The DeLorean DMC-12 is a unique car with doors that open upwards, like wings. It's famous for being in a popular movie and is loved for its unusual look.
It's the stick you use to change gears that is located on the floor of the car instead of on the steering column. It makes it easier to shift gears while driving.
The Ford Mustang is a popular sports car that has been around for many years. It's known for being fast and having a cool design, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
The Chevrolet Bel Air is a famous car from the 1950s. The 1957 model is especially well-known for its stylish look and is popular with car enthusiasts.
Color matching is making sure that a new part of the car looks the same color as the rest of the car. It's important for how the car looks after repairs.
A truck is a type of vehicle that is used to carry heavy loads or cargo. They are often larger than regular cars and have a separate space for carrying things.
The Dodge Shadow is a small car that was made by Dodge in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was popular for being budget-friendly and was designed for everyday driving.
The Dodge Spirit is a slightly bigger car than the Dodge Shadow, made by Dodge in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was designed for families and had more space inside.
The brake booster makes it easier to stop your car by giving extra power to the brakes when you press the pedal. It helps you stop without having to push down really hard on the brake pedal.
Brake power is how well a car can stop. If only the back brakes are working, it can make driving very tricky and dangerous.
Car
Honda Enduro
The Honda Enduro is a type of motorcycle made by Honda that can be ridden on both streets and off-road trails. It's built to handle rough terrain while still being street-legal.
Car
Harley-Davidson
The Harley-Davidson Electric Line is a type of motorcycle made by Harley-Davidson that runs on electricity instead of gasoline. It was designed to be more environmentally friendly and has a unique look.
Carbureted means the car uses an older system to mix fuel and air for the engine. Most new cars use a different, more advanced system that is easier to control.
The Lincoln Town Car is a big, luxurious car made by Lincoln. It's famous for being very comfortable and is often used by chauffeurs to drive people around.
A V8 engine is a powerful type of car engine that has eight cylinders. It's known for providing a lot of power, which is why it's often used in big cars and trucks.
The Ford Crown Victoria is a large car that many police departments used because it's tough and has a lot of space inside. It was popular for many years but is no longer made since 2011.
The Ford Explorer is a big family car that can carry a lot of people and stuff. It's great for road trips or just getting around town with plenty of space.
The Holden Caprice is a large, fancy car that is very comfortable and has lots of features. It's a good choice if you want something that feels luxurious.
The Toyota Crown is a large, comfortable car that is known for being very reliable. It's a good choice for people who want a nice ride without worrying about breaking down.
The Mercury Grand Marquis is a big, comfortable car that is great for long drives. It's known for being reliable and has a lot of space inside.
Car
Chevrolet Advanced Design
The Chevrolet Advanced Design is a type of truck made by Chevrolet in the 1950s. The 1954 model is known for its unique style and was part of a major update to make the trucks look more modern and useful.
The Hyundai Venue is a small SUV that's easy to drive and has a lot of modern features. It's a good option if you want a vehicle that’s stylish and practical for city life.
The Kia Rio is a small, budget-friendly car that is easy to drive and saves on gas. It's a great option for someone looking for their first car or a reliable daily driver.
The Chevrolet Camaro is a cool, sporty car that looks fast and is fun to drive. It's known for its strong engine and stylish design, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
The Dodge Road Runner is a fast, classic car that many people love for its cool design and powerful engine. It's a symbol of the fun and excitement of muscle cars.
LIVE
Welcome back to all the cars I've loved before your authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia
where every car tells a story, every car has a culture.
Hey, it's time to plug in dust off and let's fire up this beast and see if it'll start
in cold weather.
Speaking of cold weather, I'm a little under the weather.
I'm here in the panhandle of Florida.
It is going to snow tomorrow.
That hasn't happened, definitely not since I've been down here.
But wherever you are, I hope you are warm, safe, dry, driving the car of your dreams
and it fires up every time you turn the key.
Let's welcome our new listeners.
In Winchester, Illinois, welcome.
In Mesa, Arizona, welcome.
Feel free to, we always love getting emails from the new folks.
Let us know what you think about the show.
Ensure please to write a review if you like what you hear.
Tell a friend forward to the degree possible.
Let people know that we are on your preferred podcast platform streaming device of choice
here.
And we have some new special listeners.
Again, the show is international.
This is my favorite part.
We have some listeners in Nigeria, welcome.
Feel free to reach out, email, send us a picture of what you drive.
We love having international guests as well as Pakistan on the other side of the world.
So pleased that you're aboard.
Feel free to reach out, be part of the conversation and community.
Speaking of community, my co-host Doug, how are you doing partner?
Doing great.
Great to be back here with you.
Look good.
Sound good.
I dig the shirt.
And if you're listening to this as opposed to seeing this, you will, you got to check
out a shirt.
It's a Frisha brothers of one of, oh, let's see, I don't know, Greenwich, Connecticut,
Gwinnabere Frisha, who's on the show, had been on the show.
Just a delight, wonderful person, really good champion of helping us spread the word.
And let's see, are you standing up right now?
Can we get a full shot?
It's really a great shirt too.
All things air-cooled for those who can't see it.
That's right.
Vintage VWs, I think they'll do anything.
They'll, from the top to the upholstery, Greenwich, Connecticut, they can handle it
all.
Feel free if you're in the neighborhood to stop by.
And we're going to, is it untoward to say that she's going to be back with a special
guest sometime soon?
Should we keep that under the hat?
I think we should keep it back under the hat, just in case.
Okay, let me tuck it, let me tuck it behind my ear, yeah.
Established in 1922 before Volkswagen's, but one of the first companies in Greenwich,
Connecticut to service Volkswagen's.
Yeah, and that is what they're known for.
So, check it out, really nice website too, and Gwinnabere is all over the
socials, fun to follow, again, a wonderful person.
And we like to take care of our friends, because they take care of us.
What is happening on the marketing side before we cue in today's guest, Doug?
I know that we had been posting some content on YouTube and we kind of took
a break over the past week or two, but we have a flurry of recordings
coming up here the next week or two.
Anything we want to share with those in this new podcast?
Sorry, new website coming up soon.
There'll be more video and pictures and testimonials, total redesigned
so it doesn't look like a 12 year old did it.
I guess I'm the 12 year old and emotionally 12, a grown man.
But I thought it looked right.
What are we changing about it?
You'll have to wait and see.
Total refresh, total refresh.
Oh, wow.
I look like a 20 year old did it.
Do we have a new picture?
That's funny.
Do we have new pictures of us or is it the same?
We're going to have to get some.
We'll figure it out.
Don't worry, I'm taking some now, but we do have a top five
episode playlist on YouTube under the podcast.
So if you want to hear top five as voted by our listeners, you can find that there.
Kind of surprised me, but I'm super happy with the list.
It's all from season one, which means we need more people listening to season two and three.
Yeah, good point.
Good point.
Good stuff.
Thank you for that.
So you mentioned the link tree here.
I'm going to mention it real quick.
Please do.
Yeah, our link tree is really our digital switchboard.
Direct shoot of all of our presences out in the ether.
L-I-N-K-T-R dot ee slash cars love.
We'll get you to the Instagram, all the socials, the YouTube,
where we are published on the podcast, et cetera, et cetera.
I think that that gets us, that brings us to today's very special guest.
And Doug, how did Brian, how did he come to land in our garage?
Yeah, so I bumped into Brian almost literally, but not exactly.
Brian saw me in the parking lot at
at anapolis Harbor Center in Maryland.
And of course, I was in my DeLorean.
He pulled up beside me, asked me some questions.
And then, Christian, you may remember this.
I go into Barnes and Google and I called you and I said,
hey, this guy just asked me a couple of questions.
He's like, God, I hope you can find him and give him your business card.
And so sure enough, I turned around there with Brian
and gave him his business card, my business card, our business card.
And just stayed in touch.
And, you know, it turns out, Brian's Brian's pretty interesting cars.
He's got a great history native Maryland guy.
And his dad's dad's real interesting cars.
He grew up with him.
And there's a there's a family family thing
that has been on the big screen that we'll talk about later today.
So, Brian, welcome. How are you this fine afternoon?
Thank you. I'm doing well.
Thanks for having me.
Also trying, also trying to stay warm.
We got some very cold
frigid temperatures come in the next 24 hours in Maryland.
But no snow, but no snow.
There was going to be an inch or two and they took that away.
So maybe next week, I guess we'll see.
You sent it all down to Florida.
Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Not really.
Yeah, I have no idea what's going to be happening.
Kids in the streets with snowmen.
But yeah, they won't know what to do.
Snow shovels, no snow shovels on sale in Florida.
I tell you what, the last thing before I move from the mid Atlantic
to Florida is I had about three or four snow shovels
and I pitched them in the garbage can.
It was very poetic.
And I said never again, never again as I pulled away laughing.
And that's, you know, karma coming back around.
But speaking of karma coming back around, yeah.
There were some early,
some very interesting early cars in Brian's world.
So tell us a little bit about some of your first cars, Brian,
and how they came about, where you got them.
And I find a lot of your backstory interesting.
Oh, thank you.
Um, let's see, I started driving.
Oh, I guess 99 2000.
I remember going with my mom, we filled up the car.
Guess it was the last day of 1999, in case Y2K, in case
everything went down and you couldn't get fuel and all that.
Oh, smart.
And then, you know, luckily nothing happened.
But so that's kind of when I started.
The first vehicle that I really started driving
was a 1973 Chevy pickup.
This God awful, like, like puke, pea green, kind of olive
green color.
But it was it was my dad bought it for like $250 from a work
colleague. And so, you know, I didn't have a lot of money.
So that was a good, you know, it was beautiful.
You know, I was very blessed.
That's kind of when I learned, started learning the mechanics
on how to keep a truck going.
And that one was one of the ones that was three on the tree up on the column.
So it took me a while.
My dad taught me how to, you know, drive a manual.
And then, like I said, that up there on the column
later on, actually, the clutch linkage started falling apart.
We put in a floor shifter.
And if you didn't exaggerate that that pattern, it would get stuck
on one side or the other, either first, reverse or second and third.
So that made it interesting, too.
But definitely a lot of cool stories with that old truck.
And I kept it going for probably about seven, eight years before I finally killed it.
So what what was what was so compelling about the pea green color
in the sixties and the seventies?
You just want to get your thought because I'm going to circle back here in a second.
Any that I've mentioned this on the show before, but this dull yellow.
Yeah, this like you said, exactly right.
Pea green and this Pepto Bismol pink.
What? Why that aesthetic in your opinion, Brian?
Well, I'm not sure because I was born in 83.
So it was about a decade before my time.
But I I've noticed that, too.
You either had that weird orange color.
A lot of things were orange, orange green.
Yep. And I don't know.
That's a good that's a good question.
I'm not sure.
I guess that was just the rage during the time.
The palette of the day.
Yeah, I think about that.
It was everywhere.
I in my old house built in the fifties
here has has this pink tile in the main bathroom.
And and sometimes it's charming.
And sometimes it makes me want to grab for the near sledgehammer.
The one thing I want to circle back on is nowadays you'll see new cars
or or it's all the rage.
It's not this deep forest color, but it's kind of this
dollar almost not.
It's kind of a lighter shade of green.
I've seen it on Toyota Land Cruisers.
I've seen it.
I was looking at a Shelby Cobra that's just way out of my price range.
That's right around the corner these days.
But I don't know if there's something about that green now that's beautiful.
Yeah, I've noticed.
I've noticed some different newer cars have different colors
that are almost like two different colors merged in.
You almost can't decide if it's.
Yeah, it's it's nice because it's something for 20 years.
You've had just the standard, you know, most primary colors.
But it's it's you're almost looking at it.
It catches your eye and you're like, wow, what's that?
You know, it's it's nice to see something new hitting the market.
Something kind of that stands out.
Interesting point.
I like the way you put that.
I had not thought about that before.
But I think in a lot of and we had
Tom, one of our guests from I think it was last season mentioned,
you know, the technology of colors.
Painting. Yes, exactly.
Exactly. And in how they get these glitter effects.
And, you know, I don't know anything about that.
But interesting what you just said, it's almost like it's
it's a couple of colors merged or it's this hue right between one and two.
And you kind of see it as the Tesla's that maybe some of the first to do
that, depending on the light, it almost looks one color.
And then if it's sunnier out, it looks a different color.
Well, it's it's interesting in the I want to say mid to late 90s.
Ford and others had these colors.
If you looked at it a certain way, including on Mustangs
and I think Ford probe GT second gen.
It was a different color.
And my only thought about that was, wow, if you get in an accident,
how do you get that fix the right way?
But but nowadays, of course, you can make your car any color you like
just by a wrap job.
And it could be far out there.
It could be neon green.
It could be chrome.
I saw Super the other day that was probably the color of Brian's truck.
It was a newer super.
Whether it was factory or not, I don't know.
But somebody like that color.
I just keep an advantage and we're off on a tangent on a tangent on a tangent.
But I have to throw in here.
A friend of a friend has a 57 Bel Air and Chevy Bel Air.
And when he bought it, he bought it maybe five years or so ago.
You know, you're wrapping around and fulfilling that childhood dream.
The I want to say the rear driver quarter panel with the wheel.
Well, rusted kind of a known issue.
Car was decades old anyway.
I think the fellow who bought it from his original owner all rusted,
rusted through that.
So they had to cut out that whole panel.
You know, and they got a new one from some place in California
that fabricates all this.
They were able to color match it exactly when I saw it.
I said, there's no way you're telling me they were able
to cut up color matches exactly.
How do you do that?
He said, you'd be surprised at what body shops can do these days.
You, he said, you'd be shocked.
And all right.
So before we move on to the next car, I'm a handed over here to Doug,
who wants to climb in the rest of your cars here.
But yeah, what is it?
With the we mentioned this before in in in previous episodes,
when were you when did buying a two hundred fifty dollar car stop?
I think that's the greatest thing in the world.
I wish they'd bring it back.
I just bought my little son his first car.
When did that stop?
And can we bring that back?
What do you think, Brian?
Well, I don't know if we can go back.
I do know that about around twenty nineteen.
I want to say my dad and I did buy another truck for five hundred dollars.
It's a Ford.
Oh, I think that one's at eighty five and it was somebody, a work friend,
somebody that my dad worked with.
He lived out in Frederick, Maryland, and he said, Hey, you know,
I got a truck. I'm selling it.
You know, I don't need it. This and that.
My dad finally asked me, I don't really mean we got a couple of trucks.
But how much you guys?
Well, for five hundred dollars, it's yours.
He says I can bring it next week.
He said, OK, you know, so what do you guys want pictures of it?
He said, if you can drive it from Frederick to Pasadena, Maryland,
I don't I don't need to see it.
I don't know what it looks like.
They're five hundred bucks. I'm not picky.
And that's that one is actually the two tone, the brown and green.
And that one's another another manual,
which I actually prefer manual overall overall.
It feels like you're more one with the machine.
Absolutely.
And five hundred dollars.
And that one means the distributor needs a little work there.
And then, yeah, five hundred bucks.
I went havesies. He went havesies.
I really feel like COVID, the economic, the fine.
Everything got turned upside down.
You can't find things for under four or five grand.
Now it's hard.
You're reading my mind.
Yeah. Exactly.
That's what I said, Doug,
we have to print on bumper stickers or a t-shirt or something.
I don't know the exact wording, but the five hundred bucks.
I don't need pictures.
I think that is a brilliant life rule.
If you can get it here.
Yeah, for five C notes, I'm all about it.
But give me 10 percent.
Give me 10 percent of the proceeds.
Yeah, you got it. It's brilliant.
You got it.
Yeah, there is something magic I'm finding here around.
There's something magic about that four thousand dollar number.
It's almost like four grand now is like the two fifty of twenty years ago.
Or so I forgot all about this.
I sold a little compact in mind for like three hundred.
Go ahead, Doug.
No, I was just writing it down.
It's a great before we we move on.
I got one other local.
It was what I could one of the local lemon lots
where they sell used cars a couple of weeks ago.
I found it was a Dodge Shadow.
I thought it was a Dodge Spirit at first, but it was a Dodge Shadow.
Ninety three, I want to say, with fifty five thousand miles on it,
he was asking twenty five hundred bucks.
So I called the guy because my niece is getting ready to drive.
I said, what's up with this?
Is he I said, what did an older person have?
He said, bingo, older person had it.
It was, you know, hardly driven.
It's older. None of my family wants it.
My kids don't want it.
So my sister said her daughter, same thing, you know, if it doesn't
could be a little ugly, but it's not twenty thousand dollars.
It's twenty five hundred bucks.
I called back a day or two later.
Somebody from the Eastern Shore actually came and looked at it,
gave him five hundred dollar deposit and said,
I'll come back with a trailer tomorrow.
So we missed it.
It was a unicorn for twenty five hundred bucks.
And it's run. Absolutely.
It doesn't. Who cares if it's thirty years old?
You know, you might have to, you know, just a couple little things here
and there, but it did look nice.
So it can happen, but it's very hard.
I dig it. I dig it.
They're out there. They're out there for sure.
So I think Doug wants to know when I will hand the baton off,
I will hand the three on the tree off to Doug.
Doug wants to know what happened to that first car,
and then he wants to get into that next car.
Yeah.
Well, O.P. Green, actually, what finally killed it
was I was going to AACC, was going to
school and I was driving around the back parking lot
and somebody ran the stop sign.
I could see they were not going to stop and I mashed that break all the way
and the the the booster broke.
That plunger went through and I lost.
Actually, I lost my front brakes.
I believe I only had back brake power.
So the drive home later was a little dicey, only having back brakes.
And seeing as my dad bought that one for two hundred and fifty dollars,
I just felt like it wasn't worth putting any more money in that one.
I was able, my dad had me cut the transmission out
because it was a rare short transmission.
And he said, somebody will want that.
You know, there's a whole bunch of stuff
we're going to take to Carlaw here in another year or two.
We got it.
We could sell a whole trail or four rare things.
But yeah, I cut that out, cut, I think, the seatbelt out
as a as a little reminder, a little memento.
And I don't remember if I got some money for cash.
I think somebody might have come and picked up for two hundred bucks.
So we actually got two hundred dollars back from it.
And yeah, I just didn't feel like fixing the, you know,
I actually mothballed it once before because I had a ninety five
or ninety six grand marquee and then June 6th of two thousand three.
I totaled that.
I wasn't paying attention, didn't look at the light.
And so I only had that for a few months and I wrecked that.
And so I went back and apologized to the truck, pulled it out from.
And I said, well, you're getting you're now my primary vehicle again.
And you have a you have a bunch of parts, right?
That you're going to take.
And and maybe for our listeners, I know about Carlisle,
but maybe you could talk about it real quick and if and if you've been there before.
Yeah, I've actually I don't think I've ever been my uncle,
other people in the, you know, the club, the car club,
the other guys that we associate with it's it's come up.
And I just know that's a big meat on the east, the east coast
that you can go and get all kinds of odds and ends things.
Now, of course, this is all preadvent of the internet and stuff,
but still just the culture there.
And, you know, I brought it up to dad.
I said, there's a lot of stuff here that, you know, I don't know about, you know,
one day when you're not here, you know, unless you label everything for me,
I'm not going to know what all this stuff is.
And I said, we need to maybe go.
We can maybe make a few thousand.
We can bond, take some stuff up there and maybe sell some stuff, give it new home.
It would I'd love to see it, you know, in the, you know,
the heart beating again in something else.
And, you know, it's great.
We can make a little bit of cash, clear up some stuff, less work for me to do.
However, many years down the road.
And like I said, just a good bond experience.
And it's just a big, big car swap meat.
And, you know, I'm sure I could get some good merchandise,
maybe get another cool shirt or something while I'm up there.
Yeah. Yeah. And they they also have certain days
where it's only certain types of cars or or make models, right?
Like they might have a Ford specific show
or they might have a fifties specific show where they have those vendors.
Yeah, I think that's right.
OK, gotcha. OK.
I guess I know more than I thought about it.
But Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
So that's a big end of summer event, if I remember correctly.
But yeah, so you had some interesting cars.
But you're also a motorcycle guy, right?
Yeah. Yeah.
And I have a ninety five Hartley electric line with the evolution motor.
We wanted something, you know, we were looking.
I wanted a bike.
I wanted a real bike as a younger man.
I had a Honda Enduro and I had tags on it for a while.
But I wanted a real bike.
So found one for I think it was like four grand or something.
And my dad's hates carbureted stuff we can work on
without needing a five thousand, ten thousand dollar computer
that can dive and do everything.
So, you know, we went ahead and bought it.
A few years back, about three years back, I went and got it needed.
I got basically what I call a super tune up.
Took it somewhere.
It was a little bit outside of my area when it saved me.
And I have two two younger kids, so I wanted it safe.
So I basically bought it back again.
It was almost four grand for everything I got.
Don, new tires, this and that.
And so it was it's.
Yeah, it was well. Yeah, not too bad.
It was a local guy down in Calvert County.
So, yeah.
And it was the main thing was that was and it rode so much better.
I said, wow, I said, when you you kind of get
but kind of like when you're you're you're nose blind
to certain smells that you're used to and stuff, you're like, man,
I didn't realize everything was tight again.
Everything was nice.
And so, yes, I enjoy and it's the wind therapy.
Like there's nothing like getting out there and you can.
I tell people if you're upset or having a bad
but you can't stay mad on a bike, not for long.
Yeah. Yeah. That's that's interesting.
I I never had a bike.
I did have a friend who had one,
probably shouldn't have had one that I rode
rode around the back with him without helmets
and all that dumb stuff.
But I mean, it could be 100 degrees out and you would go out
and you would cool off so quickly.
I was a convertible guy back in the day.
I'm still hoping to get back into a convertible again.
But yeah, the bike was pretty cool.
Yeah, one of my favorites.
Saw this. Oh, this was on a Harley.
And I I I I did a double take and the timing wasn't right.
I think I had no money.
Three kids probably had something to do with that.
But right right on the bottom of the of the wind screen,
it said, have you ever seen a motorcycle parked
in front of a psychologist's office
or a therapist's office?
It was something like that.
And I just thought it was brilliant.
Again, that was kind of a beautiful green color to that one.
I think I went back the next day and it was gone.
But such as like your snooze, you lose and I like to take naps
is what it is. What can you do?
What was that? Now, I was going to ask you,
boy, we got so much to get to.
We're going to have to have you back in the future, Brian.
But I had to buy now.
I know Doug's got a few other things here,
but I'm curious about the the 96 grand marquee.
What was it? What was that car like?
Because one popped up.
You know what I do sometimes when, you know, after work
and I like to ramp down.
I just go to Craig's List and I go to cars for sale
and I've sort from lowest price just to see what's out there.
And a grand marquee popped up and I think a town car
of the same vintage, not not too long ago.
So that's a big V8.
That's an enormous American car.
Of course, they don't make Mercury's anymore.
What was that car like?
What do you remember from that car?
It was nice. It was funny because.
I mean, I was 19, 20 years old.
See, I mean, my my dad got one for mom says,
basically the hand me down when my mom was done with it
or started having some issues, then, you know, I would get it.
It would become mine and it was just so smooth.
People teased around said, oh, that's an old person car.
That's an old, but it was nice.
It was very smooth.
It was safe.
Like I said, I got in an accident.
Was already thinking about the weekend.
It was Friday and and it's safe.
I mean, it was like a little tank.
You know, I got T-Bone, the guy that had the right of way, hit me.
Airbags deployed and that was the worst injury was my cousin
got a little bit of airbag burn, but everybody walked away.
Everybody walked away.
It was a great car.
It was, you know, like you said, it was the V8,
but you still if you if you babied it
and didn't get too crazy with the gas,
you could get close to 20 miles a gallon.
Yeah, I want to be with highway.
Because I don't think it was a big eight.
I want to say maybe four point six liter rear wheel drive.
So those cars, they just drive in steer.
No torque steer, just as smooth as butter.
It's basically the Crown Vic platform.
So I'm a local officer for the longest time.
Police officer, we had the Crown Vicks.
I love them.
And then we switched over to a couple other things.
Now we all have the Ford Explorers and, you know, it's good.
It's a lot of room.
It's nice to not have to crawl out of a vehicle.
You hop out. It's good on your knees.
And yeah, I always like the Crown Vicks or in this case,
you know, the marquee is basically just the higher model.
That's a couple extra thousand whistles.
It's funny that brings me back when I was post high school.
I was doing some work with some.
Who's actually repairing ATM machines or refilling them?
And it's near near.
In around the county police headquarters.
So it was a lot of county police officers
when they were not working.
And that was their side job, if you will.
And I remember talking to one of them and I said, hey, why do you?
That's when the tourists started coming out or Torai.
And I said, and he had a Crown Vic and
said to me, probably nineteen ninety two ish.
Ninety one. Yeah, ninety two.
And he said, sit inside.
Sit inside the Crown Vic and he's like, the tourist is not this comfortable,
not even close. Correct. So that was his thing.
We also went with the Chevy Caprice a little bit.
And for a few years there, we had some of them had the
the Ford Taurus. I mean, the crown also the truck,
as I like the layout of the Crown Vicks trunk, the tourist was deep.
But then you can't get to some of your equipment back there.
It was just, you know, it was wide, big, a nice trunk.
Like I said, the steering, the handling, it was it was it was luxury.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Good point, American luxury.
I like that. I like that.
So I tell you what is we.
Oh, go ahead, Doug. Doug wants to hear.
But all I wanted to say, Doug, is I know we got to wrap up here
in the next few minutes.
Doug will talk to you about cars all night, Brian.
So I'm trying to try to get you out of here on time.
But I would like to chat a little bit about the twenty twenty
one day venue, but Doug, let me toss it over to Doug.
There's something else interesting in the past that we got to get to.
Well, we were talking about these, you know, the Grand Marquis,
the Crown Vic, right, these big vehicles, right?
And I just think about a bus for Brian.
You you told us you started telling us a great story.
We had to save it because we want all our listeners to hear it.
But tell us about the 1954 Chevy school bus that your family has
owned for I don't know how long and it was in a famous movie.
Yes. So it actually ties into the shirt I'm wearing,
an old Cumberland shirt out in Western Maryland.
They have the Labor Day weekend, the Street Rod Roundup.
And that was my introduction to old cars ever since.
Well, my dad had been going since the late 70s.
So as a baby, I think I was almost one
was the first year that I went and it would have been 84.
But yes, so my dad went out there with some friends.
They slept in a tent that first year.
Actually, they were close to the railroad track.
They said the train came by like the midnight or two a.m.
train, I guess it was the two a.m.
because they were still, you know, partying at midnight.
But it came by and they thought they were on the tracks
and they said they made sure they weren't on the tracks.
And after that weekend, they said, man,
sleeping on the grounds, no fun.
We need a camper or something.
And somebody, I think it was my dad's buddy, Mike,
somebody said, hey, this bus is for sale.
And it's already it was converted as like a camper anyway.
So they all three of them went in six hundred dollars for this bus.
They all went in two hundred dollars and bought this bus.
And it was the perfect camper.
Now, and I want to say 90 or say somewhere around 1990.
And I forget the producer, but they wanted to do this movie cry, baby.
Johnny Depp was in it and they came somebody, how they found my dad.
And they said, look, this is the the only running
full length bus that's still running on the east coast that we can find.
Can we, you know, use it in this movie?
Now, at the time, the bus was beautiful paint job flames.
It was black with flames.
And and my dad said, well, I don't know this and that.
And they finally came worked out a deal monetary value.
And my dad had them as short for, I think it was 10 grand.
And he said, well, if we run a truck into it, you're filming and something happens.
And you already said it's rare.
You know, he said he was so, so, so concerned.
Tempted, no, he's so tempted to go up there and set it on fire one night
and get 10 grand.
But no, so he got it back.
And then it was yellow, obviously, for the movie.
And you can tell in the movie, it's only the first five minutes of that film.
But you can tell because if you look on the passenger side, as it pulls up,
there's a vent in there, the side, I think for the stove that they had had in there
at one time. And so you can tell that that was an aftermarket, that square vent for the stove.
But yeah. And then and then my dad got some more money out of him
because when it came time to paint it back, that was in the contract.
I tell you, you paint it back in flames.
He goes smart for $500.
I'll paint it back.
And at that point that I think it was the Enron paint, it was cheap.
It was you could get a gallon for, you know, whatever it was.
And then environmental concerns in the 90s started going up to hundreds of dollars
a gallon for this paint, you know, whatever was special about the oil.
It's kind of like the old fuel when it was leaded in there.
It smelled different to the gasoline in the 80s, the gasoline now.
But but yeah, so he got it back and it was yellow for years.
Actually, it was the Ernie Irvin, you know, bus for a while
because he had a yellow car and Nascar and but yeah, man,
it was so much fun every year washing the bus, getting it ready,
do a little work at it, getting it ready to make it up to the mountains
again for the show and that.
So the producers, yeah, I thought this predated.
I thought your ownership, father's ownership kind of predated the move.
But no, the producers came to your father.
That's what it was a set in the fifties.
The movie was set in the fifties, right?
That's what I believe is ninety ninety one somewhere around there
is where when it came out.
Yeah, I remember I saw that in the theater.
I saw in the theater. Me too.
So I was just looking up.
There's something called the Internet Movie Car Database.
Now I'm going to spend all my time on this now that. Oh, boy.
Oh, boy.
It is a nineteen fifty four Chevrolet advanced design is what it's called
in the movie Crybaby from nineteen ninety. All right.
Well, there it is.
And it looks like it's painted bus number thirty seven for the movie.
Party history. I actually remember history, buddy.
They had to put seats in there the first half of the bus to,
you know, they put these bench seats in there.
And I remember helping my dad yank them out when it was time to convert it back.
And then at that point, he put in a bed and he kind of we we set it up
how we wanted it for a camper.
And we put a table that would collapse to another bed and everything.
And now, sadly, we just use it as storage.
OK, I drove it, I think, two thousand seven.
I took it to six or seven.
I took it to ACC, had some finals coming up,
and I actually gave the physics professor a ride back to his car.
And some of my other classmates ride back to their car,
but it means a whole overhaul.
So I was hoping one day I got to find somewhere.
I got to find somebody with some money and we could maybe partner up
and get it restored and back on the on the road.
We could do something with it, but.
I don't we will bring it back to it for the Hollywood history.
That's that's fantastic.
And now that Doug has the Internet Movie
and Internet Movie, our database, we got to get you out of here, Brian.
He will keep you here all night, but you got to go feed your family.
But real real quick, let's talk about the let's talk about the venue,
the Hyundai venue.
What where'd you get it?
Why'd you get it?
And I was looking at those there.
They're nice and small and seem like they'd be great on gasoline.
Oh, I can I that's a fun game.
I try to keep it over 40 miles to the gallon.
It usually ends up around 35 because it obviously as you drive it.
And if you're local, you know, it's lower, but you can.
If you baby it, you can keep it at 40 miles to the gallon.
So my my wife had a little Kia Rio that she loved.
It was the first car she bought.
I drove it.
I ended up killing it in inclement weather.
I got in an accident.
I rough them up sometimes, you know, and it was such a short wheel base.
I wasn't able.
I'm real proficient with driving and rain and snow and sleet and stuff.
But there's nothing you could do to counter steer with that short wheel base.
So I ended up that that car was sadly was totaled.
So we have the venue as a replacement to the Kia Rio.
It's it's a good car.
Like I said, I use it as my little hopper.
I'll run up to see Dan Pasadena.
I'll take, you know, one of the kids in the back
because it's a little small for both kids in the back and with the white.
It's a little tight and I put the seat all the way back anyway.
So then they'll be kicking, you know, their feet will be right there.
So but yeah, it's a good little car, good gas mileage.
And, you know, now, like one day, though, I have I will
and I'm getting to that midlife crisis point.
I when I find a two door muscle car late 60s or 1970s somewhere around there.
Now, it doesn't have to be a Camaro.
It doesn't have to be this or that old road runner or something.
Anything will be good.
That's something cool.
One day, maybe I can have that will be mine and then she can have the venue
and then I can have a muscle car.
Cars going to last forever.
So, yeah, I'm like, I'm like, I'm old, I think, absolutely.
You keep the transmission, you know, you change the transmission fluid.
Keep that all changed.
That that's your child's first car easily.
Yeah, fantastic.
Well, we have had so much fun getting to know you, Brian.
Thank you for taking the time.
This was a blast.
Appreciate the stories.
A little bit of Hollywood, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.
So it was a pleasure.
It was great meeting you and thank you for taking the time.
Yeah, thank you so much.
And I'd love to come back in another season sometime.
Absolutely.
You got it.
You have just heard to all the cars I've loved before.
The high, revving, low, mild, late model
heard around the world, authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia.
Yes, heard around the world.
Nigeria and Pakistan.
Again, welcome, friends.
Reach out. Let us know.
My cohost is Doug.
Reach him at Doug at CarsLove.com.
I'm Christian.
Reach me at Christian at CarsLove.com.
And he was Brian.
Again, it was great.
Thank you for being here.
Please follow, tell a friend.
Check out our link tree, L-I-N-K-T-R dot e slash CarsLove.
Check out all the online
presences and just an easy way to hit us up.
Get to know us and be on the show just like Brian.
I'm sure we'll see you at the next local car show, showroom,
race trip or concourse.
Thank you for listening.
Keep the rubber side down.
And we'll see you next week.
About this episode
Brian shares his automotive journey, starting with his first car, a 1973 Chevy pickup, and the unique stories tied to it. He discusses the nostalgia of classic vehicles, including a 1954 Chevy school bus featured in the movie 'Cry Baby,' and his experiences with various cars and motorcycles. The episode delves into the changing landscape of car prices and the joy of working on older vehicles, while also touching on the practicality of modern cars like the Hyundai Venue. Brian's passion for cars and storytelling makes for an engaging listen.
Brian's first car was a 1973 Chevy pickup. Years later, he discovered it had appeared in the John Waters film *Cry Baby*.
Most people find out their first car has some quirky history—maybe it belonged to someone interesting, or has high mileage, or survived a minor fender bender. Brian found out his truck was in a cult classic film starring Johnny Depp. That's a different level of automotive backstory.
The question becomes: does knowing your car appeared in a movie change how you feel about it? And more importantly, how do you even verify something like that?
In this episode, Brian reveals: - How he discovered his '73 Chevy pickup was in *Cry Baby* - The detective work required to verify a vehicle's movie appearance - What it was like owning a '73 Chevy pickup as a first vehicle (pre-movie discovery) - Why classic pickup trucks from the '70s are having a collector moment right now - The reaction he gets when he tells people about the movie connection - What makes a '73 Chevy pickup good (or terrible) as a first car - Whether the movie connection makes the truck more valuable—and if he cares
But there's one detail about how he found out about the *Cry Baby* connection that involves pure chance, a sharp-eyed friend, and a late-night movie watching session. The odds were ridiculous.
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