Storytime on Wheels: Michael's Journey from First Car to Children’s Author
To All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History
Storytime on Wheels: Michael's Journey from First Car to Children’s Author
Annotations will appear as you listen
0:00
47:17
Concept
Five Flags Speedway
Five Flags Speedway is a racetrack in Pensacola, Florida, where different types of car races take place. It's famous for hosting the Snowball Derby, a well-known race.
Concept
Snowball Derby
The Snowball Derby is a big car race that happens every year in Pensacola. It's popular among racing fans and features many skilled drivers competing against each other.
Brand
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a car brand from Germany that makes popular cars like the Beetle and Golf.
Car
Volkswagen Rabbit
The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small car that many people liked in the past because it was easy to drive and good on gas.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast and stylish sports car that many people admire. It's known for being powerful and fun to drive, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
Car
Carmen Ghia
The Karmann Ghia is a vintage Volkswagen car that looks sporty and stylish. It was made between the 1950s and 1970s and is loved by collectors for its unique design.
Car
DeLorean
The DeLorean is a unique car known for its shiny metal body and doors that open upwards. It became very popular because of its role in the 'Back to the Future' movies.
Car
Delorean DMC-12
The DeLorean DMC-12 is a one-of-a-kind car that has doors that open upwards. It's known for its shiny metal body and became really famous because of a popular movie.
Car
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a cool and powerful car that looks sporty and can go really fast. It's been around for a long time and is loved by many people who enjoy driving.
Part
V4 engine
A V4 engine has four cylinders that are arranged in a 'V' shape. This design helps the engine be smaller while still providing enough power for the car.
Car
Nissan 240SX
The Nissan 240SX is a sporty car made by Nissan that was popular in the 1990s. People like it for its ability to be customized and used in racing events like drifting.
Part
SR20 turbocharged engine
The SR20 is a type of engine made by Nissan that can be turbocharged, meaning it has a device that forces more air into the engine to make it more powerful.
Concept
Universal Technical Institute (UTI)
Universal Technical Institute is a school that teaches people how to work on cars and other vehicles, helping them become mechanics.
Car
Nissan Skyline R32
The Nissan Skyline R32 is a famous sports car that many people love for its speed and handling. It's known for being very good at racing and has a strong following among car fans.
Term
right-hand drive
Right-hand drive means the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, which is how cars are set up in some countries like Japan. This affects how you drive and where the driver sits.
Term
JDM
JDM means cars that are made for Japan. They can be different from the same models sold in other countries, often with special features or designs.
Car
Nissan 240
The Nissan 240 is a sports car that many people enjoy modifying and racing. It's known for being affordable and fun to drive, especially for younger car enthusiasts.
Car
Nissan S13
The Nissan S13 is a model of car that is popular for racing and drifting. It's known for being light and having good handling.
Car
Nissan S14
The Nissan S14 is another model in the Silvia/240SX family, known for its better performance and updated look compared to the S13.
Term
Zenki
Zenki is a term used to describe the first version of the Nissan S14, which has a unique front end and headlights compared to the later version.
Car
Nissan S15
The Nissan S15 is the last model in the Silvia/240SX lineup, famous for its stylish look and good performance.
Term
S-13
The S-13 is a model of a Nissan car that was made a long time ago. It's known for being fun to drive and is popular with people who like racing or drifting.
Term
S-14
The S-14 is another model of Nissan's Silvia car that came after the S-13. It is also known for being a good car for driving and racing.
Term
twin turbocharger
A twin turbocharger is a system that uses two small turbochargers instead of one big one. This helps the engine get more air, which can make it more powerful and efficient.
Car
Pontiac GTO
The Pontiac GTO is a famous muscle car from the 1960s and 70s. It's known for being fast and powerful, making it popular among car enthusiasts.
Term
drifting
Drifting is when a car slides sideways while still being controlled by the driver. It's a fun way to drive and is often seen in car racing and shows.
Term
burnouts
A burnout is when a car's tires spin while the car is not moving, creating smoke. It's a way to show off the car's power and is often done at car events.
Concept
front engine, rear-wheel drive
In a front engine, rear-wheel drive car, the engine is at the front, and it sends power to the back wheels. This setup helps with driving stability and is often found in sports cars.
Term
manual transmission
A manual transmission is a car feature where you have to change gears yourself using a stick and a pedal. It can make driving feel more engaging and gives you more control over the car.
Term
traditional manual
A traditional manual is a type of car transmission where the driver has to change gears by pressing a pedal and moving a stick. It gives the driver more control over how the car drives.
Car
Toyota Supra
The Toyota Supra is a fast and sporty car that many people love for its speed and cool looks. It's famous for being fun to drive and is often seen in car shows and racing events.
Part
2J engine
The 2J engine is a strong engine made by Toyota, often found in the Supra, and is popular for making a lot of power when modified.
Concept
road racing
Road racing is a sport where cars race on roads or tracks. It's about going fast and making sharp turns, and it can be really exciting to watch or participate in.
Car
Cadillac Atsv
The Cadillac ATS-V is a sporty version of the regular ATS car, made for people who love fast driving. It has a powerful engine and looks really cool, making it a fun car to drive.
Car
Cadillac CTS
The Cadillac CTS is a fancy car that is comfortable to ride in and has lots of cool features. It's designed to look nice and drive well, making it a great choice for those who want a luxury experience.
LIVE
Welcome back to All The Cars I've Loved Before, the show, hey, you know, pause here, we ran this
before our marketing people dog, I don't know if you knew that.
I said, hey, we got to jazz it up a bit, they got to jazz it up a bit.
How do you like, welcome back to All The Cars I've Loved Before, the show that's
balanced and rotated, but never aligned, yeah?
I like it.
No.
I like it.
Are there more choices?
I haven't, they sent me a few.
We have dozens and dozens of riders on staff, let's see, often imitated, never irritated,
the show that's, oh, no, I already said that one.
Oh, never a retread, how about this?
Oh, what is this, retread, whole grain bread, grass, that doesn't even make any
sense.
All right, how about this one?
The show that's fuel injected, warranty protected, zombie infected, self-directed,
the show where every car tells a story, what do you think?
I think we need to get there.
One more in honor of our guests that I can't wait to get to, we're going to fire the
marketing department.
How about this?
Okay.
Welcome back to the show, this turbo charge, large and in charge, Homer is married to
Marge's show where every car tells a story.
What do you think?
Better?
You saved the best for last.
Anyway, let's roll with it.
Listen to the land, welcome back, great to have you, and let's see, there's
a lot to get into today.
I went to the neatest car show with my kids and my pal, Kelly, Doug, we're going to
have Kelly on, he doesn't know it, but me and some pals are going to dinner with him
next week.
Where was this car show?
It was in Pensacola at the Five Flags Speedway, where, by the way, the
Snowball Derby short track race is going to be held on December 5th.
If anybody is into that, I will be there.
If anybody wants to, you know, you'll be there.
OK, yeah, I will ask people to have our booth.
Yeah, my buddy got tickets.
We got invited.
I might be taking one of my kids.
It's four days of racing, never ending.
Super fantastic.
But OK, on those grounds over the last weekend was the rare air air
cooled show where the VWs from yesteryear, from way back when to
now real deal car show.
So you got to vote for your favorite.
Nice.
They were all VWs.
There were people selling parts, dashboards, hoods,
fenders, dash assemblies, door.
Yeah, it was so it one of these smaller shows outside.
Thank goodness the weather was wonderful, but really passionate people.
I went with my buddy Kelly, my two younger sons, and we just got to
geek out on the old West failures.
The campers, the Carmen Geas saw a, you know, the rabbit
is near and dear to my heart.
Saw a diesel rabbit, beautiful.
There were cars with paint peeling that were rusted
in their original set outside.
Oh, Pantina.
There were absolutely.
There were cars where the the insides had been ripped out.
The camper in custom woodworking had but put in.
Oh, by the by.
This is Doug sent a lot of this out on the is that the Instagram?
Instagram and Facebook.
Yeah, yeah.
Check out our posts, y'all.
Check out it.
Because we get to that get to that in a minute.
Great, great, great pictures.
Hey, sorry, real quick.
Yeah, there was one.
There was one other manufacturer there, right?
If you will, America's air cooled car.
What was it?
The Corvette Corvette?
Yeah, I'm safe at any speed.
It was there.
It was there.
The Chevy truck.
No, the little the little truck was with.
Yeah, there were two.
There were two side by side that were basically America's
America's answer.
Like, oh, yep.
You know, you stopped in and absolutely were.
Yep, they came in several configurations,
including a truck, a van, a car, a convertible, a
four door, you name it, they had it.
Yeah, they had right hand drive.
There was Carmen Gia's bugs and on and on and on.
The car we voted for was this gorgeous Carmen Gia.
The owner, Trevor, I'm trying to get him on.
He lives not far from me.
Super fantastic guy.
Trevor, please call me.
Email me.
Let's make it happen.
Let's make it.
Oh, yeah.
And a call back to Frisha Brothers, the episode that
just dropped VW Specialists in Brinnich, Connecticut.
Brinnich, Connecticut.
I want to say Stanford.
I know that's not right.
I'm going to be a lovely human being.
Can't wait to have her dad on the show, her
and her dad back on the show.
And so we're just continuing a VW theme here,
which is lovely.
But today we are going to pivot to let's talk.
Doug tells a little bit about the Facebook
and Instagram before we interview today's guest, Mike.
The Facebook and Instagram.
Well, I want to tell you.
Well, I want to tell people about my weekend.
Is that OK?
Well, I'm sorry.
How was your weekend?
Real quick, you talk about Facebook and Instagram.
OK.
I had a wonderful weekend car related as well.
Through my with my DeLorean, I have done a few paid
and unpaid events and a wonderful, wonderful young
lady who was on the show.
Lisa talking about her Camaro and other vehicles.
That's how we met her.
She hired hired us to go to her 40th birthday party,
have the DeLorean there.
The big only stipulation really was
she wanted me to pick her up at her house and drive her there.
And she and 150 of her friends, she had an 80s,
awesome 80s cover band called The New Romance.
Who I've I've seen before as well.
And they were fantastic.
It was it was all 80s.
It was so wonderful.
And just, you know, people only I only got two questions
about the flux capacitor.
One question about the if the car goes 88 and the one guy
wants a great conversation on the phone.
And he's like, what is this car?
What he had no clue.
He's like, is this a spaceship?
Is this an amphicar?
What is this?
Yeah, one person asked me if it was a kit car.
I DeLorean kit car, which I don't think anybody's
gone through that effort.
But it made me so happy to just see those people enjoying
the car, taking pictures with it.
Well, it was a big hit.
And I didn't realize bars up.
Lisa went all all out.
And only other thing I'll say, I
went to cars and coffee the next day.
Didn't bring my car.
But met a great guy trying to remember his name.
But hopefully he'll be on the hopefully
will be on the podcast.
But he had a green 1973 SOV96.
Neat car.
Which I'm not sure I've ever seen one before.
But it has a V4, little tiny engine.
So two cylinders on each side in a V configuration.
And it was fully restored.
It was beautiful.
And I don't want to give it away.
But he grew up with SOBs.
And he has some really great SOB stories.
So can't wait.
Not SOB, sob, sob, cry, cry.
But SOV born from jets.
Yeah, that's right.
Born from jets.
Love that.
So yeah, that was my weekend.
Love it, man.
Yeah, so let me just toss in here
before we introduce my calls to action.
You guys know the drill.
I sound like a broken record.
But younger people won't know what that means.
Do follow the show, please.
If you like it, tell a friend and subscribe or check us out
on Facebook and Instagram.
Doug Post, he's clever.
He's clever.
One man marketing department, which is a good thing.
Check those out and your podcast platform of choice.
Yeah, absolutely.
Those without saying.
Lovely.
Well, that's all I got.
Please, Doug, tell us how Mike has entered our virtual parlor.
So how to get to know him.
Yeah, so Mike and Mike or Michael Myers is a well-known author.
And we're going to learn more about that.
Yes.
Christian can't wait to talk to him about it.
I'm going to talk to him about his cars.
But Mike came way of our great friend, Andrew Blackwood,
who, ma'am, what a wonderful guy, paramedic, lifesaver.
He's got a car problem.
Literally.
He's ordered by in cars for his wife.
He recently posted on Facebook telling people
to buy certain Trevants to save his marriage.
So love the guy to death.
He's been such a great friend of the show.
And he had this introduction to Mike.
So with that, Mike, thanks for joining us.
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Yeah.
And let's see.
What did you want to chat with him about the cars?
No, well, yeah, let's kick it off.
And Mike is an author.
Christian is going to get into that.
His books are for kids, but they're about cars.
And it's just phenomenal.
Yeah, so he was under.
He was changing out turbos at four years of age.
So it made tremendous sense that he would write about his.
So I'm sure the books are autographical, right, Mike?
Yeah, absolutely.
They're all based on real life experiences
and some situations we've gotten ourselves into.
Love it.
But before we get into the book and before we get
into this brilliant writing creative mind of Mike's,
we got to step into the way back.
And I'm going to bring you back to your 1995
when your Nissan 240SX was brought into the world.
You didn't buy it in 95.
But tell us about that car.
Yeah, it was a it was a blue Zenki 240SX.
It came with an SR20 turbocharged engine in it.
It was a real lightweight rear wheel drive stick shift
fun car.
And the whole point of it was to have fun.
So we would I was surrounded by a group of guys growing up then.
They all went to a school called UTI,
which is a Universal Technical Institute, which pretty much
trained them to be mechanics.
So that was my group of friends and they were all
in fun rear wheel drive cars, a couple, three fifties ease.
One guy even got his hands on an old R32 skyline
back in the day.
Whoa.
Yeah, which was actually registered as a 240, which,
you know, right?
That was before you could bring him over.
Yeah.
He made it happen.
I think his claim to fame was driving in reverse
through a drive through so he could be on the correct side.
Well, it's right hand drive.
Yeah, JDM only car that you can now import.
I was just trying to keep up with those guys, you know,
and have some fun while doing it.
You know, I saved up some some pennies
and purchased my 240, which was pennies on a dollar
compared to what they're worth now.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, definitely, especially not modified, right?
Those are worth the most.
But you got one that somebody had put a turbo on.
Yeah.
They changed the engine out, actually, entirely.
And this was a, I'm sure I've mentioned on the show
before to others, but I had a 1989 240SX non-turbo, of course.
So that was the first gen of the 240SX in the US.
Yours was the second gen.
Yeah.
Yeah, so it was a notchback, not a hatchback,
if I remember.
Yeah, so I know them from the S chassis numbers.
So I believe what you're referring to is yours was an S-13.
And I believe those came in the notch and the hatch.
And mine was the following model, the S-14.
And it was the Zenki refers to the front end.
So they call them Zenki headlights.
Oh, OK.
Yeah, so it's just a different facelift.
When they went to the S-15, they
had a more aggressive headlight.
And that was pretty much the same body style,
but a little variance there.
Gotcha, gotcha.
Yep, but same great formula, front engine, rear-wheel drive,
light, not a ton of power, but just enough.
Yeah.
And anybody who knows about cars is going
to know when we say S-13, S-14, they're
going to have that background and know exactly what Mike
here is talking about.
And yeah, back in the day, my day, nobody talked about that.
It was a Nissan 240SX.
And it was just such a neat car and such great memories.
So what happened to that car, Mike?
So I actually, unfortunately and fortunately,
had to sell the car.
That was right around the time I had written my first book.
For good reason.
Yeah, and I was right at a point where I had it
illustrated, and I needed a graphic designer
to help me pretty much get all the border,
fonts, and get it all into the proper sizing
for the self-publication route that I was going to take.
And I didn't have the cash.
And it was a tough decision to make.
I got hit with a pretty hefty bill,
but I knew that I needed to get this book out.
And I did what I had to do.
I let go of a car that I do miss today.
I wish it was sitting in my garage right now.
It would be a very fun vehicle to own right now.
And I would be utilizing it for sure.
But it was an investment.
And it published my first book.
Yeah.
Yeah, that snowballed in to where I'm at now.
Can we pause for just a moment at how fantastic
and how much a superstar Mike Myers is at this point?
How many times on this show, dozens and dozens of episodes?
What happened to your first car?
I wrapped it around a telephone pole.
I put it into Lake Michigan.
I drove it into a, you know,
I drove it without oil.
Right.
Change the oil.
No, I thought that was optional.
Check the oil.
So so he I can't get over this part of the story.
This is the part of the flow chart
that nobody saw coming where where he's he zags to the right.
And to fund his business startup, all right,
to fund his business, start start,
his dream, his dream was a children's book.
So before we move on to any of the subsequent cars,
yeah, we talk a little bit about about the inspiration,
how the idea came to you.
So from being, you know, I think opposite sides of the brain,
you're very obvious, very tactile, engineer,
fixing things, mechanical, but this creative strike hits you.
Could you talk about how those two things came together?
What what that that Eureka moment was
and when you knew you had to see it through?
Yeah, so, you know, we talked a little bit off camera
about the aha moment where I had heard a turbo whistling
in the distance and I said out loud to a friend of mine,
oh, that's a noisy snail.
And coincidentally enough, that became the title
of my first book, The Noisy Snails.
It's based around a twin turbocharger setup.
And it just hit me that, you know,
I had these characters in my head
and that they would fit very well for a children's book.
And I had mentioned, I always wanted to make a product.
I had a bunch of ideas.
I had a whole book of all these different things.
They all were tough to attain.
And not to say writing a children's book wasn't tough,
but I knew even if I had to go to Staples
and glue pages together, I could physically make a book.
I wouldn't need patents.
I wouldn't need, you know, a crazy design team.
It was more of a reachable goal to get a product out there.
I had grown up with no internet.
I was writing a sweet spot.
I grew up with no internet.
We got dial up.
And then we had the cable internet that, you know,
was quick and I could reach the whole world.
So that was kind of the reasoning behind
wanting to create a product to sell to the whole world.
And that was, you know, that was it.
The motivation came.
I realized there was nothing out there like it.
I say it all the time, there were car books
and, you know, there was like the red race car
and things like that.
But I wanted to dive in deeper for, you know,
and still no kids, but having no kids at the time,
something for the motorhead like myself,
if I was a father, what I would want to read to my kids.
So it was definitely a book for the kids,
but I'd be lying if I said I didn't write it
for the parents.
Yeah.
No, I love it.
I was talking to Christian about this
and my girlfriend, I'm like,
man, I wish I had known about this book
when my kids were little.
Yeah.
Maybe they wouldn't be so interested in video games.
But you gotta.
Yeah, but I love it.
I love it, man.
I get it all the time.
People saying, oh, I wish I had this as a kid
and always my response is, me too.
That's why I wrote it.
Right?
Yeah.
So you got to check out his website.
I'm going to give you a couple of websites
out there at Listener Land.
The first is mhgproductions.com.
Not that I'm going to cut you off,
but if you want to give a more simple one,
teaisforturbo.com will take you to the same place.
So much better.
So much better.
Yeah.
So tea is for turbo.
And these books are just so clever.
I just say the names of the books
and I can't get the smile off my face.
The sprocket rocket about a motorcycle,
the noisy snails, as he alluded to,
the whiny supercharger, Brocky, the brave little race
truck, and tea is for turbo.
And the great thing, if you've had kids,
you can get these, I think, in Doug's chat me.
We'll get all these in the show notes.
So if you're at the point of listening
on any of these platforms, all of these URLs,
these web addresses will be in the show notes here.
But I think you risked one.
The sideways sliders, which Doug will appreciate.
That actually has my 240 on the front cover.
Nice.
I see that.
It's immortalized.
It's immortalized.
Absolutely.
It had to be.
And then the S13 to the right of it,
which was a buddy of mine's car.
So I threw him in there as well.
He's actually the one I dedicated the book to.
He was a good friend of mine.
He ended up getting, you know,
he was always sliding around the cars,
but he had a Barbados blue GTO.
And that was one of the, if not the first car
I experienced drifting and burnouts
and having fun with a vehicle.
And unfortunately, we lost him to brain cancer
a few years ago.
But I dedicated the book to him even when he was still
around because it went in remission.
And I just thought it would have been a nice tribute to him.
It was.
A beautiful tribute.
And unfortunately, we did lose him a few years later.
But again, he's also immortalized in my book,
along with in my brain with my creativity and inspiration.
You know, he was, he kind of showed me the ropes
on what a car can do.
And he was a fun guy to be around.
Are you sometimes surprised at the themes
that come up in these books?
You're sometimes surprised at what gets kind of
what inspires you, what memories come up
and what stimuli around you make you want to write.
What's right?
I don't know if I would say surprised
because I have, I mean, I have a whole notebook
filled of books.
So, you know, like I had mentioned,
I had grown up surrounding like I said,
my core group of friends, they were all car guys
every day, every weekend.
No matter what we were doing,
it was going to involve cars or motorcycles.
So I have, you know, all these memories
and I, you know, like I said,
I like to write about things that I've experienced.
So I already have a long list of things that I, you know,
pretty much a cue in my head of the next books coming out.
So, and it still goes on today.
These books have brought me all over the country.
I have a friends group that literally stretches
from here to the other side of the country
pretty much just because of the traveling
and things that I've done.
I've got a really good group of guys in Ohio
with some really crazy cars.
He's got this Exocart BMW.
It's got no roof, no doors, no hood,
and it's pushing 2,000 horsepower.
And it's an unreal experience to drive in that.
And he's one of my best friends at this point.
And I met him through my books.
He was a Facebook friend.
It's funny.
I think even to this day, Tios for Turbo
is on his cover photo on Facebook
with his child as an infant,
like one of their, you know,
one of their first baby pictures.
Yeah, right?
And he opened the door for me to get into one of these events.
I couldn't get a hold of a guy.
I wanted to do the Cletus McBarlane events.
And he said, dude, just come.
You can sell your books out of my tent.
So I made up a little banner that had my logo on
and his logo showed up.
And it was a pretty funny experience
because I got into the event that I wanted to get into.
A week later, I get a phone call
from the guy who runs the events.
And I quote him.
He says, we don't like what you did,
but we like what you do.
And then he offered me a spot in the event.
So I've been pretty much doing the events
for him ever since.
So yeah, all thanks to Carl
for just opening his doors to me.
And like I said, he's one of my best friends
at this point.
And his kid's first word was turbo.
Yeah, yeah, I believe it.
And he was able to make all the turbo sounds as well.
I love that.
And one thing that struck me as we were doing show prep was
I have three sons, they're a little older now,
but anything that we can do to get young boys reading,
I think is fantastic to engage in this.
I'm sure this has been a theme
because when you go on your website,
it's you and families, it's you and kids.
It's what you've done that brings joy
and kind of inspires reading is such a crucial skill
for children, especially little boys
and whatever you can do to foster that,
I think is fantastic.
So I think you're doing good in so many ways.
I appreciate that.
And I was that kid.
I enjoy reading, but if I'm not involved
or invested in the topic,
I'll read the words on the page
and they just don't register in my head.
So I do have families come up to me
and tell me that how much their kids love the book
and I can't even express how that makes me feel,
but I know it's because it's something they enjoy.
Their dads are bringing them to these car shows,
their dads have and moms too,
they have the show car vehicle in the garage
and they like to see their dad or mom working on it.
And it's, I used to say, I still say,
it's a way to share the passion
at the earliest age possible.
So it's literally, it's a time story
and we're all passionate about these cars
and it's a quick way to just immediately
get your child involved as well.
And it works, it really does.
I like that.
I like that.
And before we leave this detour
where we're talking about where your life
really took a turn here,
can I ask about your illustrator?
Because in looking at the books,
I noticed that the same person illustrates.
So could you talk a little bit
and I more and more interested in the idea of collaboration,
Doug and I doing this show,
how is your, could you talk about him a little bit
the creative process between you two
and how you've navigated collaborating with him?
Yeah, absolutely.
So I'll take it back to where I first encountered Rich,
believe it or not, it was a Craigslist ad.
I had these ideas in my head
and I wanted to bring them to life.
I was looking for an artist
and I was browsing on Craigslist,
after probably shopping some motorcycles.
And I found somebody who said he specialized
in children's book art along with some other things.
And he's not, he might be a little bit now
but he was not a car guy when I met him.
So he didn't know anything about cars.
I had to kind of hold his hand a little bit
and just for him to get me the image that I wanted.
There were a couple of things that,
we just had to work out but his skill is unbelievable.
It is.
The first image he ever sent me
is the cover to the noisy snails.
The only thing we changed was the O on the turbocharger.
I turned it up so it didn't look like an A.
And...
Got it, yeah.
Yeah, and it was exactly what I wanted
and it brought my book to life.
And I remember that moment of getting that first image
and the inspiration and the motivation that it gave me
was just, it just set me on the path.
Like, okay, now I see it and it's done.
To this date, I actually have not met Rich in person.
Really?
Yeah, we have had a virtual friendship for a while
and I've tried a couple of times.
He was gonna come out one time.
I had a little author meeting
at our local dealership in Cherry Hill
and he was gonna come out and I was real excited
and I forget why he didn't make it out
but he didn't end up coming out there.
But I don't do a lot of events in Delaware.
That's where he's from, but if I am out there,
I owe him a nice dinner and some catching up
because he's a-
Man.
Yeah, he's a great guy.
At least a nice, yeah.
We feel like friends at this point.
We do chat via text message, Facebook, whatnot.
But yeah, I've watched his skill grow over the years.
I've been doing this for 11 years
and he's been doing it even longer than me.
He was an artist before I was an author
and I've watched, if you look from my first book
to my last book, he's great throughout all of them
but the detail just gets even better and better
after each book.
He's maturing as an artist, yeah.
And just building his skills,
constantly learning new ways to do things.
And yeah, just like anybody with any craft,
the longer you do it, the better you get.
Good point, good point.
Well, thank you for sharing all that.
And I could talk to you about this for so much longer
but Doug is, I know Doug wants to climb
into your next couple of rides.
So give it back to you, partner.
Yeah, no, thank you.
And it would be silly of me
to not point out there's a theme in all your cars,
at least the early ones.
Front engine, rear-wheel drive, right?
Yeah, actually, now that you mentioned it,
yeah, it does seem to be the theme.
I mean, that is my bread and butter in a vehicle.
Yep, ditto, ditto.
Yep, that's the way to do it.
So your second car after the book got published, right?
And was out there was a 2004 Lexus IS 300.
Correct, also in a manual transmission.
Yeah, also in a manual.
That's right, save the manuals.
And it was an alabaster metallic.
Yeah, it's an interesting color.
It's kind of like an off-white.
It's kind of like a pearl.
But yeah, it was beautiful.
It was a beautiful car.
There's actually a funny story about that,
which you just kind of sparked my memory.
I bought that car and limped it onto a trailer.
Somebody, the previous owner before me,
I think he hit a curb.
It had two cracked wheels and a busted steering rack.
And I didn't care.
I was searching, the production on manuals
on those vehicles was pretty low.
They were hard to find.
And this one hit all the boxes.
And I could have cared less
that I couldn't drive it right away.
So I real quick, my boss at the time
had an enclosed trailer.
We went over and like I said,
I mean, I limped this thing onto the trailer.
It barely made it up the trailer.
And I drove that thing home with a smile on my face.
Yeah, no, and if memory serves,
so that was Lexus's kind of first small car,
four door Toyota overseas, right?
It had a gated manual, right?
It wasn't gated.
No, it wasn't gated.
It was traditional manual.
I bet.
But it was their first attempt
to go for like the tuner group.
Like they went, they had,
and I'm not a huge fan of the tail lights,
but they had some tuner tail lights on it.
It was definitely out of the norm
of what Lexus was used to doing there.
Used to doing like their big body,
their big sedans and whatnot.
But it is actually the same chassis
as the Toyota Altezza.
So that had been around for a couple of years.
So they took the Toyota Altezza
and they put, it's actually got the 2J in it,
the 2JZ engine in it.
So it's-
This is the inline, three liter inline six, right?
Correct, yeah.
Which was also in the Supra,
depending on which generation.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
That is part of my plan.
One day I will turbo that 2J engine in there.
And I'm not sure what I'll put that in.
I believe the IS right now is lined up for a V8.
So-
Okay.
That'll be perfect.
Yeah.
That'll be perfect for drifting.
And so kind of on that note,
since this is our format.
So it sounds like you still have the Lexus,
but it's maybe inoperative right now.
It's on hiatus.
It's about, it's almost like when I first bought it.
Okay.
No, so I was at a,
so I had pretty much prepped it for a couple of years.
Actually, I had a dream to do some road racing.
I had done a little bit in vehicles
that were not my own.
And I got a little taste for a road course
and I fell in love with it.
So I had spent two years.
I did full suspension on it, coilovers.
I actually upgraded the front brakes.
I figured before adding power,
I might as well add some brakes to it and make good stops.
Yeah.
So there was a nice conversion for the LS 400 brakes.
Somebody makes a kit.
So I was able to put the bigger piston brake kit on there.
So I did that.
I did sway bars.
I did an intake and pretty much just other than that,
just full maintenance, got all fluids dialed,
put some nice tires on it.
And I took it out for my first road course trip
in my own vehicle.
And thank God I didn't crash anyone else's vehicles,
but I did crash my own.
I hit it.
There's a, there's a turn.
It's actually turn one.
It comes after a straight away,
which is, I think it's pretty much a hundred miles an hour
into the turn into, you know,
you come obviously down to a slow turn.
And I went off a little bit.
I actually bumped on the inside curving.
And I think that's what threw me off.
And I one tire hit the dirt
and from there I'd lost control of it.
And it was a downhill.
I slid all the way down and around.
And I wound up in the tire wall driver side.
And yeah, I pretty much have dents from the front fender
all the way to the rear quarter.
And the steering is definitely off.
I haven't been able to pinpoint exactly
what's going on with it, but it drove me home.
So I mean, that's a thing.
Made it home.
Yeah.
It's a reliability of the Toyota Lexus brand.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was like, like couldn't break it.
He tried his best.
Yeah.
And so she's got a new path now.
Cause she was very pretty before that.
And now she's, she's a little bit more thrashed.
And I think that'll just be the life she lives from now on.
Yeah.
But only on one side, right?
Yeah. Yeah.
So.
Still wild and crazy on the other side.
Well, you know what's funny is a,
so I explained to you my buddy's car who has a,
he's got the full like exo cage cart thing.
So I had an idea and I, you know,
I don't mind giving it away if someone wants to do it.
Go ahead.
But I had the idea of making it like a two-face.
So on one, on one side, it'll be completely, you know,
exo cart and exposed.
And then the other side is pretty.
Will you stop being a creative genius
and leave some ideas for the rest of it?
Ever.
How can I do too many good ideas going your way?
I can't stop my creativity even if I tried.
I love it.
I absolutely love it.
It's part of it.
Andrew, our mutual friend Andrew told me about speedy cop
and we're hoping to have speedy cop on the show.
Yeah.
I don't know if you've ever seen what he's done with cars,
but.
So I did.
Andrew and I talked about it
and he passed me on his contact information.
I shot him a text message and if,
coincidentally he's gonna be at the burnout competition
on the Crown Vic race that I'm doing in November.
So I'll get a chance to meet him.
I can put in a good word for you.
Yeah.
That'd be great.
Yeah.
Much appreciated.
Yeah.
For anybody who hasn't seen it, speedy cop on YouTube,
he does some amazing things with cars,
cuts them in half, airplanes, become cars.
He's got a crazy mind.
For sure.
Yep.
So I knew Christian has some more questions
and we wanna hear about your,
I think we're gonna say, let's do it.
So real quick, what's your daily driver
that's also rear-wheel drive and a manual?
Well, I wouldn't quite call it the daily,
but I think you're referring to the Cadillac ATS-V.
The Caddy.
The Caddy.
The Caddy that sings.
Her sings.
Yeah.
She is a pretty car.
So I'd be lying if I said,
half of the reason for writing these books
was to purchase a dream car one day.
I had that mindset.
I kind of incepted it into the world, manifested it.
And yeah, so my books took off,
Power of the Internet, they went
absolutely completely viral.
I was selling books to Australia at night
and then every other country during the day.
Geez.
Yeah, it was a wild ride.
I collected enough cash to be able to fund a car
that I never really expected to be able to afford.
I wasn't 100% sure on what I wanted.
I wanted the recipe, right?
Like we just talked about.
I wanted rear-wheel drive.
I wanted a manual transmission
and I wanted something that came out of the box
with some power.
So that was kind of my three pre-rex
for what I was looking for.
And the funny story is,
I had done a little bit of shopping,
just bouncing through dealerships,
taking a look at some things,
test driving some things.
I took my brother with me
and my brother's my absolute best friend.
He's a car guy as well.
He's a Volkswagen guy.
We're also a Volkswagen family.
He drives a truck.
Yeah, I just to throw that in there.
I heard you guys talking about Volkswagen's.
Yeah.
So I take him with me.
We go to Lexus, BMW, Audi.
He didn't get out of the car.
He just, there wasn't anything there
that was gonna speak to him.
BMW was right next.
It was BMW, Lexus and Cadillac dealerships
all within the same quarter mile of each other.
So we had done the first two.
We go to Cadillac and there's the car
sitting right out front.
And he jumps up out of his seat
and he goes, that's the one.
And then he's like, wait, wait, hold on.
Jumps out of the car, runs over to it, peeks into the window,
sees it's a manual transmission, turns back to me.
Yep, that's the one.
We bought it that night.
Dead.
No hesitation.
No, and it was, well, there was,
so maybe we didn't buy it that night.
We were, no, it was closed.
It was closed.
Okay, now I'm remembering.
We bought it the next day,
but I went home and I tried to find one used
because I've never bought a new car
and I wasn't finding on it.
And then we found out that it was the pedestal edition.
The only other one I found in the country
was in California and it was an automatic.
So I just, I had no choice but to buy it.
And it was the first new car,
first and only new car I've ever bought.
And yeah, it was a staple to the books
being successful and yeah, feeling the passion for it.
And that car has a turbo or two in it, right?
Yeah, it's a twin turbo, it's the V6.
A lot of people get it confused with the CTS.
Not many people are familiar with the ATS.
The CTS is an awesome car as well.
And I originally thought I had wanted one of those.
They actually believe it or not
had two pedestals at that time.
The CTS, the downfall was,
I believe you couldn't get it in a manual.
I could be wrong there.
Either way, the one they had was an automatic.
And then I was looking at it and it was huge.
Like it was just such a big car
and obviously it's got more power and that's awesome.
But the ATS was just a nice compact, it's a coupe.
And it just spoke to me a little bit more.
And it was, it's awesome.
So the cool thing that they did
being that I bought it new,
they gave me a three day race school out in Las Vegas.
So I had to buy a plane ticket
and I went out and they let me stay.
My condo was on a race track.
I woke up sipping a cup of coffee
to the new C8 race track.
And they put me in a manual ATSV,
the same thing that I bought just someone else's.
And they taught me how to race it.
And that car was built for a road course.
So it's got all these different track modes
that are designed for a road course.
So not to go crazy into it,
but like each mode you put in
is like traction control for how much it lets
the rear end kind of go out around a turn.
So it's, it was awesome to learn
about the capabilities of my car.
And it was probably three of the best days of my life.
I bet.
Somebody else's car too.
Yeah, yeah.
You can go back to yours.
Someone else's car.
Someone else's tires.
Exactly.
Nothing to worry about.
Although, you know, there was a little fear there.
I think I, I think I passed on purchasing the insurance
and in hindsight, I probably should have.
Don't do that again.
Yeah.
Oh man.
There was, there was a little bit of fear,
but I got a really nice compliment from the instructor.
The way they worked it was we were all on
like an intercom system.
So like there was nobody in my car
and it was right when COVID was going on.
So that was probably part of the reason.
There was nobody in my car
except the instructor was on the intercom.
So I could talk to him and he could talk back.
And we were out with a group of probably about five
or six cars, split between the CTS and the ATS.
And then each person got a chance to go
behind the instructor.
And I got a really nice, I take it as a compliment,
but the instructor goes and like,
that's when you're full go
because there's nobody else in front of you.
So I'm chasing the instructor around
and he made the comment,
okay, Mike, you made me work a little bit there.
And this was a professional race car driver
who's saying that about me.
And I just, you know,
smiling from ear to ear after hearing that.
Yeah, you can tell when somebody's got the right car
because the moment you start thinking about it,
you get this, you know, we're on Zoom
but we do the video for the call here.
Big smile comes on your face.
And that's when, you know,
the car means a little bit extra.
So yeah, love that.
As we guide the show gently toward the off ramp,
I did want to mention here,
you would, we talked about skids for kids,
which is a cause that you, that you're part of.
Could you talk a little about that?
Yeah, so that's my buddy, Andrew.
He's a, he's friends with us.
So I met him through Carl who had mentioned Carl
just to plug him as hidden motor sports out in Ohio.
They're European BMW specialists.
They do everything that way.
But I met Andrew through Carl.
He is the founder of skids for kids.
He started it with his buddy Dalton.
They've got an awesome group of guys.
An honorable mention is this guy named Seth.
He's a wild man.
Yeah, he's got a crazy Metro might
that he does burnouts in.
But yeah, Andrew started this burnout group of guys
and he just, he recruits them
and they all get together
and we go around to these events and do burnouts.
And the beautiful thing about his organization
is he collects donations via money and toys
for children in, actively in the children's hospitals.
Any child suffering with any kind of issue in the hospital,
you know, they bring a little bit of light to their day
by, you know, we'll finish a competition
and they load up trailers and pickup trucks full of toys.
And they go and pull right up to the front door
and unload these toys so all these kids sitting there
waiting, you know, maybe not having the best day
stuck in our house.
You know, it's just, I've watched it grow over the years
and it really is a beautiful thing what they do.
No, that's wonderful.
And you know, as a father who my son
when he was 18 months old had a heart condition,
got all resolved for fortunately SVT,
he had to have a cardiac ablation,
which at his age was not common.
And so we were at children's in DC.
And yeah, the, you know, anybody who walks through there,
you can see the kids are not having the best day
and you know, anything you can do to light up their day.
And I just remember my daughter who was a few years older,
only four and a half years.
So he was so happy to see her.
I mean, he was 18 months old,
but he was so happy to see her.
He didn't know what was going on there,
but fortunately he's fine.
But yeah, there are so many kids in need.
And so, man, I love this.
Great cause.
It's for kids.
Yeah.
Great cause, yeah.
Thank you for that.
Yeah, I'm smiling ear to ear on it.
Well, yeah.
So we just want to thank you,
Mike Myers for taking time with us.
And I just want to reach out to listener land.
And if you were having a bad day
and you need a smile put on your face,
go to tea is for turbo.com.
All one word, tea is for turbo.com.
Also on Amazon,
you can look up the tea is for turbo books.
I think the whole suite is there.
Now, Mike Myers,
do you prefer people to get the books from Amazon
to contact you directly?
Do you care?
I like when they come through my website.
So I make this,
cause I pretty much turned my upstairs
into a warehouse at this point.
But I like to sign each book.
I've found over the years
that people like getting the signature.
I mean, it's not very often you get to buy a book
direct from the author's hands.
So any book that comes in on my website,
I throw a quick little signature on there
and I send it out.
There's also a little note section
when ordering,
if they want to put their child's name,
I can address the book directly to the child.
It just puts a nice little special touch on it.
That is wonderful.
Yeah, and they would do that at teaisforturbo.com.
Yeah, Amazon, I don't see the books.
They're handled through Amazon,
but anything on my website,
I'd be absolutely happy to do that.
I think that's great.
Thank you for that.
Well, Mike, it was a real pleasure meeting you.
Real fine.
Thank you so much for spending a little bit of time
with us today.
Right back at you guys.
I appreciate the conversation
and I hope to see you guys at a car event sometimes.
Yeah, absolutely.
Count on it, count on it.
So that was Mike Myers, teaisforturbo.com.
Yeah, stay in touch.
If you are at a car show
and you see a guy surrounded by kids
and they're all,
by the way, the board books are great
because they're also chew toys for your kids.
My kids would tease and just constantly gnaw on them.
So really it's a two for one.
And if he's going to sign it,
you got to go to the website, teaisforturbo.com.
That's it.
We are going to wrap up here.
Move to the off ramp
and we'll see you on the next episode of
to all the cars I've loved before.
The only podcast where every car tells a story.
Have a great week.
See you soon.
Thank you.
About this episode
Michael Myers shares his unique journey from car enthusiast to children's author, discussing his first car, a Nissan 240SX, and how it inspired his love for writing. He highlights the importance of engaging kids with automotive themes through his books, such as 'Tea is for Turbo' and 'The Noisy Snails.' The episode also features anecdotes about car shows, the joy of sharing automotive passion with families, and his involvement in charitable events like Skids for Kids, which brings joy to children in hospitals. Michael's story is a heartfelt blend of nostalgia, creativity, and community.
Original notes
Click here to share your favorite car, car story or any automotive trivia!
Author Michael J. Myers joins us for a delightful ride through his personal car history and the creative road that led him to write car-themed children’s books. Michael starts by sharing humorous and relatable tales of his very first car – a beat-up old farm truck that he affectionately calls “Soft Shell Crab” because of how often pieces fell off (each loss sparking a new story, of course!). As he moved into adulthood, his cars got more reliable but his imagination only grew. Listeners will discover how Michael transformed his automotive adventures and misadventures into inspiring storylines for kids, blending car culture with life lessons. He gives us a peek into his hit book series where characters learn about teamwork by fixing up a broken-down hot rod, and about kindness via neighborhood car shows.
Check out Mike's favorite episode - “Classic Cars & Automotive Adventures: From Trabant to Tucker” - https://pod.link/1733902541/episode/a2d0f95592fd0bb64329a53b015f8bfe
Beyond the books, Michael also discusses founding a charity “Burnouts for Kids” that turns car shows and burnouts into fundraising fun, proving horsepower can have heart-power too.
This episode is a charming mix of nostalgia and creativity – perfect for car lovers who want to share their passion with the next generation. Michael’s journey illustrates that our first cars and wildest car dreams can steer us toward our true calling in the most unexpected ways.
*** Your Favorite Automotive Podcast - Now Arriving Weekly!!! ***
Listen on your favorite platform and visit https://carsloved.com for full episodes, our automotive blog, Guest Road Trip Playlist and our new CAR-ousel of Memories photo archive.
Don't Forget to Rate & Review to keep the engines of automotive storytelling—and personal restoration—running strong.
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
0:00
47:17