Niko Pagones of Amaxi Autosport Embraces the Latest Tech to Keep Old Cars Going
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Car
Ford Ranger
The Ford Ranger Raptor is a tough truck made for driving off-road and rough places. It has special features to help it handle dirt and rocks better than regular trucks.
Term
Porsche ignition on the left
Most cars have the key on the right side, but Porsche puts the key on the left side. This started a long time ago to help drivers start races faster.
Car
Porsche 356
The Porsche 356 is an old Porsche car made a long time ago. It had the ignition key on the left side, which is unusual compared to most cars. This was done for specific reasons related to how the car was built.
Brand
Linglong
Linglong is a company that makes tires that don't cost much. But cheaper tires might not work as well or last as long.
Term
tires
Tires are the round rubber parts on your car's wheels that touch the road. They help your car grip the road so you can drive safely, especially when the weather changes.
Concept
go kart racing
Go kart racing is like racing tiny cars that are small and fast. Many race car drivers start by racing go karts to learn how to drive fast and safely.
Car
BMW E30
The BMW 3 Series is a popular car that many people enjoy because it drives well and looks nice. The 1989 model is special because it’s old but still fun to drive and easy to fix.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower tells you how strong a car's engine is. More horsepower means the car can go faster or pull heavier loads.
Term
chassis tuning
Chassis tuning means fixing and adjusting the parts that hold the car together and help it drive smoothly and safely.
Concept
restoration
Restoration means fixing up an old car to make it look and work like new again. People do this to keep classic cars in good shape.
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that many people love because it’s fast and has a unique engine that makes a special sound. Older versions are especially popular because they feel very connected to the road.
Term
2.7 engine
The 2.7 engine is a type of engine with a size of 2.7 liters that was used in some Porsche 911 cars. It helps the car go fast and is special because of how it was made.
Concept
suspension rebuild
Fixing the suspension means taking apart the parts that help the car ride smoothly and replacing anything broken so the car drives better.
Concept
rust repair
Rust repair means cutting away parts of the car that have gotten rusty and putting in new metal to keep the car strong and looking good.
Part
cylinder heads
Cylinder heads are the top part of the engine where air and fuel go in and exhaust comes out. They help the engine run properly.
Part
compression test
A compression test checks how well the engine's cylinders are sealing. If the pressure is low, the engine might have problems.
Part
camshafts
Camshafts help the engine breathe by opening and closing valves. Fixing them helps the engine run better.
Part
piston rings
Piston rings help keep the engine tight and stop oil from leaking. If they're broken, the engine won't work well.
Part
main bearing
Main bearings help the engine's big spinning part move smoothly. If they get damaged, the engine can break badly.
Term
engine case
The engine case is the main body of the engine that holds everything together. If it's damaged, the engine might not be fixable.
Concept
Resto mod
A resto mod is when someone fixes up an old car and adds new parts or improvements to make it better, but it still looks like the original car. It’s like giving an old car a modern upgrade.
Car
Toyota Supra
The Toyota Supra is a popular sports car from Japan that’s known for being very fast and easy to make even faster. People really like the versions made in the 1990s because they look cool and drive great.
Concept
3D printing
3D printing is like making a real object by building it up layer by layer from a computer design. It helps make custom car parts quickly.
Concept
SEMA
SEMA is a big car show where companies show off cool car parts and new technology for cars. It's a place where car fans and businesses meet.
Part
3D scanners
3D scanners are machines that take pictures of a part from all angles to make a digital copy, so you can make the same part again or change it.
Car
Ford F150
The Ford F-150 is a very popular big truck that many people use for work and everyday driving. It’s strong and can carry or pull heavy things, which makes it useful for lots of jobs.
Term
turbo lag
Turbo lag is the short wait you feel when you press the gas before the car speeds up. This happens because the turbocharger needs a moment to get going.
Term
waste gates
Waste gates are parts that help control how much power the turbocharger makes by letting some exhaust gases go around it so the car doesn't get too much boost.
Concept
90s tuner cars
90s tuner cars are cars from the 1990s that people liked to customize and make faster or cooler with new parts.
Car
Oldsmobile Intrigue
The Oldsmobile Intrigue is a regular family car from the late 1990s that was comfortable to drive and had a good engine. It’s not very famous but some people talk about it because of how it was made.
Car
Audi RS4
The Audi RS4 is a fast and sporty version of a regular car that can drive well in all kinds of weather because it has special four-wheel drive. It’s not very common, so people often get excited when they see one.
Car
Ford Falcon
The Ford Falcon is an older car that people remember because it was tough and lasted a long time. It’s sometimes talked about when people mention good tires or parts for cars.
LIVE
Welcome to the Ebonz Podcast. I'm Dan. I'm Nick. How's it going, buddy? I'm blinding people. Yeah,
Brian came back. I saw that. Brian Beck came back out with the four scan and redid the Ranger Raptor
sea lights. And I mean, we knew, I knew why we wanted to up it a little bit, because I wanted
them a little bit brighter. But I realized while driving out here in the pitch park, when I
turned my headlights off, I could still see they were so bright. You said the world's
brightest marker lights. I don't know if that's an issue. They're just orange headlights.
Well, I mean, I mean, they're bright and they're an odd color, but I don't think they're like
illegal bright. Well, I don't know. Like I said, I could just see I'm the type of person that
the State Patrol would love to have a conversation with, you know, somebody like me to go,
Hey, you know, maybe those don't seem a little bright. And I'm sure I could play dumb because
I'm good at that. Like, I bought it from Ford this way. Yeah, I don't think that'll work.
But yeah, there we go. Ford accessory. Yeah, it's a Ford accessory that I put in. I love
how the company that we all bought those from Brian and I now will give you a free install kit
with all the things that I needed to install that. Oh, yeah, we went through all that. So yeah,
I did order those. That's they had I have socketed flexible socket extensions. You're talking
about that. That was the one I wanted to find tool. Yeah, and that really tight 90 degree
adapter, all my 90 degree adapters are pretty chunky. Yeah, I have a Milwaukee one and a
Makito one and a Dewalt one, but they're all like construction based, you know, they're
not made for they're made for getting between two two by fours in a wall, not the drill, not.
Yeah, getting between the bumper and the side fender and things like that. Yeah,
that would have been really handy installing those easier to take a headlight out than you think.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's still harder than it should be. I mean,
yes, there's there's it's one of those things like it's been a while since we've
taken something apart to that drastic of a stream. And it was one of those where
you take somebody apart, you think it's going to pull out and you're like, Oh,
no, something's still stopping me. There's always that one hidden. There was one. I remember
there was one grommet we had and it was in like a recessed pocket. And it was one of those plastic
pops and it was like trying to get a tool in there was just ridiculous. So you don't want to
scratch anything. Well, I mean, at this point, I'm going to need more I have pushed the limits
of that. I'll tell you that I need to have a conversation with those guys at Metropolitan
because I have there's some scratches on the front that are me and had they been and I
not had it would probably be down to the metal. Yeah, that's so but it's it's not buffing out.
No, which I would expect it to be a lifesaver. But you definitely has the limits on yours.
I did. I did. Yeah. Yeah, I've been pretty good. Ryan came back over and did some more
force hand stuff for me. Yeah, the Bambi mode on, which is always nice to have because
then, you know, every fog is on with your high beams, which is just drives me nuts
that they turn off from the factory. And then we did the seatbelt silence one.
I'm wondering what my neighbors think because Brian just shows up in my neighborhood. We both
get into my truck, the windows fog up, he gets in with the computer, he gets out, and then all
of a sudden my lights are brighter. So Lord knows what my neighbors think. That's funny. Yeah.
Yeah. Carter automotive group tip of the week. I got an easy one for you this week. I've got a
I got the feedback on the last one. No, there's there's a lot of controversy. Maybe
your guests, they will know more about this for sure. So this is a good lead in.
This is not the tip of this is addressing the Porsche ignition on the left thing. Okay.
There's a lot of controversy around that. There's the whole sticking with their story of
the Le Mans start kind of thing. There's also a cost less to run bless wiring.
And so running it down the center to a mid-engine car. I mean, it's about the same to me, but
the original or what the controversy is that a lot of people think that the real reason they
did it is it was literally they just had less wiring in the shop for the 356.
Yeah. But I mean, I guess it wouldn't there wouldn't have been a center tunnel in that
would there? The 356? No. Well, I mean, yeah, it's just carpet. It's just the shifter and carpet.
Yeah. So you'd just come out of the dash and down along the along the the rail. Okay.
Yeah. It would be a shorter run of copper. Okay. So that's the possibility there.
Interesting. Yeah. See, this is why I love when people reach out and say, hey,
actually, I think it's this and I looked and there's it's just back and forth all over
the internet. I would love to have a trusted source, but I don't really have one.
I'm sure that trusted source is Ferdinand Porsche and he's been gone for a while.
Right. So yeah, somebody with the word with Porsche in the back of their name.
Yeah. Probably wouldn't know that. Probably know that. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah,
Carter automotive group tip of the week. Season's changing. It's time to change your tires for a
lot of you. It was pretty frosty this morning. Yeah. A lot of us have three season tires,
which are not as good as dedicated winter tires. We've talked about that before when I
want to talk about those that is how much your tires change in temperature, but more
importantly in tread depth. So we've touched on the temperature thing a bit, but
the bare minimum for tires, I think it's like two 30 seconds. Legally, it's really low. It's
really low. It's lower than it should be. It's way lower than it should be. And then I say it's
way lower than it should be because especially in Washington, that would be extremely dangerous
for hydroplaning. But the braking distance that that from a new tire and I'm not talking like
a Michelin, you know, super sports, something like that. I'm talking like you're just
cup twos. Yeah, not that. I'm talking about just your average passenger tire almost doubles
when you get down to your tread depth that low. It literally is almost double. In fact,
a lot of tests have seen it gets beyond double on cheaper tires. I mean, like I said,
cheap tires, I mean, you know, those $40 Linglong specials, which is an actual brand
name and come at me. But it's not racist if it's true. Okay, fair enough. But those tires
have really crappy compounds. If you're burning them off or it's your only option,
I'm not knocking you out. You got to get tires safer than not have been having bald tires,
but they do have serious drawbacks and that's one of them. The braking goes just fades to nothing.
Fun intended. So if you are almost like you're losing traction. Yeah, exactly. We've said it
so many times on this show, the most important part of your car is your tires. And then it's
your brakes, but it's tires first because they're what's hitting the road. That's what's
skipping you glued to the road. That's what's changing direction for you, all that.
So if we sound very old, those are the things that keep you to the road, son. Exactly. Yeah.
Get out of my yard. I'm going to yell at a cloud. Yeah, fair enough. Okay. Yeah. So just one of the
other things to consider if you're on the fence about tires, you're trying to put it off. I mean,
yes, the seasons are changing. You probably are saying I can go a little longer. It's
not worth it. Now one time that that extra five feet is the difference between a bumper
and not and you're going to triple the cost of those, what those tires would have cost
with a fender bender, even the most mild one. Yeah. And if you have bad tires, stay off my ass.
Exactly. Yeah, I don't need that. It is always that, you know, beat the crap, Ultima, doing 90
thunderstorms on 90. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm guilty of tailgating from time to time, but
all of my systems are up to par and I have good tire depth and I have KO3s which don't
stop in the rain as it is. So you know, yeah, I found the biggest problem with KO3s
and KO2s as well. They're notoriously not great rain tires. It's in a lot of us do it just
especially if you want to turn in the rain. Yeah, but especially just being with trucks.
Yeah. There's a really huge, huge weight bias difference in trucks and having that,
that really throws off tires. You don't feel like there's any traction in the rain, right?
Yeah. It makes a big difference in handling too, though. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway,
so our guest today knows a lot about, well, Porsche's BMW tires racing. Yeah,
we're going to grill him. It's a, it's a task he didn't know that when he shot him.
Yeah. Well, he's been warned and we're standing in front of the door, so he can't get out. So
that's right. Yeah, it's locked. Niko Fagones, Amoxi Motorsports, welcome to the show.
Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, I guess restoration as well. Amoxi is more than just,
I mean, it's restoration, it's performance. What do you guys do?
Yes, we focus on classic vehicle restorations, restomods, things like that. And, you know,
I've got my start in old BMWs and Porsches and we've been kind of taking the lead on those
and, you know, taking those to 21st century technologies and, you know, getting these cars to,
you know, run like new cars. Well, I actually have a funny story about this. So,
we didn't know Niko. I've known of the shop, but we've never actually met. And
I got an email from my dad who was emailing, I believe Niko's mom saying your son should
meet my son, like it was a dating app. His mom and my dad are work colleagues.
I don't know what they do, but it was the funniest thing in the world because usually my dad,
my dad and my mom have always been big supporters of this show and my dad,
anywhere he goes, talks to people about what we do. And he loves it when he finds something
like this. He was so happy that we were able to make this work. But he usually calls me and
tells me like, Hey, by the way, you know, like I gave your number out. But I get this email
like my son should meet your son. And I was like, I don't know if I want to like,
did my dad get hacked? So, um, welcome. Um, by the way, are you walk, are you rocking vintage
Reeboks? They're like new Reeboks. Pretty nice. I like the throwbacks. Yes. Yeah. All right. So
I was talking about this on the show. Were you a car kid growing up? Where did you have
the 1000 Hot Wheels, the Legos, things like that? How'd you get into the hobby initially?
Yeah. I mean, I was, I was a big Lego kid. So I started with those. But, um,
yeah, when I was nine years old, I started racing go carts. And I did that for about four to five years
all across the US. And so that kind of sparked, obviously, you know, my interest with racing and
cars and fixing things up. Obviously, my dad's been a huge influence on, you know, taking me to
dealerships when I was a kid, you know, going in the back of the shop and, you know, get out
of here kind of guy, you know, and drugs are cheaper. But this is less lifelong altering.
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So yeah, we've taken the car as the route for most things. And
yeah, you know, kind of started with that was racing for a long time. And then
got my first car. It was at 89, 325 is an E30. Oh, great start. So, you know,
obviously started bone stock. And now this thing is full like race car, basically. Sure.
As things naturally go. Amazing how quickly that goes. Oh, yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah.
And yeah, so I've kind of taught myself everything I know, just
based on, you know, having my own car and tinkering, breaking things, blowing up engines,
all that fun stuff. Sounds familiar, right? You know, how old are you now? I'm 28. Okay,
all right. You look 12, just so I know. I don't mean that as an insult. I was like,
did you were you go karting last week? Might have been. No, no, I'm okay. Again, I you'll
see photos of Nico, but he's a very young individual. So yeah, okay. So I mean, obviously,
you know, you did you you everything is self taught? Yeah, I mean, I went to school for
engineering. So as mechanical engineer. Oh, just that. Okay. So that that obviously,
okay, the transfer is over. Yeah, transfer over, you know, but I've always been tinkering before
that, you know, I'd always take things apart and, you know, figure out how to get a few more
horsepower out of my little pit bike or, you know, the go-kart suspensions, you know,
a little wobbly, you know, fix everything like that. So that sounds a lot of chassis tuning.
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, sounds like you as a kid.
Yeah, a little bit. I didn't I wish I'd taken it further. Well, I don't mean the mechanical
engineering. I mean, the tweaking, he was probably able to put the toaster back together.
I was always able to take it apart, but I could never get it back together,
or tell you how it worked, or finally realize that the numbers is how dark it is. Yeah,
that's not time. Yeah, or maybe it's time. I don't know. Could be the opposite. Sorry.
ADHD. How did you start the business then?
So it was one of those COVID things. So I graduated right as COVID started in 2020.
And, you know, I was on the job hunt for six, eight months, you know, and obviously
drawn a lot of blanks there. And, you know, during that time, I obviously had my E30,
had my go-karts at my parents house, taken up way too much space and, you know,
engines here and parts. And my dad just like, this is getting ridiculous.
Let's find you a storage unit, you know, and you can split it with your buddy and
you guys can have your stuff, you know, leave me alone. Get out of my garage.
Get out of my yard, basically. So that's kind of where things started. So I, you know,
we had the space over in Bellevue. It was about 1200 square feet. And my buddy James and I,
you know, kind of went 50-50 with everything and brought the couch in the projector,
you know, brought all of our projects all in there, all our tools and everything. And,
you know, it was kind of a hangout spot, obviously, at first and, you know, kind of
a little clubhouse kind of vibe. We understand. Yes. Yeah, exactly. You don't say it.
Yeah. And yeah, so started with that. And then, you know, obviously, I was spending a lot more
time tinkering and working on stuff than I probably should have been with job applications.
I'll be the first to say. Nobody's calling me back. Okay, better work on the BMW.
I don't know. Yeah, exactly. Social distancing in a race car is easy.
Yeah, exactly. Right. I'll need a mask for that. Absolutely.
We're not going to turn Instagram here. Yeah. All your stuff. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
But yeah, so started with all that. And then, you know, slowly, you know, friends of friends
started asking, Hey, can you do this? Can you do this? And I'm like, Well, I don't have a
source of income right now. No problem. Yeah. And eventually started, you know,
getting obviously a bit more serious and had some, some bigger projects come in. And,
you know, I was like, Hey, what's the worst that can happen? Let me just take this
full time. And, you know, it was a little bit of a rough conversation with my buddy,
James, you know, I was like, Hey, he had a nine to five, you know, and he obviously
wanted to prioritize that. And I wanted to roll the dice a little bit and see what I could do.
And, you know, I was obviously we're still best friends. And he was just over at the
shop about an hour ago anyway. So he doesn't hate me yet. That's good.
And then that kind of started everything basically. Yeah.
Yeah, it's been interesting for sure. I saw you guys did some you get some pretty cool
stuff in there. Yeah, already. Like you guys have grown a lot in those over those years.
You started I saw you guys did a 3d print of a console for I was a 296.
Yeah, yeah, for Dino or 246. 246. Yeah, I can remember what I saw.
That was super cool. So yeah, that's kind of what I like to do is just replicate
classic parts that you can't find, you know, and make them better, you know,
improve them, make them easier to manufacture down the road. So it was a fun project.
We talked about on this show that people of your generation and which sucks,
aren't going into the trades like this. They're not going in. And those of us that have vintage
cars of, you know, from Germany and Britain and things like that, we can't find the parts.
So and that this is a great source because not a lot of people want to do it.
They don't have the skills to do it, or it's too frustrating. Like I mean, people like us,
it's like, Oh, sure, that'd be fun to build, you know, dash mount, like, yeah,
any day I'll go under there and be like, Okay, I gotta figure out how can I build this
out of cardboard and then take it to somebody that can actually probably build it for me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's 3d scan and yeah, Phil, you know, pretty cool.
So you accidentally started a business doing what you love.
Pretty much. That's awesome. Yeah. And you guys are in Bellevue, right?
Yeah, we're in Bellevue, kind of by the discount tires. So yeah, small little space,
we actually still have that original space. And then a few years later, or a few years ago,
I got the option to rent out the space next to it. So we've got both sides,
punched a hole in the wall. And then now we have 2,500 square feet of, you know,
small, but mighty shop kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, because our buddy Ben's down there with HHKP.
HKP, thank you. I'll say the HDK. Well, it's HID kit pros. Yeah, that too. But yeah, I like that
area. It's, it's very automotive based when you and you know, being off of the row and
things like that. So I mean, you just you started started taking on projects and
obviously with COVID, there's a lot of people out there that were like, Hey,
I need my projects worked on. Do you strictly focus on German and things like that? Or is it,
are you willing to really work on anything vintage? So at the beginning, obviously,
just trying to get some money in and cover rent, you know, so, you know, we're doing break jobs,
we're doing, you know, the basic services, you know, a lot of it was for classic cars,
you know, a lot of friends with E30s or, you know, some air cools, things like that.
Obviously, I've had done a fair share of American cars too. So there hasn't really been
too many no's in that kind of sense just depends on the project. Obviously, now as we've kind of
found our groove a little bit and really, you know, focus on, you know, kind of high end
restoration work, you know, we're obviously saying no to a lot more service work and
taking on kind of the right projects now. That's a great thing to be able to say.
I'm working on it. It's, it's definitely work in progress, but just the fact that you're
headed that direction is just great. Like a lot of, that's such a nice feel. I know a lot of people
have started out and they've had to kind of take whatever gets their way, but that, I see them make
that transition to specializing and doing what they want. And man, it's satisfying work.
Especially in the restoration field. I mean, we need more of that. Yeah. And that's especially
in, in, in all, I don't mean any brand, all brands, I think there's not enough of it. So
it's nice to see something like that, especially locally. I mean, when Dan and I started this
a long time ago, we were always looking for local people to talk to because the car community in
the Pacific Northwest is, is huge. And it's, it's so thorough. And I mean, look, that's why we have
two advanced brands between here and Portland. It's like there's so many people. So it's important
to have these type of contacts. So I'm glad I got the email. I really am. Yeah. Yeah. What do
you think's been the biggest game changer for your business? Even in the short time,
you've started like, what's something you've started doing now that you didn't do before,
lessons learned that you're like, this has really been a huge efficiency boost for us
or something you look back on and you're like, I should have done that from the beginning.
Yeah, I think a lot of it's just on the business side of it, you know,
invoicing, you know, regularly, I've always, that one's tough, you know, because obviously there's
a lot of emotion with some of these projects. And you know, I, I obviously try to be a nice
person, you know, so I have a lot of emotion when I write up a big invoice and I'm like,
ah, you know, I feel bad about this, I should probably just wait till I complete the project
or, you know, to a big milestone instead of, Hey, every two weeks, you know,
we got your hours in and things like that. So obviously from the beginning,
if I was a bit more regimented with that and took some emotion out of things,
be a lot better. And then obviously the bigger one too is people in time management,
you know, because I have a couple of guys help me out and they've been fantastic.
And it's all, you know, part time help at the moment, but
just it's a little bit tricky with, you know, delegating tasks and
giving having the trust to be like, Hey, you just manage this aspect of the car.
And I can take this thing versus me trying to get my hands into everything and,
you know, have ultimate control. And obviously it requires having the right people on board. But
you know, I think that's slowly gotten better where I can just be like, Hey,
I know you're good at what you're doing. Just keep rolling with that. You know,
and at the end of the day, everyone's all happy. Yeah, that would be really hard with a creative
business. I mean, restoration like you're rebuilding, but when you start doing
custom stuff, like seeing somebody do it slightly different in the way you would do it.
Oh, it's tough. It's tough. I realized though, like when we went through the restoration project
on our car, like people that restore cars aren't, and I don't see this as a bad thing,
aren't necessarily good at the paperwork side. Like I remember we used to go in and I'd be like,
what do we owe you? And he's like, I think I put in about 20 hours. He's like,
and then he'd sit there and like do this. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, are you undercutting
it? He's like, Oh yeah, it was more than that, but I'm only going to charge you for about this
much. And I was like, well, that's not fair either. He's like, really, I only send you
invoice when we need parts. And he's like, we'll figure out the other stuff at the end.
I was like, can we figure out some of it now? Because I don't want that bill at the end of like
you paid for the parts. And also, we have 1000 hours into this. So yeah, that's nothing new.
I mean, obviously, you're doing restoration, you're doing race prep too.
Yeah. So we've done a couple of race cars now and obviously got a lot of connections,
you know, in the racing industry as well. So it's been super helpful.
That's kind of where my passion lies is the motorsport side of things and,
you know, putting all the cool tech back into these cars and, you know,
getting that last 10th of a second on the track. Yeah. But obviously, you know,
I love the streetcar aspect of things too and having a nice balance where, you know,
a customer can drive their piece of art back home or take it to the track.
So where did you make the transition from karting to racing cars?
I didn't actually race cars myself. I mean, I've done obviously track days with my
authority and things like that, but not, you know, with a full team or prep like that
ran out of budget pretty quickly when it comes to that. Yeah. Obviously,
we'd love to get back in the seat and, you know, keep doing that, but
got to focus on the business first. But totally understand. Yeah.
What's your, what's your kind of opinion on modern cars? Like, I mean, for somebody that's
been something, there's something, there's a simplicity to old cars. It's very easy.
And the new cars, this being an example of like, I wouldn't, we don't like getting
under the hood of stuff like that because it's so complicated. And if you unscrew a ground and
things like that, I mean, were you, and let's let me pack this up. In the beginning, sorry.
Were you willing to work on modern stuff or did you just always try to kind of push for the
classic stuff? Mostly push for the classic stuff. You know, I can settle down and kind of figure
out most of these things, but I don't really have as much passion, I guess, for, you know,
some of the newer stuff. Obviously, there's a lot of great cars coming out right now and
the technology is just unbelievable. You know, software side, the hardware suspension, it's,
I mean, all the Zinger stuff right now is out of control. So bad.
What, a singer? No, Zinger. Oh, Zinger. Yeah. Well, I didn't hear that new single seat.
Oh, that. Yes. Okay. Yeah. So that stuff's really cool. Center seat. Is it single? Yeah,
single seat. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, but obviously my kind of passion lies with,
you know, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s and things like that. And,
you know, see if we can bring some modern flavor back into these classics a little bit. But
yes and no. So I've worked on new cars. I've worked on old cars. I like the old cars.
Did your dad have cars, too? He did. Yeah. He had a 996 Carrera 4S was the first car that I,
you know, was around and got to play with a little bit. Fair enough. Yeah. Fun car.
And, you know, so that kind of started the Porsche passion, I suppose. And,
you know, he's kind of had a 911 on and off ever since then.
And yeah, it's been interesting. You know, it's kind of fun diving into the Porsche
market a little bit. You know, it's pretty crazy to see some of the pricing for things
and the way the market's been going. And, you know, but it's, yeah, it's been fun.
It's been, it's back, too. Like COVID pricing seems like it's returned for a bunch of used
cars. It's crazy. It's weird. Yeah. It's in the last couple of weeks. Like I've noticed.
Yeah. Just taking stuff just skyrocket up again. I don't get that. Yeah. I mean,
I love an air cooled 911 as much as the next person, but holy crap. I mean,
it's funny seeing the cars that were like basically thrown away those old 911s. And now it's, you
know, how do we gladly take a thrown away 911? I think most of us. Oh yeah. That's what I'm saying.
Like back in high school, like somebody had an old target or something. You were just like,
you know, whatever. And now it's like the lines a mile long and it's going,
people are bidding in increments of tens. Oh yeah. And then everybody's trying to pull,
a lot of the people that are very wealthy are trying to pull a lot of the older body types
off to send them to places like Singer and things like that. You know,
million dollar port. Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. And somebody told me, I was like,
if I'd had that car, I wouldn't drive it. I was like, if I put that much money into a car,
I'd drive it every day. I'd sleep in it. Yeah. Like that. I'd drive the crap out of it.
Ridiculous. Yeah. What are you eyeballing for like, not just not now, like, you know,
10 years from now, the business is doing great. Making a bunch of money on the side.
Like what's, what do you still, what's your unicorn out there?
Especially, I always love asking this question of who work on them because they have a
different perspective than people just look at them and drive them.
Yeah. No, it's a good question. Well, I guess I'm kind of working on my, my dream car right now a
little bit. So I picked up a 77 911 s. Nice. And so I've used up just about all of my
favors and labor trades to get this car. So I got it locally up here in Snow,
in Snohomish. And yeah, that car obviously needed some work. Had a 2.7, the old magnesium
engines. And it ran and drove, which is great. And obviously me not letting things stay as is.
I tore the whole thing to pieces. And so rebuild all the suspension, put a bunch of stuff back on it.
And I was like, you know what? I'll leave the engine as is. It runs. I know how expensive
these rebuilds can get. Yeah. I'm the guy that knows. And that was the first mistake I've
made. So you know, I was like, I'm getting the body all straightened out. There's a ton of rust
everywhere on the car. So I cut the whole nose of the car off and grafted a whole new front end back
on and a ton of other different, you know, body work stuff. And I'm looking at the engine,
it's leaking out of every single possible seam or whatever it may be. Yeah, but it's running.
Yeah, to an extent. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it does get worse. So I'm like,
it works. Okay. So, you know, I take everything apart. I'm like, you know what? Let me just send
the cylinder heads off. Just I did a compression test and it was just God awful. I was like,
all right, let's get the, you know, camp shafts refreshed everything kind of resealed.
And as I'm pulling things apart, I'm seeing broken piston rings. And
then I'm like, okay, I need to take this thing completely apart. And then there was like
a spun main bearing to the case. So the case was all trashed. And then the cylinders were
trashed, the pistons were trashed, everything on the engine was unusable. I don't even know how it ran.
Yeah. My engine machine is, he was
ran of thoughts and prayers. Oh, yeah, he was like, this is the worst engine I've ever seen
in 20 years. And all he does is rebuild air cool tanks and BMW motors. And I'm like, fantastic.
Great. Great. That's the new that's the cheap answer you want to hear a new bar.
Yeah, exactly. So I've got the record for the worst engine at that machine shop. So
and after that, I've sourced a bunch of parts to build a 3.8 liter. So now we're kind of stepping
things up. I'd say a lot. A lot. And then now the bodywork is taking another turn for the worst and
probably doing an old 74 RSR body kit on it now and nice, you know, getting the big flares on it
and some big wheels and yeah, it spirals completely out of control. Yep. That's the
good ones do. Yep. As someone who works on cars all day, do you find it hard to then stop and go
work on your cars or do you save some of that passion for that? Oh, I just don't work on my own
cars. You know, maybe like maybe like on the weekends, I'll have a couple hours, you know,
but it's kind of it's it is tough. You know, it's where do I draw the line a little bit
because if I'm in the shop and I'm not working on a customer's car, I feel bad. You
know, if I'm working on my car, things are great, but I'm not making any money on that,
right? Yep. So yeah, that's a tough balance sometimes. Okay. I mean, I've heard a lot of
people I've talked to some people and they're like, I just have to save some of my passion
for that and finding the time because they say the same thing. It's like if I'm in my shop
and I'm working on my own car, that's not paying the rent. Exactly. You know,
yep. It's funny. There's an article I was reading a while back about like the mods that
I think we talked about a little bit the mods that actually subtract value from your car
and most of them do, but I danced. Yeah, permanently, permanently. Yeah. No, it's funny
though how COVID sort of rewrote a bunch of the rules on modding your car, because it's funny what
Resto mods have taken over as really valuable. Now, 9 11, especially Eric will to sort of,
you know, taking the prize for that. But I'm seeing more and more like actual Resto mods
come through and go for good money. And in the past, previous to COVID, matter what it
was, Resto mod, you know, it shrank the appeal of a car so much that it usually was detrimental to
value, even if it was done really well. I mean, if it wasn't like if it was Ring Brothers or
something, that's a different story. I'm talking about like, you know, a well done Resto mod that
was done in a local shop was typically not somebody's taste. Now it seems like, you know,
if you mark for Supras, anything 90s JDM, like a really well done Resto mod where they've
really gone through it and they have records and it's a reputable shop greatly increases
value. And it's funny how like that, like that your Porsche build gutting that car completely and
being nothing basically stock when it's done, you know, it'll have remnants of a stock car in it,
and it will skyrocket the value on that thing. Yeah. And I don't see any stopping that I think
people expected that to happen at some point. But it's been five years, and nothing has changed
at all in the Porsche air cool market, like it dipped for like six months. And it didn't
it dipped by like, you know, 10%, not 50, like used cars usually do. So I'm really curious
to see if we will ever see a ceiling to that of it not being worth the time now. Because it's just,
especially because I think we're moving so far away from those like really pure enthusiast cars.
And the 911 just kind of even still, but especially air cool 911s are really the pinnacle
of that. So I want to ask you a question, but then I'm going to follow it up with a
statement of why I'm asking it. Do you find that people when they're doing the restoration
are adding creature conference? And the reason I asked that is I was recently watching a video
and a conversation between Jay Leno and Hoovie from Hoovie's garage. And that, you know,
Hoovie just bought a 300 SL that they're going that they're restoring. And Jay Leno was talking
about his and he put air conditioning in his because he said the car's miserable without it.
And Hoovie goes, well, are you worried about the resale value? And, you know, Jay gave him
that look of like, well, I'm Jay Leno and this is my car and anybody's going to buy it.
But he also said, anybody that's going to be willing to be paid for this car is going
to realize that even that that because that air conditioning is not stock, he goes,
it's worth it because you can then drive it. Do you see people coming to you and saying like,
I want I want to restore this, but I also want, you know, it's like the guys that all
put and put air conditioning in the 57 bell areas that didn't have it. Yeah, classic air
and heated seats. Do you see that all the time? Okay. You know, it's it's cool because it's,
you know, these guys want to drive these their cars, you know, and obviously the heat
systems HVAC all that just complete garbage from back in the day. So it's so weird. Yeah. I
wonder why. So obviously you have your guys that, you know, want things by the book and
want things, you know, exactly how it came off in 75 or whatever. And then pens and exactly
right the same color and all that and the washers in the right directions. But
yeah, no, it's it that's the fun part for me, you know, where I can kind of
pimp my ride a little bit and, you know, customer wants this and obviously I have some
steer them a little bit in the right direction be like, Hey, let's not do neon green for
this. Let's make it black, make it nice. You know, no, I won't do that.
There's a bit of client coaching involved, but you know, obviously in the right amounts,
you know, where we can keep the character of the car, but also, you know, have them get excited
to drive it every day. What do you think the most worthwhile mod is on a vintage car?
I mean, probably HVAC, to be honest. Yeah, they're so bad and everything. And,
you know, and there's a new kit coming out. I'm not sure if it's been released yet for
this electric HV or HVAC setup for the 911s. So it's no ducting, no, obviously nothing on the
engine or anything. So that seems pretty nice. Obviously it's priced accordingly, but you know,
I know the guys will be buying those up pretty quick. But yeah, that's, it's funny. The electric
AC is something after for trailers as well. And I knew it was going to trickle down because
I'm like, why didn't they put in it was big. But now everything's trickled down so much in
size. It's electric everything. Now electric turbos are just coming out. We talked about that.
That'd be nice. I'd like that in the Triumph. Electric turbos? No, I would love that.
My heating system is the water comes out of the engine block and circulates through a coil
and a small fan blows over it and that is your heating.
Those old Porsche heat exchangers, man. Oh, God, God, I mean, obviously some of these
systems are going to be smaller. So they're going to be able to get in there and give
you more space under the dash. Oh, you can hide them, you know, in the front area or
hide them under the dash wherever. So that's really cool. Super handy.
So I mean, do you ever do you have the passion like would you build like a singer level car?
Like if somebody came with you with that budget, like is that something that you'd
like to do? Oh, totally. Yeah. I mean, I'd love to keep kind of pushing my skills and
you know, what we can, you know, do in that sense. Obviously starting small, you know,
we're limited financially limited, you know, with the tools we have in the shop.
But as we, you know, continue to keep growing, you know, I think that'd be that'd be super fun.
Do you bring a lot of manufacturing in-house? Obviously, not really. You know, we have a
small little mill and manual lathe and things like that. And then obviously my 3D printers and
scanners do the bulk of the heavy lifting. Yeah. But we have a good network of vendors that,
you know, CNC, whatever we need, you know, metal 3D print, all that kind of sense.
Sanket sends awesome. You know, I had never heard of that till I met Michael.
Oh, yeah. And that was such an interesting thing because it's a wonderful tool.
Yeah. We've talked about it on the show before, but...
Yeah, I was going to say, I think it's interesting, Emily and Daniel, you know, with Golden Rovers,
like they've made basically an entire business out of being able to create parts using 3D scanning
and 3D printing and then varying the materials they use, but also being able to send stuff
to Sanket Send and then as for prototyping and all that. But I mean, it's a full-blown
business for them now. It started out as a hobby to fix their Land Rovers, but like that...
They need to stop having friends like us that force them to blow up the engines in their Land Rovers.
But, you know, that trickled down to building a whole LS3 swap kit.
Agreed.
And watching his development on that was one of the coolest things ever. And so it's exciting
to see that stuff because that's a generational thing I've noticed is that younger people in
the industry that we are fortunate to know a lot, they're not afraid to dip into 3D printing
and scanning very quickly. And it's been extremely beneficial, but it's really been
interesting to see it change the industry so much because stuff that, I mean, so many of those
parts where you were just like, they don't make it anymore. You're going to source one
from a junkyard and hope somebody has one. Now it's like, nah, man, I'll just print one for
you and we'll send it off to the CNC, you know, whatever material that needs to be made
out of. I'll 3D print it and just literally like make this out of aluminum. Okay. A week
later, here you go. How many do you want? 50? A thousand? You know, quite literally though.
I am with you. It's pretty cool. Have you had a chance to go down to SEMA and stuff like that?
I went down to SEMA for two years ago. Two years ago? That was super cool. Definitely
eye-opening experience. It's interesting seeing all the technology that you didn't even think
needed to be there, let alone somebody has their full booth and has invested their whole life
and it's really an interesting concept. I mean, it's been a year since I've gone, but
walking through those halls and obviously as not being a person that sells the parts,
like you know, you have a different perspective of just looking at things, but watching like the,
you know, the literally the 3D scanners where they're sitting there and they were making parts for
this car right there. And I was like, that's such an interesting process. You got it fast.
Really fast. And in high-end stuff like carbon, I mean, full-on carbon fiber easily done.
Yeah. So yeah, it's super handy. Okay. Do you see yourself like working into like taking
some of these restaurant mods and working in some of the like carbon and things like that?
We already do that. So I do all the carbon fiber layups at the shop. So we 3D scan, you know,
all the molds, all the parts and then we'll either print molds or create everything from fiber
glass or and then obviously create parts from carbon because cool. So it's, yeah, it's, I
don't know. I've kind of loved that technology taught myself just about hopefully every skill
to kind of build a car from the ground up and then kind of keep refining that hopefully.
What's your favorite tool in the shop?
The other one's going to get jealous. Remember that.
That's right. I mean, it's kind of hard to not say the 3D printer just because that thing
is a workhorse. I got one of those bamboo labs about a year ago and that thing is just
no maintenance just turning on and go. Very cool. Aside from that, I got some cool little
little ratchets. I like those guys, you know, always like my little mini ratchets. Those are fun,
but yeah, I've got a lot of specialty ratchets and tools for tight places. I'm sure nothing
like you have, but like having the right tool for the job when you're getting into a small space
or I've got my massive dual half inch impact. They're their biggest one. I freaking love that
thing. I use it. I need it like once a year and that once a year it pays for itself.
Oh, yeah. I'm like, I'm going to pull this both off the tractor. It's torque to 500
foot-mount. Like it's nothing. So I guess we have to ask the question. Why do you think Porsche puts
the key on the left hand side of the wheel? So obviously I've heard both sides. Okay. At first,
you know, I heard the Le Mans start thing and everything like that, but I think it's certainly
about the wiring. Not a wiring. Okay. So makes sense. I don't think they're saving much, but
back in the day, I guess every strand of copper counted, you know, and if you're
going to produce something at scale, that's coming from an engineer. So, right?
That's a good opinion. It has to eat meanwhile. Okay. All right. It's an educated opinion.
I agree. I agree. What's your opinion on electric cars?
They've been growing on me lately. Okay. At first, when I first came out of the Tesla stuff,
I was like, get this away from me. You know, I don't want to see them,
but I drove the new Mini Cooper, electric Mini Cooper. That thing is awesome.
Yeah. It is so much fun. I never thought I'd be electric friendly a little bit,
but you know, obviously the Porsche stuff's coming out. They're making a great product.
Yeah. You know, the Rivians are really nice. You know, I've been driving the F-150 every day,
and that thing is great, but the Rivian is just a whole different level.
Yeah. The Rivians are really nice. Super cool.
Yeah. I mean, I like the Rivian platform. I think I've been very anti with the Scout.
I think that's ruining an American brand that should always have a giant V8 into it, but
hybrid. No, I want a hybrid power performance based V8. I don't want this thing from mileage.
I want it to take like the Ferrari approach. Why is it a hybrid for an extra 300 horsepower?
That's all. That's the only reason it has it. Give me a full size SUV that does a
quarter mile in nine seconds. That's what I want with 37s.
I mean, you know, and we've talked about it before, I don't believe any car,
and I'm not going to say the maker should put the word turbo on the back of the car
if it's fully electric. I have to agree with that.
I'm not going to say who did it. No idea.
But, you know, I just, the hybrid systems especially are worse than to me because it's
just more stuff to break. I mean, Ferraris have trouble running as it is sometimes.
So, you know. It'll get better over time. It's just, we are in the growing phase.
I'm actually, I see the long term effects of like the new Porsches.
Oh, yeah. Really, truly the hybrid systems in the 911s.
I am more excited about the electric turbos and how those can be used going forward
because that, I mean, it is complicated. It is heavier.
But the fact that there is zero lag, zero spool, it's just full boost,
ready to roll, and no waste gates.
Yeah, how could that go wrong? Boost all boost at once. Yeah.
I can't see that going into a car, bro.
As someone who grew up with 90s tuners cars, I can tell you that'll go wrong.
Yeah. That's fair. That's fair. Okay. I don't know. I mean, what other, what other stuff
are you seeing out there that's starting to intrigue you from an engineering standpoint?
I know Dan kind of asked that, but like, what, what would you like to see come into automotive,
maybe? I mean, obviously, the emergence of, you know, additive 3D manufacturing and,
you know, suspension parts, things like that. Obviously, like the singers and things like that.
You know, creating the McLaren W1, you know, that thing is super, super cool. It's made by the
same company. Yeah. Divergent, I think. Yeah. And, you know, so seeing that maybe on a more
consumer base, platform would be really cool. You know, maybe a send cut, send version of,
you know, additive 3D printing where it's easier for someone just to hop in and
send them some dimensions or whatever. And then, you know, boom, there's your,
you know, lightweight, super strong, you know, control arm or something like that.
So, are they working? Go back to that W1 thing because that's the new, the new
super hypercar from McLaren, right? What are they doing with that?
So, divergent technology has been obviously the metal 3D printing
additive specialist and they're the parent company for Zinger.
Oh, okay. And so, they're also doing work for McLaren.
Okay. Doing all the suspension work, chassis work and all that.
So, did not know that. Yeah. That car has not grown on me yet.
The W1? No. There's something about it yet, but that also being said, I was,
was watching live the Senna thing and I thought it was the ugliest car in the world and now I
don't think there's anything better out there than I love that Senna. But there's something
about the W1 that just hasn't gotten me yet. And the wing that hangs off the back that looks
like it's like, there's just held held on by fingertips, just it's not there yet. It will,
it'll, McLaren always gets me. Oh yeah. I love McLaren. I love McLaren chassis.
Yeah. I don't like McLaren reliability stuff.
Yeah, I was gonna say, you don't like the roof systems on McLaren and things like that.
Yeah. I would have one immediately if it would run for more than 20,000 miles.
That's true. That's true. I think a lot of them do. I know a lot of people with them.
We know they run for at least a thousand miles. Right. Yeah. That's true. That's true.
With a roof seal broken, a window broken and a lift broken. Mine wasn't. Yeah.
McLaren made the mistake of giving us McLaren's for a week and we jokingly,
we told the gentlemen that I'm like, I'm going to put a thousand miles on this.
He's like, okay. Yeah, I'm gonna put a thousand miles on this this week.
Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. That was a good time. It's a horrible thing to go through.
Yeah. Okay. I'm trying to think. I had all these questions in my mind and now that's like...
Well, where do you see the shop going? Where do you guys want to go? I mean,
you said you're doing more restoration stuff. What do you see like the next five years?
You guys are starting out. You've had five years behind you now.
So you've learned a lot in those five years. What do you want the next five years to be
for you guys? After kicking your best friend out. Yeah. I know, right?
You know, the big thing for me is I want to get back on the product side.
You know, in my spare time, I design a lot of parts for BMWs, Porsche, things like that.
So offering kind of a full suite of, you know, really cool niche electronic components,
suspension components. Obviously, the market is about as saturated as it gets.
But if we can offer complimentary, you know, products and things like that, that'd be really cool.
Obviously, with the car side and the building side of things, we'd love to kind of specialize
in a couple different chassis and really kind of just nail those perfectly. Kind of, you know,
obviously, Singer's done with the 964s. A bigger space would be fantastic. And having,
you know, more people on board, you know, higher level engineering capabilities would be really
cool. You know, where we 3D scan a whole car, you know, when it comes in and we can basically
design everything off of that and just put it in a computer and hit print.
You know, so we can kind of get more efficient with that kind of stuff would be
a fantastic, you know, thing to move forward to. But yeah, just if we can just keep building
some quality cars and just keep growing our business, you know, everything's been, for the
most part, word of mouth, which has its pluses, minuses for sure. Right. You know, but if we can
just kind of keep steady and just build some cool cars and have some fun. And I think you've
hit on a good point there in the fact that there's so many people out there, especially
coming, I came from the BMW space, like I've talked about it. One of my dad's first cars
was a 535, a 1985 535, you know, molar red with the gold BBS wheels, which I would
love to have this day. Yeah. But I'm looking at the B and then I had a I had a 335 Xi that
was full dyne in which I loved but that space was so saturated with so many things because
they'd go, oh, we're going to make a part for every model and obviously with BMW in the day
that was fine because you only had three, five, seven. But now it's 47 different models.
And the parts get cheap and they get they get bad and the R&D is not there. So I think
you're very on to a good point there. It's like finding the right chassis that you want
to work with and then providing parts for that because so many people are trying to
provide parts for this wide range. It just doesn't work. And the quality is crap.
Yeah, exactly. And you see a lot of horror stories, you know, online about this parts,
you know, failed after somebody so miles and... Yeah, look at my tune. Yeah, exactly.
And then it becomes I love my engine boulder. You're in a deep dark Porsche hole and you
know it. Oh, I know. Absolutely. Having fun, right? I can't wait to see what it's
going to look like someday. That's going to be amazing, you know, to bring it by.
Please do, please do. Oh, yeah. Yeah. How long, let's see here, where are you at? You
think in that project as far as like, because I know you've had to do a lot. So
you've got the engine work being done right now. Correct. Okay. Then how is the front
clip coming along? So all the bodies rust free now. Oh, nice. All the work is basically
done. And then it's at the paint shop at the moment. And we know we're looking at the car
and unfortunately the body shop up there is building an RSR right next to my car.
That's expensive for you. Yeah, that really sucks. But I want that. We can do that.
He's been super cool. So I've obviously kind of go up there and work on my own car, you know,
in the evenings and things like that. So it's been a lot of my hours up there, but
seeing a big flared, you know, big wing RSR doesn't get much better. So I'm like, you
know, I'm gone this far might as well just push this build a little bit longer down the road and
go crazy. So that's fair. We all have that FOMO where you're like, it's perfect. What's what's
he got? So I understand that. I get that. I mean, it's I think the Porsche space is such an
interesting space because, you know, and I'm going to I'm going to, you know, put it into
one category with the outlaw stuff. There's so many cool things that you can do that
so many Porsche aficionados think you shouldn't do, but I think it looks so amazing.
So I mean, it was sort of like when RWB came on the scene and everybody's like,
that's hideous. And it's like, it's found its own niche. Oh, yeah. I mean,
it doesn't work for everybody. Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to think if there's I don't hate it.
No, it's just I think the outlaw thing has come become more accepted. Yeah, because people
hate RWB more. That could be it too. Yeah. But yeah, I like the the outlaw side of it because
I like the creative taste. I'm not a purist. So I like seeing people add their own touches and
stuff, even if it's something I would never do, or I don't like it in my own, I'm still glad
somebody else is doing it because I like seeing the variety out there. I mean, I will step
on the thorny cactus here with RWB. I like the builds. There's so many of them now.
I feel like when they first started, it was so rare when you would see him
come build a car and now they're everywhere. And again, that's his business model. He's putting
it out there. It costs a lot of cigarettes for that man. That man smokes and that giant chair
he has to sit in. And I love the process of watching that, but they're not as exclusive as
I don't think they used to be. Yeah. I think people just oddly used to seeing them here,
which is weird. Maybe that's it. There's a ton here. Yeah, they're at every show.
Well, we used to joke with that front of ours that had the RS4 and he was like,
they're rare. And then we saw six of them here. And I'm like, yeah, but this is Microsoft.
Like everybody has RS4s here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Would you daily drive in the city of an F-150?
Yep, F-150. It's great. I just got some new tires on it. So I got some, I'm trying out.
He chose the right driveway out here. Yeah, it's all Ford right now.
Oh, it's great. It's funny when you brought up the getting the KOs threes and,
you know, not having any grip with the weight transfer and all that, but so I still have the
same problem, you know? Oh, yeah. But yeah, I got some of the Falcon Wild Peaks. Those are great.
So yeah, first time trying those out. Yeah. Super happy with them. They're a really good
tire here. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of people go to them here and they have good things to say.
It depends on the environment. Like I like, I go to the desert as often as I can. So I like
my KO2s and KO3s for that, but they're really not that great outside of it,
but they're fantastic in the rocks. Yeah. This one's more of a pavement princess
a little bit. So you gotta have a shop truck. Exactly. I mean, that's the whole point. Yeah.
So what year was it? 2019. 2019. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. But you just did everything at once.
Got a truck, started a business, graduate college. Pretty much. Absolutely. Okay.
Taking the hard way for everything. This one. There's something about that though.
So that's, that's growth. Yeah. Doing things the hard way is the fastest way to growth.
You know, your mother speaks very, your mother speaks very highly about you to my father
who's, you know, so yeah. Congratulations to your mom's brother.
Good mom. Appreciate it. Yeah. That's funny. Nice. All right. How do people get a hold
of you if they want to talk to you? Yeah, we have our Instagram. It's at AmoxiautoSport.
And then shoot me an email at Nico at AmoxiautoSport or our website, just amoxiauto.com.
Where'd the name come from? Oh, yeah. That's what I meant to ask. Yeah. My mom.
Oh, okay. It was her idea. So it's actually the ancient Greek word for
cart or chariot or buggy kind of back in the day. And imagine that a guy named Nico with
a Greek name. That's weird. I know, right? And so I was just spitballing ideas with my mom,
you know, one afternoon and she was like, what about like Amoxi? And I'm like,
yeah, that sounds a little bit weird. I feel like no one's going to understand it. And
I don't know. I just kind of put into place and things are kind of working around it.
Sounds unique and expensive to me. Yeah. I like it. I think it's awesome.
That's a perfect fit. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Good job, mom.
Yeah. Well, I mean, we'll put links to your website and everything with that. And the website's
very good at explaining what you guys do and showing some of the projects you guys have done,
which is really cool. So thank you for taking time and coming in.
Yeah, thanks for coming in. I appreciate it.
Appreciate it. Well, for this episode of The Advanced Podcast, as always, I'm Nick.
And I'm Dan and don't just get there. Enjoy the drive.
About this episode
Niko Pagones of Amaxi Autosport shares his journey from go-kart racing to restoring and upgrading classic BMWs and Porsches with modern technology. The conversation covers challenges in classic car restoration, the importance of quality tires for safety, and the blend of performance and preservation in restomods. Niko’s passion for racing and hands-on learning shines through, offering insights into how vintage cars can be enhanced to run like new while maintaining their heritage. The hosts also discuss practical automotive tips and the quirks of working on modern and classic vehicles.
Original notes
This week Niko Pagones, owner and founder of Amaxi Autosport joins us in the studio to talk about how he started his shop, the excitement and challenges that came with that, and how he's using the latest tech to solve the problems of restoration in older cars. We talk 3D printing, 3D scanning, 3D printed metal, and a whole lot more. If you want to get a hold of Niko to do some work on your ride, you can find him over at Amaxi Auto!
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