A pre-purchase inspection is when a mechanic checks a car before you buy it. It helps you avoid surprises—like hidden damage or problems that could be expensive later.
They’re talking about an Overcrest rally event in Utah. It’s basically a group driving event, and the conversation is setting up that this guest is involved in that scene.
“Dirt” here refers to unpaved or loose-surface roads, which dramatically change traction compared with pavement. Loose surfaces influence tire choice, suspension compliance, and how you manage throttle and braking to avoid sliding. The host’s comments about “lots of dirt” and later noticing “no gravel” highlight how surface type affects the rally experience.
They’re talking about where they went for the rally. Idaho is the first stop mentioned, and it matters because different places can have different road conditions. That affects what the drive feels like.
“Driftless” is a nickname for a part of the Midwest with rough, hilly terrain. Because it wasn’t smoothed out by glaciers, the landscape has lots of valleys and twists. Here, it’s just describing where their rally is happening.
The host references the first rallies they planned in 2005 and watches a video from that time. This provides context for how long the rally planning has been going on and how the event has evolved. It’s a timeline marker rather than a technical automotive concept.
Gravel makes the tires grip differently than smooth roads, so the car can feel less predictable. It can be more exciting and lets you go on roads you normally wouldn’t, but it also means more rocks can get kicked up and hit the car.
When you drive over gravel, small stones can hit the paint and leave little chips. If there are enough of them, it can look bad enough that someone might file an insurance claim to repaint the car.
They’re saying the person used their insurance to get the whole car repainted because it got damaged during the rally. Repainting can cost a lot, so insurance can matter if you have the right coverage.
Switchbacks are lots of sharp turns back and forth, like a zig-zag up a mountain. They make driving harder because you’re constantly turning and braking, and traction can be limited on narrow roads.
Tarmac just means paved asphalt. If a place isn’t “approachable by Tarmac,” it likely means you can’t get there easily on normal paved roads and you may need a more capable setup to handle the route.
Term
duct tail
A “duct tail” is a rear spoiler/tail design with a cutout or opening. On some cars it can help with cooling or airflow, but on tribute cars it’s sometimes mostly for the look—so it’s worth checking what’s actually connected underneath.
Air-cooled engines don’t rely on coolant like many modern cars. Instead, they use airflow to keep the engine from overheating, which is part of why older Porsche fans get excited about them.
Monterey Car Week is a big yearly car event in California. People go there to see lots of cars, meet other enthusiasts, and often drive the area’s famous roads.
Highway 1 is the famous coastal road in California. People love driving it because it’s scenic and fun, especially on trips to car events.
Term
brake, brake, brake, brake, brake, brake
They’re basically saying you brake multiple times while setting up for a turn. The goal is to slow down at the right moments so you can accelerate out smoothly.
It means you should focus your attention on where you want to go after the turn. That helps you steer and speed up at the right time instead of getting stuck thinking about the turn itself.
A driving school is where people learn how to drive in a more structured way, usually with coaching. Here, they’re talking about how experience teaching helped them become a good instructor.
Some people feel nauseous in cars because their body senses movement differently than their eyes. They’re saying the dad doesn’t get sick, so he can enjoy riding along and navigating.
In the part you quoted, “seagull” sounds like it’s describing birds or what’s happening in the background, not a car. Without more context, it’s not possible to say what specific vehicle (if any) the word refers to.
FCP Euro is a website that sells car parts for European brands. They try to make repairs easier by offering parts in kits and backing many parts with a long-term replacement promise.
A parts kit is a bundle of everything you need for a repair. Instead of guessing which extra pieces you’ll need, the kit is already put together for that job.
A suspension overhaul is a comprehensive refresh of suspension components (often including bushings, struts/shocks, and related hardware) to restore ride quality and handling. It typically benefits from using correct kits because multiple small parts may be required during disassembly.
An oil change is routine maintenance where used engine oil is drained and replaced with fresh oil and a new oil filter. Even though it’s basic, using the correct filter and any required seals/hardware helps ensure proper lubrication and leak-free operation.
Stretch bolts are fasteners designed to be tightened past their elastic limit so they “stretch” to a precise clamping load. Because they’re engineered for one-time use, reusing them can reduce clamping force and lead to leaks or component loosening.
A gasket is a thin sealing piece that helps stop leaks. If the gasket is damaged or meant to be replaced, using the right one matters for keeping things sealed.
A lifetime replacement guarantee is a promise that if a covered part wears out or fails, you can get a replacement. It’s meant to make buying parts less risky.
This sounds like a tire brand/company name that’s being introduced as launching a new tire. The important part is that the hosts are about to talk about a newly released tire model.
A high-performance all-season tire is designed to be good in many kinds of weather. It aims to give you better grip and steering feel than a regular all-season tire, without needing seasonal tire swaps.
The Surpass AS01 is a new tire model. It’s meant to work well in different seasons, and the hosts say it’s built for confident driving even when the roads get slippery.
A performance tire is built to help the car stick to the road better, especially when driving hard. The downside is it can sometimes wear out sooner than more everyday tires.
This is a warranty that’s based on how many miles the tire is expected to last. If the tire wears out too soon under the warranty rules, you may be able to get a replacement.
An “open title” is when the paperwork for a car’s ownership isn’t fully settled or transferred correctly. That can make it hard or risky to sell the car legally, and it may cause problems with registration or insurance.
Company
Westside Collector
They mention Westside Collector as an example of a car-storage/collector scene. It’s basically a reference point for the kind of garage culture they’re talking about.
A dealer’s license is permission from the government to sell cars for a living. It usually comes with rules and paperwork, so it’s not just “starting a business” informally.
The host describes cars being stored for extended periods (like six months) and then being started/handled when needed. This matters because long storage can lead to battery drain, fuel system issues, and other “deferred maintenance” problems if the car isn’t periodically maintained.
Consignment sales are when a car owner lets a shop sell their car for them. The shop usually gets paid only if the car sells, and the owner still owns it until then.
Car auctions are where dealers bid on vehicles. The downside is you might not know the full condition, so you can end up with cars that need a lot of work.
The Jaguar XJR is a faster, sportier version of the Jaguar XJ. It’s the kind of car people buy for a mix of luxury and performance, and the “British racing green” color is a classic Jaguar look.
They’re saying selling cars isn’t just a paycheck job—you have to actually like cars to stick with it. Otherwise, the stressful parts of the job feel unbearable.
They’re talking about rally events—organized driving trips where people follow a route and try to do well. In this story, rallying is treated like a fun hobby and vacation.
Concept
job, life, all of that, just sort of one messy thing
They’re describing how their work and personal life blend together because they’re doing what they love. That makes it harder to imagine stepping away later.
A car dealer is a licensed business that buys, sells, or brokers vehicles under specific state/federal rules. In this context, the speaker is describing their operation as a dealer and how that enabled consignment sales.
Concept
conditioning
“Conditioning” here means getting the car ready to sell. Think cleaning it up and fixing small issues so it feels good and looks right.
Onyx Off-Road is a navigation app for off-road trips. It helps you plan routes, save waypoints, and get updates so you can follow trails more confidently.
Common Gear is a service that helps you keep your car’s records in one place. Instead of losing receipts and photos, you can store them digitally and find them later.
A “rally mile” is a way of saying the car was driven hard, like in rally events. Two cars with the same mileage can be very different depending on how that mileage was earned.
Digitizing everything means putting your car’s paperwork and photos into a digital system. It helps you keep track of what was done and makes it easier to show that history to someone else.
Provenance means the car’s background—where it came from and what’s happened to it. When you can show that history, buyers feel more confident about what they’re getting.
Maintenance receipts are documents showing when your car was serviced and what work was done. Keeping them helps prove the car was taken care of and can make selling easier.
A complete car history is basically a folder of proof about the car—like maintenance and paperwork. When you can show that to a buyer, it makes the car feel safer to buy and can help you sell for more.
A “digital legacy” just means your car’s history is saved online in one place. That way, when you sell, you can quickly show what you have instead of hunting through paper.
They’re saying many car listings don’t tell you the important details. So you show up expecting one thing, but the car (or the story behind it) doesn’t match what was advertised.
Bring a Trailer is a website where car enthusiasts buy and sell cars online. Listings often include lots of photos and details, so you can learn more before you call the owner.
Auction sites help you find cars, but not every listing or dealer knows much about the vehicle. Sometimes the car’s history and details aren’t well explained, so you end up needing to ask a lot of questions.
They’re saying collectors often buy cars for the experience and the story, not because they have to. It’s more about wanting to be part of the car’s history and adding your own chapter to it.
“Pitted” here sounds like the cars weren’t perfect—maybe they had damage or heavy wear. That kind of condition changes what the car is worth and how you should talk about it when selling.
Concept
push, push, push
He’s describing a marketing strategy where you keep promoting something over and over right before it launches. The idea is to build excitement and make people feel like they should pay attention now.
He’s basically saying, “I want to sell cars the same way movies get marketed.” Start with small hype early, then ramp it up with bigger details as people get closer to buying.
They’re saying people often buy a car because it has meaning—like a personal history or a memory—not just because it’s fast or expensive. The “story” can make the car feel special and worth more to that specific person.
Concept
27.2 miles of paved road for the entire island
They’re explaining that the island is tiny in terms of paved roads, so driving is different there. That kind of setting can change what people want from a car and how they use it.
People sometimes say a car has a “turbo look” when it’s styled like a turbo model. That can mean it’s truly a turbo from the factory, or it might just have the same badges and appearance.
They’re talking about whether driving in Alaska would cause rust. But the key point is that the car also isn’t really meant to be driven in the worst weather, so it’s more about safe/possible driving than just corrosion.
“Studs” refers to studded tires—tires with metal studs that improve traction on ice and packed snow. The point here is that even with studded tires, the car may still be difficult or unsafe to drive in heavy snow conditions.
Servicing means doing regular maintenance to keep the car running properly. In this story, the owner stayed on top of it, which helps the car’s reliability and value.
Buyers like knowing where a car has been and how it’s been cared for. If there’s “no history,” it’s harder to know whether it was maintained well, so it’s less appealing.
A “story” is what makes a car feel special—like who owned it, how it was used, and whether it was cared for. When you’re selling, that narrative can help buyers connect and feel more confident.
A “boxer” engine is an engine design where the cylinders sit opposite each other and move in and out. It’s common in some performance cars, and people talk about it because it affects how the car feels and how it’s built.
This is a discussion of a sales/business threshold: they only take on higher-priced cars because the work required to source, evaluate, and sell them doesn’t scale down well for cheaper vehicles. It’s essentially a “minimum viable deal size” concept for profitability.
The drivetrain is the set of parts that send power from the engine to the wheels. If someone spent a lot of money on it, they likely fixed or upgraded the key components that make the car move.
Numbers matching means the car’s key parts still have the original identification numbers from the factory. People like it because it’s more “original,” which can make the car worth more to collectors.
Company
Ralphie
The speaker describes Ralphie as an engine builder/machinist who works on air-cooled engines and has a motorsports background. While the transcript doesn’t name a company, the role is central to the story of how the engine was built and maintained.
An air-cooled engine relies on airflow and fins to remove heat instead of using a liquid coolant system. This design is common in classic and performance applications because it can be simpler, but it also makes cooling health and maintenance especially important.
A “rolling restoration” is a project where the car is kept drivable while work is done in stages over time, rather than being fully disassembled and restored all at once. It’s a common approach for enthusiasts who want to enjoy the car while gradually improving it.
Term
piston cylinders
“Piston cylinders” are the parts inside the engine where the piston moves and where combustion happens. When rebuilding, the fit and clearances between pistons and cylinders matter a lot for performance and reliability.
Term
Krilla rods
“Krilla rods” appears to be the speaker’s nickname or shorthand for connecting rods used in the build. Connecting rods are a key rotating assembly component, and choosing stronger or better-specified rods is often part of preparing an engine for higher stress.
High compression means the engine squeezes the fuel-air mixture more before it ignites. That can make more power, but it usually needs the right fuel and careful tuning to avoid knocking.
Term
2-2T motor
This sounds like a shorthand for a particular engine setup. The “T” usually means turbo, and turbo engines can behave differently than non-turbo engines. The speaker is basically saying the engine should have certain compression numbers, then shows what they actually found.
A compression test is a way to check how healthy an engine’s cylinders are. It measures how well each cylinder “seals” when the engine is turned over. If the numbers are low or vary a lot, something inside the engine may be worn or leaking.
“Lipstick on a pig” is an idiom meaning cosmetic improvements can mask deeper mechanical or structural problems. In the segment, it’s used to describe certain Porsche 356s that may look appealing but have serious underlying issues. The takeaway is that surface condition doesn’t reliably predict overall car health.
This is a practical rule-of-thumb in car buying and restoration: many mechanical issues are repairable, but a damaged or rotten chassis is often prohibitively expensive or unsafe to fix. The host uses it to explain why he draws a line on certain cars—if the chassis is bad, the project may not be worth it. It’s especially relevant for older cars where corrosion and prior damage can compromise structural integrity.
An “80s repaint” suggests the car was resprayed sometime in the 1980s, which can be either a positive (it’s been protected) or a negative (poor prep, mismatched panels, or hidden issues). In this segment, it’s treated as something the buyer can look past if the underlying structure is solid.
They’re talking about the interior carpet looking mismatched. It’s basically a cosmetic problem—usually much easier to fix than serious mechanical or structural issues.
The host is saying the best old-car buys have good bones. If there’s no rust and the frame is straight, you avoid the hardest and most expensive repairs, and you can focus on making it look and feel better.
“Turnkey” usually means the car is ready to drive and doesn’t need much work. The point here is that even if it’s “turnkey,” you can still do a few simple upgrades to make it nicer without doing a huge project.
“Rescuing” a car means you buy one that’s not perfect and make it better. You’re basically putting in your own effort to improve it, so it’s worth more when you sell it.
“Sweat equity” means the value you add by doing the work yourself. If you don’t want to do any of it, you usually pay more to have someone else do it.
Concept
first old car
They’re talking about buying your first older car and how the market is weirdly priced. The point is that some budgets don’t get you many good options, so you have to be more selective.
They mention rallying as the reason someone might buy an older car. Rally use usually cares more about reliability and being able to fix things than just looks.
When you buy a used classic car, you should expect some unexpected problems. A simple way to protect yourself is to save extra money—about 10%—so you’re not stuck if repairs come up.
A carburetor is how an older engine mixes fuel and air to run. Some people learn to fix or rebuild them themselves, but it’s a skill you should be ready for if you buy a classic.
The chassis is the car’s main structure. If it’s solid, the car is usually easier and safer to own; if it’s bad, you can end up spending a lot just to make it right.
“Records” are the papers showing what work was done on the car. If you have them, it’s easier to trust the car’s condition and spot what might need fixing next.
The point is: don’t feel like you have to buy the coolest car right away. You can start with something simpler, then add the upgrades you want later as you learn and save money.
A limited-slip differential helps the car put power down when one wheel starts to spin. It’s especially helpful on wet, gravel, or uneven roads because it keeps the car from just spinning one tire.
They’re saying social media (Instagram) can make people feel like they need the best-looking or coolest car right now. It can affect how people spend money on cars and upgrades.
They mention “convertible” because open-top cars can feel different with A/C. Even when the top is up, the car’s design can make cooling feel less effective than in a closed-roof car.
Concept
A/C expectations vs. "factory-correct" performance
They’re saying that even if an older car’s A/C works the way it did when it was new, many people won’t be satisfied. Modern comfort expectations (especially in heat and humidity) can be higher than what the original system delivers.
CPO stands for Certified Pre-Owned. It typically means a dealer inspects the used car to meet certain standards and often adds warranty coverage, making it feel safer and easier to buy than a random used car.
The speaker is describing modern car ownership where many repairs require specialized tools, software, and dealer-level diagnostics. That shifts maintenance from DIY to shop service, which can make newer cars feel “easy to own” even if they’re more expensive to repair.
“991” is shorthand for a specific generation of the Porsche 911. The speaker is basically saying the seats they’re talking about are from that 911 generation.
These are power seats with lots of adjustment options—so you can dial in comfort and support. “Adaptive” generally means the seat can be configured to fit you better, not just moved by hand.
They’re saying some people picture old-car ownership as all fun and nostalgia, but they don’t realize it takes time and effort. Real old-car ownership often means repairs and ongoing upkeep.
A CT scan is a special kind of X-ray that makes detailed pictures of the inside of your body. Doctors use it to look for tumors and see how far a problem may have spread.
Concept
gut says no, go with your gut
They’re saying if you feel uneasy about a decision, don’t ignore that feeling. It’s like when you’re shopping for a car—if something feels wrong, it’s okay to back out.
Concept
3D modeling a prosthetic
They’re describing using computer 3D models to design a custom replacement part. The goal is to make it fit you better instead of using a one-size-fits-all piece.
Term
flail hip
A flail hip means the hip joint isn’t stable anymore. That can make the leg shorter and can limit how well you move for a long time.
Concept
infection rates really high
The speaker highlights that infection risk increases with major surgery and implanted metal hardware. For listeners, this is a useful parallel to how corrosion, contamination, and poor sealing can cause failures in mechanical systems over time.
Term
3D print a titanium prosthetic piece
They’re talking about making a custom replacement part using a 3D printer. The material is titanium, which is strong and lightweight, and the goal is for it to match the person’s body shape.
Term
stainless cage
They describe a metal framework (a cage) that supports the implant. It’s there to help the replacement part stay strong and in the right position while it bears weight.
Term
cobalt bolts
They’re describing big metal bolts made from a cobalt-based material that help hold the implant in place. The key point is that the implant is secured with heavy-duty fasteners.
Concept
"don't get hit from the left side" safety mindset
They’re thinking ahead about how a crash could happen and trying to avoid the worst-case direction of impact. It’s basically a “be extra careful and stay aware” safety approach.
People say “buying a lemon” when a car seems fine at first, but then it has major problems that keep coming back. It’s basically a way of saying, “I don’t want to make a bad purchase.”
“Drive stick” means driving a car with a manual transmission. You have to use the clutch pedal with your left foot to shift gears, so if your legs or hips don’t move normally, it can be hard.
They’re describing a temporary rule from recovery/therapy: don’t bend their body past a 90-degree angle. That affects driving because getting into position to use the pedals can require bending more than they’re allowed.
In a manual car, the clutch is the pedal you press to change gears. They’re saying the hard part is getting your leg up to the pedal, not just pressing it.
Car
Porsche 912
A Porsche 912 is an older Porsche from the early days of the 911 family. It’s smaller and simpler than the bigger, more expensive 911, and here it’s mentioned because it fits the driver’s body better for using the clutch.
The Porsche 944 is a Porsche sports car that’s known for being fun to drive and relatively approachable. Here it’s mentioned as a possible car choice for drifting.
“Safari party” sounds like a named event in Portland that’s connected to the rally weekend. It’s mentioned as part of the trip plan, not as a technical car topic.
Concept
shipping back and fly back
Sometimes after an event, you can’t or don’t want to drive the car home. So people arrange transport (like shipping) and then fly back themselves.
Topic
night zero
“Night zero” sounds like an event staging or reconnaissance phase—likely the first night of a multi-day rally or driving event. Scouting “last minute details” suggests route planning, safety checks, and logistics before the main driving begins.
They’re talking about not driving the car the whole way—instead, you leave it somewhere and have it picked up or shipped. That can save time and reduce wear, but you still need to prep the car so it’s ready when it arrives.
Concept
thumbprint that makes your events uniquely yours
They’re saying each rally has its own personality. The way the route and start are planned makes it feel different from other events.
They’re talking about how the rally route and especially the start are designed to be exciting and memorable. The start isn’t just logistics—it affects how the whole event feels.
Concept
20-0 start
A “20-0 start” (and the related “day zero/night zero” wording) suggests a specific rally staging format where the event begins with a countdown or timed kickoff sequence. These formats are used to control when crews depart and how the event transitions from setup into competition.
A “mini rally” is basically a smaller rally plan. You and friends pick a route and drive it together, then meet up again later as a group.
Concept
Split Rock Pine
“Split Rock Pine” sounds like a particular place people could choose to visit. The speaker is noting that not many people went there, so it became a memorable detour.
Concept
full melt
“Full melt” here is describing extreme road conditions—likely heavy water on the roadway and a very slippery, chaotic surface. In rally/dirt-road contexts, that kind of surface dramatically increases braking distance and reduces traction, making passing and following riskier.
Concept
sheer cliff crawling around
They’re describing a scary, exposed road section where a mistake could be dangerous. In situations like that, you have to be extra smooth and careful with your driving and distance.
On dirt roads, if you drive too close behind another car, you can get stuck in their dust. That dust makes it hard to see what’s ahead, which is why you need more following distance.
A venturi is a special shape that makes air move faster in a narrow section. That can change pressure and airflow, which designers use to help the car work better.
A ship leaves a trail in the water. If you get close enough, the water around you can feel smoother because you’re moving through the boat’s disturbed wake.
Concept
aerodynamic scale / scale of Larson
The speaker is referencing “Larson” as a large object/structure and using it to convey scale while they’re filming or observing. In car terms, this is akin to using a known reference to understand how big something is relative to the vehicle or driver’s position.
Topic
driving to Montana
They’re talking about a trip to Montana connected to the racing plans. It’s mainly context for what’s happening next.
Racing on ice means driving a car on a frozen track. The tires can’t grip like they do on dry pavement, so the driver has to be extra careful with speed and steering to keep the car under control.
“Cars and coffee” is a casual car meet where people show up, hang out, and talk about cars—usually in the morning. It’s more about meeting people than competing.
Physical therapy is rehab with exercises and treatment to help your body heal and get stronger after surgery or injury. It can also help reduce pain over time.
Concept
car friends
“Car friends” refers to the social side of car ownership—meeting people through shared interests like brands, events, or maintenance knowledge. Enthusiast communities often form around mutual help (advice, parts sourcing, and experiences), which can be especially valuable for rallying or older-car ownership.
They’re basically saying: get an older car and use it. Driving it helps you learn it, and it also puts you around other people who like the same thing.
A restoration shop is a place that fixes up and rebuilds cars to look and run right. With Porsche, the details and parts can be very specific, so the shop’s quality really matters.
Concept
behind the scenes of being in this space
They’re describing what it’s really like to be involved in this car hobby. It’s not just cool cars—there’s also a lot of planning, fixing, and problem-solving.
LIVE
He said, you know, you'll never walk again
or you'll never get in a sports car again.
You know, and my wife's looking at him going,
you know, you have a great wife when
they think you're a bigger person than you really are.
Right?
She's like, do you know who he is?
And I'm like, oh my, oh my God.
Mr. Paul Kramer, how are you, sir?
Doing great, Chris.
Thank you for having me.
This is exciting.
This is.
This is good.
You are, man, every time I see you out on the rally
or I see your application come on the rally,
I'm like, man, this dude gets it.
And I think, were you on the first overcrest rally in Utah?
Did you come up to the first one?
No.
And I remember I was really excited.
The way I found out about it was just watching
social media from friends.
I'm like, how did I not know about that?
My friend, Matt Abrams, had went on.
In fact, I think he bought a Mercedes,
like an 80s Mercedes SL to go on it.
And I said, and he explained it to me.
I said, that sounds right up my alley.
He says, oh, you'd love it.
There's lots of dirt.
And that was his interpretation of it.
And so I went, the first one I went to is Idaho.
And then we went to, next was Oregon.
And then we did the Utah redo.
So I got to actually experience it.
And Utah was cool.
It's all three of them are great.
All of them are great.
You mentioned dirt.
And I was just, we're planning the rally here again,
here in the Midwest in the Driftless.
And it's interesting because I remember the first rallies
that I planned here, 2005.
I was just watching a video of this rally that we did in 2005,
which is just crazy to think about.
And I was looking at it and I saw there's no gravel on it.
And then I remember this guy, and maybe he listens to podcasts.
Maybe he doesn't listen to the podcast.
I have no idea.
But there was this guy who had this 996 something or another.
And he drove it and there was some accidental gravel.
Like I accidentally put gravel on it.
And I used to be like, no gravel.
Nobody wants to drive through gravel.
I'm not doing it.
Even though I had fun doing it, I'm like,
nobody's going to come on our rally if we put gravel on it.
And this dude somehow got insurance
to repaint his entire car because it got rock chips
on it from the rally.
And this dude was really kind of upset with me.
And I think it was that catalyst of like, come on, dude,
to want to put gravel on the rally.
Just like, come on, let's do this.
Let's put gravel on the rally.
Let's rock out.
Let's have a good time.
Let's reach the limits of our cars at 30 miles an hour
instead of 65 miles an hour.
You know, that kind of stuff.
I think gravel's awesome.
I do too.
And plus it allows you access to areas
you normally wouldn't see on a drive.
Yeah, and really steep stuff too.
You can get steep stuff, big switchbacks, narrow roads,
really, really remote.
A lot of places, like you say, are not approachable
by Tarmac, they're just not.
One thing that I want to point out about Paul coming
on the rally is that you're always with Ed, your dad.
What is up with that?
What's the story with your dad coming with you
on all these rallies?
Was he all from the beginning?
Was he always coming?
Was there like one that was the first one?
How did this happen?
Yeah, I mean, he loves cars like I do.
And I would say I took it to a next level.
But really in the very beginning,
like the first time I realized you could have an adventure
with a group of people in a car.
That whole idea was our group in 2002.
It was a fairly new thing.
I bought a car and the car I bought,
it was a 73 RS tribute with a duct tail and silver.
And when I bought the car, the guy I bought it from,
he had been the year before to the first our group event
and it was in Canberra.
He says, yeah, it was when I bought the car,
he says, oh, you should go to this duct tail event.
That's how he described it.
And it's just a bunch of cars with duct tails
and they take a picture of all of them.
I go, that sounds pretty dumb.
And he goes, no, no, it's actually really fun.
And it's in Canberra, it's a pretty area and they do drives.
And I go, well, they drive to get there.
I didn't understand the concept of doing drives
like as a thing.
So I went and we drove all around the Cambria,
Paso Robles area with a group of 75 air-cooled Porsches.
And it felt so, it was so much fun.
It felt so good.
It felt illegal.
I mean, yes, we did illegal things,
but like it felt like we're not supposed to be doing this.
Like you just commuting cars.
Like I never really understand that.
And I'd already been doing track stuff
and going to the track and that's what you do.
If you wanted to go fast, you go to the track,
but not just actually driving cars on back roads.
And I was just hooked.
And so two years later, I said,
dad, you got to go to this.
So he went with me in 04 or 04 or 05, I can't remember.
And at that point he had bought a 996 Turbo.
So he took that and just came along.
And then every year, and also by the way, right around 2,
see 98 was the first time I went to Monterey Car Week
and I just drove there.
Like, oh, highway one, like, you know, that's what you do.
But after that, I started making my own little rally
with like five or six friends.
We would do these adventures to get to Monterey Car Week.
And so our calendar with my dad and myself
was Car Week and our group.
We had two events we would do.
And my dad would bring, you know,
we would each drive our own car
because neither one of us wanted to be a passenger.
And then as my dad got a little older,
you know, it seemed a little bit wasteful
for us both to be driving cars.
We would share a car, but I am a horrible passenger
and I would also, I mean,
I become part-time driving instructor when he's driving,
which I know he just wants to backhand me.
Yeah, like, okay, turn, turn, turn,
brake, brake, brake, brake, brake, brake.
You know, look at the exit point.
And he is a really good driver.
In fact, I used to run a driving school
and in the early 2000s,
my dad would come and instruct at it and help instruct.
So, and he's actually a really great instructor.
So, you know, suddenly we just,
we kind of evolved his role partly
because my dad is just easy going
and he's fine being a passenger
and he's actually really good at not getting car sick,
navigating, he's got his old school maps out.
He loves mapping.
And I think he gets as much joy out of that as driving
as I just get no joy out of that.
I just want a fricking drive.
So I think we evolved to that.
And then, you know, he's in his eighties now
and he's not a spring chicken
and sadly, you know, you kind of begin to see
an expiration date on possibly your driving adventures,
which is really tough.
And, you know, and it's so, you know, he gets to come along.
He doesn't come on all the rallies
because, you know, as he says, I'm nuts.
I take on, I do too many events, but,
and partly I think that's my mom just saying,
hey, like, you know, you're not Paul.
So, but yeah, he's just because,
and he's just, I've only been,
my wife's come on a couple small events,
not a good happy passenger, a lot of bruises,
a lot of punching me in the arm,
which I don't blame her.
And then I had a friend once who's really great,
but really my dad is just an easy going passenger
to have along and navigate.
Is it, I mean, surely you're not naive
to how special this is?
No, no, I'm not.
And I have to kind of remind myself how fortunate I am.
And then I kind of sit there going, am I enjoying,
like, no matter what, I can know how special it is,
I'm trying to remind myself to like,
savor this moment,
because I know it is fleeting at best.
So yeah, it is, I'm very, very fortunate.
And I hope for the fathers and mothers out there
that have children that show a passion,
a shared passion for this or something,
that they try to involve them if they can.
I probably did the reverse and drug.
And if you're a kid who loves doing this,
drag your parent.
I know I've seen some kids bring their moms and dads
and that's commendable and that works that way too.
Sometimes I feel like I'm holding on too tight.
I just posted on Instagram yesterday of this video
of my daughter like running around out on the beach
in Oregon next to Haystack Rock.
And I remember at the time that I had like a,
a literal panic attack, like I just like, what's going on?
I've never really experienced too much of that before.
And it's like goosebumps and heart and all this stuff.
And it was because I was so terrified of,
because I could see how important it was.
You know, it's just like the cinematic experience
of her running around out there.
There's like seagulls flying and she's doing this
with her arms and heels.
I was like, oh my God, this is it.
This is it.
This is the day that I will always look back on
as the best day.
And it was hard because it got in the way of me
just being present and being there.
And I think I've been, I've become acutely aware
of how special that stuff is.
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Yeah, this day and age it's hard
and every event rally or whatever adventure
I like to call them sort of adventure tours.
We, you try to find that one indelible moment
that you'll just hang on to and you'll forget a lot of it
but and sometimes it's in the car
often it's not in the car.
It's under the car, around the car
with a beer in the hand, whatever.
But you find that moment that you go,
yeah, that's how I remember that particular adventure.
That's how it's sort of dog marked for future recall.
Yeah, so you run your business with your dad, right?
You guys do this together?
Yeah, and a lot of people think he started it.
That's kind of like the natural thing
that you would think, right?
Yeah, exactly.
No, I grew up loving cars and so did my dad
but he did not have just the nutty passion that I did.
And for those out there who asked me this all the time,
you sit there doing whatever job it is
that maybe pays the bills but isn't the passion
and you sit there kind of thinking
like, how do I make this happen?
And it is not easy and I try to do it with a minimal risk
but as I was doing corporate type jobs,
I graduated college in 91 and just jumped on the corporate wheel
for the next 20 years
but in the early 2000s or late 90s,
I connected with a friend who we thought,
you know what, we could sell cars
to help pay for our racing habit.
We were both racing, doing club racing
which gets really expensive.
And at the time our spouses said,
that does not come out of the general fund.
Like you figure out how to pay for this thing
and save time for us.
And so as that was going on,
and I remember we're going to Monterey one year
and we opened a dealership
and me and my buddy were doing it poorly at best.
Really, we were both working in the radio business
but and we knew all these famous people
so we would get their cars to sell
and we were kind of doing things legitimate
because we were lazy and we had a full-time job
and my dad finally said,
you know what if my other friend wanted to pursue
a radio career, I didn't really want to do that.
So I said, what if we just,
you know, he retired from healthcare in the early 2000s.
He's like, he's asking me the questions.
Like what happens if you get an accident?
Like, well, we don't really have insurance for it.
We have open titles.
It was really sketchy
and I could see my dad who is very by the book guy
and very traditional, getting extremely uncomfortable
as a parent would for their son,
you know, doing things kind of on the fringe.
And we'd already been talking about
opening up a storage garage.
Like kind of like what, you know,
smoking tire Matt Farrah does with Westside Collector
and these other places.
Like we were doing that in the late 90s
and actually we had four partners,
myself, my dad, my best friend I club raced with
and another partner and we were going to buy a building
and do basically a concierge car storage in the late 90s.
So my dad said, what if we just kind of do that concierge?
One of the partners passed away
and we had to kind of fell apart.
So in 2004, we decided like,
what if we do like this car storage?
And we started looking at buildings.
We didn't really want to buy a building yet.
We leased a building.
We started storing cars.
We thought we should get a dealer's license.
How hard could it be?
And also we had people storing cars.
That's why it's auto kennel, like a park your car.
And what happened was people forgot to pick up their cars,
which was bizarre to me.
And now I see what happens,
but like I would have their credit card store their car
and their credit card expire.
I call up the person who's storing the car
or often their assistant.
I'm like, hey, I need to,
what do you want to do with this Porsche or Mercedes
or whatever?
And they're like, honest to God, Chris.
They go, oh, that's where that car is.
And I'm like, it's been here for six months
and I'd start it and do whatever.
So they just go make it go.
Are these going to recognize?
Are these, I mean, are these no?
They're obviously people with serious income,
but they're not.
Yeah.
The funny thing is most,
I have had celebrity clients and so forth
and they're fairly normal.
And especially when it comes to musicians,
my wife knows who the musicians are.
I have no clue because I'm an idiot.
But I would say that they are very successful
in weird niche fields
that you never imagined possible.
And this is one of my favorite early auto kennel stories.
So we start the business
and we're selling still cars on consignment.
We try to go to auction to buy cars.
We realize that those are garbage.
And we're just, the Porsche repair shops
we've been just taking, I've been taking my cars to,
the BMW shops I've been dealing with,
all the shops that I use for my cars,
they were referring people
because they didn't want to sell cars.
So like, Hey, Paul will take care of it.
You know, go see him.
So we had a lot of like more entry level, older,
10 year old BMWs, Mercedes, Porsche, things like that.
So this guy calls up and he's got a referral from a friend.
He's got a Jaguar, like a late 90s Jaguar XJR,
British racing green, bitching car,
really, really cool car.
And he's just a, he's at the time,
he's probably maybe in his 50s, early 60s,
seems like just a perpetual stoner.
Just a chill dude and he comes in super nice.
The car is amazingly clean, doesn't smell like pot.
So I was like, well, that's a good start.
And it drops the car off
and you guys can give me a ride home.
Great, I give him a ride home.
He lives in Fountain Valley,
which is area of Orange County that's so suburban.
It's like post World War II classic 1500 square foot
buildings built for like the defense industry,
industry people who live there.
Boring.
He's bought like three lots
and basically tied all these houses together.
So it's like three small houses together.
And I'm like, that's kind of weird.
And then I notice on his center console on the wood
is like, you ever had like fish tanks
where you have like a sticker thermometer
you put on the glass to tell you the temperature?
He's got one of those sitting on there.
I forgot his name, I go, what's that?
Are you into aquariums?
Cause I had a saltwater aquarium.
He's like, oh no, you would never believe it.
If I told you, I go, no, I see a lot of weird shit.
So what is it?
He goes, believe it or not,
I have actually been called by the US Senate
to be to talk on a subject matter.
What is it called when you're sequestered or whatever?
He wasn't in trouble.
He manufactures synthetic urine and prosthetics
for people who are trying to pass drug tests.
Oh.
That was his job.
And the little thermometer you would put on this little bag
as you were urinating to make sure
that it was at the right temperature.
Yeah, yeah.
It was, it was insane.
Getting cold-blooded.
Yeah, it can't sit too long.
And it was really, he's like, do you want to see some stuff?
I'm like, I am so good, I got the picture.
I'll sell your car, but he was a nice guy.
And he goes, and you know what?
It pays very, very well.
So when there was a bunch of issues on doping in the Olympics
and professional sports, he was called or sequestered
by the US Senate as like an expert witness
on how it gets done and so forth.
But definitely a weird industry,
he was on the edge of legality constantly.
But yeah.
Well, you always get these eccentric types, right?
When you have like any, you know, I guess we're in it,
but I'm guessing my neighbor thinks
I'm a freaking weirdo, right?
Like this dude, he's-
Mine did, too.
I thought I was a drug dealer, which I was, I guess.
So what's it like running a business with that?
I mean, it's been what, 20 years now, yeah?
20 years?
Yeah, 20 years.
You know what, it's been great.
And the only reason I know it's been great
is I've heard stories of other friends and clients
who've worked with their siblings or parents
and it wasn't great or I've dealt with the conflict
or the result of the divorce of that.
My dad, to my fortune, is very easy going
and he is super organized and very trustworthy
and he handles the web, we definitely know our strengths.
He handles the website kind of coordinating development,
updating it, he handles all the DMV crap,
all the accounting and financial stuff
and just sort of the backbone of how this whole thing works
and I deal with all the marketing, the sales,
the post sales, all that stuff.
And working with it, you know,
since day one, he's mostly come in once or twice a week,
mostly twice a week.
He lives a little further away.
He lives about an hour, an hour and a half away.
He lives in LA and I'm in Orange County.
But he comes in later in the morning
and I think for him, it's given him more life.
I've watched people in their 80s, not great,
but you know, he's been retired for 26 years and...
I was gonna say this, this is retirement gig.
It is and the irony is I think it as a part-time gig,
I think it paid better than his regular gig.
You know, so when my mom complained,
because you know, the funny thing is
when we have family dinners for holidays or whatever,
she always sits us far apart.
She's like, you guys talk all the time.
You guys see each other.
When we're at work, we literally don't talk.
Like I've got a million things going.
He's got a million things going.
We are like two synchronized machines that come together,
our cogs touch each other, then we go off
and I just, he does his own thing.
But he likes having a place to go, I think for sure.
Well, yeah, I mean, that's as I think about getting older,
that's my greatest fear is, you know, what's next?
For me, like right now, there's all kinds of things
that I wanna do, all kinds of stuff.
I have like a laundry list of things I want overcrest to do,
sports or vacation land to do,
all these different things that I wanna do.
And when I turn 80, what am I doing?
You know, I hope I have something like that.
I think it's cool.
I think when you work in a job that really you don't love,
I think you think about retirement
as this final destination or this finish line.
I never think about retirement.
Like, what am I gonna retire from?
Like, I know how lucky I am.
I mean, the people who come here and they see me in shorts
and a T-shirt with all these cool cars
and it's kind of a zen, peaceful environment.
They're thinking like, this is what you do?
Now, granted, there's work.
You know, there's days where like anything else,
you're like, you know, you just wanna pull your hair out.
But the end of the day is so lucky
and really my only limitation is the physical ability to do it.
And probably my biggest fear right now is I can't do it.
I really can't do it all by myself.
I need my dad.
If I had to take even the mental energy to do what he does,
it would distract from the creative energy
I need to do what I do.
And so we're teaching my oldest daughter
who is very, very smart
and she's ready to have her second kid.
So I don't know how much time she'll have,
but he's been starting to train her
because she doesn't need to speak car to do this.
She needs just to speak math and really understand.
But I would love to have, you know,
that's gonna be the hardest part
is the day he can't come to work,
the day he can't get in the car with me.
And you know, the thing is you sit there and like,
I know that day is knocking on the door
and I don't know when it is, but you know, I see it.
I see his physical health, you know, getting limited.
So I am, as going back to what you said,
I do know how lucky I am.
And I constantly forced myself
to try to remember to savor this moment.
And you know, the videos I do and all that,
it's not for clicks, it's not for anything.
These are my photo albums.
These are gonna be, and the funny thing is my wife loves,
she loves them.
She'll go back and watch a Target California I did in 2014
and just get a kick out of it
because she sees us being us in that period of time.
And then each one is a little footnote
on that period of time and where we are in our life.
And it's all I got.
You know, I'll take pictures, do videos.
I have some funny stories about as we do our adventures
and hopefully, you know, someone in my family
will want to continue it, if not a well.
Well, why do you think this business works, man?
Like you've been doing this for 20 years.
Why does it work?
A lot of people is trying to sell cars
and it does not work, dude.
Why is this working?
The reason it doesn't,
I can tell you why the reason it doesn't work.
And I see a lot of my colleagues and competitors
and people in it.
The minute you treat it like a unit of measurement
and like you have to love the cars
and the people behind these cars so much
or you are not gonna tolerate the bullshit
you have to deal with to get through it all
because you work so much that you'll feel those hours
unless you love doing it.
So I never stopped getting passionate about the cars
and if you lose that passion
and selling a car is no difference
than selling a mattress or a cell service or anything else,
then you're kind of doomed.
So you have to really love it, love the cars
because all these rallies I do and all these trips,
like this isn't for business, that's my vacation.
I choose to vacation and do continue to drive cars
that I would probably doing on my job anyway.
So that's where job, life, all of that,
just sort of one messy thing.
So how do you retire from that?
But well, before AutoKinnell,
you said you were in the corporate world,
you were said something about radio
but you were in other startups as well, right?
Like you kind of, were you jumping from thing to thing
trying to find something to be passionate about or like,
how did you-
No, it was all the same thing.
The problem with the startup is I was on board,
they fell apart, they went out of business,
they got merged.
But I started, my degree was in math and architecture
and I really wanted to pursue a career in architecture.
And the irony of that was I love architecture,
I love studying it,
I love the romantic nature of architecture,
but in the real world, a lot of the people behind it
I didn't care for, it wasn't fun,
it wasn't the kind of people I wanted to be with.
The clients are the people that you worked with,
or just the industry, everything.
The industry, all of them.
And there's so many really clever creative people,
but a lot of them get,
when you're talking about the principle,
like a really great architect,
they're kind of, they're passionate.
Those are the people you wanna hang out with.
But you have these other people that are just
not passionate about it, it is a job.
And there's a lot of those layers.
And I just realized, I love the idea of it,
I don't like the people in the environment.
And I somehow ended up working in the HR industry,
selling HR services.
And so the next, until 2000,
my final last time of working another job
simultaneously with Auto Kennel was 2010,
when the last company I was working for,
and I've worked out of home since 95.
Like I haven't worked in a corporate environment.
So in the radio business, CBS Radio in 95
decided to get into the online world.
They own jobs.com, URL.
And they said, hey, we'll just,
we'll be like a monster,
had just started like months before,
and they knew the monster people,
because they tried to buy that property.
And they said, well, just do that.
And the guy who ran it, through my friend,
knew me and said, hey, you're, you know, HR people,
this is a HR product,
why don't you work for CBS Radio and Television
and sell this?
And I did.
And then they sold,
the company got bought out and bought out and then gone.
And so, and then I went for another company
that sold HR software out of Vancouver,
and they got sucked away.
It worked for another company that sold another HR
kind of product out of Cleveland, Ohio.
I used to go to Euclid, Ohio, quite a bit.
Lovely, boring place to go to and spend time.
But I did see the Rock and Roll Museum,
quite a few times.
But, you know, so as I'm working all these careers
simultaneously, I'm racing,
I'm helping friends sell cars,
and you're sitting there going, how do I get into cars?
How do I do this for my profession?
And then one of the buddies in the radio business
who's just a really clever entrepreneur,
he says, hey, you know, we have all these people
on the radio, the clients, you know,
personalities, entertainment, we're all connected.
They hate dealing with dealers.
What if we just step in and take care of it for them?
And that's how it kind of started.
And he wanted to continue a radio career,
which he still works in.
And I said, the radio business was horrible.
It's really a really horrible business to be in,
really tough, you know, just spits people out.
And I said, no, I want to stay with cars.
And boom, off and running.
And since we opened the doors,
technically as a car dealer into 2005,
so just over 20 years, 21 years,
we've sold 1,623 cars on consignment.
And I probably did another 1,000 before that
with my buddy.
I've been so fortunate to experience
so many of the cars that I, you know,
never thought I would get a chance to experience.
You, like when I look at your website,
and I look at the cars that you have for sale,
the way you were, the ads are, it's very atypical.
You know, usually you go, it's all 86 turbo,
130,000 miles wide on wide.
You're conditioning, power steering.
It's no cocaine, for sure, for sure.
Your listings read like stories, right?
You know, I'm looking at this one right now of this.
Right now, there's a Carrera convertible on there.
And it's just talks about the turbo look.
And, you know, it tells you, you got to, there's stories.
When did you figure this out?
Was this something you always?
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I mean, there's never one moment,
but there's these layers of moments that happen.
I think the first part, if you love cars like we do,
you become this addict to looking at cars for sale,
even though you have no use or reason or right
to be buying another car, whether it's a project or not.
So I think on the one hand, you read through enough car ads,
and you get so frustrated, the ads don't give you any,
there's no meat on the bone, the owners don't,
you go to look at it, they're not like the description,
there's no, no one knows anything about it.
So I was just like, why can't the ads just be more informative?
So as a buyer, why can't I know,
be farther ahead in the conversation
before I have to pick up the phone and call the owner?
And God forbid you have to deal with a car dealer
where those guys just, they've only seen the,
they bought it at auction, they have no clue.
They don't even know what the model is.
I mean, we've all gone through that frustration.
So that was the one part, was just self-interest,
like, okay, there's gotta be other people like me
who are tired of reading shitty ads.
And I think that, you know, I was doing this,
I would say bring a trailer has come,
and some of the auction sites have come closer to doing this,
but I just did it for my self-need.
I remember watching a long time ago,
when Jay Leno was really starting to put his garage out there
and do some stuff, it's probably like 15 years ago,
maybe he did something.
And he was looking at a Duesenberg
that someone in his neighborhood had called him he had.
Like in his backyard is this,
like one family owned Duesenberg sitting in a garage,
he's like, how did I not know about this car?
And he goes and talks to it.
And he says something that I will never forget,
which he's like, he was, I already have one, I don't,
I don't need another one, but like she had me at the story.
And I realized that when you're buying these weird
and practical discretionary income things,
no one needs what we have to sell.
They want what they have to sell.
And when you want something versus need something,
you need to know more about what it is you want
and why you want it.
And you fall in love with the story.
And you start to hear that with collectors
who will never, ironically, the bigger the collector,
the less they consider themselves a collector.
But you'll hear that with those people
that they just get drawn to the story.
And they wanna, they wanna be the one
who puts the next photos in that album.
Like this is a story with the chapter
and the chapter's never end.
They wanna be the next, they wanna add to the story.
So that was the kind of the other big aha moment.
Like, wow, the third part was, these cars have,
like the guy with the synthetic urine, crazy.
I mean, it had nothing to do with the Jaguar.
And I don't think I put much of that in the ad
because he told me not to, but my God.
Like, all these cars may or may not have been pitted
or drugs, but you know, to own these kind of cars
that we're selling, you had to be an interesting person
or, you know, of some kind.
So, so that's the other part.
And then I was watching something.
I, you know, the key was Chris was movie trailers.
You ever watch how like a blockbuster movie comes out?
So the blockbuster movie, it just starts getting promoted.
Like three weeks before it's gonna hit the theaters.
If you go to see a movie, you might see a trailer
for it a year ahead, but you don't see it on TV.
Like three weeks to a month before the movie, it's on TV.
Now it's on social media.
There, the actors are on talk shows.
It is just push, push, push.
And it's all this promotion.
And you're seeing these really enticing trailers.
As you get closer to the movie, the trailers get longer
and longer instead of a 30 second trailer
or a 10 second clip.
It becomes like a full minute clip.
And I was like, I'm kind of selling that.
You get excited about it because you're gonna,
you want to go have this really ideal experience.
And I'm selling experiences not necessarily,
these are just literally the vehicles
to have those experiences, whatever that is for that person.
Whether it's a nostalgia moment,
whether it's going on a driving event,
whether it's a milestone.
And they're not buying it for the metal,
they're buying it for the story.
And like that, that 88 turbo look cab,
I sold it six years ago.
By the way, a third of our cars we sell,
we get to sell again, which is my favorite thing.
But I sold it for the son because his father passed away.
His father had it for 20 years.
His father was a retired captain
or something with the Coast Guard
who lived in Kachakan, Alaska.
Have you been to Kachakan, Alaska?
No, no, I have not.
Kachakan, Alaska has 27.2 miles of paved road
for the entire island.
That's it.
So he retires, he always wanted a Porsche convertible.
He, I don't even think he knew what a turbo look was
and how rare it was.
He buys it from the original owner,
ships it to Kachakan, Alaska.
His retirement gig is he owns a restaurant slash bar in town,
which I think is just a front for him to continue his alcoholism.
And every Sunday.
Hey, that's like you own a car dealership.
Yeah, it's like an alcoholic owning a bar.
So every Sunday, he drives the length of that road,
27.2 miles both ways.
So what is that about 40?
You know, is that 54 miles, 55 miles, 54 and a half miles.
And then stops at the restaurant, hangs out with his buddy,
drinks and plays cards and is a restaurant tour.
And once a year, 4th of July,
it always has the grand marshal sitting in the back
for the 4th of July parade.
And he did that for 20 years until he passed away.
He put, he drove it.
I think there's five months of the year he can drive it
because people go, oh, Alaska, wouldn't it rust?
I go, no, no, no, you literally cannot drive it in the bad weather.
You can't even if you wanted to.
It's just not designed for that.
Even if you put studs on it, it can't really drive it.
There's just too much snow.
He's like, we're in snowmobiles or big trucks or whatever.
So he would drive it the four or five months a year every Sunday
until he died, did that for 20 years,
put 1,900 miles on the car doing that religiously
and serviced it.
Him and his buddy did their own service.
You know, they were mechanics.
That's just a random pick of a car that you're selling on your website.
There's already a story.
You only take, it sounds like you only take like 10% of the cars
that even get presented to you on consignment.
Yeah?
Like what is the, no, like is it the cars that don't have a story?
No history.
You just kind of like.
No, no, I mean, I guess so.
I mean, I have to like the car and I'm very, very fortunate.
In the beginning, I needed to stay in business.
I needed to pay for my, put money aside for my daughter's college
and pay the bills.
And in the beginning, I sort of didn't get that luxury.
I think as time has gone on, I do get that luxury.
Part of it's just value.
We don't really take on much under $60,000 just because I can't,
I don't know how to do half of me.
I do one version of me.
So if it's a $20,000 boxer,
it's going to take as much effort as $120,000, whatever,
you know, nine GT3.
So, so, and this was really more of from my dad and our accountant,
like you can't still do these cars.
We lose money on each one.
So part of it's just, just fiscally, I take on things over $60,000.
I think for me, they don't have, like if you look at the red target,
that is not a pretty car.
It's probably one of the lower end cars we've had.
Ironically from Alaska, I do not know why I'm getting Alaska cars,
but this is the early, the longhood.
Dude, that car, I've been trying to pimp it to all of my friends
who say they want to go on a rally.
That car is so freaking awesome.
I've been sitting for the, yeah, I've been sitting here
for the last few weeks doing mental gymnastics,
trying to figure out how I can own that and what I should sell.
And do I, should I buy it first or sell it or sell something else?
Oh, it's that's red.
That's dope.
The motor, the drivetrain, the guy just spent $75,000 on the drivetrain.
Everything.
That 2-2, it's numbers matching.
That 2-2 motor is so sweet.
So the engine builder, he's up in an anchorage.
His name's Ralphie with a culmination of motorsports.
Brilliant engineer.
People send him engines from all over the world.
He is brilliant.
He works on the Alaska pipeline half the year.
And the other half year, he builds air-cooled engines.
And this guy owned a machine shop next to him.
And so they always did trade.
He did machine work for them.
He helped them with his car, kind of one of those things.
So it was always this rolling restoration.
I call Ralphie.
I'm like, I drove the car.
I'm like, would you do this motor?
He's like, ah, probably, you know, let's see.
I built the motor in 2015.
So I would have done L&N, you know, forage, piston cylinders,
probably put some Krilla rods in there,
probably something high compression.
Probably, he doesn't really remember.
But this is kind of like what I was doing.
So I don't know, a 2-2T motor should probably be like compression.
If you ran a compression test, like 135, 140, this thing was 210.
Dude, the car just is riveting to drive.
And if you go on the website, there's a driving,
just a 10-second like acceleration clip.
It is such a hoot.
And I look at the car and I'm like,
this car would be so much fun to kind of put my own personal touches on.
But it is an ugly duckling.
But going back to your question, fundamentally, it was a solid car.
Wasn't rusty.
Wasn't a piece of crap.
You know, 356s scare me because they hide some really bad things.
They're kind of prone to be lipstick on a pig.
So you'll see I do less 356s.
Not because I don't like them, because a lot of them are not great.
And the problem is, even if I go, hey, this car has a fundamental issue,
which I always tell people, like everything can be fixed except the chassis.
If the chassis is bad, you're kind of out of luck.
So I do draw the line there.
But if 356s can just have so many bad issues and that the owners don't know,
and even if I sell it and say, here's what's really wrong with the car.
And then the guy gets it and they don't believe it.
They just think they got a good deal.
And then their mechanic goes, boy, there's some things really wrong with that.
And they call me and I say, yes, told you.
So then what they do and this happened, this has been years,
but it's probably been about 10 years.
Then they go and realize, I don't want that car.
They go list it for sale and say, hey, I bought this from Auto Kennel
and they don't list all the crap.
And then I get a call from the second or third victim who says, what the hell?
And I send them the thing and they're like, what the hell?
I go, so I just realized, if it's fundamentally a bad car,
if the seller and I don't agree on the value, if it's not over 60 grand,
and if it's not something I really like, and you'll see this, Chris,
as your businesses progress, and you probably already are,
you'll realize when you're selling a car for someone,
you're entering this short-term partnership.
And you get to the point where you want to not be partners with people
you don't like less and less.
Like I don't want to spend a month selling your car and dealing with you
if you're not a kind of person I want to deal with.
So yeah, I do have my friends.
And irony is most of my clients became my friends.
Do you put any of your own money up to buy cars?
Do you ever see a car and you're like, I got to do it?
And you put up your own money or are you just consignment?
It's been a long time.
And usually when I do buy my own car, like that red Targa,
I'm kind of someone who falls in love with like Rescue Dog.
I get frustrated that no one sees what I can see.
Like I can look past the shitty 80s repaint.
I can look past three different carpet flavors in the inside.
I look at it and go, wow, no rust, chassis straight, all the heavy lifting is done.
Okay, so it's got polished folks and it's anchorage height.
It's anchorage height.
Sounds like a lot of stuff is pretty easy to change too.
A lot of stuff.
Yeah, but you'd be surprised.
I would say today's buyers are, when they say turnkey,
they are like, I don't want to do anything.
They can't see the fact that you can do a few fun things, the easy stuff.
You're putting like dressing, you know, the final touches and make it cool.
So probably the last product, if I do buy something,
it's something like that where I'm going to rescue it.
I'm going to prove people like, look, I can make it better and cool.
And then I'm going to sell it to you and tell you, look,
how much more you paid because you weren't willing to put the sweat equity into it.
But I don't do that much because my dad hates what I do that.
So if someone's listening to this is about to buy their first old car of any kind,
let's say they want to come on the rally, they got 10, 20 grand to spend,
you know, I wish there was more cars between five grand and 7,500 these days,
but it seems to be like a dead zone.
Most of those cars are really bad.
Now get into those price ranges, you're getting a bad car.
But what advice do you have people that want to, you know,
get into the hobby, get a classic car and just, you know, get going with this hobby?
Whatever your, like let's just say your max budget's 20 grand,
you should really be looking for a car around 10 to 15.
Like you, when you're doing higher end cars, I always say budget 10% for the first year of ownership.
If you buy a really good car and do all your homework, budget 10% for unknown stuff.
When you're buying a car a little more on the lower end,
there's going to be some other fundamental stuff.
I think we're very fortunate that there's so many resources online,
YouTube, things like that, where you could get, I've watched people,
like you post that thing about the gal who found the car and rebuilt the carburetor herself.
And like, I'm pretty sure everyone can figure this out.
Now maybe you don't like doing that and you have to decide,
if I don't like doing that, is that a necessity I'm willing to take on?
Because I have to.
So I would say first and foremost, like I mentioned, chassis is everything.
Don't buy a bad chassis.
Buy a good solid chassis.
I don't care.
People shop for odometer.
They shop for the model.
They shop for the color.
They shop for the number of owners.
They shop for the records.
Like those are all like kind of irrelevant.
There's suggestions of condition, not edicts.
Like in the end, I don't care anything more than what condition is the car today.
So let's say you're, you know, if you had 10 to 20 grand to say 20 grand was max.
Okay, look at 10 to 15 grand.
Look at the kind of things you want to do.
You know, there's some events like your events,
you can take something in the 2000s and newer.
Some events are 99 and older.
You know, so you had to first figure out like what I want to do.
Now if you want to participate in a bunch of events and open the door more,
maybe look at like a E36325.
Like just a non-M.
I mean, fundamentally those cars are kind of solid cars.
You know, or even the four cylinder ones are really solid cars.
The interiors are just basically self decomposing.
But I think people get too wrapped up in having the dream car right away.
You know, it's like, why can't you start at a 325 I and then go to the junkyard
and get the limited slip and put it in there and screw your door,
door panels to the door's wood screws just so they don't fall off.
Like why can't we do that?
Why does everybody feel like they need to get to the finish line
and have the coolest shit ever right now?
Unfortunately, it's this thing called Instagram.
Yeah, I know.
The problem with that is the formula is there.
Everybody can see the formula.
No one has to figure it out and figure their way through it.
They can see the end game right away.
And I'd say I see that I'm on the front lines to that
because all of the customers I'm dealing with cannot be bothered by,
you know, why is there, why does the radio not work on a 71, 9, 11?
Because it didn't work when it was new.
Like it was crap.
Like, I mean, just to your point, Chris, that 88 turbo cab,
you know what the biggest question I've had?
I mean, we're talking like 10 to 1, the question people ask the most.
Does the air condition work?
And if not, how can I get it to work?
And I'm like, and then I explained to them that convertible it's a convertible.
But I explained to them that even if you magically,
it worked as good as it did the day it left the factory.
I promise you, that's not a good enough for anywhere you live.
I don't care where you live.
It'll work that that factory air condition works at 75 degrees zero humidity.
And then it's done.
And then you can throw money at it like we've done.
I like air conditioning.
I wanted to make it work because I use it.
So I think it's perception and most of the people who are buying old cars today,
they've never owned an old car ever.
Like they've owned CPO stuff.
Or if they did own an old car, like, yeah, I own an SC win in 85.
Well, no, that was a two year old car.
That's like irrelevant.
So and the new cars are kind of easy.
Like they're super easy.
They're easy to own.
They're easy to drive.
They're easy to live with.
They don't break.
I mean, I love when people compare.
If they do, you cannot fix it yourself.
You literally can't.
It's not an option.
You have to take it somewhere.
It's a choice.
One of my favorite movies you've seen.
Oh, sure.
It's just not up.
But the other Disney movie dystopian with the trash can guy.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I can't think of it.
But it shows all the people just obese in their chairs.
Wally, you see the people obese in the chairs in the cruise ship in the sky.
And they can't do anything because they've just sort of been like,
you know, bred to that point.
And I feel like those seats are out of a 991.
Are you trying to say that those seats, everybody's floating around our 991 seats?
They are 18-way adaptive sports seats.
So yeah, I think it's unfortunately people have a romantic notion of what it's like to own an old car.
And they don't understand they're not patient enough to go through the process of it.
Not saying everyone, but a lot of people.
And that's because of what we drive today.
But the people who do get it and they kind of cross over to trying an old car
and all the issues of an old car, they like love it, you know.
And that's the thing I would love to help enable more if I can.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
You know, I got your application for the rally and it tells a story.
It really does.
And I was going to read your application.
I think I kind of would rather hear from you.
And after Airwater, you found out that you had bone cancer.
Like, fuck that.
Like, what was that like getting that call?
I can't even imagine.
And as I get older, I'm starting to try to imagine.
What was that like?
Walk me through the process and finding the other doctor and having these goals of
driving again when you were told that you never will.
I mean, if all of it came at once, like you said, I don't know if I would survive that.
It was overwhelming.
But literally, it was the day after Airwater.
We did our kind of cars and coffee after Airwater.
I had been struggling walking already for a few weeks in a month if it had issues.
And I just thought I have a torn right knee meniscus, but this was in my left hip.
I figured I was compensating for my meniscus by maybe walking funny or something.
And the doctor the week few days before Airwater had said the orthopedic,
just the orthopedic surgeon said, hey, I'm really concerned.
You got to get in like tomorrow for a CT scan.
And I'm like, it's Airwater weekend, dude.
Like, this is a big weekend.
This is in my backyard.
And he didn't sound concerned enough because it was like his PA that was calling.
And so she finally said, you know what, Sunday afternoon.
So we had our cars and coffee.
And at three o'clock, my wife took me to get a CT scan at the local hospital.
And I had been, I would say at Airwater, I walked over 20,000 steps.
I'd been standing all day Sunday.
I was like almost crawling into the scan due to scan.
And it's one of those long, I don't know if you've done a CT scan,
but I was in the machine for over an hour.
Like it's a really long time for that.
And fortunately, not claustrophobic.
And within hours of getting home, we saw the initial report.
It came through like our text or email, whatever.
And you know, when you get a doctor's report, and there are just so many words you don't know.
So then you do the worst thing possible.
You start Googling shit.
You know, and my wife's out in the patio, she sees the report.
We both Google like conjure sarcoma at the same time.
And then I like lean over, see her in the patio.
I'm like, did you just Google that word?
And she goes, yeah.
But what do you think?
She's like, not good.
I go, you know, it's, it's, it says the word possible or whatever
medical term that makes you have to, then you have to go Google like learn that vocabulary.
What can't they just say possible versus whatever they said?
And then two days later, we're meeting with the orthopedic oncologist.
He comes in, he's like, hey, what do you think you have?
And I go, assist.
And he just laughs at me.
And he goes, uh-uh.
And he goes, I think it's this, we'll know more.
And here's, it's just a blur.
He just, my wife Jennifer and I were just sitting there like kind of glazed over.
He's just saying, you have bone cancer, I think.
Um, it could be worse.
Um, he basically says that what you have, usually what it starts in a like prostate or lung.
And then it, it make metastasized to hear.
Like this is the end result of something.
So we, we leave there and we're now Googling all kinds of stuff.
Like what does that mean?
And you start, you start to more mortality becomes, you know, you feel invincible.
And until you first hurt your back and you're like, I'm not invincible,
which we all do that doing stupid car stuff in the twenties and thirties.
And then all of a sudden everyone else has cancer, right?
Not you.
Like your friend, your, your buddy, you know, our friend Phil Kroc GT4 passed away
yesterday from the long battle of cancer.
Found out this morning a guy used to do enduros and club racing with his got cancers back.
You know, just like literally fuck cancer.
Um, too many good people.
So you're like, Oh, great.
Like now I'm that guy.
And so, you know, then it was just go see a bunch of doctors and do the biopsy.
And I remember the, the first kind of relief was he says, well, we need to go do all these
special CT scans and a bone scan.
And the bone scan is going to be like the scan of your body.
Look at your whole skeleton and it will tell us kind of, it'll tell you,
basically, do you have a death sentence?
Like, are you up shit Creek?
And they said, I said, what does it look like?
He says, well, you'll see spots of everything.
Um, and we did that in like literally in our friend, Jay Ryan, you know,
Porsche life, we were going to go do his show that day.
We did the scan the morning as we're driving over there, we get the thing.
We look at it and it says basically in medical stupid terms, it's just this,
like, which is really rare to have this tumor about the size of like two Kiwis
inside your left pelvis.
And it's, and it's starting to push through the bone into your hip,
into where your hip goes into the socket.
And I'm like, okay, this is good.
I've, I've got, I don't have bone cancer everywhere.
I don't have like all this other cancer.
I've got this one thing.
And the thing is, he says to the doctor goes, well, you can't do radiology.
You can't do, um, chemo or any of that.
There's only one way.
Just cut it out, which by the way, I'm now a firm believer of I watch friends
and family go through radiology and all these horrible poisons.
And my only thing I can say, and I am by no means medical advice,
is if there is an option to cut it out, regardless of what it will physically
cause the pain it will cause and what it will do to you,
fucking cut it out because the other poisons, I just don't see them working.
And so then you start going to these doctors and we went to four different doctors
and you're sitting there going like, I'm going to use car salesman.
How the hell do I choose a guy who's going to determine what the outcome of my life
is going to be like, whether it's going to be, you know, if I'm going to live
and if I do live, what kind of life will I have?
Will I do the things I like to do?
And were these guys treating you like an individual
or were they treating you as just another guy with cancer?
No, I think generally surgeons can do that.
When you're dealing with orthopedic oncology, I think that's a different breed.
It's a really weird specialty and I got to meet a lot of residents
as they were going through the program.
Some of them were on rotation and I learned in the hospital
more about like this weird specialized field of orthopoam.
You have to be so passionate about that to deal with it is such a hard profession
because you have to be an absolutely talented orthopedic surgeon
and then you have to really under and it's so specialized
that like the doctors I'm dealing with only do orthopedic oncology on tumors in joints.
Like that's how narrow it is because it's such a hard field to know all of it.
And so like the first place I went to was UCI.
Doctor was amazing.
He went to the Harvard of Harvard's for this kind of thing
but the whole administrative structure around it was an absolute train wreck.
And then you go to another doctor.
It was USC and he said, you'll never walk again
or you'll never get in a sports car again.
You know, and my wife's looking at him going,
you know, you have a great wife when they think you're a bigger person than you really are,
right?
She's like, do you know who he is?
And I'm like, oh my, oh my God.
So she, did you take that as a challenge when they tell you something like that?
Was that just, how did, let me rephrase this.
When you hear something like that, like if someone told me something like that,
that just changes everything because cars are so much,
cars in driving are so much of a part of my life.
When you were told that.
Denial.
It's just like, no, you're wrong.
Like, I don't know if it was a challenge yet because I didn't know what I had to do.
And you know, here's the thing is we went to four doctors.
The one I chose wasn't the one who ended up doing it.
And this was a really hard decision.
And this is something I tell people, it's your life, it's your body, it's your decision.
If there is any point of the process that you and your, deep in your gut,
just like when you're buying a car, if your gut says no, go with your gut.
It is always right.
And there is something just gnawing at it because I, the doctor was phenomenal.
He was the kind of guy you want to have behind the wheel.
But the problem is not one guy steers a ship, it is a team.
And the rest of the team was just a shit show.
And think about this.
He's, they do all the biopsies, they do all these scans.
They're 3D modeling a prosthetic that's going to go in me.
And by the way, this surgery five years ago couldn't happen.
And if it couldn't happen, the solution was they cut out half your pelvis,
they cut out your hip, you have no longer have a hip.
It's called a flail hip, which means your leg is shorter, which means for sure you're
going to be deformed and mobility is going to be compromised the rest of your life.
And then if you're lucky, you're healthy enough down the road to have a leg lengthing surgery,
which is another really horrible thing.
And some of the doctors wanted to just do that.
Because the problem with this is infection rates really high.
And it's not talking about infection when you're cutting open.
Like if I get pneumonia, there's such a big chunk of metal in my body
that any kind of bacteria disease wants to go to that.
And there is a chance that down the road it would have to come out.
And I could end up going down that way.
So while they're developing, it takes six weeks to design and 3D print a titanium prosthetic piece,
which is half of my left side of my pelvis, the ball that the femur goes into,
and then half the femur going down to just above my knee.
They cut all of that out and they put this whole big thing in.
And it's titanium in a stainless cage with tons of these like 10 to 12 inch cobalt bolts.
They look like the gnarliest drywall screws going way up into the top of the pelvis.
And they anchor it all together.
And the goal is you got to cut out enough and give a big enough margin to get cancer gone,
but also allow the structure of your body to hold the weight.
Because this is the part where all your weight is on it.
And so it takes six weeks to do this.
And he okayed me to go to Germany.
That's when my dad and I went to Germany.
It was a lifelong trip.
We've been planning it for seven years.
It kept getting canceled and delayed and delayed.
And when they said I had this, my wife looks at the doctor and goes,
by the way, he's got this trip, a two week trip planned to Germany.
They've never been, he cannot not go.
And he's looking at him like, woman, are you crazy?
We're talking about his life.
He actually looked at him and goes, hey, he's looking at the county.
He's like, you know what?
Yeah, during that time, the prosthetic has to be made.
There's nothing you can do.
It's got to take six weeks.
She says, go have fun.
Use your walking stick.
Oh, and by the way, don't get hit from the left side.
All right.
T-boning is one of my lifelong goals to avoid.
And my dad and I had this amazing trip.
And we come back planning on going to this one hospital,
having all the surgery done.
And just that moment, you know when you know that you chose a path
that isn't the best path.
And I don't, I'm not one of those people that cry much
or get too, I get emotional in a weirder way.
I mean, I'll cry at a sappy father, son, goofy hallmark movie
more than if a dog dies.
I don't know why.
I just, my body's triggered weird.
But like we were getting help from a consultant
who's helping that helps kind of what to do with all this.
And she had said, like, you know, if you want to, you can,
you can change horses like midstream.
Like it's not easy, but I think I can help you get it done.
And go with UCLA, which is the doctor we went with,
who ironically his brother's, his last name is Berndthal.
Nick Berndthal is a doctor.
His brother's a famous actor from Walking Dead and all that.
But anyway, different story.
So he, I remember getting off that call
and that was the first time I kind of broke down.
And, and now this had been June.
This has been like a two months of, of dealing with this
before the surgery.
And my, and my wife was like, I was wondering when you did.
I just felt so overwhelmed.
Like, how am I supposed to make this decision?
What will, this is not like buying a lemon.
This is like my passion, my livelihood, my, like, it's just,
I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around like what to do.
But I knew that what I was doing was wrong.
And we switched.
And in the end, I always wondered why this doctor chose me.
I think in the end, you know, dealing with it, it's been eight months.
I think he knew something.
He knew that I was so motivated to get my life back
that if he did his end, I would do my end.
Right?
Bar is, yeah.
And the funny thing is, I don't think he's like,
it doesn't make it sound weird.
Like, I don't think he's proud of me.
I just think, and this is the surgeon part,
he just didn't want me to fuck up his good work.
He wanted to look good.
And he did.
Like the body guy not giving your car back.
So it was a 14 hour surgery, not an easy one.
Hold on one second.
I want to rewind for a second.
Why do you think it took you so long to break down after that two months?
Like, what was it like?
That's a long time.
I feel like that was a lot of strength to go that long without knuckling over.
Disbelief.
Like, I just didn't fully understand this was,
like, I'm just going through motions.
I'm just, it's sort of like when I get a car that I need to do a bunch of stuff to,
it's not my car.
Like, we'll get it fixed and then that's that.
And this was just, I then, it just began to realize like,
oh, my life may change.
And when I start to think about how it would change and how do I do it?
And if it was the worst, I would figure it out.
I'm sure it just got so overwhelming.
Like, I can handle a lot.
But like, I think humans get to a point where they're not made to just this kind of everything.
Like from this, from the logistical side to the emotional side.
And then, and then, you know what, the worst part beyond the pain,
because you forget physical pain, like you kind of do,
you like, you remember it hurt, but you don't remember how it hurt, right?
We've all hurt ourselves.
Like, man, that really hurt.
But like, can you really remember how it hurt?
You kind of forget pain, but you don't forget the pain that it caused the people that you love.
That, to me, is the worst pain, because I still get kind of emotional about it.
Because I see, you know, like all the people who really love you,
and they're just wrecked by it, you know?
Like your wife, your parents.
I mean, when I told my, I still never forget when I told my daughter,
she lives in Portland, and, you know, she's, at the time was 24.
You know, I found the news, and I had to call her, and I'm like, she was driving.
I'm like, hey, I know you're driving right now.
And there's people and her friends in the car, like call me later.
And she just knew, she's like, no, I want to know.
And I told her in the quickest, lightest possible way what was going on.
Like, hey, it's just kind of little cancer, little, little small kind, it'll be okay.
And she doesn't get that emotional a lot.
And she just, it killed me to watch.
You know, there's nothing worse than watching your children in pain,
and then it's because of you.
Like, you can't help it, but it's still because of you.
And you watch your parents, I swear to God, my parents got older.
You know, they aged a lot during this.
And then you watch your wife, just who's our, you know, my wife takes full-time care of her mother
as dementia, and she takes care of our grandson.
And she's just, and like, oh great, here's one more, you know, scoop of crap to deal with.
You know, me, like I'm pretty self-sufficient.
So I was more motivated to get better and at least appear better,
so that they felt better.
Because then if they felt better, I would feel less guilty and feel better,
because I was causing them all that pain.
And I'm just the type of person that I want everyone to be happy.
I don't have a lot of enemies.
You know, I want things to work out.
So it was a, man, what a fucking ride.
How are you feeling like looking back and reflecting, you know, and you have the,
you can look forward now too.
I mean, all that stuff's a lot heavier than being able to drive stick again, but you're going to be able.
You know, I can drive all of my cars.
You would have a hard time believing the one car I cannot drive.
I got in it last Friday or Thursday.
I tried to drive it.
I backed out of the garage and said, nope, I can't do it.
It's not a Porsche, 67 Beetle.
It's literally sitting right there as in front of my desk intentionally as kind of a reminder.
Um, because just, I can't bend like if this is my torso and this is my legs.
Well, for, for five months, I wasn't allowed to bend past 90 degrees.
So just think about it.
If you're home listening, watching, just try to do things.
And every time you get to 90 degrees, no, you can't.
You can't go past 90 degrees and you can't go more than straight.
You can't go like your legs behind.
No standing up, no leaning over.
No, no, like that.
So driving a Beetle, you sit like in a lawn, it's like a lawn chair position.
So you're already at 90 degrees and it's not about pushing the clutch in.
It's lifting your leg to get onto the clutch.
And when you lift it, you go really acute.
And so I can't physically get my leg up over to the clutch pedal and then off of it again.
But I will, I will just drive a 912.
It's basically the same thing.
I hate 912s.
I'm sorry, the lovely owners, but I hate the car.
Let's get a 911 or 356.
My man, my man, this is, yes.
Oh boy, that's all.
Those are fighting words.
Which, which car are you bringing out to the drift list?
The 944 or Tortuga?
No, the Tortuga.
And then that is going to be a really fun adventure because I'm driving up to Portland
to do the safari party.
And this is, and I'm so, the most exciting part about this is my daughter who never really
cared about cars.
You know, she always, she would drive with me up to Good Vibes Breakfast Club and Newcombs
or whatever when she was in town.
And during COVID, she did that a lot because she was bored, but she's just never into cars.
She's going to do first time ever going sit at my dad in the car for at least one day of the
rally.
She's going to drive down from Portland.
She'll spend the day.
I said, this will be different.
We're not going to go faster on turns.
It's going to be more dirt and that kind of stuff.
And she loves the Oregon coast, so she'll have a good time.
I'm going to leave the car up there.
I already talked to Jeff Gammoth.
He's going to hopefully fix whatever I break, knock on wood.
My dad will fly.
I might break something.
That's more forethought than I put into things.
Yeah.
I've got an appointment set for the day after the rally to bring it in.
And he says, what does it need?
I said, hopefully just service, but be prepared to fix a few things.
I go, I'm going to give you four days if that's all I got.
Because I think with Steve Pele and Billy and a few other Portland people,
my dad's going to fly up there the end of the week.
We'll spend time with my daughter.
And then him and I are going to drive with those guys in the tortuga out to your event
in the driftless.
So, and then depending on how I feel, I might have to book
shipping back and fly back.
Because I will have been gone for three weeks at that point.
And physically, I don't know how much I'll have left.
Well, it'll be a big test for you.
It's a long one.
The driftless is really special.
It's, you know, my wife and I and the kids were out scouting a little bit.
Just for some of the events for night zero, just figuring out a few last minute details.
And everything's dead right now.
It's all dead because it's winter.
And that's what things do here is they die, the winter.
And so it's all brown and, you know, the trees are all scraggly.
And she goes, you know, this looks a lot like California.
Just because everything's, well, it's all, you know, deep summer in California.
Things die too.
You know, it's the opposite.
Things here get too cold.
There it gets a little bit too hot and everything.
There's no in the middle.
And but it does.
It's, it's an interesting area.
It's really special.
It's all rocky and craggy and cliffs and bluffs.
And, you know, it's, there's a, there's a road that reminds me of Hogback Ribs.
That's on there.
You go up there and it just drops off on both sides.
I think people are going to be blown away by the driftless.
I really do.
I think it's going to blow people's minds and, and really shock them that
they've never heard of it and never went there.
When you said that, I immediately Googled that and I'm like,
because my wife want to know where's it starting or where's the rally.
I go, this is, this is an area that's like the size of a state.
I mean, it's huge.
It's, it kind of goes through Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Iowa, yeah.
And Iowa, Iowa and parts of Illinois.
I said, I think Chris is based out of near the Minneapolis area.
So it could be near there, but then again, his rallies go far away.
So maybe it's not.
I don't know.
It's, it's in the vicinity.
I would tell people it's probably going to start in the southern side of the driftless.
A little podcast exclusive there, but you'll, everybody will have more information
pretty soon.
But look, if you're driving all the way from Portland, where it is in the driftless
is such a rounding error for the journey that you're making that it truly does not matter.
It truly does not make sense.
I would say the only thing that's going to matter ultimately is where we end up.
And if we are going to store a car and then ship it or, or whatever.
Well, we have, we have a place that, you know, I just got a text.
They have like, Hey, if anybody wants to store their cars and stuff like that, or, you know,
have it picked up, dropped off from this, blah, blah, blah.
We got everybody covered.
You know, anybody needs help.
They, they know they can call us and we'll do the best we can to help everybody out.
And thank you for doing this.
You know, I do love rallies and people ask why, like I go on lots of different rallies.
And that's because, and I've told you this before,
every rally has, it's like the signature of the person.
There's like this thumbprint that makes your events uniquely yours.
The Texas Hill Country has a flavor to it.
That's uniquely theirs.
And I don't, I want everyone, I don't want this homogenous kind of experience.
I want each one different.
And one of the things that you do differently that I enjoy and I kind of
frustrated I couldn't go last year was this, the, the, the drama and theater of the route
and the start, like you put so much thought into this start that's, that's,
you would ask my dad, he would say frustrating, but when you get there, it's dynamic.
When we did the Oregon one, and you remember the start, it was at the bottom of that boat ramp
on the river in them.
It was a middle of nowhere.
It was a 20-
20-0 start.
Or the day zero.
The night zero.
Was that day zero start?
It was day zero.
That's the first, the first inception of doing something on a Wednesday.
That was the first try.
I'm like, I'm, let's see what people are really going to be willing to do.
Oh yeah.
And, and cause he's like, I said, dad, we have, it's weird.
The nearest hotel I can get is here.
And I go, when I put it into Google Maps, it says, it's only says it's like
50 miles, but it says it's going to take two and a half hours.
And he's like, what are you talking about?
I go, I really think we should leave at like 435.
And in my dad is not like leaving early.
And he's like, I go, but it's Chris, it'll be worth it.
I promise.
And, and then we realized like after the first 10 miles, oh, we're going to be doing dirt for
however many miles.
And, but it was an adventure.
And that, and that's one of my favorite.
That's what I look forward to.
And I think especially if you can find a friend group and it's like you can create your own
little mini rally in this, in this sort of like umbrella of overcrest rally.
And, and then you kind of all come together in the beginning and the end of the day.
You know, it's weird.
Sometimes I won't see more than a handful of people all day.
And I mean, in driving, I think the, the first rally we did, the Idaho rally, we did,
I think we logged almost a hundred miles in dirt over the two days.
You were one of the only people to go find Split Rock Pine.
Not many people went up there.
I had like 25, 30 bumper stickers made.
I think I only gave out like six or seven.
Really?
Yeah, people didn't do it, but it is, was such a cool.
I was so struck by finding it at night.
You know, we found it.
We found that you were there at night.
Yeah, we went through there after dark dude.
That was that sketchy.
It was sketchy.
And it was full melt.
Like there was like water running across the roads in places.
Uh-huh.
But there was times we were, we drove in like the most ideal day, like ride out,
shorts, weather, beautiful, and even that, my, my dad is fairly unflappable.
And he was getting a little bit nervous on that road, you know,
the, especially by the pine, by the lone pine thing where it just gets kind of like sheer cliff
crawling around.
And, and actually one of my favorite moments was I, he wanted me to pass.
I'm like, no, no, I love being behind you.
The guy in the pink DS, the Citron DS, I was behind him for a long way on the dirt road.
And you, it was like, it was like driving behind a car in a wind tunnel.
Like I got to see how wind and things move over that vehicle.
So like, if you get behind a car, like on a dirt road, you know,
after, if you get too close, you just can't see, it's just you're in a dust cloud.
The Citron DS would do these little like venturis out the side.
So like, if you, you actually got closer, like you're getting into the wake of a ship,
you know, when you get really close to a boat, you can kind of get the smooth water
as it's pushing everything aside.
And I was able to get behind him and just watch the, really close to him and watch the dirt
just fling to the sides of us.
I think, yeah, wow.
So this is what we were doing.
So this is the bridge.
You would have, would have went over this bridge and the pine is right there.
And when you went over, this would have been dry.
There'd be no water there, but it was so crazy.
Some of these are really, but we ended up getting like,
yeah, here's this, I don't know if this is probably not gonna, not a good idea
to try to get videos to look over here, but this is, you can see the scale of Larson.
That's Larson out there.
Oh, he went down.
He climbed down there.
Climbed up on top of it.
So tuck it into your shirt so it shines down while you walk.
That's sketchy.
I did not.
I was healthier and I did not.
But this was, it was, it was a cool spot.
You know, and I think, I mean, what time did we finally get back?
1.19 in the morning is when we finally rolled into our hotel that day.
Oh my gosh.
We were at Split Rock at 10, 20 PM.
That's a cool picture.
Yeah, it was, I mean, I was really struck by this.
This, this pine growing out of this giant rock that had been cleaved into by God for all I know.
Lightning or whatever.
Yeah, it's just so, so incredible.
Anyway, that was, and that's, and so when people ask me about like which events to go on,
and I, I tell them all of them, like find the one, you'll find them.
You'll, you'll, and some of them you'll like more than others.
I don't think there's one I, I don't dislike.
I just like them for, for different reasons.
Each one has its own little thing that kind of like this, that's real cool nugget of just the
pure part of why that event's so good and, and do it, you know, and, you know, as I said,
my friend Phil passed away yesterday in probably the most unique way, which he chose his final day
and did end of life and all of that.
And he's been just horrible battle of cancer, but he was very with it and physically able to do things.
And his last, he posted something which I reposted, it went out this morning after he died, but
his last kind of words to all of us is like, you know, don't wait till tomorrow, drive.
Like if you like to drive, drive today.
You know, if you've always wanted to do that rally or that event, like do it.
Don't do it tomorrow because that's one less time you get to do it if you do it today.
And I would say I'm doing a lot of stuff right now.
And maybe people think I'm crazy.
My wife does.
Every time we see my orthopedic oncologist, he's like, what are you doing now?
And I go, before I can say anything, my wife goes, he's going to go, he's driving to Montana
and he's racing on ice.
And I'm like, hold on, hold on.
Like let me, he goes, yeah.
Not quite.
And I go, I'm a spectator.
He goes, he rolls his eyes.
He's like, just don't fall.
Be careful.
And I think he does trust me.
But, you know, I don't know in, I don't know what tomorrow is.
I don't know if this is going to be, I'm just going to get better and go back to normal
and live a happy life.
Am I going to have to deal with this down the road?
Am I not going to be able to drive down?
I mean, I really got my first look at, hey, what you love may not happen.
So I better go do as much of, as I can with the people I want to do it with.
And I hope my dad comes on all of them, you know, as much as he can.
But of all the people I want to spend time with outside of my family is all you guys.
Like, like, I don't have other friends.
I like, I don't want other friends.
Like, because these are the friends that fit me.
And they do the things that I like to do.
And just to show you kind of like how special it is to be part of this community.
And it's not just like rallies, but like whatever automotive thing you like to do,
whether it's just going to cars and coffee, but just your friendship.
When I was after the surgery and after a couple of weeks in the hospital part,
they put me for over a month in a rehab hospital, which is like 15,
it's just like 25 hours a week of physical therapy.
You have, it's just a regular hospital, but you're just doing therapy, therapy, therapy.
And you can have more visitors.
I had the people, the nurses and the physicians would come in and they're like,
who are these people?
Like we have never seen so many and I'm very, very happy.
And the warmth and outreach from people, but I had so many visitors.
And when I had my car friends there, it was the only non-drug thing that made the pain go away.
Like, I know it sounds like homeopathic, you know, namaste kind of dorky,
but like it would just give my mind enough other things to chew on that I didn't think about what hurt.
And I would just try to fill my day up that had availability with visitors
so that I could selfishly not be in pain.
And I could then hopefully be so tired that I just go to pass out.
And that was kind of my ritual, physical therapy, friends, pass out,
do it again until I can get out of there.
And I thought it was normal until I saw the nurses and doctors going like,
who are these people?
Because it doesn't look like normal, like if you're part of a church,
maybe you have like one flavor of people or your company, it's one flavor of people.
They saw like all walks of life, like young, old, diverse people, like everything.
And they're all very diverse people, backgrounds, history so far.
And they would, we're just in there and they just, they hear all this laughing
and we're just cracking up and just, you know how it is, what you do with your car friends.
And they, I thought it was like, that's how a lot of other groups outside of cars are.
And I think we live in a unique place because I just saw firsthand from people who have no idea
what my or our world is, go like, we've never ever seen this in 20 years of this kind of like
people, like coming in.
Well, community is good, community is good.
But I also don't want you to discount yourself, Paul.
You're a great guy, you know.
You've immersed yourself in this community.
And I think when it comes to this stuff, I mean, you get in what you put out.
If you want to make friends here, it's a very wonderful place to make friends.
And it's a wonderful place to have community and share something in common with people that
you don't have anything else in common with, which is a great,
it's a great thing for your own personality to hang out with people that have very diverse
experiences from you.
And this community does do that, especially if you can give yourself to it in some way.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
I hope more people do it.
Buy an old car, go for a drive.
Absolutely.
Paul, I think that's a good place to leave it.
I really appreciate you hanging out with me.
I will see you soon in just a couple of months.
Oh my gosh, it's coming up fast.
No, a couple weeks.
A couple weeks.
Oh yeah, air water.
Yes, absolutely.
I will see you in a couple of weeks then, man.
Yeah, I look forward to it.
Thanks for having me, Chris.
Yeah, absolutely.
Oh, one more thing, guys.
I do want to remind everybody to check out Paul's podcast.
Tell me a little bit about your podcast, Paul, before we let everybody go.
Shifted opinions.
It's with my friend Casey Parkin and Dave Van Epps.
We're all work in the Porsche space.
Dave owns a Porsche restoration shop.
Casey manages large collections with Porsches and other cars.
And we share kind of like how the sausage is made,
like behind the scenes of being in this space.
And our day-to-day, you know, part of it's the fun we get to experience
and part of it's the less fun stuff, the real stuff.
Well, we'll put us a link in the show notes.
Everybody can just click on it.
But if you want to tell everybody where they can find it,
where can they find it?
Shiftedopinions.com, main website.
So it's got links to all the different stuff.
Shiftedopinions, plural on YouTube.
Shiftedopinions on Instagram.
Or you can just go to AutoKennel on Instagram
and I'll connect you everywhere you need to go.
All right.
Just click in the show notes.
We got you.
It's the link.
The link will be right there.
Again, Paul, I can't wait to see you.
And thanks for hanging out with me here.
Awesome.
Thanks, Chris.
About this episode
Paul Kramer talks rally life, selling cars, and the hard reality behind “how to not die.” He explains how Overcrest-style adventure rallies grew from early Porsche group drives, why gravel matters for access, and how his dad became his go-to co-pilot as Paul’s passion evolved. Paul also details building a consignment car business with his father, focusing on storytelling over specs and the importance of a solid chassis. The episode turns personal with Paul’s rare bone cancer diagnosis after Airwater, his complex surgery, and the mindset shift to savor every drive—then closes with rally planning for the driftless and his podcast Shifted Opinions.
Paul didn't set out to run a dealership. He set out to build a clubhouse for car people, and AutoKennel is what happened along the way.
In this episode, I sit down with Paul, the driving force behind AutoKennel, the Southern California shop that has quietly become a gathering place for enthusiasts as much as a licensed dealer and brokerage. We talk about how a passion project turned into a real business, what sets his approach apart from the typical consignment outfit, and why the people around the cars matter as much as the cars themselves.
Paul also opens up about his cancer diagnosis and the road through recovery, and how the experience reshaped his perspective on the business, the community around it, and what actually matters when you strip everything else away. It's an honest conversation, and one that goes deeper than the usual shop talk.
