One Make, One Decade with Maurice Merrick of Horsepower Heritage

[Music]

The Bring a Trailer

podcast. Hello everybody and welcome

back to the Bring a Trailer podcast.

Alex Porter here, director of operations

for the company. I am coming to you once

again from our headquarters in San

Francisco and joined in person this

week. What a treat. Maurice by Maurice

Merik of Horsepower Heritage. Thank you

so much for coming. Thanks for having

me, Alex. I'm really excited. I've been

looking forward to this. It's very rare

we get people in person and it's so much

freaking better, man. So, thanks for

making the trip. I'm telling you, I do

as many in-person interviews as I

possibly can. It completely changes the

dynamic. You're absolutely right. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I should do a full

intro before I I'm already like ready to

dive in and talk to you about

podcasting, but uh Horsepower Heritage

is your website and podcast, which

you're the creator and host of, and it

follows your love of cars and

motorcycles and the people and stories

behind those machines. Anything else you

want to let people know about Horsepower

Heritage before we dive in? I want to go

into the whole history of the company,

but anything else they should know up

top about you and the podcast? Well, you

know, I think anyone who enjoys Bring a

Trailer would enjoy my podcast because

my lens is really turned on the history,

right? That's why it's called Horsepower

Heritage, of course. And I'm fascinated

with cars, whether they are veteran cars

from 1900 all the way up to today. So,

I' I've had the privilege of having

guests and covering topics that run the

gamut. You know, I've had Kevin Zinger

and Lucas Zinger on the show who are

building this amazing hyper car down in

Torrance, California, but I've also had

a friend of mine who has been a

horseless carriage club membering since

1956 on the show to talk about his 14,

you know, Silver Ghost. Oh man, we need

to talk about all that. I want to get

into all of it and I want to talk about

all your favorite hosts or guests,

excuse me. But before we do, I thought

we'd talk about you a little bit, the

man behind the mic. Do you come from a

car family?

No, I don't. No kidding. I don't come

from a car family. But you know, the guy

who really got me interested in cars is

my uncle Dave. Behind you on the wall,

there's a poster from the Bring a

Trailer alumni gathering in 2023 at the

Iola car show. Yes. In Iola, Wisconsin.

Have you been there before? When I was

13, Uncle Dave took me to Iola. And that

was my first exposure to like antique

cars. And in high school, my dream car

was a 57 Chevy Belair, which at the time

they were kind of at the top of their

valuation, right? And uh companies like

Dan Chuck Manufacturing were reproducing

all those hard to find bits for those

cars. So the Tri Five Chevys were a big

deal. 57 specifically for you. 57 just

the fins and the sail panels. FY non

fuel. Did you not care about that?

Didn't matter. Didn't matter. As long as

it had a 283 Yeah. and a Power Glide,

right? That's what I wanted. Um, never

got that car, but my tastes kind of

evolved, of course. And then, you know,

a friend of mine introduced me to the

BMW 2002. Oh, we got that right up

there, too. That's right. And and the

poster for that alumni gathering with

the O2 on it. Randy and I did a live

podcast. I was going to ask you about

that one. That's right. I remember that.

That was at Motoring Club. Motoring Club

in LA. Yeah. But the 2002 was that

became my dream car. And I got a 76

square tail light 2002 I think when I

was a junior. Okay. What was the first

car? Was there a car before that or was

that your first car? You know, the first

car was a Mazda 626 coupe. Oh, that's an

interesting car. 82. I had it for like 6

months and it was a 5-speed. Yeah. Kind

of a metallic medium blue. They were

carbureted for a long time, weren't

they? They were. And I had a girlfriend

or a friend of a girlfriend, I can't

even remember, in high school who had

one of those a little bit later. And I

remember being shocked it was

carbureted. You know, the Mazda 626 was

kind of a dog, but it was in pretty good

shape. It would make an amazing Radwood

car today. Totally. Well, and when was

the last time you used I mean, never.

They're gone. They're gone. They're

totally gone. But I had it for about 6

months before I got this 2002. And you

know, we're talking about the late '8s.

Yeah. And it was basically a Mr. Magcoo

car to everyone else. Yeah. You know,

with that tall greenhouse. So good

looking. Everyone else in the parking

lot at high school had, you know, 5

liter Mustang GTs, Blazers. There was a

few Beatles here and there. There was a

guy with a 350 SL. No kidding. Yeah. I

used to sneak off campus in his trunk

cuz, you know, underassmen weren't

allowed off campus to launch. So, I

would jump in the trunk and motor away.

What was the um best car at high school?

Do you remember? Or the one that all the

car guys were envious of? You know,

there weren't any standouts. I mean, I

think those cars that I just mentioned

Yeah. There was a guy who chopped the

top off of his Super Beetle. Whoa. And

just rolled around like that with a

sharp edge along the windshield. It's

kind of dangerous, but they would put

like 15 people in that car on Friday

nights for football games and just tool

around the parking lot. Were you an

autoshop guy? No, we didn't have

autoshop. Oh, what a bummer. But I do

remember taking a bodyworking class at

the community college later on doing

like bondo and stuff like that kind of

thing. Yeah. Beating panels and doing

bondo. Yeah. Wow. So that was fun. Do

you ever do that more later in life or

was that your only experience with it?

I'm doing it now. I have a 51 series 1

Land Rover that's got a few dents here

and there. So, you know, working

aluminum is a lot easier. Totally. And

I'm kind of cleaning that up. That's

going to be a mechanical restoration,

but I'm going to leave the body pretty

much as is. It's kind of a patina built.

Painted or unpainted? It's got faded

bronze green paintwork. I may touch it

up here and there just cuz I don't like

the bare aluminum. Yes. Although you see

it a fair amount that people do that.

It's probably because people spend so

much time aluminum body work. They want

to show it off, right? Yeah. You know,

there was a trend for a while with

series Land Rover guys. Some would I

don't know if it's could be a trend

because it was pretty small niche of

people that would polish the bodywork

out. Yes. Right. Um doesn't look great

on a Land Rover in my opinion. They also

have such great colors in that era like

Yes. And the original paint wears so

nicely. Agreed. You know, it it usually

doesn't crack or craze. It just kind of

wears through and it almost changes

tone. You asked about the cars I had

early on. Yeah. That 2002 begat a

691600.

Oh, interesting. Which begat a 67 back?

That's interesting. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm

all about the round tail lights. Sorry.

Yeah. You want roundies? Yeah. Okay. So,

after the

69600, I found in Hemings Motors a

67600 Ti. Oh. Euro model dual side draft

Solex carburetors. I think we've only

listed like two or three Ti ever. They

don't come across very there's just not

that many in North America. And I bought

that car, flew out to Kentucky with the

friend who turned me on to 2002s and we

drove it back to the West Co. No

kidding. It was a fantastic road trip.

Blew two tires on the way. Amazing.

Because the car was running the later

steel wheels wider. Little bit wider.

The guy had put bigger meats on it and

the sidewall cut. Everybody did that in

the 80s and 90s and now everyone wants

to go back to the, you know, to the

stock setup, right? Yeah. But if you

don't fold in that fender lip, you're

going to cut your sidewalk. Yeah.

Rubbing. Uh, that was a fantastic road

trip. What route did you take? You go

the southern route? Straight across the

10. Oh, interesting. Okay. From

Lexington, Kentucky all the way out.

Amazing. Encountered massive torrential

thunderstorms outside Oklahoma City. The

big rigs were throwing 40 foot rooster

tails of water at us. The wipers

couldn't keep up. That's a real test of

a car. And we were running on fumes

mentally at that point, you know, cuz we

were trying to following it. Yeah,

totally. But what a fantastic trip. How

long did you keep that car? I kept that

car for easily 10 years, maybe longer.

Yeah. And it finally kind of was worn

out. The engine was worn out. It was

burning a whole lot of oil. I got a

letter in the mail from the California

Air Resources Board. Somebody had

reported me as a gross poll. I know. So,

um, traded that for my Did you ever have

the story of how it got here? That's a a

serviceman brought. Yeah, of course.

Bought it in Germany. Some guy that was

in the army brought it over. So, that

thing was just It was worth nothing at

the time. This was

1999, 2000. And my mechanic, great

mechanic, had a baby Benz, a 190E that

was he wanted to get rid of it. I traded

him straight across for the 190E. And

that was my daily for like 2 or 3 years.

Okay. And then I had to do a head gasket

on that car, I think, on the 190. Was it

a four or a six? It was a four. The 2.3.

Had to do a head gasket on it. did not

have the proper tools to keep the timing

chain from slipping and it slipped a

couple of teeth and I didn't really know

and that's an interference. I was going

to ask interference. I bent the valve

now. Yeah. Yeah. So, that was the end of

that car. I'm usually not all thumbs

under the hood. I'm I'm pretty good with

a tough lesson. Yeah. So, that's part of

my old car history, but I also have been

a series Land Rover guy for about 30

years. I had a 64 109 pickup. I have a

109 station wagon right now, 1960. A 68

88 in short wheelbase series 2 and then

the 51 series 1, which is my current

project. I mean, that's closer to an

addiction, buddy. I guess so. You know,

they have a way of multiplying that. I

think I think probably other Rover guys

would say the same thing. Do you miss

any of those old cars, the TI or I think

about the TI all the time. I just told

my wife like two days ago, you know, I

wish I still had that car. I kind of

know where it is. I was going to ask cuz

sometimes people do that, right? Try to

find Yeah, I kind of know where it is,

but I also feel like you sort of can't

go back. No. And it might disappoint you

if you you know what I mean? Uh, I've

tried to chase nostalgia before and then

sometimes it ends up almost working

against you and you sound like more of a

project guy than me, but I keep telling

myself I'm not going to do another

project, you know, and then end up doing

one and then I'm like, "Oh yeah, this is

why I didn't want to take on another

project." Right? So, I've really tried

to refocus myself on chasing the cars

I've always wanted and finding this is

advice I give to colleagues and other

people all the time and I don't always

follow myself, but find the best one you

can and you know do everything you can

to not Bruce Meer said something about

that. I wish I could remember the exact

phrase pay once and what is it? What is

the I can't really buy the best and cry

only once. That's correct. Right. Yeah.

which is such good advice and so hard to

follow. Well, it is when that desire

outpaces your means, right? Totally. Or

you fall in love with something that you

know you shouldn't, which happens to me

a lot. I don't know how you are with

that. All the time. All the time. Yeah.

You know, I'm wondering if you're

already missing your NSX. You just sold

it. Oh, yeah. I did. You noticed that,

huh? Uh, yes. I was thinking about it

this morning as I was driving to work. I

was like, I wish I was in the NSX. Yeah,

I do. I do miss it. But that's a car I

figured I can probably buy another one.

And a couple of my other cars, the one I

have parked downstairs, I'm probably

never going to be able to buy another

one, so got to hold on to those. But I

do miss it. Have you ever sold a car and

stipulated first right of refusal if the

guy wants to get rid of it? Don't sell

much, Maurice. Yeah, I'm a buyer and not

a seller. It's very hard for me. In

fact, that NSX, I had one of our power

sellers sell it for me because part of

it was I knew he would do a great

presentation. He did better than I ever

could. And he's a buddy. Matt Crannle

911R, but also it was a way to commit.

You know what I mean? Like you go and

hand the guy the keys and I did that

around Christmas time. And so even

though it took a month or two to get it

live on BAT, I knew it was, you know

what I mean? Like the mental break had

already happened and I may never have

done it. I'll show you later. I had a

draft written for that car in the back

end of our system to sell it like six

years ago. So I've been agonizing for,

you know, most of my ownership over

whether to sell it or not. So, for me,

it was almost kind of getting over that

hurdle and handing off the key. What

about you? Do you have that same

problem? Are you more of an acquirer

than a seller? I'm definitely a buyer.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm a serial car monogamist.

Is that even a thing? No, I think it is.

I think it is. I mean, even my dailies,

like my daily is a

535i. It's a 2015. It's got 168,000

miles on it. My daily prior to that was

a 2009 Mini Cooper S Clubman. Still have

that car. It's got 158,000 on it. Do you

drive it or is it sitting like a

talisman? I drive it. I drive it. Yeah,

I rotate. So, yes, I'm definitely a

buyer, not a seller. It's a real problem

for me cuz I get nostalgic about

everything before I've even let it go.

You know what I mean? I know exactly

what you mean. Yeah. the NSX. Would you

say you broke even on the whole thing?

Did you make money? Did it end up

costing you? No, I made a lot of money

on it. Okay. I figured because I owned

it for a long time. Actually, it's

interesting when I bought it. So, I fell

in love with those cars as a young

mechanic in my 20s. I kind of grew up

around European sports cars and liked a

lot of the same stuff as you. My dad

never owned Japanese cars. And so, I

worked at a shop that service Mercedes

and BMW's German cars. But this one

wealthy doctor, Dr. Anderson, rest in

peace, had all of his Ferraris and

Porsches worked on at our shop, but he

just liked us, so he would have

everything worked on. He had bought a 91

NSX new, and he didn't drive it very

much. It was black, black, and it had

BBS two-piece wheels, which I looked for

forever. They must have been custom

fitment, and never could find a set,

never saw another NSX with them. And at

our LA event this last weekend, there

was a red NSX with those same wheels.

I'm like, they did make them. I didn't

imagine that. But driving that car for

the first time, I was like, "Oh, this is

what people are talking about when they

talk about Honda quality, the way it's

built." And I think he offered that car

to my dad for like 20 grand, had like

20,000 miles on it. So, I always thought

of them as, you know, relatively

affordable. People weren't that

interested in it, kind of weird. And

then when I bought mine in 2017, the

prices were going up and my wife thought

I paid too much. And then, of course,

they're one of the cars that have really

suffered none of the downturn that some

other cars have. They've just shot right

up. Have you ever driven one? No, I

haven't. Oh man, I wish I had mine here

so that you could drive it. They're

incredible. There's nothing else quite

like it. They're really really great.

Yeah. And they've really kind of been

the standard bearer for the Japanese car

scene. That that and the Supra, although

not to run down the Supra, but the NSX,

there's nothing else like it. All

aluminum. What makes it different behind

the wheel? It's like driving a mid

engine. If you like that era of Honda,

which I do, it's, you know, very simple,

very well built, really low dash.

There's really good vision out. It has

an amazing view forward, which is a

problem in most sports cars. Totally. I

think it's become a problem in almost

all. It must be crash standards, right?

But like sills and hoods and everything

have gotten so high, right? You

mentioned the greenhouse in the O2. Like

that's one of my favorite things, right?

You miss that old Porsche, the same

thing. There's such good vision all

around you. And surprisingly, the NSX

has that. Plus, it has the two fenders

slope inward when you're looking out,

which there's nothing quite like a good

fender view when you're looking out the

front of a car. You know what I mean?

I'm sure you've experienced that many

times. And I imagine that the NSX when

you just need to tood around town, it's

like driving an Accord. 100%. But then

when you really want to get into it,

it's not lightning quick by modern

standards, but it's plenty. I mean, it's

plenty fast. I had it at 140 a couple

times and fine. very predictable. Very

predictable. Super linear. It was a I

don't think it's the first VTEC car, but

it was the first VTEC I think sold in

the US, but I owned an S2000 and I have

a Civic SI now, although a turbocharged

one. I had a normally aspirated Civic SI

earlier. And if you've ever driven one

of those four-cylinder VTECs, it doesn't

have that on cam surge like a lot of

them. It's linear. It's very linear. It

pulls really linear. And I love high

revving cars, so 8,000 RPM is wonderful.

The shifter is wonderful. I bought it

from the founder of Radwood actually had

a loud exhaust and big wheels and

aftermarket suspension and everything I

did to soften it and put the little

wheels back on and put the soft

suspension quiet exhaust just made me

love it all the more cuz what it is is

it's a grand tourer. Yeah, it's a super

comfortable highway car. Well, I'll take

the opportunity if it ever comes up to

drive one. Yeah. I'll let you know what

my thoughts are. Fantastic. What are

some of the cars that are either on your

list or that you've driven that really

impressed you that come to mind? Well,

my list is totally unrealistic. Okay, I

want to hear like a 289 Cobra, right?

Fantastic. Narrow body, not flares for

you, right? Narrow body. Yeah, that's

the one. 289 Cobra, you know, early 30s

Packards.

Early 30s Packard. I love pre-war cars.

Yeah, there was a uh there was kind of a

torpedo body 27 Packard touring that

sold a few years ago on the uh live

auction scene and uh saw it at Pebble

Beach last year. It was great to see it

because it had been in long-term

storage. It was a coachu built car. It

must have been if it was a it was a

coach built car if I'm not mistaken. I

think that car was built by Brun, which

was a uh rail car builder. Mhm. I think

it was a Brun. It might have been. It

was like a big like seven passenger

touring. Yeah. Okay. What was the other

uh dual cal? It might have been a Bud.

Anyway, Bud was a steel company. Yeah.

Yeah. But they also built rail cars.

Yeah. They built an airplane, too. Yeah.

That's interesting. Yeah. The Bud

Kosoga. It's a weird look it up if you

want to. It's steel airplane. I had

forgotten about that. So, like I run the

gamut. other cars on my list that are

more realistic probably like an E9

coupe. Oh, I've always admired them. You

know, I've had 2002s which are very

similar, but love the E9 coupe. Would

you want stock or would you want 5-speed

and all the mods that people do to them?

No, I think I would prefer a stock

configuration. If I was going to mod a

BMW of that era, I would find a Bavaria

or a 2800 CS and drop a modern BMW

engine and transmission in it and do all

the suspension tuning. The Bavaria was a

very comfortable car, but just kind of

heavy and underpowered. Um, what else?

There was just something else on my

mind. An E9 on Alpino wheels does look

awfully good, I will say. With some dish

on them, definitely. What else? You got

me on the spot now. Well, I I can pivot

cuz I wanted to ask you about motos,

too, because you specifically mentioned

motorcycles as one of your interests.

Were you ever a rider or do you just

like to talk to people who are

motorcycle people? No, I ride I've got a

73 BMW

R75. Great. One of the classes.

Fantastic bike. It's Avis Black toaster

tank. It's been hot rodded a little bit.

It's actually a 900 now. And it's got a

fantastic exhaust note. It's a little

bit roy but not obnoxious. But, you

know, those bikes are really quiet. The

stock silencers on them are very quiet.

I love the sewing machine tick tick of

the BMW flat twin. And, you know,

vintage bikes are my comfort zone. I

would get in way too much trouble with a

modern bike. Totally. Have you mainly

focused on BMWs or are there other types

of bikes you like? Part of the reason

I'm asking is I'm very curious to hear.

I don't think I've ever asked this on

the podcast before, the difference

between drive shaft driven motorcycles

and chain driven motorcycles. And if you

have experience with both, I'd love to

hear your thoughts. No, you know, I've

only ridden BMWs. I've had a couple of

them. I would love an older British

bike. Lately, I've been thinking about

like a mid50s Harley bobber. Oh,

interesting. Something custom. Are those

knuckleheads still if they're in the

50s? Knucklehead or pan head? I can't.

Flathead. Regardless, not overhead

valve. Yeah. Anyway, that that would be

a different flavor, you know. Totally.

And they're really good looking. I like

I like the Indians a lot, too. But, you

know, making it a bobber sort of pairs

it down to the bare essentials. Hardtail

motorcycles are a different breed,

right? Uhhuh. You got to be a hearty

soul for those. But, but, you know,

actually, I've had Paul Dory on on the I

was going to ask on the podcast. Who are

some of the moto people you've talked

to? So, you know, Paul is the creator of

the

Vintagent, which is basically the whole

world of vintage motorcycleycling. It's

at vintagent.com if people want to look

him up. But fantastic character. He's

actually a San Francisco resident. So,

he's one of your neighbors. We actually

have a motorcycle shop right here.

Sometimes it's a guest on the podcast. I

noticed that. Yeah. Right next door.

Yeah. They've got amazing stuff in

there. So, Paul's fascinating. Learned a

lot from him. But he's ridden anything

and everything pre-war. Yeah, but for

him, whatever it is, if it's on two

wheels, he'll ride it and he's

interested in it. So, learned a lot from

Paul. Other notable motorcycle guests

that you've had, one of the most

interesting

guys that I've spoken to about

motorcycles is a guy called David

Lancaster, who his background is in film

and television production, but he's a

Vincent enthusiast. Oh, we love Vincent.

So he made a documentary about Vincent

motorcycles called Speed is Expensive,

which it was and still is. Yeah. And so

we talked all about Vincent. That's a

terrific episode. That's episode 64 of

the podcast. It's been a while now. I

try to keep the shows evergreen. So that

does he go deep on Vincent? I need to

listen to that one. My dad owned a

couple Vincent so I love him too. Goes

deep on Vincent. Goes deep on Philip

Vincent. Who this guy was? What made him

tick? Fascinating. Yeah. See, I don't

even I don't even quite have the It's

HRD and then it becomes Vincent. It's a

little complicated. Vincent was the

engineer, right, for HRD because HRDs

are kind of Vincent's and sometimes the

tanks say HRD and Vincent on them. Yeah.

He basically acquired HRD and then there

was a period where they were labeled

both HRD and Vincent and then finally

just the Vincent. Yeah. Right. Right.

Right. Oh god, I got to listen to that.

That's a fantastic episode. And then

another guy I've had on the show who

loves vintage but also wants reliable

and usable is a guy called Richard

Worsham and he's the founder of Janice

Motorcycles. Have you familiar? Yes. So

Richard is like just a very interesting

Midwestern guy who decided I'm going to

start a motorcycle company. We talked

about what he does and the bikes and

he's got a very interesting clientele.

Are they essentially made per order? How

does that work? We've had a few on the

site. So, basically, they have a given

number of models, but there's a lot of

customization that you can do if you're

a buyer. You're shephering your build

through kind of. Yep. That's it. And so,

all of the bikes are basically

handbuilt. And his philosophy on

motorcycleycling is what he calls

rambling. Yeah. you know, just no

particular place to go, but I'm going to

hop on the bike and wherever I find

myself is where I need to go, which I

love, man. You know, they call that in

aviation the $100 hamburger. It's

probably a lot more now, but you know,

you got to find a place to fly your

plane. So, you fly it somewhere and

have, you know, a hamburger at one of

the airport restaurants. Yeah. It's kind

of the same zen

of, you know, well, zen in the art of

motorcycle maintenance or blue highways.

If people remember William Lee Heat Moon

and his travels, it's that same ethos. I

love it. My dad is friends with a kind

of well-known old motorcycle journalist,

Clement Salvadori, who used to ride for

rider and bike. He's ridden for

everything. And he's, you know, ridden

all around the world on various bikes.

And he's got kind of that similar

philosophy. It's about the people you

meet. Similar to the philosophy of

horsepower Heritage, right? like it's

the vehicle, be it a motorcycle or a car

or truck or whatever, the romance of it

is the people you meet and the journeys

you take and the stories that you pick

up by getting in one of these, you know,

modes of transportation and getting out

on the road, right? And that's a kind of

a guiding philosophy for us at BAT, too.

I mean, it's fine if people want to look

at their zero mile GNX or whatever, but

for the most part, we love to encourage

people to get out and drive their cars,

ride their bikes. That's why we have

events, right, and alumni gather. Come

on out, use the thing. I always have

high regard for especially when I speak

to big collectors and I've been

fortunate enough to see some of the

world's greatest collections, but they

use their cars. Yeah. They do you no

good sitting around. Leno, he rides

everything. He drives everything. It's

amazing. Uh I'd love to hear a little

bit more about some other notable guests

and episodes, but before we do, I should

have started by tell us about the

origins of Horsepower Heritage. Were you

always interested in either interviewing

or writing or how did it all come about,

Maurice? Well, I have a background in

television production, but as far as the

podcast is concerned, it started like

all good ideas start over cocktails.

Sure. A group of car guys, we were

sitting around having drinks and one of

them said, "How far back is this?" This

is a little over 5 years ago. One of my

friends said, "You know, we have all

these great car chats. We should be

recording this. We should be making a

podcast because we're not the only ones

who are interested in this stuff." And

it wasn't on my radar at all, Alex, but

something clicked in my brain. So, that

friend and I kind of got serious about

it, started doing

research, started buying equipment. Mhm.

We got as far as doing some test

recording sessions and that's where we

panicked our first time. I don't know if

that happened to you. Well, it was going

fine except that my friend's business

kind of took off. Okay. And he had to

bow out. He said, "Man, I'm so sorry. I

got you going in this direction." And I

said, "Hey, it's okay. I was ready to do

it." So, I did it. I just jumped in with

both feet. It's been fantastic, Alex. I

mean, I'm coming up on the fifth

anniversary this summer of this show.

Over 140 episodes. I don't know how many

hours. Many, many hours. It ends up

being a you and I can commiserate on

this. It ends up being a real commitment

to do this stuff. It is. I release

bi-weekly. Initially, it was a weekly

show and it was kind of a treadmill.

Yes. You know, I had to pair it back.

There's other You go long, too, on

yours. I go long. The average length at

one point was 47 minutes. I don't know

where it is right now, but I've gone as

long as two hours. Yeah. It's hard to

stop, you know. Yeah. And oftentimes,

even the guest isn't ready to call it

quits 100%. But you asked about notable.

Yeah. Who are some of the early ones?

What happened early on? You know,

actually early on the show was mostly

what I call storytelling episodes. I

would pick a topic and just do the

research and run with it. So, episode

one was called the birth of the

automobile

and I talked about I talked about Benz

and all that. I talked about the wagon

the patent motor car, right? I talked

about that. I I went even farther back

than that. I went to Kuno's tractor.

Yeah. Okay. So, that's fascinating.

People have told me and I've seen some

pictures there. There were like steam

powered almost like tractor things that

you know we always think of the patent

wagon being the first car, but that's

actually not exactly true, right? Well,

there was a guy in France named Nicholas

Kuno, and he saw the potential of steam

power for road vehicles, and essentially

he built an artillery tractor. Okay. For

Napoleon's army. It's fascinating to me

that it goes that far back. I mean,

there were steam engines in the, you

know, late 1700s, mid 1700s. Yeah. So,

Nicholas Kuno developed this steam

tractor for the French army. It was an

artillery tractor. 1769.

Amazing. And it is the most ungainainely

thing. The steering is through chains

just like almost like horses reins. And

the front wheel is the only wheel that's

propelled. And it uses like a dog and

paw ratchet system. Sure. The original

is in a museum in Paris. Oh, it's still

around. That's amazing. There's a

reproduction down in Florida, I think in

Tampa, and occasionally they run it on

the street.

So, I love it when people are obsessed

with that old technology and they

recreate it. There's a bunch of patent

wagon replicas. I think we've sold them

on the site. People build all kinds of

those, right? Oh, yeah. I've got a

friend who has one and it's marvelous.

Have you ridden in it? I haven't ridden

in it yet because it's a display piece

for him, but he could run it if he

wanted. So, I started out with the

storytelling episodes. So things like

the birth of the motor car. I did an

episode all about Donald Haley. Um I did

an episode called how they saved BMW

about Herbert Quant and how he took BMW

from certain disaster got it going again

with the Noya cars. I did an episode

about the

Lamborghini from the Italian job. Oh

interesting. And what became of it that

specific chassis. Exactly. Because that

car was long sought after, but no one

knew where it went. And a car dealer in

Paris found it in a parking garage.

Amazing. Yeah. So, that car still

exists. Um, I did an episode called

Henry Ford's fight about Henry Ford

battling against the patent process for

the automobile and, you know, how you

had to be licensed in the US. So, all

sorts of stuff. But I've also had great

guests like Yeah. Yeah. Who are some of

the notable ones? I mean, guys like

Donald Osborne. Oh, yeah. Donald's

wonderful. So, great talker. You always

want a good talker if you can get him

on, right? He's a good talker.

Absolutely. So knowledgeable. Uh John

Bothwell from Song. Yep. Patrick Long.

Oh, Patrick Long. He was at our event

this weekend. Yeah. Great guy. I was

hoping I was going to see you there,

Maurice. I know. I couldn't make it and

it was killing me. We were so far out

there. It was a huge one. You would have

loved it. Bruce Meers been on the show.

the man. One of the highlights though

was a couple years ago at the Quail

during Monterey Car Week. I hosted the

Fireside Chat. Oh. On the main stage in

front of the crowd and the guest was

none other than Emerson Fidipali.

Amazing. That was incredible. I mean, I

had 30 minutes with him in the green

room prior to going on and I said,

"Emmo, do you mind? Could we sit down

and I just want to go over a a few

notes?" Mhm. And within 10 minutes, it

was like we were old buddies. I mean,

he's that warm and gracious. So, that

was wonderful. That's got to be one of

the highlights, man. It was terrific.

And then, you know, I mentioned earlier

that Randy and I had done that podcast

at the alumni. Ask how often you do them

live. That was a live one. I I sat and

watched that uh from the crowd from time

to time. I do live stuff. I I do also

private events live that don't

necessarily become podcast shows, but I

really enjoy hosting and there's nothing

like a live audience. Fantastic. So,

agreed. Where would you recommend if

somebody was interested in jumping in?

What's like a good kind of entree into

your podcast? Where's a good place to

start? Well, I'll give you a couple

recommendations. Yeah, please. If you're

interested in like a storytelling

episode, one of my favorites that I've

ever done and kind of proud of is an

episode called Racing's Darkest Day,

which is about the 1955 Lemon disaster.

Yes, exactly. And the story is

fascinating. I'm surprised by how many I

bring that one up, you know, a fair

amount just in conversation. Even a lot

of my colleagues who know a lot about

cars don't necessarily know the details

of that and all the ramifications of it.

Well, it changed so much in motorsport.

You know, Mercedes basically didn't race

except for rallying. They didn't race

for many years. It was the beginning of

the end for Mike Hawthorne, whose life

was never the same. It shattered the

life of Lance Mlin, who was hit by

Pierre LG's Mercedes. He was never the

same. So, there were deep, deep

consequences to to that whole thing. And

of course, over 80 people were killed in

the crowd. Deadliest racing accident of

all time. Yes. Yeah. So, um, that's a

great one for people to check out.

Another one that I really enjoyed

producing was a two-part episode called

The Brilliance of Bentley with an author

called Peter Grimdale, an Englishman who

has a television production background

and is an author. He's primarily an

author of fiction, but he became

fascinated by the story of WO Bentley

and how he created these cars, but

particularly Bentley at Lama. Yeah.

Okay. You know, does he cover the

Bentley boys too, Wolf Bernado and all

that? All of it. All of it. Such a great

era. We talk about Bentley's early life.

you know, he went to the north of

England to apprentice in the locomotive

sheds, but then he got interested in

motorbikes and realized, you know,

trains and locomotives are kind of on

the way out and the motor car and the

motorcycle are going to be the future.

Yeah. He went to war in the Great War.

He realized that the engines on the

English planes were seizing in midair

and killing a lot of flyers. He

developed a lightweight aluminum piston

that served as a heat sink and made the

engines more reliable. And I think it's

confirmed, but at least legend has it

that the plane that shot down Baron

Fontoen was powered by a Bentley engine.

Oh, interesting. Built by Bentley. Built

by designed by Bentley. Okay. Yeah. And

so, uh, yeah, Peter Grimsdale, The

Brilliance of Bentley. That was a

wonderful episode. Those sound like

great places to start. Yeah. Really love

those episodes. I think those are

excellent places to go. So, you and I

discussed when you were generous enough

to allow me on your podcast. We talked

about the one-year garage game that we

play here on BAT. And you mentioned

you'd like to do it. And we've never

done it with two people. and this would

be your first time playing. So, we came

up with a variation on it and so we want

to kind of end the episode with doing

that. But before we dive into that and I

remind folks how that works and we'll

have some fun debating how we're going

to do the variation of it. I wanted to

give you an opportunity Maurice just one

last time to let folks know about

anything you got coming up or anything

else that you might want to share with

folks that they should know about you or

Horsepower Heritage. Well, thanks, Alex.

And I just think that Bring a Trailer

users are the audience that I cater to

because the breadth I think in large

part, right? You cover everything. Yeah.

And, you know, BAT users are so

knowledgeable and I really like to get

into the minutia. I do a lot of

research. I'm fascinated by this stuff.

It energizes me to talk about all of it.

Same. And we nerd out on the show. So,

just like the commenters on Bring a

Trailer, you know, it it can be pretty

wacky. Just Google Horsepower Heritage

and you can find me on all sorts of

platforms. Instagram, I've got a YouTube

channel, lots of videos there, not just

podcast episodes, but you know, fixing

my own Ford Model A Roadster, stuff like

that. So, the podcast, YouTube, and

Instagram is where to find me. Killer.

And we'll put links up for all that

stuff, too. Fantastic. Uh, you ready to

nerd out on some Chevys? Am I ready? Are

you kidding? Okay, good. All right. How

much prep did you do? You're probably

going to blow me out of the water. I

did. I did quite a bit of prep. Okay.

But again, it's just like having a car

conversation with a friend. Like, I

couldn't stop. I know. I know. I know.

It really I prepped last night and then

I was thinking about it as I was falling

asleep. And then this morning while I

was getting my kids ready, I was

thinking about it and then I was looking

at more cars and then as I told you when

you came in, I was like, I need to prep

more. And I have not had the opportunity

to do that. But that's okay. I think

because of the way we're going to tweak

this, we're going to have probably not

have too much overlap, but I want to

clear up a few ground rules with you

first. So, first off, for folks who've

never heard us play this game before,

typically we pick one year and then pick

from five different categories, a sports

car, a daily driver, a family hauler, a

truck 4x4, and a wild card from that

year. We usually play with three or four

people, and there's no overlap, so the

order matters. Since it's just the two

of us, we're going to try a slight

variation. I've wanted to try this for a

long time anyway, so I'm excited to do

it with you, Maurice. We're going to try

to do a decade, 1960s, but one

manufacturer only. So, same categories,

but you've got to pull it just from one

manufacturer. We're going to do

Chevrolet. We talked about some other

ones. We talked about BMW in the '90s. I

think there's only the X5 for trucks in

the 90s. So, so we decided Chevy because

they make a bunch of stuff. Couple

questions for you and we can decide

whatever we want because we're making

the rules here, Maurice. But there's

three different Corvette generations in

the 60s, right? There's C1's, twos, and

threes. My inclination would be each one

of us could have a Corvette in theory as

long as it's not the same generation.

How do you feel about that? Oh, totally

fine with that cuz there's also multiple

El Camino generations. There's multiple,

you know, lots of cars have different

iterations. So, I was thinking there can

be overlap as long as it's not the same

generation. How do you feel about that?

Absolutely. And by the way, I went into

this with the game plan of the

unexpected, and you probably did, too.

Yeah, 100%. So, this is going to be

really interesting to see where we both

end up. I like litigating stuff while

it's coming up, so that's part of the

fun. Here's a a one for you. I have a

couple of these that we can kind of get

to if they come up. Is the Corvair a

sports car? Ah, well, we'll find out,

won't we? All right, great. We're going

to do it one category at a time. All

right, let's dive in then, man. I'm

excited about this. You've got me all

jazzed up. You're the guest. You go

first. You pick the category and then

we'll go for it. So, you get first

overall pick. All right. Well, I got to

start with sports car. Okay. Great. All

right. This is what I was hoping for.

This is top of my list, too. Just very

quickly, did you use So, just to warn

you, a lot of my picks are going to be

straight up specific cars from BAT. If

you've heard me do this before, I do

this a lot. Definitely don't have to do

that at all. But to warn you, I am going

to have specific lot numbers for some of

mine. Okay. Well, Alex, I have to tell

you that I have 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 like 15 tabs open on Bring a Trailer

right now. So, I'm right there with you.

Okay, good. All right, sports car. All

right, my pick for sports car. The 1966

Corvair Yenko Steel Stage 2. Okay, that

definitely counts in white with blue

racing stripes. By the way, for all of

my picks, I've specified exterior and

interior colors and spec is vital as far

as I'm concerned, especially with I

think Chevys in the '60s because like

that's what people love those. That's

like that's like what it's all about. Is

it AC or no? You know, all that stuff

matters. Yeah. All right. So, are you a

Corvair guy? I am not a Corv guy. You

have to appreciate the Corvs.

Number one, it was uh well, you know, Ed

Cole saw what the Europeans were doing

and he's like, "We need a small car. We

need an economy car." Rear engine. Rear

engine. He loved the Volkswagen. He saw

how well the Beetle was selling. So, you

know, that's the genesis of the Corv in

in uh 1960 was the first model year, of

course, but the 66 was the second gen,

right? Which fixed the swing axles,

right? It has joints on it and

everything. And was the car I don't know

about you, but when I grew up, I always

preferred this. I like the looks of it

better. The second gen. Do you have a

preference at this stage? Now, I kind of

like both equally, but I kind of like

both, you know, and it all depends on

the spec and the body style. Totally. I

mean, when I say body style, I mean

twodoor, four-door, convertible. But, so

Don Yenko was a Pennsylvania Chevy

dealer and he was a racer, right? And

the Yanko Stinger was basically the

Pennsylvania Porsche, if you will. I

mean, 160 CIC in flat 6, 190 horsepower,

Sagenov four-speed. So good. Donko was

like great paint schemes, too. Whatever

car he was modifying. So, the first

hundred, I think, were all white with

blue racing stripes. Okay. I'm pretty

sure. But on the Yanko Corv. Yes. Yes.

But yeah, that's my pick. I mean, it's a

fantastic one. Didn't even cross my

radar. I love it when somebody cuz

usually we do these and it's like

everyone's kind of swimming in the same

pool. I didn't even think about that one

and I'm upset at myself and it's also a

freaking great pick. Thanks. All right,

what do you got for me? Okay, I have a

very specific car. I was a little

worried you might take a vet. So, I have

a specific one. So, this occasionally I

talk about cars that I wish I'd bought

that were on the site and this is it's

definitely in my top 10 if not my top

five and it's a little weird. So, I'm

going C1 Corvette 62. This is lot number

14,97497. It's a 62. So, final year of

the C1. Black FY four-speed 360 horse.

So, it's as much performance as you

could ever get in a C1. And this car has

every freaking performance option. Has a

411 PY rear end, heavy duty rear brakes.

brakes. They're fin drums with air cool

fans in them. It has a Sebring

suspension package which has two front

sway bars. It has these really weird

fiberglass I think they call them

elephant's ears. They're like brake

ducks. They're in the trunk. Maybe you

know more about these cars than I do,

but this is like this is one of those

cars. It didn't sell unfortunately bid

to only 75 grand. And it's just one of

the cars that I think about all the

time. And I love C2s and C3s also, but

this from the 60s is the Corvette I want

the most. This specific chassis number.

I remember this auction. Well, you

remember this auction? Oh, I I probably

still have a little drool on my

keyboard. Yeah. I mean, all black, black

and black. Just so evil. Yeah. So

sinister. I love it. So that's my sports

car, man. I think about that car a lot.

All right. You take us to the next

place, Maurice. Okay. All right. I'm

leading the way here. All right. Let's

just go the opposite direction with

truck and 4x4. Oh, good. Oh, I'm excited

to hear what you pick here. Okay. So

many good options. So, because I went

first and I picked the next category, I

want to hear your pick first. Oh, okay.

Good. Um, I don't think there's going to

be any conflict here because I've gone a

little outside the box. Oh. On truck

4x4, so this may also need a ruling from

you. I think this counts. Is an El

Camino a truck? Not only is it a truck,

but I had an El Camino selected, too.

Gosh. No, that's okay. I I got a a good

backup. So, okay. So, I've chosen

another specific car. A weird one. So,

second gen El Caminos are like my

favorite. 64 to 68. 67. What's the I

think 67. Yeah. Okay. So, this is a 65

and it's a really weird spec. L79 350

4-speed. I've always had a soft spot for

El Cabinos. I don't know why exactly.

I've never driven one. I like the big

late ones. I like the funky '8s ones

when they had the kind of Camaro front

end on them. I like the early finned

ones, but the second gen is my favorite.

And so I went pouring over BAT last

night. And this specific one, sorry,

it's a

327 with 350 horse. So it's a high-spec

327 with a four-speed. Lot number

143608. So a much more recent auction.

Is it a four-speed? It's a four-speed.

Yeah, dude. Look at this thing. Come on.

Oh, you know, come on. With the tack

down here under the dash. Love it. We'll

link to this. Exactly the wrong place

for it, but that's okay. Totally. But

anyway, I mean, what a car. I mean,

that's almost like that's like your

sports truck right there. Definitely. I

love it. I'm sorry I stole from you,

though. No, no, it's okay. I mean,

there's so many good Chevy trucks in the

'60s. I also picked an El Camino, but I

picked a 1960 in cascade green and jade

green. A lovely two-tone. One light, one

a little bit darker. The jade green

being kind of light on the roof. 335

horsepower, 348 cubic inch special super

turbo thrust V8 with tri power. You

could get tri power in this car. The

original big block, right? Isn't that

the original? Yes. Exactly. And uh

two-speed power glide, man. Yeah. I I

don't want a manual in this one. I want

to cruise with the auto. You smoke the

tires no problem no matter what.

Absolutely. And yes, El Caminos are

trucks. Yeah. If I% if I can haul lumber

in it, if I can put a pack of dogs in

the back, you know, if I can shove a

manure into it, it's a truck. Honestly,

it's probably more functional than some

of these unibody modern trucks that have

the little tiny 4ft beds on them, right?

Like it's got a spacious bed. Yeah,

totally. Absolutely. And then they

dropped the El Camino in a couple years

it's gone, right? And then it comes back

in the body style that I like so much.

Right. Right. So, but that first one is

epic and has almost a little bit of like

50s hangover, right? It's like kind of

the end of that 50s, which I also love

so much. I love late 50s styling so much

and especially when it carries over into

the early 60s. So, the

61 Chrysler 300G is my favorite of all

the letter cars. So, it's a 60s car, but

it's still got the big fins on it. You

know what I mean? See, like 59 and 60

Cadillac. I prefer the 60. I do, too. I

feel the exact same way. And I'm not

trying to run down the 59, which I also

love, but it's almost become cliche,

right? So, this and the 60 is so much

cleaner. I love it. It's all about the

fins on that car. Agreed. And I just

think I like the understated 60. Great.

Great pick, dude. Oh, man. You're doing

great. Now I'm like slightly

intimidated. All right. Where are you

going next? What category? Oh, I get to

pick again. Okay. I'm in. All right.

Let's see here.

Let's go family hauler. Oh, good. Okay.

I've got my This is gonna be fun. Okay.

Because when you're a car guy, but you

have that compromise that you need to

haul the wife and kids and the dog and

who knows what else. Maybe grandma

rolled up in a area rug on the roof. I

know where you're going. So, my pick for

family

hauler is the 1965 Chevel Malibu

four-door station wagon. Fantastic. In

willow green poly metallic with an

analogous interior. fan. Okay. And I got

to go big on this. I was going to say

it's your powertrain combo. L79 turbo

fire 327 350 horsepower and a

four-speed. Wow. And it's similar to the

powertrain in my El Camino. Exactly.

Exactly. So, I mean, if I got to drive a

wagon, I want to shift. Yeah. Totally.

Totally. But that's also a really sick

car and was definitely on my list, too.

I actually like that car in almost every

body style it comes in. But the wagon is

particularly fantastic. Yeah. Yeah, I

just love it. Now, there's a

technicality here because the

L79, like I think you could only get it

in the Corvette that year. You know

what? Actually, I'm mistaken. So, no, it

was the L84 you can only get because it

had solid lifters. Yes. Right. Versus

the hydraulic. So, the Yeah, the L79 was

available. You're pulling out all the L

codes, Maurice. I can't do that. It's so

hard for me to keep up on all that. so

much research into the RPO, the regular

production order, totally Chevrolet

nomenclature versus the CPO, the central

office production order. You could just

spend I mean, we try to decode those as

much as we can cuz again, like we were

talking about up top, collectors care so

much about each one of those, right?

They do. It's important. Okay, so you

didn't steal mine. Not that I was that

worried about it. And I'm really glad he

took a second generation Corv cuz for

Family Holler, I'm going to take a first

generation Corv wagon. Wow. And this is

another car that I have thought about a

lot. So, this was in Mike Malamut's

collection. He listed it twice on the

site. It's a silver over red

Monza Corvair wagon four-speed, and it's

got that big, beautiful Swan neck

shifter that kind of comes way out from

under the and it's red interior. And I

think it only bid to like 10 grand. And

I just love the way these look. And the

windows get wider as they go back. Oh

man, I love these cars. This is, like I

said, when I was a kid, it was that

second generation Corvette. That was the

only one I thought was good-look. That's

all I cared about. And these older first

generation cars with white walls,

they've really grown on me. Uh my wife

was a district attorney up in rural

Northern California, and one of the

secretaries daily drove a

teal Corv sedan. That was her daily

driver. teal on teal power glide and I

just loved that as a daily driver and it

really helped me kind of fall in love

with these and I think the wagons are

great looking. I love the coups. Ry's

dad had a turbo uh Monza coupe which was

an awesome car too. Um but anyway,

that's my pick for family hauler. Now

this car, what's the lot number on that?

That is lot number I wrote it down

somewhere. It is lot number

22167. Now does that have the optional

95

horsepower engine? Because the, you

know, the stock, I think the Monza had a

little more power, didn't it? Yeah. The

standard Corv came with an 80 horsepower

engine, but I think mid 1960 you could

order the performance package, which was

a 95 horse, but you could only get it.

It's not going to be a speed demon like

your family hauler no matter what.

Unfortunately, Maurice, let's see if we

set it here. This it was on the site

twice. Yep. Yep. You're right. That's

perfect. I was curious if you were going

to pick a Greenbryer. Oh, I do love

those a lot. I really like them a lot.

Gosh, now that makes me think for a

truck I should have picked the what do

they call it? Ramp. Yes. Oh, man. Well,

I was thinking about You were thinking

about that the Greenbryer van for the

family hauler. But I don't know. I don't

know if I would want to do a cross

country road trip in that thing.

Totally. You picked You picked the right

You picked the right thing cuz you're

going to be hauling ass, man. Very good.

By the way, this Monza wagon that you

picked, that's like one of several Corv

that Mike Malibut has had on the site

and they've all been fantastic. He has

such I mean, you've been to the museum

before? No, I dude I know. It's crazy

that I haven't been there yet. It's one

of those things. I was actually

surprised. So, we went and interviewed

Matt Farah and he was generous to let us

come into his collector car facility and

he had never been to Malamut's Museum. I

I kept talking to kind of all these

notable LA folks and it was surprising

how many people I don't know if it's

that Mike doesn't open it up very much.

But I'll tell you, man, so I was up at

Rob Deets's uh W facility at the other

end of the block for most of our event,

but then at the end I was like, I never

seen it either. I was like, I got to get

down and see Malamutes. And there were

so many people in there, it was hard to

move through. It was jam-packed. So the

Los Angeles really uh wanted to come out

and see it. I got to get over there. You

know, you could

spend all year doing a different car

thing in LA and really not run out of

stuff. Totally. Totally. All right. You

want to do daily driver? Daily driver.

Okay. I'm excited to hear what you got.

All right, my friend. I'm really torn

because I I I'll just tell you, I picked

three cars for every category cuz I

really wanted to cover my bets. Very

smart, right? It's very smart. My third

pick for this Well, no. I'm not that's

not fair because I I'll just go with

always follow your heart. Right. Right.

Although I lose on Instagram every time

we do this. So maybe that's not good

advice. All right. So I picked three for

every category just to cover my beds.

So, my pick for daily driver is a 1964

Chevy 2 Nova Super Sport 2 in satin

silver poly metallic with a red

interior and

RPO703, the L77 283 cubic inch V8, 220

horses and a four-speed. Amazing. A

little ripper of a motor. A little

ripper. I love 283s, by the way. Yeah,

they're terrific. And those Novas, I

just think they're so handsome. Yes. You

know, I I actually think it's Ry's a

Falcon Sprint 63 and a half is like kind

of in that same neighborhood of looks

and those I completely agree with you.

It was on my list for Daily Driver, too.

They're so good looking and light and

like, you know what I mean? Like it was

a classic dragster. Light and the size.

I mean, great city car in the early60s,

you know, and just so easy to park,

simple and clean. That that mid60s

styling of a lot of the cars that we're

talking about here, you and I are

clearly gravitating towards that. It is

I love 50s styling, too, but that kind

of pallet cleanser of the mid60s is also

delightful. I just love everything from

this era pretty much. You know, for the

daily driver category, one of the things

that I was thinking about is I was

imagining because you guys are in San

Francisco, I was imagining myself daily

driving here in the city with the hills

and the tight parking and all of that

and what would be a great pick and and

so that was my choice. Man, I should

have picked an automatic. I didn't. But

I'm going to stick with my heart here,

which is one of my favorite cars from

the '60s, which is the original Camaro.

Ah, yes. 67. So, I've chosen an RSS

4-speed. This one was offered by Bullet

Motorsports or sold by Bullet

Motorsports, I should say, one of our

local partners. And this one is in

butternut yellow, has the nostripe,

black nostripe, which I think is great,

black vinyl roof. I think as much as I

love the styling of Mustangs, the

original Camaro might be my favorite

looking car from the '60s. It's so

pretty and it's so simple. I just love

them, man. Not just your favorite muscle

car, but your favorite just look in

terms of look. I think I probably would

own I love Fords and driving Mustang so

much. I think that's probably what I

would own personally. But I mean, in

profile, it's one of the prettiest cars

in my opinion. I love the rally slotted

mag wheels. That's one of my favorite

wheels. I actually think I've picked a

6768 Camaro as a daily before in one of

these because whichever year we did 67 I

think because I love them so much. So

I'm repeating myself here a little bit.

You can see I'm like waxing rapsotic,

but I I just love them. I would be happy

walking up to that car every day. I

wanted something too that was kind of in

that 60s beige color. I love all the 60s

beiges. And I think that I would like

this car. You you spoke about driving in

the city. I think this car would be fun

kind of beat up sitting in the city,

sitting outside. I think it would still

be, you know, doing burnouts wherever. I

don't know. Anyway, I love this car. It

would be a great car for you if you were

a private detective to get into

adventures with. I'm trying not to say

the word bullet, but yeah, totally.

Right. I was thinking more Rockford

files. Totally Rockford files. Yeah.

Anyway, there's my GM build sheet on it.

We'll link to that one, too. That is lot

number 93785.

And I just got to say that color,

butternut yellow, which is really kind

of a just a cream. Yeah. It's a perfect

choice for that car. You don't need to

be flashy. No, no, no, no. I completely

agree. And this has got flash in

different areas. the nose stripe, the

red line tires, all that kind of stuff.

Definitely. All right, buddy. Wild card.

You ready? Okay, wild card. This is

always where you really learn about a

person. We've come around the horn. So,

this is our last category. Yeah. All

right. I'm going to tell you the

specific reason I picked this car. It's

not because it's a cool car. It is, but

there's more to it than that. So, my

pick for wild card is a 1961 Impala SS

409 bubble top sport coupe. So good in

tuxedo black with a green interior. Oo,

and a myy four-speed man. 409. She's

real fine. My 409, which is or is not

related. It's not related to the Is that

a different block than the 396 348

block? No, it's the same block. Yeah.

360 horsepower four barrel. Single four

barrel. Yeah. And there were only 142

built in 1961. So it's a rare car. And I

don't think I've ever seen one in that

color combo before. Black, green. No,

that's a kind of an unusual combo. A lot

of them are red and white, I feel like.

Isn't that right? Red and white. Black

and red interior.

Now, that is a cool car. I don't care

what you say. It's a cool car no matter

what. But the reason I picked it is

because of Dan Gurnie. Oh, what's the

Greek connection? Dan Gurnie bought one

of these in 1961 and took it to England

to race. And he raced it. He raced an

impala. Yes. Yes. What? In touring car

and he lost a wheel during the race and

he was out. But I've been fortunate

enough to ride in Dan Gurnie's Impala.

No kidding. Justin Gurnie was on the

show a few months ago and you know

Justin and I have kind of become pals

and I've ridden in his car cuz it was

his dad's own car. Yeah. And then they

kept it. Well, they didn't keep it. Oh,

it went through a succession of owners.

It was in the UK for many years. It

ended up in Australia and then recently

Justin found it, acquired the car. No

kidding. And it's back in the fold. Did

it get raced by other people or was it

his dad the only one who raced it? You

know, I wish I could remember that it

had any other race history. I don't

think it did, but he bought it to race

it specifically. Well, he's going to be

running it in vintage events. Oh, cool.

I don't think they're really going to go

racing anymore, but it'll be at Laguna

Secika for Monterey Car Week this year.

It's a beautiful metallic blue, a dark

metallic blue. How far does the racing

prep go? Is it gutted interior or does

it still have an interior? No, it's got

a full interior in it. I I think the

interior was saved. The rest of the car

had been repainted and the car has gone

through a succession of owners, so it's

had work done here and there, but it's

done properly now. And anyway, the car

is back in the Gurnie family. I was able

to ride in it recently and it was so

exciting. I mean, even at a low speed,

he didn't really get his foot in it, but

man, was it fun. And Dan's got a special

place in my heart, you know. Me, too.

He's my favorite. He's my favorite

driver. And Justin is such a terrific

guy. So, anyway, that's why I picked

that car. That's a great pick. That

actually would have been a great pick

for a lot of categories. That's an

amazing one. It was definitely on my

list for daily drivers. Well, the reason

I wanted to know whether we could have

multiple generations of the same car,

which we've done three two times and

we're about to do three times, is

because I wanted a Corvette for my wild

card. So, initially I was going to go

Grand Sport, which would be like Mac

Daddy. But then I started looking around

BAT and I had forgotten about this other

car that we listed. So, this is a 64 C2

Corvette FY big tank option was raced

SECA new. It's red with white steel

wheels, which is just about my favorite

look of all time. But a C2 Corvette race

car, but kind of a little bit So I love

Dan Gurnie. that era of sportsman

drivers buying a car off the showroom

floor and this car like Dan Gurnie it

has an interior in it but then taking it

racing and you could win races in a car

that was a lightly modified street car

especially in SoCal is just something

that's an era and a time period that is

so romantic to me. So instead of going

Grand Sport, which was, you know, a

crazy race car that Zoro Arcist Dunto

was like secretly developing, I've

decided to go for this car that was

optioned clearly to be a race car and

was raced SECA knew, but is also still a

little bit streety, right? It's a FY4

speed with the extra big tank. It was

definitely speced to be a race car. That

big tank was option N0. Oh, you know

that even look at you. Uh because they

they knew people wanted that we put it

in the thing, right? It's a rare option

to have on the factory. Anyway, I can

imagine myself being in this going to

Willow Springs in the '60s and then

driving it to work, right? But it's also

your race car. I'd love it. Now, is that

technically a Z06? It's not a Z06, but I

think they had a lot of these same

options, right? It had a lot of the same

stuff. Wish I could tell you what. Oh,

yeah. This is a 64. Oh, yeah. The Z06s

are 65. Are they the first Z06? 50 of

them or something. 199 and 63, I

thought. Okay. So, oh, they're all

they're splits. Split windows. They made

them in a split, but yeah. No, it's a

brilliant brilliant car. It's great,

right? And that is lot number. Let me

get the lot number. Oh, it's lot 71,000.

Even whoever was scheduling our cars

knew that. That was a good car, too. And

it unfortunately did not sell. No, but

look at what it bid to 195. Yeah. Yeah.

Anyway, thanks for playing with me,

Maurice. That's fun, right? This was

super fun, Alex. And like I said, I just

couldn't stop doing the research and it

was tough. By the way, you're gonna find

yourself thinking and secondguessing

yourself later. That's like part of it.

Yeah. Well, that's part of the fun,

right? Yeah, indeed. Well, thanks for

doing all this, man. And thanks for

flying up here. As we started, I'll end

with again, there's nothing like doing

it in person. It's way better.

Absolutely. So, thanks for coming up.

We're going to go have some lunch. Any

parting shots from you? I just have to

say it's great to finally be at Bring a

Trailer Global headquarters. Here you

are. Yeah. And um on my way in, I had a

ticket for the corporate tour, but your

tour guide told me the tram was broken.

Oh yeah, sorry about that. No, but

seriously, man, I just really appreciate

you having me on. It's And I'm hungry.

Let's eat. Yeah. What a pleasure,

Maurice. Thanks for being here. And

thanks to all of you for listening. As

always, please send questions, concerns,

feedback to podcast at bringing.com and

we'll catch you next time.

[Music]

One Make, One Decade with Maurice Merrick of Horsepower Heritage

About this episode

Chevrolet Tri Five

Chevrolet 283

Mercedes-Benz 350 SL

Land Rover Series II

Porsche 911R

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