Bring a Trailer Podcast Mar 27, 2025

Peter Egan, Remastered

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Term

fuel injection systems

Fuel injection systems are parts of a car that send fuel to the engine. They help the engine run better and use less gas compared to older systems.

Term

emission controls

Emission controls are parts of cars that help reduce pollution. They were introduced to make cars cleaner and better for the environment.

Car

Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite

The Bugeye Sprite is a small sports car from the 1950s with unique round headlights. It's known for being fun to drive and is often used in racing.

Term

Formula 4

Formula 4 is a type of car racing for beginners. It helps new drivers learn the skills they need to move up to faster and more competitive racing.

Car

Lola 204

The Lola 204 is a type of racing car used in Formula Ford races. It's designed to be light and fast, making it a good choice for new racers.

Car

Honda 400F

The Honda 400F is a type of motorcycle that is known for being light and fast. It's popular among motorcycle fans for its good handling and dependability.

Car

Chevrolet Corvette

The Chevrolet Corvette is a well-known sports car that has been around for many years. The 1984 version had some important upgrades that made it more powerful.

Car

Chrysler Crossfire

The Chrysler Crossfire is a sporty car made by Chrysler. It has a distinctive look and was built using parts from another car, which helped it perform well.

Car

Porsche 3.2 Carrera

The Porsche 3.2 Carrera is a sports car made by Porsche in the 1980s. It's famous for its powerful engine and sleek look, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.

Car

Ferrari 308 Ferrari

The Ferrari 308 is a classic sports car that was popular in the late 1970s and 1980s. It's known for its stylish look and fast performance.

Car

The Audi Quattro is a sporty car that can drive on all four wheels, which helps it go fast and handle well, especially on tricky roads. It became famous in car racing and is known for its advanced technology.

Car

Ferrari Testarossa

The Ferrari Testarossa is a famous sports car from the 1980s and 1990s. It has a unique look with side vents and is known for being very fast and powerful.

Car

BMW Isetta

The BMW Isetta is a small car from the 1950s that looks very different from regular cars. It has a round shape and a door that opens from the front, making it easy to park in tight spaces.

Car

Cadillac 63

The 1963 Cadillac is a luxury car from Cadillac, famous for its stylish design and comfort. Many people love classic Cadillacs for their unique look and history.

Part

water pump

A water pump helps keep the engine cool by moving a special liquid called coolant around the engine. If it stops working, the engine can overheat.

Part

hoses

Hoses are rubber tubes in a car that carry liquids like coolant or oil to different parts of the engine. They help keep everything running smoothly.

Car

Porsche 356

The Porsche 356 is an older sports car made by Porsche. It is famous for being fun to drive and has a classic design that many people love.

Car

Ford Model A

The Ford Model A is a classic car that was made a long time ago. It was popular because it was cheap and worked well for many people.

Car

Ford Model A Ford

The Ford Model T is one of the first cars that many people could actually afford, made a long time ago from 1908 to 1927. It changed how cars were made and helped more people get around.

Car

Chrysler 300

The Chrysler 300 is a luxury car that Chrysler made, and the 1956 version is especially known for its stylish design and strong performance. It's a classic car that many people admire today.

Car

Ferrari

Ferrari is a famous brand that makes fast and luxurious sports cars, often seen in races and car shows.

Car

Porsche

Porsche is a well-known car brand that makes high-performance sports cars, famous for their speed and design.

Term

tail fins

Tail fins are the pointed extensions at the back of some cars, especially popular in the 1950s and 60s. They made cars look more stylish and modern at the time.

Car

Maruti Suzuki Gypsy

The Maruti Suzuki Gypsy is a small SUV that people in India have loved for many years because it can handle rough roads and is easy to drive. It’s known for being tough and reliable.

Car

Jaguar Type Jaguar

The Jaguar F-Type Coupe is a fancy sports car that looks really cool and goes very fast. It’s known for being luxurious and is loved by people who enjoy driving high-performance cars.

Term

coupe

A coupe is a type of car that usually has two doors and a sporty look. It's designed to be stylish rather than very practical for carrying lots of people or cargo.

Company

Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer is a website where people can buy and sell cars through auctions. It's popular for classic and unique cars, and many car lovers use it to find special vehicles.

Part

cylinder head

The cylinder head is the part of the engine that sits on top of the main engine block. It contains important parts like the valves and spark plugs that help the engine run.

Company

Straight Six

Straight Six is a company that works on car engines, especially those with six cylinders in a straight line. They help improve engine performance by fixing or upgrading parts like the cylinder head.

Part

engine stand

An engine stand is a tool that helps you hold an engine while you work on it. It makes it easier to fix or change parts of the engine without it being in the car.

Part

jack stands

Jack stands are tools that hold a car up safely after you've lifted it with a jack. They keep the car from falling while you work on it.

Part

subframe

A subframe is a part of a car that holds the suspension and sometimes the engine. It helps the car stay stable and handle better while driving.

Part

suspension parts

Suspension parts are the pieces that help a car's wheels move up and down smoothly. They make the ride comfortable and help the car handle well on the road.

Car

Hyundai Satellite

The Hyundai Satellite is a car that was made in the 1990s and isn’t very famous. It was designed to be affordable and was sold mainly in Asia.

Car

Morgan Plus4

The Morgan Plus 4 is a classic British sports car that looks old-fashioned and is made by hand. People who love cars enjoy it because it’s light and fun to drive.

Car

Hindustan Ambassador

The Hindustan Ambassador is an old car from India that many people recognize because it has been around since 1958. It’s known for being roomy and has a special place in Indian history.

Car

Shelby Cobra

The Shelby Cobra is a classic sports car that was made in the 1960s and is famous for being very fast and exciting to drive. It was created by a man named Carroll Shelby and is loved by car enthusiasts for its unique style and performance.

Car

Chrysler Daytona

The Chrysler Daytona is a sporty car from the 1980s that looks fast and was designed to be fun to drive. It’s remembered for its cool shape and performance on the road.

Car

Renault Fuego

The Renault Fuego is a stylish car from the 1980s that looks sporty and fun to drive. It’s not very common today, but car lovers appreciate its unique design.

Car

Ford Everest

The Ford Everest is a big SUV that can handle rough roads and is great for family trips or adventures. It’s built to be tough and is good for driving in different conditions.

Car

Ford Mustang

The Ford Mustang is a famous sports car from America that people love for its speed and cool looks. It’s been around since the 1960s and is often talked about because it represents fun driving and adventure.

LIVE

[Music]

The Bring a Trailer

podcast. Welcome back to the Bring a

Trailer podcast everybody. This is Alex

and I am thrilled to say that today we

are joined by Peter Egan, longtime

automotive and motorcycle journalist,

acclaimed or maybe even beloved writer

about car, automotive and motorcycle

life. We all love Peter's side glances

columns from Road and Track and of

course Peter has been on many amazing

automotive adventures as well. We're

going to talk about all of that today.

Peter, thank you so much for doing this.

Nice to be here. Good to be in

California again. We haven't been back

for about a year, even though the

weather is maybe not so it's raining a

little bit right now, but it'll go away.

Either you brought the bad weather or I

did, Peter. I always do. Was famous for

it when we came back here to Road and

Track or Cycle World. It would

inevitably rain the day I got back as we

were leaving for a photo shoot or

something. Well, maybe we could talk

about that a little bit. I was going to

ask you what came first, your love of

pros and writing or your love of

vehicles. Maybe you could tell our

listeners, I know a lot of our community

loves your work and probably knows quite

a bit about you, but maybe you could

talk a little bit about how you first

started writing about cars and

motorcycles. What was the first gig and

how did you secure that? Well, I never

put it together that I could write about

cars and motorcycles. They were my hobby

and passion and I was always trying to

write short stories and that kind of

thing. And after I sent in two novels

that got rejected and a number of

feature stories about different things

and short stories, a friend of mine

said, "Why don't you write about

something you're interested in, like

motorcycles or cars?" And I said, "Yeah,

that's a good idea." And I said, "But I

can't see getting published. You know,

being in Wisconsin, I don't know if any

of the big magazines would publish a

story that you just send in." And he

said, "Well, people have done that

before." He said, "The editor at Cycle

magazine got in there. You know, one of

the guys on the staff by sending a

feature story and they liked it and they

hired him." I said, "Never occurred to

me that could be done." And so I I

worked on a story about a trip that Barb

and I had made with the Norton Commando

and it broke down in Missoula, Montana.

We took the rest of the trip by bus and

train, but so it was uh it was a you

know, a little more interesting trip

than it would have been just buzzing out

west and back. But that sounds like a

Peter Egan classic. you and Barb on a on

an adventure right there for your very

first story. Yeah. Yeah. So, I wrote a

story about that and I sent it to one

motorcycle magazine that was a little

bit smaller and and printed more feature

stories, uh, travel stories, and they

rejected it. They said, "It reads okay,

but we need really spectacular pictures

to print it." And I didn't really, I

just had snapshots of the trip. And, uh,

so I was very depressed because I had

spent about six months honing this

story, you know, trying to get it as

good as I could. And uh a friend of mine

said, "Well, aren't there any other

magazines?" And I said, "Where's Cycle

and Cycle World?" But they're much

larger and they don't do very many

travel stories. And I said, "Well, what

kind of hurt to send it in?" Sitting in

a drawer, you know. So I sent it to

Cycle World. I said, "They occasionally

do this kind of thing." And were they

out here already? Yeah, they were in

Newport Beach. Yeah. So I sent it in and

they liked it. Alan Girdler sent me a

real nice note and said, "We love the

story. If you have anything else, send

it to us." And I did that for three more

years and then hit them up for a job

eventually. By the way, I wouldn't mind

working at a motorcycle magazine. Heck

no. Yeah. Uh, were you consciously

modeling yourself after any writers or

types of stories that you read before or

were you just really just trying to kind

of write about the excitement of being

out on an adventure on the road? Yeah, I

I don't think so. I It's hard to It's

hard to tell who you're influenced by. I

do a lot of reading, so you know, I was

probably reading a John Fowls book at

the time, so it sounded more like him.

what whatever his style was. But I I

think you tend to absorb a little bit of

everything you read and as long as you

steal from the best. Yeah, that's that's

that's all the great say. You have to

steal from the best. And did you were

you consciously thinking about writing

about stories in cars too or were you

just gleeful to have a motorcycle job

and that's what you were going to write

about? Well, I really in the late 70s

when I did this, it wasn't a very good

era for cars. I had worked eight years

as a foreign car mechanic and I really

didn't like where cars were going. We're

getting a lot of emission controls and

fuel injection systems that didn't work

very well and the cars were getting

slower and less interesting right around

the late '7s. And so I had shifted my

interest really. I was racing cars all

through the 70s. I started out with a a

bugeye sprite and raced in Asia

production for three years and then I

switched to Formula 4. got a Lola 204.

But um I loved racing, but I lost

interest in contemporary sports cars. I

like the older cars and I decided to try

motorcycle racing. So I built a a uh I

didn't really build it. It was a box

stock Honda 400F. I decided to try

motorcycle racing because that had

always been another interest of mine and

I've always liked motorcycles and had

owned a bunch of them. And so I I went

racing with that. So when I went to

Cycle World, I was really involved with

motorcycles and I'd been there for three

years when John Dinkl at Road and Track

came downstairs in the same building.

They were both owned by CBS magazines

and offered me a job. And I didn't know

what to say. I said, "I never thought of

working for a car magazine." So I went

and talked to Alan Girdler, who was the

editor at Cycle World. And I said,

"Funny thing happened. John Dickle just

offered me a job upstairs in Road and

Track." And he said, "Well, if I were

you, I'd take it." He said, "Because I'm

leaving in a couple months and we don't

know who the next editor is going to be

or what direction the magazine is going

to go." And he said, "You like car,

you've raced cars and bikes and you love

both of them, so why not open up that

window of writing?" So on his advice, I

took the job with Road and Track. He

went upstairs. Yeah. And of course, some

people said, "Oh, that'll be that's a

good move." move. And other people at

Cycle World said, I think John Rich, who

was a real hardcore motorcycle racer,

just shook his head and he said, "What

could you possibly say about cars other

than that they're useful for picking up

motorcycle parts on a rainy day?" Was

there a So, it sounds like there was

some of an upstairs downstairs rivalry

there in the uh not too much. I think a

few of the people at Road and Track had

ridden motorcycles and were interested.

Tony Hog and Henry Manny both who were

Tony Hog had been the editor at one

point that was still there doing guest

writing and so on. And Henry Manny III

was a big motorcycle buff. He had on Max

Norton that he had just bought. And so

they would come down, they like to talk

about motorcycles more than cars. So

they would come down to my office and

talk. And they noticed I had pictures of

my race cars on the wall and so on. And

so I think they told John Dinkl there's

a guy downstairs who does both bikes and

cars and I think that helps that I knew

those two. And you continued working for

for both. Isn't that right Peter? Yes.

Initially I didn't do anything. I went

to road and track and it was a full-time

thing. And then after I'd been there for

probably two years, David Edwards became

the next editor at Cycle World. He

became a good friend and he came up and

asked if I would be interested in

writing a monthly column. So then Arb

and I stayed in California for 10 years

and and we moved back to Wisconsin in

1990 and I asked both magazines if I

could possibly work from home and

continue both columns and do a feature

story for each magazine approximately

every month. So I worked out a contract

with both magazines. That's what we all

came to love. What was the uh first

assignment road and track? Do you

remember? Yeah. The first thing they

gave me was a road test on the new

Corvette which was in 1983. It was a new

84 Corvette, I believe. But all of a

sudden, I said, "Wow." You know, the

Corvette had been going downhill for a

number every year. It had less

horsepower and and and all of a sudden

it was a big increase in power. They had

a new engine, you know, new fuel system.

Oh, is that Crossfire or something?

Yeah. Yeah, it was a Crossfire. Yeah. I

made a joke about that in the road test.

You remember what the joke was? Yeah.

Well, I said uh I said Chevrolet calls

this the Crossfire ignition system. And

I said to some of us, "That sounds like

a malfunction." I said, "Stand back,

kid. That car is about to

crossfire." Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, it

was good timing because cars were really

getting better right then. All of a

sudden, Detroit was sort of taking a

hard swallow and saying, "Okay, instead

of complaining, we've got to make these

cars better and faster." And the

Europeans were too. They were saying,

"We got to sell cars in the American

market, so we have to figure out what

they want and make it work." Some of the

cars I love, Peter, the 3.2 two Carrera

911 and the 308 Ferrari. I really like

that era. Yeah, I did too. Is there

anything particularly memorable from

that era that you remember driving or

that you still think about today? Well,

it was a chance for me to drive a lot of

cars that I couldn't possibly afford.

Jonathan Thompson was usually sent to

Italy to do Ferrari tests. He was a real

expert and had written books on Ferrari

and he was not available for some reason

one month and they asked me if I could

they suddenly need somebody to go and

test a 308 Quattro Valvallet. So, I got

chosen. I went over and drove it and

wrote the road test. And when the next

one showed up, they said, "Well, you did

the last one. You know, you do the Ue."

So, pretty soon I was going to Italy

about once a year and driving a car,

usually a Ferrari. Now, you're the

Ferrari guy. Yeah. All of a sudden, I'm

the Even though I'm an English car buff,

all of a sudden, I'm the Ferrari guy.

And I had to learn a lot more. Some

parallels in reliability there, maybe.

Yeah. Yeah. So, but it was very

interest. I actually took an Italian

course uh at night just so I could learn

to speak a little bit. It was

embarrassing to get over there and

hardly be able to say hello or you know

how much does it cost. You and I were

talking before we started recording how

you one time saw Enzo Ferrari. Was that

in this era when you were over there

driving? That was just a little bit

later. We went over to test the new

Tessterosa and we had Paul Frer and Phil

Hill both over there and we were at the

Fiorano test track and Enzo Ferrari had

it's almost like a cottage. It was a

two-story old-fashioned house that was

only 100 yards from the track and that

was his private retreat and office. And

we were finished testing for the day and

we were getting ready to pack up and and

go back to the hotel and somebody said,

"Oh, look. It's the old man. And we

looked up the street and there was Enzo

coming out of the house and a a

chauffeer pulled up with a Fiat sedan

and Enzo got in the Fiat. And of course

he had his sunglasses on. He looked at

the sky for a minute and got in the car

and uh and drove away. It was something

like see royalty, right? Everyone Yeah,

that's the only time I've ever seen him.

It was he was I think he was when was

that? He died about a year later. Late

80s, mid to late 80s something. It was

late 80s. I think he died in ' 88 or 87

88 somewhere right in there. But it was

it was probably a year before he passed

away. And throughout that era, Peter,

you were also still doing uh what I

think of as the kind of famous Peter

Egan adventure. You're driving cars all

over the country. You're with your buddy

Chris B. You're building uh Westfield

Lotus 11 replicas here at the at the

Road and Track office. So, as you went

about planning what kind of work you

were doing, what was the split between,

"Hey, Peter, go drive this new car. or

we're going to do a road test and you

pick out an exciting adventure or a

journey that you want to do and write

about. It was a little of everything. I

was expected to do some kind of a story

for road and track approximately once a

month. Sometimes if it was a a big story

that involved a long trip, you know, I'd

skip a month, but I did a little of

everything. Some road tests where I knew

about the car. Uh we did a lot of

comparison tests. When I first came to

Rodent Track, John Lamb, who had been

there a long time, said, "If you ever

get assigned a comparison test, really

mess it up because they're really hard

to do and nobody wants to do them. And

if you do a bad enough job, they won't

ask you." Yeah. And I said, "I don't

think that's really a way to ingratiate

myself with the editor of Roden Trackers

to do a really bad job." H. So anyway,

when it turned out I could crank those

out in reasonable amount of time, I

started getting a lot of comparison

tests to write. So there's a lot of

detail work in that. You have to keep a

lot of notes and get everybody's

impressions and look at the the spec

sheets and so it's a lot of tabulating

things and and you're wrangling all the

other editors too a little bit, right?

Yeah. Yeah. So I I did a lot of that,

but I a lot of the travel stories I did

for both Cycle World and Road and Trek,

when I look back on them now, they seem

to be driven by two different things. It

was either someplace I really wanted to

go like uh you know through the

Mississippi Delta and it was finding the

right car motorcycle that fit the mood

of that trip. So I'd always wanted to

see I'm a blues fan. Was that the

Isetta? What did you take down? Oh yeah.

Well, we took the Isetta. We were

originally planning to take the Isetta

to Road Atlanta and I think there was

some which was a frequent destination

for you. Yeah, I went down there. I went

down there. I usually covered the

runoffs at Road Atlanta every year for

road and track. I did the race coverage.

So, we were planning to drive the Isetta

down there and then something came up.

We had to It wasn't quite ready. We had

to fix something that didn't work on the

car. And so, Chris said, "Well, we're

never going to make it to Road Atlanta

in time. Where else can we go?" And I

said, "Let's see what would be a good

drive from here. Let's go to Memphis."

Chris had never been there. And we

decided to drive down the Great River

Road and stay off Main Highways with an

Ietta. You don't want to get on the

interstate. They're only about 20

horsepower or something. Yeah, probably

less than that. They I think it would go

about 35 miles an hour, something like

that. Maybe a little faster. How did you

There's no room for baggage, right? Is

there not much. There's some room right

behind the two seats. Uh it's probably

about the same amount of room you get an

MG or something with stuff

luggage behind the seats, but we we got

everything in there. I had a camera bag

at my feet and a small, you know,

overnight bag to take some other stuff,

clothes and shaving gear along. So part

of it was finding a a trip that I'd

always wanted to do and the other part

was thinking about what kind of

motorcycle or car was appropriate. Like

one trip I I'd always wanted to go down

to the Mississippi Delta and drive

through it. And I just happened to come

upon a neighbor who had her mother had

died and she had a 63 Cadillac that she

wanted to get out of the garage. It

hadn't run for several years. I bought

it and fixed it up and went through the

water pump and hoses and you know all

the usual things and got that working.

It was a really actually quite a lovely

car. It was a big That's a little

different for you, Peter. You're not

usually Yeah. No, no, but it seemed like

a Cadillac was the right thing. I wanted

a I was also going to meet friends in

New Orleans who were going to the New

Orleans Jazz and Heritage Music

Festival. So I thought this this would

be the ideal car to drive through you

know blues land a mig Cadillac a coffee

colored Cadillac like Shuck Berries and

so I you know I took that car on that

trip. Do you miss any of these cars? You

know so many of these the MGTC or or a

lot of these these cars and these

adventures you went on. Are there any of

them that you think about often or

fondly and you wish you still had them

or had an opportunity to take on another

long road trip? Yeah, actually most of

them. I I always joke that if I if I won

the U Power Ball sweep stakes tomorrow,

I would probably just spend the rest of

my life tracking down all those old cars

and putting them in I'd build a great

big museum building, just put them in

there so I could, you know, go out with

a drink in my hand at night and walk and

look at the cars and because there was a

lot of uh there were a lot of nice cars

there, but when you are making a huge

amount of money, you sometimes you have

to move on to the next thing and you

want to try something else and it you

just can't have six cars sitting around.

Fair. So, uh, so I would usually sell

one to to get to try something new after

a couple years. Some of our listeners

are probably screaming, "Of course you

can have six. You could have 60." Oh,

yeah. I could easily do that if I have a

little more room. Have you ever

encountered any of the cars that have

any of those cars that you had history

with? Have you ever re-encountered any

of them? Have you ever come across one

of those again? Or has anybody ever

reached out who owned one down the line?

I bought one back. I had a 356 Porsche

that I bought and I fixed the car up and

I took it on a trip out to upstate New

York. I went to the East Coast first of

all and picked up my friend Mike Kachini

and then we we drove up to Woodstock,

New York and we found Big Pink, the

house that the band lived in and we

found the spot where Bob Dylan had his

motorcycle accident and Mason and we

went to the old Woodstock festival

grounds and saw where the stage had

been. And I always wanted to go there

and uh of course Woodstock took place

while I was in Vietnam. I was in the

army. So I thought it would be fun to go

there. And the theme of the story was I

was getting to Woodstock about 300 years

late, but I was I was finally getting

there with a 60s car. And so I sold that

car eventually to a friend. Was it a B

or a C? What what was it was a B. So I

sold that car to a friend in California.

And then after a couple of years he quit

driving. He was having some health

problems and asked if I wanted to buy it

back. So, I flew to California one time,

drove the car all the way back to

Wisconsin, and I had planned to do a

story on that trip. I had planned an

extensive trip with it, and I went with

a doctor friend who I thought he was all

set to go for a one week or 8 day trip.

And when we left San Francisco, where I

got the car back in Napa Valley,

actually, he said, "Oh, by the way, I

got to be home on Wednesday. I've got to

I've got surgery to do." And I said,

"Home on Wednesday? We'll have to drive

day and night." He said, 'Well, I got to

get home. I got to do surgery. I said,

'Well, there goes the car story. So, we

just we just enjoyed the trip instead of

taking notes and pictures and Well,

that's fun, but yeah, the way I I try to

model my trips after yours, the way uh

that you have always kind of meandered,

taken the the the road less traveled and

the way you write about small Americana

towns, right, and diners. That's the

best way to travel across the country.

As far as I'm concerned, it's a fun way

to see the country. The other thing

about it is if you have an odd or

interesting car, you meet a lot of

people who wouldn't you would never talk

to if you were just driving a modern

sedan, but they will follow you out of a

restaurant or come down across the

street to look at the car and then you

get talking to them and you find out

they are car buffs and they have a

collection of something and you got to

come back to our house and see this and

it's there's nothing like an interesting

car to make introductions with people in

a state where you don't live in in a

town where you've never been. on the

airplane on the way down. I was

rereading your story where you drove a

246 Ferrari through a terrible winter

storm and ran it off the road and got an

alignment halfway across the many of the

anecdotes you told in that story were

the gas station mechanics who uh warmed

up as soon as they knew it wasn't your

personal Ferrari. Talk about it. People

are I've discovered over the years

people admire Ferraris from a distance,

but they almost hesitate to come up and

talk to you. And as soon as they find

out it's not your car, every once in a

while somebody'd say, "Nice car." or

something like that, and I'd say, "Yeah,

I wish it were mine." "Oh, it's not

yours." And then they come over. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, how'd you get it? Well,

we're doing a magazine story. And then

they were even more interested. That

helps a lot. But I I drove a Model A

Ford across the country once and I

discovered that at least at that time,

this was 30 years ago, every town you go

into across the West and the Midwest,

all of the older people learn to drive

and they all say, "I learn to drive on a

Model A Ford, they always use the word

on, as though it's still a a wagon or

something." Yeah, but if you pull up in

a town of 2,000 people in Kansas for

lunch and eat at a restaurant, half the

people will come out on the street when

you leave to look at the car and talk

about Model A Fords or they want to sit

in it. So, you end up talking to a dozen

people who would just be anonymous if

you just stopped in there. And there's

something about a car like that that has

kind of a universal appeal. People don't

think you're a jerk in a Model A. our

co-founder founder of our company Randy

Nonberg. He has a 56 Creser 300 red and

that engenders the same kind of

excitement. You know what I mean? Even

if people don't care about cars, they're

excited to see a big 50s car with

driving around. You know what I mean?

Whereas if you're in a Ferrari or you're

a jerk like me who drives a new bright

colored Porsche, that's a little bit

less approachable. So yeah. Yeah, I know

what you mean. I I had good luck with

that 63 Cadillac. I bet going down to

the Delta and I had to drive it right

down through the middle of the French

Quarter in New Orleans to find our

hotel. And of course it it's the last

year that has real tail fins. They're

fairly subdued, but it's still got these

long fins. And when I was driving down

the street, people were almost

applauding. You know, I'd hear clapping

and say, "Great car for the, you know,

the music festival. Perfect." And I also

was on another trip. Uh, it was on a

motorcycle trip actually the first one I

made down there with by 400F. I went

looking for Chuck Barry's house in he's

just outside of St. Louis in Wville. He

lived where he would have been born. No,

he wasn't born. He was born in St.

Louis. I grew up in St. Louis, but when

he got successful, he bought a several

acres and built a nice house in a

compound near Wentzville, Missouri, west

of St. Louis. But I I went out there and

I had to ask some local people where

Chuck Barry lived. and I went out to his

house and uh there's a long driveway and

a gate and there's a stone monument

there that says Chuck Barry. So I

thought, well, I I don't want to ride my

motorcycle up his long driveway to this

house. There are several buildings. He's

got a studio there and and so on. And I

had heard that he had weekend festivals,

rock almost Woodstock like rock

festivals there. Locals or people would

come in? People from all over just he'd

have local bands come out and play. It

was a small, you know, like a small time

Woodstock thingers. So I thought, well,

I'm here on the weekend. Maybe I'll go

see if he's having one of those. So I

walked up the driveway and a very nice

blonde woman came out of the house

looking concerned. And I I later

realized watching the movie Hail Hale

Rock and Roll that is his secretary. But

she came out and said, "What are you

doing here?" And I said, "Well, I'm a

big Chuck Barry fan." and I heard that

he had festivals, little gatherings here

on the weekend and I was wondering if

he's doing anything this weekend. And

she said, "No, no, we stopped doing

that. They got out of hand." And so she

said, "But you're in luck. Chuck just

came back from a tour and he's playing

tonight at the Rainbow Club in St.

Louis." And so I found a motel near the

Rainbow Club and walked down there and

he started at 8 and played till about

3:00 in the morning. the huge local just

all local people, local following. It

was just a small bar. I got there early

and sat at the bar. I was trying to get

a good spot to see the stage and I sat

next to a guy who was a steel worker

from St. Louis. And he said, "Well, you

came on the right night." And I said,

"Why is that?" And he said, "Well, Billy

Peak is here and he's he's almost as

good as Chuck." And I said, "Who's Billy

Peak?" and he said he's Rod Stewart's

lead guitar player and he just came off

touring and he was fantastic. He came

out and he was he really was almost as

good as Chuck and they loved playing

together. So they they played everything

blues and I've seen Chuck Barry a number

of times and he usually does a fairly

quick show and and hits the road and

this one just went on and on and and he

would walk out in the parking lot

between sets and sit on the hood of

somebody's car and have a Coke, you

know, he didn't drink and sit around

talk to everybody and I thought this is

amazing. I just happen to be in in here

on a night when he's home and playing.

But these are the kinds of experiences

you have when you travel or move around

or I mean the way you move around the

country, Peter, the way you always do

these these trips, it opens you up to

these kinds of possibilities, right?

These things that can happen. It helps

to know a little bit about where you're

going and then ask questions of people

who are local. And the best thing to do

is not pretend that you know a lot about

it. It's almost better. Figning

ignorance has never been hard on my

part. But but sometimes you can be a

little more ignorant than you actually

are just to see what people say and find

out where things are happening. And it's

it's a little friendlier than saying,

you know, I'm a huge Chuck Barry fan.

Where is he? You know, but anyway, uh

when I left that place, by the way,

Chuck Barry came up the driveway driving

a coffee colored Cadillac. Oh, no.

Almost exactly the color of the one that

I had. So I I felt that that was the

right card here to go down to Mount

Appo. You, as I recall, used a similar

figning ignorance technique when you and

Barb flew around the country in your

Piper Cub where you were kind of helped

along by strangers and people who you

encountered at small, you know,

airports, right? So, you kind of

technique there for that. Well, the

Piper Cub is the model A forward of of

airplanes. A lot of people have called

it the MGTC of airplanes, but it's it's

actually more reliable than GG. An MGTC

is more like a gypsy M. Yeah, it it is

it is more like a gypsy M. Yeah, it's

it's uh everybody loves a Piper Cub.

Anybody who spends any time around

airports, so when they see you fly in,

they immediately want to know where

you've flown from. And was yours yellow

the classic? Yeah, it was the classic

yellow with a lightning bolt. And when

they find out you're flying cross

country, you know, you're in Louisiana

and you've flown from California. You

know, they then they really kick into

gear. The same thing happened to us

about three different places in Texas.

We'd land at a small airport in Texas

and people would say where, you know,

where are you all from? And we'd tell

them, oh, oh, you got to put your cub in

my hanger for the week, you know, for

the night. And then, uh, you gota, I'll

take you downtown. We got a great

steakhouse. So, people immediately

become friendly when they hear you're

far from home and you have that

airplane. Surely is like a lot of the

old cars. It it just brings that out.

This was pilot community or this was uh

mostly pilot community. Yeah. Yeah.

People at airports, they just they

they'll walk they might see a Cessna 150

land and just say there's a Cessna, but

if you land in a yellow cub, they'll

walk over and see what you're doing and

where you came from cuz it's not they

know it's not from that airport. I don't

know if these exist anymore really, but

when my dad when I was a kid, anytime

we'd go to some small town, he'd always

want to know if there was a local

airport, he'd always ask like to go see

whatever was happening at a little small

uncontrolled strip. And there used to be

these little I don't even know if they

count as FBOs, but there used to always

one little house and it was usually the

caretaker of the airport. Yeah. And

sometimes let you borrow their pickup

truck to go into town and you know they

usually just kind of lived there and

they were always an interesting

character and always had interesting

things to say. Yeah. Barb and I ran into

a we landed in an airport in it was in

Arizona and there was a woman running

the airport and we asked if there was

any kind of cab service or anything to

get into town and she just said, "Oh,

I've got a an old Chevy parked out in

back and that's just that's the laner

car. Just take it and just fill it up

with tossed you the keys." Yeah, I just

tossed us the keys. And so all of a

sudden we weren't walking anymore

hitchhiking. We could actually drive all

over town and look for a restaurant.

Like what a luxury. Yeah, it was really

nice. Another thing, Peter, that I think

you're um beloved for is your

chronicling and documenting of your

numerous restoration projects over the

years. One of which ended up on Bring a

Trailer. And I'd love to ask you about

that. That was your E type Jaguar. And I

know you had a great adventure with

Barb. And for listeners, just so you

know, Barb is here in the room with us.

So, I don't want I keep talking about

her and I'm looking at her as I'm

speaking. So, uh thanks for putting up

with all this, Barb. She's heard all

this stuff. But I haven't driven her out

yet. She's still in the room. She's put

up with it for decades. Peter and Fova,

people like me nerding out about it. Uh,

so impatient. She's even got a smile on

her face. I can't believe it. Are there

any of those project cars that you wish

you had back or are there ones that are

more memorable than others? Uh, all of

us who read Side Glances loved hearing

you chronicle these various projects.

Which of those kind of stick out in your

mind and are the most memorable to you?

Well, the E type of course is a is it's

such a beautiful car that uh I would I

would like to have one just to have one

if if I were Eric Clapton, you know, and

had a a huge garage and and so could

just write out the check, I'd probably

get another one of those cars. And it

was a series one or It was a series one.

It was a 67. Oh, 42, but the last year

of the covered headlights and the three

carbs. Kind of what you want. That's my

Yeah. The coupe guy, too. I like the

coupe better. Yeah. I I that's a hard

decision for me with Eypes because the

open two-seater is beautiful and it's a

it's a convertible uh which is a

wonderful thing, but the coupe is so

beautiful that it's like to get one you

have to give up a lot of the other one.

It was really hard to decide and I was

really of the opinion that I should just

get the next one that came along that

looked good and I could afford and

that's that's what happened. Well, and

then with the coupe, you have the

ability to, if I recall correctly, you

drove that one to Canada, isn't that

right? that you went on a big adventure

with Barb and that car, too. Yeah, we we

were trying to figure out where to go

with a car and we looked at maps of the

US and I said, "Well, we always go west

or we go east or we go down to the Delta

or to New Orleans, but we never go

north." And I said, "Let's look at a map

of Canada and see how far north you can

drive in Ontario before you run out of

road. Let's go as far north as you can

drive straight north here in Canada and

then stop when the road ends." And so

that's what we did. And we ended up a

little fishing town called Pickle Lake,

Ontario versus a lake there. And they

had a marina that was full of airplanes,

deavlin beavers, and other planes on

pontoons that they use. There's quite a

business in taking people fishing uh you

know into the into the lakes going

farther into Canada. So you basically

went to where the pavement stopped.

Yeah, we did. We did. And we said, "Does

anybody ever drive farther north in

this?" And they the people of the town

said, "Well, yes, when the lake freezes,

you can drive to the other side across

the lake and and follow a gravel road

quite a bit farther north." And of

course, that's maybe not ideal for

detail. No. No. But the the great thing

was on that trip we uh we went to Pickle

Lake and then we got pulled over by a a

Canadian. I don't know what group he was

with, but he was a cop, a Canadian cop.

and uh we weren't driving very fast or

anything. And but he wanted to know

where we're going and what we're doing

with that car way up here. And and I

said, "Why are you stopping us really?"

And he said, "Well, the Russians are

buying cars like this. You've got US

plates. People steal them in the US.

They load them on airplanes in remote

Canadian places." And Whoa. Yeah. And

I'd never heard that. And then he kind

of smiled. But really, I just had a look

at the scar. He said, "This is the first

one I've ever seen on the road." and on

the road and you know between Pickle

Lake and wherever. That's a pretty

thinly ve Yeah. Yeah. He was very he was

very nice and so we had a lot of fun

talking to him. That's fantastic. So

that car I think was auctioned on Bring

a Trailer in about 2019 or 2020. How did

you find out that it was on our website

for sale? Was that the guy you had sold

it to who was selling it on? The guy I

sold it to lived up in Minnesota

actually right on the edge of the uh

Boundary Waters, not far from the

Canadian Boundary Waters. and he had it

for a number of years and then he sold

it and I'd lost track of it then and all

of a sudden somebody a couple people

called me and said I think that's your

car on bring a trailer you know so I I

had to look and oh sure enough that's it

well it was submitted to us as Peter

Egan's

car well that was my own car I I did

most of the work on that car uh I farmed

a few things out I had the cylinder head

done in California by a business called

Straight Six and they did a nice job on

the cylinder head and my friend Steve

Stravelson who's a real good engine

builder, helped me put the engine.

Usually I do my whole engine if I other

than a valve job. But I was so busy

working on the chassis of the car. It's

a very extensive project when you

disassemble an E type. It's got got a

lot of parts. Getting parts from XK's

Unlimited out here in California. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. I got a lot Joseph Len. He

just showed one of his uh his kind of

lightweight Eype race car replica. He

just sold that on Bring Trailer. Yeah, I

got a lot of parts from him. I took the

whole car apart, but at one point I

remember I walked into my workshop and I

had the engine was sitting over there on

a engine stand and the chassis was up on

jack stands and I had taken the front

subframe off and over in the other

corner is a pile of suspension parts

from the front end of the car and then

the hood is against the wall and I was a

little tired one night and I came up

with what I called the E type prayer.

says, "Oh, God, just lift the roof off

my garage and vacuum this thing out of

here so I don't have to put it back

together." I Okay, I can't think that

way. I've got to get to work. So then I,

you know, I I I got everything done. But

it was it's a big job. It's a lot of

parts in an E type. Was that the most

complex one you did, you think? Out of

all? I think I would have to say yes.

And luckily, I didn't have to take the

rear suspension or the rear end apart.

That's an extremely complicated. Well,

they they come you can put them in a hot

rod. You can take that whole rear

subframe out, right? the the suspension

and the differential all comes out in

one chunk, I think. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I

think I said in the story that uh if you

see an exploded view of the rear end of

a Jaguar, it looks like a satellite shot

of China. If every single person were a

car part or holding up a car, you know,

totally. Yeah, I've got four shot. I

mean, they're great looking. They to go

to the back of the 32 Ford, right? No

thank you, Peter. You're braver than I

am on that front. Yeah, it was it was a

fun project, but it was a lot of work.

Are you working on anything now? Have

you given all that up? Are you still

restoring? No. No. I I've this winter,

for some reason, I haven't picked up on

it yet. I The last one I did was a

Morgan Plus4. I remember reading about I

remember reading about the the Jaguar,

both those. Yeah, I spent three years

working on the Morgan. I had a new frame

and a new body shell, but everything

else needed to be done, wiring. And I

think I recall you writing something

about how never again a Morgan and then

you found yourself sucked back in. Yeah.

Well, I have to say that that's that

might be the restoration I enjoyed doing

the most because it's the car is really

handbuilt and nothing in a way it's

frustrating because nothing matches up.

You know, the the holes in the fenders

aren't drilled in the same places and it

feels like it was built by hand by like

somebody else had built the car, it

would be slightly different, which it

was, right? I mean, they're still I

Yeah, I think so. Is it Malvin? Yeah,

Malvin Links. Malvin Links. I went there

when I was a kid with my dad. Same

place. They've been building them

forever. I think they still make the

three-wheelers there, don't they don't?

Yeah. Yeah, they do. Barb and I went

there. We did a trip to England. What

was it, Barb? Seven or eight years ago.

It's almost like a pilgrimage, right?

Yeah. We did a hiking tour of the

Cotswalls and then we I had a rental car

and after we finished that, we had a few

days before we had to fly home. So, I

said, "Let's drive to Malver. They call

it Maliver in England. I shouldn't

mispronounce it." We drove to Malver and

when we got there, they were just closed

for the night. it was locked up and so

we waited for the next morning. I guess

it was a Friday night or Friday

afternoon. We finally went to the

factory and uh the gates were open and

we there was parking across the street

from the factory gate. So I just parked

on the street by a rental car and I

walked in and nobody was nobody told me

to get out and we just wandered around

watching people work at these various

buildings and I asked somebody I said I

heard that there's a visitor center here

and they said oh yeah just go down to

the end of this row buildings up that

hill and that's that nice new building

up on the hill is the visitor center. So

we walked down there and then we walked

up to the visitor center and when we got

there it was closed. So, we said, "Well,

I suppose we better head back." And as

we walked back through the factory, I

realized that all the doors that had

been open were closed, and there were no

cars parked there anymore. And we got to

the front gate and it was locked. It had

a big chain and a huge padlock on it.

You're locked in? Yeah, we were locked

into the Morgan factory. And I said,

"Well, when I was Maybe they wanted you

to get you on the assembly line and

start cranking out some some Morgans."

Peter, I said when I was 16, this would

have been a dream come true, but now I

don't want to sleep all weekend. I was

very, it was getting very cold out late

in the afternoon. And I said, "This

isn't really a good place to be for the

weekend." And so I said, "Let's just

walk. There's got to be a guard here

somewhere." And we walk around, shout,

"Hello, and there's nobody there."

Finally, I said, "Let's go. There was

another gate that was open up by the

visitor center. Let's go back there."

And that was locked, too. and we're

standing there scratching our heads at a

a local man walked by carrying a

suitcase. And we said, 'Excuse me, I

think we're locked in the Morgan

factory. Uh, our phones don't work here.

Could you call somebody or call the

police? And he says, "Oh god, I'm late

for a train. I've better catch a train

to London." He said, "Uh, but I'll help

you." He said, "Uh, hm, let's see who

can we call and get you out of here." He

I said, "Is it possible to get over the

fence anywhere?" He says, "No, the fence

is about 20 ft high with concertina wire

all along the end. you can't don't even

try to get over the fence. Nobody does

it. And uh he said, "Oh, wait. I bet if

you took everything out of your pockets,

you could slither under the gate right

there where that manhole cover is." And

I looked at it and I thought, "Yeah,

maybe." So we did that. And And that's

how you guys Yeah. how we got out. Yeah.

We take all the, you know, pens and

billfolds and everything and just uh you

could just get your chin under the Yeah.

Like spelunkers. Oh, it's a good thing.

Good thing we hadn't eaten anymore on

the trip and Yeah. We just finished

walking. The pilgrimage turned out to be

a little bit of a nightmare now. Yeah.

But it was a fascinating factory to see

and a lot of people of course when they

heard we were going to the Morgan

factory very helpful and I'm sure

friendly. You're a brand ambassador for

them, Peter. Yeah, I guess

so. I guess do you uh you still have

that car? It's a plus4. It's a plus4. I

think it was a 65 plus4 64 now. I can't

remember. But I I sold it to my friend

Jeff Craig who was a huge Morgan buff.

He actually went with me to Colorado

when we picked up the parts and the

frame and all the stuff. It was an

uncompleted project that had been left

in the back of a restoration shop and

the restoration shop wanted to get it

out of there. They said that the owner

had disappeared during the meltdown. He

was a realtor who lost everything

including his own for that to happen

with Morgan Projects. Was that Yeah. So

they they sold it for a very reasonable

price the whole thing. But I, you know,

there was huge number of boxes of parts

and engine parts. And so I, Jeff Craig

helped me. He lived in Pittsburgh and

went to school in Superior, Wisconsin.

Went to college there. And he drove his

Morgan back and forth from Pittsburgh to

Wisconsin for Christmas, Easter,

beginning of the school year, vacation,

all year round. Yeah. He has all his

winter stories driving his his Morgan.

So he was once I got the car built, he

kept saying over and over again, "If you

ever sell that car, if you ever sell

that car and finally I decided he should

have it and I should move on to to

another project, but I haven't yet." So

I'm looking around. Hopefully he uh

offers to sell it back to you and

doesn't put it on Bring a Trailer when

the tide. Well, I don't know. I I I

don't think I want to buy it back. The

gun is probably expensive enough that

right now it's not rife. I've I had five

good years with the car. And you always

seem like you're moving forward. You're

moving on. Yeah. I mean, I would do

another Morgan. What about a plus eight?

Have you ever d a plus eight's always

exciting? I've never I've never driven a

plus eight. I've I'm told by Morgan

buffs that that's really the ideal

Morgan. It's It's got all of the charm

of the older ones and it's really fast.

Yeah, it's the old Buick 215, right?

Over 35 or whatever the push. Well, hope

you get into another Morgan Peter or at

least something that makes you happy.

What about adventures not yet taken? Are

there any of those uh kind of brewing in

the back of your brain? places you'd

like to go or or roads you'd like to

travel that you haven't done yet? No,

right now I've cut way back on

motorcycle travel because I'm having

some upper back pain when I ride for

more than a couple of hours. So, I think

my long-distance touring days on

motorcycles are over. But Barbara said

you're still riding every day. Oh, yeah.

I do. I do. I've got friends. We go

riding out in the hill country of

Wisconsin every day almost. And I ride

into town and back. I use a motorcycle

all summer, but I I don't think I can

ride for eight hours. Or before the CO

epidemic hit, I was planning a possible

trip to Alaska with a dual sport bike

where I do some off-road riding on the

Alan Highway is what it's called. Yeah.

Yeah. And uh then COVID hit and the

border was closed and hotels were closed

and restaurants and so on. And now I

don't feel like I could make that ride

four years ago. It sound like a good

idea now. I'm 76, so it doesn't sound

like quite as good an idea as it did a

few years ago. The Alcan is an enticing

one to me. We actually have a Bring a

Trailer user. I wish I could remember

his name. He bought a Ferrari 308 GTS, a

target on bring a trailer and he drove

it to the top of Alaska. Wow. He put

like dirt tires a dead horse all is it

gnome what? All the way all the way up

to where it's just oil workers. Yeah.

Yeah. Way to the top. Uh, and he

Instagrammed a lot of it and so it was

available a relatively young guy and

I've been fantasizing about that trip

ever since. That's maybe extreme even

for you, Peter. Yeah. Well, you know

Tom, you've heard of Tom Carter who's

written Yeah. Cobra in the bar and all.

He he took he went with his cobra club

and took a trip to Alaska a couple years

ago and we got a picture of his cobra

with the top half eaten by grizzly bear.

So, I'd probably take a hard top and

some kind if I went. Maybe you need a

Daytona Coupe. Well, exactly. True.

Yeah. But Barb and I took a uh a voyage,

a cruise ship up the inside passage and

went to Whittier, Alaska, which is right

near Anchorage, and then took a train

and a bus up through Denali and went to

Fairbanks. And I really fell in love

with Alaska. There's just no place like

this. You get out and Does that mean you

went through all those inland islands

where Juno is the handle? Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. We stopped at Ketchacan and a

number of other, you know, the Glacier

Park area. And so it was a beautiful

trip and I said, I've got to come back

here again and I I still haven't made

tough if you like wheeled vehicles. I

think probably easier with a beaver on

floats or a or a yacht of some kind. So

you've also done adventures in many

other countries. I know you gosh, you

drove through the Himalayas, isn't that

right? Yeah. You've obviously been to

Europe many times and and I think in

Africa you drove a Where did you drive

the Dovo? Where? That was in That was

across the United States. That was

across the United States. My friend

Chris, my neighbor Chris BB bought a

douchebo truckette from his brother who

owned it. His brother had drove it all

the way through South America down to

Tiara del Fuego and back with his with

his wife. That's a heck of a dream. He

was young. Yeah. And so Chris bought

that car from him and we both flew out

there and drove it back to Wisconsin.

Chris still has the car. That was a fun

trip. We went through southern Canada

and then across heart of highway 2

across the northern part of the US. I

love traveling the United States. I

often say maybe because I'm not as

adventurous as you or other people that

the American West is wide open and I

could feel like I could spend the rest

of my my life just driving the American

West. Which of those international trips

that you were on is is the most

memorable or maybe was uh more harrowing

than you expected it to be? Well, it's

the trip in India was very interesting

because when I worked as a foreign car

mechanic during the 70s, we had a

mechanic who worked at the shop named

Kurit Singh and he was a very well

educated seek from India and he loved

cars and he had come to America and gone

through a Fiat school. So he was our

Fiat mechanic and uh he worked right

next to me and we got to be good friends

and at one point he moved back to India

and he started his own foreign car

specialists in India got really big.

He's got about 300 employees. It's a

huge working on Fiats in No, he's India

has very few cars at least when we were

there that were not built in India.

Okay. They had essentially two cars.

They had a Hindustan Ambassador that

they made in India which was a copy of

an older Austin sedan from the late 50s

and then they had I can't remember what

the other car was called but it was

essentially a Triumph sedan. So Kuret

said I can get us a Hindustan ambassador

and have my guys rebuild it. And he said

we could drive it from New Delhi to

Catmandeue and see the Himalayas and

maybe see Everest. And so Chris and I

thought that'd be a great idea. So we

flew it to New Delhi and then we drove

it across up through northern India into

Nepal and across Nepal to Catmandeue.

Kurid and his friend Pamjet Singh who

was a fighter pilot in the Indian Air

Force. They took a plane back from

Catmandeue to New Delhi and Chris and I

drove just the two of us drove back down

the King's Highway into India and then

drove across northern India with the car

and that was quite an adventure. How did

the ambassador hold up at high altitude?

It it ran well. The Catmand do is not

that high. While we were there, we took

an Everest flight. They've got a nice

airport there. And we got the last

Everest flight of the season. We didn't

realize how late it was in the year for

those trips. But, uh, we flew around

Mount Everest, and it was clear enough

weather that the clouds were starting to

move in, but we got some good pictures

of it. Do you remember what the airplane

was, Peter? It was, uh, it was about a

12 passenger beach. I can't remember

what model it was, but it was a modern

airplane. We were waiting to get in the

airplane and a man walked in dressed in

almost safari gear. He had a nice canvas

vest on and pants with big pockets. And

Chris said, "Look at this guy. He looks

like he just walked through a jungle

store and bought all the right stuff

for." And then Chris looked at him for a

while and he I know that guy from

somewhere. He says, "He was a rock and

roll guy in the ' 60s. He's one of those

old late 50s, early 60s rock idols." I

said, "Yeah, he does look familiar." And

so when we got in the airplane, the guy

was real friendly and he sat right in

front of us and he turned around and

said, "Where are you guys from?" And we

told him and Chris said, "I think I know

you from your songs." And he said, "Neil

Sedaka." Huh. This of course is Neil

Sedaka. He just couldn't think of his

name. Amazing. Yeah. And like I like

that he went through the catalog and had

all the Yeah. Well, he had he had, you

know, uh just the usual tourist, plenty

of pockets to carry chef. And so he was

the only other person on the last

Everest flight. Then we drove back and

it was a challenge driving back because

Chris got pretty sick on the food. Uh

meditation in India can not be good in

some places. Kurret says it's a lot

better now than it was then. Yeah. So

yeah, you said India's come a long way

and always an amazing Peter you get

adventure. I I love the Sodaka story.

We're getting up on an hour here. Peter

and I on so many questions. Is it okay

if we do just a quick lightning round?

Oh, a couple things. I'm going on too

long with all this. Okay. No, no, not at

all. This is what people want. Give them

what they want. Peter, we're talking

airplanes, though. And I did not want to

leave without asking you about the P-51

that you wrote in. Let's assassin

against the Messer Schmidt. That's one

of my all-time Oh, right. You know, the

comic road tests I think everyone loves.

There's a Goodyear blimp one as I

recall. And, you know, you participated

in quite a few of those kind of novelty

road tests. Yeah, I got I rode a lot of

them in the years that I was at Road and

Track full-time. We did a sedan chair

and we did the B-51 versus the Mets.

Yeah. We pretended that we had captured

I I wrote in a World War II jargon. I

remember that's why I like it. Yeah. I

said, "We've just captured a Metser

Schmidt. The old man wants us to compare

it with a P-51 and see if see what we're

up against." Yeah. And so we said,

"Well, look, the P-51 has 1,800

horsepower on combat boost, and the the

Metrashmid has 3.6 horsep, you know, and

so on." We made all these comparisons. I

said, "The Metsmid took, I don't know,

20 seconds to go through the cones in

the air and the Mustang just blew them

away."

And so we I had fun with that. It was a

I love those pieces. And I think a lot

of people remember them fondly, too. And

one of my favorite things about Run

Track, other than Side Glances, was the

big full page technical spec blueprint

that they would do for every car that

you guys would road test. And on the

novelty ones, it would be the Goodyear

blimp on there or the Queeny or whatever

it was or the P1. And I loved those. And

yeah, they're they were fun to do. It's

fun to think what the next odd thing. I

did the Goodyear blimp one. The Goodear

Blimp. Didn't Didn't somebody even put

the little one wheeled out and try

to I I was on that ride. It was fun. I'd

never been on a blimp before. I also did

a hot air balloon, the Pontiac

excitement hot air balloon. That was

that was exciting. It was fun. Quite a

few aviation themed Yeah. Well, the

aviation airplanes along with

motorcycles and cars and sailboats to

some extent or my other devices. Oh

gosh, we didn't even launch into

sailboats yet, but we could go there.

Probably would hold. I'm going to guess.

Oh yeah. Absolutely. Got to be. Got to

be. Let's see. There were one or two

other ones that I wanted to ask you

about. I think this was one of your

trips down to Road Atlanta, but the MGTC

has always been one of my favorite cars.

It's, you know, in many ways almost the

prototype of the modern sports car. And

as I recall, you did do a big journey in

one of those, didn't you? And maybe also

with Chris, maybe. Yeah. The the car

belonged to Chris's brother, Joe, and uh

he had done a beautiful restoration on

it years ago, and he had it in high

school and got t-boned at an

intersection and rebuilt the whole car,

but he did a beautiful he's a real

craftsman like all the BB family and did

a beautiful job on it. So, we we

borrowed that from him and we drove it

to Road Atlanta and camped most of the

way down and had a great time with it.

You know, it's not a boulevard cruiser

or a uh or an interstate cruiser. We

took back rooms, which we usually do

anyway, and it was a lot of fun. They're

such a stylish, they have such presence

when you're around them. I imagine

that's another car that people want to

stop and talk about when you're at a Oh,

yeah. Absolutely. And a lot of people

know what it is. It's surprising how

many people in small towns say, "Oh,

nice TC." I mean, they know exactly what

it is. And I think that's one of my

favorite cars of all time. I think these

smell good. I mean, they when you get up

close to them, the hot oil and the

leather, I mean, they Yeah. They aren't

really they don't do anything wonderful

all by you know any single thing they

don't shift they shift pretty well but

uh they aren't real fast and the

steering you can fix the steering and

make a little getter but they can stand

a little improvement but they're so

beautiful I think if I were to restore

one more car I think I still have it in

me to get a TC I've almost bought one a

couple of times as a project car would

you do anything to hop many years ago

this is before I worked for Bring a

trailer when I was just a fan Randy

featured a car. It was actually in St.

Louis Abyispo where I grew up. And it

had a supercharger on the Xag and I

think a T5, you know, 5-speed and a and

I thought, you know, just a little bit

more horsepower, you know, 75 horsepower

probably would be plenty with that

supercharger and then a 5-speed and that

you'd probably make pretty good uh time

cross country in something like that.

Yeah, I drove one with a supercharger. I

I actually looked at uh Al Moss who used

to own Moss Motors, lived in Arizona in

Sedona, and he was a friend of ours cuz

he was a sports car buff, too. A lot of

great cars hiding out in Sedona. Yeah.

Yeah. So, we went over to his place and

and he said he was going to sell it and

so I took it for a ride. I'm trying to

remember the name of the supercharger.

Might have been a Judson was on it. It

was definitely faster, but I'm not sure

that a supercharger is that good for a

TC crankish. I probably know I thought

really might take a real

long having looked at a few TD and TCTF

crankshafts. Uh I'm not sure I want to

burden them with a lot of extra power

for a real long time. They they had

their problems. In the early SECA days,

didn't people put uh little V860

flatheads in those? That would be

another interesting swap in those. Now

I'm just opining on interesting motors

to put into a TC. I think Alan Gerther,

who's the old editor of Cycle World,

actually did a Volvo engine in one and

and raced it in some mixed class. You

know, it didn't fit in any. The brakes

aren't up for any of this. No, no, no.

The brakes the brakes are I think you

could you could update one. But at this

point, to me, mostly it's just an

aesthetic. So, a piece of art almost and

a and a piece of wonderful nostalgia. I

I think I would never get tired of

looking at one in the garage and taking

it for short drives. And agreed, just

being in it. It's a charming car. I

thought since you're such a kind of

icon, uh, I might end by asking you what

the last great thing you drove or rode

was. What was the last thing that you

drove, rode, or sailed or flew that

really impressed you? What's the bike

that you're riding around every day?

What are what are you riding on every

day? Oh, right now I've got a Triumph

T120. It's a 1200cc, you know, modern

Triumph Bonavville. That's a triple.

It's a twin. It looks like an old

Bonavville, but it's water and it's I

love that bike. I've got a bike from

India, a Royal Enfield, right? They're

new there, right? Oh, yeah. You can get

it with a sidec car, too, can't you?

When you I think you can. I don't think

the company sells them with a sidec car,

but uh I've got a Himalayan, which is a

not very fast, but really enjoyable back

road bike for me. And uh I've also had a

a Royal Enfield 650 Twin, which I liked

a lot. I sold it to a friend of mine

when I got the Triumph. If there's a

project in the future right now, a

friend of mine has a Ducatti 900 Super

Sport, about a 96 or 97 SP, and I've had

a couple of those in the past, and

that's a bike I really loved. If I think

about a project, he's got one that's

been sitting for a number of years. So,

I I can imagine it would be kind of

interesting to redo the whole thing, put

new belts in and check the valves and uh

you know, go through it and just as a

project and then have a a Ducati. What a

beautiful motorcycle. Yeah, they are.

I've had a number of Ducatis over the

years and they're really one of my

favorite. That's a pretty serious

machine, too, isn't it? Oh, yeah.

They're they're quick. I had a 996

Ducati for quite a while that I used as

a track bike for doing track days in

Elcart Lake and other places. That was a

wonderful bike, too. So, and I've been

to the Ducati factory. It's not that far

from the Ferrari factory. You can go to

both museums in the same day here in

Italy. And that's a good trail. There's

an adventure for you. Yeah. Well, Peter,

uh, thank you so much for doing this. I

know there were quite a few logistics

involved and you and Barb have been very

charitable with your time. So, well, you

you have you did all the logistics on

this. Yeah, it's really an honor to do

this. Didn't go too much into that

auction for your E type when it was on

Bring a Trailer, but you know, everyone

was kind of hoping you would pop up and

when you did, there's almost I looked

this morning, there's almost 190 thumbs

up on your first comment you left on

Bring a Trailer, which I'm sure is the

About this episode

Peter Egan, a beloved automotive and motorcycle journalist, shares his journey from writing about cars and motorcycles to becoming a prominent figure in the automotive world. He discusses his early experiences, including his first published story about a motorcycle trip, and his transition to writing for major magazines like Road & Track and Cycle World. Egan recounts memorable adventures, including road trips in various classic cars, encounters with iconic figures like Enzo Ferrari, and the joy of restoring vehicles. His storytelling captures the essence of automotive culture and the connections forged through shared passions.

Bring a Trailer coupe cylinder head emission controls engine stand Formula 4 fuel injection systems hoses jack stands straight six

Original notes

We're giving Alex and the guys the week off for the first time since restarting the BaT podcast in January 2024. This week, we serve you a reheated and much-better-sounding version of Alex's February 2024 interview with the one-and-only, the legendary, the beloved, Peter Egan—he of Side Glances in Road & Track, of countless harebrained-slash-inspirational road trips, of April Fools road tests, and of so much more. This is the man that so many of us at BaT and beyond like to think we've fashioned ourselves after; a modest and humble writer who, perhaps unknowingly, has played a formative role in our addictions to the great machinery of the world, the call of the open road, and the treasures to be found when these things are combined.

Peter sat down with Alex over a year ago in his erstwhile stomping grounds of coastal Orange County, California, to discuss his career and the cars, bikes, planes, people, and places it was formed around. They cover his entry into journalism via Cycle World; the power of an interesting car, or a Piper Cub, to make friends out of strangers in faraway lands; the social advantages of touring the country in someone else's Ferrari; a memorable hometown show with Chuck Berry and Billy Peek, caught on happenstance; getting a glimpse of the Old Man at Fiorano; the art of (somewhat) feigning ignorance; getting locked into the Morgan factory at Malvern; sharing the last Everest flight of the season with Neil Sedaka, and only Neil Sedaka; whether Egan's next project will be a 76-year-old British sports car or a 27-year-old Italian superbike; and how Barb has stuck with him come fire and come rain (yes, Barb really is that great).

Links for titles/listings discussed in this episode:

The Ex-Peter Egan 1967 Jaguar XKE Coupe that was auctioned in 2019 with 335 comments—including one from the man himself, which gathered quite possibly the most thumbs-up a single comment has ever received on BaT
Tom Cotter's Cobra story
Egan's archive at the Road & Track website (may require a membership subscription)
A variety of Egan's writing collections available for purchase (we highly recommend picking up every last one of them)

Got suggestions for our next guest from the BaT community or One Year Garage episode? Let us know at [email protected]!