Wayne Carini shares his experience at the Mecum Kissimmee auction, highlighting impressive sales and classic cars, including Ferraris he restored. He interviews Riley Schlick of Riley's Rebuilds, a young entrepreneur who started rebuilding and tuning carburetors at 13. Riley discusses how she grew her business through social media, turning a hobby into a thriving venture with a team of friends. The conversation covers her passion for cars, the challenges of carburetor rebuilding, and plans for a carburetor rebuild competition. The episode blends auction insights with inspiring stories of youth and automotive craftsmanship.
Wayne Carini and Jay Ward are back. Wayne interviews the amazing and talented Riley Schlick, young entrepreneur and carburetor rebuilder extraordinaire and Jay Catches us up on what's new in his world.
"You've already been down to Kissimmee for the Meekum auction. Tell me a little bit about what was rolling it at Kissimmee, and then tell me who you ran into while you were there."
Meekum is a company that holds big sales events where people buy and sell special cars, like old or rare ones. Lots of people come to these events to find cool cars.
Meekum is a well-known auction company specializing in collector and classic cars. Their auctions attract a wide range of rare and valuable vehicles, often resulting in high sale prices.
"...of the stuff. There was cars that, well, it was a Shelby GT350 that broke $500,000. Right."
The Shelby GT350 is a special, very fast version of a Ford Mustang car. It was made to be really good at racing and is now very valuable, with some selling for a lot of money. People talk about it because it’s a famous and exciting car.
The Shelby GT350 is a high-performance variant of the Ford Mustang, developed by Carroll Shelby. Known for its powerful engine and track-focused design, it has become a highly sought-after collector's car, sometimes fetching prices over $500,000. It is often discussed due to its significance in American muscle car history and its increasing value.
"...stuff. There was cars that, well, it was a Shelby GT350 that broke $500,000. Right."
Ford is a big car company that makes many different kinds of cars and trucks. They are famous for making cars that a lot of people know and like, including some fast and special ones. People might talk about Ford when discussing popular or valuable cars.
Ford is one of the largest and most historic American automakers, known for producing a wide range of vehicles from trucks to performance cars. The brand is significant in automotive history for innovations like the assembly line and iconic models such as the Mustang. It might be discussed in the context of high-value collectible cars or performance vehicles.
Hot rods are old cars that people change to make them faster and look cooler. They are popular with car fans who like to customize vehicles.
Hot rods are typically older American cars that have been modified with more powerful engines and custom styling to improve performance and appearance. They are a popular part of car culture and often seen at car shows and events.
""Yeah. It's a marketing. So for instance, that Torino that you saw earlier I showed you,""
Marketing is how people tell others about cars to get them interested in buying.
Marketing in the automotive context refers to the strategies used to promote and sell cars, including advertising, events, and showcasing special vehicles.
"It's a marketing. So for instance, that Torino that you saw earlier I showed you, my Talladega, ..."
Pontiac was a car brand that made cars known for being sporty and fun to drive. Even though they don’t make Pontiac cars anymore, many people still like and collect them. They might come up when talking about old, cool American cars.
Pontiac was a brand of automobiles produced by General Motors, known for sporty and performance-oriented vehicles like the GTO and Firebird. Although the brand was discontinued in 2010, Pontiac cars remain popular among collectors and enthusiasts. It might be mentioned in discussions about classic American muscle cars or marketing strategies of the past.
""And so you're into carburetor rebuilding and tuning. Yes. So it's not just rebuilding, it's tuning. Oh, it's both.""
A carburetor is a part that helps mix air and gas so the car engine can run. Fixing and adjusting it makes sure the car runs smoothly and uses fuel well.
A carburetor is a device in older internal combustion engines that mixes air and fuel for the engine. Rebuilding and tuning carburetors involves adjusting this mixture for optimal engine performance and efficiency.
"And we've always been flipping things in the garage. He's always had side hustles and that's just, we should always have him side hustle. Even with your own job or your primary job, it's just something that he's raised me on. So he's always been flipping cars."
Flipping a car means buying it, fixing it up, and then selling it to make money. People do this as a way to earn extra cash.
Flipping cars refers to buying vehicles, often at a low price, and then repairing, improving, or restoring them to sell at a profit. It's a common side hustle in the automotive world.
"And we actually got it done by the time I was 14. 14. 14. 15. Which we didn't think was going to happen. We had a amazing car at 14. 15, just sitting there for a little bit."
The Jeep YJ is an older Jeep model that looks different from newer ones and is good for off-road driving. The 1995 version was the last year they made this style.
The Jeep YJ is the first generation of the Jeep Wrangler produced from 1986 to 1995, known for its square headlights and off-road capability. The 1995 model year is the last of this generation before the TJ replaced it.
"So it'll blast it, ultrasonic tank it, and then rebuild it."
An ultrasonic tank is a special cleaning machine that uses sound waves to clean parts really well. It helps get all the dirt off without hurting the part.
An ultrasonic tank is a cleaning device that uses high-frequency sound waves to remove dirt and grime from small parts like carburetors. It is effective for thorough cleaning without damaging delicate components.
"I mean, you know, we're finding that E-types are really soft at the moment."
The Jaguar E-type is a famous old sports car from Britain, known for looking very cool and being fast for its time. Many people love it as a classic car.
The Jaguar E-type is a British sports car produced from the 1960s to the 1970s, celebrated for its beautiful design and strong performance. It is considered one of the most iconic classic cars.
"I mean, we're finding that E-types are really soft at the moment. Aston's DB4, 5s and 6s are sort of soft at the moment."
The Aston Martin DB4 is an old, fancy car made in the 1950s and 1960s. People like it because it looks nice and drives well, and it's worth a lot of money now.
The Aston Martin DB4 is a classic grand tourer produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s, known for its elegant design and performance. It is highly collectible and represents a significant era in Aston Martin's history.
"I mean, we're finding that E-types are really soft at the moment. Aston's DB4, 5s and 6s are sort of soft at the moment."
The Aston Martin DB6 is an old, stylish car made in the 1960s. It's a bit newer than the DB5 and has some improvements, making it popular with collectors.
The Aston Martin DB6 is a grand tourer produced in the mid-1960s, an evolution of the DB5 with improved aerodynamics and comfort. It remains a classic and collectible model.
"I mean, we're finding that E-types are really soft at the moment. Aston's DB4, 5s and 6s are sort of soft at the moment."
The Aston Martin DB5 is a fancy old car from the 1960s, known for being in James Bond movies. It's very popular and valuable among car collectors.
The Aston Martin DB5 is a luxury grand tourer produced in the 1960s, famous for its association with James Bond films. It is a highly sought-after classic car with iconic styling and performance.
"RestoMods are still doing very well as long as it's a freshly built RestoMod and Corvettes."
A restomod is an old car that has been fixed up and updated with new parts so it works better and is more comfortable, but still looks like the original.
A restomod is a classic car that has been restored and modified with modern parts and technology to improve performance, reliability, and comfort while retaining its original style.
"RestoMods are still doing very well as long as it's a freshly built RestoMod and Corvettes."
The Corvette is a famous American sports car that has been around since the 1950s. People sometimes update old Corvettes with new parts to make them faster and more reliable.
The Chevrolet Corvette is an American sports car known for its performance and iconic status since its introduction in the 1950s. Restomod Corvettes combine classic styling with modern upgrades.
""And then this last weekend I went to the NASCAR Clash Race that they do at the LA Coliseum.""
The NASCAR Clash is a special race that happens before the main NASCAR season starts. It features some of the best drivers and is held at famous places, like the LA Coliseum.
The NASCAR Clash is a non-points exhibition race held annually at the start of the NASCAR season, featuring top drivers from the previous season. It is known for its unique format and is often held at iconic venues like the LA Coliseum.
""I went to the Grand National Roadster Show. So I got to got them both in and a weekend.""
The Grand National Roadster Show is a big event where people show off special and custom cars. It's one of the oldest and most famous car shows in the U.S.
The Grand National Roadster Show is one of the longest-running and most prestigious custom car shows in the United States. It showcases hot rods, custom cars, and classic vehicles, attracting enthusiasts and builders from around the country.
"this book called The Car by Brian Applyard. And this guy is a Brit who writes the complete history of the automobile from the very, very beginning... the birth of Ben's driving the first Ben's as you know, in Germany, the birth of Henry Ford and the growth of how Henry Ford built that empire and how Detroit became the capital of automobiles..."
The history of the automobile tells the story of how cars were invented and improved over time, starting with the first car by Karl Benz and how Henry Ford made cars for many people.
The history of the automobile covers the development of cars from early inventions like Karl Benz's first car to mass production innovations by Henry Ford, and how cities like Detroit became automotive industry centers.
"we're at the very end of the internal combustion engine ruling the automotive world as EVs and autonomous cars are coming in."
Autonomous cars are cars that can drive by themselves using special computers and sensors. They don't need a person to steer or control them.
Autonomous cars, also known as self-driving cars, are vehicles equipped with technology that allows them to drive themselves without human input. They represent a major shift in automotive technology.
"we're at the very end of the internal combustion engine ruling the automotive world as EVs and autonomous cars are coming in."
Electric vehicles are cars that run on electricity stored in batteries instead of using gas. They are better for the environment and are becoming more common.
Electric vehicles (EVs) use electric motors powered by batteries instead of internal combustion engines. They are becoming more popular as a cleaner alternative to traditional gasoline-powered cars.
"this guy is a Brit who writes the complete history of the automobile from the very, very beginning until what he is saying is basically we're at the very end of the internal combustion engine ruling the automotive world as EVs and autonomous cars are coming in."
An internal combustion engine is the part of a car that burns fuel inside itself to make the car move. Most cars used this for a long time, but now electric cars and self-driving cars are becoming more common.
The internal combustion engine (ICE) is a type of engine where fuel combustion occurs inside the engine itself, powering most traditional cars for over a century. It is now being gradually replaced by electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous cars.
"and how Detroit became the capital of automobiles rather than New York or another city."
Detroit is a city in the USA that became famous for making lots of cars because many car companies, like Ford, worked there.
Detroit, Michigan became known as the center of the American automotive industry due to the concentration of car manufacturers and suppliers, especially driven by Henry Ford's operations.
Select text to request an explanation
Well, we're back.
Been a little while, but we're back in the car.
We're back on the road.
We're in overdrive, and we're just cruising down the lane, trying to get out of a cold, dark winter,
and head into a nice warm spring.
There's lots of great car events coming up.
And, Wayne, you have wasted no time hitting the road.
You've already been down to Kissimmee for the Meekum auction.
Tell me a little bit about what was rolling it at Kissimmee,
and then tell me who you ran into while you were there.
So, Jay, I was at Kissimmee, and of course, Meekum does a fabulous job at their auction down there.
4,800 cars sold.
Wow.
And like a 12-day time period.
Unbelievable.
And some sold for huge money.
They had a wonderful display of Ferraris actually in that display,
two cars that I had restored previously.
So I got to see a couple of my old restorations.
But a lot of great cars, and really brought big numbers.
I mean, it was amazing, some of the stuff.
There was cars that, well, it was a Shelby GT350 that broke $500,000.
Right.
And of course, Ferraris and modern supercars and stuff like that.
I brought two hot rods and a pickup truck down.
We sold the pickup and won the hot rods, and the other one didn't sell.
But while I was there, I got to welcome a good friend of mine, Riley Schlick,
who's Riley Rebuilds.
And we got to sit in the Ferrari room, nice quiet room, so we could do an interview.
So Matt was there with me, and we recorded this interview.
So let's just take a listen, and maybe we can find out what Riley is all about.
Yeah, awesome.
And this is the girl who kind of started her little world of rebuilding carpenters.
I can't wait to hear about this.
This is exclusive.
So Riley, we're here at Nekum Kasemi 2024.
What's your thoughts?
It's incredible.
It's a dream always.
But these cards are top of the line, amazing.
Have you ever been to an auction before?
I have not.
So this is your first opportunity?
Yep.
Have you gone in and watched the auction procedures yet?
I don't know.
Oh, okay.
Well, you got to go in and watch.
Yeah.
It's really a lot of fun.
I mean, I grew up with watching them on TV, so hopefully I'll be able to jump in there.
Well, you guys will be able to go in after we do this little talk,
and go in and see everything that's happening.
But you got out in the staging lane.
So that's the beginning, you know, so over in the tent where my other cars are,
and then they come around to the staging lane,
and people get to look at them a little more,
and get the juices flowing.
Do they normally, like, sent out,
and people already know what they want to buy when they come here?
Well, sometimes.
I mean, you know, I certainly didn't know,
and here I am today owning a car that I never thought I'd buy,
but it's one of those things.
Yeah.
It's a marketing.
So for instance, that Torino that you saw earlier I showed you,
my Talladega, we're going to promote that.
That's quite a special car.
Right.
So you promote it, and make sure that everybody knows
that it's going to be in Arizona for sale in March.
It certainly helps, but, you know,
you try to place a car.
So today and tomorrow are the really hot days,
because they're on the weekend, everybody's here.
Right.
Everybody's excited.
Right.
You know, the room is right.
Everybody's having a great time.
And guys like me show up to have no idea they're going to buy a car,
and then they do it.
So it's a fun experience, that's for sure.
You know, being part of this whole car community
and everything that we do.
And so, yeah, you got a great future.
We're friends, but we're friends through automobiles.
Yes.
And so you're into carburetor rebuilding and tuning.
Yes.
So it's not just rebuilding, it's tuning.
Oh, it's both.
Yeah.
So I started when I was really young, you know this story.
Yeah.
But I'll tell it to you again.
Yeah, you can tell.
I started when I was 13 when I wanted my first car.
And I'm from Florida.
And in Florida, the working laws,
you had to be 14 or older for minimum,
which was like eight dollars at the time,
which is not enough.
And I needed that job because my dad told me
I had to buy my first car.
Okay.
And he was not paying for it.
That's good advice.
Which is a very good advice.
Yeah.
As an adult now saying that and looking back on it.
And we've always been flipping things in the garage.
He's always had side hustles and that's just,
we should always have him side hustle.
Even with your own job or your primary job,
it's just something that he's raised me on.
So he's always been flipping cars.
And he's not even in the car industry.
He's in the doctors and all that, all the health.
And so I started doing car operators.
I walked down the garage and there was one on the shelf.
And I asked what it was.
It was like air fuel makes car go.
Yeah.
And I asked how much the margins would be for the profit.
And it was a really decent amount for a 13 year old.
And I did a competitive soccer.
So we travel all over the floor.
And I'm looking for really old carburetors.
He teach me how to negotiate all the prices down.
And really taught me how to like talk to adults
and make connections in the industry.
And use those connections to benefit yourself.
And a lot of business came from it.
And I did that for a while until I got enough money
to buy my first car, which was a 95 YJ.
It was rat infested, really ugly, awful.
And him and I worked on it.
And that's when COVID hit.
So we had two years of just nothing.
And we threw ourselves in that.
And we actually got it done by the time I was 14.
14.
14.
15.
Which we didn't think was going to happen.
We had a amazing car at 14.
15, just sitting there for a little bit.
And I kept making some money, but I had done my project.
I had gotten what I wanted.
I was just waiting to get my license and everything.
But you're making money rebuilding carburetors.
Rebuilding carburetors.
How did that happen?
So you went to some shops.
And asked if they needed a carburetor.
We'd instantly go on there.
We'd look up the location where it was.
We'd see how dirty they were, how grimy if I could actually rebuild them.
Because there's some that when you turn away.
And we'd try and see the lowest price.
So $50 was a really good margin for me.
Anything above was less profit off of my money.
But we would just run around on Facebook and Marketplace.
So you'd find a carburetor.
You'd buy the kit.
You'd clean it.
You'd rebuild it.
And we'd break it down.
So it'll blast it, ultrasonic tank it, and then rebuild it.
Okay.
And then you put it out for sale within the Marketplace again.
Yeah.
Exactly.
That's how you got going.
That's how we got going.
Okay.
And then I stopped for a bit.
And then once I started driving, I needed gas money.
So that's kind of a little bit picked up, not too much.
And then I crashed into my best friend's car.
Yeah.
And that was 10K in expenses.
So I had to pay for that, obviously, my fault.
So that's how I was like, I need to ramp this up.
Really ramp it up.
Really ramp it up.
Yeah.
And at that point, we had put on Facebook, like a little Facebook group, hey, I'm Riley,
explain for whole situation what I did.
If you have any parts for carburetors or old carburetors lying around, I would buy
them off of you.
I need to expand just from Florida because we even bought Florida out of carburetors
pretty much.
Mm-hmm.
And that post went viral on Facebook.
That in three days hit about 3 million people.
Wow.
And I had over the next two weeks, 300 carburetors for free on my doorstep.
Wow.
People were just sending them to you.
Just sending them.
Because everybody's like, oh, I have two or three on my shelf.
I never use.
Put them in a box.
What's your address?
Send them.
Wow.
And that's how it started.
And on eBay and Facebook Marketplace, we had a little rebuilding.
So you send us your carburetor, we rebuild it, we send it back.
Right.
And that went crazy too.
Yeah.
So we just had a major fluctuation of people talking to us and wanting business.
And I had too much to handle.
And I had four girl best friends.
And that's when the girls came in.
So they were all 18.
I had to teach them.
Two of them were really into cars and the other two weren't as much.
But they loved it.
And they all quit their part-time jobs and came to work full-time for me.
That's great.
Yeah.
So in the family garage, you start your own business.
You're rebuilding carburetors and it goes nuts.
Yes.
And you become famous.
A little bit.
A little bit.
Yeah.
That's okay.
And so it's amazing.
Except the power of the internet, of course, and Facebook and Instagram and all that stuff.
It is kind of crazy.
It is very crazy.
You wouldn't have gotten out otherwise than that.
But it's really cool that you're able to do this and you're in the business.
But you're a soccer player.
I am.
You have a scholarship and you're going up to Khan College, which is in Connecticut,
right down the street from my shop, basically.
So that's how we got to know each other.
Bogey, our good friend Bogey called me and said,
Hey, this is this girl and she's moving out to college and she's going to be right down the street.
Would you just say hi to her?
Because my dad and I, we knew that your daughter had gone to Khan College.
We were heading on the Khan call.
Yeah.
And we knew Bogey might know you.
We were asked and a couple of friends.
Yeah.
The role model we've seen.
I've grown up watching you.
My dad has raised me watching your shows.
That's great.
That's great.
Well, it's something how the automobile industry can affect in different ways.
I never thought of carburetors to tell you the truth, but it's true.
A lot of people and even our shop, we'll send certain carburetors out to have them rebuilt.
We don't want to do it in our shop.
There's some carburetors that are not fun at all.
No.
That's for sure.
A lot of little intricacies and gearing inside, you know.
So yeah, we send most of our Weber carburetors out now.
We don't mess around at all in the house.
We just put them in a box.
Yeah.
We turn away at a Brock's Quadra Jets.
Quadra Jets, you don't like?
No.
Okay.
Oh my gosh.
No.
We get one of those.
You're in the Hollies.
No.
No, not Hollies either.
Or just L Brock's four barrel normal of carters.
We do some Weber's, auto lights.
Hollies, we have dabbled in some of it.
It's just there's so many models and so many kits and so many all there.
But we do have a shops that we always refer to people to when they come to us.
I'm so sorry, but it's actually a dad and son team.
It's called the Carb Shop.
Okay.
The first people we always turn them to.
That's great.
So how can people find you?
All social media is Riley's Rebuilds.
That's Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube.
We have a website called Riley's Rebuild Shopify.
And that's where you can buy carburetors that we've already rebuilt.
Okay.
Or you can send your carburetor to us.
Okay.
And we'll rebuild that.
So we're going to have a little fun.
We have Mason Ball who works for me.
He's a recent graduate of McPherson College.
And he does a lot of our carburetor work.
And we're going to have you up.
We're going to have a little carburetor rebuild face off.
I would love that.
A shoot out.
The carb king and queen against each other.
Yeah, that's right.
The young people doing the work and who's the best at it.
Make them out as a draw.
Who knows?
Make them out as a draw, but it's going to be a lot of fun.
So we're going to have you up as soon as you get back to school.
We'll set that up and we'll have a lot of fun.
So I'm glad that you and your dad came today and got to see the auction.
Thank you.
And I hope you go in.
Now, there's one thing, do not raise your hand.
Yeah, that's what he was saying.
But unless you have one of these, you're safe.
Okay.
You have to have one with a number on it.
Okay.
So they won't take your bid unless you have one of those.
That's good.
But you have a very special one.
You're a VIP.
So that's cool.
And I'll have you know who whose tag that is.
So that was Richard Petty's.
He was here yesterday and we were able to get those.
So you're already, you're having the king around your neck.
Wow.
Nice talking with you, Riley.
It was really great talking to you.
Yeah, that was, that was a great time being with Riley.
You know, Meekum is so busy and there's so much action going on.
But we got the opportunity to go in the Ferrari room,
which was a great, quiet little space and really amazing to hear her story.
I mean, you know, she's got a great future.
She's doing a lot of television things right now.
And she's going to be fantastic.
The other thing it'd be good to wrap about at some point is what's going on with the auction world, right?
Because classic car prices are kind of all over the place.
Some stuff is going down, some stuff is holding steady and some stuff is still hitting record prices.
And it looks to me and you can tell me when, because you know more than anybody,
the blue chip stuff, the really, really blue chip stuff.
We're talking the gold wings in the 250s.
They're solid as ever, if not going up for the best of the best.
But some of the more mid-tier cars are slipping and your bottom cars,
the last ones to come up, maybe your 50s-era American cars or your traditional hot rods,
those are faltering a little bit and coming back down.
Would you say that's true?
Yeah, I mean, that's what's happening a little bit.
I mean, you know, we're finding that E-types are really soft at the moment.
Aston's DB4, 5s and 6s are sort of soft at the moment.
RestoMods are still doing very well as long as it's a freshly built RestoMod and Corvettes.
I mean, who would ever think that a RestoMod Corvette would do over a million dollars?
It's just, it's crazy, but that's what people want.
There's, gold wings are sort of crazy in the marketplace right now.
I know that two didn't sell at Scottsdale and they were very nice cars,
but then one spectacular car restored by Rudy Kanashek up in Canada,
it got over three million dollars at Bear Jackson.
Wow.
So that's set a new record for a gold wing.
Yeah.
It was an alloy, you know, an alloy engine and it had the disc brakes
and the knockoff, the rudge wheels, the luggage and all this stuff
and Rudy just does an unbelievable job in restoration.
Ticked all the boxes as they say.
It did.
And then one person, and of course it has to be more than one person in the room,
there was two or three people that thought three million dollars was not too much to spend on a gold wing apparently.
Yeah, it's crazy.
But, you know, the cars, the mid-tier cars, like you say, now hot rods,
you're never going to get your money back when you sell a hot rod.
It's just one of those things and it's an expression of yourself
and it's not maybe an expression of somebody else.
So, but we did very well.
We brought a sedan delivery and it's all for 270, so that's like $300,000 home and that was a very good price.
Now to build that car today, probably over a million dollars.
Yeah.
So, you know, if you're a buyer for a hot rod, sometimes it's be patient,
buy something that's all done and then personalize it yourself.
Just do maybe a little something to it to make it your own.
Yeah.
Now, I got caught up in that a little bit, Donna Kassemi.
I'm not supposed to go and buy anything.
You know, I'm on a sell mode trip to Kassemi.
What did you drag home?
What did you drag home?
I'm having lunch with my buddy Danny and his wife, Lisa.
And he said, hey, did you see that mole hot rod?
I said, what mole hot rod?
There's no mole hot rod here.
I said, oh yeah, that's in the staging lane.
Well, we dropped our sandwiches, ran out to the staging lane.
And of course, there is this blue mole hot rod.
Now, talk about making it your own.
So, I had seen this car from across the room in the tent I was in, but it had fat back tires on it.
And I'm not a fat back tire guy.
I just don't, I mean, it doesn't look like your traditional hot rod.
Right.
It looks like that 80s type hot rod.
Right.
So, I never went and looked.
Well, there it is.
The same car I'd been looking at.
But then I started looking closely at it and it was a mole car.
And it had a Gurney Westlake engine in it.
I mean, rare as hint, these Gurney Westlake.
And I saw that engine and all of a sudden it clicked.
I'd seen this car when Steve was building it.
And so, I was in a shop.
I was building my car at the same time with Steve and I'd seen it.
And I really liked it, but I never thought it was going to be an opportunity to buy it.
Well, I called Steve anyways, large story short.
He told me what, how wonderful the car was.
And I went up into the rafters in the gold section.
And I'm going to hide and hopefully nobody's going to see me bidding on this car.
Right.
Try to sneak it in, right?
Well, in the rafters.
And the young man is there and he's the bitter assistant.
And I said, I'm going to be bidding on two cars coming up.
It's a little hot rod.
I said, so you've got a whistle.
You've got a horn.
He says, no, I have a strong voice.
I said, well, you better have a pretty strong voice.
It's pretty loud in here today.
Oh, don't worry about it.
So car comes up on the stage and I said, start with 100 grand.
And all of a sudden he's, he's trying to get the bitter, the auctioneer's attention.
And all of a sudden it's already up to 120.
And I'm going, you're not screaming loud enough.
And then it gets up to 150.
And he's still trying to get the attention.
So finally I pushed them out of the way.
And I started wearing my arms around like this.
And they saw me well.
So much for being under covert.
Not only did the auctioneer see me, now the TV cameras see me.
And now I'm on TV and I'm waving my hands around like this.
And so I ended up buying the car.
And, of course, after that, my phone blew up.
Oh, nice car.
Oh, great buy.
I said, how did they see me?
Well, of course, I didn't realize that John Cramer was sitting down there.
And, and, and he said, hey, look, Wayne's buying this car.
Oh, no.
The embers were right up into the third rafters.
Oh, no.
So anyways, I have it back.
I love it.
But first of all, I see myself getting some new wheels and some skinnier tires.
Yeah.
And the fat tire deals gone away.
And Steve Moll is kind of semi-retired now.
He's sort of letting his son, Michael, take over.
So, well.
Yeah.
You know, the boys are taking over.
And Steve's still working very hard, but he's letting them run the operation.
Yeah.
So you got David and Michael Moll.
And they do a fabulous job working together, two brothers.
And of course, they got a really great crew.
Very small crew, but great.
And they've got Jimmy Kilroy, who's their metal guy.
And all they got to do is show Jimmy a picture of the car and he builds it.
There's no CAD drawings.
There's nothing.
He just sees a picture.
Give me the frame.
Give me a little bit of an idea where I'm going with this.
And, and bang, Jimmy builds it.
It's unbelievable.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Crazy skill.
Well, you're lucky to have a Moll car because I think they're, people are going
to look back at time and see him as one of the greatest hot rod coach builders of
all time, honestly.
Well, you know, there's great hot rod builders.
Ray Brizio is a great hot rod builder.
Sure.
His shop is fabulous.
There's lots of shops, but, but Steve can make a car from scratch.
That's why I say the term coach builder.
I really, when I say hot rod coach builder, right?
Like Roy Brizio, I've got a great shop up here called East Base Beaton Custom.
They do beautiful cars.
Yeah.
But the Moll difference to me is that he can fabricate a car from scratch
100%.
And there's not many guys that have that skill left in the world.
And I think the Moll family, what's four generations now has been doing that.
That's right.
Yeah.
That's right.
Did you hit Scottsdale as well?
I did not.
No.
You know, I broke the streak this year.
I've been at Scottsdale for about 25 straight years.
And I really saw no need.
I wasn't selling anything.
And it was just one of those, one of those times.
And of course I used to go a lot for a Haggerty.
Yeah.
And Haggerty didn't have too much going on this year.
So, you know, I enjoyed my stay at home now.
I understand that you were somewhere like in the high seas somewhere with a Mai Tai.
What was that?
I've had a couple trips in a row.
Yeah.
So I went out to Florida and I spoke for the Disney College Kids Program,
which they live at this campus called Flamingo Crossing,
and did a talk for about 400 Disney college students that work at Walt Disney World
while they're in college and they get college credit while they're doing this
and they're learning different trades.
It was great.
So I went to the Disney World and I was on board the cruise on board the fantasy.
We went to the Virgin Islands, U.S. and British Virgin Islands
and then stopped Disney has their own island called Castaway Key.
They used to be called Gorda Key.
And stopped there for a day in Keymax.
It was a seven day cruise with the family,
a couple more days at Walt Disney World and flew home.
So I've got my fellow Mickey.
I'm all, I'm good for a long time on Mickey.
Mickey note.
Mickey note.
And then this last weekend I went to the NASCAR Clash Race
that they do at the LA Coliseum.
I was asking about you and then I went to the Grand National Roadster Show.
So I got to got them both in and a weekend.
Well, and the weather played your hand very well with that because
because the race was supposed to be on Sunday
and the Grand National Roadster Show of course is all weekend.
You just couldn't do both, I think.
So when they moved the race up to Saturday,
which is a great thing because my flight was supposed to get in
at like six o'clock at night on Saturday to come to the race with you on Sunday.
And I had, I had a little something I had to do and I couldn't move back to front.
So anyways, it worked out that I couldn't go and but I watched on TV.
I saw you in the stands.
Yeah.
I think it was you.
It was me.
Yeah.
Actually at the very top of the LA Coliseum and it's a great,
it's not a huge Coliseum,
but at the very top of it is an open deck that they called the 1923 Club,
which is when the LA Coliseum opened the Memorial Coliseum open because
they did the 1936 Olympics there and they did the 84 Olympics there.
Right.
At the very top is this open deck and you've got a little kind of a countertop
and they serve food up there.
And that's where I watch from every year and I love it
because you've got a great view of everything and you're not boxed in.
You can walk around and sit on a rail and you need a hot dog
and you're going to be with me next year for that one.
Yeah.
I was certainly loved to do that.
And Joey was looking really good until that final restart.
They had that caution.
Yeah.
And that just kicked them on the, you know, at the restart,
he fell back to fourth and tried to move up.
He did well.
Yeah.
The problem is it's a very tiny little bowl that they're working in
and as soon as you lose a place to get it back is by hook or by crook.
You got somebody in front of you.
You inevitably are going to be lapping back markers inevitably.
And it's about luck about who's squeezing in there.
A lot of guys were moving up and falling down the order quite a bit.
Getting bumped.
It's not your fault yet.
You're going to a corner.
Somebody hits you in your back slides out.
You're done.
And you fall down the order.
And that happens quite a bit in that race.
But it's fun.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, we'll get to see him.
I'm going to Charlotte this year.
So we'll get to see all the NASCAR friends down there.
It'll be a lot of fun.
That's for sure.
But I'm sure you look like you were having a good time.
You sent me some pictures.
And so, and of course the Lightning McQueen was there too.
So.
Yeah.
We had a great time.
We had to get lightning out of there before the rain came.
Strangely enough, lightning and rain don't mix.
So we had to get him out of there before the storm began.
But we hope you're doing okay because of the storm.
It didn't impact your life too much, I hope.
No.
No, we're okay.
We're hanging in there.
I haven't finished the arc yet.
So, but we'll have the arc done probably by next week.
We're fine.
And then, you know, speaking of NASCAR, we're all going to be at the Emilia Island Concord
and Rick Hendrick is getting honored this year, which is pretty cool.
That's right.
You know, when I was at Kassemi, I ran into Mr. Hendrick and I got to spend a couple minutes
with him.
So just a super guy.
We took some pictures together.
And I told him I was coming down for this Smith Heritage event.
And so I'll see him there, but I'll see him at Emilia first.
So that'll be kind of cool.
There's going to be doing some panels.
Now, you and I have something to do on Friday with our friends from Classic Motorsports magazine.
And we're doing a little panel discussion there.
I hope that your plane is not going to be late so that you can arrive on time for that.
Yeah, I'm doing a red eye.
I'm doing a red eye to get in Friday morning just so I can be there with you.
That's great.
That's great.
Well, we'll have a lot of fun with that.
And then of course, Emilia Island, you and I judge there every year.
And it's just a great event.
We love being there.
And I understand they're going to let us do a little radio interview over there, too.
So with the interviewers that are doing that.
So we've got Justin Bell and Tommy K, TK, Tommy Kendall.
So we'll see if we can squeeze those guys off the stage and something for ourselves there.
I think it's going to be a Saturday afternoon.
They're going to ask us to do something.
Well, the good news is we got Matt Strauss.
And honestly, when he gets up there with the knuckles and just pushes people out of the way,
you know, those guys can't hold them.
Yeah, they're toast.
Matt's going to be with us for that Friday event, too.
Oh, good.
Yeah.
Matt's coming down.
Matt's going to be there.
We'll all be there.
We'll have all the whole gang together.
I love it.
I love it.
And I'm showing a Griffith this year down in Emilia.
So that'll be kind of fun at Griffith 200.
It was on an episode of Chasing Classic Cars.
I found it in Falls Church, Virginia, in a parking garage at a condo complex.
A high-rise condo complex.
And it was sitting in there for over 20 years.
When you say a Griffith, are you saying a TVR Griffith?
Yes, sir.
It was built by Jack Griffith out on Long Island.
And just a cool little car.
I've had several of them over the years.
And I finally found one.
I said, I'm going to restore this for myself.
And then a client of mine came along to see his Edwards America that we were restoring.
I remember that car, yeah.
Yeah.
And he had to have the Griffith.
So it's his Griffith.
And we're finishing the restoration.
Of course, you know, the truck's going to pull in the driveway in about a week to pick it up and we'll still be working on it.
That's what we do best.
Work under pressure.
Yeah.
Well, I know we're about out of time for today.
And I love the interview with Riley.
I wanted to talk about just a couple of books I've been reading lately that I think folks might be interested in.
So this is a, we don't do this too often, but I've got a book report for the week.
That's great.
I'd love to hear it.
Yeah.
So number one is this book called The Car by Brian Applyard.
And this guy is a Brit who writes the complete history of the automobile from the very, very beginning until what he is saying is basically we're at the very end of the internal combustion engine ruling the automotive world as EVs and autonomous cars are coming in.
We're closing out slowly this chapter of history of the automobile that we'll never see again and what the car was able to do in this 150 year span is amazing that it literally changed the world that you know and I know.
But he breaks it down in such a great way.
And he goes through a birth of Ben's driving the first Ben's as you know, in Germany, the birth of Henry Ford and the growth of how Henry Ford built that empire and how Detroit became the capital of automobiles rather than New York or another city.
It's all in here.
And it's a great, great read.
So check this one out.
And then just yesterday in my mailbox, I got a book by this guy, Ray Evernham, who you probably, yeah, his new book is called Yeah, trophies and scars.
I have not even got into the book yet.
I literally just got the copy.
He sent me one and said, Hey, I want you to read this and tell me what you think.
So I can't wait to jump into this.
I've already took a peek and it's written in such a really honest, beautiful way like Ray is.
He's just not a guy of pretense.
And you get a sense it's a genuine story by a genuine man.
Lots of great photos and stories in there.
So I can't wait to dive deeper into that.
Well, after we do this, I'm going to be on the phone with Ray asking where my copy is.
Don't tell him I told you.
I'm just going to say, I heard you have this wonderful book out.
I was wondering if you sign one for me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think he'll have him at Amelia, hopefully.
So that'd be great.
Yeah.
So I'm going to, I'm going to be heading to the Boca Concor.
It's a little bit different this year.
So I'll be doing that the week before Amelia.
Then I'm off to Glendale, Arizona, where Meekum is having an auction.
I'm selling a Talladega Torino, the ex George Poteet car that I own.
And so that'll be going across the block.
And so yeah, I'm busy flying around doing all sorts of stuff.
I'm going to also be at the, it's the antique motorcycle club of America.
There's 70th anniversary and I'm the grand marshal there.
So, and then of course I give a plug to our good friends over at Magneto magazine,
who actually just bought Octane magazine to David Lilly White, I should say.
Yeah.
And they just did an article about me and it's that magazine will be out at Amelia.
Yeah.
David Lilly White and Jeff Love have been, you know, working together for years.
And when they were at Octane, it was a great magazine.
I thought, ah, they, where's it going to go?
And they did a few other things.
They had some online things.
And then they launched Magneto and it is such a well done magazine.
So beautiful.
And it gives you hope that print is still worth having and collecting in Magneto's.
And I've got my row right here.
These are almost like little books and they're just beautiful.
I thought that they blend the two magazines together.
And I was on the phone with them the other day and he said,
Jeff and I are moving forward, maintain Octane magazine also.
Oh, that's great.
Good for him.
He's a great guy.
They're both great guys and I'm very happy for them.
And hopefully we'll see them out of Milly Island as well.
Well, it's great to talk with you again, Jay Ketchup and you too, Matt.
Nice to have you both here.
And we look forward to being with you at a million.
All right.
See you guys both down the road.
See you bud.
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