Trading Up: How I Turned $3k into a $60k MK4 Toyota Supra (Skyline R34 vs. Porsche 996)

Welcome back to all the cars I've loved before, you're all for a creative podcast on an automotive nostalgia where our guests are unique, each auto has an era, and every car tells a story. So you know what time it is, it's time to plug back in, get a little grease under our nails, and slip into our favorite car themed T-shirt hat or jacket.

And I want to welcome everybody and listen and land back to our podcast. Obviously, if you've listened to the podcast before, you know that I'm not the normal voice you're here coming in. It's knee days coming back for another guest host appearance, and I was given the honor of doing our opening section. So today, I want to say hello and welcome, and our lovely friend Doug is with us, and I want to pass it along to Doug, because we're going to talk about some stuff that has happened since the beginning.

It's the last podcast with new listeners from different areas. We are reaching new corners of the world, and Doug has that stuff in front of him. So hello, Doug, how are you doing, buddy? Hey, doing great. Great to be back here. Dave, really, really appreciate you coming back. I think you were going to have season five, episode six was your episode. I think. I know it was season five, but I don't remember what my head, what's what the episode wasn't my bad, you know, no, no, it's great to have you back. I really appreciate you.

Be in a guest host yet again. Well, Christian takes care of some personal stuff that he's got going on.

Well, I am just honored to be here with you because I really do enjoy this podcast, and I love talking to people.

So this gives me a wonderful outlet to sit here and jabber my jaw with you and new people that I get to meet. So I'm excited about our guest today.

Sorry, a little little throw in there, excited to talk to our guest today, but of course, we want to at least say hello to you and our listeners

and everybody that's joining us today. Yeah, yeah. And just a couple new locations.

And I will mention the downloads that they picked just happens to be just two wood episodes.

But in terms of new locations, actually, to back up, we have been heard in 78 countries and territories, 953 cities, and new

locations include Hampton, New Hampshire, Sterling, Colorado, Carlsbad, California, and Merrickville, Ontario.

Thank you, Ontario. And just two episodes that highlight from those locations.

One was about what a titled what a 1928 Ford Model A and McPherson College's restoration program taught students about

classic car culture. It's an excellent episode.

We've done a few with different colleges.

This one was with McPherson College there.

The only college in the country that with a automotive restoration program that is four years, other other colleges, including Weaver,

Weaver State has a automotive four year program of McPherson's is specifically around auto restoration.

And this is a great episode student teacher, cash being the student and Chris being the teacher.

We asked them who's your favorite student teacher pair.

And that's who we ended up with.

And what a great episode.

These guys talked about their daily driver's model T's, model A's, you know, who does that?

So and the other episode, one of my one of my favorite ones in Dave, I think you and our guest would love it.

We talked about JDM import secrets from Japanese auctions.

Our guest, Muhammad talked about skyline GTR supers Rx7s and just explain the whole process for importing JDM, something you and our guests have some experience with.

Yeah, actually, and I, I enjoyed both of those episodes myself when I listened to them.

The McPherson teacher and student, I think that was one of the first podcasts that I actually did have to look up some cars that they were talking about because some of the obscure 1900 vehicles that they were talking about.

I was like, yep, I have no idea what that looks like.

And it was so, you know, even as a car guy hearing these like dream cars that I've never even heard of.

And then looking at them and going, I 100% understand why that's a dream car because they were gorgeous.

And then hearing them talk about their model A's and Model T's and that even, I'm so sorry, his name is escaping me, but the, the, the one gentleman's daughter rebuilt her own Chris.

Yeah, Chris, sorry.

Yeah, so Chris is talking about his daughter rebuilt in her own Model T. That's amazing.

I love the year that there's younger generations getting into car repair, car restoration and just cars in general because I'm a huge car nut.

As you can see. So yeah, yeah, Chris, Chris is awesome.

He teaches some really interesting classes, including automotive history and how to learn about your car, where it's been owned, where it's been, where it was manufactured, the options.

Like that just blew me away and he grew, he grew up with a Model T from his family and he's got his own, his daughter, like you were saying.

I knew the story of the first continental crossing to the name of the, the, the gentleman that did the doctor that did it, he was, he finished your story, which was like, this guy, he knows what he's talking about.

So he's teaching me history, I would be all ears.

Yeah, yeah, it's a great, great program, McPherson College in Mc, sorry, I always say wrong, it's actually McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas, really great program.

And they also have some summer programs for adult like ourselves that I may take an engine rebuilding class, they have painting, they have metal repair, wood repair, you name it.

So hope, hoping to do one of those this summer, but that's a great episode for others, the JDM episode that we talked about.

And Dave, real quick, what do you have going on in the background there?

You have your little, my little Volkswagen Volkswagen shrine is on the shrine.

Yeah, so my love for everything air cold Volkswagen, I do actually have, I was noticing the other day that everything that I have in here is air cooled, except for one

beetle, which I don't know if you can see, it's right at the tip of my finger, it's a cop car, it's the new style beetle, but I think that's the only non air cooled Volkswagen that I have around me.

But I started collecting die casts and everything memorabilia wise when it came to Volkswagen, when I bought my Volkswagen back when I was 17, so 20 ish, we'll say 20 ish, I don't want to feel as old as I am 20

years ago, and I never stop and it's just I keep piling on and my wife, you know, she's very endearing when it comes to this stuff to the point where she'll point out cars when we're out in the store and say, do you have that and I'll say yes or no, but every time she comes in here, she goes, there's just too much stuff and then walks out, but this is my office, this is my, this is my play zone, so I appreciate that she puts up with me at least a little bit.

Yeah, yeah, and I want to talk about what I'm looking at on my screen, and that is John's man cave, see a beautiful, beautiful set of toolboxes and a wonderful TV, it looks like a place that I would have a very good time hanging out and now pass that on to Doug to introduce our wonderful guests this evening.

Yeah, well, so John and I'll let John do most of the honors, I met John through a local cars and coffee, one that he and I think a friend and or a brother started and you know, it just really grew, I think the last time I was there, there were about 400 cars and believes it's called the Kent Island cars and coffee, correct John that is correct yeah yeah yeah and John yeah introduce yourself obviously you're you're in Maryland, but tell us about yourself.

And then we'll hop in the time machine and talk about your early cars and how it got you all the way to running your own car show amongst other things.

Perfect, well, thank you for having me on the podcast, this is really exciting, I've never been on a podcast for so it's definitely a unique experience for me, but yeah, this is so, I guess my name is John, these three I live over here on Kent Island, which is in Maryland, right by anapolis for those who aren't, you know, kind of familiar with the area.

But I'm a huge car guy, right, so you know, my personal goal is to own experience and modify as many unique cars as possible and as cliche as it sounds, my interest of cars stems from the fast and furious, right, so prior to that movie coming out, you know, my brother and I were very much though in the art.

And you know, things like that and when the movie came out, it kind of opened our eyes to the automotive culture, specifically car modifications, right, you know, we kind of view modifying cars as a form of art, because if you think about it when you buy a vehicle and it's in its factory.

Form, right, that's your blank canvas and then everyone can kind of add their own touches to make it their own so I absolutely love all cars, I am not as familiar with the older classic cars, I think that they're cool and if they look cool, I'm, you know, I definitely pointed out, but you know, I'm not as familiar with the older classic cars, but

absolutely love cars and I am here, yeah, my garage and this is my also my kind of man cave, I guess you could say, because I do live in a town home and, you know, there's not a ton of different places, so actually it's not always this clean don't get, you know, don't think that it's, you know, is like this, but my wife and I spent probably the last five days going through and just kind of decluttering.

Just because, you know, I usually want to get stuff, I'll modify it and you know, usually if I replace the part, if it's not bad, I'll hang on to it, because I see, you know, some degree of value to it and five years later, you have a garage full of stuff, so we recently went through that and it was tough to throw away a lot of brand new parts and things like that, but, you know, I pretty much asked myself when I, you know, looked at a part, do I need this, yes or no, if it's not, yes, then it's like, you know,

getting rid of it, but yeah, that's kind of, I guess you could say the short and sweet of an intro.

Cool. So my, when you're, when you're talking, the first question that came to mind, if for me is, so you love, you love doing the modifications, what is your favorite thing, like when you see, you know, if people are understanding of my language, when you see a vanilla car,

especially when it's a car that has so much potential, what's your first go-to thought process when it comes to how you want to modify it?

Well, so for me, I will say I, I don't like to have the same stuff as everyone else, right, you want to be unique, right, but I can't afford a super crazy exotic car, so my way of standing apart is through modifications, right.

And, and, you know, the approach that I take, it really kind of depends on the application, right, you don't want to overdo a car, you got a kind of, you know, I'll take a look at it, and then, you know, one of the first things I do is like suspension and wheels, like to me, from a cosmetic standpoint, I think the stance of a car can definitely make or break the aesthetics of it.

I don't know, yeah, that's usually for me, mm-hmm, okay, are you, are you like a severe cam guy, stands guy, or you know what, and sleek looking guy, you know, I'd say lowering sleek the camber thing, it's just not for me, but I don't quite my personality, I don't quite understand it myself, not to say that people, you know, like I've seen some cool cars that make it look better than other cars, but from a functionality, I mean, I've seen some cool cars that make it look better than other cars, but from a functionality

standpoint, I just, yeah, I can't bring myself to, to be like, oh yeah, you know what I mean, yeah, no, I know exactly what you mean, I'm not going to lie, I went through a phase one, one time, I, I did have a car, it was like a O4 Accurate TSX, and you know, factory lip kit on it, and it was on coilovers, and I put some like Enki RPF ones on it in a finished called SBC, which is like a black chrome, but they came off like a 350Z, and in order to get the

equipment on that car to work, you had to stretch the tires and camber the wheels out, and I mean, this thing was an inch off the ground, maybe that, and it, it was so low that, you know, I, I live in a new construction community, so like there is a slight incline to my driveway, and it was so low that the previous owner had put like quick disconnects on the front bumper, so you could quickly pop the bumper off, if you, you know, come across an obstacle, and I really,

remember, I think maybe my first week of doing that, I'm like, I'm like 30, you know, something years old, and I'm taking the front bumper off my car, whatever I'm doing here, yeah, just to get it in and out, and I'm like, why, what am I doing here? So, you know, it was cool for the experience to, to, you know, be immersed in that community for a little while, but it's, it's definitely not for me, I just like a clean, tastefully modded car, but you know, taste is subjective, right? So, you know, for me, I, I just

prefer a clean street car. Wonderful. One more question, before we get into the time machine and go way back, I do want to know, what got you into the cars and coffee scene to the point that you kind of started one, what, what was, what was the driving force for that? Because there's not a lot of people out there that want to take on the responsibility of making a cars and coffee kind of event, take place, especially not like spearheading,

like you have, and what, you know, what was the driving factor for that for you?

Now, that's a great question. So, you know, as I mentioned, you know, my brother and I, we got in the cars when we were younger, you know, fast and furious, came out, things like that, and this area that I live in on Ken Island, my, my parents used to own a convenience store gas station, maybe 15 minutes away from where my house is now, and, you know, when my brother and I were growing up, it was kind of like, we had cars that were kind of rivals, like I had a seventh gen Celica Hida.

Back your RSX, right? Oh nice. And yeah, and he would, he would host, you know, car events underneath the Kent Nero's bridge, and like, just a gathering, it started with mainly, you know, club RSX, you know, and, and we would all meet under the Nero's hangout, and then we will go for a cruise, we do, you know, video, and then we would take everyone back to our parents gas station, and we would get what we would call them JDM wings, which was kind of dumb, but they were just like orange wings, like the, just the color.

Some of them look orange, I guess it's like a brownish color, but, you know, we would do that, it was just a really good time, and people look forward to that, like every year.

And I feel like there came a point in this area where there were just the not, there were a lot of car people that I would meet, but there were just no events going on in the area, and it was kind of sad, right?

As a car person, as, as an enthusiast, just to be, you know, feel like you have to travel to Great Falls, Virginia, or go to Hunt Valley, and, you know, those, those aren't bad places to go.

For me, it's at least an hour for either place, so I thought to myself, you know, why not bring something here home? It's close to home, and, you know, that's where I was doing one, I called Classic, and that one I did, that, when I started that, that was on Tuesdays.

Every other Tuesday from, you know, five to seven, or six to eight, depending on, you know, daylight savings, time, things like that.

And then, I think it was last year, or two years ago, is when I started Kenn Island cars and coffee.

And, you know, I can kind of, I don't know if you're going to go into that now, you know, as far as like how that even started, and how it came about, but I can just tell you.

Please, please do, please do, sure, sure, sure. So Kenn Island cars and coffee, you know, as I mentioned, I at first I started doing one at co classic, co classic brewing company, and that one was like every other Tuesday, just to give people to look forward to something during the week.

But then I thought to myself, you know, if you guys are familiar with Katie's cars and coffee, or Hunt Valley, you know, in season, Katie's, you got to get there.

I mean, five a.m., you know, to get a decent parking spot, and for me, that means I got to get up, you know, around four a.m. or so, and start my loud car up in my town home community, and it's just like, man, this isn't cool.

Like it's, I, you know, once you get to Katie's, it's, it's a very unique atmosphere, and I love that.

And I thought to myself, I would love to do a cars and coffee, but I, I don't know where to do it here on the island or locally.

So one of my friends was visiting from Virginia, and there is this kind of like bougie barbecue place that's in a business park, maybe two miles from my house, it's kind of a hidden gem called bark barbecue.

And my friend from Virginia had never had it before, so we went there one morning and got a delicious brisket burrito was awesome.

And as I'm standing there in line waiting for the food, I'm looking around like this place is awesome. And, you know, just the atmosphere is so cool.

Like when you, when you're in the building, and you're, it's very like kind of modern looking on the inside, but like right across the entrance is like, you know, a building.

You know, it's got wood stacked on the side, and that's where they're smoking all the meats and everything. So I was like this, this seems like a really cool place to do, you know, cars and coffee.

So yeah, you know, asked to speak to the manager and just kind of introduce myself and, you know, throughout this idea, you know, potentially doing this car event, right, like right there on a whim.

And she said, oh, you know, the owner would have to make that decision, but he's not here right now. And I said, all right, no problem.

It would be in. And maybe I can stop back in another time. And he actually pulled up. And then we just had the conversation right then and there.

And I mean, after that conversation, he was on board. So that is kind of how it started.

And yeah, yeah, it was kind of funny how like everything kind of just fell into place.

And I know this is a car podcast, but that brisket burrito sounds.

Oh, my gosh, dude, it is fantastic. I mean, I'm a car guy, but I'm so good.

Yeah, no, it's awesome. I mean, as some people are like, you're having a cars and coffee at a barbecue place, but I mean, they have fantastic coffee as well.

And they do fresh pastries and you know, things like that. It is great place, great place here on the island.

Well, that is awesome. How long do you do?

Can I learn cars and coffee? When did you have your first event at a park barbecue?

I want to say it was maybe March of 2023.

Okay. Wow, it's been doing on that long. That's awesome.

Yeah. Yeah. No, I will tell you this. I actually took a break after the first year because at first I was doing this by myself.

You know, I, you know, I do have a family. I have two young kids wife, and you know, we between our nine to five jobs, you know, I was doing all these different events.

And I think I kind of burnt myself out to be honest. So I ended up taking a break from hosting, but coming into this year, one of my best friends who also lives in eastern, you know, had offered to kind of step in and really helped me manage this.

So I kind of, I have a couple other guys that now run the cult classic event for me.

The one that's every other Tuesday, and they have their friends involved and they're all, you know, collaborating really well.

So I'm just letting them run with that. And my full focus is can island cars and coffee.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, highly highly recommended, you know, besides having some special events where you had a like a BMW event. If I remember you JDM event, you had different sections where you had the exotics, right?

Japanese cars, just a bit of everything, right? I mean, I saw a second gen MR to there that I was in love with core vets, of course, electric cars, the lorians, of course, you know, they were there and a set man, there was a beautiful and a set there the one day, and it was part for right in front of barks barbecue door.

Oh, yeah, that was Brian, our buddy Brian over in Delaware. Yeah, very, very nice. I think it goes to NA too. The one with the stationary headlights. I love the little sucks. Probably my favorite stadium car. Yeah.

Well, before we hop in and go back in time in the old Delorean time machine, I do have one more question. And that it has to do with the cars and coffee. As we're recording this, we're in the late 2025.

So do you have a projected first cars and coffee for 2026 season?

Not yet. That is something that my partner and I still have yet to discuss, but usually we started around March. And then we run it up until about October, November.

Okay, so that that would be the, you know, the plan, but, you know, usually we like to just sit down and revisit things and, you know, come up with a game plan and try to be as organized as possible, you know, for our events.

And to follow up with that, when you, when you have a date, how can myself and also listeners find out, find out of the information, where do they find you, plug yourself a little bit, man, you're here.

Yeah, I appreciate it. Let's make it the biggest and the mid Atlantic.

No, I love that. No, I really appreciate it. So to stay up to date with our events, if you're on Facebook or you're on Instagram, that is usually where we post everything.

And the Facebook and Instagram is just Ken Island, cars and coffee.

And that's usually where we, where we do it.

I think part of the plan coming into the next year is maybe doing like when we come up with our schedule for the year, is kind of posting that it at bark barbecue since that's usually the venue.

So for those people who don't have social media, completely understand that, you know, so they can be up to date and also, you know, if people reach out to me and they have an email address or something like that, I do keep a running list of just individual people that I'll send it to.

Spam everyone, but if people ask to be notified of the events, I'm happy to do that as well.

Well, I hope that we can between me and Doug will, we'll make sure that there's links in the show notes.

And anybody that's listening that doesn't looking at them, Kent Island, K-E-N-T-I-S-L-A-N-D, cars and coffee.

I'm, I was personally asking for myself because I'm going to call cars and coffee and I'm going to get one of those brisket burritos.

Not, but that takes us to the next part of that show, we're a part of our show, rather, where we like to toss to Doug and he's going to hop in his delurion and we're going to go way back.

So Doug, take it away.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So John can keep in the team in the show to all the cars I've loved before.

What was your first car?

And how did you get it?

Wow, so my very first car was in 1987 Cavalier, Z24.

I honestly don't even remember how I happened upon that car.

I will tell you, it's not something that was like, man, I want an 89 Z24 Cavalier.

You know, it was more like, when I had that car, you know, it was around the time of, you know, fast and furious coming out.

And I will say, you know, with it being your first car, you do experimenting, right?

There are some things that I've done in that car that were questionable, but, you know, you play around with modifications, right?

Like, you know, I'll never forget the things, the modifications that I did to that car, you know, decals everywhere, big aluminum wing on the rear trunk.

I bolted it as monitored to the dash.

I had a PS1 in the club box.

It was the most decked out 89 Cavalier that no one asked for, but you know what?

It was my first car and it was cool.

There will always be a place in my heart when I see that generation Cavalier, Beretta, you know, where I'm like, those cars are awesome.

You know, in their own way, they're just cool.

Like we say, every car has a story, so, you know, yeah, yeah, for 100%.

Good.

Yeah.

No, and just from my memory, right?

That car was a coupe, right?

It had a probably had a V6, maybe a 3.1 V6.

Two, two, eight, 2.8, multi-point.

2.8, and Jackson.

Yep.

Yeah.

Check the board wheels.

Yeah.

I remember those two.

Yeah.

Automatic or stick, John?

It was automatic.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

I think many of us are first cars were automatic.

And if you were like me, then I met somebody who had a stick shift car.

I'm like, that's where I'm going.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

So much more fun.

Yeah.

Indeed.

So you had that car throughout part of high school, all of high school.

I had that for a good part of high school pretty early on.

And then, I think my parents like my older brother better.

Because what would happen is they would, they would get him a car.

And he would modify it.

And when he was done, they would then give me the car to pay for.

But let him pick the new one.

It wasn't a choice.

It was just like, hey, here's your car that you're going to be paying for now.

So I think after the Cavalier, I had V6 Mustang.

98 dark green tan top when we got it automatic as well.

My brother did some pretty cool modifications to it.

He had the whole car painted sonic blue.

Put a black top on it.

Cobra bumpers.

Nice.

This is, you know, sacri lives probably to remember bumpers on a V6.

But, you know, it had a flow master exhaust.

You know, I wasn't fooling anybody.

And the backseat had a subwoofer strap to it, you know.

Silveric, you know, but yeah, had that car for a while.

Pretty cool, unique, you know, as said 95 chassis.

I think is is what they call those mustangs is a 98.

Okay.

Yeah.

And then yeah, it's.

It happened to me again.

I had a 2,000 1 tier to sell a GT that he had, you know, modified all up.

And then he moved on to the Acura RSX.

And then I got the Celica, which that one I like.

I didn't mind paying for that.

And the Celica was, was that the jelly bean era Celica or a little bit beyond that?

Maybe that was the 90s.

I called it the jelly bean because that's kind of what it looked like to me.

I love that generation.

Celica by the way, so.

But no, it was the seventh gen.

It was the one that looked really fast, like the commercial, you know,

it parked on the street and somebody was walking by the cars park and they walk by with their dog

and they stop and yell to slow down.

And it's not even moving.

But yeah, it was that that like 2,000 generation, you know, I think it ran from like 2,000 to maybe.

Maybe 2007 or something like that.

Don't quote me.

But, you know, I had the headlights were more modern.

They're more like triangular.

Yeah.

I do remember you.

That was the last generation, right?

Yeah.

Let's bring it back.

Yeah.

And before the show, we were talking.

And when you and I talked on the phone, speaking of cars and I think people love this story.

I always think it's the guy who starts with a pencil and he ends up with a Porsche, right?

Yeah.

During the pandemic, right?

Can you tell us about it?

What inspired you?

Obviously, we all had a lot of time on our hands to be creative during the pandemic.

But tell us where he started.

Where it took you?

Where you are now from that.

Yeah.

No, I would love to.

So 2,000.

It was maybe February and of 2020.

You know, I was in the market for a project car, kind of a car to tanker with.

And I was between like a 2,000, 2,000, 2,000, 1 Lexus IS 300.

It wasn't necessarily in the best condition.

But you know, for $3,000, what would you expect?

And I narrowed it down to pretty much either that.

Or I found this 1987 Mercedes 420 SEL.

And it was black on black.

And what made it really special to me was it had a zender wide body kit on it.

So for those who weren't familiar with zender, it was a company back in that time, you know,

that made body kits.

And the body kit included a replacement front bumper, rear bumper, door cap side skirts,

three piece wing.

It had the three piece OZ AMG like hammer wheels on it.

It looked fantastic.

And what also kind of spoke to me was growing up, my parents had some like older 80s Mercedes.

And my mom had a black on black one.

So it was kind of nostalgic for me.

And that is the route that I went.

So that was kind of, you know, the car that I went with for my body.

And that was the 420 SEL.

So that was a V8.

And it was a large boot, right?

So it was a large sedan.

sedan.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

So it was a big four door black interior.

And you know what the car like that in my eyes, it looked very good as it was,

especially with the kit, especially with the wheels on it.

And, you know, with every vehicle that I get, I kind of, you know,

have a vision in mind of what I wanted to be and not really much had to be done with that car.

So, you know, in this garage, I do a lot of paint correction.

And, you know, the process of paint correction is great because you're restoring the cars.

Original paint bringing it back to life.

And, you know, I just did that to the car.

I did some light window tint on it.

Those cars have a known issue where like the plastic cog wheels in the odometer break.

So it just stops reading my leg until you get in there and fix it.

And, you know, I kind of thought about, okay, from the factory, I know blah punked.

I don't know if I'm saying that correct.

I think they made the OEM videos and some of them.

So I went with a more modern version.

Didn't look too flashy, but it just kind of was, you know,

it was period correct and kind of flowed with the rest of the car.

But I think that was about all I got to do to it before I ended up trading it for the next car.

So I don't know if you want to run through them or if you want to ask questions in between.

No, no, let's, let's go on to what the, the tradeup was, right?

And just for everybody, the original budget was $3,000, right?

$3,000.

Yep.

So, so then as I'm modifying this car and enjoying it, you know,

I share a lot of my progress through social media outlets, Facebook, Instagram.

And, you know, when I got that car, a couple of people messaged me and said,

hey, let me know when you sell that one.

So I'm like, yeah, no problem.

I'll definitely do that.

So it wasn't really looking for anything else.

But one of my friends at the time had had come up to me and said, hey, you know,

I'm looking to buy a house.

Do you think you could help me sell my car?

And I was like, sure would he have?

And he had a, I believe it was a 2008 BMW 335 XI coupe.

So for those who weren't familiar with that, so it was a two door.

335 has the N54, the twin turbo six cylinder, 300 horsepower, 300 torque from the factory.

It was Alpine white, like a brown baseball glove interior, 6-speed manual car.

And he put a lot of money into it.

So, you know, a lot of cosmetic stuff, mtech bumper, the CSL trunk lid side skirts, wheels, full bull tons.

It was fantastic.

So I said, yeah, I could absolutely help you.

Why don't you bring it over and we'll look at it and figure out what you want to do with it.

So he comes over.

It had been a little while since we've seen each other and we got very excited.

We ended up playing Xbox and eating hot wings and completely forgot about looking or talking about the car until he left.

And I was like, we haven't even like, you know, talked about your car.

But, you know, I was talking to him and asked what he was trying to get for it.

And when he told me how much he wanted for it, I think he wanted, he said he wanted like five grand.

And I was like, that, are you sure?

Because at the time that car with its mileage and everything that was done, I was like, I feel like this is probably worth like 15 or something, you know.

And he said, well, for you, I'd sell a five grand, but just know that it does need some work.

He said that the, you know, there's a big crack on the windshield, not a big deal.

The biggest thing is the car would go into a limp mode under wide open throttle mainly in third gear.

First gear, fine, second gear, fine, third gear.

It would go into limp mode, shut the turbos off and the car wouldn't go past a certain RPM.

He just couldn't figure out what it was.

So I'm like, dude, if you want five grand, I will buy this car, you know, for five grand.

So I called the first person that reached out to me about the Mercedes.

His name is Jeb and he owns a company called Wheels Up and he said, yeah, I'm interested.

He goes, how much do you want? I said five grand because, you know, a friend of mine is selling a car for five grand and, you know, I just want to get the car.

So it was actually on my birthday. I ended up bringing the car to a shop.

He looked at it, bought it and I just took the cash, gave it to my friend.

So now I have this 335 XI. Very nice car and I start fixing it.

So I replaced the windshield. I ended up finding out what that problem was.

It was a boost solenoid. I didn't want to tell him that he might be learning this now if he listens to this.

It's a $75 part and there's two of them and I was like, I will replace both.

Oh, replace both of them. And it fixed it. It ran so good.

And then from there, I was like, you know, I think that the tuner he had on it was like a cob tuner.

And I think it's okay for that motor, but I think there was a better known brand.

I guess it was like MHD or something like that.

So I ended up switching out the tuner. I also ended up upgrading the inner cooler and doing stuff like that.

And then once I got to a point where there was nothing left to change, I threw it out on the market.

So pretty much just to kind of take a step back here.

My thought process, you know, with wanting to own and experience many different cars.

Unfortunately, now I'm not at a place, I'm not at a place in my life right now where I can afford multiple cars.

So it's, you know, I have to sell one in order to experience the other.

So when I sell a car or trade a car for another, it's not that it's necessarily better.

It's just I have to do it to experience the other if that makes sense.

No, it makes sense. And I mean, you're on to all the cars I've looked before and we want to hear about them all.

You're you're you're you're you're your best guest.

Thank you.

So yeah, I had the 335.

Usually the point where I will put it out is when there's nothing left for me to change or I get to a point to where I feel like I'm content or like I don't need to change anything.

And normally when I list it, I'll I'll put a number to it or I'll say I'm open to trades of comparable value, right.

And I don't really specify anything because then you're kind of limiting yourself as to the things that, you know, people could offer you.

So I ended up listing the 335.

I was enjoying it and I had a guy reach out to me from New York and he said, hey, would you be interested in a trade?

What do you have? Right.

So he said I have a 92 Nissan skyline R32 GTST.

So it's not a GTR for those who aren't familiar with the GTST, you know, it's a RB 20 DET.

So it is a single turbo.

It's real will drive at five speed manual versus, you know, six speed manual twin turbo.

Oh, we'll drive.

And I'm like, yeah, that sounds interesting. Can you send me, you know, photos, videos, you know, details of it.

And what I love about it is he did put a lot of GTR arrow on it.

So I had a GTR from bumper. I had a GTR wing.

And then otherwise it had like bolt-ons very basic, just intake exhaust, right.

Nothing crazy.

And what's funny that you'll hear throughout this process is when it comes to selling cars, trading cars in my experience, it's all about momentum.

If you're feeling it, they're on board with it, you just got to jump on it, right.

And a lot of our conversations use, you know, so I told him I was interested after he sent me all of the details.

And then our conversation went from, hey, let's meet next weekend. What are you doing tomorrow?

Nice. Yeah. So he ended up driving the car to me from New York.

And that was fantastic, because it told me a couple things, one that he's serious.

And two, that the car can mechanically make it from New York to here, right.

So I will tell you prior to doing this car, I had never driven a right hand drive car.

So it was definitely intimidating, because I was like, I've never done this, but I'm going to have to figure it out, you know.

So surprisingly, it was a very easy transition.

I'd say the two things for me that I had to get used to is instead of kind of hugging the center line, more hugging the shoulder when you're driving on the road.

And then your turn signals and wipers, they are reversed.

Yeah, you know, so yeah, everything checked out, you know, with that guy, his buddy had just gotten an n 54 car that's what made him interested in, you know, my car.

And soon as he drove it over, you know, we drove each other's cars, everything checked out and, you know, sign titles over to each other, swap keys and we're on our way.

That's all right. That's all right.

So the car had originated from a place in Virginia called Japanese classics.

I think that they're known as a, you know, pretty reputable importer overall.

And it's in pretty clean JDM stuff there.

And it was very clean car, cosmatically speaking.

So one of the first things I do, it's like day one paint correction, right.

It's almost like the same thing, but, you know, it makes a big difference restoring the car's paint.

And, you know, I did the paint correction, ceramic coating, cosmetically, I did like, you know, carbon fiber gurney flap carbon fiber front lip.

My favorite wheel of all time, I am a T37 fanboy.

Just love the style of that wheel for those who aren't familiar.

It's a seven spoke Japanese lightweight forged wheel, right. And it just looks good on pretty much everything in my opinion.

But I got a set of those actually from a guy in New York.

I should have just, you know, asked this guy to pick him up on his way here.

But, you know, I didn't know. But literally it was like the day after I did the trade.

I went right back to New York to go get these wheels. They came off an Evo.

And I put them on the car. And that's it. That's all that I pretty much did to that car.

As I didn't feel like it needed a lot. It was very clean driving car.

So I had that for maybe four months.

And, you know, once I did all those things to it, right, threw it out on the market just.

I think I think the price I put on that car was like maybe 25 grand.

And I mean, we're, you know, several months. It would not several, but, you know, we're, we're months into it.

We're still in 2020.

So then I put it out there and then I had another guy message me, local here in Maryland,

and said, hey, would you be interested in a trade? What do you have? You know,

a million questions. What do you got? Sure. What do you have?

So he had a 2003 911 Targa 996.2. So not the, the runny egg headlight, right?

Not the one that has the, you know, the first generation of the 996, but the second generation.

So I was like, that sounds very interesting. I've never, I back in, you know, when I was younger,

I did have a boxer and 986. It was not an S, but, you know, I don't know.

I had that car. I put exhaust on it. I did a couple things.

And while it was a nice car, I just did not feel really connected to it.

And, you know, so usually whenever I meet Porsche enthusiasts and people that own

Porsche's, you know, they just love the cars. And I just, while I felt like it was a nice car,

I just, nothing about that car specifically spoke to me.

That was until I had a 911. And then I got it. But so anyway, I ended up talking to the guy.

It sounded like he does pretty much something very similar to me where he likes to experience different stuff.

And he trades, but he has multiple projects that he is juggling at, you know, one time.

Whereas for me, I just have one. So that is a, it was a 2003 996.2 911 TARGA.

And the TARGA of that generation is not the TARGA that I think of like, for example,

Mark IV Supra or Adele Soul or, you know, something where you can remove the center piece of the top

and put it somewhere, you know, that the TARGA of a 996 is just glass.

It's glass and it goes pretty much all the way back.

So very good looking car. I ended up talking to him. And he basically said that he picked up this car.

It was a little project for him, but just needed things here and there.

And, you know, I said, well, how does your schedule look next weekend? He said, great.

And we kept talking. And then it was like, what are you doing right now?

Once he told me where he was, I was like, I mean, you can come over.

So he ended up making the drive over here. And, you know, we ended up driving each other's cars.

I was kind of like skeptical because there was a lot of little things that weren't working.

Like the wiper boat or the rear wing was not coming up. You know how those cars have the little ductile that kind of comes up after five miles per hour.

Yeah, exactly. That wasn't working. So I was like, I don't know, but, you know, he made the drive all the way out there.

And also I had never owned a 911 and I did like it. So yeah, we shook hands and I did the trade.

So it was silver, black interior, it had a set of fixie, FI KSE wheels.

And I believe they were the FM 10s. They were polished. Looked really nice and clean.

I think it was lowered at a muffler delete. And then it had a turbo nose on it front clip.

So I mean, I thought that car was fantastic. I mean, as soon as I got it, I did not jump into paint correction right away.

But I started to figure out what was going on with like the wipers and the, you know, the wing.

And you know, usually when it comes to diagnosing, you start with the fuse box, right?

Like that's one of the first places where, you know, it could be something that simple as that.

And what I think happened is maybe I know the car was sitting in storage for him and like the battery was disconnected.

And I don't know if maybe he potentially put, you know, the terminals on backwards or something.

Because I could see it, it took me a while to figure out which one was positive and which one was negative.

But, you know, I noticed that there were a bunch of fuses that were blown.

So I went through, replaced them all, and everything worked. I was like, great. Sweet.

Yeah. So the car ran and drove fantastic. Didn't need anything.

And the only thing I did to it was like, I did an arrow front lip.

It looks a little more aggressive than, you know, the factory one. It's a little thicker.

And I had a color match to the car.

So I'm enjoying the car. I'm loving it.

But while I had that car, I will say that, you know, through the skyline community, I met a lot of people.

And it was funny during the time that I owned my R32 skyline, I, I would host like a skyline meet.

Like I put one together here on Ken Island and it was right at Rita's.

And it was pretty cool because like, it seems like people have them, but no one really wanted to take the initiative to put that together, right?

Because it does require time and effort, and you have to kind of want it to, right?

Like, so during my ownership of the R32, I, I didn't need a lot of people.

And then, you know, I would get friend requests through Facebook, things like that.

And one day I opened up my Facebook. I'm just scrolling.

And I guess somebody that I had met through the skyline community posted a picture of his car.

He had just washed it. And I was like, man, that would be so sick to own.

And the car was a EV1 lightning yellow R34 skyline GTT.

So, like the GTST of the R32, it's not the GTR version, you know, it's a five-speed manual.

RB25 DET, single turbo, rear-wheel drive.

And I was like, what a dream. I mean, you know, the R34 is like, well, I know for, you know, as enthusiasts, you know, usually to import cars over,

it has to kind of fall within that 25 year range if you don't want to jump through all the hoops of, you know, converting it over to me.

You know, our standards here in the US, it seems like most people just kind of wait until, you know, the car's grandfathered in or the 25 year mark to where you can bring it over and you don't have to worry about that.

And also tagging it, you can tag those historics so you don't have to really worry about, you know, inspection or emissions.

So, the car was here. I did not ask why, but I just was amazed to see an R34.

And I said to myself, I wonder if he wants a 911.

And, you know, the car was not for sale or anything like that. He just, you know, washed it and shared a photo of it.

So, I just met with him and I said, hey, you know, I think we may have met through the skyline community, but, you know, I noticed you posted your R34 recently.

The thing is gorgeous. Would you be interested in a trade, right?

And, surprisingly, he was like, what do you, you know, what do you have?

And when I told him I had a 911, he said, you know, I used to own a 911 and I really enjoyed it.

Of course.

You all right? So, he was in Virginia Beach, you know, we kind of just had a, you know, a conversation and seemed like he was on board.

So, I drove to him in Virginia Beach and we traded cars. We traded the 911 Tarda for this yellow R34 skyline GTT.

So, real like, it was a surreal moment to me. Again, fast and furious, right? Paul Walker, I think that was a hero car and was it too fast and furious, the silver one with the blue library.

Yep, correct. Yeah. So, funny enough, this guy was a fan of, you know, fast and furious as well. And if he had painted kind of like a library very similar to that.

But it was kind of strange because the car was yellow and the design that he put on there was like a brown color.

It was like a light brown color. It's very unique. It was interesting to say the least.

But either way, I was like, it's an R34 who cares. Like I can always, you know, make adjustments as needed, you know, when funds allow. So, so yeah, you know, we do the trade and I drive this car home and start getting to work on, you know, making it my own.

So, my vision for that car for the skyline was to just make it look like a clean R34.

So, that included putting GTR bumpers on it, right? So, just because I think that's a clean look, you know, I know there are aftermarket companies that make kits, but I think the GTR is a very good looking car from the factory.

I mean, that's what I wanted. So, I started the search for R34 GTR parts. Now, that was very challenging considering, you know, these cars aren't technically supposed to be here.

You know, it was at the time they weren't supposed to be here. So, finding them was very challenging and the people that do have them know what they have and you're going to pay a premium.

But I was able to source an OEM front bumper, side skirts, front lip, rear bumper, and then I had to go aftermarket for the side skirt extensions and the rear, rear bumper extensions. So, you know, everything would be complete.

And the last component that I needed was a hood because the OEM GTR from bumper has a different style than the GTT. So, the way the hood shuts requires modification.

So, like on a GTT on the hood, there was like a slight lip in the center of it and the GTT bumper only comes up about three quarters of the way.

So, when you shut the hood, that lip on the hood closes that gap versus the OEM GTR bumper is squared off in the grille and the OEM hood is like straight across.

So, I was not able to find an OEM hood. I probably could not afford an OEM hood. So, I went aftermarket found a company called Sibon, which I think we're, you know, if you're familiar with aftermarket parts and carbon fiber, it's either, you know, VIS or Sibon.

And to place the order for the hood, but it was on like a 12 week back order. So, my vision for the car was to kind of put everything together and paint it one solid color, you know, just yellow because the jams and everything are yellow.

I just didn't want that library on it because it was, it was painted on. So, you know, I was pretty much at a standstill slowly acquiring parts for this car to kind of get the project to come alive.

And Facebook's a very dangerous place, especially Marketplace. So, excuse me, I opened up my Facebook one day and go in a marketplace.

And somebody has a Mark IV Supra listed. Very clean. Yeah, 93. It was not an original turbo as an NA, but it was repainted, freshly repainted, a very unique color.

It was like a Chrysler color actually called black phantom and it was a black paint that had a lot of metallic flaking it, but actually looked pretty good.

And, you know, fresh paint job on it. It had a single turbo that was converted. It did have a six-speed manual, but it was not the original V160. It was a CD09 from a 350Z transition.

I'm sorry, yeah, it's from a 350Z and it's paired together with like a, I think it's like a Collins adapter or something like that. But I saw the car and I was like, man, how cool would that be?

I mean, when you talk about iconic JDM cars, I mean, or, you know, the Nissan Skyline, the Toyota Supra, RX-7 NSX, right? I'm like, man, that would be so insane to own that.

And so I messaged him, you know, and just said, hey, you know, beautiful, you know, Supra, any interest in a trade? And he said, not really, but what do you have?

And then when I said, I have a 98 Skyline, he said, what? Like, he's like, how do you have that car? And then he immediately was very interested.

So we jumped on a call and it turns out he actually had a Sylvia S15, which is also a very iconic JDM car that you really don't see here, especially because the year range is kind of very similar to like an R34 Skyline.

So we jumped on the phone. He's like, dude, R34 is my dream car, you know. So again, the conversation went from, hey, what are you doing this weekend? I can come tonight.

So, you know, my wife, I have a very, I should throw in that I have a very patient wife because quite often she is thrown into the mix of this with no warning.

And, you know, we have our kids and everything too. So this guy was in the Jersey and we drove to him and it was, and it was quite the process because, you know, you have to take two cars because I had a bunch.

Part of the deal was I would give him all the parts that I have. I told him about the food that I ordered. I told him I'd be willing to ship it to him.

And then he had a bunch of extra parts that he was willing to include as well. So we had to take two cards.

So, you know, it's a weeknight, get off work, drive to New Jersey, you know, look at the car on the list, everything checks out, drive it, everything is good.

Shake hands, and now I've now traded my Skyline R34 for Mark IV Supra.

So, yes.

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's a lot, right? So, you know, I go through that car, not go through it, but like, I was able to like sell parts that he had given me to kind of get the parts.

That I wanted for the car, you know, my wife is completely on board with it as long as I kind of contain it within itself.

So, it was a lot of kind of part swapping, selling things here there to pay for other things to kind of get the car to where I wanted it.

And I think by this time it was like the end of the year, and I ended up selling the Supra.

And I sold it for 60, 60 grand.

And yeah, and that was, that was 2020.

So, we're still in 2020. That was all between February and November.

It was November of 2020 when I ended up selling the Supra.

Yeah.

Well, on that note, this is a great place for us to pause for a minute, because we are starting to get a little bit long on the, yeah, I'm sorry.

No, no, no, no, no.

I love your office.

Six.

Did we count six cars?

I think it was, you know, through the trade, through the tradeout.

But we're not done, right?

We're not done.

No, we're not.

Okay.

So, there's so much.

Yeah.

I know that that Christian used to say this all the time.

We are going to have to have you back to finish this story, because I'm invested in soon.

And soon.

I appreciate it.

But as we guide this beautiful podcast to the proverbial off ramp, I do want to ask because you've had so many iconic cars.

Yes.

In 2020, what is your dream car before we end today, today's episode, because we're definitely have to come back and finish this, this trip.

Yeah.

And, and how long will you keep it?

Well, man, that's, that's a tricky one.

Oh, my dream car, my dream car.

My all time dream car is a Mercedes in nineteen.

I think it's a eighty seven or eighty nine one ninety Evo.

I just, like I said, you know, the eighties Mercedes just brings me back to the nostalgia of, you know, growing up with those cars.

But it's a manual car that was built to compete with the E30 M3, right?

The E30 M3s are beautiful cars as well.

I think you see those a little more than you see one ninety E.

Those, however, those cars cost more than the house that I don't own yet, and probably won't own for like another 20 years or something.

But that is like, if I hit the lottery today, I would go by a one ninety E.

Evo.

That's my, yeah, all time dream car.

And, you know, at that point, if I can afford that car, I would just keep it forever, you know.

I know that sounds crazy to say, but the only reason that I have to sell things to experience others is, you know, mainly because of the, you know, the financial part of it.

But I mean, if I could afford that car, I would just keep it forever.

Well, I have really enjoyed this, this conversation listening to this amazing story where you're just going from car to car.

I'm jealous that of the cars, not only that you've had and got rid of, but just had a chance to drive.

Like you talked about the Sylvia, the R32, the R34, the super, like you've owned those.

Yeah.

No, thank you.

Yeah, so I am, I am in awe of your story.

But that being said, I just want to thank you for coming on.

We'll make sure that we're going to get all your can island cars and coffee stuff on the, in the show notes.

Thank you so much for being here.

I'm going to talk to Doug one more time before we, before we wrap this all up and see if he has any more, any more questions, thoughts and comments before we round this down.

I have so many and on John's intake form, like it's just incredible, but I can't even begin to think, but I did see John one of your current cars and we're not going to talk about it.

You're actually going to do a manual swap on it.

I'd like you to talk about it next time.

But do I have that right?

You do have that right?

Yes.

Yep.

And that's a kind of family car.

Do those cars ever come with stick shift?

Or not your version, right?

That is correct.

Yeah.

So you had to find somebody who had the talent.

That's right.

I don't know if that's done yet, but if not, hopefully by the time we're on again, we can talk about it.

Absolutely.

Yes.

So it is, it is almost done.

And I am anticipating, I don't want to jinx myself, but maybe within the next couple of weeks, I'm hoping to have it back.

Okay.

Yeah.

So that's a not only trading up cars, but trading up transmissions now.

I think I would sold the old transmission to Dave for the new one knowing this guy.

Yeah.

For sure.

No, I appreciate that.

Thank you, John.

Yeah.

I can't thank you enough.

I can't wait for the next episode, but also the next event in hopefully March.

And we'll get Dave to bring his acting.

Honda acting.

Yes.

You got it.

The Honda acting street, baby.

Yeah.

All of dream.

Yep.

It's all of drab with black accents.

And so is my 67 beetle that I will get working on very soon.

I hope so.

So that being said, I just want to say, thank you from us to you.

Thank you for joining us.

Thank you for sharing your story.

We're definitely going to to hear the end of it.

And I'm invested now.

Wow.

So.

But that being said, if you want to find Instagram, it's a J.

Oh, I mean, let me not read it wrong.

Let me not read it wrong because I don't want to screw this up for you.

So J clock on Instagram spelled K H L O K, right?

Yep.

That's exactly right.

J J A Y K K A Y on Facebook.

So hit him up for his cars and coffee, especially in the 26 2026 season coming up.

I will for sure.

And for everybody in listener land, you have found the high revving low mileage, late model,

heard around the world authoritative podcast on a mode of nostalgia.

I'm Dave.

And I also have a Dave at carslove.com.

That's Doug.

You can reach him at Doug at carslove.com.

You can find all of our podcast stuff on our link tree.

L-I-N-K-T-R-D-E-D slash carslove.

Trading Up: How I Turned $3k into a $60k MK4 Toyota Supra (Skyline R34 vs. Porsche 996)

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