TJ Presterone - EP.153

Hey, and welcome back to the next episode of the Right Hand Drive Guys podcast, the podcast

for guys who like right hand drives.

I'm Bobby.

This is Aaron.

Hey, yo.

And we are here today with our buddy, TJ, say your last name, and I can't remember.

Prestoroni.

Okay.

I do say it right.

I thought I was messing around.

You're Italian too, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rosso?

Rosso's Italian?

Yeah.

He said it right.

Nice.

Yeah.

You kind of, it's a weird thing where like, if you, I feel like if you are Italian

you like have a little bit more effort into like finding out how to pronounce it.

Yeah.

Okay.

So TJ is actually, I know this is going to surprise a lot of people.

He is a manor with an Nissan Skyline.

Right.

One of the few, the proud.

I've been down the road the whole time, bro.

Yeah.

The whole time.

Yeah.

And so I don't remember how, how we met.

So I met you actually outside of Bagelmania, dude.

Bagelmania.

Yeah.

Bagelmania.

No.

You were in like a truck or something.

Yeah.

Some like Kraken GMC or something like that.

Yeah.

No.

You were like, dude, I have an R33.

So I had, I had heard about you from Dakota.

I think you had like an R35 at the time and he was telling me about that car and then

I saw Aaron's car on the highway near Augusta and I was like, dude, what is going

on?

Like you never see these cars around here.

Yeah.

But yeah.

Yeah.

And then you had like an EVO and stuff like that.

Yeah.

No, that's cool.

So you, so what, you, you from here?

You're not from?

No.

So I'm from, I'm from Lynn, Massachusetts, originally.

Like just north of Boston originally.

Yeah.

North of Boston.

Yeah.

But I pretty much like for the most part I've grown up in Maine, but I would go

like every weekend, every like school vacation, everything like that, I'll go back to

Massachusetts and visit the rest of my family.

So yeah.

Yeah.

So I got to see like the best of both worlds, I guess you could say.

Yeah.

So the lack of here and I mean it's not even crazy in mass.

I mean, it's definitely, it's definitely well beyond here, but it's like, it's definitely

more.

It was Honda.

Yeah.

Very like Honda central, where here there was like none of that, it was just muscle

car.

Yeah.

So like you, I know you guys have said, you know, here and there, like what it's

like to be into these cars in Maine, but it, and we're not the only ones.

I know there's other steaks and things like that, but dude, it's

North Dakota.

It's really like, it's, I don't know, there's something about it.

It's like narrow minded, closed minded.

It's just like muscle cars and trucks, dude.

Yeah.

And like that.

For sure.

Like the real old schools that dudes have had forever, they bring them out, yeah, the

Thursday nights down to the gardener or whatever, right?

Yeah.

And then there's the dudes with the trucks, with the jacked up trucks and the wheels

or whatever.

Right.

And you have to like, there are these little pockets of car culture here and there,

but you really have to like dig to find these guys and like get them out of the

woodwork.

You know what I mean?

Like, yeah, VW kind of.

Yeah.

So I'm like a, I guess I'm like a reformed VW kid.

I don't know if you knew that.

Yeah.

So I like, I was, I'm really like in the Hondas and stuff like that too.

So like I, dude, I think Gran Turismo and Fast and Inferious, I feel like what, like

if you were into one before the other kind of shapes like the kind of cars that

you're into.

And for the longest time, I think that, you know, maybe I was like in

denial on how much of an effect Fast and Inferious had on car culture, because like

after the first one, like I saw the second one, but dude, I haven't even actually

seen Tokyo Drift.

Wow.

Yeah.

He hasn't seen anything after that.

Yeah.

Should we though?

I don't think we should.

I don't know.

I've seen them all a bunch of times.

Yeah.

That's just me.

But I was like, you know, into Gran Turismo first and that was like kind of my

foray into like Japanese cars and things like that.

Really like Honda's, you know, in Massachusetts, there was a big Honda scene

that I would see and stuff like that.

And yeah.

So then coming to Maine is just like, you know, there's none of that.

Whoa.

Yeah.

I mean, and like it's, it's like, I don't know, they're, so from being

from here from back in the day, right, like whatever, let's just say, from

when Fast and Inferious came out 2001 to 2006.

It did actually pick up like really well.

Like, were you here during those times?

Yeah.

And actually, no, you made a good point.

Dude, the base in Brunswick, the Navy base in Brunswick, there was a big

pocket there.

Yeah.

Definitely blown up.

Because those dudes, right, we're getting there.

They weren't from here.

Right.

Exactly.

They weren't from here.

But no, they're, where, so where'd you live?

Like Brunswick tops, some area kind of bounce around between there.

So you were a little further down there?

Yeah.

I mean, there was like car shows.

There was actually decent, you know, shows around and people were

getting into, especially DSMs, a little bit of Honda, you know, that

type of thing.

And yeah, but then it like died.

Right.

Like died, died.

And then now it's us.

Yeah.

Now, there's other dudes that are doing it and trying for

sure.

What's that one kid's name?

Which kid?

You know the kid.

Oh, dude.

Yeah.

He's trying.

He's a friend of my dude.

He's awesome.

Yeah.

Liam's a man, dude.

Yeah.

Super cool.

And he's, he's like trying.

He's into it and he's trying.

Yeah.

So.

Yeah.

I think he's put on a meek this weekend.

Yeah.

So I mean, yeah, I do like there, there's, but the

collectively it's a to spread out.

Yeah.

And be not enough volume.

So like, if it was more volume spread out, it'd be easier to

come together.

Yeah.

And then from Bangor, one guy coming from Freiberg and

another guy coming from down east.

Yeah.

And so everybody's like, dude.

From the county.

Yeah.

Six hours.

Yeah.

So yeah.

I mean, so I'm glad we do have a guy on here that can at

least attest to the fact that like we're doing this

because there's not.

I know the struggle, bro.

Yeah.

I know the struggle all too well.

The podcast is literally fill that void in our lives

where like there isn't.

Yeah.

Me.

You know, dude, there was a little while where there

was a pretty decent drift scene here.

And, you know, it's not really my full story to tell.

I'll let Chris tell it some more, but there was a main

drift project and, you know, this was like back when

S-13s were a couple grand.

Yeah.

You know, and I really regret still to this day

not taking advantage of that, you know.

Yeah.

But, but it was, yeah, it was actually, it was pretty

cool for a little while.

Like Crocker lot in Bath was owned by like B-A-W.

Yeah.

And they would rent that out.

They'd have drift events there, a couple other spots

in Maine.

And then I think in, they would go to like

Loud in New Hampshire as well.

Oh, that's cool.

And it was like, yeah, it was kind of, and then

just fizzled out.

You know, there was like an investor and it just

kind of, kind of tanked.

Yeah.

I mean, I can see why kind of it's here,

you know, five months a year.

Right.

That's hard.

But people tried.

People were into it.

Yeah.

And so.

It's more than what's going on nowadays.

Yeah.

That's for sure.

I'd drift in Maine.

Yeah.

Like what?

So what's the deal?

I know that you, you know, you were here.

You had some influence from Mass.

Like what was the first like?

Yeah.

So when I got, when I got my license, you know,

I was trying to, I, dude, I must have test drove

like 10 Integra's all just, you know, with my,

I'm talking like $500 budget, $1,000 budget,

you know what I mean?

I'm almost, I'm 37.

Yeah.

So I'm like, I really wanted one really bad.

And then I drove like a B13 Sentra SCR,

which also is a sick car.

Wow, dude.

With the SR20.

Yeah, dude.

It was so sick.

And I would have bought it, but it had like some super

hacked, it had a super trap motorcycle muffler.

And I was trying to be smart.

So like, I didn't have a lot of money at all.

I come from like no money at all, dude.

I've been on my own since I was 16 years old.

And so I bring it to the shop to have like a

pre-purchased inspection done, right?

And like, dude, I'll pay like, you know,

a box or something and have a look at over, you know,

it's going to help me out.

So they were like, yeah, there's no way this thing's going

to take a sticker without like refabricating this whole

exhaust.

So I had found a Volkswagen.

So that's what it was like an 80.

And how old were you at this point?

Yeah, I was like 16.

Yeah.

So I got a Volkswagen Golf and kind of,

and I've always been into more like racing and like

motorsport aspect of cars than anything.

So there was like, I was like, cool,

like a Volkswagen, you know,

there's a bunch of these around here.

And as I started to learn more about the culture,

it was just like way more like show car stuff.

And it was like really cool builds,

like shaved bays and tucked wiring harnesses

and a lot of like attention to detail.

But I was like, how come no one's like racing these

things?

You know, like looking for like, where are the

guys like doing track stuff or whatever.

And they're just,

I just didn't really find it when there was into that.

Like maybe some, I've seen those in autocross.

Like I'll see some autocross dudes use those

and they'll be on three wheels.

Yeah, dude.

So autocross, that was my first like foray

really into like track stuff was,

I think a buddy of mine had found out about it

and I worked at the store and they were like

on their way to an autocross.

And I'm like, what?

You can pay $30, $40 and go like,

beat the hell out of your car on a cone

and it's timed and like, you know what I'm like,

dude, I need to do this.

Like this is sick.

So I had like a beat up like Jetta

at the time that I bought for like 600 bucks.

It had like a blown reverse gear.

It was like it had like an exhaust and wheels

and it was lowered, but it was like the most clapped car.

So I had autocross with that.

And that was what kind of got like the bug, you know,

where I was like, dude, this is so sick.

I need to do that.

But I wanted to, you know, it's like an addiction thing.

I was like, I need to find a racetrack.

I need to do go faster and more and more and more.

And it kind of like excelled from there.

And now like story of so many men's lives, right?

Yeah.

It sounds bank rubzy in that.

No.

Yeah.

It all spirals out of control, but I'm glad that like they do

have a little autocross scene and stuff, but I just like

Cumberland Motor Club.

Yeah.

And at the time like, you know, it seemed like the courses

were really tailor made for like just the Miata and an MR2.

Yeah.

And the guy running it was kind of a dick.

And I was like just turned off by it because like they

were so serious dude about the like tech inspection on the

cars.

I'm like, bro, we're doing 40 in a parking lot.

Like chill.

Yeah.

And I had told some of my friends about it and tried to

get them to do it too.

And my buddy had a S13 like welded diff drift car, KAT,

you know, and he had this like sub that was chained in

the back of the car.

Chained.

And we were doing, he has like just how these like cheap

like chains to kind of like help hold it in.

And the guy was like, dude, you don't understand that

G-forces that your car is going to experience.

And he just ripped it out of the car and like broke the

chains.

And my friends like, what are you doing, dude?

And he's like, here's, yeah, dude, I'll give you two

dollars.

Like those chains were cheap, you know, I was like, I'm

trying to tell my friends how cool this is.

I'm like, dude, this sucks.

Place is wack, dude.

Typical 240 owner though to bring new subs in your

car.

Oh yeah, dude.

Yeah.

No, it was yeah.

Shout out Frank, dude.

He had a SAFC tuned KAT with like, it was just like

the most like simple setup.

Dude, hell yeah.

Yeah.

And it was dope.

He bought it for like no money and you know, eventually

like up the boost and crack the pistons like they

all do and stuff.

But that'll happen.

Yeah.

I mean, like back in like 040304, I used to do

Cumberland Motor Club.

Nice.

Like me and my friends would all do it.

One had a CRX.

One had a C.

Hell yeah.

Whatever.

You know, they'd have it at the Civic Center in

Augusta.

They'd have it down in Freeport in like the L.

Yeah, dude.

I've done that one too.

Yeah.

I mean, yeah, like the dudes.

Yeah.

It was weird, but you would oftentimes getting

get dudes coming like kind of showing off, not

participating, but it almost kind of became like I

remember a slam suburban with crazy paint with

like an Escalade front and like things you

never saw in Maine.

And then, but there was always this one dude.

Maybe you remember him.

His name was Jason.

He had a black prelude and he was like the

fastest dude every day.

Every time we did this, he would always be.

He had like the one with the like a 97 or

whatever that year.

Right.

And he would just hammer, but he would

never let anybody see under the hood.

Oh, it was like a thing.

Yeah.

Back then, you know, the class rules and everything.

Yeah.

He wouldn't see it besides tech.

Nobody was seeing it.

He had a cheater intake.

Yeah, dude, for sure.

Yeah.

Noss.

So when does it become?

When does it become JDM?

Like when?

When do you stop being gay?

Well, the thing is, dude, is like I,

so I still always loved Hondas and Japanese

cars and like I was just kind of confused.

I'm like, why do like Honda do take

Volkswagen people and Volkswagen people hate

Honda?

I'm like, dude, like, do they not understand that

like a B18C makes 100 horsepower per liter and revs

to like almost 9,000 RPM?

Like that's so sick.

Like how could you hate on that, you know?

But yeah, so luckily, like, so Gran Turismo,

you know, all the Japanese tuna car.

I mean, I'm talking Gran Turismo one, dude.

Yeah.

Like I was like obsessed, bro.

So I'd always, you know, like that stuff,

but I just didn't, the time when I got my

license, I just, you know, couldn't really find

or couldn't afford it, I guess, at that time.

But, but eventually, so I was, I had an MR2

actually had an 86 MR2.

And I had been trying, I had this Volkswagen

Cheraco, dude, that was the first car

that had like an actual racetrack.

And it was cool, you know, for what it was,

it was like I daily drove it gutted,

had like an LSD, like a high compression

motor and it was like, you know,

it was kind of cool, but my roommate

had got an MR2 and I was like, dude,

this car, so it drives so much better than this car.

And it kind of just sparked my interest

into some other cars as well.

And I had started, I was actually a Volkswagen

technician and I was also training

from Mazda.

So I'd work on the Mazda stuff

and I'd work on the Volkswagen stuff.

And like from like a technological aspect,

I would like look at both and I'm like,

dude, these Mazdas are not breaking at all.

Like they're super simple.

Like easy work on like this Volkswagen

wine diagram sucks.

Like I'm constantly replacing

like all this shit, you know?

So I just, I kind of like,

from being a European car tech for so long,

it even drove me like further away.

You're like, dude, these things are pieces of shit.

Dude, and I'll never forget it.

There was like, so...

Why do they smell like crayons on the inside?

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, and by the way, so, you know,

when you go to work at a dealership, dude,

I thought like, wow, this is the pinnacle

of being a mechanic, right?

Oh, right.

Like you're the dealer and mechanic.

Like, you know, the highest level.

I get there and like, no one is into cars at all.

I'm like, what, dude, how can you do this for a job

and like you have no interest in it?

Yeah, yeah.

Like when I worked at Nissan,

the GTR tech was just this fricking old dude

in the corner that's been there the longest.

He just went to the school, right?

He didn't care about the GTR.

I'm like, dude, I want to be the GTR tech.

Come on, let me drive the car.

And that broke my heart, dude.

But anytime we got like a rotary car that would come in,

I was like, dude, hell yeah,

let me work on that thing, that's cool.

Even like an RX-8.

Yeah, sure.

So, you know, because no one else wanted to deal with it,

I got all the rotary cars too.

And I actually worked on an FD there that was pretty cool

and I did a bunch of work to that and the guy,

it was like a 20,000, like original mile FD

and the guy's like, I think his brother passed away

and he was trying to fix it up

so he could drive it somewhere down south

and like sell it or do whatever.

He's like, I'm not getting shit for this up here

so I'm driving it down south.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, no, for sure.

And I got to like, I had to take that car home overnight

and put a bunch of miles on it and stuff like that.

Had to do it, huh?

Had to do it.

Had to do it on the 20,000 mile FD.

I don't know how I convinced these people

to let me take some of these cars that I had, dude.

Like I should not have been driving an FD

at like 19 years old, you know, bringing it home,

like after, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I don't know how I convinced them that it was a good idea

but at that shop though,

so there was one guy that was in the cars

and he had a STI swapped in Preza RS.

Wow.

So like the first day I saw the thing

and I didn't know a whole lot about Subaru's

but I knew that that was like a pretty unique swap, you know?

Yeah.

I was just like nice Subaru dude.

Like the GC8 or whatever?

Yeah, yeah, dude.

World rally blue, it was sick.

That's dope.

And now like that was years ago now, dude.

This was like 2009 I think

and that guy's my best friend.

He's like my brother, dude.

And so like that car that he had also

like being involved in that project

kind of accelerated my interest

in all kinds of other cars too.

So he, I think you were saying actually

on one of the last podcasts,

you know, getting people involved in some of these projects

like your boy is like working on it.

It's like such an important thing, dude.

Yeah, for sure.

It brings a bunch of like pride to it.

You know, people have involvement and it's like...

They have pride in it, right?

Yeah.

Because they had the involvement

and you weren't just hanging out alone

like a fucking ding dong.

Yeah, you know, it's just so much better, dude.

It's, yeah, it's so much better

even if it's not the most productive thing ever.

That's what happens, right?

Yeah, yeah.

You try to do something

and then like, you know, three hours later,

you're like, oh, fuck, we didn't do that.

We're going to change this, you know, valve cover

and then you're like 10 beers later

and like one thing removed.

But no, it's just, it's all about the experience

and it's way, yeah, it's way better

as like an experience like that

and just getting your friends involved

and stuff like that.

So...

Yeah, that's a good point.

So, but what...

So you get this MR2.

Yeah.

When does it get interesting?

I'm going to go like this whole podcast.

No, it's okay.

I'm going to zig zag roll it.

But I just, I'm excited like because

like you start out like in Volkswagen's like,

okay, we get it.

Yeah.

We're not holding it against you.

We didn't know that before this.

We were all kids once.

It feels like you're hiding it on purpose.

Yeah.

It really does, yeah.

Yeah, surprise.

But so we go to the MR2

but then like when,

obviously because you're young

and like you said you're

financially supporting yourself.

Oh, dude, yeah.

There's nobody bank-rolling these cars.

So clearly it's going to take longer

than the trust fund, right?

100%.

That's all of us, right?

You know, in that sense.

But when does it get,

when do you get over the hump

and start to like...

Yeah, no, for sure.

So I had, when I was younger

I drove by, there was a Galant VR4.

Oh, wow.

You guys know what that is?

Yeah.

So it was, it was near

Thomas Point Beach in Brunswick.

And at the time I had worked on a lobster boat

and I was actually making like pretty good money

in the summertime.

And it was for sale

and it had like it's set on the windshield

like DSM link, two-step launch control,

like all this stuff.

And I was like, dude, what is that thing?

You know, so I like, I started this,

you know, just deep pursuit

of finding out information

about these cars.

And I had, so years later,

you know, I was talking to Jeff,

the guy with the GC8.

And he was like, dude,

a buddy of mine had one in high school

and it was sick

and we were kind of like reminiscing about it.

So he, like surely after that

he's like, dude, I bought one.

So he found this, this,

it was a 92 Galant.

It was number 702 of 1000.

Cause they only came to America in 91 and 92

and they only imported like 3001.

So he bought this car

from like these hillbillies

dude way up north.

And they didn't know like what this thing was

and you know, they just beat this

snot out of it.

And so he bought it like pretty cheap

and dude, those cars rust out bad.

You know, it's a lot of, a lot of those older cars,

no matter what the badge is,

no matter what country it's from, dude,

from 1992, they did not do the best job

but like rust proofing.

So I had started to get involved

with that project

and kind of like, you know, restoring it.

And so we had gotten pretty far

and he was kind of just getting over the project

and he'll do this a lot dude.

He has like, he'll have like a sick vision

and he'll have a really keen eye on like prices of stuff

and he'll buy stuff at like the most genius times

and then he'll just get bored with it dude.

And so he was like, yeah, you want to buy the Galant?

And I was like, I had some money saved up.

And I was like, yeah, I can't take,

I can't pass up this opportunity dude.

I saw that car when I was like 15 years old

and I had the opportunity to own one

and like this is so cool.

Yeah, that's cool.

So I had, the car had a tunable ECU.

It had what was called a Jackal,

like standalone ECU.

Jackal.

So I had to drive the thing daily dude

and figure out how to tune it.

So I literally like,

I think when I bought it had no rear drive shaft.

So I like just after hours at work

started piecing it together,

teaching myself how to tune.

And then the Galant ended up with another Galant

and then came the EVO one.

So like, you know, there's a bunch of cars in between

but to get to like the JDM stuff,

Derek Griffith.

So I bought like three cars from Derek Griffith.

That car actually came from Northeast Auto Imports.

Really?

Yeah, yeah.

That's pretty cool.

He's a cool guy.

Dude, he's a really cool dude.

Yeah, shout out to Derek.

So he got an EVO one RS from him

and just being so like,

such a Mitsubishi nerd and studying them

and stuff like that.

You know, as a car that I had my my sights on

and at the time disappointed in it when you got it.

No, dude, actually, I love that car.

Yeah, it was so sick.

But I'll tell you why I'm kind of disappointed dude

is that costs for like basic stuff for it.

I had to get a rear caliper dude.

You think it's like,

oh, maybe like a mirage or something is the same.

Like a used caliper dude was like 500 bucks.

Yeah.

Used.

Yeah.

And it had like the fifth gear synchro was grinding.

So I had to rebuild the transmission

and I'm trying to source all these parts from Japan

and like trying to like play in this,

like rebuilding the transmission.

I'm like, dude, I love this car,

but it's just not.

Not.

Yeah, because especially right that EVO one

and whatever they were doing,

it was the beginning of it, right?

So whatever they were doing is probably not what they used

on the EVO two.

So it's not.

Yeah.

The EVO one RS had,

I think it had a better front diff and rear diff.

Maybe the final driver issue was different,

but it wasn't until the third EVO,

I think that they like revise all the synchros

in the transmission

and they were a little bit,

a little bit easier to get.

But,

but yeah.

So that was my first right-hand drive car

and I'll tell you a side track story real quick.

So I had found out about those cars

really because of the pleasure EVO.

Do you guys know?

Like Tommy,

I think still owns it.

I think Adam LZ has it now.

Yeah.

So dude,

so that car like after finding out about autocross

and going on this like obsessive,

you know,

like search to try to find more like events

and things like that,

I had found out about these hill climb events

in Vermont.

And dude,

hill climb is like,

it's one of motorsports like best kept.

Well, it's not really a secret,

but it's like not as known as like other motorsports.

And like, dude, it's so sick.

And they've had this scene in Vermont since like the 60s.

So I found out about this event at Mount of Scutney, Vermont,

and through like a forum,

through like a Volkswagen like forum.

So like at the time, dude, I get my buddy Paul,

I lived on the Brunswick Navy base at the time.

The Navy base housing was like,

they just started to rent it out to the public.

And my neighbor had like a WRX.

And like a car guy, like a bug guy.

So I was like, dude,

we got to go check out this event.

Like they've raced cars like up this paved road,

like in the mountains, like, dude,

this is so sick.

You know, it's like best motoring,

like I'm thinking, oh, this is amazing.

So I get there

and I'm at the start line.

So you pull up and what it is,

it's like a rally sprint,

like a time trial up a paved picture,

like the windiest road that you can imagine.

Like, you know,

you've seen Pikes Peak or, you know,

Mount Washington and stuff like that.

It's like that, but like a smaller scale.

So I'm at the start line

and I'm just talking to these guys or whatever.

And, you know, like, oh, this is cool.

You know, looking at all these cars take off

and this guy's like, oh, man, nice talking.

I'm gonna go get my car.

And he pulls up the Pleasure Evo

and he had, there was a shop that he worked at

that he owned called DSG.

And so I, when I met Tommy,

I was like, yeah, he's an OG like DSG fanboy

because he was following like the builds, the outlets.

DSG, is that Dentsport garage?

Yeah, Dentsport garage.

So, you know, at the time, like,

work being like a younger tech

and wanting to like, to do that kind of stuff for a living,

like tune cars and build race cars and stuff.

I was looking at everything that they did

and they were just building like the coolest stuff.

Like an SR swapped BMW 2002

or like a Dodge Raider with like a 1J.

Yeah.

Or like a E30 BMW

with like a DSM 4G63 swap.

But like, not only that,

but they would campaign full rally cars, dude.

At these different rally events, like Upstate New York

and the New England Forest Rally,

like they would pull up with like a whole service crew

and like service all these cars.

So like, I was, dude, I was obsessed.

I was like, I want to have a shop that's exactly like that

and I want to work on like all this stuff.

So it was like a, it was like a pretty big like inspiration

to, you know, to me.

Yeah, the EVO 1 came off for sale.

I was like, dude, got to cop that.

You know, and you like build my own version

of the Pleasure EVO kind of thing.

But, you know, the budget and budget wouldn't allow for it.

Yeah, you start realizing that those things are,

like, you know, like you said,

those things are hard to get

and you got to pay a premium for them.

That'll cut a bill short real quick.

Yeah, it was just, they're hard, man.

EVO 1 through 3, dude, it's such a sick car.

It's so light and it has this super tossable feel to it.

Like it's just, the car feels like you can just

thrash it all day long and it like loves it

and it's so agile and actually,

I think it's rated like 250 horsepower crank stock.

And this thing, I eventually put a Haltech on it

and we tuned that and like injectors,

but it's pretty much a stock car

with like a couple more pounds of boost.

Shout out Haltech.

Yeah, dude, for real.

But dude, it ripped.

Yeah, it was actually pretty quick for what it was.

But EVO 1 through 3 is the harder,

like kind of bastard child of the EVO.

So those are, those are a little bit harder to make work

unless you're in like Australia or Japan

or something like that.

Of course.

Yeah.

You know, actually Haltech makes a plug and play

ECU for your car and you no longer need a jumper harness

if you ever need anything for your 32 back there.

Yeah, dude, I know I've been looking at that.

It has a link on it already

and I kind of just, I wanted to learn another platform,

I guess tuning platform.

Because you're tuning it yourself.

Yeah, well, eventually.

I actually had, so Jack from HP Logic,

remote tuned that car.

Oh, that's cool.

Because I've never tuned a car with ITBs

and it's a really expensive engine.

So I'm like, dude, if I screw up the Galant,

it's like, dude, it's, you know, whatever.

That was the perfect car to learn on by the way.

It was so resilient, dude.

I should have blown that thing up

like a million times and just kept taking it, dude.

Are we 26s?

No, dude, a little bit more.

A little bit more.

So I'm like, I'm trying to just be smart about it

with my time and money.

Yeah, of course.

So right off the rip,

it was an HP Logic car originally.

And I was like, yeah, dude, I'll have Jack tune it.

You know, I've seen his stuff on YouTube

and the guy's the man, dude, he's the coolest guy.

Yeah.

So I had him remote tune it.

But yeah, so before,

so that was originally HP Logic car

and before Derek had it.

The guy, I guess he did these like,

these cross country like rallies with it

and he had it painted up with like a,

like a lightning McQueen livery.

Did you ever see this?

I think I posted it on the,

on the Facebook page,

but so it was all lightning McQueen up, dude, before.

Yeah.

Really?

Yeah.

And I think I forget.

Rusty stickers.

Rusty.

It was pretty weird.

So it was,

it was all like stock suspension and everything,

but he had done a couple of things

because he was going to drive it like pretty long distance.

And so yeah, dude,

lightning McQueen up to like,

I don't know, like a,

attract the kids to it or something.

Like, I don't know, bro.

I don't get it, dude.

Yeah, that is weird.

To each his own, I guess that was his style,

but and I can't remember if Derek told me this after I bought it

or it was before,

but I was like, what?

And so I like had to search it and I found it,

found like a YouTube video of the car.

Wow.

Before and,

Lightning McQueen's guy.

Oh dude, you have my shit lightning McQueen up, dude.

That's cool, dude.

I feel like that's always like a challenge whenever I get a new car

is to see what history I can find on it immediately.

Oh dude, yeah.

Like, I don't know why that's always like one of the,

one of the things I jump to first like,

who owns this before me?

Like, you guys turn me on to that website.

It's like the Japanese like car facts.

I forget the name.

Is it VX or car VX?

Yeah, dude.

So I found out about that through you guys

and I,

so I have like the old auction pictures

and stuff like that.

Yeah.

And it's pretty cool.

It doesn't,

there's no like,

it was like,

I think it was an R,

R grade.

Yeah.

But it was nothing like crazy on the auction sheet.

It didn't seem like it was like,

you know,

fucking welded in half or something.

Yeah.

Like cut in half and re-welded.

So.

Do you think that's the original paint?

Oh, no, absolutely not.

Yeah.

So when he,

he pulled the Lightning McQueen wrap off,

it appealed some of the paint.

And then whoever Derek is had him repaint it,

which I'm kind of curious because there's not a lot of

age three cars that I think still have original paint

that I can like see in person, you know.

So it was been kind of curious.

I'm like, is it,

is it the correct shade?

Is it a little bit off?

Yeah.

I've heard that like with that color specifically,

just cause it is like a mix that you can,

I don't know if it's some people,

when they respray it,

it is a little off or they,

you know,

try to blend a panel so they have to,

you know,

compensate for the fade.

But then whenever they go to repaint the car,

repainting it, the faded.

Right, right, right.

There's like a bunch going on with it.

I've seen Larry Chen's car in person,

but I'd like to like,

it was at Gridlife in Lime Rock

and I'd like to bring my car out there

and just park it next to it.

You know, like maybe it's just kind of,

kind of curious, but.

You peed it,

a car that color not too long ago

and they resprayed the bay

and it actually has like the clear coat on it.

Oh nice.

Completely like,

changes the way it looks.

Right.

Cause it's just like,

it's like a cost savings measure

like any of them were clear coated, right?

The most dingy, like.

It's so bad.

Yeah.

You can see it from here.

You're like, fuck.

What was the car,

what was the MSRP brand new,

you know, in Japan and that thing?

Right.

Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, for the time,

I'm sure it was expensive,

but I don't think it's.

I think it was 30 to 40, right?

Yeah.

So it's like,

C4 Corvette equivalent,

you know,

not like a Ferrari.

Right, yeah, yeah, yeah,

for sure.

Yeah.

So,

so after the EVO like,

when do you get this thing?

Yeah.

So after the EVO,

so at the time that I had the EVO,

I still had,

I think I had both GC8.

So I also had it had an RS.

So I had a car,

a 98 and Preza RS that was a stock motor.

And I had like auto crossed it

and stuff like that.

And eventually swapped it.

And I had that car at the same time.

And I'm like, dude,

I don't need to all wheel drive turbo cars.

And,

you know,

so we had that.

And yeah, I think both,

I'm pretty sure both in prezes,

but anyways,

we ended up trading the EVO back to Derrick

for an FD RX-7.

Really?

Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah,

which is still isn't a million pieces.

You still got that.

Yeah.

It's your FD.

It's black.

It's got R1.

So no sunroof,

dual oil cooler.

Yeah.

That was like,

it's a project like with my friend Jeff

that I was telling you

that has the,

they had the GC8.

We had it.

And then the oil pressure started

dropping one day

and then just tore it apart

to do a rebuild.

And,

you know, life kind of got in the way.

So that's,

that's where it is now.

Damn.

The motor's all back together,

but.

So what are the plans for it?

Just want to try to make the rotary work

for a little while,

you know,

honestly,

but dude,

this is like the only ones that can

make those rotaries really work well.

Or like the Australians

and the Puerto Ricans

and like,

so like,

I don't know, man.

I don't have the best faith,

you know,

that it's going to work out that great.

And,

but,

you know,

I've worked on a couple,

like pretty nice,

like rotary cars

and it,

there definitely is something special about it.

You know,

I completely get it.

Like,

I don't know if it's something that

I'd want to keep going long term

and just be like some die hard rotary guy.

I think if anything,

it might end up with like a turbo K series

and then just be like a time attack car.

That's cool.

Yeah.

I mean turbo.

So that's what I was about to say,

K series?

K series.

Yeah, dude.

It's,

yeah,

K,

K's are sick, dude.

So I also had a K swapped,

Civic Coupe.

Yeah.

EJ8,

I think is what it is.

It was like a,

it was a 2000 EX,

but that was my first like deep dive

into like K series stuff.

That's sweet.

It really is a pretty amazing engine.

You love them?

I love B series too though.

Don't even run with you.

I still have an Integra

with the V18 in it still.

Yeah, dude.

Yeah.

Dude,

the B series is where it's at.

Yeah.

I mean,

K series is like so much more,

I don't know,

it has so many more options,

so to speak.

Yeah.

And I mean right now it's

probably more cost effective too,

but they're still definitely,

one thing that I really like

about the B series stuff way more

than the K is like the

linkages and the transmission

for the B series.

I just think it feels so much

better than like a cable training.

Yeah.

But in the sound dude,

the sound is so good.

Dude,

that bug is just messing with you.

I know.

I can see it just circling you.

Yeah,

no,

I mean there are guys who will

just say B series for life,

but I think we did that episode,

right?

Yeah.

B series look way cooler too.

Dude,

they really do.

Especially if you turn them

sideways for the rear-wheel drive.

Yeah.

Like,

yeah,

you got to get a different valve

tensioner and everything is on the

front.

It's just like,

right.

And I think the fastest haunt is

in the world are still B series

right now.

I think.

Yeah.

I mean,

damn right they are.

It's probably changed like at

this moment, bro,

they're like drag racing in like

Florida,

but dude,

I'm pretty sure.

Yeah.

So,

so when you got you,

you got the FD,

right?

That's never,

okay,

that's never never going to get

back together,

right?

I'm just kidding.

You might not be wrong,

dude.

You might have your own.

Yeah.

But like,

how do you end up with this pig?

Yeah.

So,

how many,

I forget how many years it's been

dude.

I think it's been like five,

six years.

So,

Jeff bought that car from Derrick

first.

And that was the,

so I went with him to get it.

I think at the time I had,

I had an EVO 8 RS.

And

there was another thing is he

was like,

a lot was going on dude at

work.

Like we went from

working at a dealer for

years,

like me and him.

And then,

you know,

some stuff went down and I

ended up

going to an independent shop.

So I had like,

the first job that I had like

stability at,

I kind of had to move on and I

went and worked at a different

place, you know?

Yeah.

So we had,

there was just a lot of stuff

going on,

but he was like,

dude,

I got so much projects going

on and so many things,

like,

you know,

I don't want to like do a

deep dive into this project.

And I was like,

dude,

you know,

he bought it for a great,

and you know,

sold it to me for a great price

as well.

Just kind of like homey hookup,

but I was like,

dude,

I can't pass up this opportunity

at the time they weren't as

skyrocketed as they are right

now.

Yeah.

And I'm like,

yeah,

you know,

I probably won't have an

opportunity again to,

to get like a pretty clean

R32 GTR.

Like there's no rust

underneath that car.

It was like a stupid price.

He got it from there.

So,

so yeah,

that's how I,

and I was,

I gave him the money straight

up and was like,

dude,

get the keys.

Yeah.

I was like,

I'll help,

you know,

you help me.

I'll help you.

Like,

yeah,

that's cool.

So,

and you're saying that was

five years ago.

I think,

yeah,

I think it's five,

six years ago.

I mean,

it's been,

it's been such a,

was it pre or post COVID?

That'll really tell you.

Oh yeah.

It was pre COVID.

Yeah.

So you're six,

probably you're six or more.

Yeah.

You could get them for.

Oh yeah.

Below 30.

Oh yeah.

You know,

and then all of a sudden it's like,

hey,

how about 45?

Yeah,

dude,

absolutely.

Right.

Yeah,

it's getting kind of nuts,

but.

And so,

you know,

I know the question that Aaron wants to ask,

what are you going to do to it?

So,

right,

the whole,

what are you going to do to it?

So like,

dude,

I mean,

downloading videos on limewire,

like this age,

you know what I mean?

Group A,

cars in Australia,

dude,

just ripping up tracks,

like Bathurst,

like I was like,

dude,

this is the coolest thing I've ever seen.

So,

that's like,

I want basically like a streetable car

that I'm going to take to the track.

You know,

like it's,

I'm not going to,

it's not going to be,

you know,

anything crazy,

maybe like five or no worse power,

but I just want a car that can like,

indoor doing some like pretty hard track days.

You know,

what about side pipes?

Boom tube on it.

Are you keeping your cat?

Dude,

those are so sick.

It doesn't have,

it didn't have one when I had it anyways,

but,

wow.

I don't know,

since with,

what's,

with Lightning McQueen,

you just want to put your gases into the air.

I know man,

the ice caps are melting at the moment,

dude,

we're going to be underwater.

Thanks to that freaking thing.

Yeah,

we're like probably this,

this percentage of that,

you know,

at least.

So,

but how do you get there?

The 500 horsepower streetable,

reliable.

Yeah.

Beat the shit out of it,

take it home.

Right, right.

So,

basically all the,

the rubber bushings in the car need to go.

Like everything is original.

The whole subframe needs to come out.

Dude,

I've been like stock piling parts.

It's just like waiting for the moment,

but,

you need a subframe?

Yeah, dude.

But yeah,

I'll take what I can get at this point.

I probably need some spares.

But yeah,

it's really not that crazy of a recipe.

Like,

the front suspension is kind of goofy on those cars.

They need,

you know,

a ton of camber.

The brakes are way underpowered for,

for what the car,

you know,

would be doing for speeds with,

with that kind of power.

So,

all refresh bushings,

more camber,

nice suspension,

decent sized single turbo,

good fuel system,

like nothing crazy,

you know what I mean?

It's,

so many people are making

seven to 900 horsepower with these cars.

And like,

what I'm trying to do is

have a recipe than that, you know.

Yeah.

V Cam?

No,

I'll probably just keep it,

just keep it the way that it is to say,

just keep it simple,

you know what I mean?

So,

the less to go wrong, the better.

Yeah,

for sure,

that's so true,

less to go wrong.

But no,

the power band with a V Cam

would be so sick.

Yeah.

So,

I mean,

never say never,

you know,

if the right,

right opportunity comes up

for the right price,

like,

yeah.

Yeah,

that's not going to happen.

It's crazy.

Yeah.

And you can't get nothing.

Yeah.

Yeah,

especially with like the increase in

tariffs on parts and stuff too.

It just doesn't even make sense.

Yeah.

I mean,

anybody who got stuff pre-tariffs,

like,

yeah,

like they're lucky.

Like I got a stockpile over there

that's pre-tariff.

And now I'm like,

that's not getting bigger.

That's for sure.

Right.

Just can't,

you know,

just paying such a tax on it.

It's crazy,

but they did just

lower the tariff on automobiles

from the 15 plus two and a half

to a flat 15.

Oh, okay.

So right now it's a flat 15%.

Flat 15.

Thanks, guys.

50 for trucks.

But like,

yeah,

like the automotive industry in

Japan is pressing the government

to reduce the tariffs

that they give us

because they are saying

that it's like killing them.

Right,

dude, it's gotta be.

I mean,

so many of those guys,

they saw like how obsessed

Americans were,

even if it's like still kind of

a niche thing in the grand scheme

of things.

There had to be so many shops

that saw the opportunity

to make some money,

you know,

so it's gotta be hurting

some people for sure.

Oh, I can't imagine.

Yeah, without a doubt.

Yeah.

And so,

yeah,

one thing I did want to ask you

about here was

when you say you're more into

the motorsports aspect,

that's what I notice about you

is that,

you know,

you're,

when you are going out to a car

event,

it's generally

something having to do with racing.

Yeah,

dude,

you know,

what it is exactly like,

I just,

yeah,

drag racing,

I mean,

any sort of like,

you know,

motorsport stuff is just,

I can,

I don't know,

I get bored just sitting there

looking at cars,

sitting still kind of thing,

but it's also like,

it's a driving skill,

you know,

just getting better constantly.

Like,

that's just something

that I'm really into.

So it's like,

I'm always trying to be

like a better driver,

you know,

learn more about it.

So,

that makes sense.

Their goal is to

progress in the sense of

awards or trophies.

Right.

Your goal is times

and tuning,

essentially.

Yeah,

lap times, figuring out,

I've always been into like,

kind of the engineering aspect of cars

and like,

you know,

dude,

I feel like,

the internet has like,

it's been both a blessing

and a curse for cars,

like back in the day,

when you had to put the time in

and go research stuff,

like a library

and find like the books.

The Haynes.

Like,

find the Haynes.

Yeah.

I found these books

from Carol Smith

called like,

the win series book.

So it was like,

tune to win,

race to win,

prepare to win.

And he just had this whole series

and they were basically books

based off of like,

like formula one set up,

like open wheel cars,

you know,

but all that stuff translates

into production cars too.

So I was just like,

obsessively studying,

you know,

that stuff.

But I just,

dude,

I love going fast too.

Like I just,

some times,

some days like I wish that I had

a normal hobby,

like something silly,

like golf or,

you know what I mean?

Like,

I wish that I could be in this

because I'm like,

everything that I like doing

is like going to kill me

or it's really expensive.

Yeah.

And it's super,

super awkward when you're like

talking to some other dudes

and they're like,

oh yeah,

I stroked the back nine

the other day.

And I'm just like,

bro, I just can't,

I don't know dude.

I don't know dude,

don't back nine.

It seems,

and like,

ridiculous it is

from their perspective too.

Yeah.

Like I get it,

but like,

I just,

I don't know man,

I don't know what it is.

It's just like,

I just want to go faster

and faster.

I want to be like the best

driver that I can be,

you know,

regardless if it's,

you know,

drag racing or road,

I really like road racing

and like time attack

is like my thing,

but like,

you know,

I've done some,

some drag racing.

I've done ice racing.

I've done circle track,

hill climb,

autocross,

like street racing

and that's the thing.

So I love drifting.

I love it,

but I like,

I can't bring myself

to build a car for it.

Sounds like you need a reason

for the FD, right?

Dude, I know,

I know, right?

That would be fun.

No, that's,

that's come up for sure.

But yeah,

I think I would,

I would buy like an already

set up car

and then just go out

but like,

dude drifting is so sick.

Like it's just like the

most fun aspect of like

driving.

It's just all chaos

and like,

I love that dude.

And every,

all the guys like involved

in the community are like,

you know,

they all know it's crazy too.

So they help each other out

and like,

it's a really,

it's a really good,

good community,

but damn,

due to those cars get thrashed.

Oh yeah,

for sure.

Yeah.

I mean that,

and they love it.

Yeah.

That's what's crazy for sure.

But yeah,

it's a money pit.

Drifting is a money pit.

Yeah.

I mean all,

you know,

motorsport stuff it does.

It gets kind of crazy.

Yeah.

I mean,

I think you can get these out

and stuff with it.

But yeah,

I don't know,

maybe someday you'll,

you'll see me in like a drift car.

But for now I'm just like kind

of locked in and like just

getting better driver.

Do you have like,

don't you have like an 86

or an F RS

or something?

Yeah.

So I have a,

I have an 86.

How many cars you got dude?

Yeah,

dude,

I know too many.

Yeah.

Well bro.

No,

do you have a wife?

Bro, I don't know.

Yeah,

yeah.

Oh,

and ducks. So like do we have this like symbiotic thing? Or do you want to get more cars? Well

I'm getting a couple more animals. We'll get some geese and maybe a turkey. But you make

it work.

That's cool. So never thought about drifting that thing.

No, no. So that's the A6 is more of like just a seat time car. Like no matter what

I have going on. I can just hop in that thing. I can go do some track days, get some good

practice, stay sharp kind of thing. And dude that car is so good for that. By the way, like

when they came out with the first gen, I was like, I was pretty stoked because I'm like

this is a newer car that's somewhat affordable. It's simple. It's rear wheel drive. Like

I like what they're trying to do here, you know, like finally I can buy a scion.

I know dude, right? But, but I just, I like the idea behind it. So I was like,

all right, I mean, you know, maybe cop one of those. So I did, I had a first gen actually

before this one. And yeah, I did a track event with it. And then the, I saw the, the A6 come

up this, you know, second gen is what I have. It's a 2023. So that was for sale, brand

new at a dealership down the street from where I work. And I'm like, dude, they're probably

marking this thing up because a lot of stuff they were at the time and there's no markup.

I knew what to say because I worked at a dealership in sales. So I got a really good deal

on it. I'm like, dude, this is a no brainer. Like, see a first gen, like I'm going to cop

this thing. It has just enough power where it's like a good, it's a little bit more than

like a momentum car. But dude, I just beat the daylights out of that car. Like I think I have

20 events on it, you know, like multiple just two hours of seat time, each event wide open,

you know, like that's fun at Thompson. I ended up doing those like 96 laps in like

extreme heat, dude. And it just keeps going. I'm like, hell yeah.

So that's cool. You just take care of it. Yeah, just I'm really adamant about like changing the

oil and I'm just always under the hood. I'm checking everything over. Like after each session,

I'll throw it up in the air and make sure everything's tight and just kind of go through it.

And it works really good for that, you know, just within my budget, you know,

consumables are cheap, tires are cheap, brakes are cheap for that car. So that makes

sense. Like you said, you can just have fun with it. You don't really got to worry

about crashing it so much, you know, in that thing, you're just replacing things that you

got to replace anyway. Yeah, no, absolutely. So it works pretty well for that. I definitely

recommend like, if you're trying to get into that thing into that style like, you know, HPD

time attack, it's a good car. It's a good basis for it, you know, Miata's and those cars and

things like the S2000s are awesome, but they're starting to get a little bit harder to find a

little bit. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, you'd be, yeah, you don't want to be, yeah, for sure. At that,

that point, I mean, they're going for for big money. So what's your favorite track?

Oh, dude, that's a great question. Like track that I've been on, I think

club motorsport in Tamworth, New Hampshire. But it goes between that and Palmer in Massachusetts

as well. So dude, we're kind of like spoiled, honestly, we actually have a decent amount of

tracks that like are not that far. And you wouldn't like, not a lot of people know about it.

But you know, you have Loudon, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, there's the road course inside the

oval. That's like two hours. Canyon Motor Club, which I'm pretty sure you've been to, right?

That's like the one I've been to. Yeah, I'm going there at the end of this month. But

then we have Thompson in Connecticut is like just under three hours. Lime Rock is a little

bit more of a hike. But then we get Palmer Motorsport Park in Massachusetts,

we get club motorsports like an hour and 45 minutes from my house, dude, it's sick.

Do you have to have a membership? No, no. So you go so also shout out Mass Tuning Track Fest,

dude, it's a really good club to do track days with. So they will, you know, rent the track out

and then you just pay a fee and they like kind of host the event. I see. So you get by the

membership by going to their event. Yeah, yeah, exactly. No, dude, the membership is like

absurd. Yeah, I forget what the cost is, but it's like, yeah, crazy. But so did they ever end up

building the little condos with the garage up there? They do have they have like a setup where

at the bottom of the hill, they have a couple garages where they have like your driver's meetings,

and then they have a bathroom and like shower setup and stuff. But they haven't built like

garage Mahals yet. Yeah. So which is actually sick though, because

you can drive all the way to the top and then camp out there too, which I've done.

Really? Dude, and the scenery is so sick, especially like in the fall. But but yeah,

that's a that's a really good track. The guy who the manager is actually an old school hill climb

guy. My hill climb guy. Yeah, Mike, Mike Regiro. So wow, that's pretty sweet. You know,

all the old school for my hill climb guy. Yeah, dude, I mean, I have a lot of like,

I was, you know, struggling to find more car culture in this state, dude. So I really,

I spent a lot of time like, wow, yeah, you did in deep dude in the crates. That's cool though.

I mean, that just shows that you are truly passionate about it. Oh, yeah. If you're willing

to go outside your comfort zone to find new things that like excite you, yeah,

that are still involved motorsport, like that's cool. Yeah. Oh, dude, it's it's

like such an addiction. Like I almost couldn't even help it if I tried. You know what I

mean? Like it really does. Like you like most of my days, I'm just like waiting until the next

time I go to an event. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. It's like, yeah, it's kind of that's

cool. You love it. So okay, damn, I had one. I can't think of it. It's all good. Go ahead.

You got something putting you on the spot. Putting me on the spot. So yeah, speak of

tracks. Are there any other tracks in the US that you would like to go to? Oh,

yeah, dude, of course. Yeah. No, you actually did ask that too. So tracks that I haven't been to,

I mean, do Bathurst is like a bucket list, like in Australia, Mount Panorama. But,

you know, more like attainable ones, Laguna Seca, Coda, Circuit of the Americas in Texas.

I was actually there for a Red Bull Infinity event when it first opened and like,

dude, that's such a sick track. They have they have some time attack series that go there.

Um, Rode Atlanta, I rode along in a GTR and Rode Atlanta. And so actually, one of the dudes you had

on the podcast mentioned them, but Nismo, Zach, this guy, Zach, Melissa's threw on this, uh,

like Skyline Invitational. And it's almost like a mini like GTR festival kind of thing in Atlanta

in Georgia. So part of that event was like one day it was a car show. The second day

was like a track day like at Rode Atlanta. And have you done that track? Yeah,

on a motorcycle. Dude, it's so sick. Yeah, it's insane. Like when you go the last corner is like

this barreling like downhill and then there's just this huge wall and it's a sharp like right hander.

Yeah. Yeah. And dude, that kid's GTR makes like five, 600 horsepower. Yeah. And he still has like

stock brakes, but like with good pads. I mean, the car's fully caged and everything, but like,

dude, the kid can wheel that car. And I remember like going down, I had like

my hand in between the door and like the roll cage and I'm trying to hold on

and I can feel the body like flexing around like this thing is kind of sketch.

But I was like, dude, I got to do this track someday. So yeah, that would be pretty cool.

Rode Atlanta. Okay. What about a car? What would you get if you could get another car?

Oh, dude, I have such a God this changes like every day, dude.

I mean, I have a lot of cars right now that I just really need to finish.

So like, I'm probably good for a while, but I have had a real

hankering to build like an S 13. Yeah. Even just like a simple SR with bolt-ons,

like just because of the nostalgia aspect of it, you know, I missed the chance when

they were cheap and my friends had them. So now you'll spend way too much to do it.

Yeah. Yep. It's good. Oh, dude. Yeah. I don't know. Honestly, I would take either,

but if I could have it my way, probably a coupe. Yeah. Nice.

Yeah, that's pretty cool. I mean, that's chassis sweet, but yeah, you can't get

that more of the parts for cheap anymore. Right. I mean, this guy knows he beat the

tariffs by a little bit, but you didn't get a ton from Japan. You didn't have to, did you?

Yeah, I got a little bit. Yeah. But SRs are cool.

Pre-tariff car. Pre-tariff motor over here. Yeah, pre-tariff motor.

Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. And it's worked out good, man. Hasn't blown it yet.

Yeah. But other than that, man, you know, FCs, I really like those too. Like I got my eye on a

couple of those and like, they can, they'll pop up every once in a while for like a reasonable price.

But, you know, I've probably finished what I have first. Yeah. The FD. Yeah. Oh, yeah,

that's right. You're just trying to get the rodeo to run good. Yeah.

We saw that five rotor at import alliance, not to say that you should do a five rotor.

I don't even know if that would fit in there. I'm not sure how that works, but it was insane.

Like it just sounds, and I just actually last night saw the video of it on the dyno.

Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Dude, it's such a cool. Yeah. So I used to run like a portable dyno

business, by the way. And we had this, it was a first gen like rotary drag car,

forget if it was still a two rotor, it was just all built. I mean, it was a really serious

drag car. And the sounds that it may do at a certain RPM, it was like, I've never heard anything

make a noise like that. It was just the crazy crazy thing, dude. Like they're in the heat

they put off and everything like it's a cool. It's definitely cool. The flames that they'll

shoot like crazy. There's nothing quite like it, man. So I totally get it. Like the guys

that are a diehard rotary like bless them, dude. They're gluttonous for punishment, but

like it is sick. I get it. Yeah. And I mean, maybe with some advances, it's a little,

it's like a little more reliable, but like it's still a rotary. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. It's

just going to be finicky. Yeah. For sure. Dude, I don't know. I think this is pretty good. Yeah.

I think we've done pretty good here. Yeah. Is there anything else you want to talk about?

No, dude, just yeah, thanks for having me. I actually do want to mention like I really,

I've seen how you guys have just stayed grinding on this and like how consistent

you've been. And you know, I was here like shortly after I think you set this up.

It's so cool to see, dude. I really like everything that you guys are doing and like just,

it's not easy. Like I have like a YouTube channel and like I've tried and it's like

sometimes you feel like you're banging your head against the wall and like you maybe don't see

the growth that you want to see, but like what you guys are doing is awesome, dude. And I'm

really glad that you guys are in this state, you know, suffer with me. Yeah, man. And

you know, maybe if we, I think, you know, it's because of our true passion for the cars

in the sense of, like we said, this is how we try, we really stay connected to everyone

else who's spoiled and has actual scenes. And I feel like if that wasn't it, maybe this would

have fallen off much quicker, but since it's like keeping us connected, it's a lot easier to like

every week going and do it. And yeah, I mean, dude, we didn't think we'd be on episode 150.

I know. I've been down the road this whole time, guys.

But now we needed to get established to have the big dog on, you know what I mean? We didn't

want you to say no to us, dude. I'm an hour away now, though. It's funny how it works out.

But yeah, I'm in. Oh yeah, right. Cause you moved. Yeah. Yeah. I'm in Oxford now, dude.

I'm right near the drag way. You guys ever go out that way? Sometimes. Not really.

Go to the casino, dude. Go hit up the casino, shoot some craps or whatever. Dude,

I don't gamble at all or do nothing about that. I don't even have a clue. Yeah.

Yeah. TJ, now we do appreciate you bringing your beautiful R32 and shooting the shit with us.

Yeah. Thank you guys. Appreciate it.

So what's really cool is you are a listener and obviously as you've made references throughout

the thing. So it is cool to have somebody who's been listening on, you know, and now our listeners

also now can relate to somebody. Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? So let them know,

so how do they find TJ on the internet? Yeah. So on YouTube, James underscore motorsport

and then Instagram, it's my last name. So it's P-R-E-S-T-E-R-O-N-E-T-J. Probably should get a

shorter Instagram. I'm an old drama boomer at this point. Yeah, but that's cool, man.

But lastly, what other events are you at this year in case any of the listeners just

so happen to be there? Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I'm just going to do a couple more track days

with mass tuning track fest and then Mike Regiro was throwing on a hill climb style event at Club

Motorsport in October. Yeah. So other than that, man, you can catch me on tracks around New England.

Yeah. Hell yeah, man. All right, man. For episode 153 with TJ Prestoroni. I'm Bobby.

This is Aaron and TJ. See ya. Peace.

TJ Presterone - EP.153

About this episode

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Volkswagen Jetta

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Toyota MR2

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Mazda Rx8

BMW E30

Chevrolet Corvette

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Honda S2000

Nissan Gtr

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