Exploring the quirks of automotive innovation, this episode dives into the use of aluminum in vehicles, particularly military-grade materials, and the challenges faced in modern manufacturing. The hosts share personal anecdotes about welding, project builds, and the struggles of working with aluminum components. They also debate the merits of high-end cars like the Ford Mustang GTD and discuss the evolving landscape of car repairs and restorations, touching on the importance of maintaining quality in a fast-paced industry. The conversation is both humorous and insightful, making it a relatable listen for anyone in the automotive field.
Welcome back to the F_cking Cars Podcast, where Ethan and Quintin dive deep into the builds, breakdowns, and bullshit that shape real shop life. Every week we tackle the projects on our lifts, the chaos happening in the automotive world, and the stories that only come from long nights in the garage. From custom fabrication to wild engine swaps, questionable Craigslist finds, and the philosophy behind why we keep doing this to ourselves—nothing is off-limits.
If you love cars, craftsmanship, and unfiltered shop talk, you’re in the right place. Grab a drink, settle in, and let’s get into it.
Military-grade aluminum is a strong and lightweight metal used in things like airplanes and tough trucks. It's made to be very durable and can handle heavy use.
Military-grade aluminum refers to a specific type of aluminum alloy that meets strict military specifications for strength and durability. It is often used in applications where weight and strength are critical, such as in aircraft and heavy-duty vehicles.
"Yeah, I just showed you that that video of the f-250. That's pretty crazy. They're making a tandem box"
The Ford F-250 is a strong truck that can carry heavy loads and is often used for work. It's popular among people who need a reliable vehicle for tough jobs.
The Ford F-250 is a heavy-duty pickup truck known for its towing capacity and durability. It's part of the F-Series, which is one of the best-selling vehicle lineups in the United States.
"...but like it's a Bronco which handle it, right? So we're going way too fast."
The Ford Bronco is a type of SUV that is built for off-road driving. It's known for being tough and able to handle rough terrain, making it popular for outdoor adventures.
The Ford Bronco is a classic SUV known for its off-road capabilities and rugged design. It has a strong following among enthusiasts and has been reintroduced in recent years with modern features while retaining its iconic style.
"this GTD that they have, that's $330,000 Mustang. It's like, I don't know who the fuck's buying it, but there's a guy in Wisconsin that just bought one last this last week, a bar in Wisconsin bought one."
The Ford Mustang GTD is a special version of the Mustang sports car that costs a lot of money, around $330,000. It's designed for people who really love fast cars and want something unique.
The Ford Mustang GTD is a high-performance variant of the iconic Mustang, known for its powerful engine and advanced technology. With a price tag of $330,000, it represents the upper echelon of the Mustang lineup, appealing to enthusiasts and collectors alike.
"...for a Procharger on it and you're at 800 horse, like you're, that's what that car has."
Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful an engine is. More horsepower usually means a car can go faster.
Horsepower is a unit of measurement for power, commonly used to describe the output of engines. Higher horsepower typically indicates better performance and acceleration.
"and it's a four cylinder. So it's not like it takes up a ton of space."
A four-cylinder engine has four parts that help it run. It's usually smaller and uses less fuel, which is why many smaller cars use this type of engine.
A four-cylinder engine is an internal combustion engine with four cylinders arranged in a line or in a configuration such as a V. This type of engine is known for being compact and fuel-efficient, making it popular in smaller vehicles.
"...considering building a temporary movable jump for the tundra. Whoa. Yeah. Hell yeah."
The Toyota Tundra is a large truck that can carry heavy loads and is often used for towing or off-roading. It's known for being tough and reliable.
The Toyota Tundra is a full-size pickup truck known for its durability and off-road capabilities. It's popular among those who need a reliable vehicle for both work and recreational activities.
"...but it's a car rotisserie. So it turns into a trailer, but like it lays out and then you drive, you can drive your car up onto it, and then it spins like that kind of rotisserie..."
A car rotisserie is a tool that helps you work on cars by letting you spin them around. This makes it easier to reach all parts of the car when fixing or painting it.
A car rotisserie is a specialized device used for restoring vehicles. It allows the car to be rotated 360 degrees, providing easy access to all parts of the vehicle for repairs and painting.
"Yesterday I saw a beetle, like a 70s beetle pulling a trailer that was like a little camper trailer that was shaped like a beetle."
The Volkswagen Beetle is a small car with a unique round shape that many people recognize. It was very popular in the 1960s and 70s and is often seen as a symbol of that time.
The Volkswagen Beetle is an iconic compact car known for its distinctive rounded shape and rear-engine layout. It became popular in the 1960s and 1970s and is often associated with the counterculture movement of that era.
"I see a lot of like weird minis running around, like mini panel wagons and mini, like, I don't know, just like different. I, you know, I'm so used to only seeing like a mini Cooper."
The Mini Cooper is a small car that many people love for its unique look and fun driving experience. It's been around for a long time and comes in different styles.
The Mini Cooper is a popular compact car known for its distinctive design and sporty performance. It has a rich history and has evolved through various generations since its original launch in the 1960s.
"And then you see the, the clubmen and stuff like that when they're like, but they're an old one. I see a lot of that."
The Mini Clubman is a bigger version of the Mini Cooper. It has extra space and different doors, making it more practical for carrying things or passengers.
The Mini Clubman is a larger version of the Mini Cooper, featuring a unique design with an extended body and additional rear doors. It offers more space and practicality while retaining the Mini's iconic styling.
"The, the, those DeSoto teeth are really, I have a set, not a, not a full set, but almost a full set. And that's really common for people to put in mercs, like chop mercs or put the DeSoto teeth in the front."
DeSoto teeth are parts from old DeSoto cars that people like to use on other cars to make them look cooler. They are known for their unique shape and style.
DeSoto teeth refer to the distinctive grille design elements from classic DeSoto cars, often used in custom builds. These teeth are popular among car enthusiasts for their vintage aesthetic and are commonly added to custom Mercury (merc) vehicles.
"And that's really common for people to put in mercs, like chop mercs or put the DeSoto teeth in the front."
Chop mercs are Mercury cars that have been changed a lot to look different and cooler. People often lower the roof and make other changes to give them a unique style.
Chop mercs refers to modified Mercury cars, particularly from the 1940s and 1950s, that have undergone significant customization, including lowering the roofline and altering body shapes for a more aggressive look. This style is popular in the custom car community.
"...what did you think of that? Speaking of the price you don't want to sell it for, what did you think of that? All original, not sell for $5 million gold, Cobra. Five million for this car right now."
The Cobra is a famous sports car known for being fast and powerful. It's a classic car that many collectors want to own, and it can be very expensive.
The AC Cobra is a British sports car that gained fame for its performance and racing pedigree. Originally produced in the 1960s, it features a lightweight design and powerful V8 engine, making it a highly sought-after collector's item.
"...hat? All original, not sell for $5 million gold, Cobra. Five million for this car right now."
The Shelby Cobra is a classic sports car from the 1960s that is famous for being very fast and powerful. Because there are not many original ones left, they can be very expensive and are sought after by collectors.
The Shelby Cobra is an iconic American sports car that was produced in the 1960s, known for its powerful V8 engine and lightweight design. It has become a collector's item, with original models fetching millions at auctions due to their rarity and historical significance.
"Like the barn find thing only started like 15, 20 years ago to where it actually like..."
A 'barn find' is when someone finds an old car that has been hidden away for years, usually in a barn. These cars can be special and worth a lot of money, even if they look bad.
A 'barn find' refers to a classic or vintage car that has been discovered after being stored away for a long time, often in a barn or garage. These cars can be valuable due to their rarity and the potential for restoration, even if they are in poor condition.
"...even the hood hinges, they, on this, on this cab, I don't know, it's a premier cab. And I think they have really good specs as far as like what, what was on original and to the..."
Hood hinges are the metal parts that hold the hood of a car in place and let it open. They help keep the hood aligned so it closes properly.
Hood hinges are the components that allow the hood of a vehicle to open and close. They are critical for proper hood alignment and function, ensuring that the hood stays securely in place when closed.
"...cut the brand new Art Morrison chassis and to clearance his headers that he had made."
An Art Morrison chassis is a special frame that car enthusiasts use to make their cars stronger and handle better. It's often used in custom car builds.
An Art Morrison chassis is a high-performance aftermarket chassis designed for custom builds and restorations. It provides improved handling and structural integrity compared to factory frames.
Headers are special pipes that help the engine get rid of exhaust gases faster. They can make the car run better and sound different.
Headers are aftermarket exhaust components that replace the factory exhaust manifold. They improve engine performance by allowing exhaust gases to exit more efficiently.
"...ing around, I just keep thinking of you or like a C8. Yep."
The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast and stylish sports car that many people love. The C8 model is special because its engine is located in the middle of the car, which helps it handle better and go really fast.
The Chevrolet Corvette, particularly the C8 generation, is a high-performance sports car known for its mid-engine layout and impressive speed. It represents a significant evolution in Corvette design, offering enhanced handling and a more luxurious interior, making it a topic of excitement among car enthusiasts.
"making sure that your vehicles have block heaters plugged in if need be or whatever."
A block heater is a device that helps keep your car's engine warm when it's really cold outside. This makes it easier to start the car and helps it run better in winter.
A block heater is an electric heater that warms the engine and fluids of a vehicle, making it easier to start in cold weather. It's particularly useful in regions with harsh winters, as it helps prevent engine damage and improves fuel efficiency.
"...e we all want to, I watched like four episodes of Samurai show this morning on Netflix. Okay. And it was p..."
The Suzuki Samurai is a small SUV that was popular for its ability to go off-road. People like it because it's simple and fun to drive, especially in rough terrain.
The Suzuki Samurai is a compact SUV that gained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s for its off-road capabilities and simple design. It is often discussed for its cult following and unique characteristics, making it a nostalgic choice for off-road enthusiasts.
"It's going to have to be. It's going to happen. Like oil changes that can be done by a robot. There's no reason a oil change can't rack up a car, lift it up in the air, let the fluid out of it and put more fluid in it."
An oil change is when you replace the old oil in a car's engine with new oil. It's important for keeping the engine running smoothly.
An oil change is a routine maintenance procedure where the old engine oil is drained and replaced with new oil. This is essential for keeping the engine lubricated and functioning properly.
"...I'm supposed to put a urethane primer on this. You just, you just filled this with a one K putty dude. Like, what the hell? He would use a window, we'd use window primer for like the edges of like corrosion..."
Urethane primer is a special coating that helps paint stick to a car's surface. It's used after fixing dents or rust to make sure the paint looks good and lasts longer.
Urethane primer is a type of automotive primer that provides a strong bond and excellent adhesion for paint. It's commonly used in bodywork to prepare surfaces for painting, especially after repairs.
"...you just filled this with a one K putty dude. Like, what the hell? He would use a window, we'd use window primer for like the edges of like corrosion..."
One K putty is a type of filler used to fix small dents or scratches on a car. It's easy to use because you don't have to mix it with anything before applying.
One K putty refers to a type of body filler that is ready to use without the need for a hardener. It's typically used for minor repairs and filling small imperfections in the car's body.
"...he would just like clean up a little bit of corrosion that like a rounder repair. Like, if there's something that was corroded that needed to be fixed, he would just like wheel it and then put window your, it's like not window urethane, but like the window, window primer go down before you put urethane down..."
Window primer is a special coating used before putting in car windows. It helps make sure the glass sticks properly and doesn't leak.
Window primer is a specialized adhesive primer used to prepare surfaces for bonding glass or other materials. It's important for ensuring a strong seal when installing windows in vehicles.
"...there's a time and a place for combi putty, definitely. I can, there is a place, you know, there, but it's not, it should have, it should never be touching body filler..."
Combi putty is a special type of filler used to fix tiny holes or imperfections in car bodywork. It's meant for small fixes and isn't strong enough for bigger repairs.
Combi putty, often referred to as spot putty, is a type of body filler used in automotive repair to fill small imperfections like pinholes. It's typically used in conjunction with other body fillers for a smooth finish, but should not be used as a primary filler for larger repairs.
"Well, some people have built a circle track car once in their life and they think they can build street cars. It don't work like that."
A circle track car is a type of race car made to go fast on round tracks. They are built differently than regular cars, so you can't just take one and make it a street car.
A circle track car is specifically designed for racing on oval tracks. These cars are built for high-speed turns and often have modifications that differ significantly from street cars, making them less suitable for regular driving.
"Oh, I found a aluminum cobra body online. Not to go back to aluminum cobra bodies, but there's aluminum cobra body online in two pieces for $45,000."
An aluminum body means the outer part of the car is made from a lightweight metal called aluminum. This helps the car go faster and use less fuel, but it can cost more to make.
An aluminum body in automotive terms refers to a car body made from aluminum instead of steel or other materials. Aluminum is lighter than steel, which can improve performance and fuel efficiency, but it can also be more expensive.
"...iven or heads or something like that. Even Honda Civics run a cable, like newer Honda Civics run a cable ..."
The Honda Civic is a small car that many people use for daily driving. It's known for being reliable and saving gas, which makes it a smart choice for getting around.
The Honda Civic is a compact car that has been popular for decades due to its reliability, fuel efficiency, and practicality. Recent models, including newer versions, have incorporated advanced technology and features, making them a common choice for everyday drivers.
"If the engine's facing rearward, that's a rear engine car. Like an early Porsche where the engine points to the back or a Volkswagen, that's a rear engine."
A rear engine car is one where the engine is placed at the back of the car. This design can change how the car drives and feels on the road.
A rear engine car has its engine located at the rear of the vehicle, which can affect handling and weight distribution. Classic examples include the Porsche 911 and Volkswagen Beetle.
Select text to request an explanation
It just sounds like a version of a portion of the internet that we don't want to click on
Yeah, I'm not Google image searching hand rub blacker. I can tell you that
Welcome back to the pod today. We're touching on the hard subjects trucks made out of beer cans lawnmowers that are overlanding and
How suffering through the cold will give you a strong work ethic?
Hey
What do you know today, dude? I know that I don't plan to be getting any cars made out of beer cans. I mean military-grade aluminum
Yeah, I just showed you that that video of the f-250. That's pretty crazy. They're making a tandem box
So they cut a bunch of two boxes apart to make a
tandem
Axel box and that's like you imagine welding that stuff together. Whoo. No way
I mean, I've welded a lot of aluminum, but
I don't have to finish it
Especially down a big bed scene where there's you don't really have a lot of access to
To get that weld hammered out, you know, like right? It's a big reach
Even for a planching hammer that I don't think I don't I don't have anything that would get in there aside from that ox
Planching hammer in your arm with a dolly on the inside
Be pretty rough
Yeah, I
I
And I think it's flexing of the door over time.
Honestly.
You know, as we were going down,
we ended up on a highway that was being redone
and it was like in springtime
and it was fucking terrible.
It was like, we were going way too fast,
but like it's a Bronco which handle it, right?
So we're going way too fast.
And I think I really think that the back edge of the door
was coming in and hitting the body.
Yeah.
For real.
And then when you roll the window,
you roll the window down just a little bit
and the window will flex a little bit
because the door's aluminum and the frame's aluminum,
but it's actually hitting something on the inside of the door.
It was like, I watched so many video after we got that,
I seen so many videos that are popping up
with people having window problems
and then software problems with them too.
But anyway, it's back to aluminum.
I think it's shit.
Do you think that the push for aluminum
in the new vehicles is fuel mileage
or is it just like innovation?
They're just trying to step up to the next,
what they think the future is.
Because it's definitely not cost.
I think it's aluminum.
I think it's just aluminum.
I think it's the lightweight to make ultimately
not need as much power, not need as much fuel.
It's ultimately like, I think there's a place for it,
but like you say in production vehicles,
the things that are gonna be used and abused,
the swing panels of a vehicle,
I would argue that the swing panels
need to be something more rigid than aluminum,
but because they're getting abused more.
Like make the fender out of aluminum.
Make the core panels bolt on out of aluminum
because they bolt on on these vehicles.
So make those out of aluminum.
Don't make them out of steel.
Make the swing panels out of steel
because those are the ones that get abused.
So to me, it's a little bit backwards,
but you're never gonna fix that.
Ford's still trying to dig themselves
out of a hole that they seemingly can't figure out.
In time.
The CEO is constantly,
the CEO is constantly out out there saying,
his employees basically,
they don't have enough technicians worldwide
for all the dealerships and all that.
And then in the plants themselves,
they're like trying to get the employees,
there's kids to work there.
Because that was kind of like how it used to be back
in the day, it'd be like a generational thing
that people work there for generations
that people would work at a place.
So he's trying to do that, which is admirable,
but you also need to have a reason to stay.
It's still a big old corporation
and you look at the bullshit that they spend their money on,
this GTD that they have, that's $330,000 Mustang.
It's like, I don't know who the fuck's buying it,
but there's a guy in Wisconsin
that just bought one last this last week,
a bar in Wisconsin bought one.
So.
Yeah.
I mean, they're cool.
I like them.
I mean, it seems odd.
But for, to me, I don't really understand the difference.
Like you can get a Coyote Mustang
for a Procharger on it and you're at 800 horse,
like you're, that's what that car has.
Yeah, but that car has a lot more than a power number.
Yeah, but yeah, weight ratio,
because it's got a trans axle in the back, I believe,
but it's not like $200,000 more pool to me.
No.
It's just not, it still looks like a Mustang.
I think it actually looks worse.
I think the wings on them look like shit.
It's like bolted to the seat,
the back of the seat pillar kind of thing.
I'm not really, I don't dig it at all.
I don't dig it either, but I think they're,
they're playing a different game.
And I think the kind of people that are buying that car,
they don't care about the investment
or the dollar amount on them.
Maybe don't you think they would be better off
just not using a Mustang as a platform?
Yeah, but I think the name maybe carries.
It's a Mustang, but I feel like it's probably
just to be competitive with the ZR1.
And I think that Ford would just pop a feather
in their cap to say the Mustang does XYZ.
But it's not competitive with the ZR1
when you're comparing it to price.
True.
Because you can buy a ZR1 and a Z06
for the price you can buy that GTD.
Yeah, but if you're a diehard Ford guy,
you're not using logic.
But if you're a diehard Ford guy
and you have that much money, you're gonna buy a GT.
That's my argument.
Like I'd rather have a GT.
Yeah, scarcity though.
I think all the GTDs, weren't they like
you have to go through an approval process to buy them?
That they wouldn't sell them to just everybody?
Yeah, I know that GTs were like that too.
Our ex-employer actually bought a 19
and I heard he just waited till he could sell it
and then sold it and didn't drive it.
Really?
Yeah.
And it left on a flatbed trailer
in the middle of a snowstorm.
We're on a back of a flatbed.
In the middle of a snowstorm.
Open flatbed, yeah.
It's like that's pretty sweet.
Like the most expensive car you've ever touched in your life.
It'll rinse off.
It's just water.
Yeah. It's just cold water.
Just, it's just salt, just salty water.
It's nothing to do.
There's a lot of that out there today.
Snow, Wisconsin.
Fuck it.
Yeah, I think we had at least two feet
of sunshine this morning.
Did you get it all shoveled up?
I went and soaked some of it up for coming on here.
Oh man.
Put that shit in the envelope or box it up
and bring that shit down here up here.
All right, I'll pack a cooler and send it to you.
It is actually, the sun is actually shining today,
which is, I wanted to get that snow cleaned up
otherwise it's gonna be a fucking mess later.
It'll be like slop and yeah.
You remember, right?
Oh yeah.
I remember shoveling my roof a few too many times
and deciding I never needed to do it again.
Yeah, I might have to go back.
I might have to go back and get the edges of the roof
yet because that's where the shit piles up.
Yeah, anyway.
Yeah.
What's new with you in the car world?
Anything new?
I have not been doing too much this week
other than just toying with the truck
driving wise here and there.
But other than that, I haven't been doing too much.
I'm starting to plan for the next truck build
but you know, holiday season.
So I'm kind of taking it easy as far as that.
Yeah.
On my son's truck, the little Toyota.
Sure.
I think that's gonna be cool.
If you're doing to do that, that's center-mount travel
of front suspension, that's pretty fucking awesome.
It's pretty cool stuff.
Yeah, I'm trying to decide the best route for that.
Because I have a bear frame or I have a stock frame,
no suspension on it.
So I'm trying to decide if I'm gonna weld braces too
because I wanna keep the motor mounting location the same
and it's a four cylinder.
So it's not like it takes up a ton of space.
Trying to decide if I weld some braces in
to where the motor mounts are on the frame
and then cut everything else out around it
and then build back to it.
I just brace it up.
I just brace the shit out of it in every direction
and then cut your suspension out and just go from there.
Make sure you have enough room with your braces
that the braces are out of the way enough
and that's all I would do.
Make sure the shit's halfway square
when you're, before you cut it apart,
make a lot of do a lot of measurements that way.
Yeah.
That's the only problem with building not on a nice frame
table or something like that, but it can be done.
Yeah.
So then I gotta.
Yeah.
This frame, I got to work pretty good for shit like that.
I mean, it was ultra cheap at the time.
So it worked out pretty awesome.
And alls I use it for is just jigging cars up
and measuring that's really it.
It has pull towers, but I don't know.
I've never used them.
I have, I can't in my heart seem to get rid of them,
but they also don't work.
So I don't know.
It's like they're like ultra cool
where you could do some cool shit with them,
but also straightened, but I don't really, I don't know.
Hard to get rid of stuff that will like,
it could, it could really work for something really awesome.
Even if you're trying to move some stuff around.
I don't know.
Hard to get rid of, John.
I feel you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I'm just in my head been planning that out
cause I want to, once we get through Christmas here,
start making moves on that frame.
And then I don't know at what point I start taking parts
off of the other truck,
but I kind of want to leave the other truck running.
So it's as long as I can.
Like I almost want to get this frame ready.
It'd be nice to have a cab and a fender,
a fender mounted up in there,
a fender and maybe a hood just to know positioning.
Right.
But I guess you have those.
Do the, do those trucks have like an outer apron?
It won't when I'm done with it.
Oh, so that's all going to be gone.
So, but you could still at least keep enough of it
to know where you're well.
Yeah. You might want to have fenders on it.
Yeah. It'll be a mount a cab and then you'd line fenders
and then you have to build mounting tabs for fenders
and spacing for hood.
I don't actually know that I'm going to keep the,
I considered doing like a,
like a truggy or a rock crawler style
where they actually cut, clip the hood in
and the fenders actually,
so your grills narrower and everything like that,
just for more clearance and just it'd be aggressive
as it can be, but cause it's not going to be
the most aerodynamic highway vehicle.
I mean, we'll seal it up nice, but I still don't,
and it's obviously going to be able to go on the highway
and go a hundred miles an hour and whatever,
but I don't think this is going to be, you know,
we're going to do road trips in it other than for,
you know, like a fun trip where you'd want to do the truck.
I think this is the vehicle you guys are going to jump.
I, oh, I've also been considering building
a temporary movable jump for the tundra.
Whoa. Yeah. Hell yeah.
We got a huge pile of hardwood pallets at work.
And I'm like, I could, I could make something out of all this.
I seen a rotisserie that like turns into a trailer
on Marketplace a while back.
It was actually really cool.
And I'm like, I have no room, like even,
even now I would have no room for it,
but it's a car rotisserie.
So it turns into a trailer, but like it lays out
and then you drive, you can drive your car up onto it,
and then it spins like that kind of rotisserie,
like a show, like for at a car show.
Oh, okay. Oh man. It's so fucking cool.
It's pretty wild actually.
It was pretty cool.
What's, what's the price?
It was quite the production.
It was like three, three or four grand, something like that.
Like honestly, it was looked kind of homemade-ish.
So who knows how well it worked, but it worked.
It would have been cool.
You need a car spinning around in the shop.
I always thought that'd be, I mean, for the price point,
if you had space, you know, that'd be pretty cocky looking
and somebody's like shop or whatever, you know,
having a car just spinning in the center.
You just have your car on it.
Just, and when you turn the lights on,
the car starts spinning real slowly all day.
Somebody comes, looks in the, you know, peeks in the window
and they're like, what the fuck?
Yeah, car's still spinning.
That'd be cool.
I'm trying to dream up how that would be mechanized,
but for a trailer.
Interesting.
It was, it looked like a little gearbox,
some kind of little gearbox thing that was in it.
I don't know.
I can't remember.
It does.
It was a long time ago.
Yeah, it was pretty funny though.
It was like a little shit box car pulling it.
So it's pretty funny.
Yesterday I saw a beetle, like a 70s beetle pulling a trailer
that was like a little camper trailer
that was shaped like a beetle.
And they were paying nice and stuff like that.
It was pretty, it was pretty cute.
It was like almost like a teardrop,
but it had little fenders on it.
And it was very beetle-esque.
You know what I mean?
Sure, sure, sure.
But it still had to be a camper.
So you know what I mean?
Like it was, you know, didn't have like,
like a hood to windshield line.
Like that was more of a smooth shape and stuff,
but pretty cool.
Is there like weird quirky shit down there?
Is it in comparison to Wisconsin?
Oh yeah.
I see a lot of like weird minis running around,
like mini panel wagons and mini,
like, I don't know, just like different.
I, you know, I'm so used to only seeing like a mini Cooper.
And then you see the, the clubmen and stuff like that
when they're like, but they're an old one.
I see a lot of that.
There's some quirky stuff.
There's a, it's that car that I always see driving around here.
I know it exactly when I see it, but
I don't know.
My, my brain's not working right now, but there's,
there's some cool, there's like an older late forties,
early fifties car I normally see driving around.
I can't think of the name for me for the life of me,
but it starts with a D.
What's a D forties or fifties car?
So it's a DeSoto.
Yeah.
He nailed it.
Yeah.
There's a DeSoto that drives around here all the time.
It's like maroon, but like nice factory car.
Nice.
Is it got the, the teeth, the upright teeth in it?
That'd be like a 53 for somewhere in there.
Um, I don't think it's upright teeth.
I think it's like an oval grill that says DeSoto in it.
Interesting.
Maybe it has some upright teeth and then the DeSoto is in front of it.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I'll look at it next time I see it.
The, the, those DeSoto teeth are really, I have a set,
not a, not a full set, but almost a full set.
And that's really common for people to put in mercs,
like chop mercs or put the DeSoto teeth in the front.
They use like two sets, fill the whole thing.
They get expensive, ultra expensive.
I had mine on sale for later on sale, on sale.
Fucking dumb dumb on marketplace for,
it was, I had them on there for a year and a half, two years.
As I really didn't want to sell them.
It was like, this is the, I don't want to sell a price.
And it was, I think it was 1500 bucks.
And I had a guy that was pretty like,
like he was fucking me around a little bit.
So that's why I never ended up selling it a year later.
He contacted me.
I really want to buy them now.
I'm like, I'm not even dealing with you.
Like I'm not going to drive to the cities to sell these to you.
And like, then you decide to change your mind again.
No, thanks.
It's got a pretty firm rule that if you're buying, you're driving.
You know what I mean?
Like I don't deliver stuff.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, that's pretty.
That is a good rule.
I like that rule.
Yeah, it's too much of a, it's too much of a risk
when you have to deliver something.
And then if they decide, oh, you just drove your four hours,
but I'm going to try to be down now.
Oh, I should probably not say that.
I'm going to try to, uh, dicker with you on the price.
And, uh, I'm going to, I'm going to, you know, you know,
this looks a little, this has got a little more pitting than I thought.
So I'm going to pass.
And then you're out, you know, eight hours of driving.
You find that people want to negotiate before they even show up to,
like everything's got to be like set in stone.
And then they want to come.
Like they'll beat you up on the, on the price.
And then they show up and then they'll beat you up even more on the price.
Yep.
It's like, come on guys.
But I don't know, that's like a whole viral thing of just low,
like low balling people.
I think people have like, like YouTube videos of just sitting around low balling
people on people's reaction.
It's like, I think the part of that problem is, is on marketplace.
It seems like people are inflating their prices, expecting negotiate.
So you don't necessarily want to go there and then find out they were serious
on a price.
So you, you want to, you want to feel them out first.
And I think the other part, it does seem like this is fake as hell.
So you don't even know if you're talking to a real person.
Right.
I think the other part of it is big.
It's a lot easier to be a negotiator as on the other side of a keyboard than it
is in person.
No doubt.
Yeah.
Cause when you see somebody in person, like you can tell if they're a negotiate,
like a in person negotiator or not.
Like some people just don't even want to talk.
Like they just want to just give you the money and just get the, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's interesting.
And you're like, what about this tear in the seat?
Yeah.
Get all weird.
So I got to know, what did you think of that?
Speaking of the price you don't want to sell it for, what did you think of that?
All original, not sell for $5 million gold, Cobra.
Five million for this car right now.
Would you sell it?
Nope.
Wouldn't do it.
And what makes this Cobra unique?
Well, it's one of 31 427 SCs.
And the fact that it's got some of the original gold paint is the holy grail.
This particular car is considered to be the most original Cobra left in existence.
Oh balls, dude.
Like that's fun and all.
That like just sell it to somebody to put it museum, I guess.
Cause if it's, he's not taking $5 million for it.
The dude's probably driving it a little bit.
If he's a cocky guy, but I wouldn't be driving it at all.
Like if it's worth that much money, there's no way.
Like you'd have to be, the background of that house did not look like a guy
that had a $5 million car.
That he would take money for.
I mean, granted, that might not be the place he lives, but I was looking at the dude
and I'm like being a little judgey.
Like dude, you should probably take $5 million for it.
Cause I don't think the economy of Cobras is going to be a forever thing.
I don't think it's about that.
The guy probably doesn't need any money.
And he probably has enough to make it through the rest of his life.
You're right, but it's still like that's just like fucking dumb.
My problem was, okay, it's one of 31 cars, one of even fewer in gold.
It has original paint.
Well, we can tell.
But how is there no Cobras that are more original or nicer than that one?
Like Shelby doesn't have any set aside.
Like there isn't any collectives.
I think so.
I think he was, he was selling cars he didn't have in the early days.
You know, so yeah, I believe there weren't cars.
You know what I'm saying?
Like that's, that's just kind of how they ran.
So I, I would believe that to a certain extent, but you would think that there is.
Yeah.
I mean, with up until, you know, 20, like 15 years ago, keeping a car original original
wasn't very cool.
Like the barn find thing only started like 15, 20 years ago to where it actually like
it would retain and hold value even though it looks like shit.
I just feel like there would have always been people that bought the car just to buy
the car and then, and not really use it.
Yeah, but there was a, there was a thought mentality in the, in the market that
when you have a car of that caliber, you make it perfect and then it just stays perfect forever.
Like there was no, there was no, we're going to preserve this.
Like that thing's missing.
Like at least a quarter of the paint and you know, on that car.
That's original.
I mean, but there, I mean, that's, it's, it's never going to be original again.
Right.
So if you fuck it up, you fuck it up.
So I could see that.
I mean, it's a cool, it's a cool.
I'm just not that, I mean, Colras are cool.
I like, I like Colras.
I think they're the shape of them overall is really aesthetically pleasing.
I think they could be tweaked and be better, but I didn't think a $5 million.
That's dude, just take their money.
And I mean, like I said, it's some rich guy.
What are you going to do?
One thing I've seemed to learn over the years is sometimes
a rich guy isn't who you think they are, especially in Florida.
I think that's, I mean, there's a lot of, there's a lot of money and even in this tone,
as far as like people that have paying jobs that pay way, way more than anybody would think.
People just, they're really, especially around here.
I'm sure Florida is very similar.
Just don't have the, they don't walk around in Gucci, you know, they're still wearing car heart.
Yeah.
They don't have the gold chains there.
How many gold chains do you see in a regular weekday?
Um, not as much as Florida.
I know.
I think you have to get that when you get your license.
I think that's what that is in Florida, right?
In Florida, I think with the license, no, no.
I think you, I think you at five years, they, the state sends you a gold chain.
I'm pretty sure after five and then every five years it gets bigger.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then it depends on how much chest here you have to though, right?
Yeah.
If you have deep chest here, you got to have a bigger one.
Yeah, it's got to, I believe the, the term I've heard is it has to be nestled in your
chest sweater, like Conway Twitty.
Gross.
That's about gold chains.
Chains, pure gold chain is a, to me, a gold chain is a used car salesman.
So what's up with the 58 behind you today?
Well, not today, but this next week, I'll be getting going on it for sure.
Gonna get the box set up on, I get the radiator in it, get it, get, basically get the,
the, go down the priority list that me and the customers and, and else came up with,
just to start knocking some of the problems out or figuring out solutions to problems
in the first week or so.
I think we're just going to take it a step at a time.
And sometimes it's creating a list that doesn't overwhelm the customer and me at the same time.
Just, you know, baby steps into these things because it's a lot, there's a lot to consume.
They don't have, you know, all of the parts for the vehicle, which is
probably a good thing at this point.
So we can be a little more picky, choosy on stuff that's going to fit inside the cabin,
as far as like HVAC stuff.
And I mean, even the hood hinges, they, on this, on this cab, I don't know, it's a
premier cab.
And I think they have really good specs as far as like what, what was on original and to the,
to their cab, but where the hood hinges mount, they have aftermarket hood hinges.
So they're aluminum and they're, you know, they're kind of like ring brother hinges.
They're really fancy and they set the hood back down in the same spot every time.
I can't remember what brand they are.
But now they're all pushed out a little too far to where they're actually touching
the inside of the fender.
So it's like just really general, weird problems, because we got the hood fitting
pretty decent.
And then we're, and then we're like, Oh, hey, look at that.
This is why we had it at, I was helping them at their shop.
It's like, Jesus, what are the, what's the next problem going to be?
It's like, now we can't even fit up the inner wheel well, because
well, we got to deal with this problem first, you know, there's just a lot of general,
really general, weird things that you got to work through that.
If you're not doing it right the first time, you're going to screw yourself down the road.
And it's just, you know, dealing with it first, instead of dealing with it in the end,
trying to figure out what the hell we're going to do then.
I've met people that you just want to, we'll just cut a recess and stuff.
Like, like on that Mustang, the guy took over for, he wanted, for the exhaust,
instead of having the exhaust made the right way, you just wanted to cut the frame,
cut the brand new Art Morrison chassis and to clearance his headers that he had made.
It's like, dude, that's not the way cars are built.
Like, not ideally.
Yeah. Yeah, not ideal.
Yeah. What are you going to do?
I did have, this last night, I had that Ryan from Count's Customs, that a painter,
the head painter guy, he like, followed me on Instagram and started clicking like on all my,
all my shit.
And I was like, oh, that's pretty neat.
Somebody that's, you know, been in the industry a long time and obviously pretty recognizable
to a lot of the people in the automotive industry.
Pretty neat.
Yeah, that's cool.
Hmm.
I didn't have anybody that big, but I got a comment today on a, on my truck YouTube video
from a guy I've been following for like three years.
So I mean, it's cool.
It's cool.
Anytime like this stuff starts to like, you start to feel like you're in the arena.
You know what I mean?
That's kind of like, I saw it at like two o'clock in the morning.
I'm like, I should have looked at my phone or something.
Then my head's spinning, you know, like that's pretty cool.
Like in the end, it's just, you know, people liking your social media page and everybody's
social media pages, they're, you know, bright, shiny version of them.
But, you know, it is still really fucking cool.
You know, somebody in the industry that's been there a long time and as if not that
being on TV is my goal, but, you know, being that recognizable in the automotive industry
is pretty cool.
I mean, it doesn't hurt.
You know, for sure.
I just want everybody on here to know that I am 98% bright and shiny.
It's not just social media.
Oh, wow.
It's all the extra vitamin.
Bright and shiny.
As long as I don't have to clean up snow, you know, that's usually,
yeah, that's the shitty part.
Well, it was kind of fucking snow.
Every time I see an old car driving around, I just keep thinking of you or like a C8.
Yep.
Yeah.
This morning I'm driving to the shop and I'm like, you know, there's people still shoveling,
people snow blowing, you know, all of you here in the neighborhoods, just snow blowers and stuff.
When I came here, there's a loader outside across the street, you know, making all kinds
of noise and they just got done plowing here.
Why do we do this?
They drive, drive around the corner from my neighbors and there's like fucking yard is just
like the dirt's all blown up.
Like we do this every year.
Everybody's redoing their shit every year.
Why do we live here?
Because I was born here, I guess.
I wouldn't trade it for anything.
The experience I got.
I think everybody should live in the snow for a while.
Just appreciate not living in the snow.
So, you know, this, this ties into work ethic and, and the industry and blue collar stuff and
how we're, we're lacking people and I think it's
um, living in the, in temperate areas where you get real snow gives you a different work ethic
that you don't even realize you have because I worked in a full shift before you go to work.
I worked four a.m. to two p.m. for seven years there, um, the last seven years before I moved.
And so I had to be up at three, three thirty to go to work.
Well, if it snowed, I would have to clear enough snow for my truck and my wife's car to get out
and clear my wife's car before I left to work.
So you could count on half an hour to an hour of snow physical labor in the dark
at three to four in the morning cleaning snow up before working my 10 hour minimum shift.
And then when I get home, I would have to finish cleaning the snow up and do any
preparation salting or whatever for the following snowfall as well as, you know,
long term planning, like cleaning the roof and things like that and making sure that
your vehicles have block heaters plugged in if need be or whatever.
And I think that, that, um, that, that work that you're doing when you don't,
you don't have a choice to do it and you don't even think about it.
I think that goes a long way until you just understanding you can do a lot more than you
want to do it because we all want to, I watched like four episodes of Samurai show this morning
on Netflix. Okay. And it was pretty comfy on the couch. Okay. We all want to be comfy, but
we also have to do a lot of work. And, um, so like when I go out to work on my truck on a
weekend or whatever, I can go out an hour without even thinking about it, get more work than most
people do on their personal vehicles done in a month because, you know, I like the physical
output isn't even like, uh, it doesn't even hit the register most of the time anymore.
Anyway, you know, I just, you're just, okay, I have to that I have to do. And so you just go
out there and you just start going and then the next thing you know, the driveway is clear or,
you know what I mean? You got your engine torn apart or whatever.
I think there's something to be said about not overdoing it though, because I've been,
I bet it was pushed in my brain ever since I've been a kid that like basically what's your excuse,
you know, like you're a well-abled bodied human and just go out there and fucking do it, right?
What like, what's your excuse in comparison to anybody else? Just go out there and get it done.
And then, you know, your back starts to hurt and you're like ignoring it. Your neck starts to hurt
ignore it and you just keep working and working and working. And then now you're in a position
where I'm in and you're trying to figure out, you went up a t-shirt size and now your everything
hurts. That's literally my position last couple of years. Like I went up a t-shirt size. I can't
wear mediums anymore because my shoulders and my arms got bigger from working. But I mean,
yeah, it's all cool, but if you can't move your arms at the end of the day, what the fuck's the
sense of doing it? So now it's like trying to have my body relearn where everything's supposed to be
and, you know, shoulders work and everything. It's getting better, but don't overdo it, kids. It sucks.
There's a fine line of doing work and there's an overdoing your capability physically.
Yeah, not valuing a rest can fuck you up.
Plus, once you hit your thirties, you can't just go ham on something. I know they say that you
never see a lion stretch before it chases a gazelle, but the lion's probably not 35 to 40 years old.
And when those guys stop moving, they just stop moving. Yeah, they just they just they just feast
and take a nap. Yeah. Yeah. And they live to be like, I don't know. I mean, the goal is to live
as long as possible, really, for humans. I mean, but for the majority of people. So what does that
look like? You know, you have to make sure that's why I bought a power hammer. Like it's not like
my wife was seeing even like just hammering out a few welds with your with your shoulder,
you know, with a hammer and a dolly, you can fuck yourself up really fast, trying to just work on
a panel that I can get done in five minutes on a power hammer. And yet I could got paid to do it
by hand, but I can do it faster and better with a power hammer. And I can do it longer,
literally longer, my lifetime longer, because I'm not being so hard on my body.
And with efficiency comes, you can raise the rates too. So I mean, yeah, there is that, you
know, it's not really a downfall. If you're if you're charging somebody a half an hour on power
hammer time, and it does four hours of hand powering time, you know what I mean, you can
charge a more premium rate and then, you know, in a way scale your time better. Yeah.
That and to me, it was I had a few conversations with people, it's like, you know, you just return
the ROI, you know, their return on investment, it's just not there. It's like, I do understand
that portion of it, but it's also, you're never going to take on a job to
that would you're never going to take on a job that would require a power hammer if you don't
have a power hammer. You know, it's that unless you're an insane person, you know, that's that
it's I don't think that being said, I took on this Mustang that month that 66 Mustang,
I didn't have too much for tools to be honest that I was very naive when I took that job on.
I in my eyes, I think there are people who probably say differently, but it's
once as soon as we started getting into it, it was one thing and then they started asking
for more metalwork and it was like, I thought I was in over my head pretty quickly, but
everybody I was talking to is like, no, you're, you're doing good. You're doing what I would do.
And it's like, well, shit, this is, you know, learning it by yourself is one thing. You know,
you're getting tips, tips and tricks from people online and some, some buddies of mine and stuff
like that. But they're not, if they're not in front of you showing you, it's pretty hard.
Right. You got to get pretty creative.
Sometimes the best lessons are learned the hardest way though.
Yeah. I think we talked about that before, you know, you're not going to,
you learn lessons the hard way pretty much. And that's a hard thing for, like,
I think the youth to get over is a lot of it's going to suck because a lot of it does suck.
I think it was hard for us too. I think, to be honest, up until,
you know, it's, this isn't a rag on any of my past previous employers, but I've always felt
like the shit head in the shop. I've always felt like the young kid that never really got any
respect from anybody. Aside from the last place I worked, I was a manager there. You know, I felt
like that was a good situation that I just didn't, I didn't really want to be a manager of people
anymore and manage a collision shop. So, but anyways, yeah, it's just always felt like the,
like the kid that's working in the corner that's like, yeah, yeah, he thinks he fucking knows,
you know, but to be honest, I was also that guy looking at another kid in the corner being like,
or the older guys in the corner, like, look at these old heads, they don't know what the hell
they're doing, you know. I remember working at a body shop one time and I was feeling, you know,
they made sure to put, keep the thumb on me. So I felt like I was the kid in the corner.
And one day a guy came up to me and he goes, hey, hey, Ethan, if you don't know what you're doing,
why are the guys that have been doing it for 40 years coming to asking you for your advice? And I
went, I went, yeah, Quentin, that is a good point. Was that me for real? No shit. Yep.
You're a smart ass. He didn't realize he was, he had such sage advice.
I don't know. To me, I always, I always felt kinship with the younger people, not saying you
were, I mean, you're not very much younger at all. I feel like we're pretty much the same age, but
anybody that was like around my age or younger, it didn't seem like any, they were, we were all
on the same boat. Like everybody was like, it was like the old guys versus the new guys. And I don't
know why it's always been like that in every shop I've ever been at, but it's always the,
it's either the guy in the corner, the old dude in the corner saying,
well, I've been doing it this way for 20 years. That's, it never failed me yet. I was like, well,
you know, paints changed like three times since then. We don't spray single stage anymore.
Got 18 coats of hand rub lacquer.
Oh my God. It's like, well, yeah, that's going to be the best hand rub, hand rub.
Oh my God. It's a cool sounding.
I mean, hand rubbed.
It just sounds like a version of a portion of the internet that we don't want to click on.
Yeah. I'm not Google image searching hand rub lacquer. I can tell you that.
Have AI make a, like just type that in and see what it would even come up with. That'd be hilarious.
Probably wouldn't be hilarious. I'm not sure.
My AI assistant wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't know exactly what it is. Lots of training.
Hmm. Nice. Nice. Oh yeah.
I can't wait to get my AI guy in a, in a robot body and have him, you know,
fetching me the 10 mil because my kid's too cool to do it.
It's going to happen. It's going to happen. I promise you.
I'm going to be like 3D print me a 10 mil socket and they'll be like,
and they'll just hand me another one and they'll drop that down the engine bay and they'll go
and another one and they'll drop that down the engine bay.
Right. Just like a nonstop supply, a whole backpack of 10 mils.
Yeah. They just, they just 3D print them right when you ask for them.
This board saying we're running out of technicians and Tesla selling or
there's somebody selling robots for 20 grand. I mean,
it's cheaper than their health insurance any year for some people. It's crazy.
I mean, it's going to, there's no way it's not going to be somehow implemented in the automotive
industry more. It's going to have to be. It's going to happen. Like oil changes that can be
done by a robot. There's no reason a oil change can't rack up a car, lift it up in the air,
let the fluid out of it and put more fluid in it. I mean, granted,
it makes a mistake. It would be an expensive one, but I've also seen
human technicians take a car out on the road without the drain plug in it and go down the
fucking road. Oh yeah. They happen all the time. So you can't tell me that the robot's going to be
better at it than some kid changing oil. They'll get the right amount in and they'll remember
all the steps because it's programming because sometimes human programming is not that good.
Especially when it's just like that kind of work, like the repetitive,
repetitiveness of oil changes and stuff. You're usually trying to find cheaper labor
because it is a limited market unless you're going to some dealership where it's like a $300
for an oil change. But even then, they're still using the cheapest technician to do said job.
Right. That's where you, that's where you take your, your hazing is in their lube tech section.
And then if you can make it out of there, you level up.
Yep. Yeah. Just like being a prepper in the body shop. I never did that.
Everywhere I ever worked was start to finish body shops. So I didn't have like a prep. Yeah.
Sure. Yeah. The shop in Eau Claire I worked at was a, I was the prepper. Basically,
we got stuff down in body filler. We have to add up the primate, prep it and prep all the panels
and mask it for the painter. So it was, I mean, dude, tight. If it wasn't tight, that guy would
fucking come by and rip it all off. Yeah. For real. He walked by and he's like, I, he walked by,
there's like, we had our rounds. I mean, I would still, the guy's awesome. He taught me a lot,
like how to, how to tape something fast and efficient and the right way. First time, like,
if you see this transition, you're doing this, you see this transition, you're doing this. And
the dude was never around. He always had it banged out. We would do like,
like probably three or four cars a day, like two to four cars a day, depending on the size of the
job and stuff like that. But when you're working together with a prepper and a painter, you can
bang some stuff out. For real. But you got to have, you got to have all the implemented people
doing all the, all the jobs appropriately. And it was always something on the, the two, the two,
the two repairers, I guess, it was always a fight. You know, the guy was like, do a swipe
a filler and leave it in 80. And then he would take combi putty, combi putty, the whole fucking
thing, sand the combi out in 180 and then send it down to me. It's like, I'm supposed to put
a urethane primer on this. You just, you just filled this with a one K putty dude. Like, what the
hell? He would use a window, we'd use window primer for like the edges of like corrosion.
Like he would just like clean up a little bit of corrosion that like a rounder repair. Like,
if there's something that was corroded that needed to be fixed, he would just like wheel it and then
put window your, it's like not window urethane, but like the window, window primer go down before
you put urethane down. And that there is absolutely, like we talked to the tech, the high ups in the
paint world, like they're like, nothing sticks to this stuff. Like you guys should not be using it.
Like nothing but urethane sticks to this. Yeah, urethane sticks to it. And that's it. Yeah. Yeah.
So that's pretty cool. What are you going to do? There's always, there's all, even you go on the
auto body technician, there's like a bunch of different sites on Facebook and stuff that
where people like swap ideas and stuff like that. And there's always tension between,
because there is an auto in the, if you look in the repair for, you know, the collision repair,
it's going to be repair, there's going to be, it's going to be caught up
as far as what the repair is and then refinished chime and all that stuff. So that's how, kind
of how they break it up in the shop, but it depends on shop to shop on how, who takes care of what.
Do the, does the repair, that's where we were talking last time about this feather block in
prime and like the primer isn't, isn't included. So like whose responsibility is it to prime it
and then prep it for paint? Is it the refinisher or is it the repairer? Because if it's not in
coded appropriately in the estimate, nobody's going to like, that's the fight.
So it's just like, creates a lot of tension, especially because the people up front just
want the car done, you know, they don't care. Everybody knows how to do it, just do it, you know.
My issue I've had with when I'm around any type of production place is even where I work now,
which isn't body work, but similar, is when you have people who only have to do a certain step
of the job and they don't have to, and say they don't have to do a repair or make, fix anything
that has to do with their job or whatever, if they don't have to actually take care of a problem
and it goes on to the next step, they're never going to improve. You know what I mean? Obviously,
if you're getting paid flat rate and things like that, but you just run into a lot of issues like
where the bodyguides are putting combi putty on it because they're trying to get their hours,
they're trying to move this thing up. And that's what that's the issue. Everybody's trying to move
it up and out of their space. And then they say they're done with it. But you know, if you were
start to finish up, which may be slightly less efficient, you unfortunately have to deal with
every step of it. So you're not going to screw yourself one step and going into the next. So
it's hard. There's like a give and take with it. You know, do you want to give up production for
the possibility quality? And there's a, in the collision world, there's also like,
you know, the majority of shops in big cities, I don't think they're hourly. I don't know,
I don't know about the chain ones, but the place I was at was hourly. So there was no real incentive
for him to do, aside from making, you know, the people up front happy because the vehicle got
moved through faster, but they're also ultimately not going to be happy when you do a shady repair
and it comes back. So like, what, what are you doing? Like you're not, you're not helping anybody,
you're just creating problems by doing things the wrong way. There was always a problem with that
guy. I can tell you what combi putty is going to look like on a black paint job after a month in the
sun. You know, there's a spot, there's a, there's a time and a place for combi putty,
definitely. I can, there is a place, you know, there, but it's not, it should have, it should
never be touching body filler. That's for God damn sure. There's a spot for a very small amount,
combi putties for very, it's called spot putty. Yeah, not, I've never used anything but pin holes.
Yeah. And that's for stuff where you're like, you're cleaning it up and you're like, oh,
shit, there is a pin hole there. Yep. Yeah. So I've been thinking about doing some airbrush
stuff we were talking about. Where, what do you think the, what do you think the land of airbrush
looks like these days? Like, remember back back, I remember back in the day, and one of the things
that I'm good at that seems like it's, it's a, not many people do it is the old classy
Mike LaValle true fire. Remember the true fire came out and that was like the hottest thing out there.
What, what, and then, you know, obviously there was like the nineties and like the mini truck
times with all the scallops and the layering and the, you know, all that cool stuff. What do you
think, what do you think airbrushing of 2026 looks like?
I don't know. I know there's, there's a lot of people still doing it. I think there's, I don't
think there's a large, super, super large market. When I was, I think there was, it was only about
10 years ago and they still had airbrush classes around here. They're trying to go around to body
shops, you know, just to try and start, I think it was just somebody coming around doing like a
couple of classes together. I think they're, you would find people that would probably want to do
it, but I think there's going to be less people now than there would be 10 years ago, you know,
just because there's lack of technicians unless there's, unless there's people that would be
not like non-automotive potentially, and that would be, I don't know how you would get into that
or what that even looks like if not necessarily not, not automotive, but there would be, I think
there's a market for people that wouldn't be in the automotive field to do that or learn that.
I don't know. I think there would be, I think there's value in it. You know, I think,
obviously before I'd be digging in real deep, I'd be making sure there's not like
50 other people out there doing the exact same thing, but I'm sure there's some people doing
some kind of tutorials or something like that, you know. Yeah, for what I'm going to do, I'm not
really concerned too much about, I shouldn't say I'm not too concerned about demand, but I'm not too
worried about competition, or I guess I'm just looking at it as, you know, one more, one more
thing in the portfolio, not necessarily like this is the thing that I want to do a lot.
More so, I just kind of want to start passing, showcasing and passing along
skills to people because, you know, we're kind of the stewards of the next generation of people
doing stuff. So, you know, just like you talked about showing how to properly repair a dent in
metal, I'm kind of thinking of it in that same way. So even let's say I do some courses, you know,
I do some things like that, and then I could do specific ones, but because I'm going to tell you
a secret, Harleys are always going to need flames and skulls. It's never going away, ever.
My paint rep, I thought, I thought custom motorcycle stuff was dying, and he's like,
I could say busy all day doing it. I'm like, you're kidding me. Where are these people? I don't
even know where they are. I'm in central Wisconsin. There's a custom motorcycle paint
demand. I was like, I don't know where it is, but there's still people do it. Like,
you're not wrong. Sorry. Go ahead. Oh, I used to airbrush Harleys.
Yeah. Hell yeah. I just, I mean, they need to be fixed too. Some of the fixing them is harder.
Yeah, I just, sometimes you meet people in certain clubs that we won't mention and they
need some paint jobs on their stuff to let everybody know that they're a badass and you say,
hell yeah, let's do it. And the next thing you know, you're airbrushing, just like you, you don't,
you don't know if you're over your head on the sheet metal work. Sometimes I agreed to airbrush
jobs that I was like, I have no idea if I can even do this. But yeah, sometimes, without like a little
fear in you and like having to do something, not having to do something because of your
consequence, but just like without a little bit. Yeah, you got to, you got to just kind of go for
it. Sometimes like, well, I have to do this. So let's get it done. And yeah, yeah, you know,
obviously like, what's the word I'm looking for? Not photo realism, but illustrative realism is a
hard thing to do. I think that's what my tattoo artists used to say. My style was illustrative
realism. It's like, things are real, but you know, it's like art, art, artistified, artistified.
Yeah, it's not stylized realism to a certain extent.
Right, right. Yeah, I think that's good. But I just kind of want to,
I see, I get so many people that comment on stuff and, you know, kids that I'll hire at places and
they all want to learn stuff. And it's like, how do you, I'm not saying I'm going to teach a welding
course. I may offer some sort of beginner welding thing for free or something at some point, or
it's just like a bunch of videos put together on how to start up with your 110 meg welder or whatever,
you know, just to get people going because sometimes the hardest part is just, you know,
feeling like you have enough information to start because no matter what, you're always
going to have to suffer through something the hard way. I mean, cars are hard. I mean,
they're hard. I mean, they are, there's the systems on them, there's plumbing, there's electrical,
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