Secret Viper GTS: A Father-Daughter Dream Car Story
To All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History
Secret Viper GTS: A Father-Daughter Dream Car Story
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Car
Delorean DMC-12
The DeLorean DMC-12 is a unique car known for its futuristic design and gullwing doors. It became very popular because it was featured in the 'Back to the Future' movies.
Term
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy means that a person or company is unable to pay back money they owe. It can result in selling off assets or making new payment plans.
Car
Bricklin SV-1
The Bricklin SV-1 is a rare sports car from the 1970s that stands out because of its cool doors that open upwards. It tried to be a safe and fast car, but not many were made, which makes it special.
Concept
Gran Turismo
Gran Turismo is a video game series where players can race cars in realistic environments. It's popular among car lovers because it features many real-life cars and tracks.
Company
Nissan
Nissan is a car company from Japan that makes many different types of vehicles, including sports cars and family cars. They are well-known for their performance cars like the GT-R.
Part
air shocks
Air shocks are special parts in a car's suspension that can be inflated or deflated to change how high the back of the car sits. This helps with carrying heavy loads or making the ride smoother.
Concept
Formula 1
Formula 1 is a type of car racing that involves very fast cars racing on special tracks. It's one of the most popular and prestigious racing series in the world.
Term
donuts
Doing donuts means spinning a car in circles, which makes the back tires slide and leave marks on the ground. It's a fun trick that some drivers like to show off.
Car
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger Daytona is a new electric version of the Charger, which is a well-known car. This model is part of the trend of making cars that run on electricity instead of gasoline.
Car
Plymouth Roadrunner
The Plymouth Road Runner is a classic car from the late 1960s to the early 1980s known for being fast and fun to drive. It was popular for its cool design and connection to racing.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a famous car that started being made in the 1960s and is known for its sporty look and powerful engine. It's often seen as a symbol of American culture and is loved by many car enthusiasts.
Concept
muscle car
Muscle cars are fast cars that were really popular in America, especially in the 1960s and 70s. They are known for having big engines that make them go really fast.
Car
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a sporty car that became famous in the 1960s. The 1968 version is especially loved for its powerful engine and cool design.
Brand
Mopar
Mopar is a brand that deals with parts and services for cars made by Chrysler, like Dodge and Jeep. It's also known for performance upgrades for these vehicles.
Brand
Chevy
Chevy is a popular car brand in the U.S. that makes many different types of vehicles, including trucks and sports cars.
Brand
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a car company from Germany that makes popular cars like the Beetle and the Golf.
Car
Dodge Dakota
The Dodge Dakota is a type of truck made by Dodge. The 2001 version is popular for being useful for everyday tasks and can carry a lot of stuff.
Part
control module
The control module is like the brain of the car that helps manage how different parts work together. If it fails, it can cause strange problems like lights turning on and off.
Car
Ford Feraline Fastback
The Ford Feraline Fastback is an older car from 1969 that has a sleek design with a roofline that slopes down to the rear. It's considered a classic because of its unique look and history.
Car
Ford Gt
The Ford GT is a fast sports car made by Ford. It's famous for its racing history and cool looks.
Term
carburetor
A carburetor is a part that helps mix air and fuel so the engine can run. Many newer cars use a different system called fuel injection instead.
Term
rust
Rust is what happens when metal gets wet and starts to break down. It can make cars weak and is often seen in older vehicles.
Term
T-boned
T-boned is when one car hits another car on the side, making a shape like the letter 'T'. It's a serious type of crash because the side of the car is less protected.
Car
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle is a famous small car with a unique round shape. It was very popular in the 1960s and 70s and is known for its quirky design and reliability.
Car
Chevy Sprint
The Chevy Sprint is a small car made by Chevrolet, popular for being economical and easy to drive. It was made in the 1980s and 1990s and is based on a Suzuki design.
Car
Dodge Viper
The Dodge Viper is a super-fast sports car that was made from the early 1990s until 2017. It's famous for its big engine and bold look, making it a favorite among people who love speed and power.
Term
financing
Financing means borrowing money to buy a car. Instead of paying all at once, you pay a little each month until it's paid off.
Concept
content creation
Content creation is making videos or posts to share online. For cars, it means showing off your car experiences or adventures to others.
Car
Porsche 356
The Porsche 356 is a classic sports car made by Porsche in the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. It's known for being stylish and fun to drive, and it helped make Porsche a well-known name in the car world.
Car
Volkswagen Thing
The Volkswagen Thing is a unique-looking vehicle made by Volkswagen. It's designed to be practical and can handle rough terrain, making it a fun car for outdoor adventures.
Term
locked up engine
A locked up engine is one that won't move at all, usually because something inside is broken or there's no oil to keep it running smoothly.
LIVE
You have found all the cars I've loved before your authoritative podcast on
automotive nostalgia where every car tells a story and every car has a culture.
It's time to plug in dust off and get a little grease under the nails and slip
on that favorite car themed shirt. Speaking of my co-host, how are you today?
I'm doing great. Great to be back here with you.
You put the front in front-tacular, my friend. I dig that shirt. Can you stand up?
Well, if I stand up. Let's get it. Well, okay. There you go. Look at this.
And now he is wearing what looks like an olive drab. Oh, that's pretty slick.
It's the blueprint of the DeLorean. Oh, oh, those are the, is that DeLorean's pattern?
Those are the company's pattern? Yep. I love it. The DMC, what, 12?
DMC 12. Yes.
Do you know what that 12 stood for?
12th bankruptcy he'd been through. 12th wife. What? I don't know.
It was supposed to cost $12,000. Is that true? It is.
That's fantastic. That's costing about double that, but.
Well, yeah, that's the, yeah. Cars and startups, what can you say?
It's probably the same for Bricklin, his precursor. Good to have gold.
Oh, and speaking of movies, what was the, you saw a movie recently and how did that go?
Yeah, so. Grawl to Rismo.
For, yeah, for background, my son likes video games, not necessarily driving games,
just video games. Yep. And there's another YouTuber besides the one we're going to talk to
today, who, who, Amelia Hartford, who was in Gran Turismo. And her YouTube channel is pretty good.
She has some cool cars on there. So I told my son about it and he said, oh, you know,
Gran Turismo is based on a true story. I'm like, no way. And, and the, yeah, the short plot of it is
that Sony, via their PlayStation, decided in whatever year it was, early mid-2000s,
that they were going to do a contest for the best drivers on the game and take, I don't know,
eight, whatever, and give them a chance to become drivers for Nissan.
Hmm. And true, true story. The, the guy in it, his name is Jan.
So there's hope for my son is what you're saying. My youngest son, who never comes out of his room
to be a professional driver. But please continue. Just get him the whole, the whole
Indeed. So, yeah, they ended up driving everything and they, the star of it.
Well, the real person actually played Jan. He actually played the stunt driver, I believe,
in the movie. But I didn't know the name of the star, but Orlando Bloom was in it. It was,
I think 2022 or 2023. Yeah. It's a great movie. Yeah. It got good reviews. It looked like the
typical action, summer action popcorn stuff, but it actually was pretty well reviewed. I meant to
see it. It wasn't in the theaters long, long here. So I will have to check it out. And there is a
new movie coming out with Brad Pitt. I think it's called F1, which I'm looking forward to seeing
as well. Beautiful. Not being done a video game as far as I know. But yeah, Gran Turismo, big surprise.
I thought it was going to be about gaming. It was not. So. Coming to a small screen near you.
Speaking of small screens, let's chat a little bit about our website. Yeah. That you have done some
pretty wonderful work on. It's actually going through version two. We got an outside consultant,
actually a gentleman based in Nigeria. Fantastic guy. Super smart. Back in a sub. And it might be
out by the time you hear this episode. I think it will be CarsLove.com. CarsLove.com. Check us.
Check us out. And one last mention before we go to new users and then pivot to our guests today.
Our YouTube, we've been doing more and more on YouTube thanks to your amazing graphic editing
skills. I'm only getting better. But indeed. Still a long way to go. Thank you. Well, it's good.
That's a plus when you start from the bottom. But yeah. So are we still trying to post every
every week? We were posting every other day, but that was a lot. But it's coming out.
Yeah. Pretty often. Pretty often. There happens to be a 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona electric vehicle
at the dealer near me. So I was actually going to roll out there. You gave it the walk around.
Yeah. I like that. Maybe tonight and do a better walk around video. And we'll put that out there.
So it was fun. Love those. Thank you. It's great because there's nobody there at night.
Yeah. That's great. Yeah. It's fantastic when you break into places that tends to happen.
New listeners. Welcome. Hey, we have some new listeners. My favorite part of the show.
So we were right. The people listening from Japan were from Tokyo. We took a guest there.
Welcome new listeners in Reykjavik, Iceland. We continue to have people in dribbles and
drabs listening from Paris. And let's see. Where else? Ontario, Canada. Welcome. Reach out to us.
I'm Christian at CarsLove.com. He is Doug at CarsLove.com. Lastly, Kuwait City. And that's
not Kuwait City in Arkansas. Kuwait City in Kuwait, other side of the world. Welcome. Welcome.
Please reach out. If you like what you're hearing, please do give us a review. Positive if you can.
Please be honest. But please be positive. On Apple Podcast is typically where people are
hitting us up. But where else are we, Doug? We're on Spotify. Spotify. Castro. All the top
podcasts. Yeah. You can even find us on the AM dial. I mean, we're everywhere. You wouldn't believe
it. Or the best way to find everything, including all the platforms, is go to our link tree, which
is linktr.ee slash CarsLove. Do we call it our digital switchboard? But you can. Hey,
everything we're up to. YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, our social security numbers. Yep.
Everything is there. You will not want to miss it. Well, on to today's guests. I'm really excited.
And before I hand over to Doug to tell you how we cross paths, I want to say that we've had
Tandems on the show here in the past. We've had Father Son. We've had mentor protege.
Actually, a couple of shows at the collegiate level, which should be published out there.
Weber State, one of our shows here. I've interviewed my son for the show. And he talked about driving.
He's an Army Reserves. Talked about his drive in a Humvee. He had a blast doing that.
And so we have a father. This is so unique today. And we're so pleased. We have a father-daughter
combination who has this really interesting family business and a YouTube show. They couldn't be
more interesting, more fun, more talented, or have more zany positive energy. Caroline and James,
welcome to the show. Thank you. Hey, how are you guys? Okay. And now you look bundled up. How
cold are you in that man cave, turn garage, turn studio, turned... That's like 65 in here. It's
not bad. Too bad. Oh my God. That's giving me the chills here in Florida, man. In the Florida
Panhandle, it gets lower than 70. And I put on a parka. That's how I do it. But you look great.
You sound great. And before we get your backstory, Doug, how did this duo end up on the radar?
Yeah. So let's see. I think, I want to say it was in December. I had some terrible cold.
So what did I do? I sat around and watched YouTube videos about cars.
Grow the brand. Yeah. And it's when I discovered HH Wheels or HH Wheels Productions with Caroline
and James and reached out to Caroline via either direct email or the form on their website.
I believe it's hhwheelspro.com. And Caroline nicely replied back. I asked them to be on the podcast
given, especially given the theme of a father-daughter and trying to do more family themes. And
she so kindly replied and we exchanged a few emails. And here we are. Yeah. And out there and
listen, Land, if you want to put a smile on your face, go to youtube.com type in HH Wheels.
And these videos are short ones or long ones and so much fun. Great production values too.
This stuff should be on TV, which I'm sure it will be one day. But how did this idea come into your
head? Caroline or James, take it away. How did it happen? I mean, I'll happily break the ice on
this one. So originally, we kind of just met in a very serendipitous way, which I'm sure we'll talk
about later. But he was in his shop working on a city charger and I was kind of bugging him here
and there because I've always been a naturally born, mechanically inclined human being. And he
was kind of like, nah, like, you know, there's no, there's no place for that, whatever. Not so
much the fact of being a woman. It was just really like, it was his man cave. It was his thing. He
wanted to figure it out. I also think he was in here throwing a wrench or two because he couldn't
get the thing to run, but nor there. Anyways, so I started hanging around. I kept bugging him and
bugging him and eventually just kind of grew into, all right, fine. Hand me that wrench. Okay,
put this carburetor on whatever. And it was kind of like sweep the floors and I was just happy to
be there. And eventually it kind of just grew with this idea of, okay, I know you have this
background in graphic design and freelance editing, which I carried for a good while. And
he's like, well, I've always wanted to do a TV show. So we got this wild hair one day. We were
talking about this dream car we both love to have. And I remember it like it was yesterday. It's one
of my favorite memories that I'm sure I will cherish for the rest of my life. But we're sitting
here wrenching on this 72 charger. And in the TV or the shop TV, there was the video of Richard
Petty's 71 Roadrunner all blue race card out. And I was like, that's a cool car. And he's like,
absolutely adored to own one of those. Let me intervene real quick. By the way,
YouTube was on 24 seven in our shop. Not to mention, yeah, like all the time. So,
you know, we're completely getting, you know, our inspiration. As we're making this go, we're
watching stuff and getting inspiration. It was grease in the wheels for sure. So we're getting
these ideas and we're seeing all these people all over YouTube. And thankfully, our playlist was
pretty diverse. And we got all these ideas. And then a week later, before I knew it, this guy's
looking at 71 satellites and 71 Roadrunners and other in Alabama or their Mississippi or whatever.
And we knew somebody who had a semi professional camera, like, all right, let's bring the cameras.
Maybe we'll film it. Maybe not. Let's go on this road trip. So we go on this road trip, film the
whole thing. We have a friend of ours at the time, edit it and turn it into this video. And
we're like, okay, let's just run with this. And we, we kept up this whole production and we went
with this whole Mad Max vibe at all. And we rallied a bunch of people in our town for the
first month or two, because we really wanted to have our own URL. So on YouTube, you have to have
at least 100 subscribers and be like 30 days old. I think that's still the same parameters. But
anyways, we rallied around and we're like, okay, we'll release the YouTube video after we have a
real URL, because nobody wants to go to youtube.com forward slash dash RK, you know,
to establish ourselves in the best way or put our best foot forward. So that's kind
of where it all started. And we released one episode and we're like, okay, cool,
got a thousand views. Like that's so awesome. Let's release the next one. And then we also,
this is why you have to have someone young in your group, because good point. I'm only just now
starting to kind of understand what she just said. You know, I mean, you know, technologically,
I'm, I'm not the computer guy. So having her be able to transmit all this and go to YouTube,
I was told to go on YouTube a long time ago. I just didn't know how.
No, you didn't understand branding. So you fully understand that having our URL,
the best way to kickstart this thing. And we're like, okay, you know, we came up with all these
hypotheticals of what if we fall flat on our faces or what if we grow instantly or like all
these different scenarios and we're like, you know, we'll just figure it out as it goes. And
at the time we're kind of like just messing around because we were at the height of the COVID lockdown
and we weren't going anywhere. We weren't doing anything and there were plenty of the cars around
us. And we were also at the point of buying more that were like, all right, well, this is a good
way to socially distance ourselves, which we did, which we did in the shop. And that's so interesting
because you, you, you seem the perfect creative duo, the two of you, and you seem to fit each other,
you know, where one has experience, the other has, you know, you have all the skills that
are alternatingly need. And that's the way Doug and I are on this podcast with each other. Like,
there's no way I could do what he does and I bring my own special sauce to the mix.
So talk for a little bit if you would about being creative partners and your ability to kind of
fit, fit with each other. I definitely want to start this because the one thing that I noticed
from the get go is the vision that he's always had for anything he does. So yeah, yeah, where
he's fabricating metal or he's putting together a bicycle or the most impressive to me is really
when he sees a video in his brain. And sometimes it's hard for him to properly articulate it all
because there's all these crazy, great ideas like flowing through his brain. So just watching him
do it has always been something that has inspired the living heck out of me because
I feel like I have pretty good creative skills in some places, but the visualization
is really a highlight and a skill that he carries. I don't necessarily say that I don't carry,
but I think he carries for the team here where he can give me the idea and give me
the play by play of what he's thinking. And then my creative brain comes into where I'm like,
okay, this is how it's going to be edited. This is going to be the music we're going to use. This
is how I'm going to make it look. We have it shot. So it's really cool because like you were saying,
with your relationship, ours is very similar to where if he doesn't do something I do it or
a lot of times even in the shop, he does things that I learned so much from. And then there's
things like when it comes to powder coating and serocoding, something that has been self-taught
or I've self-taught myself, he picks up or in a project or a build, he puts that responsibility
on me, he takes over something else. I think that's more what it is. I'm like, oh, Caroline,
computer cooters. Wait, Caroline, carry this up for me. Yeah, I mean, she's something else, man.
You open up these videos and she's like, oh my gosh, she cracked that transmission open. She's
pulling this. I see her out in a paint splattered shirt. She's expertly putting this. It's almost
hypnotic to watch when somebody's, man, gets that paint line going and back and forth.
Just good stuff. She can do it all. So James, do you agree with what she said? You think she's
got something here? Absolutely, yeah. I've been dissecting. This was a dream of mine
to be, do a TV show or something. For a long, long time, any sense of your kids, we'd go to the
movies and we want to be in the movies or write a movie or do something along those lines. I'm
my buddy, one of my best friends out in California. We used to talk about it all the time and we still
do. We still do talk about, oh, this would make a great movie or this would do, it would be fun to
shoot this way or that way. We still have those conversations, but he's, well, anyway, when we,
when she's talking about vision, I've spent probably like you guys over the last 10 to 15
years watching other shows. I don't just watch the show when I watch someone, if I watch a TV
show or I watch another YouTube show, I'm watching how they shot it and I'm wondering how that made,
like, why am I interested in this? You know, and I constantly analyzing that video and holy crap,
I just watched this for an hour and a half. Why am I, why am I so into this? And so I,
I look at that video in a different way as if I'm shooting it from a camera and visualizing
myself shooting it as a camera. And that's, I think of where a lot of that comes from talking
about where I'm visualizing how this is going to look on camera when we're shooting. And then she
takes it and goes, oh, you know, when I, when I edit it down, she takes and goes, I see this now
and then makes it just so much better because she can put the right music to it. She puts the right
voiceover on it. Yes. I think what's going on when we're, when we're doing something, if we're
doing a fast motion, showing our work and showing what's happening and why she can explain that to
our audience. And, and again, I was talking to you guys earlier about, you know, you can listen to
her voice all day long. It's, it's, it's fantastic. Very pleasing. Very pleasing. She's got a radio
voice. Absolutely. And saying that it's kind of like yours, Christian. Oh, thank you. That's what
we have Christian for the radio. That's all I bring to the table. No, that's not true.
But I will tell you, I told you this when we were talking before. Thank you for your kind words,
but the production values of your show, just off the charts, you, you both have this,
this really warm chemistry that works. I mean, for my money, it's just as good, if not better
than anything on TV. So I think you guys just keep shipping, keep putting it out there and you are
destined for greatness. So if Doug doesn't have anything else here, let's climb into the nearest
DeLorean, go 88 miles an hour back to where it all happened. If it's okay with Caroline,
I would like to start with James. Let's talk about James's first car. Where did you get it? Where
did it come from? And what was it? Ah, 66 Mustang jacked up in the back. Oh, wow. The wheels did
not match on it. I remember that. It was probably as close to Joe dirt as you could probably get.
Again, the air shocks in the back were key. The wheels were too big to fit into the wheel wells.
I remember this. And I, I mean, I specifically remember doing donuts and that thing and just
having the biggest smile on my face doing it. And I got it by working, I worked in a restaurant
and the chef at the restaurant, I was a dishwasher. He kind of sold it to me on a,
you know, give me a hundred every two weeks kind of thing. And, you know, that's, that's how I got it.
And it, it was a time in the 80s where you could buy a muscle car that was fully functioned,
not rusted out for 2000 bucks. You know, I mean, yeah, I had 68 Camaro or that 66 Mustang or I mean,
heck, Dodge Chargers, man, you could, you could buy a, my brother bought a 69 Dodge Charger for 500
bucks, you know, in 1966. I mean, so, you know, those times, and I think that's where I got my
influence from with both my brothers, you know, at the time I have two older brothers that I was
living in New Mexico with. And one was a big Chevy guy. That's all he had with Chevy's race
Chevy, big Chevy truck. And then my other brother, he was big Mopar guy, big Mopar and
Ford. So he had four Mustangs and Dodges. So those guys would argue all the time about what was
better. And I just took all that influence. And I think you see it in my shop. It's Mopar and Chevy
and I have one Ford, because I'm not a big Ford guy, but I will say it's Mopar and Chevy pretty
much. She'll, she'll attest to that. And Volkswagen, of course, you know, which is, yeah. And hopefully
this won't convey over the audio of the podcast, but they're sitting in over their shoulders. You
can see this massive Goodyear banner, continental tires, I think a Texaco sign up here. You'll see
it if we get this up on the YouTube channel, but just love the shop. That's their studio.
Everything. You go on YouTube, you'll see it. And it's awesome. Well, it started as a man cave,
then became a shop and now is a studio and, you know, and I guess now it's Caroline's cave.
Speaking of Caroline, what was your first car? My first cool car, first uncool car. That's a real
question. Well, let's, let's leave no automobile behind and let's hear about the uncool one too.
We just won't spend a lot of time with it. The first uncool one and the first real car I ever had
was a 2001 Dodge Dakota, a little extended cab. It was a good point A to point B car, but right
around the point where it was ready to go, the control module on it decided to go out. So I was
driving down the road, it would honk the horn randomly. The wipers would go off or I'd be
driving home at night, leaving my first job and the lights would go on and off. So that one,
I think it stuck around for probably about two or three years before eventually we sold it off
to somebody who I hope fixed it. I'm not really sure. So you're, that's not your first cool car.
Was your first cool car the car that followed the Dakota?
Partially. So at the time, I kind of just like borrowed cars and borrowed my brother's car.
Then eventually when I turned 18, I decided it was a good idea to go buy a financed vehicle
and then about a year after owning that, I got into a pretty solid accident with it and they
ended up totaling the car. So I went back to being carless. Didn't have a whole lot of money to my
name and I ended up getting a 1969 Ford Feraline Fastback that was pretty misty, but living on a
12 by five mile island going to work, it's not too terribly far. So it was a pretty solid point
car and that's really the car that got me into finding my passion for classic cars.
I worked in restaurants at the time and most of the restaurants around here,
I'll just have you park in their normal parking lot. Some places have you like park in the back
or whatever, but everybody enjoyed it because it was a classic car in the parking lot of all
these brand new cars. So I'd have people come up and leave notes on the car when I'm at work or
I'd be getting out because they'd see me roll. They'd stop me and they'd start telling me about
whatever. And the funny thing about this Feraline is it wasn't badged as a Feraline or at least it
wasn't openly out there. It just stuck GT on the side of it. So people thought it was a Ford GT,
like whenever I got it, it was labeled as a Ford GT. So people like, oh, I used to have a GT and I'm
like, did you? I got to intervene here just slightly. Do you want to tell them what the
nickname of this car was? Well, so here's the funny thing. After driving it for about a year,
and him rescuing me because the thing always broke, I would either have power steering issues,
the battery would die, or God knows what else, carburetor issues. And he'd always be the one
I'd call to help me out. But it was so rusty that it got the nickname the soft shell crap.
Because put it on a lift, you have to have four by fours running from front to rear,
and from driver to passenger. Otherwise, it basically like almost looked like it was melting
over the lift, which my goodness. I'm like, you're bragging. And I just understand
that this is not something to brag about. Okay. So the daily occurrence with this car,
as she showed up at the shop, would be pieces missing off of it, like paint chips with large
rust, you know, whole flakes coming on reduction. And and I mean, you know, she had duct tape in
areas holding paint on and stuff. I mean, it was really, it was to the point where it was,
it was just unsafe, you know, with parts car for somebody if they wanted to. But I mean,
really, if she if she was, you know, to get into an accident or T boned or anything like that,
you know, the cars, the cars really are not that safe anyway, from those days. Right. One,
it's that that that rusty and that that soft, it's just, you know, but it looked great from
like 50 feet away. And that's all that mattered to me at the time. She's cool for 50 footer.
Yeah. And that that's a big car. Yeah. And it was a two door, right?
That was a two door. Yeah. With really long, heavy doors, right? Yeah. Well,
maybe not heavy anymore, but heavy enough. Also, the door lock didn't work very well.
They were a bit lighter every day. They get lighter every day. Every time I take a pretty
sharp, like right hand turn, that whole door would fly open. It was, I think why I sound like I'm
bragging about it is because I'd such a nostalgic vehicle for me now because of what it's brought
me and how many cool people I've met and how I've kind of in a way rediscovered myself. And
especially at that time in my life being 18 now to 25, like my life has changed a lot.
And that car was there for it. And it somehow got you to still put up with me. So I'm cool with
Yeah, but it's long gone. Yeah.
And you sold it, right? To fund your first business, which actually helped a lot with
this business, right? There's a nice tie in with your creativity. Yeah. At the time,
like you said, it was kind of unsafe. And the guy who bought it, I'm surprised he bought it
because he thought he was going to restore it. But I was like, you know, if that's the path you
want to go with it, I didn't have the means at the time. And I was ready to get out of working
for other people and start my own first business in t-shirt printing. It kind of just it worked
out in such a great way. I can barely understand it to this day, because it was just the most
perfect scenario at that time. And right around then too, it also helped me live the lifestyle I
needed to live and obviously put food on my table and then initially kind of sprung me into
where I am now at the time I was just kind of doing it and it kept growing and kept getting
bigger and bigger. And right around that time too, we started really committing to the YouTube channel.
And it really helped because we were able to create our own merch and I have a background
in graphic design. So it was this nice correlation of, okay, we can make the YouTube channel look
pretty and we can make video graphics and you know, the whole nine yards that go into it. I know
you guys totally understand that. So it was a really good blessing in disguise. At the time,
it didn't seem like it just felt like a very strange adventure, but now I definitely cherish
those memories for sure. So what was your second car? And then we have to ask James about his,
because I think you guys were twins. The family chemistry goes by a few years.
Yeah. Well, so my second car, I've been really wanting to get into building Michael because at
that time, I didn't want enough people in the automotive industry or in the automotive hobby
for doing full restorations. I was watching him do it and I was like, I just want my own car.
Like it's not that I didn't want to help anybody, but I wanted something that I could
claim as my own and make my own. So I bought a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle in a small town,
basically in central Georgia, and pulled the trigger. I'd saved up like every time I'd go to
work, I'd save probably 50 bucks and I'd just throw it in a shoebox. And eventually I was like,
okay, this is going to be my car money for not a reliable vehicle, for a project vehicle. And
one day I pulled the trigger on it because I made a stupid offer to a guy and he wanted to
sell it that bad and bought it. All announced to me. Yeah, he had no idea, by the way. I just
came, I showed him up. I left at like 11 o'clock in the morning with another friend of ours and
came back at like nine o'clock, rolled it off the trailer, it barely ran. I barely knew how to drive
stick at that point too. I was kind of just winging it. And he was long for the ride after that.
Nice. I was just like, oh, it's a Volkswagen. At that time, it was just like, I'm all muscle
car, I'm all about every muscle car out there. And I'm like, God, it's a Volkswagen. But then
with the way it was, it was a Volkswagen. The way it was all set up, I started wrapping my head
around it. And then seeing how passionate she was about the car, what are you going to do? You're
going to support whatever she wants to get into. And now I'm really into the Volkswagen world.
I never thought that I would be this much into the Volkswagen world.
Well, but it also started with your car too. Your second car, right?
What? My second car? And that was a Volkswagen, right? Well, I mean, I had, the funny thing was is
I had sold my Mustang to get a crotch rocket motorcycle. Right. So it's fun, right? Everybody
wanted a crotch rocket motorcycle because Tom Cruise. So I do that, can't afford the insurance
on it. So I ended up selling the motorcycle. And my next car had to get something that was affordable.
And so we went and my dad at the time, he's like, Hey, there's a 1974 Super Beetle for sale in the
Telencel or whatever it was at the town we lived in. And he's like, do you know how to draw a
stick? And I'm like, uh, you know, sure. And I was like 16, 17, something like that. And
but this is all happened in like a three or in a year's period of time. I had these three vehicles,
but we go and look at it 500 bucks. So it's $500 for this car.
I drive that literally, I, I know how to ride a motorcycle. I come off motorcycles,
you know how to do the clutch and all that. But and I'd driven a stick before, but I had been,
it'd been a while, probably, I was probably 14, you know, so
I drive it home, across town, get it home, we get it insured, all that stuff, get a plate on it.
And I drive that for, I don't know, I think two years through my high school years. And I,
I couldn't kill that car. What color was it? It was blue. And I'm not kidding you. I piled people
in it. We partied in that car. It was, it was really good. I jumped it a couple of times in the
desert. Could not kill the car. But I had this, I don't know, I had just, I don't know that I
didn't want to, I didn't want to work on another Volkswagen. Like I did, it was just kind of like,
I don't even think I ever changed the oil in that car. Like, I don't even, I didn't work on cars
before I was being a teenager. And so I don't know, it was, I probably should have kept it,
you know, hindsight, but I ended up selling that thing after two years, I ended up selling it for
500 bucks. Yeah, years in solar for 500 bucks. I mean, if we'd only knew to keep the fun ones,
you know, the ones that really reminded us of the great times, but you know, I guess sometimes in
life, you don't know when you're going through a great time. And so that's why this show I think
is so resonates with so many people because man, I had such a great time in that car, you know,
such a great time in that car. So and Christian, if I may, when, when Caroline was talking about
the fair lane, I just want to share this, I had a good friend in high school. So you mentioned
somebody put GT on it. So I had this friend in high school, he had a Chevy Sprint, which was
basically a Suzuki, and he had changed, I guess he had to replace the hatch and he put
it was a different color, the rear hatch, and he put all these different things on it. And I
remember him telling me different labels of different cars. We used to walk around the
junkyard sometimes after school, believe it or not. We probably should have been in school at
that time, but trying to pick up girls, I guess, in the junkyard, but go ahead. That's the place
to do it. But what he, he told me he got like a parking ticket in the senior lot at school. I
was one year older than him. And he's like, yeah, the ticket said like it said all these different
cars and none of them was even my car because the guy just wrote down he didn't know the principal
didn't know anything about cars. He just wrote what he saw. That'll teach you. When I got that
speeding ticket, I asked the cop in a joking way when I saw him at the courthouse on my
like court date. I said, can I dispute the fact that this isn't my car and the guy just looked
at me because I was like, this isn't this car. I was being such a smart, smart teenager. Be careful
with that because it's a very fine line between spending the weekend and the slammer and yeah.
So we don't want that to happen to Caroline. I want to touch on something now. 1974 Beetle
today is much cooler than in 1986. Very good point. So understand me driving into the high
school parking lot with a $500 1974 Super Beetle. Okay. Now I was the only one there like this.
Okay. If I didn't hustle out and get in my car, okay, from class, if I got something, you know,
a teacher needed to talk to me for a little bit after that on our last class, I would come out
and my bug would be bounced sideways by all my buddies. Yeah, they picked it up and moved it.
Yeah. And I had to sit there and wait for the cars to move for me to be able to move. So
understand I was made fun of quite a bit with that bug. So maybe that's where,
you know, I'm gone. I don't hold any ill will. I love those guys. I hope they get a good laugh
out of that. Now let me ask, I love that. That is fantastic story. Thank you for sharing. Now,
what would have happened if you would have pulled in instead of the Beetle a 97 Viper?
I think that would have gotten you way more street cred. And we're going to move forward a little
bit in time because I love this story. And you got to drop what you're doing. Go to YouTube,
type in HH wheels and look at the Viper episode. I think it's a multi episode arc. Do I have that
right? Does it take several episodes to tell that story or is it only in one? So far, just one,
okay. But number two right now. Can y'all please talk about that? Because I love that episode.
And how did it start? How did that, where did it come from? And Caroline, can you tell that story?
And James hop in is neat. Yeah, I think maybe if you give a little bit of a backstory on why you've
always wanted a Viper and how forever, or at least my forever, at least the last like five,
six years, it felt like it's endless talk about how this Viper is his Mount Everest.
This big hill or this big mountain he wants to climb. And that stuck with me ever since he
mentioned it. But if you give a little bit like details of why you always wanted a Viper, I think
me explaining how I found the Viper will definitely. Yeah. Since 96 when they came out with the GTS,
that was the car that was something that was entertaining for me. In 96, I was 26 years old,
really new in my business, never living paycheck to paycheck, not really knowing if my business is
going to succeed or fail. You're in that mode at first 10 years of it. And I'm just busting my tail
and just working. And you know, going through life, raising kids, you don't really have an extra,
you know, $50,000 to throw down on a vehicle. And so, you know, you don't finance a vehicle
like that either. You know, if you're going to have boys, they have to be able to be outright
purchased and then you're the caretaker. You're not, in my opinion, far like that. I mean,
I could have, I got to the point where I could certainly have gone and finance something like
that. But it doesn't make sense to be, you know, to be doing that. That's just not smart money.
I mean, didn't quite see your life at the time to be sure. Yes. So, you know, as I got older,
I think 2017, I got really serious about thinking that I'm going to invest in one of these vipers
and I want a 96 or 97 GTS. And I don't really care about the color. And at the time, I didn't
really think of condition being, you know, I probably wanted, at the time in 2017,
you could have bought a GTS for like $50,000. I didn't have a spare $50,000 at that time.
Still kind of coming out of trying to figure out my business and stepping away and trying to figure
out how to sell it, that kind of thing. It took several years. I mean, we got into, I mean,
six years later, actually, before I could sell my business and it was the right time and that
kind of stuff. But I told my wife that my deal is when I sell my business that I'd like to have,
I want to get a viper. You know, I just want to have a viper. From 2017 to 2023,
they doubled in price. You know, I should have bought it back in 2017 and then I would have had
something that was worth the investment, that kind of thing. Which I've got a huge year full about
on a regular basis. Yeah. Yeah. For six years, I mean, I've been really serious about we need to
buy a viper. I've got a viper. I've got a viper. I've got a viper. Yes. The right one just never
came along. And every year in January, February, he and my stepmom would take an RV trip out west.
They go see family. They go hang out. They just, they go live it up for two months,
especially when he had his bicycle business. It was a really good way to kind of relax,
because that was the absolute low point of our tourist season. So it was a good time to leave
the island. And this, I feel like, is a perfect example of perfect timing, because I had just
joined, I think it was the Viper owners or Viper Club America basically on Facebook. And they
put all kinds of stuff on there. People working in their cars, cars for sale, whatever. And there
was this post. So this car that I ended up purchasing was in the comments of a post. It wasn't even an
actual post. So this guy was talking about, it was a wrecked viper. And he was looking for
basically a body that he could put his power plant into. And somebody had shared this car. So this
car apparently had been previously posted on Facebook Marketplace. I can't remember how long
back. But anyway, someone shared this post about it still being on Facebook Marketplace. And
it was truly the worst looking 97 Viper GTS I'd ever seen. It's blue, has the white stripes, but
the headlights are murdered out, the taillights are murdered out, the interior is a little kind of
ragged on. It's got 140 plus thousand miles on it, which is unheard of, because most people,
they drive it, sure. But most of the people who drive their Viper have less than 50,000 or just
hit 50,000. Like 100,000 miles plus was unheard of on a Viper. So that's why they chose this,
because the body itself was in great shape. But the motor power plant was just undesirable and
just it didn't make sense. I think the guy also had turboed and did a bunch of crazy stuff to the
one that he wrecked. So I saw this and I reach out to the guy, this guy's up in Minnesota,
we're down here in South Carolina and talking to him back and forth for like a month or two.
And I'm thinking, okay, I don't have the funds to put down on a Viper, but I bring it up to my
stepmom and I'm like, hey, you know, he just sold his business. This is something you want to do.
What do you think? And she really helped out a lot with the money side of things.
And ironically, while they were on that road trip, this whole came about,
he went and looked at a couple of Viper's. There's this one guy, where's Andy? He's
boom on Texas or whatever. Meanwhile, nowhere close to you. He's looking at Viper's.
I'm making detours on the trip out west to go and Viper's on the way out to Tucson.
Oh, you got it bad, man. You got the fever bad.
So I'm like, well, I just sold the business. I'm like, we're doing this. I'm going to Viper.
And so I'm trying to figure out how to, I'm trying to figure out, okay, we can buy a bad Viper and
go and road trip at home, me and Caroline. Oh, he's also trying to make a whole production
out of it too. So I'm thinking in my mind, I only want to get a Viper if we can make
content with it. That's my whole process, like, oh, we'll get a Viper, we'll buy it out west,
and we'll road trip at home, and we'll catalog all that and make content with it. So that's my whole.
Mind you, I'm over here stewing the pot. And this is why I was like, I need to let my stepmom
know that she cannot let him buy a Viper like that. No matter what.
She's a good force of nature. She'll just be like, that's a no, and it's not happening.
So thankfully, he was easily swayed by that, or what she did is she did like subliminal commenting
where it was like, oh, you know, it's not that cool. I feel like-
We can do better. We can do better.
You know, for a 55 year old man, this is going to, you're like, she laid it on fit.
She did really good.
It was great. Anyway, so I'm bringing this whole idea to fruition and then I'm like,
you know, trying to talk to this guy about, hey, we want to film it for a YouTube. And then
we get in this whole conversation. This guy has a background in production.
And like it, this took like two months almost to make this entire thing happen.
So I got really lucky. And thankfully, when my dad's on his RV trip, he doesn't really
keep tabs on me. Like when we're working together, it's always like, hey, can we come to the shop
at this time? Like we have a schedule. But at this time, we were just like doing our own thing,
separate human beings. So I made the deal. I gave the guy a deposit.
And then what happened is this huge snowstorm hit Minnesota. So all the travel plans and
everything got postponed. And I was talking to my now fiance and I was like, we have to drive this
home for two reasons, content, because my dad will kill me if I buy this car without telling him
and not make a video of it. Second of all, I want to have 1500 more miles in a viper than my dad.
Yeah. So we ended up setting a whole deal up. And this guy was like, you want to do what?
And I was like, yeah, yeah, it's fine. So we fly to, we fly to Milwaukee. And then we ended
up getting a rental car, drove two hours north, bought the car on the show, by the way, this is
all on the show. Yeah, the car paid for it, the whole thing. And then we drove it all the way
home to South Carolina on two bad tires and two new tires that do not fit the car. Amazing.
You're still here, by the way. But yeah, so there is that. Well, the thing is, I don't like the cold.
I've kind of mentioned what we talked about before being in South Carolina, anything cold I don't
like. They had a warm winter up there. So although there was snow on the ground, it wasn't slick.
It wasn't super icy, which kind of sucked for some people there. But for us, it was great.
So making it home wasn't too, too bad. Other than the fact that we're like
trying to scrub all the black paint off the headlights. I mean,
do what you can. It's a miracle that we made it home in one piece. But then not to mention,
I still had like another two, three weeks to hide the car at my house in my garage. And where we
live, word gets out pretty fast. So I couldn't drive the car, right? Anything, until he got home.
And then I remember calling him and saying, Hey, I bought a car because before we left,
we made a pack. We're not buying any cars. Like not going to happen. Okay. And he has his whole
temper tantrum. And then all of a sudden, I roll up to the house and he's just speechless. And
it just, it was so much fun. It was, it was, man, you're giving me, you're giving me the goose
flesh here. Golly, you got to go see this episode. You'll got to go. I need one of my kids to do
that for me. My God. You got me. Hey, by the way, she bought three cars while I was going.
Oh, yeah. That'll teach you to make a pact with that one.
A Viper made up for it. Okay.
A Viper made up for it. I'm sure.
I'm sure. Water under the bridge.
Let's not go any further. Let's tell all of our viewership and listenership to go check it out
on YouTube. Let's pivot to Caroline. And Doug wanted to ask you about your 356. Can we,
can we get into that just a little bit? Doug, was there anything specific or did you just want
to, did we want to sit back and let her regale us in detail?
Yeah. I believe she sold or traded a Volkswagen thing for it. So with that, Caroline, tell us
about it. Well, yeah, I did actually that. I had bought this. That was one of the cars I bought.
One of those three that we just talked about because it came up for sale and I was like,
oh, we'll just go look at it. Like, you know, it's close by. I've been wanting one and I bought it.
And then I did a full restoration on it. Yeah. We went out to California and I saw this 356
from a mutual friend who used to run a car show I used to go to. And he had this 356 that an older
gentleman had basically given him. He unfortunately had stage 4 cancer. So he's looking for someone
give the car to kind of thing. And my friend, he is having a baby and it just didn't make
sense to jump into another full restoration. So he offered up for trade on Facebook because he
does a lot of off-roading kind of stuff. And this thing that I built and pretty much finished
was just the ideal car. And I know he was specifically looking for a thing. So I kind of
just put some feelers out there. I was like, you know, let's just a little shot in the dark. I've
always wanted to own a 356 ever since I was a little kid. Like even before I was in the classic
cars, it was like the car I wanted to have at my wedding. And when I came up to this car and it
popped up, we had another mutual friend who's just finished building one and he owns a few. And I
don't know, at the time it was just kind of this weird gray area where I was like, okay,
can't get too excited. But I'm excited. And I was like, I'm not betting on it. Like I'm just not
thinking about it. I was not letting myself bask in any glory until that car was in my possession
in my own garage or shop. So eventually it all came fruition. And now we have it. And it's still
unreal to me every time I walk into my shop to see it because, you know, we talked about how the
Viper was his Mount Everest. I don't even know if I'm... This is like my Antarctica. It's so...
I didn't even think I was going to see this at this point in my life. So I feel incredibly
blessed to not only have the means to be able to build it, but also have it in my possession.
They're 10 to 20,000 bucks for a kit. And then the real ones are millions of dollars. So again,
one of those things that was just like, I just never thought that this would be in my world right
now. Go ahead, Doug. Oh, I was going to say, you mentioned your fiance. Will the car be ready for
your wedding? That's the goal. Awesome. Love that answer. Love that answer. Yeah.
Few things, but we are going to be pretty hot and heavy on it in the next few weeks.
So you'll see some episodes coming out on that 356. Yeah. Just the buying and then the episode
where it's up in Caroline's like, well, this is rusted. This is rusted. Like it made me think
it's your next soft shell crab, right? Well, the funny thing is, we talked about it when
I had mentioned it to him and some of our friends in California at the time were like,
you need to own that car. And we just looked at the pictures of the body and were like,
even if everything underneath it is completely roged out, the body worth the trade. And we're
like, agreed. We went into it with the lowest expectations. So I think we were moderately
pleased. And then when we got there, we're like, are we actually going to own this? Like, is this
to do it? Then we had the same, you know, locked up motor and transmission problem that we had with
the oval. I mean, so we, we went through some locked up. I think we went through three vehicles in
a row with locked up engines that we had to take out and boat anchor them out the back door. Yeah.
So yeah, that's been kind of interesting. You know, you got to have some spare engines
hanging around your shop for sure to do what we're doing right now. Yeah. We like the cars
running and driving as quickly as possible. Absolutely. Go people that you can do this.
And I think that's what our whole part about get wrenched in is our motto, you know, and
I think another reason it was at a point where we were thinking, why are we doing this again?
And I was like, well, it's not just to see us on YouTube. It's more to motivate people to get in
their garages and actually get out in the garages, get wrenched in. You can do this. If we can do
this, you certainly can do this because I think that's the fun thing about trading too is this
is something we've never explored ever really. We've talked about it. We've tossed it around with
even mutual friends and it's just never really come to fruition like this. So it's kind of cool
to see like this dopey little Volkswagen thing that I was pretty blessed to not have a ton of
money into to trade for something that is so meaningful to us and to me is wild.
We had a lot of sweat equity in that vehicle. So it was a lot of cash. We're very car rich
and cash for right now. I think we're like at 33 cars, 34 cars. So whoa. Yeah. So we have plenty
of cars to make content with. So we're kind of not you need to trade out. We need to if we look
at another car, we have to try to get rid of one in order to be able to make room for it here.
And I have another lot somewhere when I live on an island. So we have another lot
that we are storing cars at. So it's not the disease.
But you don't want to cure. Well said. I dig it. I dig it. Well, this was just so much fun.
Thank you for spending some time with us and it was just really a pleasure Caroline and James
to get to know you and it for everybody out there again, go to YouTube. It's H H wheels
and over 200 videos and we're not talking about, you know, 230 second episodes. We're talking real
meaty stuff. You'll be pleasantly surprised by the production values. It's a blast. It's a lot
fun. It's our favorite recent wormhole. So Caroline and James, thank you both. It was
wonderful to meet you. Thank you for having us. Appreciate it, Doug. Thanks, Christian. Yeah.
We had a blast. We're going to have you back. Yeah. Well, he's taken the words out of my mouth.
Yeah. What I would love to do is have you back in, you know, is kind of your show evolves and
our show evolves. I would love to just have you back and see, you know, maybe if if the 33 cars
become 66 cars, becomes 128 cars or whatever it is, if we can, if we can just make that double.
That's a joke. Sorry. Oh, somebody give him CPR quickly. Okay. Okay. Let's get the Viper and the
356 done first person. Take it easy. Yeah. We got it in this show before somebody gets hurt.
You had just heard to all the cars I've loved before the high revving, low mileage, late model
heard around the world. Yes. Authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia. He is Doug,
reach him at Doug at cars love.com. I'm Christian. Reach me at Christian at cars love.com.
He was Caroline. There were James, our new favorite people. Please follow and tell a friend,
write a review, check out our link tree, L I N K T R dot E E slash cars love. I'm sure we'll
see you at the next local car show, showroom, race strip or concourse. Appreciate your listening
and we will see you next time.
About this episode
A heartfelt journey unfolds as father-daughter duo James and Caroline share their automotive adventures, focusing on their unique bond and shared passion for cars. The episode highlights their recent acquisition of a 1997 Dodge Viper GTS, a long-time dream for James, and the creative process behind their YouTube channel, HH Wheels. Listeners will enjoy stories of their first cars, the challenges of restoring classic vehicles, and the excitement of family collaboration in the automotive world. Their infectious enthusiasm and engaging chemistry make for an inspiring listen.
Original notes
Click here to share your favorite car, car story or any automotive trivia!
What happens when a daughter secretly buys her father's 27-year dream car—a 1997 Dodge Viper GTS with 140,000 miles—while he's on an RV trip across the country?
Caroline and James from HH Wheels (200+ YouTube videos, 33-car collection) join us for one of the wildest father-daughter automotive stories we've ever recorded. James has wanted a Viper GTS since 1996. Caroline made it happen in 2023—without telling him. Then she drove it 1,500 miles home from Minnesota to South Carolina. In winter. On bad tires.
But before the Viper, there was the "Soft Shell Crab"—Caroline's 1969 Ford Fairlane Fastback so rusty it would melt over a lift. And James's $500 VW Super Beetle that high school friends literally picked up and moved sideways in the parking lot.
In this episode, Caroline and James reveal:
- How they built a YouTube channel during COVID lockdown that now defines their lives
- The exact moment James realized his daughter had bought THREE cars (including the Viper) while he was gone
- Why Caroline traded a restored VW Thing for a Porsche 356—her childhood dream car
- The creative partnership that makes HH Wheels work (vision meets editing skills)
- What it's like being car-rich and cash-poor with 34 vehicles
- The "Get Wrenching" philosophy: if they can restore it, so can you
There's one detail about hiding a Viper for three weeks on a small island that Caroline says still gives her anxiety. Small towns talk. Fast cars get noticed faster.
🎥 **Watch their channel:** https://youtube.com/@hhwheels
🔗 **Another Father Daughter episode - DeLorean-style:** https://buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/15009054-delorean-family-story-kat-delorean-growing-up-with-automotive-icon-father
Connect with Christian and Doug - https://carsloved.com
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To All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History
Carly, Doug & Dave: Classic Car Experts, Motorsports Enthusiasts and Automotive Storytellers
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