Roadster Shop Hot Rod Fabrication Team
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Car
Acura NSX
The Acura NSX is a fast sports car made by Acura. It’s designed to drive well and feel special, not just be quick in a straight line. The podcast mentions it because it was the car the speaker’s dad used to pick them up.
Car
Ford Mustang
A “Fox body Mustang” is an older Ford Mustang from the late 1970s through the early 1990s. People love it because it’s a popular, mod-friendly car that’s easy to customize.
Car
Volkswagen Golf
The Volkswagen Golf is a small everyday car. It’s built to be practical for commuting and daily driving. In the podcast, it’s referenced in a humorous way connected to golf balls.
Concept
junkyard
A junkyard is a place where broken or old cars are kept so people can take parts from them. Hot rodders use it to find cool parts and ideas for custom builds.
Term
tubing
Tubing is just metal pipe. In car building, it’s used to make custom parts—like frames, brackets, or lines—because you can cut it and weld it into new shapes.
Term
bare metal
“Bare metal” means the car’s body is left unpainted so you can see the metal. Builders do it to show off how good the metal shaping and finishing work is.
Car
Ford F100
The Ford F-100 is an older pickup truck from Ford. People often customize them because they’re a great base for custom paint and metalwork. The podcast mentions it because the speaker wanted that kind of beautiful metal finish.
Term
chopped metal finish
“Chopped” means the top of the car was lowered. That makes it look lower and meaner, and “metal finish” here points to careful metal shaping instead of just painting over it.
Person
Todd Ryder
Todd Ryder is the person the speaker says they were told to go talk to. He’s part of the reason they got a chance to learn and work on custom cars.
Person
Paul Ryder
Paul Ryder is Todd Ryder’s dad, according to the speaker. The speaker mentions him to explain how they were connected to the shop.
Place
Mt. Clemens, Michigan
This is a city in Michigan. The speaker is saying the Ryder family and their friends were based there.
Person
Ron Fournier
Ron Fournier is another person mentioned in the speaker’s story. He’s part of the local group around the Ryder family.
Term
hammerwork
“Hammerwork” means shaping metal by hand with a hammer and tools. Custom builders use it to get the body panels smooth and the right shape.
Person
Ed scutchfield
Ed Scutchfield is a person the speaker says they worked with. The important part is that he’s associated with metal-shaping work using a hammer.
Person
Matt Gergic
Matt Gergic is someone the speaker says they worked with at the shop. It’s part of the story about learning fabrication skills.
Company
Sled alley customs
This is the name of a custom car shop. The speaker is saying they worked there and learned fabrication skills.
Car
Dodge Road Runner
The Dodge Road Runner is a classic muscle car. It’s known for being a performance car with a tough, sporty look. The podcast mentions it as a car people want to find or buy through specialty shops.
Car
Buick Grand National
The Buick Grand National is a performance car made by Buick. It’s known for having a lot of engineering behind it, not just styling. The podcast brings it up as an example of that kind of car.
Term
fender flares
Fender flares are the extra pieces around the wheel area. They help cover wider tires and can also make the car look more aggressive.
Term
bucks
In this context, "bucks" are like molds or templates used to shape sheet metal. They help the metal end up with the right curves and fit.
Term
laser cut
Laser cutting is a precise way to cut metal using a laser. It’s useful in fabrication because it makes templates and parts come out very accurately.
Term
CAD designed
CAD means they used computer software to design the metal parts before cutting or forming them. It helps make sure everything fits together the way it’s supposed to.
Term
chassis
A chassis is the main frame of the car—the part that the rest of the car gets attached to. If you buy a chassis, you’re buying the basic structure that the build will be built on.
Term
engineering
In this context, engineering means the technical planning and design work that makes sure parts are made correctly. It’s what turns ideas into files and instructions that the shop can build from.
Term
plasma table
A plasma table is a machine that cuts metal using a super-hot electrical arc. You can program the shape, and it cuts it quickly and accurately.
Term
axle bracket
An axle bracket is a fabricated mounting piece that locates and supports an axle (or axle assembly) relative to the chassis. Because it controls alignment and attachment points, its hole locations and geometry matter for suspension/axle fitment and driveline alignment.
Car
Pantera
The Lamborghini Pantera is a classic exotic sports car with the engine in the middle. When a shop talks about a Pantera project, it usually means they’re doing a big custom build that takes a lot of fabrication and engineering work.
Part
roof skin
The roof skin is the outer metal panel you see on top of the car. If you’re customizing the body, you have to shape it so the roof lines up right and seals properly.
Term
tool box
Here, “toolbox” just means the set of tools they use to work on the car. It’s about getting involved in the hands-on part of the project.
Part
master cylinder
The master cylinder is the part that makes your brakes work. When you press the brake pedal, it pushes brake fluid through the brake lines. Where it’s mounted matters because the hoses and lines have to be routed correctly so the brakes feel right and are easy to service.
Concept
fender fix
A “fender fix” is the custom work to make the fender fit correctly. Builders may need to adjust or reshape things so the fender clears the engine/brake parts and looks straight. It’s basically part-fitting during a hot rod build.
Concept
car building
They’re talking about how real experience from building cars teaches you what problems show up in the real world. Instead of only designing on paper, you learn from mistakes and then build better the next time. That’s especially important when you’re fitting parts into a custom layout.
Car
68 Camaro
A “68 Camaro” is a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro. It’s a classic muscle car that a lot of hot-rod builders like to customize because there are lots of parts and people know how to work on them.
Term
custom pop-up fuel filler
A “pop-up fuel filler” is a fuel opening that stays hidden until you need it. When you go to refuel, it pops up so you can access the gas cap without ruining the car’s smooth look.
Brand
Matt Hodge
“Matt Hodge” is the name of the person they’re crediting for the custom fuel-filler setup. In custom car building, that usually means it’s a specific design made by a particular fabricator, not a random universal part.
Term
sync this thing with the back end
They’re telling him to make sure the fuel filler works correctly with the rest of the rear body parts. That usually means lining it up so it opens the right way and doesn’t leave weird gaps or rub on anything.
Part
floor pans
Floor pans are the metal sheets that make up the floor of the car inside. If a shop gets them pre-made, it’s a big time-saver because making and shaping them by hand is slow and labor-intensive.
Term
three quarter inch bar stock
Bar stock is just raw metal in a bar form. They’re saying they started with a thick piece of metal (three-quarter inch) and then machined it into the final part shape.
Term
gate valve
A gate valve is a valve that basically turns flow on or off. When it’s open, fluid can pass; when it’s closed, it blocks flow.
Term
nitrogen
Nitrogen is a gas that doesn’t react much with other materials. They’re using it like a safe pressurizing gas for what they’re building/testing.
Term
lathe
A lathe is a workshop machine that spins a metal piece while a cutting tool shapes it. It’s used to make round parts very straight and precise.
Term
bullets
They’re using the word “bullets” to mean small, machined metal projectiles. The point they’re making is that the pieces are made straight so they travel correctly.
Term
engine block
The engine block is the big metal core of the engine where the cylinders are. If something goes “all the way through” it, that’s usually catastrophic damage.
Car
Audi A4
The Audi A4 is a nicer-looking everyday sedan made by Audi. It’s designed to feel comfortable and well put together. The podcast brings it up as a car the speaker had a positive experience with.
Term
hood
The hood is the front cover over the engine. It opens so you can get to the parts underneath for maintenance.
Term
doors
Doors are the side panels you open to get into the car. In a build or teardown, people may remove them to strip the body or move the car easier.
Term
five point, oh
“Five point oh” means a 5.0-liter engine size. It’s a way people talk about how big the engine is, but the exact model of the engine isn’t stated in this clip.
Term
forklift
A forklift is a machine used in warehouses to lift heavy stuff. In a shop, it helps move heavy car parts safely.
Term
curb
A curb is the raised edge along the side of the road. If a car is too low, it can hit or get stuck on it.
Term
spray foam
Spray foam is a foam that expands and hardens. If it gets into the parts that let a door latch open, it can jam the door so you can’t open it normally.
Term
bull max
“Bull max” is probably the name of a specific metalworking machine at the shop. It matters because if you can use a machine like that, you can do more advanced fabrication work and practice faster. The episode doesn’t explain what it is, so it’s worth asking what exact tool/model it refers to and what it’s used for.
Term
sheet metal work
Sheet metal work is fabrication using thin metal panels that are cut, bent, and shaped to form bodywork, brackets, and interior/exterior panels. It’s a skill-heavy part of hot-rod building because small mistakes can show up visually and can affect fitment and structural strength. The host’s point is that the guest used to avoid it, but is improving at it.
Term
sheet of metal
Sheet metal is thin metal that you can cut and shape into parts. Custom car builders often start with it to make things like panels and brackets.
Term
hammering it
Hammering is a way to shape metal by striking it to move it into the right shape. Metalworkers often do this during panel fitting to get the contours to line up.
Term
stretching that weld out
This means adjusting the welded area so the metal ends up in the right shape. Instead of the weld pulling everything suddenly, the builder tries to control the distortion so the panel fits better.
Concept
plan A, B and C
It means the builders have backup ideas. If the first plan doesn’t work out, they switch to the next one instead of getting stuck.
Concept
pivot
Here, “pivot” means they change their approach if something doesn’t go as expected. It’s like switching tactics during the build so the project still comes out right.
Part
wheel tub
A wheel tub is the metal “housing” around where the tire sits. Builders reshape it when they’re fitting bigger wheels/tires or changing the car’s look and wheel clearance.
Term
power hammer
A power hammer is a heavy metalworking tool that hits metal quickly and repeatedly. Fabricators use it to bend and shape parts faster and more consistently than doing it all by hand.
Term
weld it back together
After cutting a metal part, welding is how you fuse the pieces back together. It’s what makes the modified section become one solid part again.
Part
quarter panel
The quarter panel is the metal sheet on the side of the car near the rear wheel. When builders replace or fit it, they have to make sure it lines up right and is strong so the car’s body doesn’t get weak or crooked.
Term
splice
A splice is where you join two pieces of metal together. In bodywork, it’s important that the joint is strong and lines up correctly so the repair doesn’t look wrong or feel flimsy.
Term
quarter skin
“Quarter skin” refers to the outer sheet-metal layer of the quarter panel. When someone says a “half quarter” can wrap over the skin, they’re describing how much outer panel material overlaps to create coverage and some added stiffness at the seam.
Car
Chevrolet Chevelle
They’re using the Chevrolet Chevelle as an example of a quarter-panel style that they think is the wrong way to do it. The point is about avoiding a certain shape/placement when fitting body metal.
Car
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger is a powerful American car with a sporty, aggressive look. People often associate it with muscle-car style performance. The podcast mentions it in a dramatic way to show how it feels when someone gets into it.
Car
Lincoln Continental 1965
A 1965 Lincoln Continental is an old-school luxury car from Lincoln. People like it for customizing because it has a recognizable, stylish body that can be turned into a unique hot rod or custom.
Car
Oldsmobile Cutlass
The Oldsmobile Cutlass is an older American car model. People often remember it because it was popular and many were kept or customized. The podcast mentions it because the speaker is talking about getting it right.
Car
Ford Taurus
A Ford Taurus is a regular, everyday Ford sedan. Here it’s just being name-dropped as one of the cars someone brought.
Term
Fox body
“Fox body” is a nickname for a specific generation of Ford Mustangs. It means the Mustang from that late-70s through early-90s era.
Car
Subaru Forester
The Subaru Forester is a Subaru SUV/crossover that’s built for everyday use and bad weather. Here, they’re talking about someone’s Forester as a reference for what their own car was like.
Car
1990 OBS pickup
“OBS” is a nickname for a certain generation of older Chevy/GMC pickup trucks from the late 1980s and 1990s. People like them for customizing because the truck is familiar and there are lots of parts and options.
Term
passenger door
The passenger door is the door you’d use to get in from the passenger side. They’re mentioning it wasn’t shut all the way, which can cause problems like noise or the door not sealing properly.
Term
donor vehicle
A donor vehicle is a used car you buy so you can take parts from it. People do this to save money when building a custom car.
Concept
road rage
They’re using “road rage” to mean the car is going to be built to feel aggressive and wild. It’s more about the attitude/vibe than a specific mechanical definition.
Concept
perfect restoration
They’re saying it doesn’t need to be restored to look exactly like it did when it left the factory. Instead, they’re open to customizing it as a hot rod.
Term
V8
A “V8” is an engine with eight cylinders arranged in a V shape. It’s a common choice for hot rods because it can make strong power and there are lots of parts available.
Term
Regular cab short bed
It means a pickup with a basic single-cab (not a bigger crew cab) and a shorter back bed. People like this setup because it’s compact and can look great when customized.
Term
6L 80
“6L80” is the name of a GM automatic transmission with six forward gears. Hot-rod builders mention it because it’s a popular, modern transmission option for custom builds.
Person
Cole Foster
Cole Foster is a hot-rod builder the host says they’d want on the team. The host mentions he built a custom car for Metallica’s James Hetfield, which suggests he’s well-known in the custom-cars world.
Person
James Hetfield
James Hetfield is a famous musician (Metallica). Here, he’s mentioned because he’s the person who had a custom hot rod built for him, and the host thinks it turned out especially awesome.
Term
stance
In hot rods, “stance” means how the car looks when it’s sitting—how low it is and how the wheels and tires fit. People chase a certain look by adjusting suspension and wheel setup.
Term
ride height
Ride height just means how high the car sits off the ground. If it’s too low, the underside can hit the road; if it’s too high, the handling and airflow can suffer.
Term
bag it
“Bag it” means putting on air suspension so you can adjust how low the car sits. It helps you get the look/stance without constantly scraping or riding too harshly.
Term
ride quality
Ride quality is how comfortable and smooth the car feels when the road isn’t perfect. A suspension setup that’s too low or too stiff can make it feel rough or bouncy.
Term
seven foot of skirt
The “skirt” is a piece under the car meant to help airflow stay controlled near the ground. If the car sits too low, that skirt can drag on the road, which is bad for both performance and safety.
Term
small block
“Small block” means a smaller V8 engine design. Hot-rod builders like it because it’s usually easier to fit in a custom car and can be built to make good power without being huge and heavy.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower is a number that describes how much power an engine can make. Higher horsepower usually means the car can accelerate harder, but it’s not the only factor. People use horsepower to compare different engine builds and upgrades.
Topic
Grand National Roadster show
The Grand National Roadster Show is a big car show focused on hot rods and custom builds. People bring their cars there to show them off and get attention from the hot-rod community. When someone references it, they’re usually talking about what looks impressive in that scene.
Term
TIG welding
TIG welding is a careful welding method that uses a special electrode and protective gas. It’s often used when you want a neat, precise weld, especially on thinner metal.
Term
MIG welding
MIG welding uses a wire that keeps feeding as you weld, plus a protective gas. It’s usually quicker and simpler than TIG, which is why many shops use it a lot.
Term
body kits
A body kit is a set of add-on parts that changes how a car looks. People use them to make a stock car look more custom or more aggressive.
Car
Studebaker
Studebaker is a historic American car brand from the past. They’re joking about using a kit to make another car look like a Studebaker.
Person
Cochran
They mention “Cochran’s car,” meaning someone named Cochran has a custom car they’re talking about. The clip doesn’t say who that person is.
Car
G-Class Gwagon
The G-Class is a luxury SUV made by Mercedes-Benz. It’s known for being tough and also having a high-end interior. The podcast mentions it as the standard for the kind of interior quality someone wants.
Concept
wheelhouse
Here, “wheelhouse” just means “their specialty.” It’s the kind of thing that person is best at.
Car
Lamborghini Urus
The Lamborghini Urus is a luxury SUV made by Lamborghini. It’s designed to be fast and upscale, not just a regular family SUV. The podcast mentions it mainly to point out that it costs a lot.
LIVE
What is your absolute favorite thing about working at the Roadster Shop?
Seven.
And what's the most challenging?
Why would you ask us that when we work here?
The boss is right there.
This is a test.
You'll never hear it.
You see the ad for Roadster Shop hiring.
What year was this, the 17 years from?
It was the first year we were in this facility.
Yes. So brand new.
Damn. I want to hear it from both sides.
I want to hear, you know, no, let's not do that.
You want to hear Jeremy's assessment of what I walked in.
I did.
I'll do that.
I honestly don't know.
You want to be the black guy.
OK, yes, that's true.
First of all, did you really?
Yeah, yeah. So you were scared of him a little.
To me, the shop was massive.
Nothing I've ever seen before.
There's cars everywhere.
Every car on the shop floor is either customer about to be completely out of my element.
And I was literally about to just walk out and say, I can't do this.
And I was walking up to talk to you guys like, wait, I don't work here.
What do you do? Fire me?
Like, I just grabbed a cut off.
We'll start cutting the back of the car.
It starts setting in like, maybe this is beyond me.
You know, maybe this is more than I'm ready for.
He brings me back over.
He introduces me to John.
John forgot that I was going to be there today.
I don't think I was told.
I may or may not have told.
At all, you know, he may he may not have forgotten.
We're not going to point fingers.
And John was like, show us what you got.
And I just started grabbing shit and sticking it together.
I grabbed little coupons of aluminum.
I grabbed little stainless tubing.
I I grabbed sheet metal and I just started putting it together.
And I was like, this is everything that I know how to do.
Eight hours to prove that you had you had two different interviews.
Correct. I think I applied five years ago now.
The first time I applied and I didn't I didn't get it, of course.
To be fair, I used to drink a lot back then.
And like, was that the reason you didn't get it?
Do you think I identified that?
Or what do you think? No, no, no.
I think I was did not work very hard that day.
Like, to be fair, I don't think I had the skill set at the time
to come in here and give you guys what you what you needed.
But then four years later came in.
Yeah, it all worked out because your second interview
rocks them and just nailed it.
I was going to go to Wildtack,
but I ended up going to jail for a year instead, right?
So I got out of jail way cooler.
Yeah, that is the worst thing.
We're a little more bad.
Who's who's the bad ass now, John?
That's the only podcast you can listen to that going to jail.
Is that fucking?
Welcome to another episode of oil and whiskey.
This one's a special one.
They're always special.
They're all special, Josh.
Well, sometimes I said it was more special.
This one's more special.
Is there a this is an all R.S.
Podcast. Yeah.
This extravaganza.
This was a highly requested podcast, believe it or not.
So not just that we would like to chat with the R.S. team, but
not so much you guys specifically.
Yeah, you guys just you guys have to be a few dudes
that were still here at the end of the day and were like,
but really a lot of people reached out and, you know, said they'd love to hear
you know what what the guys at the Roadster Shop have to say.
And really, we've had a ton of different shops out here.
A lot of shop owners have brought some of their, you know, key guys and
reality, you know, I think people want to know what goes on behind the scenes
at R.S. and hear it right from the source.
So we got the source.
Yeah, the sources, the sources.
So a little introduction.
John has been on here before John York.
You got to be.
Yeah, everybody got till their names.
The manager of the Roadster Shop Hot Rod Shop Division.
Yep. That's been one interesting fact about you.
There's a few. I don't know what to tell them.
We'll get into that.
After a few whiskies, we'll get into those.
I know what stories you want.
I don't think I'm going to tell this.
I think everybody should give interesting facts about somebody else.
Almost like the hot and you're a fan of the Hot Rod movie, too.
So it could kind of be like, I'm John.
I like the party.
Yeah.
And I also like turtle shells and dreamt of being inside of a turtle shell
for many years.
So fun fact about John.
These guys don't know that.
No, there was a younger version of me.
I haven't met a hot rod.
John, Johnny Christmas has kind of disappeared, too.
Yeah, it's still in my phone.
It's just Christmas.
Yeah, there's a few people.
It's still called Christmas.
Just Christmas.
Yeah, you could pass it down.
They're not all for you.
Believe it or not, that was Davey and they gave me that nickname
like week one here back in 2008.
He started calling me Johnny Christmas.
Thank you.
Well, who's next?
Nobody else said anything?
Yeah, that's the thing about a podcast is the silence.
The silence parts the bad part.
OK, yeah.
So the dude with the beautiful mustache up there, the real mustache,
not to be confused with the sales guy that does not have a real mustache.
I'm Spencer Newman.
You got to get a little closer.
Sorry, you might have to even care if you want to hold that, you can hold it.
Yeah, yeah, you can.
That's great.
Yeah, that's going to be awkward.
You just lean into it.
You can also take it off the mount and just hold the mic.
You also told me not to move.
You can run downstairs real quick and fab something up and make an extension.
Yeah, just I mean, I'm pretty sure I helped assemble all of these.
That's true.
So, you know, is this is this better?
Splines a lot.
What happened with this one?
We didn't coat this one.
Oh, yeah, it's a stand in.
That's only when we need it.
OK, Spencer, the stash Newman.
Spencer's. Wow, that is good.
That's going to stick.
Love it. So a long time.
Roadster shop fabricator.
Yeah, I just just came up on my fifth year here at Roadster shop
in the fabrication department. Awesome.
Yeah, it's been fucking awesome.
And I also like to party.
I also like to party.
You wouldn't be here.
Let's be honest.
You wouldn't be here.
It wouldn't be working for the road to shop if you didn't like to party.
We party. Right. Party.
The.
How long you been 10?
11, 17, 18 in November.
Wow. Yeah. 2008.
It's been a long haul.
Right now is when L.A.
puts in the pictures when you first started working here.
I was going to say that.
Chams.
I knew it.
I fucking knew it.
I was going to start.
You're all coming.
You got those great pictures in the system.
You know, it's been 17 years of a lot of badass builds and terrible haircuts.
But I think it would have been here.
You were going to cut to some pictures.
Yeah. Yeah.
This is a slide show right now.
I was talking about this.
Those are those are always.
It's well.
Not just yet.
That's one of my favorite things when there's oftentimes you got to go dig in
through old pictures for something.
Yeah. So you go into the build.
Yeah.
Archives scrolling through, scrolling through.
And then all of a sudden it's like, dude, look at it.
It's John with the center part.
Usually it's usually an apron.
You know, you rock the apron a lot back then.
Always.
And it's a fucking good look, dude.
It was a terrible look.
It was a good look.
It I would like to see a side by side right now of that beautiful stash and that
beautiful head of hair you used to have in all fairness.
In all fairness, I do have a folder in my phone of Josh pictures.
So when he started, there's quite a few looks there, too.
You're a little homeless looking.
He was.
He was in the beginning.
Yeah.
A little heavy set to husky.
I'd say.
Is that what you would say?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's heavy set would be insulting.
I think Husky's.
I mean, the thing about this place that people know is it gets us in shape.
It does.
It's a mandatory as well as part of it.
Yeah, big skin.
And smaller waistlines.
That's that's definitely what Dakota on the use.
He's over this already.
He's like, the fuck am I doing here?
And I'm Dakota.
I used to be a fabric.
I'm Dakota and I quit.
No, I'm Dakota Montour.
I don't know.
But I'm working here about a year and a half now.
So it's a fun place to work.
You know, the projects that you get to get your hands on.
It's a good time.
Hell, yeah.
Yeah, it's been awesome having you, man.
You're Canadian.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, Northern Wisconsin.
Northern Wisconsin.
Pretty much.
Yeah.
Pretty much.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Damn, you're Canadian.
Yeah, it's been great having both you guys on the team, man.
You guys both kick ass and it's a be cool to unpack a little bit about what you do
and how you do it.
And yeah.
Yeah, I like to get into.
You know, we've talked all of us talks amongst ourselves of some of the things
that were instrumental as young kids from magazines and TV shows and your
history and wild tech and some of the other stuff, whatever would be good to
get into those individual stories along the way, specifically for people
that are listening that have had similar or on similar paths along those journeys.
Yeah.
And there's one.
I'll tell you one that pops into my mind question that we've had a lot.
You guys are younger.
I would consider younger fabricators, John, not so much.
But we've had a lot of young guys on here.
We even did like the young guns thing.
And the thing that I thought was very unusual was that when you'd ask them,
like, dude, what got you into the industry?
What inspired you?
Nobody had like, like I think John and I and you know, Phil and Josh had was
like the car that inspired you or like, you know, I could look back and remember
like the chicane and I'm like, dude, fucking the chicane.
Hell yeah.
I got to do this.
I got to do this for a living or like Jesse James.
None of those dudes had that like a lot of the younger guys.
Either you guys, was there something that made you decide this is what I want
to do for a living?
Was there a car?
Was there a magazine?
There was a red Ferrari and the porn star in motorcycle mania.
Definitely.
There's not been a lot of those similar instances in the last 20 something years.
So that's right.
Instant host.
Yeah, we didn't.
We didn't have a lot of that.
I came in on the very end of that like wave of like all of the crazy
bang or TV shows and everything like that that were surrounded with hot rods
and stuff like that.
So like Monster Garage came up immediately.
You know, like I missed the motorcycle mania just barely.
But like Monster Garage was really popping when I was like in that pivotal era.
Sure.
Back when people were saying it was really popping.
Yeah.
Oh, we're getting after it.
Right around that time.
Yeah.
It was on or off.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But realistically, though, my dad's Camaro was like the car because I grew up in that
thing.
Yeah.
He would get 69.
He would pick me up from school, you know, like kindergarten, first grade, second grade.
He was always there with the car.
And it was just like my dad's car.
You know, I thought it was very special.
I thought it was very cool.
But it was like that's his, you know, like sure.
Some people, their moms have like minivans and shit.
Am I a conversion van with a unicorn airbrushed on the spare tire carrier?
Custom.
Yeah.
That was a foreign custom for explore.
Yeah, it's still custom.
You know, it's the same world.
It'll inspire a career.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's just not this way.
That's is that the Camaro that you still have?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's it's been in the family since it was brand new.
My aunt bought it from the show.
That's awesome.
And then my dad bought it two years later and at his 18th birthday and like
drove it ever since.
Oh, wow.
The other kids think it was cool.
They did.
Yeah.
Is like you think they thought it was cool?
Well, like he'd pull up to pick me up from school and like all the kids would
be like, what the fuck is that thing?
Spencer's dad is fucking badass.
And then and then I like little fucking two foot tall.
Me would at twelve years old would, you know, walk into the thing and sit down
and like you couldn't see me over the, you know, passenger side window, but it's
just like, oh, shit, like that's cool.
And then of course, you know, that kid with this
must action.
That's funny.
There's like the picking up from school thing.
I'll never forget that either.
And the feeling of how fucking cool you felt when dad was coming to pick you up.
Yeah.
That was my dad picked me up in the NSX, you know, and you just had this.
I see it with my son now when I'll pick him up and like one of the cars that
were shaking down or something.
And it's like this.
Like wait.
And then you pull up and he's like he like he was his buddies.
He wants to make sure people are looking and like a little bit.
But yeah, you I remember how that felt.
And that was that was bad.
It's irreplaceable.
It makes an impact for sure.
We hear that a lot from customers too, that guys are like, you know, I want to
be the coolest dad in the pickup line.
Yeah, you'll definitely be the coolest dad in the pickup line with that.
Similar story.
I remember there was a pivotal moment to the bra, you know, moved around a lot
and the brand new school after moving like the fifth time in Atlanta, Georgia.
And I was, you know, like I think 12, 12 or 13, you know, very pivotal age
of being a boy, going to brand new school and really feeling cool, getting
pulled up and dropped off in that 17 passenger church fan with First
Alliance Church written down on the side of it and getting out the barn doors
on the side of whatever first day and thing.
Like that.
Did that earn you an under your under your it set me on a trajectory.
Also an impactful experience.
Yeah.
Honestly, looking back to blame for a lot of my my choices.
I am not that watch.
Yeah.
Let's stray home with this.
Set of clippers.
I guess this is my path.
How about you, Dakota?
What was the what was it?
What was the moment?
I mean, like it was a bunch of little stuff, right?
So like, I don't know, I was like eight and my mom got me like the
subscription for like Hot Rod magazine.
So like, I would kick through that shit.
I didn't know what I was looking at, right?
But I would kick through it and think all this stuff was cool.
And my dad was a car guy too.
You know what I mean?
But like he worked a lot so he didn't drive him much.
But as I got older and like TV kind of became like cooler, I guess.
Monster Garage was a big one.
You know what I mean?
Like that shit was cool.
And then, but I watched Fast and Loud a lot because I was like probably
14, 15 when that one came on.
Yeah.
And there's a fabricator Aaron Kauffman and like he stood out a lot to me.
And I was like, shit, like it'd be cool to do that.
Right. So and then, yeah, I got it.
My job at my first hot rod shop and like the geologist kind of snowballed from there, man.
Yeah, Monster Garage.
That was definitely a banger.
That was like the one thing that in our house, it was like you're watching that tonight.
That was the family came together and you were watching Monster Garage.
So it came out.
It's like, OK, it was pre.
DVR and TVO.
You had to be part of like the allure that like it was only once a week you had to see it.
So it was like a set deal that you had to be there for.
Yeah. And I like watching Jesse James just destroy dudes that sucked.
Yes.
That's what I was going to say, too, though, because it's at that time,
all the other shows that we all probably watched were edited and there's story lines and plots.
But you could watch that show and be like, oh, this might fail.
This is not. Yeah.
No way. Like they might not execute whatever it is.
And there also wasn't any like not that you should be,
but there wasn't any like judging the quality or stylistic of a build.
You know, like where other cars show you're like,
I would have never done it that way or you're looking behind the scenes
and like there's no way they're doing this.
That it was the build style was they're going to, you know, down and dirty and make it work.
You know, and there's cool things.
You're like, oh, man, that's really cool.
I would never. But it's because it's not you can't put it in a box, you know,
so you can't really.
It's hard to judge style on a Fox body Mustang that turned into a garbage truck.
That was the lawnmower. I think the Fox body was the lawnmower.
It picked up golf balls.
It was the golf ball fetcher.
Like, oh, yeah.
And it had wires on it.
Yeah. There's like all that.
You're like, oh, that's pretty cool to do something wild like that.
Right. That. And yeah, at the same time, you guys watch junk.
You're going to.
Oh, yeah. Junkyard words like it's.
But now when I look at junkyard words,
I feel like that is how Chris Gray grew up.
Like, I feel like.
It looks like.
In the junkyard.
Like, they wore like the coveralls and, you know, it was very UK based.
But I loved what those dudes did.
I mean, that was like, no, that that show was also like very pivotal to just like,
OK, go build this thing, you know, and like just building was always like
a part of my childhood and growing.
I loved it. I love that show.
That's probably way up there top, because I also like anything that's
like a survivalist or post apocalyptic or and there was things in that are like,
oh, man, if it ever goes down, like,
you think that coil back that refrigerator and you can use that as a tubing.
And you can do like there was so much.
What is going? Everybody's.
I just noticed the camera view up there.
That's all. Yeah. Don't look at that.
Sorry. Sorry. That was a rookie move.
I thought something had happened because both of y'all went up there and I was
like, oh, I don't know.
Sometimes things like stop recording or flashing or whatever.
We haven't been recording this whole time.
Apologize. We've had that.
So that you. Yeah.
The shows were obviously hit it for all of us.
I mean, we're all you guys are a little younger.
But I mean, what do you 36?
3032
32 Yeah.
How are you? 33 OK.
It's been about 10 years on you, Josh.
Impolite. Josh got about 30. Yeah.
But yes, I mean, we all grew up with that stuff.
But there had.
Wasn't there anything in the magazine?
Was there a builder?
Was there something?
The car that blew your mind early on?
Or did you just not know?
Was it like you just didn't?
Yeah, it wasn't like that level of vehicle yet.
I didn't have enough of a grasp of like the hot rod industry.
You know, I had I had magazines and stuff like that.
But I was also like I was into cars in general, you know,
not just necessarily hot rods.
Like I would get the DuPont registry and I would just.
Did you get it or did you just flip through it at the airport?
Yeah, it was like a $10 fucking magazine.
It was it was a flip through in the magazine.
I don't like it's an expensive thing.
Yeah, that thing is like 13 bucks back then or something like that.
So it was, you know, I was just obsessed with the automotive industry
in all facets, so it wasn't really like a, you know, I don't I don't have a
chicane or like anything like that, you know.
What about once you got into the industry?
Did you start?
Right.
Recognizing that stuff for.
There's a lot of roadster shop cars.
I was sort of looking at the fucking fish in this whole time.
We got a long podcast.
We'll get there.
Yeah, no, it was it was a lot of roadster shop cars.
Road rage rampage like were were mind blowing to me when I first saw them.
So that that like that level of build was like, oh, I want to go that direction.
You know, so when you this is for all three of you guys, when you start seeing
that whether it's TV show, whether it's the magazine, whether it's
road rage or rampage, whether it's Hot Rod magazine and stuff.
When you start talking about the interest, right?
Of like, oh, I like that I'm drawn to that.
That's really cool with the 69 Camaro.
What age and how are you starting to formulate like I could do this for a living
or how could I do this for a living or I'd like to do this for a living?
What do I do?
When does that start coming into play?
Well, for me, the story is completely different.
John, yeah, I know John.
Yeah, I know John's story.
It's a good story.
It's so far.
That's what we're here for.
Go ahead.
Well, I was I was never really in the cars in any fashion.
But my dad was a clay modeler for four motor company.
My brothers, two brothers who are clay models to this day.
So it was always there.
I mean, we moved to Germany when I was a kid to be at Ford Design Studio.
Just everything we did was some way rooted in automotive, but it never really grabbed me.
I mean, it was the same thing.
You're the kid.
You're kind of pushing back.
I was just a terrible teenager.
So about 16, 17, made all the mistakes you shouldn't make and found myself out of high
school at like 17.
But I was my dad.
Mutual decision on the out of high school.
No, it was 100 percent me.
The mutual meaning of high school and him.
Yeah, that's what I mean.
No, I mean, I kept getting in trouble.
It spent about three months out of school when I came back for, you know, I was against my will.
It's on them.
They pushed you.
I was like, I'm going to as soon as I got back to school, I was getting in trouble again.
So I said, fuck this, I'm going to enter the workforce.
My dad had a boat or down River Detroit.
Out of the boat yard, there was a marine construction company and they were looking for a laborer.
So fuck, I can do that.
Like I'll pick stuff up and carry it.
And it was the most rough neck, hard core job at 17 years old.
Just like the roughest guys, all missing fingers, none of them had driver's license.
I had to pick all the guys up in the morning to show up at the work site.
But I'd taken like stick welding in high school.
Didn't finish any of the other welding program.
That's as far as I made it.
And I was like, oh, fuck, I can weld.
So all it is is stick welding on on the water.
So we're building docks, seawalls, boat hoists, big yachts and shit in people's backyards.
Like stuff I had no business touching, like million dollar Vikings and I'm building docks at 17.
It'll hold. Cash in hand.
Oh, it's still there.
I'll go back to the day.
I'm still there.
You knock on it, like still not going nowhere.
But I'm 17 and I'm making money cash in hand like under the table at 17 as a dropout.
I'm making like pretty good fucking money.
Come wintertime.
You can't work.
If the river freezes over.
So I'm kind of like in between waiting for the next season.
And my dad watched all the shows.
And I'm talking thousands of Street Rocker magazines.
My dad had all because he would drag me to NSRA show in Kalamazoo,
which is not the greatest.
The Kalamazoo show.
Remember, like the inspiration wasn't there.
My dad was super into 30s cars.
374 is like the most beautiful car in his eyes, which it is.
But it didn't appeal to me at 17 years old.
Right.
Old man car.
Yeah.
And so I remember we're sitting.
I'm done working on the tugboat and we're sitting in the living room watching TV
and our dinner at the living room table and monster or not monster.
A motorcycle mania one comes out and I sat there.
Jaw dropped and that would have been 99 2000.
So yeah, I mean, yeah, 99.
You're all in high school.
I think it was real.
Still.
I came after high school.
I graduated in 97.
Google that shit.
Somebody's got to get it.
I was six.
So it was.
Fuck you.
It was one.
It was motorcycle one or two.
I don't remember.
I feel like it was the first one he had that he'd just done the CFL frame.
It was like purple, like greenish flames.
And it was just fucking so bad ass to me.
And the work that I was doing on the barge already, I could kind of like
motorcycle made anyone was 2001.
Really?
Wow.
Okay.
Well, yeah.
I mean, I was supposed to graduate.
It's still, yeah, it makes sense because that's I was supposed to graduate that year.
So I've never seen that in just jaw dropped.
So first time I saw the hammer and I remember they were just running like
fenders through a burking, like throwing sparks and like, fuck.
Yeah, that's what I want to do.
My dad wanted me to go in a design.
He was trying to push me already.
You know, you can get a job at Ford Motor Company.
Just drop my name and you'll be hired.
I don't want to do that.
Like I like the fabrication.
I just liked making things.
It wasn't cars.
It wasn't motorcycles.
The idea of just making and building out of steel, which I was doing on the boat,
but seeing it in something just looks so badass and going down the fucking
road watching Jesse's like, that's what I want to do.
And the clay modelers, they weren't driving Ferraris and Mary Depornster.
No, not at all.
So right.
Some of them you were after the little bit of we're all after the lifestyle.
A little cool fact.
He'll Mitchell was it was a Ferrari, but from there, I mean, to answer your question
to go round and about that was like from there, my because my dad wanted me to do
something so bad.
He's like, you can't just keep working on this.
Tuggin, when you said I want to do that, what'd your dad say?
He got up from his chair, his rocking chair and went right upstairs, grabbed
one of his street router magazines, flipped it open to a wild tech add.
And two days later, I had a rep at my house.
He's like, this is what you're doing then.
That's what you want to do.
That's what you're doing.
That's awesome.
It wasn't like a choice.
I didn't find why I take this.
It's actually just here.
That's really cool.
And yeah, so from there, and it was a great time.
Like when I went to wild tech, it was if anybody's out there listening, I'm
sure there's plenty of wild tech people.
This was like pre-Korentian colleges.
It was still privately owned.
I was there with like Jesse Combs.
Jake Reisman was a guy I was in class with.
He was like a really good fabricator.
Like there was a handful of just really good students there when I was there.
And I was the worst because I had no experience in cars, no auto shop or anything
like that. I was a terrible student.
But once I got into the street, rock side of things, chassis production and
fabrication, I was like, this is exactly what I'm going to do.
You stopped getting in trouble when you were there and got actually interested
in something a little bit.
Yeah.
I mean, I was definitely out of trouble at that point.
That was part of me leaving school from there.
I was good. My grandmother put me on the straight narrow.
She's the one that sent me straight.
She didn't let me stray after that.
But from there, I mean, I think I graduated that year.
And if I remember correctly, I graduated, I came home, me and my dad went to
Autorama, never missing Autorama since I was born with him.
And I think if I'm not mistaken, it was the year that Chip had impressions.
So getting this concept of what it took to build those cars and then seeing that
just that one sure left an impression.
Gansley died.
Gansley died.
I actually remember seeing.
Could have been his first love a year later.
It was actually.
I think that your two was when Pinkies had loaded.
Oh, dude, that truck blew me away.
That was like, this truck is amazing.
Yeah.
And then impressions obviously was right up front.
And there was like, oh, that's done.
Yeah.
But the same show, you know, I had actually gotten a job at Inline Tube,
making break lines.
It was a job.
I didn't know that.
The bills.
It was a shit job.
No offense to those guys if they're out there listening, but it was so boring.
I mean, we're making hundreds of break lines a day.
What were you doing there?
What was your.
You start just like cutting tubing, you know, you get your saw, you cut it,
you take it over the flare, you flare the one side, you hand it off to the guy
that's more experienced, either handbend it or run it through their CNC benders.
It was close to home.
It was not close to home.
It was just the first.
I was South of Detroit.
They were just north.
So I was driving like over an hour every day.
But I had to get it.
You know, it's like, I got to do something.
Yeah, get to work.
And so it was your first job after Wattek.
It was.
And then I never knew that.
I'm surprised.
So you don't ever step in and correct him.
I was going to bring it up.
I was going to bring it up.
That's you've got got experience.
Like actually, Tim, experience.
I don't want to go back.
It looks like a 39 degree.
You ask, I have no idea how to do that.
I don't want to.
But that same model Ram, I was walking around with my dad and I kept.
There was a bare metal 53 after you.
F 100 was chopped metal finish, just beautiful metal work.
And I knew that's what I wanted to do.
And my dad just kept pestering me.
Go talk to the guy.
His name was Todd Ryder.
Your Paul Ryder was his dad.
Paul and Todd, older guy.
Paul was a Mt.
Clemens, Michigan friends with like Ron Fournier.
Sure.
They all worked with Ed scutchfield on their hammerwork.
So I just after that, I drove to a shop every day.
It was like 45 minutes from my dad's house and like, give me a chance.
Give me a job.
Don't even pay me.
Whatever it takes to get in here.
If I prove I can do something, then start paying me and he gave me a chance.
And it worked out.
I was there for five years.
I worked with Matt Gergic.
Yeah, we all know.
Sled alley, Sled alley customs.
And basically they were brutal and I fucking sucked.
And they put me in my place and I just had to watch them and learn.
And five years after working there, I saw your guys is that on Craigslist.
And it was oh, wait, it was time to get out of Detroit.
Been here ever since.
When you say they were brutal and put you in your place.
And this is key.
We're going to get to the other stories.
But I'm not trying to.
Because you've been in this for a long time, right?
You've got different standards, especially from a management standpoint.
You've also had a longer work period of time than most of the people that are
working for us.
And you were also treated a certain way.
What give us an example of something that they said that didn't make you go home
and cry and quit even though you wanted to.
Well, I mean, it was daily.
It was a small shop.
You know, there was only it was Paul Todd.
Don Pureneck was one of the main guys who'd been there for years and then
Matt and a couple other guys that were like me that weren't that good.
But it was a small shop where if you weren't producing and you weren't doing
good work, it didn't pay the bills.
And we had a shitload of cars.
But all they did was custom sheet metal shape and metal finishing.
So they're like phenomenal metal guys.
And when I was coming in there and I fucking sucked, it was like you'd catch
them talking to each other.
I come out of the bathroom like this fucking guy can't do anything.
He's fucking loser.
And that's tough.
But what I didn't know is when I got the job, you know, Paul is an older guy
and he was telling him, you wait till you see this young kid.
He went to school.
None of you guys went to school.
His kid went to why.
So he sets you up for.
And then I got there.
I knew nothing, you know, like just barely entry level and especially in
custom sheet metal work, you know, it's it takes a long time.
Yeah.
And those skills and everything they did, there was metal finished.
I mean, if we weren't like filing and picking it, we were letting it.
And that's so old school.
It's such a skill set that I didn't have.
But was it just the sticking with it and not giving up that they finally were
like, all right, well, we'll start showing you more.
I don't think they ever.
Todd would show me stuff.
The rest of it was just like, I don't want to fix your shit.
So figure it out.
And I had to just learn by watching.
There was no training, you know, Paul and Todd eventually would eventually
try to show me some things.
But for the most part, it was figure it out or get out.
There was no protocol whatsoever.
But I mean, it was it was a tough town.
It was a tough come.
You know, they were all badasses.
Like, I was scared of everybody.
Like we'd have fights in the shop and they'd fall one kick each other's ass
and go to lunch together.
Like everybody was so fucking cool in hindsight.
Detroit.
Come with that sort of background.
You know, you've had some hardcore jobs, some rough stuff.
Would you say that those, you know, the tugboat stuff working with those guys?
Is that what made you more bad ass than Josh at this stage?
I think I was born more bad ass than Josh, but it definitely helped.
OK.
I was just trying to get Josh had a lot of jobs, too.
I, you know, but like tire shop stuff and.
You know, car steering or something like that.
Nothing like he wasn't fucking welding docks and working on a tugboat.
And yeah, staying behind a power hammer.
You know, just did you have a mustache when you were a salesman?
It worked out all right for you.
Right. Here we are.
You're an asshole.
That's it. That's all I got.
It's my whole.
Well, we're going to pause on the answer to the ad to the road to shop thing.
We're going to pause there and we're going to circle back around stuff.
So fast forward 30 years.
So Spencer's born. Yes.
So he was just a young boy, Spencer.
Same question. Yeah.
How how and when does it start to click on the I got to find a job?
This is something I'm into.
How do I go about doing that?
It goes a little farther back.
My entire life was kind of groomed towards being a mechanical engineer.
My dad was maybe a different word than groom.
Yeah, your face and groom that is.
It takes me down a different.
He's leaving out the fact that my chemical romance wasn't looking for anybody else.
And I applied every fucking year and they just, you know,
he's a Freddie Mercury thing.
Not big then.
No, you know, this mustache didn't come into play until I got here.
So like a large part of my life, mustachalus, you know.
But my dad was a professor at USC for over 25 years.
Oh, well. And as part of his retirement,
they said any of your kids will have a full ride.
Upon acceptance.
Oh.
So that was kind of like you just have to get accepted, right?
So my whole life, like I was, you know, straight A is four point oh,
like all the extracurriculars, all the other bullshit, all the, you know,
helping out in the community and whatever to to make my.
Application look good. Sure.
And it was always just like, yeah, I'm going to USC.
That was like always that was always it, you know, that was the after high school plan.
So I finally did, you know, my A, A, C, T or all that other stuff.
And I sent off my application and I was like, all right, cool.
Well, I'll just wait to hear back.
I even like I flew down as a 16 year old and like toward the campus, you know,
like that was the plan and I got the letter back.
Plan changed. Plan changed.
Oh, yeah. So that hit hard.
That's years of a plan.
That's my whole entire life, basically, of a plan.
So that was like, oh, shit, I got to figure out something else.
Did they tell you specifically the reason and so share it?
No, they just said, sorry, we're not accepting you.
And it was at 100 percent because they had to pay for me to go there, you know, that like.
Got you. So.
Pivoted.
There was a local college that offered me a full ride.
I didn't want to go to a community college, but it was free.
So I was like, oh, OK, I'll take that.
Hated it. I was there for a year.
It was nothing to do with mechanical engineering whatsoever.
It was, you know, English and speech and ethics and all this other bullshit that I didn't.
I didn't want to do.
I was I wanted to get to the point, you know.
And so after a year in community college, I was like, dude, fuck this.
This is ridiculous.
I remembered Wiotek because we had I was in Welding all four years of high school.
And we had a Wiotek rep every single year.
And I was like, you know what?
My my plan with mechanical engineering was to go into automotive engineering.
It was always automotive based.
If I'm not going to be able to do that, I don't want to do this college shit.
It sucks.
I'm going to be here for another, you know, eight years.
I'm going to go to Wiotek because it was one year program in and out done on with my life.
And at that same time, Cody had plans to go already.
He was like already signed up.
And I was like, I'm coming with you.
I'm going to go, you know, we did the whole thing.
Kicked Wiotek's ass.
Like I was it was so easy compared to everything else, you know, school wise.
That I had done because it was enjoyable.
You know, it was something that I wanted to do.
And I really enjoyed every aspect of it.
So like.
But I went there with a goal in mind.
Like if I'm going to be going to Wiotek and not a mechanical engineer,
I'm going to do the coolest shit that I can.
You know, I'm not going to go be a dealership mechanic.
And then the offense to dealership mechanics.
And then no offense to dealership mechanics.
You're right.
That may or may not be working on any of our vehicles at the dealerships.
Right now, where I'm at, feel free to offend them.
Not having a good experience.
You know, fuck them.
I didn't want to, you know, go through all of this and then just.
You wanted the creative thing.
You wanted you wanted the tip top, you know, whatever.
Was it at all rolling through your head?
What industry you might land in or where you were going to look?
It was hot rods.
A hundred percent. Yeah.
At that point, it was hot rods because that.
Once I had gone off to that, you know, I was I was 19 and I was like.
Starting to think about like where I was going in life and.
Hot rods were always always in the background.
But once the engineering thing kind of didn't pan out, I was like, oh.
OK, so this, you know.
And then the first the first career day came through and it was all just
like mostly diesel because, you know, it was the whole campus career day.
So it was cat and like all these other big diesel companies that were like
hiring anyone that walked up to the booth, you know, and I was like.
Where's all the like the hot rod shops, you know, I had heard about
Wildeck back in the day, Wildeck didn't do a great job of reaching out
to those hot rod shops to make sure that they were like a part of these career
fairs. Yes, I don't respond to emails when you reach out to them either.
So that's like it's it's it's a two way street and they're not doing good
on either side of things.
No offense to Wildeck that may or may not want to sponsor the podcast,
but you could do a better job.
I mean, Tristan, Tristan, a hundred percent.
I mean, a large, a large part of our hot rod shop is Wildeck alum.
And like I haven't heard from them since I graduated, you know, so like.
Yeah, maybe a little offense.
But like I found one little table
that had a dude standing at it with a laptop on it.
And it was like cycling pictures of like rust repair.
And I was like, oh, shit, I got it.
It's not diesel. That's like that's something, you know.
And so I I I talked to him and I was like, hey, what like what do you do?
Where are you from? What's your shop?
And it was that was my in, you know, I it was like the first career fair
came like a month into my being at Wildeck.
So I was obviously like I had nothing to show for it.
But I was talking to him and I was like, dude, I'm dead set on this.
Like, what do I need to do when I graduate to have a job with you?
And he's like, we need an upholstery guy.
I was like, they have an upholstery program here.
Did we just become best friends?
What are we talking about?
I wasn't even signed up for it yet.
Yeah, you know, but they had it.
And I was like, let's do it.
So I extended.
I added another three month program on.
And he was like, if you add upholstery to your curriculum,
I'll hire you when you get out.
Fuck yeah, dude, let's go.
And that was it.
And that was in Lubbock, Texas.
Lubbock. Now, did you go to Wyoming campus?
Yeah, that's the other thing that needs to be noted with Wildeck,
like Pennsylvania and those didn't exist when I first went.
But there was just Wyoming, right?
Yeah. And there is nothing else to do in Laramie.
No, other than go to
Wildeck and try to focus on school.
Yeah, there's nothing.
Or I think now there might be because you University of Wyoming,
UW is there.
But it was a small school.
Not there when you were. It was there.
But it wasn't a very big school.
I mean, there was nothing.
So that's how I went out to visit it when I was, you know, shit.
What, 18 to check it out, thinking about going there.
And it's it's desolate.
It's a very small town.
Very.
Very old, though, you know, I dig the some cowboy shit going on there.
You'd like it. You've been out to learn me. No, I would like it.
It's a great town.
I mean, you're not far from the mountains or we went through there.
Then we go through on tour.
I don't think Laramie, but you do go through there.
You'd have your sheepskin, you know, collared, Jean Jack and on.
You'd you'd flourish there. Yeah.
You could do your whole job.
Sounds like my place.
It's very easy to focus on getting up and going to school.
I mean, they treat it like a job.
There's no outside draws to pull you away from it.
Not a lot of distractions. Yeah.
Yeah. How'd you like doing a poultry Spencer?
I hated it. I don't do it anymore.
I don't I don't do it. I did it for six ish years
on and off in different shops. Yeah.
That's right.
You didn't like it because you never brought up the fact that you have.
Yes, Steve's got that.
He's got that taken care of.
And I've offered on some jobs that are coming through here
that to help Steve on on some of the upholstery side of things.
But I, yeah, it wasn't my daily want to.
All right, we're going to pause there.
Same similar thing. Dakota.
Yes. I mean, I don't know.
It might be the same.
Wildtek story.
You make some.
It's just because I was wandering through the woods
and I found this piece of man I just forged it.
Dude in the trailer and he said, come on in.
I'm going to show you how to use this.
Sounds like a metal shape.
Now, mine's a little different because I'm I could like I'm self taught.
So but I went through with like this long process of like gaining
these little bit of skill sets.
But I mean, like I was like cars for a while.
But I mean, I was going to go to Wildtek,
but I ended up going to jail for a year instead, right?
So I got out of jail. Way cooler.
Yeah, that is more.
We're a little more bad.
Who's the bad ass now, John?
I'll see myself.
Creeping up over John here.
It's the only podcast you can listen to that going to jail.
I was a fucking.
But but after that, my mom was like, you know, you got to do something, right?
So I went to school for welding and then I was a welder for a while.
And then like I'd get sick of welding.
So I go do construction and then do welding and then construction.
And then there was a shop in Ohio because like I like while I was a welder,
I always wanted to do this shit, right?
But nobody would hire me.
So there was a shop way out in Ohio and they were applying.
So I threw my hat in the ring and I ended up getting the job.
So I moved out there for a year and got some experience.
And but like kind of like what you guys were talking about with John,
like, dude, they would pick my shit apart.
Like it was bad.
You know, you had only welding experience before this.
That's it. Like no sheet metal or anything.
No, no prior training.
But yeah, dude, they would pick my shit apart.
But like it hurt inside, but it was like, I'll go back and show them.
Is it a little constructive or just pumped you up to?
Oh, no, it was it was the no constructive criticism.
But like, I remember one vividly, they said, this is dog shit.
It needs to get fixed.
So I was like, oh, God, all right, which is fair, though.
But, you know, hearing that stuff, it kind of like, you know,
yeah, maybe grow, maybe you want to get better.
So but I did that for a year.
And then we ended up moving back because Ohio sucks.
And then I went back to construction and welding for a while.
Phil, move his mic just a little closer.
Oh, sorry. No, you're good.
You can do it.
Um, I was trying to make a little fabric.
But yes, after Ohio went back construction, welding for a while.
And then I actually found Austin Perush
through what Bailey made some highlight on, right?
And I was like, I didn't know that he was an Appleton,
which is like an hour down the road for me.
So I went and applied for him and he didn't hire me.
But while I was there, he told me about some Ferrari restoration shop
that like he used to work at.
So since he didn't hire me, I went and worked there for a year.
And that's where I got like most of like my metal shaping experience.
There's a fallback just working on Ferrari.
He's like, oh, I guess.
I mean, it paid the bills, right?
But, um, but that's where I got like, I would say, most of my experience,
right, like where I really started to gather some some skills and shit.
So and then I went and worked for Austin.
Older dudes working there, like coach builder type guys.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But like not very many like metal shapers and stuff like that.
But like there was like very like specialized jobs.
Like there was one dude's job, like just like sanding trim, right?
Like, but is he available at the moment?
Potentially.
Yeah.
I mean, that's the one thing I'm like, that's why he's doing.
Why are you doing that?
Over there.
But no, yeah.
I mean, that was a cool place to work at though, like I say.
And then I went work for Austin for a little bit and then I ended up here.
So it's been a good, good ride, I guess.
So I worked at quite a few shops and I've seen like what other places have to
offer and this one offers quite a bit.
The projects that you're able to to get your hands on like the road runner,
you know, like nominee shops are going to let you build that, you know.
So yeah.
Yeah, both you guys got some cool stuff out there.
I mean, obviously it's.
You guys get the fucking skills to do it, right?
So the projects that come your way are pretty rad stuff.
So, you know, I'm glad to hear that stuff pumps you up, right?
Because those are those are cars that we're super stoked about that road runner.
If anybody's following, you know, it's it's up on our website.
Yeah, a couple of things landed on social media, but that's a that's a bitch in car, man.
You know, a bucketless car that we've wanted to build.
Yeah, like 10, 15 years and some killer work.
It's gonna be fucking cool.
Rare reverse job to actually add in a quarter inch in the price.
That's what's wild.
Making it.
Oh, it actually need.
And you can tell like it makes it.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's cool to watch.
Like, you know, from afar, I watch a lot of the stuff you do.
And I could see some of those unique little metal shaping tactics you have, you know,
see where your center punch and stuff for your shrinks and like observe.
And I'm like, dude, nose is shit.
You know, this guy's.
Yeah.
So yeah, it's cool to see me.
You're doing some great work on that.
Both of you guys, man, both of you guys doing some killer work.
And for for younger guys, it's a it's very refreshing to see.
You talked about the mechanical engineering thing.
And I've sort of got to like retract a statement, I think I've made before
that I've always told us what is there's probably a whole shit.
But but for right now, this one right now, let's let's focus on this one.
Because you know, a lot of guys, we've had younger guys like come to the shop or,
you know, a friend of a friend that wants to know like what path should I go down
for my few and you're like, dude, mechanical engineering, you know,
it's where it's at.
I got to say, like my thought process on that has totally changed
because the world's changing like fast rapidly.
And that skill set of being able to do things with your hands.
I mean, man, it's like there's some great stuff you can do as a mechanical
engineer, no disrespect to those dudes.
Obviously, you guys know what they bring to the table.
We got some badass engineers here.
But to be like some more of those two.
Yeah, but to be able to create things with your hands, man.
I mean, the the direction that this world's going, that just seems like it is
such a valuable skill set.
It's to have it is.
Well, we've talked about this on a little internally, a little bit different
framing, but I think it applies is.
We could always use more ideas and.
Designs and prints.
However, generally, at any given time, there's way more ideas and prints
and designs than there are the people to make those ideas.
That's the been the bottleneck for years is the people to do.
Well, yeah, yeah, what?
And we've got all the all different types of projects.
There's projects.
Yes, Spencer, you've seen more of them, I think, than you have.
Dakota John, you've obviously seen and been a part of them all.
But we got some stuff that's very engineering based.
You know, even like the Grand National, for example, that car is pretty much
an engineered hot rod right down to the fender flares.
I mean, where bucks were laser cut out of sort of skeletons.
All the sheet metal was pretty well CAD designed.
It folded, not shaped.
But the stuff that you guys are doing, I mean, like that road,
or nobody told you how to chop it, you know, nobody told you.
There's no solid works print for sectioning the car, right?
You know, or stretching the wheel base or reshaping the fender openings.
That's just a body line up.
Yeah, that is old fashioned, like getting the fuck after it,
which that's a skill that is, I think, John, you know, better than anybody.
That's a skill that's almost gone.
Right. It's hard to come by. Yeah, sure.
It's the GTF.
A get in the fuck after it is what I'm going to call it.
I'm going to coin that.
I know. OK. You don't like it.
You don't. Yeah, he doesn't.
I just don't know if you can't coin it in.
I don't think it's probably been said before.
It's so close to get the fuck out.
Yeah, could be confused.
But I'm GTFA.
Just get the fuck after it. Right.
Which is it?
Hi. Hey, just do it.
We're getting a mix of night.
I think he's got that.
Give me some trademark.
There.
You get what I'm getting at.
I like that's a get after valuable, valuable.
I want to get back to John's story.
However, what you're saying, though,
I want to parlays into something
that I was going to bring up and poke a little.
Let's get a side.
And when you're ready to talk about it,
no, get back.
We'll talk about it.
To what you're saying right now.
Staying on that.
I'm just saying that for everybody listening,
we haven't gone away from this.
We're going to get back to it.
We're staying on the thing you just brought up.
And on the engineering side of things
and the amount of fabrication and the skill and the talent.
And like you said, that element.
And I like that.
Sometimes you do have to just get the fuck after it.
There isn't the print.
There isn't the 3D printed jig.
There isn't the line.
There's times that those things come into play.
And there's also times where those shouldn't be a crutch
to do this project.
This project could, should, and could be done
without those things.
Where do you ever find?
We joke about it on here.
As technology improves, as this shop continues to grow,
as the resources continue, the joke's always been like, well,
all you did was weld two pieces of metal that's an angle.
Or you needed the laser to drill that hole.
It's an 1⁄8 inch bit.
It's just popped the fucking hole.
Do you ever find yourself pushing one way or the other
about, oh, I don't have to.
I don't need to run to the engineers for that.
Or versus versus, like, you know what?
I should have went to the engineers
and figured this out a little bit more versus trying
to just get the fuck after it.
But vice versa.
There's a fine line, for sure.
That's in the body shop.
That's something.
Now we're two different places.
They come into play, too.
But it's accuracy and repeatability, I think,
are the two biggest things.
Repeatability, I think.
If we're doing this to do it again, engineering,
let's get them involved.
Let's get a design so that we can do it again.
And then accuracy over a large scale.
If I, there was one instance that I had one of the engineers
do a 1-inch strip, but I needed holes exactly along it.
And it was like a 48-inch strip.
So I'm not, A, I'm not going to cut a straight 48-inch strip
by hand.
And B, lining out those holes all the way along the way.
And it was 10 seconds for him to model that out
and send it to the laser cutter.
That's a time saver and repeatability.
I will say, for the repeatability side,
it's probably best internally we have the discussion
about the terminology or the labeling of those files
if we're going to repeat it.
Because Spencer's dumb little special project.
We don't know what that is to do at the next time
for that same strip.
That's all of a disgruntled engineering.
That all depends on how you approach that engineering.
Hey, man.
We might be able to put a title in there,
48-inch with some holes for this job.
I think if you asked every single guy in the shop
that same question, you're going to get a different answer.
Really?
I think a lot of us view it as a tool.
And there's a time and a place, but also everybody's skill
sets a little bit different.
Maybe the thing that you're best like that,
I probably would have ripped that fonder.
And drill through that.
You probably would have pissed up.
He has a very, very opposing view of designing things
that I do.
There's also an element of I'm used to not having that.
Because when I started, we didn't have that.
So there's an element of how important is this piece?
Like, if my holes are slightly off,
I can lay some holes out pretty damn even.
If it's a little off, is it going to matter?
But like you said, the repeatability.
And I think now as we move forward and the company grows,
one of the biggest things we try to keep in mind
is, is this going to help a customer that buys a chassis
from us as building a car down the road?
Does this need to be communicated to engineering
and the people that know how to use a computer to make
those files?
Because I sure as fuck can't.
And actually document it to where
it's going to help anybody that is a customer of ours as well.
Then yeah, for sure, that's 100% important.
But that's way more smarter and better
answers than I thought.
That's what John runs a fucking shop.
That's what he does.
Well, it's so well thought out.
I understand why you're saying you would get different answers.
That's a fucking compliment.
I'm also a little biased because the shop that I worked at
way back, we got a plasma table.
Like while I was working there, nobody knew how to run it.
And I had experience with CAD.
And so I ran it.
And it changed the game for me.
Like instead of spending three hours cutting out
a little fucking axle bracket and drilling two holes,
it was 10 minutes to design and cut it out on this plasma
table.
And I had the piece quickly.
I see it.
It is exactly a tool.
But I view it as a time saving tool
where I know how long it's going to take me to cut
four of these same brackets out on 10 gauge by hand.
I know that it's going to take me 10 minutes to design it.
Do that.
So that was like I have that bias from previous experience
of being on the side of designing it.
And I know that the engineer on a little 2D scale
lay me out a couple holes, draw a box,
send it to the laser cake.
So it's just if it saves me time, I want to use it.
Right.
Keep going.
You were saying that you had more.
I think it too for us.
We talk about all the time.
Like you bring up the Grand National, like Mike just
knocked that out of the park.
And he's got his ability.
I've known Mike since day one.
We communicate all the time.
So we talk all the time about how the engineers can take it
so far.
They can't take it 100%.
And with what we're doing now, there's
few things that I think we can take 100%
without their input.
Being able to work together, they can present to something
that's maybe 70% figured out, 80% figured out.
You still need guys like this who are
capable and skilled to think that through with doing
complex solutions here to things that have never been done.
And the engineers get us so far ahead,
but it still takes these guys to take it the rest of the way.
And I think vice versa, if they relied on us 100% or we weren't
here, we wouldn't only get so far.
It takes both sides of things and it
will refer us to execute the things we're doing.
Yeah, I think one of the best examples of that
is this project coming out of the pipeline with the Pantera.
That is a mind-blowing exercise in engineering.
You could just ripped it out there by now, right,
on the Pantera.
I would have liked to.
I don't want to wait.
We've been looking at that thing in the shop for two years
just like.
Just let me touch it.
John and I have been looking at it.
Yeah, in our heads, John and I both
are always wanted to build a Pantera,
a huge fucking Pantera fans.
But as long as that car has been sitting here,
Mike has been actively working on.
I'm sure you guys have got little glimpses
of what he's creating.
And it's fucking spectacular.
I mean, it's a game changer in my opinion.
But it will also reach the point where
somebody's still got to build a roof skin.
Somebody's got to shape the fender flares.
Right, yeah.
Let's go over here.
Unless John dusts off the tool box.
Are you going to get your hands dirty on this one, John?
100%.
We'll see how it rests.
Here's the deal.
You got to grow your hair out.
No, I was going to say, that was my,
you dust off the apron.
If you dust off the apron, I'll pay for the plane tickets
to Turkey.
We'll get that thing.
We'll get that thing.
Let's all do it.
Let's just go on a guy's trip.
But I want it down.
Yeah, you're good.
You guys are good.
I want it, you could be the donor.
All the way down.
Just right into the eyebrows.
You can have some.
I'll pay for that today.
I can't drink it.
I'll give him a couple.
They'll grow back.
It's fine.
Yeah, man, but you said,
would you like to just jump on it?
Hell yeah.
Like I think about it all the time.
I'd love to jump on it.
It would not be what it's becoming
because of Mike and the work he's putting into it now.
So yeah, I could build a version of it,
but it is not going to be what we have here with the resources.
Yes, that's right.
The resources that we have,
that we say are a tool,
is what makes a product what it is at the end.
Without one or the other,
it's not going to be the same.
And at the end of the day,
the thing, like you said,
talked about the repeatability side of things
and the efficiency side is,
what's the best for the customer?
Right.
And it's to give the customer that level
at the most efficient as can be
for a scope of work like that.
Because let's face it,
as good of a fabricator as everybody is out there,
like the problem solving along the way,
there's always very minute up to very big
a rework or a change or a,
I'm gonna change this up, blah, blah.
Nothing is not.
I'm just seeing things 10 steps down the line
and figuring where your master cylinder is gonna go
before you start doing your fender fix.
There's no figuring at that point.
That's what we're working on today.
That's literally what me and Mike were working on today.
And it's the same.
But what's interesting about that,
that comes down to experience from car building.
It's like, we, this is a crazy machine, right?
And we're starting to place things.
You're taking everything you know
from physically building hot rods.
And how many mistakes were made?
Yeah, and you're meshing that in
with this crazy engineering to know that like,
dude, I know that at some point
this is gonna have to be serviced, right?
I know that when I put it together,
it's gonna go like this.
I know that it's gonna function like this.
It's not gonna function like this.
I'll squirt bottle in a little hose or whatever.
Yeah, but we're trying to hurt all that stuff.
And like to John's point,
like we could have built that car together 18 years ago.
Your first day on the job when you came here,
you and I, you know, at that point,
I think I was still working out in the shop.
You and I could have grabbed that car.
We could have built something that looked like it.
It wouldn't be a fraction of what we're creating
from a performance and functionality standpoint
because metal shape, yeah, you build some cool ass shapes.
But the collaboration is...
It's the perfect unit.
Metal-peasure, major pedal ratio forever
and not get it right.
Exactly, yeah, we'd be like physically laying stuff out.
And to be honest with you,
it just takes experience as well
of just doing it over and over again
to realize like, see to your pants feel.
And engineering is one thing,
but physically driving cars, 10, 20, 30, 40, 100 cars
and realizing like, well, that doesn't work.
You know, I don't like the way that feels.
I think that's a key point of what you're saying is
it does, I mean, it's very simple,
but we're talking through it in a longer format
is it does take all of those different aspects,
those individuals, their individual talent base
and their individual tribal knowledge
and all of the equipment and all of the tools
because the greatest of engineers
can design anything really, really good
if you don't have 30 years of mistakes of the real world
of like you said, of like, well, when you build that car
and you hang that fender in that way
and that goes into there,
I don't care how structurally sound it is
and how good it looks, that won't work.
Or that ratio needs to be tweaked with these brakes
and we need to do it.
It all has to work together.
You can go out and hire five engineers tomorrow
and have all the stuff you want.
The, and it's not, the experience is fun
is a more sexy way of saying,
you haven't fucked up as many times as we have
to realize what not to do.
Right.
That's priceless.
I mean, well, there's a big price associated.
Well, yeah.
Fucking up.
Phil could tell you exactly the price.
He could probably tell us plus or minus like 100 bucks.
Like what that budget costs.
We have numbers floating over our heads.
Yeah.
And there's seven figure numbers.
But it, I mean, we're, it's so true
because there's times that, I mean, we've had all,
we've all had these discussions
and you know, you know, troubleshooting or something like that.
You go buy the book of tribal knowledge
of what they say you never should do.
And this was done exactly the way this is done.
And in real life, it just doesn't work.
So then you have to drop back and punt
and then you learn and you're like,
hey, remember on the last one,
it's not exactly what that is.
You've got to air to this side and you know,
this flow actually is this
and this pressure is actually this.
It feels better if you do this.
Yeah.
Well, I think that hopefully that's something
that you guys are learning that, you know,
I try to instill I think that like even you've,
you've just recently experienced it.
As long as we do this, you never have all the answers.
You always encounter things that you're like,
oh, shit, that, why, why isn't that?
We did everything right.
And why is that doing that?
But the important thing is, is that you chase it
and you stick with it and you keep fucking chasing it
until it's perfect.
You fix that, you eat it, you eat a little bit.
You know, any of the guys, again,
I'm going to knock Roger a little bit on his,
you got to charge for every minute.
Dude, you're constantly evolving,
you're constantly learning.
You learn from that, you'll catch up on the next one,
you know, because you're going to apply it on the next one.
You keep getting better and you keep getting better.
And you know, maybe when you're,
And learn from it.
Maybe when you're 67 years old,
maybe you got it kind of all figured out that,
You just make a last mistake.
The worst thing that can ever happen
is the thing that fixed itself overnight.
And it stopped doing it.
You come back in the next day,
if you've been chasing it, you're like,
well, it's not doing it anymore.
Because then you didn't learn from it
and you don't know how to not.
You don't know what it was.
And you don't know what fixed it, but it's gone.
Fuck.
Yeah, that's horrible.
Because it's going to come back.
Dude, my, the best example I have of that,
of like fixing something and fixing it accidentally.
I think, you know, you guys come from a generation
where you've got, you got a lot of YouTube stuff.
You've got, there's resources to like,
find metal shaping information.
When I first started doing it, you know, you can attest this.
There was no information out there
besides the sheet metal shapers handbook from Ron Fornie,
and a handful of VHS tapes, right?
From LVHS.
Exactly.
You had to make sure like, you had to separate the red VHSs
and the, you know, the green VHSs and make sure you got,
when you, when you want to.
I know what a VHS is.
Fuck you.
From Ron.
Huh?
No.
Oh, just all of your VHSs.
He was looking at me like,
I don't know about what a VHS is.
I don't know about the other ones.
Crusty Four, baby.
I'm telling you.
Crusty Four was, that is misleading.
It was like 2003.
Or, I'm leaving.
I'm building these hood sides for a 32-4.
And I'm like, I'm putting this crazy little scoop in it
that follows the tire.
And I put a bunch of shape in these things too.
You know, I tried to take them, you know,
the cowl on a 32's got a little more shape
than the grill shell, so I kind of faded it out.
I wheeled the whole panel out, made this scoop.
And then when I welded the scoop,
the panel just like turned into a fucking potato chip,
you know?
And, you know, honestly, at that point,
nobody told me, full disclosure,
I didn't know when you welded something.
I didn't know you had to stretch it back out.
There was just nobody ever there to tell me
that you hammer on a dolly and you stretch that metal back.
I fucking didn't know.
So I'm looking, I'm like, this panel is fucked.
And I-
You throw a temper tantrum.
Yeah, I was having a temper tantrum.
You just throw it away.
I was about ready to throw it away.
And I'm trying everything.
And finally, I take the panel, I turn it upside down.
I'm so pissed off.
I just start beating on it on the table with my body hammer.
And all of a sudden, the panel starts relaxing.
And I'm like, oh, fuck.
There was nobody there to just tell me-
That's not for it to click.
Yeah.
And all of a sudden it's like, oh, OK.
And then you're like, that's what the dolly.
I grew up in body shops.
And like a dolly with something you grabbed and you smacked
on like the back of a big guy.
Yeah, on the back of a big guy.
I didn't know that you were like, on that thing?
If I impact, I made it this way.
And impact, I'll make it this way.
Yeah.
So that was like an aha moment.
And you learned from those mistakes.
And it was like, dude, that from there?
Absolutely.
Just you live with it.
All right, we're going to get into the hiring experience here.
I will, on the repeatability side,
just to poke fun at all of ourselves and this industry
and the customer as well.
We tried to like hang our hat and puff our chest out.
I'm like, well, we're doing these engineering things.
Because we can repeat it.
We can build the same thing again.
They're into the world.
In the day, on the Grand National thing, guys like, man,
I want to build that one.
I want to do this flares.
And then either the customer and or us,
are going to be like, the next time.
Are we going to do this first?
We're going to get a little bit wider and then bring them down
a little bit and we're going to make them just a little bit.
Well, we already got the jigs.
I know, but this we can't build the same car twice.
So we guys could be better.
Let's do it on a cut, like she said.
Everybody out there is laughing because they
do the exact same thing.
You could repeat the exact same car.
But I mean, like, what's the fun of that?
That's ridiculous.
That and we got big jigs sitting around the fucking shop
for three years.
Yeah.
Did we ever throw those away?
Probably.
Yeah.
We'll just say no.
They're here.
I know exactly where they are.
I know.
They're under the they're under the frame table.
A lot of stuff.
With all the rest of the jigs.
Some interesting.
So you see the ad for Roach's Shop hiring.
What year was this, the 17 years from 2001 to 2002?
That was a newspaper article.
You're terrible at math.
Oh, I am.
It's 26.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I am.
It's the first year we were in this facility.
Yes.
So brand new.
Damn.
Roach's Shop was in a completely different place.
Not physically.
In the same place.
But same place.
Completely different place business wise.
You were a completely different place on the shop floor side.
You were also in a completely different place
than you are now skillset wise.
So walk through that.
I want to hear from both sides.
I want to hear, you know.
No, let's not do that.
You want to hear Jeremy's assessment of that?
Yeah.
I did.
I'll do that.
Yeah.
We still have the website with the buttons with the flames
on them.
I honestly don't know.
You walked through with a fucking black eye.
Yeah, that's straight.
First of all.
Did you really?
Yeah.
Badass.
So you were scared of him.
A little.
Yeah.
Was he this big?
No, not even close.
No, he's a little dude.
But just a little guy.
A little guy.
Quiet and like just got.
A little guy with a black eye.
That's like, John has a unique skill set
that not a lot of people have.
And it is to get the fuck after it thing.
There's not a lot of guys out there that work the way
that John works.
And that's, you're going to fucking do a project.
Like you're fucking working on that project,
like until that fucking project is done.
And that was from the moment you came in,
that was like your attitude.
It wasn't like, let's talk about metal shaping
and let's be buddies.
It was like, what do you want me to do?
And I will fucking do it.
And like still to this day, I mean,
we fuck around a little bit more nowadays.
We got a better relationship.
You know, we've grown to know each other after 18 years,
but that was what it was.
It was a little bit of a black guy,
which raised a few questions.
But other than that, it was come in fucking knock it out.
You're like, no ego, no bullshit, just a no bullshit.
This is what I can do.
Do you want to hire me?
Let me know.
So you're a little scared of it.
It's because he had to go.
I'm reading between the lines in here.
I mean, the black guy.
Yeah, it's like, how did you get the black guy
from fucking fighting?
He had an ego before the black guy.
No, that's accurate.
All tracks.
No, it's good to hear, though, because the truth is,
I was just scared shitless.
Really?
Yeah.
I mean, you got to think it was 08.
I had barely heard of the roaster shop, no offense,
but there was no outlet.
What I remember is my old shop, Todd, had gone.
I don't know.
The blue F100 you guys had built right before I
started.
Yeah.
Was that a good guy's?
Yeah, it was a good guy's truck of the year.
We finished it at the Elgin shop,
and that was probably the last vehicle we finished there.
So I remember my old boss had made the big trip
from Mount Clemens, which is north of Detroit,
to that good guy's show.
When he came back, he was raving about the roaster shop
truck.
Other than that, I didn't have.
I mean, we were a hot rod shop.
We were boxing frame rails and maybe dropping a heights fraud
in.
But other than that, we were restoring metal
and then sending it around the door.
Shaper.
So it was 08, and I had bought a house with the money.
We were working our asses off to pay the bills,
and Detroit was crashing.
And it was just time to do something else.
I was actually on Craigslist looking to go back
into marine construction.
Because I made more money doing that than I did as an entry
level fabricator.
It was probably hurting at that area, though, I'd imagine.
The shop is still there.
I mean, all credit to the morn.
Marine shit.
Yeah, that never fails.
In Detroit, up in the morn.
Really, even in that era?
Oh, yeah.
That's like the first.
I mean, the marine industry fucking
was tanking in the 0809 crisis.
It was, but the majority of that business was big sea walls.
You've got all the factories along the water.
Commercial stuff.
Not yacht shit.
Yeah.
Yeah, we did a lot of the yacht shit,
and that was just our niche.
But the industry was huge.
All been down the waterfront is all the factories.
I think that's a playlist known spotify.
Yeah, it definitely is.
It's pretty good, too.
Play that yacht shit.
But when I went on there looking for a job doing marine
construction, again, one ad popped up,
and it says Hot Rod Builder, Fabricator, Pole Max, Sheet
Metal, I was like, there's no fucking way this is real.
Especially at that time, it was such a specific switch.
Well, there was so much of that.
You never knew what was real on Craze.
I know.
There's a story there we might need to stop.
I know.
So for me, I was like, this doesn't even line up
that I'm going to see this.
And then it says Chicago on it on top of it,
but you guys had put the ad out across the entire Midwest,
to my knowledge.
So I called and no idea who was going
to be on the phone, lo and behold, it was Jeremy.
I didn't know right from left.
I didn't know who you were.
I remember I was like, yes, sir.
I'll be there, sir.
Thinking I'm talking to an elderly owner of this shop.
Because that's what I knew.
My owner was much older.
But I looked at it as a free trip to Chicago,
which in 08, as a young 25-year-old, I couldn't just do.
They were going to put me up in a hotel
and loaded up on Friday with my wife and kid
and drove out here, showed up on Saturday.
And when I got here, there wasn't a single person in the shop.
Lights were off.
I remember I walked through the front door.
I was wearing a fucking sweater.
Like, I was like, I'm going to dress nice.
I was wearing a sweater.
Yeah, I can kind of remember it.
Yeah, it was me dressing up nice for an interview
at a big company.
With a black eye.
And an air watch, probably.
So I had just straight steel toe boots on,
always rock steel toes.
Yeah, I was nervous.
Except for the balances now.
Let's just squash the black eye.
I was like, I did box.
It was like, all I wanted to do growing up.
I didn't start doing it until I was 20 years old.
I was boxing right super close to my trainer,
like, lived in the gym.
I had a sparring match the day before I left.
And I was so nervous.
I was so on.
Out of it.
I got my ass kicked.
Afterwards, he's like, what is wrong with you?
Why are you performing so bad?
I was like, well, I got a job interview tomorrow.
I'm really nervous.
So I got punched in the face a few times beforehand.
That should be really good.
I got annihilated.
I was so fucked up.
I was trying to put ice on it the whole drive here.
Not to mention, coming from Michigan, I grew up there.
I remember coming through Chicago with my Magellan fucking.
GPS.
Just getting lost in Chicago, spinning me in circles.
As soon as you go underground, it's just GPS.
Yeah, it didn't know what to do.
It took me forever.
I got in at 2 in the morning.
But you were up front working on a chopper you just bought.
And completely disregarded me when I came in.
And this big, fat, loud, obnoxious guy's like, oh,
you're here for the interview.
Let's go in the back.
I'll show you what we're doing.
And I'm like, oh, this must be it.
I was like, this must be Jeremy Gerber.
And he starts just grilling.
Just grill me.
What can you do?
Don't scratch anything.
So right away, I come in, lights are off.
Here's a toolbox.
Use whatever tool you want.
I think it was a 68, Camaro.
Yeah.
And it's like, here's this Matt Hodge custom pop-up fuel
filler.
I want you to sync this thing with the back end.
Matt Hodge hot match.
Sync these custom machines.
Don't scratch this shit.
Tape it up.
Don't scratch it.
Don't fuck this up.
And they walked away.
Went back up front, working on these shoppers.
And I'm like, what the fuck am I doing here?
I was sitting in the back all by myself.
To me, this shop was massive.
Nothing I've ever seen before.
There's cars everywhere.
Every car on the shop floor is either customer about to be
and just completely out of my element.
And I was literally about to just walk out and say,
I can't fucking do this.
And I was walking up to talk to you guys and I go,
wait, I don't fucking work here.
What do they get you?
Fire me?
I just grabbed a cut off wheel and started
cutting the back of the car.
What are they going to do?
I don't work here.
Oh, that's right.
You can't fire me.
I don't even work here.
I'm just like he said.
So to hear his perspective of John just came in and got it.
No, I was no idea what I was doing.
I was like, oh, I can do whatever.
I don't work.
He can't fire me.
They could tell you me.
Worked all day.
Just rocked this shit out.
French the taillights in.
And you guys come up to me and say, hey, let's go grab lunch.
Went to Applebee's across the street,
which is where I realized.
Damn, you had an Applebee's?
There was.
Yeah, right where that, what the hell's the pizza?
It's out of business to me.
It's also out of business.
We have like.
Applebee's was a food wasteland around here.
And you'd.
But I go, well, I mean, they ran me pretty hard.
It was like, get this done.
And I did.
I think I finished it all on Saturday.
Grilled me.
That's why I realized you were actually Jeremy, not Rob,
because Rob was so boisterous and just kind of.
He's a little more outgoing than me.
You know, 100% like, kill us the truth.
Are you trouble?
You trouble.
You got a black guy.
What's with the book?
It's like we don't need trouble around here.
You know, you're here to work.
And I was planning on just heading back and you said, no,
you told me you can shape.
I need you to come back on Monday and shape something.
OK.
I kind of need to be back to work.
So I called off sick.
Showed up on Monday.
It was a completely different story.
I mean, there was people everywhere.
This place was chaos.
Like the radio is blaring to the point where you have to have
headphones in.
There's 30, 40 guys just crushing on cars.
There was nobody here Saturday.
Monday morning, the place is packed.
Jamming out, frame rails.
Everybody's doing custom metal work.
And it was a completely different animal.
And you just sent me on the pole max.
You were like, make something.
And again, no idea what I was going to do.
So I was like, Jesse James, fucking, I'm
making a mini motorcycle tank.
Like make a little peanut tank.
And then I was like, I got to get back to work.
You know, I got to get back to my job.
And you sat me down.
You're like, whatever it takes to get you here, we want you here.
You tell me you name your price.
And I was unwilling to do it because Paul and Todd had kind
of taught me all the skills.
And I said, I need to go back and give my boss
us plenty of notice.
So I ended up giving him two months' notice.
Got my house on the market.
And I remember I showed it back up in October.
And I pulled up and Jeremy was like, who the fuck are you?
Like, you didn't even remember.
I think you were coming back.
We were really hiring back.
Oh, it's interesting.
It was surprising.
There was people everywhere.
Yeah.
It was a crazy fucking era.
We had, like, Johnson, there were like 30, 40 fabricators.
We were going like gangbusters in the hot rod shop.
It was insane.
The amount of guys that were building shit when I walked
in the door on Monday was absolutely insane.
And that was like the peak of me doing a poor job of managing
the shop while trying to actually be a fabricator.
So juggling everything that it's like, dude, head down six
days a week, just physically work.
And then it's like, oh, shit, we need some guys.
We need to let them make fire.
This Craigslist ad up.
And get this dude out here.
And you can't run a business like that, which I later learned.
But yeah, it was massive distraction.
Have we tried a Craigslist ad lately?
No, no.
Does it even still exist?
Yeah, it still works.
Yeah, I go on every time, time.
Yeah, really?
It does still exist.
It died out pretty well when you had to pay for your listing
and marketplace.
Got it.
Facebook Marketplace.
Facebook Marketplace.
Sort of.
Kind of was the death of it.
Yeah.
I begged a different home for the reason why it died out.
But.
Misconnection.
I don't think it was that.
The thing is, at that time, it was.
Like as a fabricator, though, it couldn't have been better.
I'd come in every day, and Jeremy would be like,
hey, we make this hood scoop.
Make the hood scoop.
And he'd be like, go make this dashboard.
I never had to follow through with a car.
As a fabricator, it was just go build this.
And every single thing in the shop
was just off the top of the head.
Whatever you thought of.
We'd sit back.
We'd look at lines, profiles, just something
that's going to look badass.
We didn't have a designer.
We didn't have engineers.
There's all just Jeremy calling the shots on the shop floor.
Every day, we say that, a cliche thing.
Oh, it's something new every day.
Fucking something new every single day.
And it was just how far we could push it,
and can we actually make this thing so.
As a custom fabricator, the first five years was like a blur.
I think the first year, I worked on 14 different cars.
And it was, every single thing was custom.
And we had guys that were coming in that were just
custom metal shapers, like Sammy, who was super skilled.
So you could look up to him.
You had Chad here, who was rocking stuff out.
Like you could look up to these guys.
And still just every, you had no choice
but to put your head down and just get stuff done.
Because every single car was just more badass
than the next one.
There was no platform.
There was no blueprint.
It was whatever you came up with on that day.
Went for it.
Yeah.
Which is how I ended up kind of the way you describe me.
It's like, just get it fucking done.
We'll figure it out.
This is it.
Go for it, man.
Which is a totally different animal now.
I mean, Dakota, you haven't said much in a while.
But I don't like, I remember when we hired you,
you were kind of working on your own in a shop.
So I'm kind of curious how you feel about it coming in now.
And the amount of stuff and resources
and the way we do things compared to working on your own.
Yeah, dude.
It's insane, right?
So like the amount of engineering that we get.
So like the floor pans when we get them and receive them.
Like it's already done.
And that shit takes forever just to make a simple floor pan
by hand.
So it's a world of difference.
But I only worked for myself for about a year.
But even when I first came in, the amount of people
that are in this building is overwhelming.
So I don't know.
But it's clearly I've gotten used to it.
Yeah, a lot of different departments, a lot of different
stuff that's got to get done.
Which I think is, it's always been a little overwhelming
for people coming in or even sort of hit on.
Even back almost 20 years ago, walking in.
And it's just a lot of people.
I think that can discourage people.
Yeah, oftentimes.
Because they think it's like you say,
you look in the parking lot, there's a ton of cars out there.
There's a lot of people, different departments.
But the reality, when you look at what you do on a day to day
basis, is it a massive corporate hot rodding entity?
Or is it like, dude, you're working with John.
It's John, me.
You got Spencer next to you.
There's about six other guys in that hot rod shop.
And there's two totally different businesses going on.
Right, right, right.
No, like day to day, it's just like you say, it's the core
of the group of guys in the fab shop is all I deal with.
But just initially walking in, it's like, holy shit, man.
Because John shown you in the World Shop and stuff.
But you had two different interviews.
Correct, correct.
Talk us through that.
I mean, I think I applied five years ago now,
the first time I applied.
And I didn't get it, of course.
But no, I mean, to be fair, I used to drink a lot back then.
And like, was that the reason you didn't get it?
Do you think I identified that?
Or what do you think?
No, no, no.
I was, I did not work very hard that day.
And so we had a phone interview.
And then you were like, all right, in like three weeks,
come on down.
And I thought you had forgot about me,
because we didn't email from that.
He did.
We didn't email from that point on.
So I just thought, oh, fucking, he forgot about me.
So I'm not going to go down there.
So that day, I got drunk all day.
And then you were like, hey, I'll see you tomorrow, right?
I'm like, oh, fuck, dude.
So I had to have my wife try to be all the way down here.
But I drank the whole way down.
So when I got up.
OK, you're right.
He's more bad at it than me.
My story is shit.
But then we got to the hotel.
And I was pretty drunk, so I went to bed.
But I got up the next day, and I was like, holy fuck, man.
I drank a lot.
It's hurt a little bit, huh?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I worked with Scott, and I didn't do much, to be honest.
So you guys seen it right.
You know what I mean?
But to be fair, I don't think I had the skill set at the time
to come in here and give you guys what you needed.
But then four years later, came in.
Yeah, it all worked out, because your second
interview rocks, though.
Came in and just nailed it.
I wanted to get Spencer's take on it,
as far as coming into after working at some shops
and seeing that.
We've heard from John Dakota.
We've talked about the intimidation factor, right?
We've talked about it a lot.
And I've got two differing opinions, right?
And neither one of them are right.
There's one side of me being an older,
crotchety old man, right?
Is like, if you come in and you're so close to it,
real close, if you come in and you're so intimidated,
and you don't think you've got the skill set,
and you don't have the confidence, stuff like that,
then maybe you don't.
But then there's the other side of whatever.
It's like, the times are changing, right?
It's 2026, and there's people that do struggle
with confidence issues.
And they probably do have the skills to get a position here,
right?
And then they can learn to the next step.
So you've got both sides of the coin.
But how do you position, like it's
difficult to position the shop and the entity
and what's being built and the quality, and also be like,
but dude, let's just see what you got.
You might be OK, right?
It's a difficult conversation to have to say,
we only hire the best.
And then how many are you leaving on the table?
Like, think that they're not the best.
But they are really, there's, you know this.
How many that think they're the best aren't?
It's generally that.
The guys that don't think they've got it are that fucking good.
The guys that think they're the best usually aren't.
And the guys that don't think they're the best usually work out.
Tell me about how badass you are.
You're the one coming in here.
I'm so bad.
He has never actually said that he's the badass.
Everyone else has.
Yeah.
Maybe you guys even asked a podcast with my dad was a badass.
And raised. Yeah.
He said, we did.
He did.
So funny.
My dad's like, he does have the same connotation.
You told me stories.
I know.
We have the same exact sort of bravado.
So is my seven year old.
Where did?
So is my seven year old.
He's going to be the baddest.
Oh, he is.
We're done finishing the shops liberty deathmatch.
He was up there.
He was way up there.
It's been a while since we've had Henry find a way
to kill me, even though we're friends.
With a goldfish and a water bottle.
That's still the best story.
Yeah.
He makes it.
He makes it.
But I don't know.
Doris wins every time.
There's nobody can beat Doris.
Doris.
I thought it was Doris.
I'm pretty sure it's Doris.
Doris comes in so late in the game.
And then anybody that's left is top of echelon.
But you cannot beat Doris.
Frank John made it pretty far.
Frank John made it to way far all the time.
I think Frank John usually wins chassis side.
Yeah.
That makes sense.
What about Dustin Matisse?
Where's he on that?
I think he was up there.
He makes it far.
But he gets a little cocky with the weapons.
And it takes him.
What about that dude that's built like a rhino?
Who is that guy?
John.
Oh, Kyle.
Yeah, that guy.
So he's my brother-in-law.
Like a rhino.
Dude, you know.
Kyle's a sweetheart, though.
So I don't know if Kyle would.
He doesn't have the cure.
Yeah, I think he would get close.
And then at the last minute, even Spencer
could be on his deathbed and then stab.
Because he wouldn't be able to finish her.
He'd be like, oh, no.
Help this little Spencer.
And I'd be like, ha!
You like shot a bird.
Like the first time you shot with a BB gun.
Yes.
You're OK.
You're OK.
I vividly remember that.
It's OK.
Bullseye.
It was such a good idea.
In and out.
I followed the way through and I was like, yeah, you can fly.
Yes.
Oh, look.
Yeah.
It was such a good idea until you blew the beat off
a cardinal.
When it's like flopping on the ground, like, ah, shit.
Maybe I'm a bad person.
So that's where Kyle lost.
I am the baby bird.
Yes.
He made it far.
Made it far.
Yeah.
God, I wish we remembered who the.
Wow, we really got a.
Oh, these are important.
I mean, that could be its own podcast, really.
Celebrity deathmatch of the shop.
Employee deathmatch.
Only the shop would listen, but it'd be great.
Yeah, we had a lot of fun with that.
And then the feats of strength.
Feats of strength.
Feats of strength was before your time.
Spencer was around for him.
I was around for a couple of them.
And they're, you know.
Feats of strength were fun.
What were the, what kind of categories
did you guys have?
So if it's a strength would be like Friday after work.
Ask John about a phone book.
We'd start drinking some beer.
And then it was true.
I wouldn't give him shit about a lot of things.
But that's true.
Like, dude, who can read?
Can you rip a magazine in half?
And oh, gee, there's no way.
And then somebody would just take a magazine,
like a regular, you know, modern rotting or something.
You rip that.
Right.
Definitely not a Dupont registry.
That's not how.
No.
But then it would step up.
It's like, dude, you think you rip a Speedway cattle in half?
You get a Speedway catalog, you know, which is a little thicker.
Yeah.
Dude, sure enough, somebody rip the fucking Speedway.
You've got the technique.
John.
Much like.
And then as things go on, like it kind of gets in the
car catalog.
It would step up and then it would be like, hey,
go grab a master catalog, see if this motherfucker can rip.
Which is obvious and nobody can.
Nobody ripped the McMaster, but what else?
I fucked up 17,000 pages.
Yeah.
Snap-on catalog, I mean, it's pretty thick.
It's probably an inch and a half thick.
You do broomsticks and other sticks over the knee and stuff
like that.
Yeah, the broomsticks over the knee is a great idea.
That's why we don't have very many.
Yeah.
That's the reason.
Then it would turn into Ben and Barstock.
We'd start Ben and Barstock.
Yeah.
You know, WorldStrux.
Finding people stuff around.
Then there's the jump on the fat cables.
I was waiting for that.
Dangerous.
Who broke themselves?
Never happened.
Someone broke themselves on jumps.
I think I'm missing part of a shin, though.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, it was John.
Yeah, John was the one that.
High jumps.
High jumps.
High kicks.
These are all high kicks.
These are all things that build camaraderie.
Yeah.
There's sprints.
Josh is.
Oh, there has been two.
It's all drag rings.
I'm sure it turns out.
Can we start bringing these back?
We should.
Dude, if you want to hang out on Friday night,
listen, have some.
Friday is for a while.
We got to dust it off.
Friday night beers have been dusty for a while,
and I think they could.
I was a high kick champion for a long time.
Still running.
I don't know if we can bring that back.
I think you still are.
I think you just.
It's been some years.
You take the high kick.
We'd have to stretch.
I don't know.
Owen's here now.
And he's pretty tall.
Yeah.
But is he flexible?
You have no idea.
Yeah, he's not.
You have no idea.
Josh might be slitted by his jeans now.
It's the same jeans I was wearing.
The top of a well-dressed galley type.
I don't think Owen's getting off there.
Yeah.
Did you ever over kick yourself?
Did you ever go over?
I've never done it.
No.
No, I've never.
Just to whoop see.
I've never out kicked my planting.
It's difficult, and especially chucks in a shop floor,
sometimes they get a little slick on the bottom.
And skid jeans.
Get a little light.
I've been telling him, busting out dickies again.
I'll bust out dickies.
I'll get you another four inches on that high kick.
On the inseam or?
Well, on the high kick because of the inseam.
OK, gotcha.
The best part of the feats of strength
is it's always a Friday night.
And if you come in on a Saturday.
Disaster.
Just hold on.
The guys that come in to work on Saturday, like what?
I always wondered who cleaned that up.
The guys that come in on Saturday.
The guys that come in on Saturday.
Remember, because everything that got bent or ripped or broken
just kept getting piled up in the center.
It was just like next to the trash can.
Not like.
The broom thing, the people don't understand the broom thing.
Yes, stupid.
And it costs money.
I think they understood that part.
Yes, it's stupid.
Yes, it costs money.
It's also, we're talking about industrial brooms.
We're talking about brooms from U-line, right?
These are big.
Well built.
It seems for a novice that's listening,
that seems easy.
You know how difficult some of those broom handles
are to break.
Some guys left with some bruised thighs.
Oh, there was lots of attempts.
Very limited do's.
Yes.
Well, we were punching through.
Frank John punched through some stuff.
What were we doing then?
You remember that hammer fist?
plywood.
Something else.
O.S.B.
plywood.
We got O.S.B. from the creating department.
I'll get with LAO.
Then we were doing dead lifts on.
I have a little video at it.
I can implement right about here to show.
Well, perfect.
That is perfect.
Was he hammer fisting him or punching?
I don't know that I have him.
I have you kicking the shit out of one with a heel kick.
Did I go through?
Yeah.
And I got Kyle bent in his knee completely backwards.
Was it good?
Yeah, I'm the right dumb.
Oh, he tried to come down on it.
Yes.
And his knee just went out.
Oh, how thick was this O.S.B.?
I mean, like half inch?
Oh, right on.
Oh, you got decent of moves back.
There's people just checking out right now.
Is this a ridiculous podcast?
No, dude.
This was a show of my fun.
Listen, there's young shops that they're taking notes.
They're taking notes and they're like, yeah, that's what we need to do.
Oh, Friday.
It's Thursday.
It's almost Thursday.
One more.
Do we got to get grab the McMaster catalog, get the snap on catalog?
So how many broomsticks we got here?
This is we're going to go to home.
People you get.
I'm going to tell a quick cheapest brooms.
I'm going to tell a quick little one.
I'm going to tell a quick little one.
And I'm going to we're in the Scotch now.
And I'm going to Scotch.
I'm going to do Orphanville.
No, there was time.
There was a time years and years ago, 16 that may or may not have been at this
location. It wasn't in Mexico in Mexico that me and you were here late one evening.
And we I had gotten you a gift and you had had it for a while.
And we decided to try it out and it shoots.
It was the same to shoot things.
Yeah, it's objects.
Yeah, it's a it's a little bit of a derringer, right?
And we were shooting it into wood.
And there were about like 789 times in and shooting it.
And then it caught a piece of the wood that didn't want to be shot.
And it returned fire.
And that was the end of the shoot.
It was literally like.
We were we were five year olds laughing, laughing, laughing.
Oh, my God, this is so much fun.
Oh, shit. Full blown adults like, all right, we got that's enough of that.
We're put that's no more of that right now.
We could die. Yeah.
Just.
It was the fastest serious moment of like, yep.
No more.
So terrifying.
The worst part is that's not the first time I've seen Jeremy do that.
Yes, I know.
I've heard of it.
It's all fun and games until it's not.
The frame.
And we never found where that stray went.
You remember that 100 percent.
It got, you know, there was a full blow.
This was you were talking years ago.
It was 30 years ago, 30 years ago.
And in Mexico is a gun builder.
So we always, yeah, had various firearms.
So we set up like a shooting range and then the frame.
We're all shot. But yeah, right.
It's fucking shooting range.
We had actually double duty.
All of the two spectators.
It could be two things.
This is after hours.
Yeah, completely safe.
Right. And we're probably one room.
It's a meeting room.
What do you think we had 20, 20, 30 yards out?
How far do you think they were in the body shop?
Yeah, just kind of like with like sand behind it and all the safety.
So we still have to go to the coast.
We had a bunch of skids.
I mean, we were, I think, safety conscious.
We had a bunch of skids and then we periodically put like
pieces of steel in between them, like a piece of plate steel.
Right. And then it started with like nine
millimeter stuff and just graduated, you know, into, you know, like RPGs.
As it does. No, I mean, 556 you know, you're.
And then it got to the point where it's like, where did it go?
You know, where did the boat?
It went through all the things.
Where'd it go? You know, well, I specifically remember one
that didn't hit any pallets, but made a very loud tingy noise
with no idea where it went because the three of us kind of did like.
Are you good?
You good?
I can just shut the lights off.
It's such a sobering like fun.
Fun is over.
We don't keep.
We don't keep rolling the dice after that.
You know, you gotta have fun in building.
It's a team.
The check has to happen.
I mean, you look back, we did a lot of stupid stuff.
There's a whole there's a massive file on the server of all video stuff.
But the reality is like we lived here, you know, we were we were fucking working.
Our ass is off seven days a week.
Yeah. You know, it would be.
I mean, that was the era when we were doing like lime crush.
And Sunday morning, you're here Sunday.
And it's like, dude, you never know who's walking in.
You're you're walking in with some leather straps for the car that you built at home.
Chad's here.
I'm here here.
Like, dude, we just the shop was always open.
So there was no separation of home life and shop life.
It sort of mixed all in.
So if at midnight, you know, after you got a bunch of shit done, then
stress relief has to decide that you wanted to turn the frame rail shop
into a shooting range.
You know, that's what you did.
Oops. I mean, if he's.
And now you hear it like that.
It seems like it makes complete sense.
It makes sense. Yeah. Yeah.
At Gulesby, when you were doing when you guys were working the same schedule
we were you guys were at the same shows, debut in cars.
Was it any different?
No, 100 percent not.
There was no different.
The thing that got out of hand, our biggest thing was
Buddy David Howell is a electrician.
He showed us how to do
wirenet guns with conduit and EMT.
And you take a red wire nut, right?
Air powered.
No, it's just a blowgun.
Just a blowgun, but the perfect fit and the length
you would be amazed at.
We've heard the perfect fit and you've been hit with a with a red wire nut.
I can't.
I'll show you.
And the thing that you can do is you can bend them and it follows that
so you can shoot around corners and stuff.
But you're also doing that in a hot rod shop and paint and body shop
that's shooting wire nuts everywhere.
So they kind of got out of hand.
We had tape balls.
Yeah, we had to put a stop to the tape balls
because some of them got loaded with other things than tape.
Younger guys ruined it.
We just playing had fun.
Yeah. I mean, we knew when to do it, how to do it.
And we also knew that like three quarter inch bar stock could be turned down
and it there's we happen to have three quarter inch ID heavy wall tubing.
Yeah. That if welded to a thick chamber,
put a straighter valve in it, put a gate valve and then put nitrogen to it
and then have sideshow here, who is great on a lathe,
who could actually like, you know, just cut beautifully crafted bullets.
You could make these slugs and they'd go straight through the side of an L.
T. D. Ford wagon.
I mean, in one side through all the upholstery panels
right out the fucking other side.
You ever would just the end block all the way through?
What's that? The engine block?
Now we want to keep the car running.
So it's more. Yeah.
Just just. But again, service wounds.
That was all the stuff that like team building. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. But it's blowing off steam.
You're blowing off your limit.
We were like you're getting ass.
You know, at the time you're building, you're knocking out some
unbelievable creations and it's you're blowing off steam.
Right. It's the rewards for the fights in between.
We've grown up. It was years ago.
But they were young. Yeah.
Phil's pretty quiet, but there was a few days I was throwing something
the dumbster and catch Phil at noon jumping over a bonfire on a 50 cc bike.
Hey, don't tell anybody.
Well, it feels always the serious one that you didn't want to like
tries to be a fuck up around over there.
Catch him jumping over a giant bonfire.
Never forget it.
You got to do it sometimes.
Yeah. The stress relief.
Yeah, that's it.
The story I heard.
I mean, we'll get to Spencer.
The story I heard about the Audi and the grill.
That was before I that worked here.
And honestly, that's when I heard that.
And we were friends and I'm hearing that and it just
it could not.
It did not compute because half of my brain was like, oh, my God,
we've got a video.
So awesome that you guys are having fun like this.
And the other half is like, but it was just that was his car.
That was the other hand.
Like, but that's what that was his car.
Like, yeah, that was in the era.
Like we we finally we had this divide.
Like as we as we got busier and busier, it ended up being Phil was doing more car shows.
So that was he wasn't here.
This car was and it was I mean, the parking lot's big.
It's the same, you know, same situation here hit the Audi A4.
And it was pretty.
I'd say it's about halfway out centered in the park.
It was about halfway out.
And there was an old grill, you know, like a big
Coleman charcoal grill grill.
And it didn't take much.
That was only one of those.
It was the triangle.
Yeah, it was maybe a couple of them.
They might have been taped together.
I'm more and more.
Maybe or maybe not fuzzy.
We were anyways.
Yeah, I'd say about, you know, when he 2009, we were real big into blowing stuff up.
Yeah, right.
So that was huge fireworks.
Yeah, it's like who was your rallying.
You just you're working a hundred something hour a week.
It's like, well, this would be fun.
Let's just take a little break here.
Toss these in this grill.
See what it'll do.
You have no idea how a cast grill fucking just still has an idea.
So this thing blows up.
It was right like where the compressor room is right out the back door.
That's where the grill was.
And somehow we get to the grill started.
Dude, I mean, which was which was the grill that you guys used for like
barely. Yeah, lunch.
Just there.
It was just there. OK.
So the thing it just it's just disintegrates after this thing blows up.
And then shit.
And then we start looking around because then you got to do damage control.
Right. And you're like, oh, where did it go?
What happened? Did it go up in one piece?
What happened as a result of this?
So we start looking out.
Where did it go?
Oh, Phil's.
He's like, oh, seriously.
Fuck up.
The whole grill lid came down.
Was there a dead center on the deck?
Yeah, it was the only car in the park.
It was the only car in the parking lot.
OK, there was no one.
Yeah, what are the odds?
Yeah, you do it a hundred more times.
You don't hit that car. Yeah.
Yeah.
Everybody else was parked like on the outside.
Phil is dead middle.
But somehow. Well, then they didn't tell me.
I came home.
No, I had to bring it up because what the fuck happened to my car?
The whole deck was like bare aluminum.
A spot this big where it just yarded the paint off.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, about that.
Yeah, you see.
Huh?
Yeah, we don't have a grill anymore.
But yeah, that was an interesting era.
And who I have to ask.
I want to cut off who is responsible for big
Mike's vehicle showing up on a Saturday morning with no hood.
No, he's all of us.
We were part of that.
I was I was not there.
I was here on Saturday working when Mike showed up hung over in his piece of shit.
Disassembled it and the crossroads.
He drove it home from the bar that night and back in on Saturday.
He's walking on the shop trying to find his hood.
The doors we took the door.
Everything was stripped off the car and he drove it home and back to work on Saturday.
That was the air. I mean, dude, that was a great era.
We were, like I said, I don't want everybody to think that we were just
straight fucking around because we were getting.
This is how much how hard you work because you fucked around.
But that was that was the same hard play.
It was the same era when we put Dean's car.
We took his jeans, five point, oh, on the forklift and drove it down the street
into the Applebee's. We me.
Yeah, we into the Applebee's, the front lawn of Applebee's,
like right in the front entrance.
We wanted to put it on the roof, but we couldn't get up over the curb to get.
We should have used the four extension hood.
It would have been so bad. Yeah.
But it was no like, dude, that that era was like.
If so, if your car was missing, you had no fucking like you would think the worst
because he started looking out in the prairie because he thought we
he thought we buried it in the prairie. Yeah.
But he actually he reasoned with himself and realized that there's a pretty good
opportunity it got on the forklift and it went somewhere.
And he found it. Wow. He went over there and he found it.
That was the second time that we fucked this guy.
The first time we took the wheels off it, remember?
And yeah, we hid the wheels.
So we jacked it up and put it on cinder blocks.
Yeah. And then scattered the lug nuts all over and then we hid the wheels.
And a leaf pile down the road. Yeah.
Was it an extraneously tall leaf file or were we took him to lunch?
Yeah. We drove by.
We let it go for a while because we played this out for like two days.
And we let he call the cops and everything we let.
Yeah, he called the police and he filed a report.
This is Elgin. Right. Yes.
I mean, there's a lot of bad stuff. Yeah. Right.
That goes on over there. They said, oh, and they they were they didn't really give a shit.
So we knew at some point we had to get he was distraught over this.
So eventually we'd all go to lunch together and we took him and we buried him
in a leaf pile down the street.
And we're drive deans doing is he's like, yeah, but about something in the back seat.
And we're like, oh, what's that over there?
It's like some wheels.
And he's not paying attention.
You're like, no, I think this look like Mustang Fox body wheels in that leaf pile over there.
And then sheer it up.
I don't think that was about that's the equivalent of me stealing Phil's
Michael Jordan beam team card.
It was about eight years later.
Yeah. When we told when we finally told him that he was you. Yeah.
Yeah.
Who's got a spray foam to James?
That was Deans, too. Yeah.
Yeah, that was his wagon.
So right.
Spray foam will do a number on a door latches and door jams.
That's the right room. Right.
So it'll ruin the car because you cannot.
You cannot get it open.
Fucking ruin the car.
You've got to kick the shit out of the door to get the door open.
But that was an interesting era.
Hey, you know, it was interesting era, but I think, you know,
there was a shit ton of camaraderie back there back then and we'd built crazy
as cars built through it, built some wild stuff.
And obviously, I mean, Dean still like comes to SEMA to see you.
So it was a big part of, you know, how we got to where we are.
Yeah.
Dean was the guy that implemented the plasma table and brought a shit
ton of the table and the Dean's a talented, talented dude.
He's a guy who can figure out anything 100 percent.
No matter what it is, no direction to it.
So it's important to like all of this shit happened within arms reach.
Right. Well, it's funny.
You know, you look at this, the road shops at today
and could you put this in a business plan?
You know, right?
Because could could you inspire all those people and build a team like that
without doing the dumb shit?
There were a lot of years of fucking around and finding out to keep guys like
they're crazy personalities, right?
Dean's a wild man, but Dean was instrumental in taking us to the next level.
And like you said, he's a guy that he's he is a junkyard wars champion.
Like put Dean on junkyard wars, dude, that is a victory.
100 percent.
Fumps stuck in the desert in the forest.
The apocalypse. That's the guy I want to be stuck there with.
Yeah.
Like give him a crescent wrench and like he'll build a fucking sky rise.
You know, it's.
But yeah, that that's what it took, you know,
I think to get the road shop to where it is. It's crazy.
Like you want to talk about we should talk about that on, you know,
again, Roger's business class.
Like, how do you do it?
Well, how do you fuck around?
You get a golf cart, some fireworks.
Master car catalog.
There's different ways to do it.
Right. That was some stupid ways to do it.
We got to we away with a lot of stupid shit.
But I think the bottom line is building the team, you know,
what it worked on the fucking team of talented guys.
And, you know, you've got you guys are all creative dudes.
Right. What inspires you?
What pushes you?
What makes it exciting?
And creativity expands past what we do here.
It gets into fucking around.
Well, yeah, to a degree, let's say, you know.
Spencer, on your hiring process.
Here is. OK. What point?
We're back. Yeah.
You were you were worked at some other shops.
Yeah. And what was the thing that was making you look?
And what did you know about Rocha shop at that point?
So I started following Rocha shop before I went to Wojtek.
OK. On socials.
I actually have a post.
In my memories that I had shared of.
Mr. For this, Mr.
John York. Welding fender flares on.
John Mustang, Mustang Mustang.
65 must.
Which? Oh, blue one.
Grayish. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Paper, paper. There it is.
Yeah. So that popped up in my Facebook
memories recently from like 10 fucking years ago that I shared it.
And I was like, wow, this is so cool.
Right. So I've been following the shop for a while.
Fanboy, whatever.
Of the shopper, John.
The shop. I had no idea who he was.
And a Welding.
When I went to a show, it's literally like this is you.
Probably because it was clearly his bicep in the video in the photo.
You're doing great. Yeah.
But you guys are fucking.
Rehearsed.
Rehearsed. I think John said everybody's out before.
All right. This is some do's and don'ts.
He's been waiting for me to bring it up this whole time.
So that I mean, it's pretty fucking cool.
Yeah, it's actually very cool.
Like I was scrolling through my memories and I was like, holy shit,
like that's John welding that fucking fender flare on my boss.
I work here now. You know, like that was how old you are. Yes.
I get a ruin.
I get a ruin.
But so it was always like my goal.
To work here.
I worked in a bunch of hot rod shops throughout the years.
And when the.
We're hiring ad popped across my Instagram.
I was drunk.
It was 230 in the morning.
I was playing Call of Duty on a Saturday.
And I was like in between games or whatever the fuck.
And I was just scrolling and I was like, we're hiring.
No fucking way.
And I just at that point, I had just enough.
Inhibitions that I was like, fuck it.
I'm going to send an email.
So at that moment, I assembled.
I had no resume, of course, like nobody in this industry has a resume.
I assembled a drop box of pictures of my recent work.
And I danger thing to do 230 drunk in the morning.
It was right. It was it was all especially coming from your other interests.
It was only if he just let us deal with a couple of like, also I do this.
Oops. Oh no, naked.
Me.
When and hopefully also.
But so I just assembled this fucking drop box folder.
And it was like my most recent things that I had fucked around with.
And I sent it and I was like, hey,
I don't know if this is applicable.
I can update my resume if you want me to.
But here's some of my recent work.
I'm very interested.
I think I applied for assembly and fabrication at that point,
because I was like every shop that I've worked at before this
was kind of an all around thing.
Yeah, built the car.
Yeah, you just you follow the car from start to finish.
And so it was just like.
Whatever fuck it's send, you know,
I woke up the next morning, Sunday morning.
To a reply.
And I was like.
Fuck, like.
Oh, oh, no, this is real, right?
And it was a reply from Jeremy.
And I had no idea like I had followed the shop for a long time,
but I had no idea that Jeremy was the owner, right?
I just thought that this was like hiring, you know,
accounts management, whatever.
Starting to sound like a trend.
Everybody's like, I don't know that guy.
John said it. Spencer said it.
And they're like, I'm just a dude, I guess.
Like you're just there.
Yes. Well, now now you're.
Now they got on the fucking podcast.
Now you're on the podcast.
So now people know.
But like I helped build this fucking studio.
So like I did this before me.
So I had no idea you weren't you weren't like a figurehead, right?
And so I was like, we were emailing back and forth.
And like we had a couple of phone calls and he's like, yeah,
let's fly you out, you know.
And I was like, oh, shit, like this is real, you know.
And at the time I had a wife and I was like.
This might be a legitimate thing, you know, like.
I might need to move to Illinois for this because this has been my dream.
You know, I've been following this shop for years
and I'm not going to turn it down, right?
And so I fly out for the interview.
Forgot that my interview was that day.
John walked me around the shop.
That is true.
Oh, no, no.
Jeremy greeted me at the door.
And I was like, holy fucking shit, this is wild because it was just the showroom.
And I was like, what the fuck?
Like the scope of it was crazy.
John was the one that had no idea that I was there.
But he, Jeremy, showed me around.
And like as we moved through different areas of the shop,
my mind just continually got blown because it was like I
I've been at mom and pop shops my entire life.
The entire career thus far has been
three to five employees, maybe.
And it was like, whoa, this is this is an establishment.
This is a this is a company, you know.
But then I come in and like Jeremy shows me around and he shows me to all the
projects and he shows me to the chassis side, which is equally impressive.
It's a production facility.
And I'm like, oh, my God, like this is.
You know, it starts setting in like maybe this is beyond me.
You know, maybe this is more than I'm ready for.
But then we bring he brings me back over.
He introduces me to John.
John forgot that I was going to be there today.
I don't think I was told.
I may or may not have told him.
At all, you know, he may he may not have forgotten.
We're not going to point fingers.
Maybe it just wasn't established that water was over here now.
And it all worked out.
And John was like, hey, show us what you got.
You know, and he put me at the table that I'm still currently at
and said, I don't know.
Do shit. So I just think it was more elegant, hopefully.
No, it was pretty much that.
It was just welder.
It was some metal.
It was pretty much that.
Show us what you got, basically.
And I just started grabbing shit and sticking it together.
I grabbed sheets of I grabbed little coupons of aluminum.
I grabbed little fucking stainless tubing.
I grabbed sheet metal.
I thought you stick all that together with a little bit of silicon.
Browns, that's how I do.
Yeah. And I just started putting it together.
And I was like, this is everything that I know how to do.
And I just laid it on the table.
I had eight hours to prove what the fuck I knew.
And at the end of the day, like.
That was it.
And like some of the guys came around and were just like, who the fuck are you?
You know, and I was like, oh, you know, I'm here.
I'm applying and oh, oh, shit.
OK, cool. Good luck.
You know, and it was just like it was such a crazy experience
because I felt like such a small fish in a big pond, you know.
But I just wanted to prove that I belonged.
And so I just did everything that I could.
And at the end of the day, I met with I think John and Jeremy.
And they were just like, yeah, no, like, thanks for coming in.
Like Jeremy was like, come in, come back in on Saturday, you know.
And we'll we'll talk about like what it is.
And the next day he was just like, yeah.
Like, well, we're ready for you.
Whenever you can get here, because I had things to wrap up back home and shit like that.
And how do you present that all the time, right?
Or spoken. OK. Yeah. Yeah.
How do you present that to the wife?
I said I got the job and she was like, OK.
That was it.
Because if you could have fucking faked that story or something like that.
Oh, my God, no way.
No, like when I when I introduced it to her that you were going to come out,
I was going to come out.
She said, is it a yes or is it a fuck yes?
And I said, it's a fuck yes.
And she said, OK, that's fucking cool.
So that that was like everything after that was like I got it.
And she's like, all right, let's go.
So that was like it all just fell into place, you know.
And the move out here was easy.
It's been fucking awesome ever since.
What do you think you said, you know, you're walking through and you're like.
I must feel like small fish and maybe I'm not ready.
But at the same time, you got the drive of like,
I got to do everything to show them that I might be like what's.
What do you think?
What's advice that you can give somebody going through the same thing
to make sure they don't go back to the let me come back when I think I'm ready.
Yeah, I've always sought after the feeling of being a small fish
because there's room to grow, you know.
But getting out here like.
You just got to fucking get after it.
You just have to drive and go after it.
Get the fuck out.
I don't I like I don't like the fact that it's
GTFA GTFA shirt.
Yeah, it's not.
I mean, I don't think it's going to stick, but it's it's going to stay.
Get get after it.
You like it.
Don't you?
The thing is, it's exactly I've heard you say it.
You just fake it till you make it.
You've said it forever.
A hundred percent.
And yes, I think it's a lot of us.
I I undersold the fuck out of myself, too, because I was just like.
Yeah, I don't I don't know if I the way you presented yourself is very green.
Yeah, you know, which, you know, is probably a better way of presenting yourself
than being like, you know, I could do this, that.
And like, we've seen it both ways.
We've seen guys that come in with resumes that I worked with, like,
Faye Butler and made that.
What did you didn't make that you fucking make that Faye Butler made that?
Yeah. And like, I just do your mouth that way when you said Faye Butler.
There's a.
Like, I think I don't I don't think you'll ever be ready, right?
Yeah.
You just have to go and do it.
And I think I mean, I think underselling myself has been like.
I didn't want to come in with high expectations
because I knew what I was capable of.
And I think I realistically sold myself.
But my drive to learn was the thing that separated, you know,
because I I feel like since day one,
me starting here versus me now is like a completely different person.
You know, because it's 100 percent.
It's such a it's such a place to grow.
And there's so much here for us to do and experience and learn.
Like I before working here, I had never used a bull max.
Yeah. Straight up.
Like, yeah, because none of the shops that I worked at could afford one.
Yeah. You know, well, it's interesting.
You know, I've seen you grow.
You know, I've watched you.
I see your reluctance to do certain things.
And you kind of strike me as a guy who like,
I'm guessing you don't like to do things that you're not good at.
You know, I don't I don't like to fail.
Right. And like you were always a little bit.
You shied away from sheet metal work.
And you like you the Pulmax, I feel like was your arch nemesis.
Like that was a scary machine.
Yeah, for sure. Right.
And I've seen you like pick up some sheet metal stuff that's like,
dude, that's really fucking good.
And you're not like you've you've sort of positioned yourself as not a sheet metal guy.
Yeah. But it's my it's my weakest.
I know like where my skills lie, right?
And like my skills are here and like my sheet metal is like here, you know?
And so like it's not something that I jumped to because I know that like.
Dakota's here now.
Oh, dude, he fucks.
So but to be honest, though, it's a sheet metal.
Yeah. Spencer is really, really talented at she bell.
He says he's not good at it.
I fucking do it is still good at it.
But I just like it like succeed expectations.
You set that bar low so you can really right.
Right. It might be intentional.
I jump at the expectation of learning and coming up to the bar.
It's just like sometimes I'm like, fuck,
I don't think I'm the guy for that, you know?
And that's still that underselling like aspect that.
It sticks with me, you know, you got a rope.
Yeah, you got to get to a charter.
I got to get to a speck me out of pickleball travel on.
All of the above, I hope you win.
Thank you. All of those very hesitant.
So that is this like what's the what's that game
called you drive around in the bumper carts and you're hitting the ball?
A really really well.
It's like really well with me, artist.
Yeah, he's doing pickleball size.
Yeah, they use volleyball.
And probably yeah.
What? Yeah, John, you've been a part of.
Bye. You've been a part of watching, you know, Spencer grow.
And I know you've also been a part of like
pushing him to pick up some sheet metal projects. Yeah.
Right. Yeah. And it's it's been interesting.
It's been very interesting to watch you grow.
And it's been interesting to watch John sort of push you into those projects.
Knowing you don't necessarily want to do them and then seeing the outcome of it.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's interesting because as we sit here in these,
Dakota will probably talk next about hiring and the hiring process
and the interview, like I have no idea how to properly do that.
Like we bring guys in and we say, you know, weld some stuff.
If you know how to shape shrinks, there's probably people listening
that have a way better process for hiring or maybe not.
But we always come together and we kind of look over the shoulder.
How do they handle a tool?
How are they holding their grinder?
How are they welding? holding their torch?
It's not the experience that they bring to the table when they come in.
It's how they're using the skills that they have.
You know, and there's that will transcend
in to what they're doing when they're here.
You know, Josh loves it.
But I say how you do something is how you do anything.
I love it. So if a guy is coming in, Josh loves that phrase.
I do love it. I have adopted that as my phrase as well.
I purposely fuck it up around you just because I know it annoys you.
I love anything.
I think I got that from Joe Rogan, but I appreciate that you give the credits
to me, but you know, it's the way it's done.
Always.
Because of the way that it is.
But that transcends into it, because if a guy comes in,
you can see a passion in his work, even it's the skill set that he came in with
that he's comfortable and confident with.
But if they are willing to have that tenacity
and get after it with the things they know,
giving them the opportunities, which is what this place has always been about,
because I wasn't a great sheet metal guy when I came.
But the amount of opportunities that came through the door the second I was
here because of the volume of the work, the scale of the builds that we were doing,
like you can expand on that skill set and grow into that all around a guy,
or you can build those skills.
If you're approaching it the same way, you do approach the things you already know,
the skills you already have.
We talk about maybe the guys that are nervous to come in the door and apply.
But if you're that type of employee, whether you have the all around skill set,
that's not what we look for.
We're looking for a guy that has the passion and a little bit of a skill set
that you can expand on everything else here.
But those are also the guys that are willing to listen and learn.
I mean, a special test to it.
Like I don't sit there and train the guys.
I don't sit there and say it because there is no blueprint for how you do these things.
I can't say throw this in the machine, shrink it this many times.
You're going to get this outcome. Adam Banks probably can.
I'm not that guy.
You did that one time.
Yeah. And you gave it.
Yeah. It was weird. It was an HR issue.
John came around.
It was like a ghost moment.
All you got to do is just.
But at the end, there was a bitch in rain.
It was beautiful.
It was a reverse curve.
But it was worse.
Yeah.
Four ways in one.
It fucking works.
But the thing is, it's again, a two way street because a guy,
I could probably give those same instructions to somebody else
and it won't equate to the outcome this mentor has.
He can take it, absorb it and expand on it and do his own thing with it.
I always say, like you can give two guys the same project
and it'll come out a completely different process to get there.
It's all about getting to the end result.
And it takes that person that has the skills and the eyes and the termination
and that's that's what both of these guys.
Well, it's what I always say that it's, you know, unfortunately,
I've said it a hundred times, either got it or you don't, you know.
And whether you come in with zero skills,
you still you either have it or you don't.
Right.
There's a lot of people that you can teach a lot of things.
But if you're going to flourish at this, there's a select few
that just simply have it and it just clicks, you know.
And I mean, the three of you guys.
100 percent sure about him.
But us three for sure.
Absolutely.
Have it.
Absolutely.
I mean, it's just something that you have, you know, and it's like even, you know,
Dakota, you were as John, you know, took the leadership over and he's run in the shop.
You know, your interview was directly with John and John hired you and you showed up
to work and, you know, my job was just like, I'm seeing this new guy
right that I'm on the Xerum like this fucking dude's got it.
You know, like, you know,
like he just fucking gets it.
Like I can watch the way I've seen.
I've been around this for a long time.
I've seen a lot of guys that you just know.
No disrespect.
There's some guys that can do it.
You could the best of the best can teach them.
They will just never get it.
Yeah. It's just not for them.
You know, they like they they go through it and they like get it kind of done.
But like some rate like you could you could part me with the most brilliant
math tutors in the world.
I'm not going to fucking get it.
It's just not going to click.
But that has nothing to do.
Yes, I think that that is all about mentality on that.
And it isn't. It isn't.
If you had the mentality to give a shit and do whatever it takes to get it,
you would overcome your physical disability.
No, mine's work. Mine's work differently.
Like some people see it. Yeah.
Some people just see it.
You know, I say like, you know, I've talked about it before on this podcast.
Mike Woods, a guy that I've always thought like he just sees and gets
how to fucking move metal, you know, some people do like you guys can obviously
fucking see it. You guys each have your own skill set.
John fucking 100 percent can make anything from a sheet of metal.
And not a lot of people can do that.
It doesn't matter how you can get them further along and they can make
shapes, maybe a little bit more complex shapes.
But you do reach a limitation.
Yeah. You know, there's been some people have done it a long time.
I agree. And they percent they don't.
Like there's only X amount of Adam Banks, right?
I get it. One that I know.
Yeah, but not a single one.
But back to your story, which, you know, I think it's like
but he had Troy's taught him every choice.
Of course, Troy's taught him everything.
Yeah. And he still I think Troy still does the come around the back of him on the whole max.
When you were building that when you're building that hood side, right?
And you got frustrated and you started hammering it, right?
Because of your mentality of not wanting to get beat by it.
And you start hammering it and you start seeing the fact that the metals moving
that way by stretching that weld out.
And it starts clicking in your head about that when you welded it, it tightened up, right?
Yeah. And it shrunk.
So now you're having to stretch it back out.
You started seeing it that way because of your mentality.
Yeah. Right.
There's other people that could have seen it.
But because of their mentality of not wanting to push and not wanting to see
and not wanting to open their eyes to it, we'll never see it.
Even more than that, there's other people that have been taught on paper
that a weld shrinks and that you have to stretch it back out
that wouldn't have arrived to that conclusion.
Right. Like you arrived to that conclusion yourself without anyone telling you.
Yeah. And there's people that have been taught
wild tech or whatever, other technical courses that if you do this, then that.
And they couldn't still figure it out because they just didn't have it.
Yeah. Yeah.
I feel like a lot of people have like a plan A
and when planning goes to shit, they don't know what to do after that.
Right. But like, I feel like, I don't know, the good guys, if you will,
they have they when plan A goes to shit or it starts to go to shit.
It's like, all right, let's work on a plan B.
They have a plan B. They have a plan C. Right.
And they can kind of just go with the flow with that, you know,
right, or versus like somebody that's maybe not necessarily as good at it.
They really get stuck. Yeah.
I'm planning out working. Yeah. Yeah.
A lot of everything that we do is plan A, B and C.
You usually end on plan C or D. Yeah.
Yeah. Like I'm going to start this way.
I hope it goes well. Right. If it doesn't pivot.
Yeah. You know, exactly.
That's it. Yeah. Yeah.
It's a it's a tough industry because like think about there's a lot of things, man.
Like you can go play basketball every time you throw that ball.
If you fucking put the same backspin on it,
that ball is going to do the exact same thing every single time.
Right. You can make a dozen sets of fender flares
and a dozen times it's going to do something different. Yeah.
Yeah. 100 percent.
Because the original sheet metal of the fender that you're welding it to
was made on a Friday instead of a Monday.
Yeah, it's dude, it's like, you know, and it's it's all like there's so much.
There's such a hand artistic element and then you have to do it twice.
Right. Four times, you know, and then it it's and then you have to invert it.
So when you do it on the left side, it's completely different.
Right side. It's a it's a crazy, crazy
talent and a crazy industry. Sorry.
But you got to be able to adapt at all times.
I mean, I've talked to these guys about it.
I try to talk to all the car builders about it.
You know, like I know Dakota, when you came in, we talked about speed,
like what the expectation for speed is.
And it's always the same thing.
I look at it as if you're going to the way I approach things is
if you're going to build this, you can sit here and you can make templates
and we can measure 10, 15 times and spend all this time.
And you still might get that result that sucks at the end of the day.
But if I just go after it and I treat it like this first one might end up in the
fucking trash, but I only spend an hour or two after it.
I'm going to learn what that second one's going to do.
And before lunch, I've got a piece now that I learned something on.
I move forward to, but that applies to like everything that I do at a lot of cases.
You know, like I don't know what I'm doing.
And you just jump in the deep end, like I'm willing to make a mistake.
Yeah. The one that you're willing to make a mistake on probably turns out
better than the one you start babying along the way, because that one you baby
all along the way, like, oh, fuck, I hope this thing does the fuck.
I'm so far into it.
Well figured out that things it has to work.
That thing's going to get fucked.
And luckily for me, when Dakota came in and I was doing that, I was giving
that speech, I just knocked a fucking piece out first try.
So it looked like I knew what I was talking about.
That doesn't usually happen.
You know, shit, man.
That was really good.
It's not every time.
I feel like that comes with confidence though, too.
You know what I mean?
It's just diving into it and knowing like, oh, OK, if I fuck this up, you know
that you have the skill set to fix it though.
Right. So it comes with our start over and and do it again better.
Right. Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah. So just being confident, you know, you have like the willingness
to fail in this industry for sure, because you're not going to win every battle.
But it's a battle every single time.
It's never going to be easy.
People want a blueprint.
They want instructions on how you make success on, you know, to all aspects of
this, but it's always going to be hard.
There's never an easy day.
You know, if there is, you're lucky.
Yeah. And you probably got there by putting in the.
If you have an easy day, get ready for tomorrow.
Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah.
Because whatever you didn't get today, you're getting double tomorrow.
It's coming. There's a I mean, a massive mental strength
you got to have to prevail. Yeah.
I feel like in this industry, you see, I mean, look at a lot of different industries.
You could be a carpenter, you could be a woodworker.
The results, you could do the same thing.
And you're probably going to get the same results every time.
And you cut a board at 45 degrees fucking every time.
Set that saw that thing is going to cut 45 degrees every time.
Yep.
Actual metal fabrication, like hard, heavy duty metal fab,
even chassis shop stuff, sort of that way, you know.
But when you're shaping metal, it there is no there's no blueprint.
There's no it's always going to fuck you.
As good as you think you are, like, yeah, you can get so comfortable.
And then all of a sudden it's like, dude, the thumbnail dies.
Like it's just a little bit off.
Well, and it just all of a sudden you get in there
and it's like it's making a mess out of your paneling.
What the fuck? Well, you got to understand today that wasn't there.
You're doing it's a wild, wild.
You're doing something.
You're doing something that's against physics.
So it's not like it's a thing that if you now take your example of carpentry,
right, if you said, hey, take that sheet of 18 gauge
and you cut four inch strips, right, and keep cutting four inch strips.
You're going to be able to cut the same four inch strip
and set it up and do the same thing over and over and over.
You start shaping things.
You're going against physics.
You're taking everybody's knowledge of figuring out all these little tips
and tricks of bending matter, right, and figuring out the way that it can do it.
If you do the same thing in the carpentry stuff and you're like, hey,
we figure out a way to steam this wood and build this jig and start bending this stuff.
You start bending wood and steaming wood and doing so like that.
Every single time is going to be different because you're you're
figuring out a trick to physics that shouldn't happen, right?
That was solid.
Yeah. And making it, you know, do things that it's not supposed to do.
So of course, every single time, you know, mother nature and physics
is going to kind of come back and be like, oh, you tried to fucking cheat the system.
You forgot that. Fuck you.
Yeah. You know, and there's a.
The best you can hope for is just that you build your confidence.
You know, you mentioned it like I always as you build your confidence,
it become aware of what's happening along the way or how you solve it just makes it easier.
I always call it a toolbox.
It's it's what you talked about with great bar you took me to that time.
Fucking things. The toolbox. You're welcome.
With fucking things up, right?
Even fucking things up adds to your toolbox.
Yes, if you learn something from it, I have a toolbox.
Everyone has a toolbox. You have a toolbox.
You have a toolbox.
You go to your toolbox to solve the problem, whatever the fuck it is.
You're you're working with a flat sheet of metal.
You need it to be not a flat sheet of metal.
It does this thing.
Fuck, I wanted it to do this.
It did this. Go to your toolbox.
It did this last time I did this.
This is the solution, right?
And if you don't have the solution in your toolbox, now is the time to fucking learn.
Right. Because now I don't know, you know,
I watched I was watching the documentary on Gordon Ramsay's new red strong.
It was on Netflix that he's building that thing in London.
And it's huge. His biggest deal, right?
This huge thing that he's ever done.
He's got opening night. He's got all of his new staff
and everybody's been working for a year and a half on a new menu.
And he's got these, you know, chefs at the top of their game.
And they're all over the world.
And it's a high stress situation.
He's telling them all of like, do not be afraid to fail.
As soon as you're afraid to fail,
you're going to fuck up really bad.
Yes, I want you to fail, except the failure.
Make sure that you're aware of the failures.
Don't make the same mistake twice.
Yes, you can make a hundred different mistakes in a day.
Yeah, you're an idiot if you make the same mistake tomorrow.
Yeah, you didn't learn from it.
And it was it was really great piece of advice of like,
lower the stress level, understand that you and all 50 of you
are going to make a shit ton of mistakes.
Fuck up. Fuck up a bunch of times.
Build that toolbox, learn from those.
Just don't do that thing again.
You should learn from it.
Put it in your toolbox and then don't fucking do it again.
Right. Yeah. And then learn from it.
One thing that one thing that I ran into
in issue that I ran into is like analysis paralysis, right?
So like you fucking you're too afraid to cut something.
So you just stand in there and you're just staring at it.
But to the point of just getting after it, right?
If you just dive into it, man, there's no more paralysis now.
You have to figure it out.
Now you have to figure it out, right? We've cut it.
It's cut the mother fucker.
Yes. Now you got to put it back together.
Yeah, that's pretty much perfect for the project
we gave you over the last few months.
Is your blue part to figure that road around?
Well, there's paralysis is the name of the road runner.
Yeah, especially on like a chopper of a top or doing something like that,
where it's it's very difficult to get like you could measure it a hundred times
and come up with 80 different measurements of different things.
Yeah, where you piece of metal, you're like, all right, I'm going to cut it.
I've done it. I've spent an hour and a half.
I'm going to cut this at 70 and a quarter, right?
I'm dead on. I've measured every single way 70 to quarter.
Cut it 70 to quarter. It comes up a quarter in short.
If you had to cut it at 70 to quarter, the very beginning, come up the quarter.
It's short. You'd recut it again at 70 and a half and you'd be fucking done.
Like that you had to cut it to know how much you were off.
It comes back to you know, we had this segment on this show
that was always what's the best piece of advice.
And I've said that it was something I learned when I got into this industry
from the old man that I worked for that was just do something, even if it's not right.
Yeah. No, it was wasn't presented like that eloquently.
It was sort of screamed at me.
But that resonates with me and sticks with me forever.
It really is some of the best advice I've ever got because anything you do,
you can sit there, you can fucking look at it forever until you just do it.
Just do it. Just do something.
And it's probably not going to be right.
Anything you do, like get into your you're going to you're trimming some shit
on a baseboard in your house and you're trying to figure out that just fucking start cutting it.
Yeah, you can look at it all day.
You can buy it. You can measure every angle you want.
Cut it. It's going to at least that initial cut is going to help you figure out
how to get to this.
Like those times when you've had this, like sometimes you get in the vehicle
and you're doing your GPS, right? All the way back, throw back to your
Mijell GPS, right? Yeah.
New GPS stuff where you're in a situation, right?
And it you just crank the truck up, you put the it can't figure out
like exactly which direction in the parking lot.
Start right. And you're just like, I'm just going to start driving.
Yeah, then it's going to be like, hey, turn around.
You know, always going to tell you, because you're 100 percent going the wrong way.
Right. Yeah.
Always. No matter where the fuck direction you start driving, go the other way.
Right. You have to do the thing for it to finally that that still applies today
in Chicago, see the direction because when you put in maps, it's
it's lost. If you set there, the analysis, Parallis and wait for that.
It really is a great example.
Aerotic. You just start fucking.
Which I could go this way and I think I'm facing north.
Let me pull out my phone and be like, well, the parking lot looks like this.
Just fucking drive.
The story is that going the wrong way is going to point you in the right direction
faster than fucking looking at it.
That's it.
You like that. Did you like that?
I really do like that.
Is that dude? That is honestly the perfect example.
Can we put that in a shirt?
I think we should. It's a long shirt.
I think we're going the wrong way is it's going to point you in the right direction.
You're not going to know which direction to go unless you start driving.
Yeah.
Like I'm in all of this.
So to the even going back, what you're talking with Gordon Ramsay and that failure,
you're being afraid to fail and you just have to get over that hump.
Like how many people in this industry are similar, you know, adjacent industries
never, never did, never got up to that point where they tried and they missed an
opportunity. There's probably so many people that were completely capable of
doing what we do and it got hard and they gave up.
Yeah.
Like it will always be hard.
And if you don't continue to at least try, whether it be starting a direction
that's wrong, but if you're afraid to do it, you're never going to land anywhere.
That's what this industry is.
It's no easy way out.
Every direction is hard.
Every thing that comes along is hard and we just have to figure it out.
Yeah.
Dakota, hiring story.
Let's get to you when you came here.
You talked a little bit about it.
You did it once.
So you kind of already knew what to.
Yes.
Yes.
I already knew kind of like what like who, who Jeremy was, who John was,
already had a good, good grasp on that.
I see what he's doing.
He's the only one who knew who you were.
He's fucking smart.
You already knew who Scott was.
Yeah.
Well, no, Scott wasn't here.
I know that.
It was the second time we were on this.
Yeah.
Let's do it.
You know what to be honest, I was expecting for you.
I was expecting to still be in that corner and he wasn't.
I was like, what the fuck's going on?
Oh, I got the job now.
They need somebody.
I'm locked in.
He is smart.
Bang, bang.
Oh, shit.
But no, I mean, I applied the first time and didn't get it.
But the second time, you know, we were fucking broke.
So I needed a job because I was working for myself and it wasn't,
it wasn't easy by any means.
So my wife actually, I believe she's the one that's seen it.
I mean, I'm not going to be a good guy.
I'm not going to be a good guy.
I'm not going to be a good guy.
I believe she's the one that's seen it was like, hey, you know, you're going to apply.
You're going to go down there.
And I was like, to be honest, I was like, nah, fuck that.
They didn't hire me the first time.
But anyways, we did the money.
So I came down.
Yeah.
But I don't want to say I came with a chip on my shoulder, but I was like, you know what?
I'm going to go and I'll show them.
I'll show them what I can do now.
Right.
Yeah.
So, but it all ended up working out.
Right.
So.
That's the way life does.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And John actually gave me like, like Spencer was talking about how he had to like weld like
a tube together and shit.
Like I'm thankful the task that John gave me because I said it's something that I knew how to do.
You know,
Yeah.
In your wheelhouse.
Yeah.
I was in my wheelhouse.
I didn't know I was showing up.
So he didn't know what I was.
Yeah.
Right.
That was helping clean out his basement.
You've done that a lot of new hires, whatever.
I come over to my house.
We got to clean this.
You can live some shit.
Those four boxes, those five boxes.
All gone.
You got to see what they're made of.
Yeah.
What do you put you on?
Yeah.
What was the task that John gave me?
Oh, I had to shape like a wheel tub.
So we got on the power hammer and got after it.
You know what I mean?
And then what?
What?
We'll shrink it.
You had to cut it in half.
Oh, that's right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We did tell him to cut it in half and then weld it back together.
So John looked at this motherfucker.
He was just like, oh yeah, that dude.
That looks like a wheel tub.
Nice.
Well, you got it done way faster than I expected.
Yeah.
So I had to fill the rest of the day.
And then he's like, cut it in half and weld it back together.
I thought he was fucking with me at first.
It's a good challenge.
It was fucking.
No, it was beautiful.
I thought it was, to your credit, was phenomenal.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But keep talking in the mic.
Great.
No, Tim, you're a phenomenal fabricator.
Horrible on the fucking mic.
But yeah.
I can relax one time.
John tells me to cut it in half and I thought he was just messing with me.
But I needed a welder then at that point.
So John was like, oh, I don't think Joe is going to show up today.
You can use his bench.
Literally, I got to turn on the welder.
I turned it on.
There's this dude standing there.
And he's like, what the fuck you do to use my welder?
It was Joe.
And 10 o'clock.
Yeah.
He was sipping his Dunkin' Donuts coffee.
Yeah.
Did he have donuts?
No, not that day.
You would have offered him.
Maybe everybody needs to start going and cranking up and using Joe's welder and the first thing
in the morning every day.
Yeah.
I'll fire it up the first thing.
That's what it takes?
Just simply welding two pieces of metal together and finishing them.
That's a really good challenge for God.
I used that with Zach years ago.
How'd that go?
He struggled with it a little bit, but we worked through it.
You get a guy like he was coming out of the chassis shop.
He was building framerals and he really wanted to do hot rod stuff.
And he wanted to know what's a good, what's something I can practice on.
Like, well, dude, here, take two pieces of 19 gauge.
Here's two squares that are like, you know, eight by eight, weld them together and finish
the weld out and hand it back to me.
And it should look like one piece of metal.
Especially if they're just flat coupons.
Yeah.
They should be flat coupons at the end.
It's more challenging than you think.
Yeah, absolutely.
That's the most challenging.
Most people do that.
Because they don't have any shape or anything.
There's nothing to keep the structure at all.
Just a flat piece of metal to weld it together and then keep it flat afterwards.
You take, you know, you take a lot of this for granted.
It's interesting.
I've been talking to Scott Spencer, who's an awesome customer.
I was just some killer stuff.
He got him in a little quarter panel.
Yeah.
He reached out and he was asking about, he's getting ready to just like all the vehicles
that we experience, you get these beautifully restored or survivor cars in that are perfect
project cars.
And then you take the paint off of them and lo and behold, it has Frankenstein quarter
panels on it.
So he reached out and he said he wants to section a quarter panel on it.
So, you know, first I said, you and I have been down this path a million times.
So I did just put a full quarter panel on it.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, it's intimidating.
You know, putting a full quarter panel is intimidating.
So we talked through like how you would section less welding generally, how you would section
a quarter skin.
But as I'm talking through it, you know, you start, you start thinking about it and you're
like, you kind of take for granted like the skill set that like the knowledge behind taking
a quarter off.
Yeah.
First of all, and then you think back and you remember like how intimidating that was.
Like I remember putting the first quarter panel, like was the car going to fall apart?
Like what's that?
That's what holds it together.
That's the only panel that doesn't bolt on.
Holy shit.
That's a big, it's a big job.
So, you know, sometimes you got to take a step back and really like, you know, I don't
know, kind of appreciate the skill set you've got and where you're at.
And even if, even as you're growing, look at what you've done and be like, dude, I'm
building some.
Where'd you tell them to put it?
To cut it at?
Where'd you tell them to splice it?
You tell them to put full quarter on it?
I said put a full quarter on it.
If you're not going to put a full quarter on it, the quarter skin, they've got like a half
quarter that'll wrap it over.
Yeah, at least then you're putting it on an area.
A little bit of strength.
It's sort of controlled, right?
Yeah.
The worst thing you can possibly do is put it in the flat.
Like those Chevelle quarters.
Dead in the middle.
Right.
Right in the middle.
Yeah.
And then that, yeah, we've been there, been there, done that.
And then it turns into like, that's a whole another skill set.
Metal finishing it.
Yeah.
But, you know, point being, it's like, dude, sometimes you got to take a step back and
realize, like, I have a little appreciation for what you've done, right?
Yeah.
Because every day is a fucking challenge.
Right.
Every day something's going to kick your ass.
Sometimes you got to take a step back and be like, yeah, I can do some cool shit.
Tell me how many times I've told you that.
You better take a step back.
That's it.
Like, you've been told that aggressively.
I have.
Yeah, I think you were like, I've been on both of them.
Yeah, you took a step back.
Sir, sir, sir.
Take a step back.
We come to standard question time.
A.
Lot lot in this standard question time.
Mm hmm.
Are you okay?
I'm fine.
You guys, you guys understand?
You're boring.
No.
I'm listening.
Tell it like it is.
And I had, I had.
I'm ready.
I had like two really nice things to say at the end of this podcast specifically about
you.
They're going.
Fuck yeah, you'll never know what they are.
You'll never know.
He just knew that, like, we come to standard question.
He's like, oh, by the time we get there, you'll remember.
I'm listening probably.
I was listening intently.
So standard questions.
I don't know if you knew you guys listened before, right?
It's kind of a big deal on before I answered your standard question.
What are you doing?
We got new standard questions.
We got new standard questions.
I'm ready.
Standard questions are brought to you by none other than good guys, Rod and custom association
timely for this episode.
The thing good guys is doing that we want to talk about is coming up on July 10th at
the good guys 28 summit racing nationals in Columbus.
You guys are going to be at Columbus, right?
Big show.
The big one, man.
The thing that good guys is doing at Columbus is the education careers in hot rodding program
specifically with a C education foundation and why Otech for the careers in hot rodding.
Boy, we got to edit a lot from the beginning of this podcast.
I'm so sorry.
I think we did a great job.
That's what you call no editing.
No editing to what we talked about.
He hasn't said, Elia edit this out.
No, and I don't want to because we have to stand on our truth.
To be honest, we have a lot of WoW alumni here and it is a good platform to start with.
It's a great platform.
For sure.
It's what you do with afterwards.
I have no regrets in anything that anybody said about this.
We have to first and foremost be honest to our audience and say the things that we truly
think and believe.
Absolutely.
That's what we truly think and believe.
If you're 18 years or older and currently enrolled in a high school or college automotive
technical program and are wanting to pursue a career in the hot rod automotive after market
industry, much like all three of these fine individuals, both you went to WoW tech, you
said, I think I want to go to WoW tech and didn't go to WoW tech.
However, WoW tech was in the brain.
All three of you guys and look at you now.
Yes.
Don't listen to us now.
Don't look directly at me.
Look at me.
Columbus, Ohio, Friday, July 10th at the Good Guys 28 Summit Racing Nationals in Columbus.
It's from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
You can meet and interact with some of the biggest builders in the industry and the most
reputable brands in the industry who are looking to hire young professionals like you.
I would have maybe will be there.
Looking for hiring.
That's cool.
We will be there.
When I was at WoW tech, I would have actually killed for that.
Pretty cool deal, right?
Yeah.
Look, let's give, you know, as this is coming, coming around, I think it's important to give
a little constructive criticism, right?
WoW tech needs to lean into a little bit of their success stories.
100 percent.
Because they have some great ones, right?
There's some phenomenal.
Look across the board at who came out of WoW tech and look at the accolades.
McPherson's pimp and Adam Banks out all over the country.
So they needed WoW tech needs to do some of the same things.
They did.
Pimp us out.
You've got John York.
John York, 18 years at the Roadster Shop.
Managing running the Roadster Shop hot rod shop, right?
You've got, I mean, look across the board.
You've got some phenomenal fabricators here at the Roadster Shop from WoW tech.
You've got Andy Leach from Cal Auto.
You've got Levi Green.
Chris Gray went to WoW tech.
Chris Gray from WoW tech.
Brian Fuller is a WoW tech kid, isn't he?
Yeah.
I mean, he just got recognized as their like.
Yeah.
World famous Chad Glass-Hagel.
Hung it up for a little bit.
He'll be back.
Yeah.
Let's face it.
WoW tech grad.
You've got some really amazing people that came out of there.
For years.
Lean into it, right?
Yeah.
Pay attention.
Yeah, show what's available.
Pay attention to the people that are graduated.
Students that are wanting to attend can apply online at www.good-guys.com and click on the
careers and hot rodding tab.
Well, we will be there.
We will be there.
We will absolutely be there.
As you know, every year, Dakota, I hope you roll with us this year.
Absolutely.
Love to join.
Columbus is a banger of a show.
It is the one every year we look forward to.
Yeah.
You know, Columbus and Seymour are sort of our super bulls.
Yep.
How have a good show?
Yeah.
I'm listening to everything you guys are saying.
I'm pulling up to my...
Oh, you're talking through the show.
No, I'm pulling up my questions because...
You got something new?
Yeah, just timing.
Sometimes things just work out.
You know how we said sometimes you're going to have a bad day, sometimes you have a good
day.
If you have a really good day, be prepared for tomorrow.
Yeah.
Because today is really working out to be a good day.
Things are just lining up really, really well.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry about tomorrow.
So, good guys, sponsorship, the good guys, Ad-Read for the education days that they're
doing with WildTek and it tying into you guys being on here, and this has been a really,
really fucking phenomenal podcast, and specifically the questions that we have to ask from good
guys that are going to tie into you guys, it's just, you know, sometimes they just work
out like that.
Just clicking, huh?
Just clicking.
What do we got?
I just...
You got something new?
That's some new good guys?
You did really good today, John.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
That's all I ever wanted to hear from you.
Really good.
I'm gonna give them a pat on the back.
You've long yearned for my acceptance.
That's the thing about John, he's always looking for somebody's acceptance.
Oh yeah, he's a big people person.
Wants to be accepted.
First and foremost, you've done standard questions, so we're gonna run through some standard,
standard questions with them to first, and then we're gonna get into new standard questions.
You follow along?
Yeah.
There's old standard talking.
There's new standard.
Damn, too.
First up, standard questions brought to you by good guys.
Um, OG favorite car movie.
It's, it's Fast and the Furious.
It's a great, you don't have to...
The very first one.
The very first one.
Everybody needs to start leaning into it.
Everybody starts to get a little shy when they say it.
Let's take, let's...
I am the actual era of that movie, because I was there when it came out.
I feel like, I was like 17 or 18 when it came out.
So I was 7?
You were a boy.
You're just a little boy.
I was 7.
So you think, you look at, you look at Fast and Furious, like his son looks at cars.
Yes.
Like, it was...
It was great example, right?
When that mother fucker stood up and went through, and then they were getting towards
the fucking railroad tracks, I was just like...
You know, like it was...
It was the biggest motherfucking experience of my life.
It was pretty badass.
That has to be it.
It's a good, that is...
It's not a bad answer.
I don't think anybody needs to pre-excus that.
You know, everybody, it's funny because everybody's always like reluctant to say it.
We all dig it.
Maybe because you give imports so much shit.
No, dude.
That's a good move.
That was a badass movie.
Because it's fallen so off after that.
Well, Fast and Furious 18.
But first, like, legitimately one Tokyo Drift and two really good movies.
I said it on the last podcast.
After that, fine.
If Vin Diesel, when he came to that, when he was getting into that fucking charger, walking
around, like all pissed off and badass, pretty cool.
Outstanding.
If anyone says Fast 5 is their favorite movie.
That's a problem.
I said it on the last podcast and I stand by.
I think that Fast 8 or 9, whatever the next one that's coming out, is going to be the
very...
It's going to be the very first...
They're going to live stream it.
I heard they're live streaming the movie, right?
And they're going to be the first Americans to actually land on the moon.
Because they're going...
Fast and Furious is actually going to be the first ones.
Dude, don't talk conspiracy theories with John here.
Well, we need to touch...
That's a whole other line.
And we're on the same page on that.
We're going to touch on that briefly because since you talk about it so much, it comes
up in my feed all the time.
I woke up this morning to an interesting little podcast segment of somebody talking about,
well, how the fuck did they make the moon rover function?
Right?
Electronically powered.
And they say the temperatures on the moon are like sub...
Oh, it's hundreds below.
Yeah, hundreds below.
And then it gets super hot.
We still to this day, Elon Musk is an absolute brilliant fucking individual.
He's built some unbelievable shit.
Put your Tesla outside in like negative 20.
It's probably not going to work.
Yeah, the doors don't open.
1969, most vehicles had a roll-up windows.
Right?
1969, very spotty cell...
Oh, telephone service.
Right?
A lot of most of the stuff was still...
Yeah, we don't throw that.
So give me something new.
That's all...
But...
We've all been discussed.
In 1969, we can land there, no problem.
We also have...
We already sent the guy there to be staged with the camera.
So like, hey, make sure when we get off...
Some other vehicle.
You're rolling.
Right?
Right?
It's only...
It's two stops.
Hey, mind you too.
2026.
It's two small steps.
Because the person got off first and then filmed.
1995, I'm duck taping a camcorder this big at the top of my motocross helmet.
Yes.
No, it was no GoPro.
To get some footage.
2024 or 2025, we send three or four female celebrities just on the highest bouncy ride.
We just put them up into just a little bit outer space.
They're up for four minutes.
They come down.
Biggest news story.
Oh my God, I can't believe they did that.
They're such heroes.
They went farther than everybody.
2026, we do a drive-by past the moon and take a look at it.
Right?
And come back.
It's a big deal.
It's 2026.
It's a big deal.
You're telling me 1969 roll-up windows, all those other kind of things.
We plopped down there and had a weekend vacation.
2026, we can just look at it from afar.
Okay.
Hey.
The only counter-argument to that?
Fast and Furious will be the moon before the US one.
In real life.
The counter-argument to that is look at the 65 Lincoln convertible.
Yeah, that shit is magic.
That has nothing to do with the moon and all to do with aliens.
No, but it is actual science.
That's science.
Do you think we were visited before we visited?
Yes.
Good question there, right?
Probably.
Yes.
Right.
We were visited.
Because of the Lincoln Continental 1965.
Next question.
Next question.
He never answered his first question.
Oh, yes.
We got carried away.
Yeah.
Favorite car movie.
You're a good car.
There's not too many, in my opinion, but I would say, because probably Smoky and the
Bandit.
My man.
You know what I mean?
My man.
But Dazed and Confused is also a good one.
That's right.
I'd say Stola.
Stola.
Stola's show.
Solid answer.
Redeemed yourself.
See, that's why I wanted him to answer it.
You don't want to hear.
You want to hear.
Old cell.
The problem, this is not a problem.
Just so you know a little bit more about me.
You're a problem.
Smoky and the Bandit story was more realistic to me than Dazed and Confused story to me.
What?
Are you fucking...
No, listen.
I'm not saying...
This is going back.
Dazed and Confused was literally the most realistic movie to date.
I don't think there's a more realistic movie that's been made.
I'm not saying plausible.
I'm not saying plausible.
I'm saying more realistic to my personal story.
It was more relatable.
Relatable is the better thing.
You know there were cruising around and fucking transams, jumping over fucking cars.
In other words, TV radios.
I was more in the country with rednecks than I was hanging out with anybody in muscle
cars in the city.
Chasing down semi trucks.
Yeah.
So Josh basically wasn't chasing girls, wasn't drinking beer, wasn't having fun.
Not in muscle cars.
I was more in the country.
I wasn't in a 91-tempo.
You could have told me I wasn't in the movie days.
That's a crazy fucking comment.
I'm just saying it was more relatable to me.
I love the movie.
I just didn't live that life.
That's interesting.
It's very interesting because I still think...
That's what I love so much about Dazed and Confused is it literally felt like a high
school...
I believe you, but I just didn't live up here.
I didn't live that life.
So true to form.
That is exactly what...
They nailed it.
You're cruising around.
You're not really doing fucking anything.
And then somebody's having a party somewhere.
Take the cars out of it.
The cars weren't the feature of it.
I understand.
Well, that was an old...
At the time, yeah, like I said, I was in a 91-tempo, but you couldn't tell me I wasn't
in Mel Bateau's smoking weekend.
100%.
And if you think that when he threw that...
Bowling bowling?
He threw it through the fucking window.
He threw that fucking bowling ball through that fucking window.
Now we never went...
Actually, you've gone to those extremes because we've heard the story on the way to Audor
Ramon.
Yeah.
Hopefully I didn't know that guy.
But we did.
We used to throw up 40s at mailboxes and just annihilate them.
It was exactly like that.
That was the era of just...
Bowling fucking mailboxes.
Out of pure boredom.
Because you had nothing else to do.
You didn't do that?
A lot of fireworks stuff.
We didn't break things until probably like 19 or 20.
See after watching that movie, that's what made me go and do it.
You know what I mean?
And what was the...
If you could pull something out of that movie, what was the thing?
Was it a particular...
Was it a car that just stands out?
Was there a guy, a character?
Oh dude, Matthew McConaughey.
He's cool.
But he's cool in everything though.
But like just the way he acted, I was like, I want to be like that fucking dude because
he's cool.
You know what I mean?
You say, alright, alright, alright.
Oh dude, I can't.
That wasn't meant to be a dig.
I love the movie.
I love what it is.
It's just a different culture.
Think about how many things that I've told you and brought you in on the Southern Colt
that you have no idea about.
It's different.
It's different.
It's different.
Down under.
That's why that movie resonates with me.
It's why it always did because it felt so real.
But that movie also came out after I had done through high school.
Oh, you just ruined everything earlier.
No.
Old.
Yes.
No, it didn't because I graduated in 97.
No, that movie's like 95, 96.
I think it's like that.
I was watching it in junior high because it was with my buddy's older brother that we
would be in the basement watching it when we started.
Well, Josh is 10 years older than you.
You're right.
You're right.
You're right.
93.
I didn't watch it until I didn't probably watch it until later.
Yeah.
So you didn't see it.
No, I probably didn't.
I know I didn't watch it until a significantly out of out of high school.
At the end of the day, it's a great answer.
It's fucking great.
It's a great answer.
You actually have.
Dude, I'll give you.
I'm going to give you some fucking props.
You've got a little McConaughey vibes.
Fuck yeah.
Yeah.
Did you hear him say that?
He's got that.
He's got like a little Jesse James McConaughey.
I'd like to hear a little.
I'd like to hear a little.
I'd like to hear a little more Texas and a little less
Canadian, but I honestly hate how I sound because I think people from like like the
Uper noise.
I think they sound like fucking idiots.
So you don't have the like dumb.
There's like he's like fuck them.
But also even though like he's one of my best buddies.
I love him.
He's a sharp fucking dude.
But you talk Casey Wagner's got a little bit of the Wisconsin.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like the oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
You're probably the smartest dude I know, but like there's a certain element of that
which sounds like.
I wish you didn't sound that way.
Oh yeah.
I know exactly what you mean.
I don't pick that up on you.
Thank God.
Thank God.
Sorry Casey.
I love you.
You better say that.
Big boy.
Yeah.
All right.
We're going to go to a vehicle car.
All right.
So.
You graduated what year?
High school.
11.
2011.
2011.
Sorry.
You graduated what year?
2011.
Yeah.
Both of y'all 2011.
This is a 12th genre.
You were out of Washington or Texas at that point.
At that point I lived in Idaho.
Idaho.
Quarter Lane right outside of Quarter Lane.
Outside of Quarter Lane.
Do they have.
Yeah.
Idaho.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
Idaho in 2009 might as well be on the other side of the planet to me.
It's just North Texas.
Is it really?
Really?
Idaho is an interesting place because you do see some absolutely beautiful landscape.
Yes.
Of all different types.
Yeah.
Because I don't know.
That's Idaho.
I don't know.
That's Idaho.
You kind of look at it right.
Mountain, rivers, lakes, all the bulls.
You think of it a little bit like Indiana.
Do you?
I do.
And then you realize you're like.
Is Indiana cool?
No.
Oh.
You just think of it as this like boring.
Indiana sucks.
Yeah.
You think about it more like Nebraska.
Yeah.
West.
You don't realize there's like these crazy beautiful like mountains.
It's half Nevada, half Colorado.
Yeah.
Beautiful.
Yeah.
And that's just because I'm stupid.
No, we're in the same boat.
It must be Midwest thing.
I never knew Idaho was cool until Alan Palmer was like all my friends are moving from California.
You know, you club it in there.
But only some valley and stuff like that.
Also the place that I lived in in Idaho was like.
Oh, yours was.
It was a close spot.
The place that I lived in was cool because it was exceptionally Montana.
Okay.
Like it's just.
That's what the sign said when you came in.
Right.
Almost Montana.
As soon as you got into Idaho, it was like you're in Idaho now.
Quarterly Montana ish.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Adjacent.
No, it was like the southern Idaho is like bullshit.
Like what you guys are saying, it's all flattened.
All right.
So 2011 for both of you, Idaho and up Wisconsin.
Correct.
Northern Wisconsin.
Northern Wisconsin.
I'm just fired away because I've learned from my mistakes because I nailed the fucking.
You got it already.
Well, I'm just going to fire at what came to mind.
Okay.
I nailed the cutlass on the meekum dude.
Yeah.
And I held back.
So I'm just going Toyota's coma.
I'm going to Toyota's coma.
Okay.
For pickup truck.
For my first.
For Spencer.
For Spencer.
Yeah.
I think it was a family.
It was probably a family car.
It was kicked to you.
You jumped into it quick.
That's fine.
You're putting it out there.
You felt it was your first.
You put both feet forward.
Your first vehicle, a gift or did you buy it?
I bought it with inheritance money.
You bought it with inheritance money.
Yes.
Uh oh.
No, no, no, no, no.
It's an irresponsible decision.
But I don't know if it's a coma.
It's still not in the running.
I don't know that it really steers you in the wrong direction because it was cheap still.
Um, but it was, was it transportation or something you aspired to have?
Transportation.
Okay.
As hard as I can say that.
Okay.
Um, same question to you.
Did you buy it or was it a gift?
No, I bought it.
Yeah.
Uh, transportation or something you aspired to have?
I don't know.
It was both.
It was transportation, but it was as much as much of an aspiring thing as you could get.
Absolutely.
All right.
All right.
Um, this is 2000, 2009-ish both for you, the first car at 16.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Graduated in 11, so 09.
I got my learner's license at 14.
Okay.
All right.
Um, what do you get?
Uh, we were going to do try something new.
I'm going to throw two vehicles out.
I don't know who's got what, but I'm throwing two vehicles out.
Right.
Maybe one of them sticks.
Uh, oh, it is broken.
Yeah, I totally.
I leaned back.
Be careful.
Uh, somebody's got a silver Ford Taurus.
Somebody's got a silver Ford Taurus.
Now the other one is, um, a six cylinder Mustang.
Which what body style?
That would be the 90th, uh, 94.
The first new.
Yeah.
The round right after the Fox body.
First round.
He went after the Fox body.
Wrong.
Yeah.
I think you got it.
Okay.
That's fine.
We're wrong.
This is a tough era.
I just threw out what I've got.
We are.
Yeah.
We are young.
I'm just feeling forward vibes.
What's the, what's the answer?
I mean, Pacific Northwest.
It was a super outback.
What color was it, dude?
Fucking blue.
Yeah.
Dark blue.
Unbelievable.
So it's like Ryan Cook's little Subaru.
Whew.
Uh, no, no, no, it was cooks as the forester.
So yours was like the wagon?
Yeah.
It was a 97.
Oh man.
Any bumper stickers or anything on that?
No, I, uh, it had a, it had a black, uh, plastic trim that I spray painted.
I had a blue, uh,
uh, blue,
blue, uh,
uh, blue,
blue, uh,
uh, blue,
blue, uh,
uh, blue,
uh, blue,
blue, uh,
uh, blue,
blue, uh,
uh, blue,
blue, uh,
uh, blue,
blue, uh,
uh, blue,
blue, uh,
uh, blue,
blue, uh,
uh, blue,
uh, blue,
uh, blue,
uh, blue,
blue, uh,
uh, blue,
uh, blue,
uh, blue,
uh, blue,
uh, blue,
uh, blue,
blue, uh,
uh, blue,
uh, blue,
uh, blue,
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Um, alright next up another great banger of a question from a good guys. Which builders
in our industry do you follow the most closely? And who do you think is setting the trends
and standards for the industry? It's good. It's contra... controversial and it's good.
Yeah. I like it. John. I don't like this question at all. Yeah. The answer is so hard. I can answer
Hopefully.
Trends is the hardest one for me.
That's a tough one.
It's happy.
It's got to be your boys.
Who are my boys?
With the hard top.
With the crazy paint.
Yeah, no trends, definitely, for me, especially my style,
south city, around custom.
I guess you're right.
That's an easy one.
Thanks for answering it for me.
But yeah, that's who I go to a lot.
I think the shit's just so cool.
Oh, they're great too.
It's just got such, yeah.
After meeting them on our open house, great guys.
Bill and Joe, they're a great whole team.
You spent some time with Joe and see him last year.
Bill probably worse than Joe.
He needs a little.
Joe's awesome.
I don't think he's.
Joe hard time.
Awesome.
I got the chance to meet him and see him last year.
He's a cool guy.
Cool as something, dude.
I mean, as a sheet metal guy, it's easy.
I mean, Adam Banks is always a guy I go to,
especially when these guys show up
and we're talking about sheet metal and kind of like the peak
of what can be done.
And what is he?
Like, it brings it.
So Adam Banks, what does he do?
He's like his up and coming guy.
He's learning and I can show them to these guys
so they see it's obtainable what we can do in this industry.
He was that dude in that truck that drove by.
I was like, just so happy to be in the road to it.
I think there's only one finger that he wins.
That's the guy from the Mighty Ducks, right?
Adam Banks is the guy.
He's the antagonist from the Mighty Ducks.
Who had to join the Ducks because it turned out
he lived one street over from the property line
to put him on the Mighty Ducks.
He's going to love you.
Phenomenal stick handler, Adam Banks.
Yeah.
You have the name.
I do.
I don't want to get off of it.
I had to text Phil Smudd.
Are you guys ready for this?
Yes.
It is.
I knew at the time it was crazy and I don't know why
it slipped my mind.
That kid who followed us back from Columbus.
Yes.
It was Charles Son.
Oh, Charles Cruz from Classic Cars?
It was Charles Son from Classic Cruise Studio.
I had no idea.
Oh, shit.
That's fucking crazy.
She never said anything about that.
He, Phil, talked to him on Monday.
So it was an OBS then?
Yeah.
I was going to say it was a pickup truck,
but it was his son in the OBS.
I remember it being a red OBS.
I don't want to speak now because my memory is so blurry.
Charles Son did build the red OBS.
Yeah.
I remember that because he kept up with us for a long time
and we were just like, who the fuck is this?
Who is this guy?
Awesome.
Awesome to hear that.
I think that's fucking amazing.
He was like, oh, I wonder what's going to happen with that guy.
Shout out.
It wasn't the fact that he rode with the Roadster Shop
that's going to change his career.
It's the fact that his dad, Charles, cruised.
No, he's fine.
Yeah, he might influence him a lot.
He might be OK.
He's fine, but still a great story.
He did enjoy his time cruising with us.
Yeah, 100%.
It's also a full circle.
Look at our industry.
I know.
Look at what happened.
We had no idea who he was at the time.
He didn't know who we were until he caught up to us.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's fucking incredible.
That's what, I mean, yeah, that's really good.
Really, really good.
He's probably listening going, how the fuck do they not
remember who I was?
They had a check.
That's big.
He's younger and got cooler things to do.
I doubt he's listening.
That's true.
But if he is, shout out to the cruise family
and classic car studio.
Yep.
I've never been shot at a studio.
Yeah, it's pretty cool to do.
I actually like doing it.
How did it feel?
It felt good.
Yeah, it was good.
It is.
Spencer, in the answering a question format, what is?
Please repeat the question.
They're fucking forgot.
What builders in our industry do you follow the most closely
and who's setting the trends and standards for this industry?
Us first and then.
And then, obviously, Adam, I've followed him for a long time.
But I think VBT and Cal are my top two that I look at and I
see what they're doing.
I'm like, oh, all right.
It pushes me forward, for sure.
VBT is pumping out the cadence at which he can sustain.
And I like Troy.
Right.
I like anybody that can.
We got a very tight circle circle.
But then there's a super tight inner circle
that can that can hang with that type of absolute shredding.
Cool mother fucker.
Of like, yeah, I mean, Troy's there's no place for egos
because no matter what you look like, what you built, what
you wear, yes, the choice is humble, humble, dude.
And I mean, to see like he's done.
He's probably for the quality of work that he's putting out.
He's probably quality to humbleness.
Yeah, it's probably the number one spot.
Yeah.
He's getting a little he's bit more
of looking better with the with the jackness.
He's starting to get a little bit.
Yeah, it comes with the with the.
He needs an injury.
He needs a bigger shoulder, tiny waist.
Like, you know, I see Troy.
Troy needs a gym injury.
He needs a bicep tear.
No, it's a wrist.
He's he's he's going to have.
He's going to have that wrist fucking brace on one that's on for way too long.
You see him at two shows.
That's going to rack him.
That thing's still on.
Dude, it's a sprain.
I don't even know you could sprain things anymore.
You guys are going to feel really bad if something happens.
Like a rollerbladed.
I'm not really.
Rollerbladed style wrist.
Yes.
I did it.
You have a wrist brace on unless it's broken.
Don't put anything on it.
But he the quality work there.
But now it's fucking kick ass.
It's good answer.
They I mean, when when they post builds that they do, I'm like, oh, yeah.
And he's a sharp dude, man.
I mean, the intake auto stuff.
He's got a really good product line.
Yeah. Yeah.
And then like the cow, the the chassis that came through with cow, like
just recently, you know, that that was just like.
Fuck. Oh, Andy, the brain just works.
I want to be a part of that build, you know, like that that chassis
that came through, I was like, this is this is.
Dude, you want to come over on the chassis shop?
We do shit like that on this on that side of all the time.
No, no, all kinds of crazy shit.
Not no question about it.
There's Burger Wednesdays.
And pizza Fridays.
I want to be a part of what it goes on.
Yeah. Well, that's coming soon here for R.S.
So yeah, 100 percent.
I'm not.
What about you?
So mine would be Mike Wager from Cornfield Customs.
I just feel like his quality of work that he puts out is just phenomenal.
I'm not sure. Right.
Yeah. So I'm not sure about the trends that he sets,
but I can definitely attest to his standards are very, very high.
And when I was coming up, he was posting a lot of videos on like,
like how to do this shit, right?
And I followed it to a T to me because the proof is in the pudding.
Yeah. So yeah, he's a big one for me.
Yeah. Education was a big part of it.
Like any any of the shops that are putting out educational quality
is important for guys coming up.
Yeah, totally, totally, totally.
Last but not least, we got a round of questions.
This is a two parter.
So that means it's two questions per person.
Wow. Try to take the same amount of time.
So we've never ran out of tape before.
However, Spencer's pushing us to the limit.
Is he really? I don't excuse me.
I'm trying to answer your questions fully.
What is your absolute favorite thing about working at the Roachers shop?
Seven. And what's the most challenging?
Why would you ask us that when we work here?
Jesus, this is a test.
You'll never hear it.
If all of them say this, they're like, the guy that fucking runs by
some fucking asshole.
It's going to be fun.
So favorite thing and most you want me to step outside?
No, you're favorite. And most we can talk about tomorrow.
Favorite most challenging.
He's the smartest one. I know where this is going.
Yeah, he's got my favorite thing is this Jeremy Grover guy is the
he's got something lying there.
Favorite most challenging and keep it simple.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
I'm going over time.
Favorite thing about working here is just kind of the the
spans of what we cover.
You know, there's no rhyme or reason behind what we build.
And we're still going to put the same effort and ingenuity
and creativity into it.
You know, we're not pigeon-holed in any sort of a box whatsoever.
So anything from street rods, hot rods, 80s cars,
just the vast spans of stuff that we're willing to take on and build
is definitely my favorite thing.
Most challenging thing is definitely is the manager, especially
Corralan, Jeremy's thoughts, ideas.
Because they don't they don't there's a lot up in there.
And then trying to remember and harness all those things and put them in action
is definitely the most challenging thing for me at this stage in my career.
Yeah. When I challenging thing isn't a bad thing.
I didn't say what's the thing you hate the most.
It's what's challenging.
And that's it'd be worth it.
Complimented.
It would be worse if I had no idea.
Exactly. If you're just like, I don't know what the fuck they want me to do
with this thing. Yeah, the most challenging thing.
He didn't say any of them were good.
He said you had a lot of them.
Yeah, I know.
That's why I said we'll talk about it tomorrow.
Because tomorrow is like it's so I've been meaning to talk.
So anyways, the ideas are not not good.
The direction.
Can we talk about it?
Yeah.
That's really good. I like that.
Spencer.
Next.
You don't want to say that one.
I mean, didn't want to.
What's the thing you found most challenging about when you worked here?
I didn't want to take too much time.
By my favorite.
I hate being second, because my favorite portion of working here
is the fact that everything is different every single day.
I went from working on a 1937 cord to working on a 1990 OBS pickup
in like the span of a couple of fucking months.
You know, like the spread is like that's incredible.
Like as a person in this industry, that's fucking incredible
to do work on such different vehicles is wild.
That's absolutely my favorite.
Every single time that I show up, like even today,
I work on different vehicles every day.
Every single time.
There's always a different challenge.
There's always a different thing to overcome.
It's stimulating. It's exciting.
It's always good.
The challenging thing.
Is Jeremy's ideas.
That's true.
I feel like I'm the common denominator.
If maybe like who?
Because I'm the problem here, because I'll be.
No, no, no, no, it's not.
It's mostly mostly good ideas.
It's just they're always the amount of them.
They're always good ideas.
It's just like I'll be grooving on a fucking project.
I'll be working and I'm like, dude, I'm I'm so under hours on this fucking thing.
You know, it'll be cool.
I'm like, I'm like killing this shit.
We're almost done.
I'm ready to send this shit to the body shop.
And then Jeremy walks up and he's like, hey, buddy,
wouldn't it be cool if and then dot, dot, dot?
So I mean, thank you. Now stay with me here.
Yeah, we're trying to build cool shit here.
We do. We absolutely do.
We and and it's always good.
And it's always a good idea and it's always cool, but it's just like
man, I was I was.
That's the same sentiment, you know, there's no project we want.
I was so close to being done.
No idea that we can't accomplish right.
But like, I was so close to being done.
And then it's like, oh, all right.
Yeah, no, I'll get it.
I'll get it. I'll do it.
I feel like I usually finish those with like, well, dude,
if but if you've got like a better idea, just like, well,
with that's not what it was.
It's part of it.
Because he's what he's saying.
He's like, now, if you think you can do better than what I came up with.
Hey, you want to do this, but also
you don't want to do this. Fuck off. Right.
It's what was it yesterday?
You're like, well, if you don't want to do it my way, just go.
Oh, yesterday.
And I was like, oh, yeah, you're right.
That other idea sucks. I will not ask Josh.
Only yesterday.
The bottom line, I'm trying to build cool shit.
So am I.
And I welcome I welcome the interjections.
But it's like I'm like rolling on a project.
I'm almost done.
I'm ready to like ship it to the body shop.
And then it's like, hey, what if we like rebuilt that?
Hey, completely.
It's the push.
It's the push for greatness.
I love it.
I just want to do it.
It's the challenge is not negative.
That's what she said.
Dakota, what was the question again?
What's your what's your favorite?
Your most favorite thing about working at the Roachershop
and what's the most challenging?
Gotcha.
I would say to be fair, I work with some really, really talented people.
And I would say that is probably my favorite part of all this place
is I can go. I can walk into any room and get a straight answer.
Because those guys know what the fuck they're talking about.
Right.
That's that's one of my favorites.
The challenging part is just the the shit we do in general, right?
None of it's easy.
So yeah, yeah.
Damn, smartest.
Yeah, at the table.
Smartest.
Yeah, you didn't mention your favorite.
You guys both hang yourselves tomorrow.
Let us tomorrow.
When I come in tomorrow, we went straight to Dakota with all my ideas.
Like, here's what's here's what's going down.
We're going to be working in a decent cool.
You know, be cool.
You know, because with the cool ideas, it's just, you know,
maybe maybe like in the middle of the project, not like right at the end.
They just do it.
I can't help when they come right, you know, yeah, me too.
OK.
And I feel like I want to be more like Brian Fuller.
You know, Brian Fuller's got that kind of like centric kind of quality.
Have we ever told the I think it's time.
You never told the Brian Fuller story in that in Gatlinburg.
He told.
And I'll let you tell you can phrase it.
You can however you think is best.
I've known Brian for a long time.
Yeah.
We have known Brian Fuller for also a fairly long time.
And Brian Fuller is a bad motherfucker.
And yeah, it's piggybacking off of crazy ideas
and always want to do something perfect segue into a Brian Fuller.
An amazing artist and I like no other work ethic work ethic
and getting in and is super fucking talent kicker, super talented.
And he's no, I love Brian and Brian's going to know.
Like there's a lot of bringing him up to this level.
And then there's going to be, of course, that's just the way this goes.
Right. It's just that's fucking life and especially the oil and whiskey podcast.
Yes.
Brian is a extremely artistic
person and thinks and works that way.
And everything that you would think a super artistic
are artistic.
Oh, yes.
Type of person would would act.
Absolutely.
So we are in Gatlinburg for shades of the past years ago.
And our tradition to go to
shades was to peel away for an hour or two and run down to Smoky Mountain.
I force largest knife company around.
It's like 600 million square feet or something like that.
Give or take million. Yeah. Of course.
Yeah. Yeah.
Huge 17 stories, you know, all the knives.
It's big.
They are knives. Yeah.
We're rolling out and Fuller sees us.
He's like, oh, hey, I want to go.
Where are you all going?
We're like, we're going to lunch and maybe down the nice door.
Oh, yeah. Can I hit your ride?
No problem. Hopps in.
We're in George Poteets 57 Ford at that point.
We drove it down there.
Just just finished it up.
So we're in there and Jeremy's nice.
He's a gentleman. He hops in.
Oh, I get in the back.
Brian's tall, long legs and stuff like that.
I'm driving and we're we're riding that way.
And the passenger door.
Oh, I didn't know what part of the server.
Tell me.
All which part of three.
That's not where I thought you were.
Well, we're going to go to the far.
So passenger door, the passenger door wasn't fully closed
and Brian's like having to tell a story.
So he's sitting on the seat with his back against the door.
And I'm about to make a turn and and Jeremy's like, oh, hey, Brian,
the doors open, right?
So say Brian's life because he would have.
Tumbled on into traffic, right?
So we get to the knife.
It was open, open.
It was not latched enough for a confidence in him
to lean his body away against it in a right handed turn or left handed turn.
Anyway, that's not really the point.
Anyway, so we get to the knife place and we're, you know, excited.
Kids in the knife store, right?
And super excited.
So we're there for like 10 minutes and then Brian's gone.
Can't find Brian like, all right, no problem.
So we do our thing.
We're only there for maybe 45 minutes or so.
And we were proud of being respectful.
You know, all right, let's kind of take a look around.
And we come we come back out and on this little bench
sitting crisscross applesauce out in front of this knife store is
is Brian Fuller and he's got his little sketch pad,
the little pocket note like field notes, sketch pad.
And he's just a just a sketch in a way like a little artistic
kid would do right there.
And just just a sketch in a way and showing us.
I hope he's calling you after this one.
I love Brian.
There's an R in there.
It's R and really and he's showing us his tip and he's really crazy.
So like that. Yeah.
And the dude what happened to me was like, oh, I just, you know,
wasn't into the knife thing whatsoever and just came to to do his little drawing
drawings and then we went to lunch and he did more drawings.
And it's just crazy how his mind works.
Like literally it wasn't a it's like a tick.
It's like this is this is in here things like I have to get it out and like show you.
Yes. What do you think?
Artistic. What was he drawing?
Exhaust tips. Yeah.
He was working on exhaust tips.
He was yeah.
He's doing like it was the tip and the integration with the valence and like a flare and a flip.
Like there was so it was poignant.
It was a he had a point.
Yeah. This was not to bash.
He wasn't just this not to bash on fuller.
Right.
Oh, maybe a little bit just like a little bit.
But it's it was it was interesting to see there was a there's a problem
that he's trying to work out.
There is an artistic to it.
And he's trying to see a flare and a radius and an integration.
And like this goes there.
It's just like if you hear a like first three notes of a song
or the first you like you have to finish it.
Like it's I can't just let that right not be fixed.
Right. And he was hung up on it.
Yeah.
He didn't care about pocket knives.
We were like super excited about going to the pocket knife store.
A knife guy for sure.
But but he was like I'll come with.
Yeah. To that.
Yeah. Because it sounds.
And honestly I was like dude if you're just going to draw you could have stayed at the show.
Like you kind of ruin the whole knife trip.
Honestly. Like great.
You're super artistic.
He's a little bit.
Fuller is a wild dude.
He's he really does like.
But he built some wild shit.
But he didn't see himself to the front.
And like he was there while you guys were.
No but he could have just stayed like it.
He kind of it was it was a burden.
It was it was a little bit of a downer.
Yeah.
To like worry about like if Brian was having fun or not.
If I don't know who's out there like drawing like those doodles and stuff like we would
just left him in there for two hours by knives.
I mean let's face it.
Yeah. I love Brian.
There was probably four or five knives we couldn't buy because we weren't in there.
Probably right. Yeah.
Right.
This has been a lot of fun.
One last one.
I think it's the most important question before we go.
It's my favorite question that's come up recently.
Oh is it.
Unlimited budget question.
Oh yeah.
This one you do like this.
I like coming from the three of you guys.
We give up on the versus.
It's over.
OK. Yeah.
Stallone one.
I already know where that was.
That one's over the whole law enforcement one.
I think Dakota wins.
Yeah. We don't need to get into that.
It's kind of obvious.
We don't need to hear the story.
The most unlimited budget.
What are you building and who's building it.
It can be a team of people that are building it.
All right. What is it.
Who wants to go first.
Where you go first.
What I said you said you don't want to go first.
Go ahead and go first this time.
Oh OK. You don't want to go second.
It's my dad's Camaro.
Obviously it's a V 10 supercharged all wheel drive.
Really.
And I'm what V 10.
You're building what V 10 Audi.
And what is the drive train.
How is it. How are the front wheels turning.
It's all Audi. OK.
Yeah. Interesting.
S 8 is a 10000 dollar donor vehicle
that has everything that I need. OK.
And I'm going to figure the rest out.
Is there style.
You got a vision for the.
It's going to be a road rage.
V 2 wider.
V wider is better.
V 1 I guess because we're talking gen one
and road rage is gen two. So yeah. Yeah.
You got to build that car dude.
Yeah. I mean I think that's how it would be cool.
Yeah. It's it's going to happen.
It's just when you know. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah that's definitely something that needs to be
fucking built that's family heirloom
so much sentimental value. Yeah.
And he would like he would be fully in support of me
just fucking it up. You know. Yeah. Like.
Yeah. It was always doesn't have to be the car.
Right. Right. It doesn't have to be like a perfect restoration
thing like he was always a hot rod or like it started blue.
He painted it red.
You know.
He put fucking a V8 in it like it was always like
he always upgraded.
If you had to paint it tomorrow what color is it going.
You thought too long.
The first thing that comes in your head.
What's the first thing it's always been so currently I'm on
a white and gold kick.
OK. I'd all white with a gold like like gold wheels like flat
white with gold wheels with gold wheels.
Yeah. That's that's for. Yeah.
People that do that is struggle with those guys.
Yeah. That's why nobody wants to answer this question.
Well I quit.
Well the other. Yeah.
I mean I mean there's people like that.
There's people I know with white cars with gold wheels and I
just I don't know if I like them.
I went against the.
The wheels of the person the person.
Yeah. The look is fine.
The white and gold.
I don't have a problem with it.
Like a like a flat pearl white with gold wheels.
I'll listen because this assholes got a white car with gold
wheels. But no I. Oh he's.
I forgot about that. Yeah.
But no I don't.
We should have all forgot about it.
Yeah. It would have been less fun.
I forgot.
Nothing wrong with that.
Yeah. Dakota you're next.
See so I'm a simple guy.
So I. Yeah.
Regular cab short bed OBS Chevy man.
You know what I mean.
Just just.
Yeah we're talking unlimited.
Unlimited.
Yeah. Exactly what I want.
OK. Exactly what I want.
It's just a simple like maybe six liter with a 6L 80.
You know what I mean.
You just just a cool cruiser right.
Yeah. That's it.
Nice.
That's a good that'd be a good build.
Yeah.
All right John.
I don't know.
I'm not going to blow your mind.
Well you've been at this a long time so I'm curious.
I know it's going to be controversial and I don't like the
unlimited budget part because I don't know what that's like.
Well it's unlimited.
I.
Understand that.
I can't comprehend.
Nobody knows.
It's going to be a bad answer in your eyes.
I already know it because I heard it recently.
OK.
I have always loved.
He knows already.
Well you know you like lead sled type 37s effort.
Yeah.
It's going to be the wheelchair.
I'm going to put a crew together to build it with.
Yeah.
Guys I don't necessarily know but have respected.
I think I'd bring in Cole Foster if he's still out there and
around.
He built that 36 for James Hetfield which was just the most
cool and hot rod in my eyes as far as stance.
Yeah.
I'd like to.
Call faster gets a lot of love in this process.
Yes.
He's just a few episodes.
He does.
This is a mistake.
I used him on my on my dream.
Yeah.
OK.
I didn't hear that one.
Him and Bobby Walden.
Nice.
I would rely on you guys to figure out the chassis because
let's be honest that's a tough chassis to make a ride height
work if you're not going to have to bag it probably which
sucks.
Yeah.
Ride quality so that you guys figure that out.
Make sure the thing actually runs and rides properly and
doesn't drag that seven foot of skirt on the back of it.
Exactly.
Being low.
That's definitely got a lot of aspect there to make it work.
What motor.
That's a this is a tough one.
I know.
I love those vehicles and that especially that era.
That's a car though that looks like does the motor
matter.
I think that's kind of where I'm at too.
It's just got to look good.
The cars finish.
So you just fucking go sit so it's not a lot of form.
No it could be a small block.
It could be anything could be.
I mean honestly you just it should be a flathead Lincoln V12.
Right.
OK.
It should be and then you just ask a little right with a little
love of it.
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
It doesn't need to go fast.
It just needs to look cool and needs to be and it's hard to not
do a flathead.
100%.
Yeah.
It's hard to kill me if it didn't have a flathead.
Yeah.
It's just.
And I hate even admitting that it needs a flathead because it's not
a big flatheads man.
I love them but it's just so like.
But something like that has lost effort.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Yeah.
It's a means of moving the vehicle.
It's like investing in blockbuster.
Right now.
I think this time this thing's going to.
Yeah.
It's.
Yeah.
It's thousands per.
Single horsepower.
There's nothing wrong with.
Look I made a funny comment maybe about him.
I like those cars.
I like him a lot.
You guys they're tough to make stand out.
Yeah.
Especially around here too because we don't see him like that was a
thing going to Grand National Roadster show they're like to turn a corner and
there's one it's like oh I mean we don't see these where we're from.
My thing.
We've talked about this.
We had to I mean we had to look at look for it at Grand National like.
Because I was.
The hot rod.
The hot rods and hobbies.
Yeah.
The green one.
My thing about the Zephyr and a little bit about the 36 a little more less on the 36
Ford but on the Zephyr's as much as I've loved them for a long time.
It's always it's goes in the genre and I've said this for it's like that's the car I
want to look at.
Like I want to look at it.
Yeah.
There's never been a time that you're like I my dream is I envision myself in that
car driving in some scenario.
Yeah.
You know it's different.
It's like you see a lot of vehicles and you're like oh I'd like to be in this place
or this part of the country you're driving it and doing a trip.
I want to drive these types of roads or I want to see the Zephyr and it's like I want to
just look at it.
If you're talking about a Zephyr in its truest form is.
Now you can make one.
Well I feel like you can get out of that car like a wizard's robe.
It's still cool.
And then it would like and you'd be like oh yeah that you mean anybody or me in particular.
No just a guy.
It would it would look I know.
I know.
Nobody would question you.
Yes.
Like they'd be like oh yeah he's driving his Zephyr's dude's got a wizard's robot.
It just it just makes sense.
Right.
It's got that look.
It checks out.
Like from the time I first started paying attention to hot rods.
That was the car I saw and was like if I go back and be a kid and be good at drawing which
I'm not and draw what I see is a badass custom hot rod.
That's the profile.
There's not many cars that surpass it.
How do you do that better than what Rob Ida did with it.
I think it's hard.
That's that might be.
I don't know that you can.
That might.
Again.
I don't like I don't see any holes in his game on that one like that car head.
You can take different style though.
He take it very concept car wise.
Modern concept car.
Sure.
But that's the fucking appropriate style to that car.
I think it's tough one to beat.
Yeah.
Tough tough Zephyr to beat.
But we're talking unlimited budget.
I think that might have been in the neighborhood of the budget.
I don't know.
I don't know.
But you know wasn't a tight budget.
And that same zip code.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's cool.
Yeah.
Does yours move?
What color?
I'm I'm struggling on that.
Maroon.
To me.
To me just black looks fucking killer on those cars.
But it's been done so many times.
You lose a lot of detail on this.
I know you do.
That's what I almost feel like I would bring another guy in the Lena.
Purple.
Like I would might because I don't think in those terms I have like that bad ass dark
look is what I'm.
Who sprays it.
You never talked about sprays it.
Yeah.
I think if I was building it and I could bring like people in for their input I'd just
bring my boys in.
Like I'd bring all the guys I want to work with.
Like I would probably let Alan Palmer spray it.
I'd bring Chad in.
I've got a little bit budget.
I'm gonna hurt his ass to build that.
Fuck yeah.
Jeremy's gonna be building it with me.
I'm gonna bring in Chad.
I think I might like rely on my boys at South City Rod and Custom maybe to give me some
concepts.
They always got wild colors.
They don't know if I would buy into that.
They should spray it for you.
I think they'd bring me some killer colors and concepts and where I just automatically
go black is as cool as a kid's but.
Black's hard to beat.
Black and nickel something on that.
Black and copper is a fucking killer.
The first thing I'm doing though if I have an allergy I'm gonna budget hiring you guys.
Fuck yeah.
You just want to flip the screen.
It's not even about the build.
You just want to turn the tables.
Just to manage it.
You're like stripping undercoat.
You work for me now.
Listen you motherfucker.
It's gonna be four times a day.
Hey you know what I was thinking you would be cool.
You got that done.
I got an idea.
Did I not address that in my unlimited budget?
You know what would be cool is that like there's TIG welding and there's MIG welding
but what about a new kind of welding?
Yeah.
Why don't you try that?
Yeah try that.
Let me know what you come up with.
You remember.
I mean if you don't want to do it my way I guess.
15 years ago in the back of the magazine you'd see those like body kits to turn like
a 91 or whatever 90's thunderbird.
The stu-de-baker?
We could turn them into stu-de-bakers or thunderbirds.
I used to have this joke with you at Glass Hacle.
We were always like if we won the lottery and had all this money I just broke your microphone
I'm sorry.
You're right.
What would you build?
We just talked about this show on the shop floor and I go dude I'm telling you right now
if I have that much money I'm going obsolete nobody's gonna know it's me.
I'm contracting the Roadster shop on limited budget.
I'm gonna buy one of those body kits and demand that Chad Glass Hacle builds it on a sheet
fence.
That will finish you.
I kind of like that actually.
That would be awesome.
We've seen some cars coming for chassis that I feel like are almost on that level.
Even the most recent the Lincoln?
There has been some wild shit coming in for custom chassis which is cool as hell.
I love that that's happening.
You saw Cochran's car didn't you?
Which one?
The Lincoln.
Yes.
It's like 80 what year?
The ship.
I didn't know that.
It was early 80's.
Early 80's.
Yeah, Johnny Cochran.
That's his old car.
Cool.
That car.
I walked past it.
I was like.
You saw the tag on it didn't you?
Fuck.
Not guilty.
I did not see it.
I swear the license plate was not guilty.
That's what the license plate is.
Have you pivoted at all?
I'm all over the place.
I change every day.
I've been back.
I've got back on the Rambo Lambo lately.
Really?
Yeah, the LP2000 or whatever.
Start kicking around.
It needs to be a G-Wagon level interior.
Get more in Clark.
Probably.
I want it to absolutely like tuck 39's on it.
That's more in Clark for sure.
When you hook it.
But it also needs to be way more of a civilized looking around town than just a full pre-runner.
Is it white?
Yeah.
Yeah, it's got to be white.
Cocaine white.
Yeah.
Gold bead locks?
No, no, no, no.
No gold.
It's white fucking.
White, probably just black wheels.
Yeah.
And you've got to have some KC's.
You're onto something with that one because whoever's the first one to modify that.
It could be a cool one.
Yeah.
A cool one will be, that'll be something.
Yeah, it'd be really, really cool.
You know who should do something like that and who probably will is Ron Jones.
This one is wheelhouse.
It's going to be up Ron Jones wheelhouse.
Yeah, I think that's his wheelhouse.
Bobby's hinted at it.
Really?
He's into this.
What do they call it?
It's an L?
LP 2000, I think, or LP 200.
That's the Lambo SUV that was the 24.
Yeah, Hummer like Lamborghini.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They got some cool things going on.
That must be, that car must be a maintenance fucking crisis.
Yeah, I wouldn't restore it.
I wouldn't restore it.
I would.
You'd buy that car for the body.
Yeah, and then you build off of it.
Yeah, there's nothing about that car that you keep going.
Yeah, they were neat.
When I was a kid, they were in the dunes all the time.
Oh, were they?
Silver Lake.
Jesus Christ.
They'd be up there fucking ripping all.
I don't know what the deal was with them.
It was on backpack Super Soaker Day.
I wasn't driving them dude.
I was waiting there.
They were the same dudes.
You're taking about half a month.
I had one.
You don't want to get parts flyer out there.
Yeah.
Then you go back to the RV.
But they were, I don't know what the story was with them, but they were always
out there.
They used to be dirt cheap.
Like they were just completely forgotten about.
I suppose.
Yeah.
They could be.
Now they have the Urus and it's not.
Yeah, it's not cheap.
Cheap.
It could be a cool build.
And something different.
It's something wild and I think you can make it do a little bit of all things.
Okay.
Well, we really enjoyed it.
Yeah, I had fun hanging guys.
I think there'll be some listeners that really enjoyed it and the ones that don't.
We've always said from the get go, if we're having fun and we enjoy this conversation,
then that's all that matters.
And we really did enjoy it.
I think that we might need to make this maybe a semi-regular thing.
Yeah.
There's more topics to get into.
We barely scratched the surface.
John's been here for 18 years kicking fucking ass and, you know, a three hour conversation.
We've barely scratched the surface.
Yeah.
No, there's still a lot more to talk about.
And it was fun.
It was really fun.
Yeah.
See you again next week.
And don't forget before we go, don't forget to go to good guys.com and check out the careers
in hot riding.
Columbus is just right around the corner.
So hope you're ready for that thrash again.
We're ready for it.
We'll see you again next week.
See you guys.
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About this episode
Roadster Shop’s hot-rod fabrication crew gets an inside look—starting with early hiring and the “massive” feeling of the shop, then moving into how fabricators actually learn: welding, metal shaping, and improvising when there’s “no platform” and “no blueprint.” The team contrasts CAD/laser workflows with hands-on reality, emphasizing accuracy, repeatability, and serviceability. Along the way, they share career paths, shop culture, and why real-world mistakes matter more than theory.
Original notes
On this episode of Oil & Whiskey, we’re joined by part of the RS hot rod fab team: Jon York, Spencer Newman, and Dakota Montour.
From the work that goes into high-level builds to the chaos, craftsmanship, and shop stories that come with it. A trip, and a stumble, down sketchy memory lane, the boys recall the early days and how each of them ended up at Roadster Shop.
Oil and Whiskey with Roadster Shop
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