With Donald Osborne at the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival

Hello, from Chattanooga, I'm Jay Ward.

And I'm Wayne Carini, and this is Talking Classic Cars.

Today we have, well, I don't know how to describe my friend, Donald Osborn, indescribable, let

me read the whiteboard.

Yeah, I don't think we have to describe Donald yet.

Donald, I've been friends for over 40 years and we still can't figure out why we like

each other.

We keep trying to do that, but real quick, for everybody to know, Donald Osborn is the person

that cemented the deal and got me my TV show, Chasing Classic Cars, because he wrote an article

about my Hudson Italia that appeared in the New York Times and the head of my production

company, Jim Ostrowski, read that article on Sunday, called me on Monday, and the rest

is history.

Then, in turn, I got him out of his fair play.

That's right.

So, what's my car words called me and said, we'd like you to be the co-host, and I said,

I'm a little stretched and out thin.

But there's a good friend of mine, Donald Osborn, that fits your criteria perfectly.

He's knowledgeable.

He's a great guy, and they hired him.

And so, you're really responsible, Wayne, for me getting my next big break, which

is working with Jay Leno, because I was fired after two seasons from what's my

car with.

Well, they finally found out about you, huh?

Were you really fired?

I was absolutely fired, Jay.

What happened?

So, I got to tell you, so he comes and finds me at Scottsdale, and he goes on a set of

what's my car words, and he said, I didn't know we were filming today.

And they said, we are, but you're not.

That's how you found out.

Yeah.

I actually found out through a phone call, said, oh, well, you know, you're filming

across town.

He said, oh, we are, are we?

And so, yeah, yeah, I was fired for all the right reasons.

I was told I was too sophisticated for the show.

So I thought, well, that's a really terrific insult, and I'll take it.

But it was one of those situations that I think we've all been there where we

never know where life is going to take us.

And a door closes and a window wall opens.

So he comes up to dinner that night and he tells me the story.

I said, don't worry.

Things are meant for certain reasons.

There's something else around the corner that's going to happen to you.

It's going to be great.

And about a week later, Jay called me and said, what do you think about

Donald Osborn for my new TV show?

I said, it's fabulous.

And he got hard.

Exactly. Jay called me up there and talking to him about starting this new

show. And he said, would you be interested in not doing what's my

car worth anymore?

I said, well, you know, Jay, we have to think about this.

Yes.

Did you know Jay Leno at that point?

Yes, I did.

He had come to know me through my writing and we would meet out

in California at various events at Purple Beach and other places.

And we'd chat.

And so he was a fan of my writing.

I knew that.

But we had actually worked together for the first time in 2014.

I went and did an episode of his YouTube show.

He had never driven a lunch at Fulvia before.

And I had a beautiful lunch at Fulvia Sforza Gatto.

And I said, I'm going to bring it to Burbank and have you drive it.

And so that was the first time we worked together.

And the reaction to the to the YouTube segment was sensational.

People really like the way we interacted.

And so it's not something that might work.

Yeah, the relationship chemistry is definitely there.

Now, you and Jay are working together at a much deeper level now

because of the odd drain.

Now, tell me a little bit about how you went from Southern California

to how you got involved with the odd drain and how you got Jay Leno

and or how he got involved with the odd drain.

Well, much like Carini, Leno was the reason why I became

involved with the odd drain.

OK, back in 2016, they need to have an appraiser

come and appraise the collections and Jay knew of me and my work

course and recommended me to them as an appraiser.

So I went and did the appraisal job in 2016 and then started

working with them as a consultant on acquisitions and collection management.

And then when they plan the first 2019 odd drain

Newport Concord Motor Week, they asked me to come on

because they knew I'd had a great experience in the administration

of shows and attending shows and participating in shows.

And so I came up as a as a consultant for that.

And as the executive director of the Concord the first year,

and I was in Newport for a month, supervising things, getting together

in the day before the Concord of the chairman, Nick Schwarz,

his partner, Mike Weil, called me into Nick's office and said,

we're in like the way you work.

Would you think of moving to Newport and becoming the CEO

of the odd drain group to help us take this to the next level?

I said, sure, why not?

So when you called me and invited me to judge with that initial

fact, you called me and emailed first, but then you called me and said,

I really think this show is going to be special.

I want you to be part of it.

And I'm so glad you did.

But at that point, you weren't officially full time part of the odd

drain. I had been a consultant since 2016.

And it's very funny because when they first approached me about

being involved in the Concord Motor Week, my first reaction was,

oh, dear God, it's a world in another Concord.

And then I spent some time in Newport and I realized what

an incredible place Newport was.

And that for a variety of reasons, people was trying to

start a Concord Newport before back in 2007, 2009.

And somehow they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

because if there was ever a place that was meant to have an event

like that, it was Newport.

And when I realized the scale on which they were planning it,

I said, you know what, this could be something that really works.

Yeah. And we were talking about the previous event with David

Hobbs yesterday and how life.

So remember that event where I think the woman that it was

attempting to put this big show on had a few million dollars

given to her to do it.

And she blew it all at one event.

And she had David Piper and all sorts of great.

Sterling loss and death.

Everybody came. It was a wonderful event.

But then the next year there was no money and that was it.

It was all over one time.

But here's the thing about Nick Shorst.

What blew me away that first year because you did say he

has a vision for this thing.

He willed that show into existence with so much financial

backing that he just said, I'm not going to leave anything

done halfway. Everything will be done to the highest level

possible. And what you guys did by doing that was everybody

who left that show went away and told somebody you have to go

to this the next year because it is so amazing.

And I think it worked.

That strategy of going really all in all chips in that

first year.

Well, you know, it's no wonder that the two of you have

been involved in a show from the beginning and are so

enthusiastic about it because, frankly, it's also the way

the three of us think.

If you're going to do something, do it.

Don't just sort of phone in and it's not worth it.

You know, our enthusiasm goes through our nine to five and

our other activities as well.

And of course, for all of us, we get to make our nine to five

our pleasure and amusement.

And there's something that's so incredibly amazing about that.

So if you're going to do it, do it.

Yeah, not as just rehearsal, especially with something

like the Concord where people expect excellence and you go

to Newport Rhode Island and it's a beautiful, beautiful city.

You never bend.

You have to go the level of opulence in that city, in the

history of 120 years of this being the vacation homes for

the wealthiest people in New York.

And the automobile was such a big part of that history.

So, I mean, these people could afford anything to

Vanderbilt cup grease.

Yeah, it was there.

I mean, you know, and then, of course, the electric car

when people said electric cars, I didn't know they had electric

cars, but back in the teens and earlier than that, the electric

car was what Mrs. Vanderbilt would would call into the

butler and say, I'm going to go over to Susan's for tea this

afternoon and make sure my electric cars on the front.

So the electric car had such a big presence in Newport and

in a many wealthy city at Baltimore, you know, in New

York City, that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

And then it went away.

The minute the electric started, car, you know, car starter

came in, the electric car just disappeared.

The good about something that Jay said, one of the things

about Newport, it's a historic city.

There are very few cities in North America that were founded

in the 17th century and Newport was.

So it's got a very, very, very long history.

And what's really for me, what makes Newport really special

is the fact that it lives its history.

We all live and work in these incredibly historic buildings

that are still making history today.

That's one of the other things I think that makes a difference

in the Concord and Motor Week because it is of the city.

It is in these houses.

It is on these roads.

And also we see that as well in the veteran car tour

that we do as well.

And that Wayne has participated in where we do a 50 mile

drive from Newport up the Bristol Road Island and back

in 1907 and older cars.

And it is absolutely fantastic.

It's again, what we're all about, about celebrating,

sharing and preserving historic automobiles, but it's

living with them, driving them through the streets.

All the things that we love using them if it's key.

You know, Newport came back from a really low, really tough time.

Most of these mansions were empty.

They were, they were shuttered and a lot of them were broken into.

I mean, there were so many bad things going on.

And then the Navy left, you know, so it was a huge

Navy presence in Newport.

And when they left these houses in Newport were selling for $50,000.

They're now a million and a half to two million, three million

dollar house, the same house because nobody wanted to be in

Newport anymore.

Yeah.

And then suddenly this reassurance just happened that it was

unbelievable that the restorations of these homes and now

it's, it's a destination.

People just love going there.

And like you said, the preservation of the city.

I think it's somewhere that they respect the history.

They're not leveling everything and putting in a

Starbucks. They're very good about that.

Let's go back to your veteran car tour a little bit.

I think one thing you guys have done very well in the last

few years as you've grown the culture of Audrey and it's

really become a culture is you looked at Goodwood for some

positive things.

And you guys have a relationship with Goodwood now.

And for people who don't even know what Goodwood is, just

to explain a little bit about the parallels and what you

guys do with them.

Well, Goodwood is an amazing place.

It is the home of the, of the, his grace, the Duke of

Richmond, and who has been an incredible motoring

enthusiast and who revived the motor racing at his home,

which has existed from 1948 to 1966.

And it's an extraordinary thing.

They have three events a year, the Festival of Speed, which

is a hill climb up the driveway of the house that

attracts international stars and manufacturers, cars from

modern Formula One cars all the way back to cars and

turning the century.

They do the revival, which is a celebration of the

Goodwood road races and everyone gets dressed up in

period costumes and the cars are limited to those cars that

would have run at Goodwood from 1948 to 1966.

And that's a lot of fun.

Then they do the members meeting from the members of

the Goodwood Road Racing Club and Audrey Motorsport is the

connecting sponsor of the Goodwood members meeting.

And so we've got a very special relationship with them

for that.

And one of the things they do at Goodwood is again, it's

one of these things that it's all in.

Goodwood is a place that is the absolute, if you

imagine what sort of every upperclass young man and

young woman would do who was a car enthusiast before World War

II and immediately after, that's the life of Goodwood.

It's riding, it's off-roading, it's great sports cars,

it's great touring cars.

And over the top at Goodwood is just right.

It's right.

Yeah, fireworks and carnivals and concerts.

And so the way that the Duke and his team were able to take

the spirit of Goodwood and share that with so many people.

That's what we tried to do in Newport with the

Audre is to say Newport stands for history, luxury and sport.

And we can bring those things and realize those things

through our events, through celebrating the cars,

the people, Wayne mentioned the Vanderbilt.

Of course, Willie K Vanderbilt was one of the pioneers

in bringing automotive racing to America.

The first circuit race in the United States was held in

Cranston, Rhode Island in 1896.

And the first Vanderbilt Cup was in 1902 in Newport at the

Aqueduct Park racetrack.

And so there's a great long history.

And in fact, one of my funniest things I learned about it

that the first overnight incarceration for a traffic

infraction was in Newport.

1904, someone was arrested for speeding and put in

jail overnight.

They must have been going rather quick, maybe over 35 miles

per hour at the time.

I think they're going up with 25.

Oh, so I've got a similar story with with with

there's this car that was in the Buffalo, New York City

to Buffalo race.

And they flew the driver over from France.

And and he was practicing up and down Fifth Avenue in the

car and he got caught speeding and thrown in jail.

And they had to get a special lawyer to get him out

so he'd be in the race the very next day.

I was at Panhard.

And and and so that was really exciting.

We restored that Panhard for for Rob Coffin.

Yes.

And and that's been a hero event, too.

It has.

In fact, it won a major award there.

I think that's right.

I'm a show.

It's another Willie Kaye car.

That's right.

Willie Kaye owned that car and drove that car and

raced that car.

And, you know, so it's the idea, again, like they

have it good with of these cars not being sort of

precious objects that you observe from afar.

But you see them at speed.

You smell the hot oil.

You smell the clutches.

And it's what really turns us on about these cars and

makes it, I think, very special for people who perhaps

don't consider themselves automotive enthusiasts, don't

identify as automotive enthusiasts.

They discover their connection with cars by

seeing these cars being used.

And Wayne can testify this very, very well.

The people that see us do the battery car tour,

the smiles, the amazement.

It's like, hold on a second.

That's a what year Oldsmobile that you're going to

drive 50 miles in a drizzle.

And it's like, you know, there's Wayne, the big smile

on his face and say, yeah, what do anything else?

The first the first year we brought the Oldsmobile

and we were going up this hill and it's a one cylinder

car that went up the hill.

We were going maybe five miles an hour and a

jogger passed us and he pulls up next to us and

he talks to us as he's jogging and we're going

to log. He says, well, that was rice, you know,

Larry about your car.

Have a nice day.

And he took off and we're gone.

Jogged ahead of you.

What just happened?

Jogger passed us.

What year was the Oldsmobile? 1901.

01.

So there are cars that are now 122 years old.

They're still on the road and driving 50

miles fairly reliably, right?

You had to change some spark plugs that

fouled, I think a few little things along

the way. But you set up that time for

people to enjoy that trip.

What I think is exciting is I'm hearing that

there's a younger generation.

People under 40 even, they're excited about

the cars in this era, which they have no

relation to at all.

It is astonishing.

There's always been the idea that we work

in the collector car space with that basic

bell curve, the cars we lost it after at

17, we can now afford a 40.

And so as those cars come into the

marketplace as that cohort ages, these

cars become valuable and interesting.

And then as they move out of the

collecting and active use of the cars,

then the values drop and no one cares

about them and they get thrown away or

whatever.

Obviously, the people who lost it after a 1901

car when they were teenagers are slightly

gone and yet there's more interest in

that area than ever before.

And it's been really hardening.

We're talking here in Chattanooga and

at the racetrack, looking at the

veteran car group of racers, so many

very young people from six to 18 years

old who were absolutely fascinated by

these cars and captivated by them.

It's an amazing thing.

I think something that that bodes very

well in the future of.

Yeah, you know, I remember 20 years

ago when people were dying that owned

the brass cars and I said, man, this

is going to be my opportunity to

swoop in and buy a really great brass

car for like 20 cents on the dollar.

Well, it went the exact opposite way.

New people got involved.

Tours happened and all of a sudden

now brass cars are untouchable.

Yeah, some of them really did great

incredible, you know, but it doesn't

matter what it is.

If it's a model to you, whatever,

if you're involved with that era car,

yeah, it's something special.

It really is.

I mean, you know, to really realize

that this is what people did.

That's just how they drove around

and the involvement that these

cars, the man that you had as a

driver, even as a passenger, is

something that also is very welcoming

to younger people because they've

grown up in an age where everything

is automatic, everything is sealed,

everything is hidden, everything is

disposable when you realize this is

the car that you have to pay

attention every moment you're behind

the wheel in order to keep it going

forward.

And that's something which is a

challenge and something that they

probably haven't really had in their

lives before.

It's true.

So you get the Australian

Concorde is grown over the

years. We're here in Chattanooga

and it's got very similar growth

here where as it gets

older. So this is the fourth

year. You were in your fourth

year.

Fourth year. Both events

started in 2019.

Yeah. And so I see that

growth to be similar.

And what I like of what you guys

are doing, I made a comment to you

earlier in the week that

it's you've got such spectacular

cars to come from the West Coast

from all over the place, Europe

and Japan.

You don't forget about your local

people.

And that's so important that

if you get all these great cars

that show up and it squeezes

all the other people out

that love cars, the new 40

Connecticut and New Jersey,

wherever it may be, they all feel

like, oh, I can't go to that

because because it's just the big

dogs there.

What you're doing is you're

controlling that.

Well, thank you very much, Wayne.

And I have to be very careful

because

Jay, you're sitting very close to

me and you could get me with a

quick left jab.

But I enjoyed the time I spent

living in California for

11 years.

And everyone knows that

California is in so many ways

the center of car culture for

many people in the country and

around the world.

But I also have to say that

I have been so impressed

with the energy of

the car culture in southern

New England.

It is astonishing.

So many people have come up to

me at events and we've done our

cars and coffee events or the

Concours and even in the museum

and said, thank you so much for

bringing this car culture to

Rhode Island.

I said, we did nothing of the

sword.

We allowed the car culture

that was here a place to come

and share community.

And it's one of the things

that I think is so important

because there are a lot of people

who still have the idea that car

collecting is something that

billionaires do.

And it is.

You can have a wonderful car that

excites you, that teaches you about

history, that brings you into a

group of community that you pay

$5,000 for.

And it can be the best example

of something of that particular

car.

And it's not going to be a

50,000, a 5 million or 50

million dollar car.

One of the things that we're

very proud of at the

Drain is

filling the idea that Jay had,

Jay Leno had for the 30

under 30 class,

which is so incredibly important.

It's a class for cars

owned by people who are 30 years

older, younger.

And they have $30,000 or less

invested in their cars.

And it is that entry point

so that people can say that

it's not, they don't have a

children's table.

It's not a separate event

someplace on another lawn

somewhere.

They are on the main lawn

of the Concord,

judged exactly the way

the other cars on the lawn

are judged.

And they get to feel included.

This is their first step

into the places that they will

grow as collectors.

Well, that's true.

And that's that's what's going

to happen to them.

You know, that you take

that first step,

you put your toe in the water

and next thing, you know,

you're immersed.

And I judge that class

from the first year for you

guys, which I've really

enjoyed.

I don't think I'd want to

judge anything else because

what I do love about it is

the cars are meaningful to

them and the cars are

significant to them.

So when you judge the 30

under 30 class,

we're not looking at the

world's most perfect BMW

318i.

We're looking for the car

that the person worked on

themselves, the car that

the person modified or that

their father handed down to

them that they were stored

together.

Those stories to me are so

important.

That's why they have an

emotional connection

to these cars.

There's a young man,

the last time I judged,

that had a Franklin

and that's an air cooled

car, free war.

And this kid knew

everything about

Franklins.

And he was the youngest

member of the Franklin Club.

And I was like, there is hope.

I mean, this is awesome.

Yeah.

He won his class.

Yeah.

And what's really important

about that two days,

the fact that what we'd like

to do, all of us,

is to inculcate in young

people who are interested

in cars that personal

connection so that when they

grow to a position where

they can afford a more

expensive car, they're not

just buying the car

because it's more valuable

or will be more valuable

in five years.

They're buying it because

it really speaks to them.

That's the core essence

of collecting.

If you can afford a Ferrari

250LM, you buy it

because, oh my god,

this is a car that I

saw on the cover Road and

Track magazine.

And I read that my heroes

raced.

That's why you want that car.

Not because, oh, it's really

valuable, it's worth racing

Ferrari.

It's going to be worth a lot

more money someday.

Who cares?

You know, it's been a great

time visiting with you.

We could be here for another

five hours, but our time

is up.

So we want to thank you

for coming in and talking

to us here at the Chattanooga

Motor Car Festival.

And we're going to go out

and look at some cars.

Absolutely. Let's go.

All right.

Thanks, guys.

See you on the road.

Thank you.

With Donald Osborne at the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival

About this episode

Lancia Fulvia

electric car

car starter

veteran car

Goodwood Festival of Speed

Goodwood Revival

Goodwood Members Meeting

Audrey Motorsport

circuit race

Vanderbilt Cup

speeding

Buffalo to New York City race

Chrysler Fifth Avenue

car culture

entry point

BMW 318I

air cooled

car collecting

Ferrari 250 LM

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