Right?
Like, you just assume a Subaru is all-wheel drive.
Like, if one wasn't...
Like, it's always weird to me.
You probably see them more.
But when I see like an Audi that's front-wheel drive in the US, I'm like,
why would you buy that car?
Because all-wheel drive is their thing.
But I do think that there's a rear-wheel drive market that they've been afraid to get into.
But at the same time, they don't seem to be worried about making front-wheel drive cars.
You met Albert Berman from Hyundai?
Yeah, yeah, briefly.
But yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So, he was at BMW.
Yeah.
He brought us all this super cool toys.
He's the new big designer for them.
He's the one that brought the 8-speed to Hyundai, right?
I think that, yeah.
Yeah.
And the N-program and all these things.
And we are very cool.
He stopped working now.
So, he retired.
He's still there.
Yeah, yeah.
And he's very cool.
And we were talking, sitting down, eating something.
And I said, you know what?
You should do a rear-wheel drive sports car like that and that and that.
And then I said, but you can't do it because you don't have the past, right?
Because, and he said, I don't mind.
Yeah.
We're just building that what the people want.
Yeah.
And I was like...
So, I think this is actually a really good point that the Korean brands seem to not be stuck in nostalgia.
They are not actually excited about...
They listen, build.
Well, they also are not excited about their nostalgia because their nostalgia was a really cheap economy car.
So, they're trying to move away from that.
You see pictures.
And that's where you have things like the magma and coming from Genesis.
Kia, I think, has some of the better designs on the roads right now.
Like, some of their vehicles look, especially they're like SUV class, looks really great.
They will switch to N energy.
Yeah.
And I think, and I've tell people this all the time, I would buy an Elantra N over a new GLI or whatever.
It's just a better car.
Like, from a performance standpoint.
It is.
From a performance standpoint.
I mean, one thing where you guys don't have access to it, but I would love to invite you,
come over to Germany and drive all the Chinese cars.
Which one of those are really good?
Xiaomi.
Yeah.
Yeah, we...
I was in Australia when we were filming with Travis Pastrana, and I was talking to a bunch of locals down there.
And, you know, they've got all BYB...
They...
What was it?
This is...
BYD.
BYD.
So, they have BYD, they have a bunch of other brands, and they were all saying...
That, like, the Land Rover knockoff from BYD is almost as good as the Land Rover and 40 grand cheaper.
Why would you not buy it?
They're like, it's...
And they're like, and they're getting to the point where they're gonna be better.
Like, they're this close to being better than what the other offerings are.
So, I'm kind of...
I know many cars that are way better now.
Yeah.
Because I've been to China just a few weeks ago,
went to the outer show and drove all this stuff, what they have there.
I mean, I'm talking now for Germany.
We have nothing to put up that.
I mean, it's crazy.
I was in Shanghai about five years ago, and we was walking through one of the main strips where,
you know, you've got, you know, Dolce & Gabbana coach, right?
All these premium brands.
And then all of the electric Chinese car companies are in the same place with, like, the Tesla model,
where they're in a regular store.
And I was just walking through and I was blown away by the design.
Like, sitting in cars, you know, like, this feels really nice.
I mean...
And it just looks really good.
And it feels like a concept car.
And it's five years ago, and they're very fast.
Yeah, and it's like, it feels like a concept car, but it's for sale.
Yeah.
So, when you come now...
Yeah.
And you sit in a car from 2025 or 26, this will, this kills you.
I think the, I think Canada has just allowed for the Chinese cars to come.
They do?
Yeah, which will be interesting because I think that's gonna be the closest we get to starting to see them.
They'll start to drop a couple, drop across the border.
That'll start to shift things.
So, show me pretty good, Zika, very good.
The many qualities.
Because first time I got into it, I wanted to be that it's bad.
I felt it.
Yeah.
See, I'm an open guy.
I wanted to find the mistake.
Open the door.
Inside.
And really, to devil, devil, angels.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We have a problem, right?
Yeah, we do have a problem.
You finding something?
No, that's the problem.
No, I'm not finding anything.
Yeah, so maybe you can make something up.
Do you have an idea what?
You know, it's so good.
Handling too?
Yes.
See, I don't think I'm even familiar with this.
Look, Porsche, Porsche is, is Northslide for Porsche together.
Yep.
Show me comes.
They were building before that car vacuum cleaner.
Okay.
Right.
They did.
And they just break the record.
My love, it was like somebody cheated on you.
It was like, I was, I was like this.
They just come around and they just do that?
How they can they do that to me?
As a German file, who, what, the Viper, which is an American company,
I should have pride in that went and set the ring at the Nürburgring.
I was like, the Viper?
Like it's a tractor.
What are you talking about?
Like I'm so upset that it got taken away from the German brands.
But you know, I could only imagine how it felt when the Chinese showed up to do the same.
Yeah.
Maybe car culture will be saved by the Chinese.
Dodge Viper is out there for a long time.
Show me.
I don't even know the name.
I can't picture what you're, what you're saying to me is words.
Because I can't visualize the car.
I'm not even aware of it.
We were looking at a list, Nick and I were looking at this the other day,
of the fastest current hypercars.
And the number one is a Chinese car I had never heard of before.
I drove it.
And it does 300.
That jumps.
Whatever, it does 300 miles an hour or something like that.
Like never seen it.
Yeah, I drove it.
And then there was the, that Chinese company that did the like Jim Khanna homage,
which was actually quite good.
I don't know if you've seen it.
Yes, yeah.
A little bit.
Yeah.
I mean, there's moments like there is some stunts that I was like, that's not bad.
Usually when people do Jim Khanna videos, I have more critique.
But I was like, man, this is actually not bad.
But like I had never seen the car before.
There's so much coming out of China that I'm just absolutely unaware of completely
lives in a blind spot.
Oh yeah.
That looks good.
That looks good.
And if you told me that that was the new McCann, I would believe it.
Oh, Ferrari.
Oh, yeah, whatever.
Like it just, it just looks, yeah, any one of those, it fits in that.
This is 60,000 euros.
Okay.
And it has seven on the horsepower.
So I don't know.
And in the interior, in the quality, in the leather, and everything's great.
And handling is great.
EV.
Yeah, EV.
Yeah.
Brembo breaks everything.
Where is the EV?
And when you buy them in China, as I told you, my price is with tax everything.
Yeah, yeah, important.
And it's huge.
So, but over there, they're 20, 24,000.
Yeah.
New.
Where do you live on the EV thing?
Like, are you enjoying EVs?
I know you've built a couple of things.
I...
Is it something that feels like a forced hand because...
I love tech technology.
Yeah.
So as long as I can choose, and I catch myself when I have to drive somewhere,
or after work, on a hard day, and I'm driving my Taycan home,
this is the best car for me to drive home.
By the way, I think the Taycan and the...
Ages very well.
And the E-tron GT, or the RC E-tron GT are two of the best new
sedan designs that have come out of Germany in the past 10 years.
And it's a bummer to me that they're not also available with ICE,
because I would have enjoyed that as like an actual engine driven car.
Yeah, I just, I don't want to dump that kind of money into an EV here.
I would say...
I mean, the RC E-tron GTs are like literally selling at half price right now because nobody wants them.
I'm saying something right now?
Yeah.
You will be happy in the next few years.
Okay.
So you know something.
Yeah.
It will be a good time coming up.
The...
For example, the new Cayenne is the best EV car I drove so far.
Really?
Yeah.
No question.
Interesting.
Interesting.
I was an early adopter for EV.
I bought an electric smart car, mostly because it was just easy to get around.
Here?
Yeah.
Yeah, we had the smart EV for like a year or two.
Okay, cool.
And mostly because it was just, I was commuting from Venice down to Long Beach to Hoonigan.
I could get into the fast lanes, the HOV lanes here with it.
But it was also just like a go-kart.
And it was like super easy to drive.
It was really convenient.
But it didn't have...
This car really had problems with distance.
Yeah.
The battery was...
It only did 60 miles.
It's crazy.
So like it would like up to LA and back, I could get myself in trouble.
I then had an Ioniq from Hyundai.
Yeah.
Five.
Yeah, the Ioniq five.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, the six is really gross looking.
But the five, the five to me looks like if someone took a like a Mark II Golf and was
like, what's the future look like?
Right, the body?
The body?
Yeah.
It's has a good...
It's cool or a launchy Delta Entegraale.
Like it has that kind of feeling, right?
And I like that.
But it's fine for like city life, but like it just never...
And the five N was fun on track, but I just...
Maybe I'm just old, but I'm having...
I sort of left the EV thing.
Like I was there early.
I was sort of enjoying it at first.
But then I just found myself gravitating back to just regular cars.
Just last night, I was looking at an E-Golf because I couldn't believe how cheap they were.
And I was looking at one literally just to do like...
Like I got to bring my kid to school or I got to do this.
Like I realized I don't own any new cars.
The newest thing I own is a D2S8.
Okay.
So the newest thing I own is a 2002.
My wife has a newer Land Rover, but I don't own new cars.
And it's like, it's painful.
I do it because...
And not to get on too much of this, but I do it because
there was this moment where I had newer cars and I was only driving the newer cars.
So I had the Onyx 5N, I had my Audi A8L, and I just wasn't enjoying the cars I owned.
It's like I would only drive them one day a week or something like that.
So I forced myself.
So I actually daily my RS2 and the Rabbit.
Those are my dailies.
So I drive them every day.
I love the Rabbit.
So thanks.
So it's about to get painted, but it's like a street car right now.
I can park it out in front of my house, which is nice to have.
Yeah, no, no, this is very nice.
But there is a piece of me that's like, man, do I just want something that's really simple?
And I will admit for that, an electric car plays as a good appliance,
but I struggle in the performance side of it.
But the Taycan, especially the Gran Turismo, that makes me kind of want one.
I'll admit it's a fucking great looking car.
It doesn't age.
It has now some years.
Do you have it on wheels?
Do you have it on wheels and stuff?
Like, have you lowered it?
Yeah.
Yeah, because it lowered on wheels.
It's perfect.
Yeah, it looks, it looks really, really great.
No, but the EV thing is really working on me because what it can do,
because sometimes when I want to drive home and then you start stupid questions,
the thing, 812 super fast is the one that's not in front of the building.
It's late.
I got to drive home.
I drove with it to work and I had a hard day.
You know?
I know.
I know.
It's weird things to complain about.
It's weird things to complain about, but it's a high stress vehicle to drive.
Yeah, and then instead,
I know.
And it's then the car helps me when I come or I ride my bike.
Yeah.
I'm still on my bicycle a lot.
Are you big into cycling?
Yeah.
But not BMX.
No, no, no, mountain biking, road biking too or just mountain biking?
Just normal, just playing around.
Nice.
So I think what you said before is great though, is like you like electric as long as you still
have the choice because I think that was the big fear for us in the US.
I don't want to end.
Is that we were going to lose the other piece.
Immobility?
I don't want somebody else takes a smart choice.
I don't want that.
Yeah.
I don't want that.
No.
I think the future is going to be hybrid.
I don't know.
Are you familiar with the scout?
Do you know much about scout?
It was an American company back in like 50s, 60s, 70s and the international harvester,
the scout was one of the vehicles that they built and it was a truck competed with the
Bronco.
I don't know.
Bronco stuff like that.
When Volkswagen Audi group bought Navistar, Navistar, which is a truck company, owned the
international group, including the scout name.
So they've relaunched it in the US as a recently.
Yes.
As it hasn't hit market yet, but they relaunched it as a Rivian competitor.
Right.
Rivian is pretty cool.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They have a really good design, I think, aesthetic, but they launched it as a competitor for
that.
I think they look very good.
But they launched an option for the car, which was called the harvester, which was a
four cylinder engine, which I think is like an, I don't quote me, but I think it's like an
E888 or something like that.
The range extender.
It's basically as a range extender.
So the car is always electric, but it has an engine in it now so that if you want it to go
off grid, you don't end up with your car dead in the middle of the desert, which is like a
major limitation when you live on this side of the country.
Right.
That showed me you don't have access to the Chinese cars, right?
So, you know, we're unfamiliar with it.
So anyway, they, I went to the launch for the car and I was really, the thing I was most excited
about was the range extender.
I was like, this is fantastic.
This is great.
And they're like, yeah, we're offering it as an option.
I ended up talking to one of the guys at Scout recently and they said like 90% of the
pre buys on the car are asking for the harvester and they had no idea.
No, they should, everybody should do it.
Which is hybrid the other direction, but like I'm, I'm there for it like it works.
So, so these, these Chinese cars, there are some of them, they all have a four cylinder.
Yeah.
That's just producing power and they are electric for the movement.
Some of them have a range of 1800 kilometers.
So you can charge the battery, what is also big, and you have the range extender and the
engine is not using a lot of petrol and you have a big gasoline tank too.
So you put it in and you're driving for 1800 kilometers without doing anything.
Yeah.
That I think changes people's minds about accepting EV into your heart.
You just go.
Forever.
Look, I think in the future, like as long as we still get to have fun, spicy sports cars,
there's a place for the EV market.
Like it definitely makes sense.
I don't think it has to be always sports cars.
I think sometimes, look, back in the days, you, I know you were the same guy because every golf
guy is like that.
Let me see what VW gives me as a new base to build my car.
So it's just, and it's not a sports car.
So you just, oh, 678 I don't know.
So you just.
Car sucks, but I'll put the engine in something older.
Right.
So you just use it as a starting point.
With this car, not many people think like that.
So for me, I love all kinds of cars.
They don't have to be sporty or I don't know what.
Yep.
Just love the fact of what it gives me.
Do you prefer taking a more base model car and making it fun versus a really,
because you have both, you have really, really high end cars,
but you also have built some incredible base cars.
Like which one is your, your favorite to do?
For me, inside of me, the base car.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That like that old school tuning kid thing just doesn't escape.
Oh no way.
I'm building a, right now Whipple just built an eight valve for my, my rabbit.
And it's like, I'm more excited about that than a bunch of other way,
quote unquote cooler cars I have.
Like there's just something simple about that I kind of love.
So I also, and I think, I think you and I are very similar.
The difference is that you got all your projects done is like,
No.
You got a lot more projects done than I did, but.
You have none done.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, but remember a lot of those.
This one.
A lot of, well, yeah, there's a couple outside, but the, the, there's a lot of the
Hoonigan projects were technically mine in that they were my vision of what we wanted to do.
Right.
I mean, and I'm not going to own all of it, but including projects like the Hoonicorn,
right.
Like I was very involved in like, let's go build this crazy machine.
It was your idea?
No, no, I said, I wasn't going to take the full credit, but it was partially my idea.
Originally Ken wanted to go, I saw a window in the U S market to do something
more muscle car.
Cause at that point muscle car stuff was just really big.
And we were seeing this issue where like our, our content just was like hitting a wall.
Like we weren't getting passed through to a certain person with a fiesta.
Right.
Like a Ford fiesta in America just didn't translate.
No.
And we were like, well, what cars do.
Not even Europe.
Yeah.
What cars do.
And actually originally Ken wanted to do a kind of as a joke and build an old Maverick,
which is not a sexy car, but we ended up going back to the, you know,
original Mustang and, you know, and I helped design a lot of how that car looked and,
and like all the way down to like what the hood scoop was going to look like,
like how the blisters were going to go on the car, how we were going to take WRC elements.
Right.
You know, and obviously Ken was like, it has to be all wheel drive.
And I was like, it has to be a V eight.
Cause we were, it was conversations about using an existing, you know, thing we knew,
right.
Using a PPO engine or something that was familiar in WRC.
But I was like, I was really into American cars at that point.
So it was like, I don't remember my Nova.
I was like, it needs to be like, all right.
And like, so it was like, you know, that would car.
But anyway, a lot of the projects that we worked on, who again,
were sort of things that came out of, out of my brain.
And the things that excited me most was building things that weren't fast and making them faster,
cool.
Like we built a P 10, like bread van with like an LS in it, like on, on air, like it's just
ridiculous.
And like I, I really enjoy the ridiculous thing where Vinny,
would be happy to just drive GT three R S's for the rest of his life.
And I respect that, but I would rather build a cool 944.
If you know, like there's just a difference between the two of us.
When you think about the Volvo, the Volta project.
Yeah, that's a great example.
Yeah.
The base car was 500 euros.
Yeah.
As it should be.
And then 500.
And at the end of the day, we talking crazy.
Yeah.
And in any, in any case, I mean, front frame,
wheel size, power, body, inside, outside, everything.
And that was actually the cheapest part was the car.
I know.
And I love that.
And a lot of great projects at Vinny again, were the same way.
It was like started with a random shell and then build it into something really cool.
Yeah.
You know, what's your favorite color?
Of mine?
Or in general.
In general.
It's a question difficult and not really today.
Yeah.
Today.
Yeah.
I would go between, it's between an air-cooled 911 and the more.
Which one?
Probably, I mean, mine.
I actually would say like, I think I own my favorite 911, which is the 964 Turbo, right?
So like, I mean, I pulled the car out this morning and just pulling it out like the smell
of the car.
Mm-hmm.
Like that.
And it stays.
There's just something about like the smell brings back the nostalgia of the first time I
got in the car after buying it.
Because I bought the car and it got delivered.
And when I get in and I still have that moment every once in a while and it's like,
that's just something that's really special.
I can't explain it.
And then I just really, really love Mark 1 rabbits.
And that for me is a childhood nostalgia.
Like I know that they're not great performance cars.
I enjoy how they drive.
You can make them very.
I enjoy how they drive.
And as I get older, I take way less risks behind the wheel.
I have a child to come home to.
When I was younger, I wasn't like that at all.
Like when I was at the magazine, I took all the risks, right?
I'm not that person anymore.
A Mark 1 and as well sorted Mark 1, I can drive at a limit that I feel comfortable being at.
We're like in a new 911 GT3 RS that limit when I pass it, I die.
Like there's no coming back from that, you know?
Like so I think that there's something I really enjoy about the limitations of that.
But I also enjoy the nostalgia.
Like there's that element.
Those are like, I actually own a lot of my favorite cars.
I bought this car by the way, my Ferrari that's behind us.
I bought this because I sold my company and had a huge hole in my heart and was like,
well, might as well buy myself something nice.
And I bought this and I wouldn't expect that.
I know.
And this I think is like, and I still haven't sold it, but I probably will.
Like it doesn't mean that much to me.
If you offered me a good number, you could leave with it today.
We'll talk about it.
Is it a menu?
No.
And how much do you want for it?
We'll get to it.
I can't talk on here because if you don't buy it,
you've already messed up my negotiating with someone else, you know?
So, but, and it's not that I don't enjoy it.
I love it.
It sounds amazing.
It's great.
It's just not me.
Like when I'm in it and I'm driving past a like a reflective window and I see myself,
it doesn't look like I belong in it.
Have you ever seen a truck in a car?
Oh, you might.
I mean, you look ridiculous in any car.
Do you have any idea how ridiculous I look in a Mark 1 rabbit?
I did.
I saw it.
Yeah.
I look so ridiculous that the lean company made a pin of me hanging out of the window of my car.
Even the pin is wrong.
And they tried hard to make you.
I mean, you so big.
And I don't know if you haven't seen him in real life.
He's a big guy and a golf one is not a big car.
Yeah, I don't know.
And to put this together in green, it looks special.
Yeah.
I don't know.
What's your favorite car?
993 Turbo.
Mine also.
Yeah.
And when you set the smell, 100%.
I bet it smells just like mine.
You can sit in mine when we're done and tell me if it smells the same.
It's the seating position.
I'm afraid when you, when you before we're talking about the windshields here,
the steering wheels here, the pedals, the feeling this like,
it actually moved me a little bit because I had that same feeling when I got in my
car this morning just to pull it out of here so we could do this podcast.
And it's like just sitting in that car makes me happy.
That's something special.
Like there's a lot of cars I've sat in my life.
I've driven, especially as a journalist, a lot of really cool stuff I've driven.
There's something about that cockpit that just works for me more so than a modern one.
I have a very good explanation for it.
I have 120 cars, but I have one car and that's a 993.
So if you had to sell everything?
No, no, no, I mean, I have the connection.
That connects.
So this is my door.
This is my steering wheel.
It's my shift knob.
And because of YouTube and owning this, and I love them all,
but this is from the company and we build it and this is cool.
And yeah, this is also a day that I use, but the 993 is my car.
Yeah, this is my car.
See, I wouldn't have guessed that because it's not a car I actually associate with you.
Like my two cars, my two favorite cars, I think are rather well associated with me.
I think for you, I associate these really crazy projects.
Because we can drive them.
I can drive them.
And that's sad.
So when are you moving to California so you can drive all your cars?
Or America?
Where else would you go?
In the last few years, I had a chance to film a lot of videos in the middle of America, right?
Yeah.
And I never thought about it.
I had connections to Florida, Miami and LA and always going back and forth and always flying over this.
Yeah, that's why they call it the flyover states.
Yeah, they do.
Yeah, that's what we, that's like, I wouldn't say it's a nice thing to call them,
but that's what people call the middle of the country is flyover states.
Yeah.
Because like they're just not often visited.
So I had a chance to really see some of these towns with 500 people and very, very small.
And I said, that's me.
That's me.
By the way, I just, I don't want to interrupt you here, but
I now so badly want to take a cross country road trip with you.
I think that would be super fun.
I love how long does it take?
I mean, it depends.
I've done it.
The fastest I've done it is in 52 hours, which is like, I mean, it's quick because I was driving
a moving truck, but I mean, people do it in 20 minutes.
In a moving truck?
Yeah.
I used to work for a moving company and a 52 hours from where?
New York City to Santa Monica.
Yeah.
We just drove straight.
We didn't sleep.
So it's possible.
I mean, and like obviously the cannonball record, you know, is in 20 some odd hours,
but that's like like,
Audi A5, right?
And with this big gas tank,
there was for a while.
I don't know who has it now.
I don't keep up on it, but yeah, they like, they made it look like a Ford,
which I thought was kind of funny.
They put the Ford look and they basically made it look a cop car, but it was an Audi.
Yeah.
So I thought I remember it was an A5 or what?
Yeah.
I thought it was a six or whatever.
But anyway, um, yeah.
And I know there was an A8 that held it for a while too.
That would be my choice for that.
I would do an A8 L if I was into the cannonball or like an S or an S8.
And a beetle would be cool.
Well, you definitely probably no one notices you here in a beetle.
Like a beetle just kind of disappears in traffic.
But no, I think I say that because, um, I grew up in New York City.
I live in Los Angeles now, but it's a certain period in my life because of the magazines.
I got to travel all these really small towns, especially when I was doing Donk Magazine,
going to just these really small towns in the South and the Midwest.
And I did the magazine.
Hmm.
You did that.
Yeah.
I launched Donk Magazine.
Yeah.
I used to work for a magazine called Rides.
I'm familiar with rides.
So rides was like a competitor to Dub in the U.S.
And actually had a bigger newsstand.
One of our photographers sent us photos from Miami and said,
Hey, there's a bunch of guys here who have these like old, you know,
they have these, you know, old like Chevy's and they're all on these big wheels.
I, you know, I think you guys are interested.
So this was 2004, 2005.
And I was like, Hey, you know, there's this culture blowing up here in Miami.
Do you guys want to do a story on it?
And we said, Yeah, sure.
Send us some photos.
Right.
And this is like, when I say send us some photos, like this was like,
he literally physically sent us the photos, right?
Because it was still an error where we were shooting in film and we were drum scanning things.
So he sent us some slides and we're like, Holy shit, this looks incredible.
So we ran a photo.
Yeah.
So we ran, we ran a story on it and there was like eight or nine cars from Miami area.
We ran the story and just for fun, I mocked up a cover and at this point,
only rappers were on the cover of rise magazines or celebrities.
Right.
So it was like, it was a celebrity driven car magazine and I mocked up a cover just for fun.
And my publisher came down and he was like, what, what are you doing here?
I was like, I just, they're just playing with it.
It's like, it's just a joke.
And he's like, because I knew he was like, what are you doing?
You know, he's like, well, are we going to make that?
I was like, I don't know.
He's like, do you think we should?
I was like, I don't know.
I was like, maybe we do it as like just in a region.
Like what if we do it just in Florida or just as, you know, just for the cover in that area?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we could you like split covers when in the US, you make so many of them that you can,
you can kind of, you know, separate those things.
So we did a two cover and we basically delivered the entire South, no wrapper on the cover,
just the car and it crushed.
And we got the report back from the newsstand on how well it was doing.
And within, you know, within a week, the publisher was like, you guys need to make more of these.
And I was like, okay, we're going to do it.
We call the magazine Donkbox.
Get a picture of it.
Somewhere.
I mean, I can find, yeah, I'll show it to you later.
I was like, we can, we can do this.
And we're going to call it Donkbox and Bubble.
They were like, okay, go on the road and figure it out.
And like at this point, like it's pre-internet, like the internet exists, but it's pre-social media.
Tracking these guys down were not easy.
So we were calling guys who were filming in the local areas.
We were like on forums, like we're trying to find these guys.
And we would just, the best way to find them was the shops that were building the cars.
So we flew to South Carolina and then North Carolina and we drove down through Georgia
and into Florida.
And you know what I mean.
And we just spent.
These sounds.
Like something North Carolina or something South Carolina, like all these areas,
there's this guy like DreamWorks to do is one of the best guys.
And like we just met such awesome people during this period.
And I look back at it now at myself.
Do you know Tony Harmer photographer?
I think you, I'm not sure if you've ever met him, but he was, he was our photographer at the time.
And he did most of the, like the premium Ken Block stuff.
Like if there was a new livery launch, Tony Harmer, most likely shot it.
Like the classic like to Ken Block with the lights in the background shot.
Like that was Tony's signature kind of look.
And he worked at rides and 06 with me.
But anyway, we went and we did this.
And my biggest regret was that we didn't turn the camera on the people more than the cars.
Because it was such this cool experience for me to like go in here.
It's like, I'm like a German car guy.
All right.
I like making like small cars slammed on small wheels with stretch tires.
These guys are doing the exact opposite of what I do, but we connected.
Like I'm still friends with some of the guys I met in that era.
But it also like as a New Yorker, like you grew up in New York.
You were told that you live in the greatest city in the world and fuck everywhere else.
I mean, the current New York line is New York or nowhere.
Right.
He never did the same as in New York.
And, and I, I understand that as a New Yorker, but man, there's so much cool stuff to learn elsewhere.
And like that was the real, first time for me that I got to like meet people
and then be like, let me take you to the best restaurant in town.
And sometimes it was really good.
Sometimes it was an animal piece.
But like, but you know, but like that was, it was really rad.
And that gave me this appetite for road trips.
So like I have driven cross country, like full cross country, probably like 12 times now.
And all of them have been like trips.
Like, like I used to purpose the longest.
Um, I did like a, I did, I had the new Audi RS4 came out in 2007.
And then I drove 8,000 miles zigzagging America to get to New York.
So we went like, they went like all over, we went like to Atlanta.
And then just, we got to Atlanta and a friend called us and said something was happening in Chicago.
And we drove back to Chicago and just like on the road.
And that was like two full weeks.
I love that.
And then I was going through this phase two where I would purposely buy cars from far away.
To drive them home.
So like I drew, I bought like Jamie.
Yeah, kind of like that.
Yeah.
Like years ago I bought when I first moved, moved here, I bought an AA in New Jersey,
flew back home with my body, Tony and drove cross country, just taking photos and eating
in random restaurants and starting conversations with random people.
But I think you would be a fun person to do that with because not that America's,
not that America's still not new to me.
Because there is still moments where I find parts of America that feel very different.
But I think for you, it would feel very different because I've also road tripped Germany and France
and Scotland.
It's still fun, but like I've done all of that.
See, so the, the, the JP that you see and that sits here is very happy and very free.
And, and because I can, after 24 hours in America, I always, I stand straight.
I look forward.
I, my head up because I don't have this life on the outside.
And when I'm here, I'll always try to have a good time and to, to enjoy people because
this is acts.
This is absolutely not what I can do when I'm home.
So I will, when you talk about this, my mind says, but I will be lies.
But 16 companies, all this going on, my life is not like that.
Yeah.
And so some people say, well, I'm a very busy guy and nobody, no matter who says that to me,
I can say, mm, can't compare the shit.
So, but people in America who know me here, they see me always very relaxed.
Yeah.
And give me these kinds of offers.
But when I come back, you don't have that time.
I mean, I'm surprised you've stayed on the podcast this long.
I mean, I have, I got to put the suspension into the Z,
the O6 that I just picked up.
Are you going to do that with Vinny?
Yeah.
Okay.
I mean, he's there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
No, but the thing is that I told you when I came into the room that I had a very nice
experience.
Yeah, you said you had a very good morning.
You didn't tell me what it was.
You can tell us now.
So, yeah.
So I'm over KW.
I said, Tim, I need the suspension for the car.
Can you arrange it to me?
And we were looking, it's not in stock, but there's a customer who has the suspension.
Let me contact him.
If he's, if he put it in the car already or not, he did not.
So luckily he was 20 minutes away where I stay.
I just drove up to him.
I'm pretty sure you know him.
His name is Andrew.
Okay.
So I pulled up in my mind.
I was planning to stay there for a minute, pick it up and go.
I was staying there for one and a half hours.
We knew 30 people were laughing this and that.
Vinny bought the car yesterday, right?
He and his friend were about to buy the car.
We were talking.
We were talking.
That happens a lot here.
It does?
Oh yeah.
I'll like send cars to Vinny and Vinny's like, I'm going to buy it right now.
I'm like, all right.
What can this happen?
It's such a big town.
And the MyZ06.
Facebook marketplace algorithm.
Okay.
MyZ06 that I bought, he had the same picture on his phone.
Oh my car, I just bought.
So it happened all the time and he was racing with this guy.
I was also racing with him and he was, he's racing in a large life and all this.
And we were talking and talking and the freedom, the feeling that I had this morning,
meeting somebody, he had no clue who I am.
Right.
And, but we had the same hobby.
This is something what not, it's not happening.
Yeah.
Because when I talk to people, they want to impress me.
They are nervous.
They talk not how they normally talk because it's this guy.
So I had an experience that was for me, I'm 45 new because I'm now in this position for around
20 years.
So I had 25 years without that.
And now 20 years with that.
And that's sad.
Is there ever a world where you move to the U.S. but still make German language content and sort
of just live?
I thought about it.
And just live on, you and I have talked about it.
Yeah, we did.
Because you asked me if I thought it would work.
I think you actually said, do you think I can make American content?
Right.
And I said, look, I think you've done an amazing job.
I'm sure you could translate it, but it's very saturated here and you're going to be up against
a lot of other people and you're going to have to catch up to them.
But I think there's actually something interesting, which is sort of like the footballer model,
which is like live in LA, no one recognizes you.
And that used to also be the F1 model, not anymore.
The distance.
Not anymore.
But they would all come and live here.
I mean, Lewis Hamilton, before F1 became what Netflix has sort of turned F1 into,
he would live, he would hang out here in California because people really didn't recognize him.
Not sure anymore.
But I can see a value of that of you saying, I'm going to come here.
I'm going to make, still make my German language content to the audience I already have,
but expose them to something new, which is California, but it's California through your
POV, which is so different.
Like when we go to Germany.
Oh, you mean making content here for there?
For there.
Right.
What I'm doing right now.
Is there a world where you do that because one, it makes, it gives you a unique story,
but it also keeps you out of this like limelight that like you do live in in Germany.
And I want to say this for the audience.
I said it before and I'll repeat it again.
Having seen the fan base around you, it is more similar to the top gear
fan base, which like I've seen of celebrity than the YouTube side.
Like, because Chris Harris, good buddy of mine, he talks quite often about how it's really
intrusive.
Like it is, you just can't do any normal things anymore.
You can't go to the movie with your kids.
You can't do these certain things.
And I tell you what, we were filming together, Chris and me.
Yeah.
You guys just did the Porsche thing.
The Porsche convertible, the GT3 convert.
Yeah.
And between him and me is still a difference of, I don't know.
I mean, very, very, very big.
So back to your question.
Yes.
There isn't a world, a dream where I can see that.
It is a long flight.
Oh yeah.
No, I'm saying live here.
Oh, live 100%?
No, impossible.
Yeah.
You got 16 businesses.
Yeah.
The company is too big and too strong.
And also to look in their faces, I think what JP Performance gave to the German people
is way more than a YouTube channel.
Because I'm wondering that nobody in America does copy that.
Because everybody, it's not maybe what I say, they show what they do and then they enjoy their money.
But actually they don't give anything back.
Maybe they do an event or this.
But building a town or building a city or building something for them, nobody does that.
And I think the money is there.
But now, and for me, it's more like I want to try to stop this process.
What we were talking about that is going down as strong as I can.
Yeah.
I do think that there's elements of the U.S. group of creators that are starting to do that.
What are the creators?
So take like a Cletus, for example.
Are you familiar with Cletus?
He's a good example because he bought a racetrack that was going to-
Vin explains me in the moment really because I have no time to watch you.
Yeah.
Most YouTubers don't watch other YouTubers.
I am aware of it more now just because I'm bringing people on.
And Hoonigan was always somewhat paying attention to it.
Because the Hoonigan model was different.
Like we wanted to create a stage for other YouTubers to come and do stuff with us.
You are the show.
Right.
We wanted to create that space.
So that meant that we were paying attention to who else was out there.
So we could invite them to come do the thing with us.
But Cletus, I think is a really good example.
He's way more in the American car market stuff.
That's his space, big V8, screaming eagles.
That's his model.
Very much more in drag racing and now NASCAR.
He's actually now starting to compete in lower NASCAR circuits and kind of like moving up
ARCA as well as like truck series and stuff.
But like he went and bought a derelict racetrack and like fixed it and now holds constant events
there and has brought a piece of culture back to it.
And then as condos and all these things have started to move in,
he has been vehemently fighting those organizations to prevent racetracks from being closed in his
area but also sort of giving other people the strength and power to go do that.
So there are, I think, we're starting to see some of that stuff start to develop.
You know, I think for...
But you don't have the same urgent than we do.
Right. And that's because I don't think it feels as important.
I'm not trying to like toot the old Hoonigan horn, but it's like we did the Irwindale stuff
at Burnyard because we were talking to the Sheriff's Department and they were like,
these kids need a place to go or the crackdowns are going to get a lot worse.
Like can you help just create something that's cool?
You know? And it's one of those things where it's like,
I don't know that we really wanted to go work with the cops on it,
but it's like they were being really cool with us to say, you guys go do this.
And like, you know, that would be really helpful for us to be able to...
Because I will say this, people have different feelings about police in America for all different
reasons, but a lot of cops are car guys. Like a lot of cops really...
Not a Gemini though.
Yeah, yeah.
Some of them aren't, but a lot of them are.
So like I have Sheriff friends who run full blown race cars and are super into it and like,
we'll say things to me the fact that like, oh yeah, this thing definitely won't pass Smog.
And they have a racetrack that's up in Santa Clarita that they used to let Hoonigan go
drive our cars at, which was super cool.
So like they were that cool element.
I need a racetrack in the next few days.
So I booked tomorrow because we wanted to go drifting and track racing and on a track with the Corvette.
So I'm at Apple Valley.
What is not so...
Pretty small for the vet, but I mean, if you want to drift it...
Just play around.
But is there a racetrack I can go tomorrow or on Friday?
Potentially Willow Springs.
I can call a friend over there.
You don't want to go there.
No, I want.
But everybody says to me...
We'll try to work something out for you.
Yeah, I think that unfortunately, but this is actually where the current American problem is
we're losing all our racetracks.
So Irwindale, which I mentioned before is no more.
They've knocked it down.
They knocked it down.
California Speedway gone.
They've knocked it down.
You know, Willow because of new ownership and I think they're going to be able to stay,
which is great.
Thermal is a private track, can't go to.
But all of these tracks, like My Home, Dragstrip, English Town, Raceway,
or Raceway Park is officially known.
Got shut down because people bought houses across the street from it and then complained that it was too loud.
The same.
That is happening.
They've got to be Germans.
Yeah.
So this is where, and this goes back to the story though, where I feel like you are like the ghost of Christmas future.
Like I feel sometimes when I listen to what you're talking about and what's happening in Germany
feels like the ghost of car culture future.
And like, how do we stop that?
You know, you're not.
Americans have more connection to their right.
Germans love that.
A big amount of Germans love to get controls.
Yeah.
Well, you guys kind of just like order and control.
And Americans not.
We like celebrate rebellion.
It's like part of our culture.
It will never, it will never be like, it will never be like that.
I sure hope not.
No, it will never be.
It's as a kid who grew up on German car culture, it is depressing for me to go see that.
I think the thing that brought the biggest spotlight was going to Ultrace in Poland
and having conversations with people there.
And they're like, this is what Germany used to be like.
Like this was what Werthersee was like.
This was it.
And it literally had to leave the country because the culture just is not acceptable anymore.
Like it just is, it's like everyone looks at it that way.
I mean, I'm working on it.
Where so we feel like, I feel like there's this moment right now where car culture feels criminalized.
Right.
A hundred percent.
Which like car culture was always a bad guy element to it.
There's always like street racing, James Dean.
There was always that.
But now it feels like even more so.
Where do you have, where do you have when you use it?
You have the potential to do it six times strong by only pushing a pedal.
So it for even people looking at you, the potential you drive by, it's loud.
You are allowed to drive 60 kilometers per hour.
The car sounds crazy and you're driving 55 and the people go like this.
So the element is always a little there.
Like skateboarding downtown or something like that.
So it is not meant to be okay.
So I'm driving home and I got an arguments with people in Germany and I shouldn't do that
because this is for the newspaper always very interesting.
I'm driving under the limit, but the cars loud and they're screaming at me.
Yeah.
And I don't want, I don't want you to scream at me.
That's starting to happen here.
Like you're starting to see a lot more of that now.
Yeah.
There's a video that just went famous of a, I think I was in a C8 and a Karen started
kicking the side of his car because it was too loud.
And like that is become sort of a culture.
It is part of a culture that seems like that's now like okay.
Because driving the 06 it hurts.
You hurt me coming.
I heard you.
Yeah, you hurt me coming.
So far, every day.
Sounds amazing, man.
Everybody stops me and says the car sounds amazing.
Yeah.
I mean, you also never in Germany, it will happen.
Southern California still has a bit of a love for cars.
Like there's something special here, despite what everyone says, there's still something
special here.
Like I've been pulled over in really loud cars and usually the cops like, so what's under the hood?
And not in a, I want a state refuge, but in like, I want you to get out because I want to see it way,
you know, so you get that too.
But maybe they were afraid if you can get out of the car because you're so big.
Yeah.
Maybe they just want to stop you there.
Maybe they were afraid.
I'll be honest, I have that.
They want to help you.
Other than the first time I ever got pulled over, I really have only had good, good interactions
with police.
I don't know.
The first time I got pulled over was a nightmare and they like pulled me out of the car.
In America?
Yeah.
You got pulled over in Germany before?
Yeah.
I lost my license in Germany.
See.
Yeah.
I lost my license twice in Germany.
So I got pulled over in Germany a couple times actually.
Yeah.
I remember when Brian?
Yeah.
I got, I lost my license in Germany for Autobahn.
Like there was like a literally like 300 meter section where the speed limit went down and
then went back up again and I just wasn't paying attention and we were moving and yeah,
they caught me at like, you know.
What was the highest speed you ever drove?
In Germany or here?
Here.
Here I did on the highway.
You allowed to say that?
Well, it's pass point.
Yeah, it's whatever.
It's fine.
Okay.
No one's coming after me.
Flock cameras aren't moving.
Couldn't catch me back then.
I did 186 miles an hour in a C606 doing bull run in 2005 in Utah and I hit 186 but I
cruised at 180 for 25 minutes, which is exhausting.
Like to drive that fast for that long is tiring.
You mean the engine doesn't like to?
180 miles an hour, right?
Not kilometers.
In Germany, I think about like 175, 180 in the C, what was that?
Probably the C7 RS6 or the twin turbo, the V10, that one?
Yeah.
Did like 180 in that?
Yeah.
I mean, whenever we're in Germany, the minute we got in the Autobahn,
doesn't matter what we're driving.
If it's a rental, all the way out.
Yeah. I mean, I lost my license in a Hyundai.
So it doesn't matter what you're driving.
It's just fun.
How do you guys, how has Germany become such an anti-car culture community and still have the Autobahn?
I'm waiting for that it ends.
Many people ask that and the question is so big nobody talks about it to not pay attention on it.
Do you think that in some way the Autobahn is like part of German culture?
Externally?
That's almost like you can't get rid of it.
Look, as a kid.
Look, right.
I'm asking 100 Americans a question.
What do you think about Germany?
Even if one person says the Autobahn, it is culture of it because there's so many options,
what he could say.
And I'm pretty sure when you ask 100 people in America, it will be more than one.
Yeah.
I mean, look, if you were to ask me when I was younger about Germany, it's like,
World War Two and all the bad stuff that goes along with that.
And then there's the Autobahn and then there's German cars and there's Schnitzel.
Schnitzel, Schnitzel.
I think Schnitzel is dying.
The word also because you don't get a real Schnitzel anymore in Germany, to be honest.
There's a decent Schnitzel spot here.
If you want to try American Schnitzel, we can go to Rasselbach.
I'm pretty sure, I'm very, very sure that these kind of things will become better externally
than internally.
Yeah.
When you think of America as a German, what do you think of?
Like what are the things that really stand out for America?
Freedom.
Yeah.
What is that like?
You know, it's interesting to hear because I think in America, we feel like we have less
freedom now than when you stay.
Maybe you have, but still.
And I just talked with a friend about it.
And I think, because he asked me about that and I said, because of China and all this,
I think at the end of the day, China will be the best in many, many, many things because
they have a lot of money and they have a lot of energy and their mentality is like that.
But one thing is there that they can never, never take away is when you turn on a camera in America
or when you have your flag or something's going on, what built up in every human being,
in Italy, in London, in England, everywhere in the world is that America has so much
feeling and written so many stories past the last 100 years that you will never,
ever be able to beat that.
And this is something what you can't copy.
This is something what you can't buy.
It is your house.
It is the street.
It is the tree.
It is the forest, the water, skiing, surfing.
It is, it is it.
So you can't copy it.
That's because our number one export is Hollywood.
Right.
Our number one export is telling you how good our culture is.
What's very connected.
Which is arguably propaganda, but you know, but it's the reason why
Levi's are as cool as they are or were.
You know, it's the reason why Levi's sold for so much money in Soviet Russia back in the day
because we have the ability to make things cool through culture.
I think that is like the greatest American commodity is culture.
You explained it better than me.
I'm struggling sometimes when we talk.
I would love to explain it in my language.
Yeah, I get that.
I couldn't even, I can't even say two lines in German.
So I'm impressed that you've gone for two and a half plus hours speaking not in your
native language and thank you for that.
But I talking for two hours and 42 minutes.
If you want to, the record is three hours and one minute if you want to go for the record,
otherwise you can leave now.
You want to break the record right now?
Of course.
Do you know TJ Hunt?
Yeah.
He owns the record.
He said it like two weeks ago so we can go for it.
No, I don't know him.
So I'm talking with Vin about it.
I know the name TJ Hunt.
Yep.
I know Cletus.
I know Adam LZ.
Adam LZ.
Yeah.
Whistle and diesel.
See that name?
Whistle and diesel in my opinion lives a little outside of the traditional car culture world
because he sort of makes...
Which one is it?
Whistle and diesel?
Whistle and diesel, he makes like mini films and he usually breaks it.
So he's like the guy who will like buy a brand new Ferrari.
It's, it's, he lives in like a shock culture kind of space.
He has massive viewership.
I guess because people love to see that.
People love it.
And this is not for me.
This is not car culture.
It's, it's not my cup of tea either.
But I respect that he's found something that works and he makes it work.
And I actually think he does good storytelling.
So like as a storyteller, it's there.
It's just like, I wouldn't watch it.
But there are some things that he does that feel close to things that top care used to do
that I like, like he did this whole thing on the, you know, on the Hilux,
which reminded me sort of like how bad can you destroy a Hilux?
I see nearly nothing.
I watch sometimes I watch Vince videos.
Yeah.
I watch Hagerty.
Yeah.
What do you watch on Hagerty?
Like Jason Camisa?
Yeah, only.
Yeah.
You know Camisa?
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's a good dude.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And I've known him forever because we were both journalists back in the early
years.
I think he does it.
He has a very special way of being directly in between of TV style and YouTube style.
And he does it.
I enjoy watching him.
If somebody would talk like that or tell me a joke like that, I wouldn't laugh.
It has to be him in combination.
He does it very well.
Then James Pumphrey, because I think his way of talking is also extremely entertaining.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, he's a actor, comedian by trade.
So I think he delivers in a way that a lot of other dream of.
Yeah.
A lot of other people just, it's just not their nature to, you know.
And that's it?
Yeah.
Do you know James?
Have you worked with him before?
I met him once.
Yeah.
He's a good guy.
Yeah.
We've obviously had him on the pod.
I mean, him or both folks, I can kid.
So we chat on Vokes, I can stuff and I got to work with him on this Sun Kang feature
film that I worked on.
And it was kind of cool because I got to see him as an actor, which was like different
than seeing him the way I always saw him on donut.
So yeah.
That's a good combination people.
You do realize that there's, there are so many million plus subscriber YouTube guys
in the car space that I don't even know them anymore.
It used to be, I knew all of them, right?
The Adams, the TJs, the get like, these were all sort of the original group,
Mighty Car Mods in Australia, you guys, Yuka down in Mexico.
Like there was this, who?
Do you know Yuka?
J-U-C-A.
I refer to him as like Mexican you in that he is like by far the large, like by far the
largest person in Mexico, just like you are, you, you'd eat up in my opinion, I may be
wrong, but you eat up so much of the space in German YouTube.
Like it's you and then some other people.
He's sort of, he's sort of appears like that.
He's also a really cool dude, builds a lot of really cool projects.
I, I met him like somewhere how I met to you in Mexico, which is I didn't know who he was.
And I, he showed up on set while we were filming with Ken.
He came over, he started talking.
He was nice, but he had a camera and he's kind of vlogging and I was, I was like,
Hey, whatever man, you know, you can talk later.
So just had like a regular conversation with him, right?
And then I got tagged in a photo later on and like my, my Instagram exploded.
I was like, Oh, I guessed this dude.
So I hit him up and I was like, Hey man, like, sorry, I didn't realize like,
you know, what you were doing.
I was like, if you want to, you know, stop by and we ended up putting him,
he showed back up with his beetle and we put him in the, we put him in the film,
like no, a little cameo moment because he was just there and I was like,
Oh, let's just throw him in for this one shot.
And I say that not because you guys do the same thing, but because from my understanding,
he owns like a 70% market share of the Mexican YouTube space where I don't know what your
market share is, but it feels like it's like 70 to 80% of the market share.
No one in America has more than a single digit market share.
Do you know what I'm saying?
Like it's just, there's just so much out there as big as you think cletus and whistling diesel are.
There's just so much out there and like there, a lot of, a lot of creators are in this like
100 to 300,000 view and there's just countless.
Like you, every time you look, you find another one.
You're like, I never even knew this guy existed.
He's got a million subscribers and he's doing a half a million views on average.
I had no idea he was in this world.
So the thing is, I was talking to a few guys also in America about
how much money they get from YouTube and I was shocked.
You guys get a lot more.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We, we don't do well at all.
I mean, to give you an idea, not that this episode does YouTube podcast really aren't like the
YouTube model.
Also on YouTube.
Yeah, this will be on YouTube as well.
So it's like Spotify, YouTube, Apple, whatever.
But on YouTube, even if this did 50,000 views, right?
And it's long.
It's maybe like 200 bucks.
And that's for something that's going to be three hours long.
If we would have done that back in the day on Hoonigan and would have done very well,
but the money that you make off of YouTube has been steadily declining in the US.
Our CPMs are not strong.
That's why everyone here has a separate business.
Like everybody here either is merch, just selling merch.
They have other product integration.
So everyone has supported this, right?
I mean, you know, KW sponsors this show, right?
Like Heatwave Visual, right?
Wear a Tools, which is a German brand.
How do you say wear a by the way?
W-E-R-A.
They do anyone?
Yeah.
Yeah.
They do?
They sponsor the show.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Vera.
Vera.
Vera.
Yeah.
I would, they're different, you can say different ways.
So I think that's the word.
I only say it because people call me out for how I say it because I say wear.
Now I know that W's are V's in German, but I think it's weird for me as an American to be like,
yeah, I like using Vera Tools.
Like it's weird, although I will say Porsche.
I'll say things the other way, but I asked the folks here and they're like,
we don't care.
You can say however you want.
They're like, our receptionist says we are.
I was like, okay.
And they're like, she answered the phone, we are Tools.
I was like, that actually kind of works.
This whole marketing thing is so different here.
Yeah.
So different.
If I would say in a video, this is sponsored or this is,
see, I have a deal with Likrimoly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But my deals are always like that.
If I do nothing, I do nothing.
If I do something, I do something.
Don't talk to me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I need freedom maximum.
And that I think is the, that's sort of like how I try to create my relationships as well.
I think that works the best.
That isn't how it always was, but.
And if they don't accept that, I'm absolutely happy with it.
But if I would tell my audience.
When you control 75% of the market space, you get to do that.
That's special.
100%.
I'm aware of that.
But, and I want to stay that way that I don't have to do deals because I don't want to do deals.
Yeah.
I don't want to.
I just want to do my cars, my videos.
And I would never say subscribe, watch this, like this.
You decide if you want to do that.
If you don't like it, if you don't subscribe, this is all your decision.
I don't, I don't say buy this.
I don't say nothing.
You decide, you're smart enough to understand that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You're smart enough.
Yeah, I think, I think for like that kind of stuff, like first, I think.
But America is very different.
I think America is very different.
Very different.
We're like, we're very used to being.
Some of you guys start the video like that.
Look, for me, I, you know, when we were at Hoonigan, we did a, we took a lot of money we
shouldn't have taken because you got employees to pay and you just, we're trying to figure it out.
YouTube wasn't paying it and whatever isn't paying it.
I'm now at a point in my life where it's like, I only want to work with brands I like.
So like for example, Vera, where is a great example?
Like I really like their tools.
I hope the reason they reached out to me is because they saw me using their tools.
Like, Hey, W is the best.
Yeah, I like those guys.
No, no.
America does not know how good KW is.
Yeah.
See, as an American, like I've had KW's in my cars since 2003, 2002, like, because they were so cool.
Like Europe made us aware of that.
When I talk with Americans, yeah, I'm thinking about getting
to brand or KW's in it.
And it's like, yeah, I'm competing in a basketball game.
I'm thinking about my neighbor, Michael Jordan.
I think I take my neighbor.
He's playing with me.
So KW is really putting everything that they learn, including with the factories
into the product that you buy.
And I can promise you they're not doing that.
The other brands, they have the picture of the car, but what you buy is not what's on the picture.
Yeah.
You've been, yeah.
And we worked with them on actually developing stuff for us.
Like when Ken was having problems with his RS 200, it was like, oh, bring it to the shock.
You know, or the shake rig and like figure out the suspension.
Yeah, yeah, seven posts and like all those kind of things.
Also as someone who loves the Nurburgring and all of that, it's like you watch the N24.
It's like half of the competition is on KW.
And if you think about it, the Nurburgring is closer to what you will drive on a good mountain road
than any other racetrack because it's like, there's roughness to it.
It doesn't have.
I don't think there's a mountain road like the Nordschleife.
I'm not saying it.
It's like it.
But what I'm saying is, is it's a lot closer to a mountain road is the Spa.
That's true.
Do you know what I'm saying?
Or Laguna Seca, like there is, the road is not perfect.
Which means that the suspension has to deal with that, where when you build suspension for
perfect roads, it works like shit when you get it onto the 405.
I always explain it like that with KW is you put it in the car and the car feels slower.
In the acceleration because it takes so much stress out of the car.
Did you remove some of that?
That you, that you, that you really think, I think I lost a hundred horsepower.
Right.
Because normally it slips.
I don't think, I don't think this is selling KW right now.
You want your car to feel even slower?
No, no, no.
I get what you're saying.
I understand.
No, but it really does.
It gives you way more, it makes you faster.
Yeah, yeah.
Because you are way more comfortable, even if you're not that super highly skilled,
because it helps you take care of you to really be in control.
Yeah.
I think for, you know, back to the kind of like the sponsorship side of things,
it is a become a huge part of content in the US to both a negative and a positive.
And the positive side is allowed this to become a career for people, right?
That there's money there.
But, and I'm curious as to how different the German market is, but in the US,
like you pretty much have three options.
One is you get paid for integrated content, right?
Which means in the video, right?
So you're being paid by an outside partner to either talk about their stuff, right?
Or to integrate it or whatever.
In Germany too.
Second one is that you play the volume game.
And that means that you're sort of in the, so you have to put up a lot of uploads like you do,
but you also really need all of them to do well.
So you're leaning a bit into like algorithmic hacking.
So it's like the video needs a really good thumbnail.
It needs to deliver algorithmically, but you don't,
you're not really putting a lot of effort beyond that piece,
because you're trying to make money off of YouTube.
And the best way to make money there is not to spend too much on your content
and try to make it so that you are putting out enough content that you get paid for YouTube,
right?
And then, you know, those are basically, you're either,
you're either coutowing to the algorithm or to the sponsor.
And then the third model is that you have another business
and your YouTube just funnels to the business.
And that is where mostly everyone I think has gone now, right?
Or you do all three together.
Or you do all three together, right?
I think everybody has a version of the three.
Like no one's saying no to the YouTube money, right?
But at the same time, it's usually not big enough for like,
it's, it wouldn't pay, it doesn't, you know, it doesn't pay to keep this running.
I think that the weird part is, is that I come from and you come from a world
where people used to pay for content, right?
Like magazines, you bought them, right?
TV channel, maybe you paid for it because it was cable
or you were paying through your taxes or whatever.
I'm watching an audience in the U.S. get really, really fatigued
because either it feels too clickbaity,
it feels like you're trying to make something for the algorithm.
You're not actually making good content.
You're just making what the system wants.
Or you're so heavily integrated with sponsors that it's like,
it feels like that's all that's there, right?
The problem is, is that at the same time, like if you're not the one spending the money,
like you don't have as much control anymore.
So like, I actually believe, and this is, I'm happy we waited
to almost three hours to mention this because it is not a popular opinion.
But I think content's going to go back to being paid for
because I think at a certain point people are like,
I don't mind spending 10 bucks a month to get something I really want
versus everything that I watch is either algorithmically massaged.
And now that we have AI and AI can speak way more algorithmically,
everyone's shows are just going to be made this way.
I don't want to change it too much, but I listened to this person the other day.
They said, they went and they found a creator who they wanted to emulate and be like,
they downloaded all the videos, turned them into transcripts, took the transcripts,
stuck them into Claude, had Claude figure out what pieces of this were the parts that were
really working compared to all the top videos versus the lower videos,
and then wrote them scripts for 10 videos.
And they went and made those 10 videos and each one of those videos did a million views.
You realize that it has completely removed the creative part of making something.
Like they just found the cheat code and the recipe to go do it.
There's a thing in my company.
And like that thing for me, just to finish that, that thing for me bothers me, right?
That like that's the way to go make content.
But I get it.
Like if it's a business and you're trying to make money,
that's going to start to come out.
So you're now, as someone who doesn't want to do that, I'm competing with that.
I have great partners.
I enjoy working with them, but I do realize like they're real partners.
Actually, I think work well on a podcast because like we're talking for two and a
lot of hours.
People have to listen to like four minutes of like advertisement over two and a half hours.
It's a decent ratio, but I've watched other people's content where you're like,
this whole thing feels like it's bought.
Why am I watching this?
Yeah, the certain point, are we not as an audience going to get back to going, you know what?
If I just pay 10 bucks or something and I get something I really want,
don't I want to watch it?
I watch Clarkson's Farm.
I like that show.
Do you ever watch that show?
Never.
You know, Jeremy Clarkson?
Absolutely.
By the way, Cancer Diagnosis, Prostate.
He apparently, they caught it early, but it was on Clarkson's Farm.
I didn't see it last night.
Honestly?
I read it.
Yeah.
Yeah, Prostate Cancer.
So he said it's quite aggressive.
He's like one of my heroes.
Like I do what I do because of the three amigas.
Like every time someone will be like, oh, you guys kind of ripped off this.
I'm like, no, we ripped off Top Gear.
Get it straight.
The only person we ever ripped off and ever will rip off is Top Gear
because they did it all first and they did it great.
Best.
Yeah, they did it best.
They really did.
Best.
Yeah, no question about it.
I was lucky to film and do things with their team.
Same here.
I got to watch them write.
I got to watch them sit in the room and write a skit with Ken
and watch it come together over cigarettes and wine.
And it was super cool.
In my company, there's a thing.
I don't allow them to use AI.
Thank you.
We appreciate you from the creative world.
From a delegate of the creative.
No, 100 percent because the young ones also are so not stupid,
but so flat that they think I don't see it.
Because, you know, when we talking and I ask, can you show me this?
And you see this.
What do you think that you wrote this in two minutes?
Do you honestly think that?
Now I don't just to let you know.
And this is great.
Do you know what that word means?
Use that word in a sentence.
Or when they when they copy it wrongly out,
when they leave it in like, do you want it different?
Or do you want me to write this in a different way?
Yeah.
When you send me this shit, at least put this out.
And no, this is something what I really don't like.
And then you see and probably they're right.
The conversation that I have with them,
because the young kids are so used to have it easy and fast, easy, fast, easy, fast.
And I'm saying, yeah, but I want you to think about it.
I want you to do it.
But I'm not doing it the way as good as AI would do it.
It's not the thing.
I want you, I'm paying you, paying you to think about it.
And I want to have a conversation with you,
because when you use all the time,
you lose all the potential that God gave you to create yourself.
You become just a flat guy,
because you're not even reading what AI is telling you.
You just button-paste.
And then they think, I did the fucking job and they're not.
Yeah.
And honestly, and I know this sounds so old person to say,
but it's like in so many ways, like they're cheating themselves.
As something as I have-
They do.
As something I've learned as I've gotten older.
And Vinny used to accuse me of this, and I agree.
Vinny said, he's like, sometimes I think scato
makes things difficult just because difficult is a good story.
And as I've gotten older in life,
I've realized that the most memorable moments in life
are the ones that have friction.
Things that don't have friction, you don't remember.
There's something about that friction that makes things sticky in your brain.
Right?
Like that really difficult thing you had to make,
that you hated it while you were making, stays there.
Where the things that just happened, the cars, I'm sure-
Yeah, very much the same.
Like the friction is the part that makes you kind of fall in love.
I mean, and I think it's even in relationships,
that girl that was difficult, that friend who you kind of fucking hate,
but also kind of like love.
There's something about the right amount of friction in life.
It keeps too much convenience now.
And looking for it.
And it applies to everything, including cars.
Like I don't need a car that does all this for me.
Some things are nice.
And I will go on the record, I like Hill Assist.
Only because I've been driving manual transmission for so long.
Because your foot is too big.
Yeah, yeah, it's probably because it just hits the fucking dash all the time.
You know?
No, it's also because I live in Los Angeles,
and there's some really weird steep hills here,
and I hate burning my clutch.
Like I don't mind that.
Steep hills in LA.
Go to Las Yenaga and Sunset with that car right now.
And just sit in that line going up this, like if it's like a 40.
Yeah, you're right.
West Hollywood there.
Yeah, there's some good stuff over there.
But anyway, I say that.
But like there's all these other things, like auto blip shift,
and like all this stuff that like I just, I don't need this convenience.
I enjoyed learning how to heel toe.
And I will admit, I still could be better at it.
Probably because I drive so many different cars and my feet are huge.
But like, but that's fun.
It's fun to get better at it and then like get out of practice
because you're driving something else and doing this and learning.
Like I enjoy things that require friction.
Also, when we go a little deeper, heel and toe.
And you know you can do it good.
And then you're driving, there's a painting picture,
somebody behind you and you have this little bell.
You don't know who it is and you mess it up.
What happens in your mind is working on yourself.
Doing, I should have done this.
Fuck, I'm a little reference a little too high or too low.
And all this happens.
And this is very important because if you do it with the computer.
And sure, you're faster, but like, I don't know if that's the goal.
No.
Right.
Like I don't know if that's the goal.
How can you be?
Like having a perfect lap in a manual transmission car
where you didn't botch a single corner
because you were perfectly there is an accomplishment,
even if the time is slower for me.
Do you know?
Yeah.
Or when you get faster on this track and you feel that,
for example, you in four and you know,
I come to this corner and I have 1000 rpm left.
And then you know, I got only 200 left.
So you get more connection to what you are doing.
And I think it's very important.
Yeah.
And I think that that, like we probably at the cars,
but I think it lives in everything.
And I go back to this to bring us full circle.
I just feel like content and Germany may be in a different place.
And you have, I think, the advantage and the luxury
because of the size audience that you've built.
You get to do the thing you want to do and people show up for it.
I think that in the U.S. market where things feel really saturated,
everyone is trying to like out shock each other.
Right.
Like there's like this big thing that we maybe lost the plot of what good content is,
like of what it is that we want to make.
Right.
And I don't think everyone agrees with that, but I do.
I watch a lot of stuff and I'm like, this feels very formulaic.
This feels like anyone else's show.
I think that to me, the algorithm flattens like the creative curve.
Like people aren't trying to do outside stuff.
Right.
Like for example, Jim Conno was a very outside idea,
but I don't know if we would have today because there was no model that proved that it would work.
But we were like, let's try this.
Who knows?
Maybe a skateboard like video with cars might be exciting for people.
Right.
I think that there's a little bit less experimentation because of the financial thing that goes around content.
In America, I don't know if I can't speak for Germany because I'm not German.
I think on this one, I would not agree because
we make
about him. But when one of the six guys are doing it, he said, yeah, that's the way to go.
And he's thinking, well, I did this exactly like that all the time.
Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. It's a, I think that there are some creators out there like yourself,
guys like Mighty Car Mods, Binky, who like they develop something and they've had it for so long
that like that is their thing and it works and they don't have to conform because it just,
it just drives where I think a lot of other people and Hoonigan was like,
Hoonigan was like it for two different reasons, but they're always sort of chasing something
different. One of the reasons Hoonigan was like that is my fault. I just like new ideas and I
want to try new things. That's you. It's me. And I was like, oh, I want to do, we did this. I want
to go do this now. I want to go do this, right? And it's like, I enjoyed jumping all over the place.
I think with you, because it's, because to me, making content is like project cars. I'm not
happy with just one. I want to have 126 ideas that are out there. You know, you have a very,
very, very strong eye for aesthetic in writing and logo and how it should look and how it should be.
And I think this is what we lose a lot, especially in the future, because AI is really
hitting it right now. And I will use you. You are, how logos should look, how it should be.
And I think many other creators don't have that in them.
Right. So yeah, I get that.
Or I hire somebody else to do it.
Yeah. I think one of the most difficult things for the modern day creator on YouTube is that you could
be very likable on camera, but you don't, you're not good at editing. You're not good at the business
end of it. Like, you know, think about the whole picture that makes your channel work.
This was one of the things that was really unique about Hoonigan was that we had a business
that did the part and it let other people show up and just do one thing good. Right.
They didn't have to do all the pieces. Because you had the package.
Because we had the package, right. And I think that unfortunately, I don't think that,
I don't think that YouTube supports businesses like Hoonigan or Donut or Motortrend or any of those.
I don't think the model of having 45 employees to do content really works like it does for a
single person. How many employees do you have now?
Employees? Yeah.
120, 115.
Yeah, it's crazy.
But you have 16 companies. But like that is the model, right?
No, but actually, like you said, when I pulled up with you, the video thing is small.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, is it even?
I mean, now, I mean, I got seven camera guys who are also editing.
Yeah. But you're putting up five pieces of content.
Right. So they have to.
I don't think anyone, I don't know anyone who does that much content.
No.
Not anymore. There are guys who will do them for sprints.
So it'll be like, like Cleetus does this thing called like, you know, like the month of freedom
and he'll do an episode every day for 30 days. But I think most people have sort of moved back to the
twice a week at the most, maybe three times. Hoonigan was doing that.
We used to, at one point we were doing 10 plus pieces of content a week across multiple channels.
Yeah, it was insane. I don't think it was good though.
Like I don't think it was good.
If I would go back, if I would go back to two or not back, if I would go to two or three a week,
it would not work anymore.
Why?
The people, JP performance got so important for them.
It's part of their life.
Yeah, it's part of their routine.
I do this and then I watch JP.
Yeah.
What time does your show?
What time?
11 30.
In the morning.
Yeah.
So it's like lunchtime. I'm watching JP every day.
Every day.
So if that would not happen after so many years, I mean, I got people pulling up to me and
they pull up the t-shirt and they have my face that big on their back, on their leg,
on their stomach, everywhere.
That's crazy.
Face, not logo.
Yeah.
Face.
People did that with Ken, but none of the rest of us thank God.
That's crazy.
I would be freaked out.
That's is crazy.
And I feel so sorry.
I feel like, and for especially they expect that you say something, but you don't know what to say.
You go like, oh, nice.
We had a Hoonigan rule, which is if you had a Hoonigan tattoo, you couldn't work a Hoonigan.
Yeah.
It's like, because then it'd be even harder to fire you the day came.
It's like getting kicked out of a motorcycle club.
We got to cut it off you or something.
So that was bad.
But I think we got the record, right?
Yeah.
I love that you stayed just for the record.
I know you were looking at your clock.
You're like, I got all this work to do and you're like, I'll stay for the record.
Yeah.
Let me, let me see.
Let me see.
Because the good thing always being in LA is that the time difference helps me also a little bit.
Yeah.
It's also starting to get warm in here because we don't have air conditioning.
So yeah.
And I want to check out your rest of the cause.
Okay.
Yeah.
Well, I fully enjoyed this, buddy.
It's good catching up.
Me too.
We can, we have to do it again.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Anytime here in town.
So we could also like go do dinner and like stuff like that.
So maybe I'll move here and then I bought, then I will be the guy comes around and move.
You move here, I'll sell you the Ferrari.
Say you have a car when you get here.
Tell me your price.
We'll talk.
We'll talk about camera.
Thanks again.
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All anyone wants to talk about nowadays is how great 90s car culture was.
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At the time, that's all my wallet could muster.
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About this episode
German automotive media giant JP Kraemer of JP Performance joins host Brian Scotto for a record-breaking conversation. Kraemer shares his journey from Porsche sales and high-end tuning at 9FF to becoming Germany's biggest car TV star and pioneering YouTube creator. The duo discusses the stark differences between American and European car culture, the freedom of relative anonymity in the US, and how Kraemer parlayed digital success into a massive 16-company empire. It is an honest look at the business of car content and a warning about the future of car culture.
Audi A5
Audi e-tron
Audi Quattro
Audi R8
Audi RS2
Audi RS4
Audi RS5
Audi RS6 Avant
Audi S8
BMW 3 Series
BMW M2
BMW M3
BMW Z3
Chevrolet Corvette
Chevrolet Nova
Chrysler New Yorker
Dodge Viper
Ferrari 812 Superfast
Ford Bronco
Ford F-150
Ford Fiesta Active
Ford Maverick
Ford Mustang
Ford Pinto
Ford RS200
Hyundai Elantra
Hyundai Genesis
Hyundai Ioniq
Jaguar E-Type
Land Rover Discovery
Lucid Air
Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Porsche 911
Porsche Cayenne
Porsche Taycan
Rolls-Royce Phantom
Smart Electric Drive
Tesla Cybertruck
Tesla Model Y
Toyota GT 86
Toyota Hilux
Toyota Prius
Toyota Supra
Volkswagen e-Golf
Volkswagen Golf
Volkswagen ID. Buzz
Volvo 240
Original notes
We’re joined this week by Jean Pierre Kraemer, of JP Performance, undoubtedly the biggest automotive YouTuber in Germany, and one of the most successful creators on the planet. He’s a TV star and celebrity, builder of hundreds of builds from the classic, to the electrified ultramodern and everything in between. Not just content to produce content (ha) he owns and runs no fewer than sixteen businesses, and his complex in his native Dortmund is droolworthy. There’s the workshop itself, a burger bar, a theater-style dyno and down the block, his very own Pace Car Museum, housing his own creations alongside a staggering assortment of motorsport and car culture’s most significant metal. If all this doesn’t leave you breathless to find out how he did it, what’s next and what he thinks of the US? Well there’s no hope for you – you’ll just have to listen! Enjoy.
Partners:
FCP Euro
Heatwave Visual
Wera Tools
KW Suspension
Producer: Nick Rutter @nickrutterarts
Music: SlikSound
Patreon: https://patreon.com/u37266647
https://bio.site/321actionaction
00:00 - Welcome & Introduction
02:32 - Fame in Europe vs America
09:53 - Quitting TV for YouTube
12:56 - Building a Business Empire
14:32 - 121 Cars and Collector Mindset
18:00 - YouTube Pressure and Planning 2 Years Ahead
23:17 - Peak Car Culture and the 90s
30:46 - Social Media Trends and Gatekeeping
35:50 - Sponsor: FCP Euro
37:26 - YouTube is Changing
40:31 - Staying Fresh After 16 Years
41:33 - Gratitude Versus Burnout
50:25 - YouTube Celebrity Reality
59:03 - The Evil of the TUV: Germany’s Car Crackdown
01:06:26 - How Do We Keep Car Culture Alive?
01:18:38 - Sponsors: Heat Wave Visual, Wera Tools & KW Suspensions
01:20:32 - First Time in a Porsche: F**king One’s Way to the Top?
01:23:48 - Chasing Analog Emotion
01:25:45 - When was the Best Era in Cars?
01:29:23 - EV Pushback Reality Check
01:35:48 - Hidden Concepts And Halos
01:37:59 - Audi Nuvolari Design Critique
01:45:02 - Design of the Hoonitron
01:47:34 - Brand DNA Versus Driving Feel
01:50:50 - Korean & Chinese Cars Shock Everyone
01:57:29 - Where EVs Actually Work
02:00:58 - Taycan Temptation
02:02:45 - Hybrids and Range Extenders
02:06:14 - Building Base Cars… like the Hoonicorn
02:09:45 - Favorite Cars and Nostalgia
02:14:31 - Road Trips and Flyover States
02:16:25 - Donk Magazine Origins
02:22:34 - Fame and Freedom in America
02:29:19 - Creators Giving Back
02:32:41 - Racetracks Disappearing
02:34:24 - Car Culture Criminalized
02:36:38 - Getting Pulled Over
02:37:23 - Top Speed Confessions
02:38:32 - Autobahn Culture Debate
02:39:54 - America Through German Eyes
02:42:13 - Car YouTube in the US vs Germany
02:49:13 - Sponsors and Creative Control
02:53:31 - Algorithm Fatigue and Return to Paid Content?
02:59:00 - Creative Friction, a.k.a. F**k AI
03:07:39 - Creator Business Models
03:10:35 - What’s Next… Buying Scotto’s 360?
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