Driving Down Memory Lane: VW Tales with Mr. Mahalo Ep13

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Music.

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Today, we've got a VW legend in the house. He's a retired Navy veteran with 33 years of service.

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By the way, thank you so much for your service. I appreciate it so very much.

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This guy's a hardcore VW enthusiast. He's got some insane stories.

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One that I can't wait for you guys to hear is how he fixed a broken belt with a bra strap.

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Yes, with a bra strap. That's going to be a cool story. This happened on the highway.

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I can't wait to hear about it just a little bit later. Mark Tanaz aka Mr.

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Mahalo welcome to the show.

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Thank you for having me this is awesome. Yeah man awesome thank you so much for being here.

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Real quick before we get started I'd love to give a shout out to my sponsor

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which is Volksmania magazine.

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Watch out for our feature coming up in issue number 22.

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subscribing and And that's the point.

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That's why they sponsor me. So hook us up, hook them up.

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Also, check us out, dublifediaries.com. Keep in mind, I'm always looking for guests.

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Guests are you, the VW community.

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You have stories. They're amazing. I want to share them. So this podcast is made for you.

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You can register for a guest on the top right corner of my website.

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Again, dublifediaries.com.

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Holler at me. I'll make it super simple for you. Mark, you can probably attest to that.

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I try to make sure you're prepared and make sure that it's a seamless,

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you know, I try to do it at a time that's most convenient for you.

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So yeah, get in touch with me.

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And okay, my brother, back to you. I'd love to know, Mr. Mahalo,

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which from what I understand is an expression of gratitude.

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Where'd the name come from and how'd you get that name?

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Well, I was stationed in Hawaii and I was one of the very few folks that weren't pilots.

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And some of the pilots would kind of tell me some information.

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And quite frankly, they like to hear them talk.

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They like to hear just how great they are and i

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instead of saying like yeah thanks i would just say mahalo

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which is thank you in hawaiian it was a little

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passive aggressive well what happened is the pilots the pilots were like hey

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let's you know where's mr mahalo and so it it kind of ended up being an identity

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and people forgot what my real name was and probably the last 15 years of my

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naval service i was known as mr Mahalo.

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Yeah. So that's kind of how it happened. And then, you know,

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I created my own car shows and, and, and started, you know, having a Polynesian

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theme with all with, with that kind of Hawaiian mix in there.

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And so it's just kind of become its own animal.

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Yeah. We're going to talk about those, those car shows here in just a little

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while real quick up front.

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I want to hear just a little bit about your family, a little bit about you as,

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as an individual, if you don't mind, share just a little bit about you and your family.

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Yeah. So married in a blended family, six kids.

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They're all great kids. I got one in the Air Force that is that's coming home from a deployment.

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Got one that's an actor in L.A. Oh, cool.

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I got a couple of bonus kids. One one daughter that just got married.

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Another one in the D.C. area.

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Got one going to University of California, St. Marcos. So my wife and I are pretty busy.

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We want to get them out of the house and then visit once in a while and then

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and then kind of have our alone time. So, yeah, so we're really good. We're super healthy.

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Yeah. You just kind of want them to like, you know, Hey, go out there,

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but don't send me the bill, you know?

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So mine are, mine are at that age where they're, you're probably five,

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maybe seven years ahead of me. My oldest is 19.

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And then I go, and then I go all the way down to my teens, a 14 year old.

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Then we jump way down and go to a five-year-old, but, oh, you're busy.

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Yeah. But those teens, like I said, I'm close to that.

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I'm not quite there right now. I'm at the stage where I'm like,

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damn, they just got a job and I kind of miss them.

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I kind of miss them being here all day. Yeah. You'll get over that.

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I bet I will. I bet I will. Growing up in Northern Virginia,

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tell me what that was like.

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You know, it's, it's a community that's right next to DC, but it has all four seasons.

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In fact, you know, we went back there a couple of weeks ago and it was the cherry

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blossoms were all coming out at the nation's capital, real beautiful weather.

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Then it kind of like really goes into the back into the 40s and 30s and then

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maybe a couple days back in the 60s.

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Definitely hot and humid in the summertime, cold and wet snow in the winter,

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but just a beautiful area.

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I mean, you know, there's a lot of energy being next to the nation's capital,

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but it's definitely, it's a lot of history and a great community.

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And it's one of the first that i

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remember a bug out that i went to that was i

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was probably about 19 where it was

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my first experience where these vw people are

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freaks i mean it was it was pretty cool it

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was a big like a retired airport

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that like i think lost its certification and it

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was just packed with vws and people selling their

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cars selling parts it was pretty awesome

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yeah big swap meet action going on

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yeah you know i went to dc this year

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for the first time with my family mind you and it

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was a it was an amazing experience my wife and i had been wanting to go but

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they were just too young yeah we did we did some other things you know from

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out from california all the way into arizona and different lakes and monuments

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and grand canyon type of stuff we wanted to do dc But eventually we did.

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So we were there for July 4th last year.

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And to my surprise, the city was amazingly clean.

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I wasn't expecting that, you know, I'm expecting New York. I'm expecting LA.

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I'm expecting big city vibe.

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Nah, man, they keep it in check around there. And I kind of,

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I kind of valued that now it was independence day.

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So maybe that had something to do with it. There was tons of events and things

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going on, lots of energy and activity, but man, I was like, damn,

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this place is pretty nice.

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So I believe, I believe the, the, the change of that was when they decided to

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rebuild Anacosta where I think the nationals play.

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And so that whole area was, I mean, it was bad for, for decades and they rebuilt that area.

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And I think the energy was so positive. They just continue to clean throughout the city.

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And DC takes a lot of pride in, in making sure that, you know,

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there's a lot of visitors, the Smithsonian's there.

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Right. We did that too. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's a, it's a great city to visit.

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It's the only place I know in the world where all the major museums are free

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and, and you actually see some really great stuff.

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Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to concur. We did. And my kids were, were even entertained,

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you know, if that, if that anything to anybody, my kids. Yeah.

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Yeah. So let's talk about how you first got into VWs.

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Yeah. So it's my parents owned a, they owned two super Beatles, one is 73 and one is 74.

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And i'm gonna date myself and it

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was a the typical beige semi-automatic auto

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stick right yeah yeah and and that's like

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a whole that's like a subculture you know in that

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world a lot of people you know they go where's your clutch and it's like i don't

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have one you know and i so i tell this story all the time and i date myself

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as my father kidnapped me to sit in the car and keep him company while we were

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in the gas lines in the early seventies.

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And so I'm like four or five years old and I'm, you know, we're,

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we're, we're literally waiting to put gas in the car.

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And I just started asking him questions and it was, what does this button do?

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What does this button do?

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And really it, it just kind of triggered. And then I got nothing to do there.

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Remember there's no, there's no iPhone, there's no iPad to keep you occupied.

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And so I just kind of looked at the owner's manual for the just,

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you know, pictures and try to understand stuff. And the super beetle has like the front,

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you know, defroster with the vent on it. And it had like just different buttons.

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And my dad just started explaining, well, you mix that with the heat.

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And I said, well, where does the heat come from? So he showed the,

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you know, the heater valves that are next to the emergency brake and like how things were gone.

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I mean, it was just, I was just very intrigued by it.

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And my sister inherited the car when she started driving.

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And then she went off and went on to, you know, turn 16.

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And it was, it became really my identity.

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I mean, everything was about, you know, getting the bug and go over there and

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do stuff. And so that's what kind of triggered knowledge of it.

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And, you know, I think bugs were kind of a dime a dozen back then in the,

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in the mid, mid eighties, you know, it was usually kids first cars.

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So, so it was kind of like, you know, you kind of like, oh, what's your bug? Oh, okay, great.

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You know, it, it doesn't, I

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didn't think it was as, The energy wasn't there, I think, in the 80s yet.

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And I remember asking my dad, what's a Ghia?

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I didn't understand what that was, a Ghia. And so we saw one and I said,

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I thought that was a Porsche.

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And he goes, yeah, he's like, it sure does. It does look like one, right?

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So it was that kind of thing. And ever since then, I've been kind of hooked.

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Awesome. So we're right about here where you got your first car.

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You're obviously in high school.

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Any crazy VW memories or anything that stands out on high school stories, having a Volkswagen?

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Well, I think you're going to, I think this is the story you're looking for.

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So was, you know, I try to explain this to people and they don't understand

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you don't have like a flip phone back then. And so. No navigation.

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All right. We were using maps, y'all. i know i know

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and you and you and the the person sitting next to you you know

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is like okay g12 we're we're so a

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triple a trip tick you remember yeah yeah exactly i'm

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glad you like you got it so we were coming from

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manassas the the trip you know where bull run

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is and we're on our way back to northern virginia and

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uh we're taking the back roads and it's

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the it's it's what you hear it's that pow and that

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it the the alternator belt

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that has a very distinct sound when it

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when it snaps and so I pulled over and

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so it's kind of like you could tell it's overheating so

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I'm sitting there and I just gave my dad always told me have a spare belt in

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the car and at that point I kind of knew how to change the belt and I had just

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given the belt to a guy that had a BW thing and his belt broke and he didn't have one.

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And so I gave him that one. So I was like, all right, cool.

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So, but I never remembered to like get another one.

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And so, I mean, there's, it's just gone.

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There's nothing left. And so I go down and there's a Kmart, which I don't even know.

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Some of these young kids don't even know what a Kmart is. And there's a,

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there was like a pay phone.

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So I called my dad and he goes, we'll use the spare belt. And I said,

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well, I forgot I gave it to somebody.

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And so he's like, we'll go into Kmart and see if they have something.

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And Kmart was not mechanically available back then. Now I think you,

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you know, Walmart has all the cool stuff.

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And so he said, well, who are you with? And I said, well, I'm here with my girl.

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I won't, I won't say who it is, but I was with my girl and he goes, is she wearing nylons?

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And I said, I said, no, she's not.

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And he goes, is she going, well, does she have her bra on? And I said,

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I said, you know, I looked at her and I was like, yeah, she has a bra on.

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And she goes, all right, this is what I want you to do. Ask her for her bra.

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And so I call out her name and she's like, are you crazy?

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This is two 17 year olds. And so he just said, he said, there's cutting.

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He said in your little tool bag, that's where the spare belt was.

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There's some cutting shears, like industrial cutting shears.

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He said, just, you know, try to cut out the cups.

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And then he goes, just wrap it twice and loop it around. just you have to like

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really make put an effort and then clip it in there and he says don't go past.

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25 miles an hour and you'll hear it slip when

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you start going fast but it should get you to the to

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the gas station and so now i gotta well

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negotiate for this bra and so sure you know wrap it around clip it and then

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start it and it's actually working but i can see that it's slowly like it's

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it's not gonna last long and and so we get in the car and i drive and that's

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the thing about the semi-automatic,

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you know, I don't have to use the clutch, you know what I mean?

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To like manipulate the speed.

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So I just leave it and I go and my dad was right. As soon as about 25 mile an

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hour, you'd hear that like it would slip.

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And about seven miles later, we pulled into a Sunoco and I was able to,

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I was able in there and the thing looked like it came back from,

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you know, a war zone, you know?

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And I tried to give it back to my girlfriend. She's like, why do I want this

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back? What's wrong with you?

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So the best part was watching her. I think she just was holding up her puppies

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the whole time because the whole car was shaking.

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Unbelievable, man. What a cool story.

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And I've shared that with a couple of people and they understood the math and

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they've used, they have used nylons.

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I've heard about nylons being used.

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In Brazil, I think they use a type of like a zip wire specific,

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like a temporary zip wire that goes around and it creates enough tension in

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there to get you to, for an emergency.

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Right. But I don't think anyone's used a bra.

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That's pretty cool. Transitioning from the super beetle to today's 66 convertible.

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Tell me what's special about this 66 convertible.

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Well, I, I, you know, you, you're a parent, you know, priorities are braces

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and, you know, and I was in the military.

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I was, I was transferring a lot and I, I, I really wanted to get back into a

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vintage car and I wanted to get back into a VW and, um, I had a 73 convertible.

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Uh, that was, someone was very generous, basically just, you know,

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just have it, you know, I, I paid it a fair amount of money,

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but it was a really great car, but there was something about the sixties and

00:15:59.221 --> 00:16:02.601
the way the flat window and the way that there's all metal.

00:16:03.381 --> 00:16:06.701
And it was basically pretty much an open adoption with

00:16:06.701 --> 00:16:10.561
a family and you know they kind of interviewed and

00:16:10.561 --> 00:16:14.041
you know we became friends and they

00:16:14.041 --> 00:16:17.621
drove it from yuba city sacramento and

00:16:17.621 --> 00:16:21.441
brought it all the way back back down to temecula california and

00:16:21.441 --> 00:16:24.261
it was ruby red it was gorgeous i fell

00:16:24.261 --> 00:16:27.261
in love with her her name is ruby we're facebook friends

00:16:27.261 --> 00:16:30.201
with the previous owners they're always asking about updates with

00:16:30.201 --> 00:16:33.381
the with the car oh so calm and yeah and

00:16:33.381 --> 00:16:36.321
it's it's just been it's just really it's a great car

00:16:36.321 --> 00:16:43.001
it's been fun to drive i pulled the 1300 out put a 1600 in there just because

00:16:43.001 --> 00:16:48.341
i needed to get to it like 60 to 65 on the highway because californians drive

00:16:48.341 --> 00:16:52.401
incredibly fast but if i can at least get to the right lane you know i get like

00:16:52.401 --> 00:16:55.441
a wave or a thumbs up you know if i was in if i was

00:16:55.561 --> 00:16:59.921
a Honda, I'd get the finger if I was driving 60, 65.

00:17:00.341 --> 00:17:05.501
That's funny. Yeah. I had a beetle that did 55 at best, at best,

00:17:05.561 --> 00:17:09.281
at best. I remember that, that feeling, but 65.

00:17:09.601 --> 00:17:11.321
Yeah. You're, you're upgrading now.

00:17:11.941 --> 00:17:17.101
Yeah. It was, it's just a great car. The previous owners did a little bit of work to it.

00:17:17.241 --> 00:17:20.781
And then I, I put all, put some other accessories on there and just,

00:17:20.881 --> 00:17:23.901
and clean it up and then saved a lot of money.

00:17:24.401 --> 00:17:27.841
And just right now it's being, it was refurbished in 87.

00:17:28.721 --> 00:17:32.121
So new paint job, new top, new interior.

00:17:32.881 --> 00:17:36.421
And I was at a place where I was like, okay, I kind of need to get some stuff

00:17:36.421 --> 00:17:40.561
done so my kids can enjoy it for another 30, 40 years and it's all done.

00:17:40.701 --> 00:17:45.521
And I found a great guy who's doing it, very patient.

00:17:46.341 --> 00:17:51.601
And there's a sense of vulnerability when you get a, a car redone, right?

00:17:51.841 --> 00:17:54.921
There's, you know, cause they tell you that, Hey, I'm going to pull some stuff

00:17:54.921 --> 00:17:58.721
off and I'm going to find some things, you know, be ready for it.

00:17:58.781 --> 00:18:02.401
And I'm thinking, Oh my God, this, this car is 50 years old. What's he going to find?

00:18:03.065 --> 00:18:08.105
He was very sincere. He was very honest. And he said, Hey, I found two small cracks.

00:18:08.265 --> 00:18:12.125
I, you know, I'm going to weld those, but he's like, your car is super solid

00:18:12.125 --> 00:18:16.365
and you know, it's going to be a great car for the next 50 years.

00:18:16.585 --> 00:18:20.805
And so I was so stoked that it was too small and it, they, they were hidden

00:18:20.805 --> 00:18:24.325
from the, from the top, you know, when you, when you bring down top.

00:18:24.465 --> 00:18:26.565
So he was able to zap those. Okay.

00:18:27.165 --> 00:18:32.185
Yeah. So new interior, new top, a new paint job, new running boards,

00:18:32.465 --> 00:18:33.965
you know, all the, all the cool stuff.

00:18:34.465 --> 00:18:39.425
Yeah. So I know this is, I've, I've fathomed with what you're saying and describing,

00:18:39.425 --> 00:18:43.885
because that's kind of, you know, when somebody else has your baby,

00:18:44.125 --> 00:18:48.745
so to speak, and you're almost waiting, anticipating hourly by the minute,

00:18:48.925 --> 00:18:52.045
by the day, you know, what that, that feedback's going to be.

00:18:52.485 --> 00:18:56.425
And some of us, we look great on the outside. And when we get down and start

00:18:56.425 --> 00:18:59.665
breaking some metal down, we're like, oh, there's some stuff in here.

00:18:59.745 --> 00:19:02.785
And I think that's what you were referring to other times they they

00:19:02.785 --> 00:19:06.085
break those cars down and they say what what been

00:19:06.085 --> 00:19:08.825
said to you you know wow this thing's in really

00:19:08.825 --> 00:19:11.605
good shape i've seen it go both ways i've seen them look

00:19:11.605 --> 00:19:14.725
great on the outside and be be pretty torched on the inside and

00:19:14.725 --> 00:19:21.325
you know so yeah biggest oh moment for you during this build so far any other

00:19:21.325 --> 00:19:24.965
surprises i know just two cracks and it's in pretty good shape but any other

00:19:24.965 --> 00:19:30.905
surprises no not really i i i did want to just visit on this what I think is

00:19:30.905 --> 00:19:33.265
great about the community,

00:19:33.265 --> 00:19:36.945
like the maintenance side of the community and the folks that redo stuff,

00:19:37.085 --> 00:19:41.965
I think the integrity of the folks that take care of our cars,

00:19:42.125 --> 00:19:44.585
that are beyond our capabilities in the garage.

00:19:45.505 --> 00:19:52.645
Is so, it's, to us that's a big deal, and I think that I have a roller deck,

00:19:52.765 --> 00:19:58.385
I don't even know if we have roller decks anymore, but I have a bunch of phone numbers of people that.

00:19:59.041 --> 00:20:06.161
Love and have a passion to restore vehicles at what I call the carcass level.

00:20:06.341 --> 00:20:10.181
I mean, it's stripped, it's all gone, and they take their time.

00:20:10.461 --> 00:20:17.561
And yes, some of them are not cheap, but they provide you a quality product.

00:20:17.601 --> 00:20:23.221
And there's a couple of them here in California that there's a waiting list

00:20:23.221 --> 00:20:24.741
to get involved with them.

00:20:24.941 --> 00:20:28.061
And they take great pride in their work. they take

00:20:28.061 --> 00:20:30.921
great pride in their welding is like an art now it's

00:20:30.921 --> 00:20:34.021
not just you know it's it's especially with vintage cars

00:20:34.021 --> 00:20:37.101
and i think randy carlson

00:20:37.101 --> 00:20:41.381
and i were talking about this one time is you know there's no more spare parts

00:20:41.381 --> 00:20:45.721
you know they're not not really it's not like you call wolfsburg in germany

00:20:45.721 --> 00:20:52.341
but we do have the stomatics and the stomatics get to the mechanics or the or

00:20:52.341 --> 00:20:54.421
the welders and the engineers,

00:20:54.741 --> 00:20:57.921
and they're so good, they can make them.

00:20:58.261 --> 00:21:06.101
And as long as we have the stomatics, I think we're super blessed to have stuff replaced, metal-wise.

00:21:06.601 --> 00:21:10.981
Yeah, no, good call. And yes, true art.

00:21:11.281 --> 00:21:17.041
We got a guy here that specializes in rust and metal up in Sanford,

00:21:17.041 --> 00:21:18.681
in Florida. Shout out Jason Davis.

00:21:19.521 --> 00:21:23.841
But yeah, it's a, it's a special. And like you said, there's a Rolodex.

00:21:24.401 --> 00:21:28.901
I was smiling when you were saying that. Cause I'm thinking like I've got one

00:21:28.901 --> 00:21:33.461
person that's a specialist in every like one category. You got one interior guy,

00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:39.580
One guy for rims and tires. You got one guy for paint. You got one guy for metal.

00:21:40.040 --> 00:21:43.740
Right. So yeah, I was smiling through that. And then I got my tires.

00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:48.440
When I got my tires, a guy that works at a tire store is in my BW club.

00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:51.980
And I said, Hey, I need these, you know, these tires.

00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:56.860
And he said, gotcha. And so I roll in and it's, it's kind of mechanical.

00:21:57.080 --> 00:22:00.500
You like, it's like all the regular newer cars roll in and they,

00:22:00.600 --> 00:22:02.840
they jack them up, you know, and you hear those.

00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:07.120
It's like, hey, man, we're not in the, you know, it's like some kind of race.

00:22:08.760 --> 00:22:14.780
He greets me and he understands that that vehicle is tender and it's old.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:21.120
And so he comes in and he tells the guy, you know, jack one side up at a time,

00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:24.860
take the tire off with the, with the gun.

00:22:25.060 --> 00:22:28.600
But when you put the lug nuts back on, you're going to do it by hand.

00:22:28.700 --> 00:22:32.920
And then we're going to crank it up, you know, like mechanically, not with the air gun.

00:22:33.040 --> 00:22:36.940
Right. Like all it takes is, you know, when they, it's, they strip everything

00:22:36.940 --> 00:22:41.140
and, and I've had that happen before, but it's that community,

00:22:41.140 --> 00:22:44.700
which I appreciate that understands, you know, we're, we're,

00:22:44.740 --> 00:22:47.300
we're, we're not at a NASCAR changing tires.

00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:52.120
And so you just meet people in your clubs that say, Hey, stop by my shop.

00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:54.940
I'll, you know, I'll take care of you and not net.

00:22:55.060 --> 00:23:00.780
I don't need the discount. I need the attention to detail to respect my vehicle. Craftsmanship.

00:23:01.420 --> 00:23:06.220
Yeah. I've got a buddy down here that's a mechanic, very mechanical guy.

00:23:06.560 --> 00:23:11.660
His choice is air-cooled Volkswagens, and he does it out of his house,

00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:13.800
and he's just special. He's a special dude.

00:23:14.020 --> 00:23:20.760
He cares about the outcome almost as much as you do, and it shows in his work.

00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:23.200
Let's talk about if money was no object.

00:23:23.460 --> 00:23:27.940
Do you have your dream build already, or would you dream up something else? Yeah.

00:23:28.290 --> 00:23:32.370
So I, as a romantic, right. Yeah.

00:23:32.610 --> 00:23:35.410
And you win the lottery, you know, you kind of start taking and choosing,

00:23:35.430 --> 00:23:39.190
I probably would, you know, there's two cars that I'm really attracted to.

00:23:39.370 --> 00:23:47.690
One is probably is the first, and I think it's 62 is the first camper the bus

00:23:47.690 --> 00:23:49.630
came out with. And I think it was 62.

00:23:50.130 --> 00:23:53.770
And there's some arguments like, you know, they probably made them earlier,

00:23:53.770 --> 00:23:56.730
but they were subcontracted but i am i

00:23:56.730 --> 00:23:59.750
am in the have that romance with the wooden you know

00:23:59.750 --> 00:24:03.070
everything's wood in there and the sink and stuff yeah

00:24:03.070 --> 00:24:06.070
but i think for beetle it would probably

00:24:06.070 --> 00:24:14.150
be like the 52 split rag top with the crotch vents and i i try to you know they're

00:24:14.150 --> 00:24:18.490
they're hard to find in that category so not only does it have to be a split

00:24:18.490 --> 00:24:25.150
not only does it have to have crotch vents It has to be a ragtop and so, and not a convertible.

00:24:25.290 --> 00:24:30.570
Cause a lot of people think the ragtop is a convertible and the ones on the

00:24:30.570 --> 00:24:32.170
outside, the non VW people do.

00:24:32.350 --> 00:24:36.610
So, so I explained it to him and I showed one to a friend of mine and he goes,

00:24:36.750 --> 00:24:40.230
this is the sickest car I have ever seen.

00:24:40.730 --> 00:24:44.810
And they just thought it was so cool that you,

00:24:45.030 --> 00:24:49.350
you know, pull the levers or push the levers and the crotch vents, you know,

00:24:49.530 --> 00:24:54.970
open and, you know, the split has the console more towards the middle with the,

00:24:54.970 --> 00:25:01.210
with the glove boxes on the side, you know, it just has that very basic six volt,

00:25:01.510 --> 00:25:06.390
you know, I call it Fred Flintstone engine, you know, just barely gets you anywhere.

00:25:07.410 --> 00:25:15.110
And, um, and I'm not a, uh, P green color kind of guy, but that car is P green.

00:25:15.110 --> 00:25:19.110
I mean, that's every original model that I've seen that's a ragtop is pea green.

00:25:19.410 --> 00:25:23.970
And there's a set there's the semaphores are part of that, you know,

00:25:24.070 --> 00:25:29.430
that uniqueness that I think we all like, like, you know, people go, what does it do?

00:25:29.590 --> 00:25:32.550
And so I have to like do the choreography of like, you know,

00:25:32.690 --> 00:25:34.910
putting my hand up and they're like, it does that?

00:25:35.070 --> 00:25:38.530
I'm like, oh, yeah, it's pretty sick. Let's touch on a road trip that you had

00:25:38.530 --> 00:25:44.590
mentioned when we didn't have discussion, but I saw your your bio stuff. Yeah.

00:25:44.890 --> 00:25:50.330
The DC to seven Springs, this Pennsylvania road trip. Talk about what made that trip unforgettable.

00:25:50.750 --> 00:25:58.190
So that's a ski trip. So it was, again, I'm dating myself is a friend of ours

00:25:58.190 --> 00:26:04.630
loaded up his, uh, our gear in his dad's Ford Bronco two.

00:26:05.490 --> 00:26:09.590
Another friend of mine had a Subaru brat. Yeah.

00:26:10.169 --> 00:26:15.029
Which was that weird truck Subaru made in the eighties. And then I had my bug

00:26:15.029 --> 00:26:18.229
and we went to seven springs to go skiing.

00:26:19.109 --> 00:26:22.849
And mine was the only car that made it up in the snow.

00:26:23.609 --> 00:26:28.509
And, you know, I was kind of like, and so to me was everyone started piling

00:26:28.509 --> 00:26:30.909
in my car, which is freezing.

00:26:31.269 --> 00:26:34.769
There's, there's not enough heat for everybody. It's just freezing cold,

00:26:34.769 --> 00:26:37.309
but it was a four or five hour trip.

00:26:37.309 --> 00:26:40.589
And it was one of my favorite memories is

00:26:40.589 --> 00:26:43.449
is young men that you know we just kind of like loaded up and

00:26:43.449 --> 00:26:47.869
decided to go skiing to seven springs pennsylvania and it

00:26:47.869 --> 00:26:54.749
was just that irony of like you got a bronco too which is the the pride of ford

00:26:54.749 --> 00:27:00.689
back then of being able to do anything we grew brat had this you know had this

00:27:00.689 --> 00:27:05.629
nostalgia romance with you know it can go through anything. It's a Subaru.

00:27:05.989 --> 00:27:12.429
And then here it comes, you know, Mark's, you know, 1974 semi-automatic auto

00:27:12.429 --> 00:27:15.469
stick, you know, with no heat.

00:27:15.769 --> 00:27:19.949
And that was the other experience. That's the first time it was so cold that

00:27:19.949 --> 00:27:22.649
I used the ice scraper inside the vehicle.

00:27:24.029 --> 00:27:27.449
That's how, that's how cold it was. Yeah. That's a great memory.

00:27:27.669 --> 00:27:30.529
So that was like, and I went to my high school

00:27:30.529 --> 00:27:33.609
reunion and a couple guys that i went skiing with that

00:27:33.609 --> 00:27:36.749
weekend brought up brought up that story

00:27:36.749 --> 00:27:39.629
and you know it was it's just

00:27:39.629 --> 00:27:42.489
it was so cool to be like all right guys we'll see you up there

00:27:42.489 --> 00:27:45.289
you know so the bad part of that story is

00:27:45.289 --> 00:27:48.229
the guy with the bronco had all our skis so we actually had to wait for him

00:27:48.229 --> 00:27:52.989
to get up the mountain but he did eventually get up he did yeah okay all right

00:27:52.989 --> 00:27:58.709
so you do a lot of car shows you know what what describe it for me in in as

00:27:58.709 --> 00:28:03.369
many words as you can what's it like pulling up in your 66 convertible to,

00:28:03.369 --> 00:28:05.449
you know, a car show locally?

00:28:06.069 --> 00:28:11.629
Well, the car scene in California is well-organized, very disciplined.

00:28:12.089 --> 00:28:16.069
There's some wonderful cars here. I think mother nature and the environment

00:28:16.069 --> 00:28:21.009
allows the longevity of the vehicles to be here, especially some of the older

00:28:21.009 --> 00:28:25.229
Datsuns, a lot of the Americanas and Volkswagens that come out.

00:28:25.509 --> 00:28:32.309
And so they're well-organized. they have definitely sectional stuff for like

00:28:32.309 --> 00:28:35.309
foreign versus hot rod versus Americana.

00:28:36.209 --> 00:28:40.869
And so I feel generally, and I kind of Facebook dork out and they will,

00:28:41.009 --> 00:28:46.909
I feel like every weekend, somewhere within 75 miles of where I live,

00:28:47.069 --> 00:28:49.649
there's a show, coffee and cars,

00:28:50.049 --> 00:28:51.729
a hangout, a road trip.

00:28:52.269 --> 00:28:56.689
And so there's a lot of car shows here and mother nature allows you to have

00:28:56.689 --> 00:28:59.229
those because it rarely rains here.

00:28:59.429 --> 00:29:03.969
Trust me, we do need the rain in California, but you can schedule something out.

00:29:04.624 --> 00:29:08.524
You know, six months out, like for the car shows that I do, you know,

00:29:08.604 --> 00:29:10.144
I put them out about four months out.

00:29:10.384 --> 00:29:16.424
And so just a shout out for mine, April 27th will be my car show at Somerset Winery.

00:29:16.584 --> 00:29:19.224
That's the, that's the fifth annual Mr. Mahalo.

00:29:19.444 --> 00:29:25.104
And it's a, it's a mix of all show, all, all vehicles, Volkswagens,

00:29:25.684 --> 00:29:27.584
Americana, there's some hot rods.

00:29:27.724 --> 00:29:30.804
There's a guy that brought in a, the car the monsters

00:29:30.804 --> 00:29:34.304
drove right with the the cutoff model

00:29:34.304 --> 00:29:37.344
t with the station way i mean it was crazy guy

00:29:37.344 --> 00:29:40.284
came in with a hearse had a coffin in the back you know

00:29:40.284 --> 00:29:43.044
it was like it was crazy but those cars have

00:29:43.044 --> 00:29:45.904
those cars come out here with a

00:29:45.904 --> 00:29:49.284
sense of pride that's associated with with with

00:29:49.284 --> 00:29:52.264
having a little bit of american history on here and

00:29:52.264 --> 00:29:55.384
your show that you're talking about that's yours right

00:29:55.384 --> 00:29:58.384
don't yeah that's mine and it's got the title number

00:29:58.384 --> 00:30:01.264
number one in wine country right well yeah

00:30:01.264 --> 00:30:04.124
it's and it's a joke about it because it says it says

00:30:04.124 --> 00:30:07.044
number one wine country number one car show in wine country

00:30:07.044 --> 00:30:10.444
by unenthusiastic spouses who could care less about cars

00:30:10.444 --> 00:30:16.024
but love walking hey and i have i have a real i'm telling you i got some friends

00:30:16.024 --> 00:30:19.964
of mine they come out and their wives will not go to a car show but they will

00:30:19.964 --> 00:30:24.924
come to mine and and it's at a winery and i won't mention any names but i got

00:30:24.924 --> 00:30:27.724
a firefighter friend of mine and his wife's a.

00:30:29.992 --> 00:30:36.712
She enjoyed the car show so much she had to call in sick the next day and hey success,

00:30:37.572 --> 00:30:40.312
they have a they have a camper bus i think he

00:30:40.312 --> 00:30:44.232
just he just put her in the back on their way home and this year he called and

00:30:44.232 --> 00:30:49.932
he said yeah we're both taking the day off on monday so it's a great show i'm

00:30:49.932 --> 00:30:54.472
super proud of you know putting it together and there's a lot of people that

00:30:54.472 --> 00:30:58.952
have just incredible histories about their car. I mean, it's unbelievable.

00:30:59.392 --> 00:31:02.032
I know it. I know it. That's why I'm doing this podcast, man.

00:31:02.532 --> 00:31:07.872
Yeah, I met the lady. So this, I'll tell you this quick story is she had a 67

00:31:07.872 --> 00:31:13.552
Shelby, one of the Eleanor cars, and she has the poster gone in 60 seconds.

00:31:14.092 --> 00:31:18.672
And so, you know, when they sign up, it just says, you know, 67 Mustang.

00:31:19.132 --> 00:31:22.072
And, you know, it's all, it's, I don't see really what it is.

00:31:22.072 --> 00:31:28.672
And so she comes out and she has a glass of white wine and a cigarette in her

00:31:28.672 --> 00:31:31.232
hand. And I was like, ma'am, are you the original owner to this?

00:31:31.352 --> 00:31:32.672
And she'd like, takes a drag.

00:31:33.452 --> 00:31:37.412
She said, you see that idiot over there? And I'm like, which one?

00:31:37.492 --> 00:31:38.672
She goes, that one over there.

00:31:38.792 --> 00:31:43.292
And I was like, yeah, that idiot came home in 1967 with this car.

00:31:44.732 --> 00:31:50.392
And we were struggling to make ends meet. My girlfriends and their husbands were getting married.

00:31:50.572 --> 00:31:52.952
You know, they're getting married. They were buying their own home,

00:31:53.072 --> 00:31:56.952
you know, and we were in a one-bedroom apartment struggling,

00:31:56.952 --> 00:31:59.652
and this idiot comes home with this car.

00:32:00.292 --> 00:32:04.592
And I'm like, I can tell she's still resentful. So she goes,

00:32:04.872 --> 00:32:06.592
we made up six months later.

00:32:06.652 --> 00:32:10.472
He was still sleeping on the couch. They made up. She got pregnant.

00:32:11.448 --> 00:32:15.688
And they named the car Shelby and they named the girl, the name, the daughter Shelby.

00:32:16.528 --> 00:32:19.748
And she said, you know, they, they put it in the garage.

00:32:20.148 --> 00:32:23.748
She, they didn't drive it for a long time. And then he kind of fixed it up and

00:32:23.748 --> 00:32:29.008
he had gone to a car show in orange and a production guy was like,

00:32:29.088 --> 00:32:31.608
Hey, would you be interested in having your car in a movie?

00:32:32.008 --> 00:32:37.508
And so they negotiated and her car isn't gone in 60 seconds.

00:32:37.508 --> 00:32:40.608
Their car was in one of the scenes and

00:32:40.608 --> 00:32:43.668
it was I think it was when he was pickpocketing or he

00:32:43.668 --> 00:32:46.888
was trying to pick the lock to the starter I

00:32:46.888 --> 00:32:50.148
can't remember but it was in one of those scenes but just

00:32:50.148 --> 00:32:53.068
a great family just wonderful to meet them

00:32:53.068 --> 00:32:57.908
you just meet all the you meet all the guys and what I'm starting to find is

00:32:57.908 --> 00:33:05.088
the legacy families like Randy that we talked about who inherited cars and have

00:33:05.088 --> 00:33:11.168
really embraced themselves to the culture and the memories that are associated with that car.

00:33:11.548 --> 00:33:15.928
And they bring it to their kids. So how many cars come to this car show?

00:33:16.628 --> 00:33:24.288
So we're sold out again for the third road, but I have 65 asphalt parking spots.

00:33:24.288 --> 00:33:26.468
And then we have a light gravel overflow.

00:33:27.508 --> 00:33:31.068
And, you know, guys don't want to park in the, you know, they don't want to

00:33:31.068 --> 00:33:32.808
park on the streets or in the gravel.

00:33:33.148 --> 00:33:38.928
So, so it's, you know, people register early and they get in there and we offer, you know, wine samples.

00:33:39.248 --> 00:33:42.308
That's why I think those spouses like it a lot. They like their red and their

00:33:42.308 --> 00:33:44.308
white wines and sangria.

00:33:44.488 --> 00:33:46.968
That was the other one I forgot, but that's at Somerset Winery.

00:33:47.128 --> 00:33:50.388
Shout out to them. They're a great organization, family-owned winery.

00:33:51.193 --> 00:33:57.033
Kurt Teat is the owner there. He's a big supporter of veterans and guys that

00:33:57.033 --> 00:33:59.313
are getting out of the military and doing their own thing.

00:33:59.533 --> 00:34:02.173
Just a class act family, a great winery.

00:34:02.533 --> 00:34:05.233
And whether you go there for the car show or not, you need to check it out.

00:34:05.373 --> 00:34:09.313
Aside from the shows, what's your VW road trip bucket list?

00:34:09.953 --> 00:34:15.353
Yeah, that's, you know, it's funny. I feel, I hear things and I try to do investigation,

00:34:15.353 --> 00:34:18.533
but there's a lot of guys that will ship their car to Chicago.

00:34:19.973 --> 00:34:24.093
And they take the Route 66 all the way back to Santa Monica.

00:34:25.033 --> 00:34:33.433
And I would love to get a bunch of VWs to do that and really experience the

00:34:33.433 --> 00:34:39.073
Americana, what I call, you know, all the side roads, kind of like the movie Cars,

00:34:39.533 --> 00:34:43.193
you know, the cartoon, like just take all the side roads, go to the,

00:34:43.193 --> 00:34:45.813
you know, world's greatest apple pie shop,

00:34:46.393 --> 00:34:51.893
stop by, you know, the biggest ball of yarn or whatever and just do things.

00:34:51.893 --> 00:34:56.333
And I think that even if I did it with a bus or a bug, like we would just camp

00:34:56.333 --> 00:34:59.793
out and just make our way. Oh, that's really fun.

00:35:00.473 --> 00:35:04.733
I, you know, it's there. There's something about that road trip.

00:35:04.733 --> 00:35:10.633
And in our, our car club, our VW car club, we do a road trip to Julian,

00:35:10.813 --> 00:35:15.053
California, which is about an hour drive going into the desert.

00:35:15.293 --> 00:35:17.113
It's a, what's the name of your car club?

00:35:17.673 --> 00:35:21.753
Air, air cooled, but it's spelled like the German version with the H.

00:35:21.893 --> 00:35:24.793
H-e-r and we go out and we

00:35:24.793 --> 00:35:27.773
we go to julian and there's like 60 70

00:35:27.773 --> 00:35:30.553
cars i mean i feel bad for young families because

00:35:30.553 --> 00:35:33.573
it's punch buggy for at least you know an hour

00:35:33.573 --> 00:35:36.273
you know when we're past some guy's arms gonna be

00:35:36.273 --> 00:35:39.093
black and blue but we go to julian and there's

00:35:39.093 --> 00:35:41.873
something about caravanning on a like on a long road

00:35:41.873 --> 00:35:44.553
trip like that and everyone just kind

00:35:44.553 --> 00:35:47.653
of stops they look and it's just it's just

00:35:47.653 --> 00:35:50.973
all the old vws all the bugs all the things

00:35:50.973 --> 00:35:54.453
all the gears all the square back you know it's just there and

00:35:54.453 --> 00:35:57.993
it triggers all the memories people have like oh you know i went to high school

00:35:57.993 --> 00:36:00.693
the guy that had a car like oh i had you know i dated somebody oh my parents

00:36:00.693 --> 00:36:05.553
had a car like that you know stories that's that's what i'm after i've heard

00:36:05.553 --> 00:36:09.713
so many and i've you know i've been a vw guy since high school you know i got

00:36:09.713 --> 00:36:14.033
my first one in 96 which was the year after i graduated, but nonetheless,

00:36:14.513 --> 00:36:22.393
you know, I, I fantasized about air-cooled cars, you know, of all kinds since

00:36:22.393 --> 00:36:24.113
then. And I've always had them.

00:36:24.273 --> 00:36:27.313
And, you know, I, I think the community is just.

00:36:27.977 --> 00:36:31.897
It's something that needs to be celebrated. It's special. It's definitely different.

00:36:32.577 --> 00:36:36.817
Something that you had touched on earlier is that that vibe,

00:36:37.157 --> 00:36:40.157
you know, it was such a common car when we were younger.

00:36:40.437 --> 00:36:44.377
And, like, everybody has a story. Everybody owned one. Everybody has something

00:36:44.377 --> 00:36:47.117
like that attached to an old Volkswagen.

00:36:47.797 --> 00:36:51.817
And, you know, the old phrase, the smiles per gallon when, you know,

00:36:51.917 --> 00:36:53.217
people try to, you know, talk about them.

00:36:53.217 --> 00:36:58.717
That really rings true to me because everywhere I go, and it's not just because

00:36:58.717 --> 00:37:01.897
it's a classic car, it doesn't even matter if it's a nice one or an ugly one

00:37:01.897 --> 00:37:04.137
or rusted out, everywhere I go.

00:37:05.477 --> 00:37:10.257
People stop, they ask questions, they talk to me about it, and they bring up their memories.

00:37:10.477 --> 00:37:14.037
Oh man, I had this happen in my life at this time. And you're like,

00:37:14.157 --> 00:37:16.697
you know, dang dude, it's everywhere, everywhere.

00:37:16.977 --> 00:37:24.477
So I love that about our- You can't be an introvert owning a Volkswagen.

00:37:24.937 --> 00:37:29.717
No, because they're coming out of the woodwork to talk to you and share their memories.

00:37:30.777 --> 00:37:36.237
Well, not only do they share their memories, they will tell you things that

00:37:36.237 --> 00:37:38.457
they did to their car to do the up.

00:37:38.537 --> 00:37:42.997
I mean, they just tell you, yeah, I had this bus and I recircuited this so I

00:37:42.997 --> 00:37:45.297
could have this, you know, and you just have to listen.

00:37:45.617 --> 00:37:48.477
And you go in there and you're like, yeah. And I,

00:37:48.797 --> 00:37:55.417
you know, the simplicity of that is when I owned my bus, they got in my car,

00:37:55.717 --> 00:38:01.397
they got in my bus and it was a wet 10 top Westie and they were sitting on the

00:38:01.397 --> 00:38:07.597
bench seat and they just were looking around and they said, I forgot the smell.

00:38:08.077 --> 00:38:13.297
I forgot the, the way it, he goes, I just, and you hear the same story from

00:38:13.297 --> 00:38:17.737
every guy, including me, you know, it's like, I should have never sold my car.

00:38:17.897 --> 00:38:20.077
I should have never sold my bus. I should have never.

00:38:20.717 --> 00:38:23.957
And, and, you know, kids need braces, you know, things happen,

00:38:24.197 --> 00:38:27.737
you know, but there's a romance and the technology is funny.

00:38:27.857 --> 00:38:32.457
My S in that bus, I'm, you know, I'm driving and And my son is in the back and

00:38:32.457 --> 00:38:39.457
he goes, hey, dad, I, I didn't know they came with iPhone holders and I,

00:38:39.557 --> 00:38:41.657
and I'm driving and I'm thinking, what?

00:38:41.797 --> 00:38:44.237
He goes, there's a spot here to put your iPhone.

00:38:44.477 --> 00:38:48.757
I, I, did you know that? And I was like, what is he babbling about?

00:38:49.037 --> 00:38:55.517
So we got up there, we got out of the car and I turn around and he goes, see iPhone holder.

00:38:55.677 --> 00:38:57.957
And I said, Dylan, that's an ashtray.

00:38:58.817 --> 00:39:02.937
And he goes, what? And he goes, that's an ashtray. And he said,

00:39:03.037 --> 00:39:04.737
for what? And I said, for smoking.

00:39:05.017 --> 00:39:09.117
He goes, why would anyone smoke in their car? That's stupid. And I was like, well.

00:39:09.801 --> 00:39:12.921
Yeah that's what we did back then yeah 70s and

00:39:12.921 --> 00:39:15.701
80s man we were we were huffing and puffing in

00:39:15.701 --> 00:39:19.261
the cars top up windows up yeah

00:39:19.261 --> 00:39:22.541
and i think it's funny because i'll say you know

00:39:22.541 --> 00:39:27.981
the car lighter i still say like is there a car lighter in there and my son

00:39:27.981 --> 00:39:31.341
goes i don't know and i was like you know the the plug and he goes you mean

00:39:31.341 --> 00:39:35.681
the auxiliary and i was like oh you know it's like different different terminology

00:39:35.681 --> 00:39:41.821
yeah it's funny though because this this this technology age has happened right before our eyes.

00:39:42.041 --> 00:39:48.801
My son, who's now 17, turning 18, I remember when he was about seven, maybe eight years old.

00:39:48.981 --> 00:39:54.621
I forget the circumstance, but we were at this woman's house and my cell phone

00:39:54.621 --> 00:39:58.421
was dead and I had asked him to go inside and call his mom.

00:39:58.661 --> 00:40:02.981
And I said, they have a classic phone on there. So you'll just pick up,

00:40:03.101 --> 00:40:05.801
you'll wait for the dial tone and you'll, you'll dial mom's number.

00:40:05.941 --> 00:40:09.521
And he goes, pick up and do what?

00:40:10.001 --> 00:40:13.301
Yeah. Right. Didn't even know what a dial tone was. So yeah,

00:40:13.381 --> 00:40:14.961
man, I feel that for sure.

00:40:15.281 --> 00:40:18.181
It's been, he may not even know his mom's phone number.

00:40:18.381 --> 00:40:21.421
Cause he just dialed. You're probably right.

00:40:21.521 --> 00:40:26.601
At that time, we had a practice in our house from about five, six years old,

00:40:26.741 --> 00:40:30.561
where we would make them repeat like our phone numbers you

00:40:30.561 --> 00:40:34.201
know so they no matter what they could get something so that

00:40:34.201 --> 00:40:37.521
was one phone number he knew back then what was mom's but

00:40:37.521 --> 00:40:42.141
he didn't know what a dial tone was you know he was like a dial tone and i i

00:40:42.141 --> 00:40:46.601
tell that story a lot because it's just funny of this information age we realize

00:40:46.601 --> 00:40:54.921
how fast technology has actually improved right in this little short 50 year span of life.

00:40:55.761 --> 00:41:01.621
But yeah, man. I was very apprehensive, not necessarily teaching how to drive

00:41:01.621 --> 00:41:05.101
the bug as a clutch vehicle, but...

00:41:06.165 --> 00:41:08.945
Teaching my kid to drive when we had

00:41:08.945 --> 00:41:12.365
the moment we had a hondo cord was very

00:41:12.365 --> 00:41:17.325
safe like you you know there's still stuff you need to talk about like you know

00:41:17.325 --> 00:41:21.525
this is what you do how you turn you know let the steering wheel go till naturally

00:41:21.525 --> 00:41:25.825
you know you have to teach yourself out yeah right and so there's like the that

00:41:25.825 --> 00:41:30.865
part of the simplicity of owning a modern car was great for my son to learn.

00:41:31.585 --> 00:41:38.865
When we got in the bug, I was on him and I said, look, you need to now can't be on your cell phone.

00:41:39.105 --> 00:41:41.405
You can't, there's no Bluetooth in here.

00:41:41.705 --> 00:41:47.125
When you drive a car like this, you have to be very well disciplined to understand

00:41:47.125 --> 00:41:52.285
the dynamics of what your capabilities are driving this car.

00:41:52.425 --> 00:41:56.605
So when you're in the Honda and you punch it, it's going to kind of get up and go.

00:41:56.605 --> 00:42:01.665
The bug is not going to get up and go you need to like stay in the right lane

00:42:01.665 --> 00:42:08.885
you need to be out of the way and just mind your own business and focus and

00:42:08.885 --> 00:42:13.625
i said because there's there's temecula.

00:42:14.185 --> 00:42:17.945
California the driving here is a bit aggressive and

00:42:17.945 --> 00:42:20.685
so a lot of people run red lights so i always tell them like

00:42:20.685 --> 00:42:24.525
you know you need to be careful you need to do this but when you're driving a

00:42:24.525 --> 00:42:27.645
car without disc brakes without power steering

00:42:27.645 --> 00:42:30.405
you know it's you gotta it's a

00:42:30.405 --> 00:42:33.765
different culture it's a different type of driving and

00:42:33.765 --> 00:42:37.045
I'm really grateful that he was patient one of

00:42:37.045 --> 00:42:40.325
my sons was patient enough to learn how to do that my other

00:42:40.325 --> 00:42:43.105
son was like well where's the cup holder where

00:42:43.105 --> 00:42:46.125
do I put my you know I'm like all right dude just yeah hey just

00:42:46.125 --> 00:42:49.685
get out yeah let's go get in the honda yeah

00:42:49.685 --> 00:42:53.265
yeah yeah i so equally yeah

00:42:53.265 --> 00:42:56.225
i've got two sons my daughter could care less she

00:42:56.225 --> 00:42:59.545
she's driven my wife has a carmen guia a

00:42:59.545 --> 00:43:04.545
71 and it's the auto clutch so my daughter has has driven it she you know she's

00:43:04.545 --> 00:43:09.385
a little little little princess ish you know she i'm not gonna say she'd say

00:43:09.385 --> 00:43:14.525
where where's the you know the the cup holder but maybe along the lines of you

00:43:14.525 --> 00:43:17.025
know does the does the radio have Bluetooth.

00:43:18.045 --> 00:43:21.425
You know, and she's making judgments if not, but two of my boys,

00:43:21.585 --> 00:43:23.105
they, they like driving it.

00:43:23.205 --> 00:43:26.345
They like driving it. They like the, you know, how it's old and,

00:43:26.525 --> 00:43:28.925
you know, how you have to use the gas pedal to start it.

00:43:29.045 --> 00:43:33.985
And, you know, they get it. One of them, Elijah, he takes engines apart and,

00:43:33.985 --> 00:43:39.345
you know, he's very mechanically gifted and it's just stuff that he's just picked

00:43:39.345 --> 00:43:40.645
up as he's just been young.

00:43:40.805 --> 00:43:46.725
He rode motorcycles and, you know, he's 16 now as, as a Subaru has his own car

00:43:46.725 --> 00:43:50.905
and you know, he zips all over town and, but he's still my, my little mechanical guy.

00:43:51.518 --> 00:43:58.218
Yeah, I think the kids, you know, it's starting to be really cool to own and

00:43:58.218 --> 00:44:03.218
know how to operate the vintage car. Yeah, I think you're right.

00:44:03.838 --> 00:44:07.438
It's kind of coming back where, you know, like, what is that?

00:44:07.578 --> 00:44:13.718
And, you know, the one great thing of owning a vintage car is you meet all the

00:44:13.718 --> 00:44:19.618
other guys, whether it's a 66 Chevelle, you know, the big one that's coming out now.

00:44:19.618 --> 00:44:25.618
I think in Southern California that have kind of made a big push are the original Datsun 240Zs.

00:44:26.498 --> 00:44:31.018
They're starting to kind of, you know, you know, had a real tender straight

00:44:31.018 --> 00:44:36.658
six, four speed, you know, it was, it was very, it was designed to be driven.

00:44:37.998 --> 00:44:42.898
And so those cars are coming back and guys are, are really, they're getting into it.

00:44:42.898 --> 00:44:48.338
My, what I'm apprehensive about is, you know, a guy came up and goes,

00:44:48.438 --> 00:44:51.978
man, I really want my daughter to have a VW bug, you know, just to kind of get

00:44:51.978 --> 00:44:55.398
around and do stuff. And I, and I always tell him like, you know, be careful.

00:44:55.558 --> 00:45:01.338
You're talking about a vehicle that is, doesn't have these amenities your regular car has.

00:45:01.478 --> 00:45:06.498
So be mindful that you're going to have to teach your daughter that it's a cute car.

00:45:07.018 --> 00:45:10.018
It's cute that it's got a little bug on it. You put eyelashes,

00:45:10.038 --> 00:45:13.138
you know, on the front headlights and be girly girl Volkswagen.

00:45:13.138 --> 00:45:14.858
I think that's great. Yeah.

00:45:15.178 --> 00:45:20.298
But, but it's not forgiving in an accident, you know, at all.

00:45:20.738 --> 00:45:26.398
And you're pissed because, you know, usually it's nowadays an investment and

00:45:26.398 --> 00:45:32.258
yeah, there has to be a level of, I think, skill attained behind the wheel,

00:45:32.498 --> 00:45:35.458
et cetera, before the respect is there.

00:45:35.918 --> 00:45:39.758
Yeah. But once that respects there, you, you, you can almost tell,

00:45:39.798 --> 00:45:48.138
you know, you, I think the other part that's blows their mind is you mean we can push start this car.

00:45:48.318 --> 00:45:51.858
Like, I remember like, what are you talking about that? And I was like.

00:45:52.658 --> 00:45:57.218
Because my son drove it and he left the headlights on.

00:45:57.901 --> 00:46:02.101
And so he, he, he, there's no beeping noise, you know, there's no warning.

00:46:02.541 --> 00:46:04.221
And so he killed the battery.

00:46:04.701 --> 00:46:07.561
And so I was like, that's why.

00:46:07.661 --> 00:46:10.321
And he goes, well, why does it just turn off automatically? And I said,

00:46:10.361 --> 00:46:14.341
it does turn off automatically when you turn it off. That's how you got to turn it off.

00:46:14.921 --> 00:46:21.621
So we push started it. He was in shock. He couldn't, he just couldn't fathom.

00:46:21.721 --> 00:46:24.441
Like you could just push start a car and, but we couldn't do that.

00:46:24.441 --> 00:46:27.501
A similar story yeah we couldn't do that with a honda because

00:46:27.501 --> 00:46:30.181
i mean it's just different well you could if you

00:46:30.181 --> 00:46:33.121
had a stick shift yeah yeah yeah yeah but i i

00:46:33.121 --> 00:46:36.621
totally i get it my i have a similar story with

00:46:36.621 --> 00:46:40.281
with my two middle boys they were like they were so fascinated with it they

00:46:40.281 --> 00:46:44.921
were like so you mean to tell me there really is no getting stuck then because

00:46:44.921 --> 00:46:50.681
you just push started i'm like well i mean yeah to us you know there's other

00:46:50.681 --> 00:46:54.521
things that can get in the way too naturally And you'll learn about those over time.

00:46:54.701 --> 00:46:58.241
But yeah, they were fascinated too with, with that simplicity.

00:46:58.821 --> 00:47:02.141
Yeah. And again, that's kind of when, you know, like they're,

00:47:02.201 --> 00:47:04.721
it's starting to click a little bit, even for them.

00:47:05.081 --> 00:47:09.801
There's no way out of my five kids that a couple of them aren't Volkswagen,

00:47:09.801 --> 00:47:13.101
just fanatics there. There's no way.

00:47:13.481 --> 00:47:17.341
One of them. You're blessed to have that because, you know, out of all the kids,

00:47:17.441 --> 00:47:20.921
I think, you know, with my blended family, I think, you know,

00:47:21.021 --> 00:47:22.541
half of them think it's cool.

00:47:22.941 --> 00:47:25.601
And the, and the other half or, or.

00:47:26.041 --> 00:47:28.581
I try to understand why the other ones think it's cool.

00:47:29.041 --> 00:47:32.101
Yeah. Well, I think, you know, I think they all know Ruby.

00:47:32.401 --> 00:47:35.641
I mean, that's what I call my convertible. I think they all know Ruby is like,

00:47:35.781 --> 00:47:39.201
you know, my, I call it the wife that doesn't talk back, you know,

00:47:39.341 --> 00:47:41.561
and they, they have great.

00:47:41.741 --> 00:47:44.841
And then some of them are, you know, they kind of want to drive it there.

00:47:45.161 --> 00:47:49.241
I'm, I'm negotiating for a bus right now. Every time I think I'm ready,

00:47:49.481 --> 00:47:54.821
the, I think the stock market goes down again, so I feel like I may have to wait.

00:47:55.021 --> 00:47:58.281
But we're excited to go camping as a young family and go do stuff.

00:47:58.381 --> 00:48:01.381
There's a lot of great spots here. But I think...

00:48:01.871 --> 00:48:08.191
We're all really lucky to share the information and the knowledge that's associated with these cars.

00:48:08.391 --> 00:48:14.731
I think, I remember this dude came up at a gas station and I popped the front hood to put gas in.

00:48:15.431 --> 00:48:17.631
And he goes, far out, man.

00:48:18.851 --> 00:48:23.991
Gas. And I was like, right in here. And he's like, geez, dude, that's sick.

00:48:24.151 --> 00:48:26.371
You know? And it's like, yeah, that's kind of where. And he goes,

00:48:26.431 --> 00:48:29.951
well, where's the engine? And I was like, it's in the back. He's like, no way.

00:48:30.551 --> 00:48:33.531
He was so removed so removed that's

00:48:33.531 --> 00:48:37.011
so cool man it really is because it's it's a similar experience

00:48:37.011 --> 00:48:39.751
for all of us in this culture when we're just

00:48:39.751 --> 00:48:43.191
out and about you know going about our everyday stuff it's that's

00:48:43.191 --> 00:48:46.791
the stuff that we that we see for sure in

00:48:46.791 --> 00:48:50.831
florida do you have in florida do the how

00:48:50.831 --> 00:48:53.631
do you deal with the the humidity and the

00:48:53.631 --> 00:48:56.511
rust with the with the cars i think it's always an

00:48:56.511 --> 00:49:00.511
ongoing battle yeah you protect and and

00:49:00.511 --> 00:49:03.671
and you know get rid of the cancer yeah yeah

00:49:03.671 --> 00:49:08.711
otherwise yeah you're you're up shitt's creek it's it's bad down here man with

00:49:08.711 --> 00:49:13.731
the humidity i lived in colorado 12 years and with some of my favorite times

00:49:13.731 --> 00:49:18.671
were were finding old you know old cars that didn't run anymore in the back

00:49:18.671 --> 00:49:22.111
of some barn somewhere you know some back a lot in Colorado.

00:49:23.051 --> 00:49:25.151
Not one ounce of rust anywhere.

00:49:25.471 --> 00:49:31.351
Just, you know, I miss that about the West Midwest, not here.

00:49:31.471 --> 00:49:36.891
Here, it rusts big time. And there's really no way to combat it other than to service it.

00:49:37.395 --> 00:49:40.575
Yeah yeah protect it and service

00:49:40.575 --> 00:49:43.515
it when it becomes a problem so i have a friend that lives

00:49:43.515 --> 00:49:46.455
in jup jupiter yeah east coast a

00:49:46.455 --> 00:49:51.415
little south just a little a little south of west palm yeah and he says he goes

00:49:51.415 --> 00:49:57.355
he goes every sunday man i hose my down i hose my car with the fresh water he

00:49:57.355 --> 00:50:02.755
has a little vw washes it and gets under and just rinses any type of salt or

00:50:02.755 --> 00:50:04.275
any corrosion Yeah, it's real.

00:50:04.355 --> 00:50:07.615
And he just, he says, he's like, you just have to rinse your car every,

00:50:07.755 --> 00:50:09.855
every week and just keep up with it, you know?

00:50:09.995 --> 00:50:12.875
Cause he's like, I can't afford to like get new parts every,

00:50:12.875 --> 00:50:15.535
every two, three years, you know? No, it's, it's real.

00:50:15.855 --> 00:50:20.095
Yeah. And you garage it, you got to garage it. It's that simple. We do car covers too.

00:50:20.515 --> 00:50:23.015
You know, if you can't always garage them.

00:50:23.455 --> 00:50:26.815
Sometimes I like my thing, I take my thing out all the time.

00:50:26.955 --> 00:50:28.015
I want to drive it all the time.

00:50:28.195 --> 00:50:30.975
That's my, that's my choice. nice i have a

00:50:30.975 --> 00:50:34.595
you know other cars that are more mechanically friendly

00:50:34.595 --> 00:50:37.395
with ac and all that good stuff but i can't put

00:50:37.395 --> 00:50:41.175
the windshield down and drop the top on those there's just

00:50:41.175 --> 00:50:44.375
you know and that's it i really like that up because the thing is

00:50:44.375 --> 00:50:47.495
a very there's a love-hate relationship

00:50:47.495 --> 00:50:50.155
with things i think in the bw community you know

00:50:50.155 --> 00:50:52.875
people are like oh man it looks like a box you

00:50:52.875 --> 00:50:55.595
know and i'm like you know and put some people are like oh it's

00:50:55.595 --> 00:51:00.755
so cool it's like you know it's like the poor man's jeep you know i think i

00:51:00.755 --> 00:51:08.235
think that they're just a great chapter in the bw community especially the ones

00:51:08.235 --> 00:51:14.935
that you know they take the doors off they they put the windows down when i was in hawaii a.

00:51:16.627 --> 00:51:19.787
Like a roll bar on top and then

00:51:19.787 --> 00:51:23.587
it put an extension over the front windshield so

00:51:23.587 --> 00:51:26.767
the shield can go down but he could put his surfboards oh

00:51:26.767 --> 00:51:29.547
you can still keep his rack up yeah on top in his

00:51:29.547 --> 00:51:35.987
face yeah yeah yeah and so and so but it was you know he could not stop and

00:51:35.987 --> 00:51:41.727
have somebody you know want to come up to him and ask him about it and how cool

00:51:41.727 --> 00:51:47.367
is it and i i just think All the cars are just so special. They're unbelievable.

00:51:47.767 --> 00:51:51.347
It's another car everywhere I go. Same thing.

00:51:51.547 --> 00:51:55.447
I mean, just a few days ago, I'm pulling into the parking lot,

00:51:55.607 --> 00:51:57.727
and this guy is crossing the street on a bike.

00:51:57.967 --> 00:52:02.467
And as he crosses the street, he sees me slowing down for the intersection to

00:52:02.467 --> 00:52:05.767
stop for him to pass in front of me so I can then continue.

00:52:05.887 --> 00:52:11.127
And he circles around the car, and he goes, whoa, man, air-cooled Volkswagen.

00:52:11.567 --> 00:52:15.187
Man, cool. And he takes off on his bike. And I'm just like, dude,

00:52:15.307 --> 00:52:19.327
I can't go anywhere. And that, you know, that's, that's the love of it, man.

00:52:19.647 --> 00:52:22.827
That, that for sure. I think that we're, we're, you know, we're really lucky

00:52:22.827 --> 00:52:24.327
to be a part, a part of that.

00:52:24.527 --> 00:52:29.167
And I think, you know, another really great road trip would be to ship my car

00:52:29.167 --> 00:52:32.227
to, to Europe and drive it all the way to Wolfsburg.

00:52:32.567 --> 00:52:35.867
You know, that's just like, that would awesome.

00:52:36.147 --> 00:52:40.887
You know, just the group of people going to Wolfsburg. I have yet to be in the

00:52:40.887 --> 00:52:44.287
factory and I have, I've had some close opportunities to go.

00:52:44.367 --> 00:52:47.767
And something always comes up, but that's kind of that route.

00:52:48.107 --> 00:52:51.647
66 thing, man, that sounds like something that might need to be organized one

00:52:51.647 --> 00:52:53.867
day for, for 20. I'm retired now.

00:52:54.027 --> 00:52:56.507
That's what my wife tells me. She goes, you're retired from the military.

00:52:56.667 --> 00:52:58.327
You got time to put this stuff together.

00:52:58.507 --> 00:53:01.087
You know, that'd be pretty cool, man. I mean, that'd be some,

00:53:01.207 --> 00:53:03.867
some pretty awesome stuff.

00:53:04.407 --> 00:53:07.267
Yeah, I think, you know, and I think it was even documented.

00:53:07.707 --> 00:53:13.607
Well, the other one too, is I think AAA has a roadmap of, of.

00:53:14.727 --> 00:53:18.347
The historical Route 50 that goes from Ocean City, Maryland,

00:53:18.707 --> 00:53:19.847
all the way to Sacramento.

00:53:20.807 --> 00:53:25.227
And I think, you know, AAA, if you're, if you own a BW and you're not a member

00:53:25.227 --> 00:53:30.047
of AAA, you're a fool because I can't tell you how many times. I got AAA money.

00:53:30.287 --> 00:53:34.507
Yeah. Just call AAA dog. Have it towed. But they have, they have particular

00:53:34.507 --> 00:53:37.407
roadmaps that give you historical routes.

00:53:37.727 --> 00:53:42.227
But I think that if I did a 66, it would, it would be a year,

00:53:42.227 --> 00:53:46.847
a year of putting it together, They're calling, you know, I wouldn't say vendors,

00:53:47.067 --> 00:53:51.187
but like the hotels or the, or the historical sites and, and,

00:53:51.327 --> 00:53:55.047
uh, see who's invested and who's not, but. Oh man, that'd be so cool. Yeah.

00:53:55.427 --> 00:53:58.147
Let me know if that ever metastasizes. I'm. Oh yeah.

00:53:58.387 --> 00:54:01.227
Trust me. Find me up. Yeah. That'd be, that'd be really cool, man.

00:54:01.367 --> 00:54:07.267
Air cooled Temecula earlier. You had spelled it out as the German. So that's the H E R R.

00:54:07.927 --> 00:54:12.827
Right. Yep. Yeah. So yeah. Tell me about this group. What makes this, this group so great?

00:54:13.387 --> 00:54:20.587
Well, Air Cooled is, we have a president, Sebastian, who also does work on my

00:54:20.587 --> 00:54:22.347
car and works on other, he's the president.

00:54:22.767 --> 00:54:28.627
Great organization, Temecula, a great group of people. We meet every other week

00:54:28.627 --> 00:54:30.227
and then we try to do a run.

00:54:30.487 --> 00:54:36.687
And it's one of those where everyone contributes to something about something

00:54:36.687 --> 00:54:41.767
about your car or your bus or your, you know, your guia, whatever.

00:54:41.767 --> 00:54:47.887
And it's just a great group of human beings and in a world where,

00:54:47.887 --> 00:54:50.687
you know, there's the right, there's the left there, you know,

00:54:51.027 --> 00:54:53.607
astroturf versus real grass, you know,

00:54:54.167 --> 00:54:58.947
you know, it's, it's a, it's a great balance of people that greet each other

00:54:58.947 --> 00:55:01.987
with a hug or a handshake or a thank you.

00:55:02.961 --> 00:55:07.201
And being a place where, you know, hey, man, I was looking for this and they

00:55:07.201 --> 00:55:08.801
go, dude, this is what happened to me.

00:55:08.941 --> 00:55:11.141
This is what I did. And you're like, oh, who knew? You know,

00:55:11.441 --> 00:55:15.161
we all rally around each other when a car, you know, was broken down.

00:55:15.301 --> 00:55:17.941
We kind of, you know, especially you just stop. What do you need?

00:55:18.021 --> 00:55:20.081
Oh, you got this. I got one of those. You know, great.

00:55:20.501 --> 00:55:26.021
We are critical of making sure that and I don't know if you experience this,

00:55:26.061 --> 00:55:31.061
too, but we, you know, we pop open the hood to kind of look at stuff or the back hood, I should say.

00:55:31.061 --> 00:55:34.421
And we were surprised how some of these younger kids

00:55:34.421 --> 00:55:37.241
did not have the clips on the

00:55:37.241 --> 00:55:40.841
fuel lines going in their fuel filter and they

00:55:40.841 --> 00:55:44.401
just thought it's so it's it's

00:55:44.401 --> 00:55:48.741
stuck in there so well that they shouldn't worry about clips and all the old

00:55:48.741 --> 00:55:52.361
timers we kind of tell them like hey man you need to you need it that's how

00:55:52.361 --> 00:55:56.121
you that's how you get a fire and they can't make a lot man it's like really

00:55:56.121 --> 00:56:00.161
tight it's good and i said dude you need to like get this thing fixed and so

00:56:00.161 --> 00:56:02.241
we We just give them clips.

00:56:02.421 --> 00:56:05.641
We have little tool bags, and we say, just put it on, man. Just put it on.

00:56:06.181 --> 00:56:08.561
Just put it on. We relocate them here.

00:56:10.381 --> 00:56:13.361
It's true, though. I know it is. We're not even messing around.

00:56:13.481 --> 00:56:19.381
We just relocate, though. We take them away from that whole area of potential

00:56:19.381 --> 00:56:24.601
problems, because that's our biggest fear, is the engine fire,

00:56:24.601 --> 00:56:26.181
because they're so damaging.

00:56:26.181 --> 00:56:31.461
Yeah, I think the one thing about the club is Sebastian does a really great

00:56:31.461 --> 00:56:34.861
job keeping the community together. We do rallies, we did,

00:56:35.667 --> 00:56:38.607
You know, we had some, some kids that were pretty sick and we,

00:56:38.727 --> 00:56:42.107
you know, we, we would do a caravan in front of their house and honk the horns

00:56:42.107 --> 00:56:45.767
and it's like, you know, we have a guy that's got the dark Herbie.

00:56:46.007 --> 00:56:50.227
So his is like completely black with the stripe with the 53 on it,

00:56:50.487 --> 00:56:53.827
you know, and that's like a different, we have, you know, we have the,

00:56:53.827 --> 00:56:58.007
the super patina ones where you can't even think that they're running and they

00:56:58.007 --> 00:57:00.207
just show up, you know, we have some.

00:57:00.327 --> 00:57:03.747
And they clop the hood and the engine's like a $10,000 engine.

00:57:05.007 --> 00:57:12.647
So so we have we do stuff like that you know my mom was my mom was a her 85th birthday,

00:57:13.527 --> 00:57:17.887
and you know she she wanted you know she's like i don't want to make a big deal

00:57:17.887 --> 00:57:21.687
and but she loved the little volkswagons because that's what she drove before

00:57:21.687 --> 00:57:26.227
my sister and i took over it and so they carabanned over and we you know it

00:57:26.227 --> 00:57:30.647
was about 15 20 cars that came around her in front of her cars honking.

00:57:31.047 --> 00:57:35.427
And she just was in tears. She was super grateful that the community thought of her.

00:57:35.647 --> 00:57:41.127
And, you know, I take her to the I took her to the one a couple meets and they

00:57:41.127 --> 00:57:44.087
all take turns sitting down with her, you know, and they have a glass of wine

00:57:44.087 --> 00:57:46.667
with her. And she asked questions about the car.

00:57:47.047 --> 00:57:51.507
And, you know, it's just a great club of great human beings.

00:57:51.987 --> 00:57:54.967
So what's brotherhood for life explain that

00:57:54.967 --> 00:57:58.427
mentality i think for me

00:57:58.427 --> 00:58:01.247
it's when i when i see vw on

00:58:01.247 --> 00:58:04.707
the side of the road even when i'm driving my regular car i

00:58:04.707 --> 00:58:09.287
always pull over and and i'll say hey man i got a vw what do you need and he

00:58:09.287 --> 00:58:14.147
says man i can't he's like i think it's the fuel pump it's this and sometimes

00:58:14.147 --> 00:58:19.747
we can fix it together sometimes it's kaput it's that's what happens and then

00:58:19.747 --> 00:58:23.447
And sometimes it's a loose wire that you want to,

00:58:23.567 --> 00:58:26.647
I would say, pull out your hair. But obviously, you've been past that point.

00:58:26.827 --> 00:58:32.947
And so we find it and it gets started and it's a thank you or whatever.

00:58:34.027 --> 00:58:39.647
I just think it's being patient and understanding all the stories and identifying

00:58:39.647 --> 00:58:41.987
with the history that goes with them.

00:58:42.427 --> 00:58:47.207
And explaining, you know, this is what I did or how'd you do this?

00:58:47.387 --> 00:58:51.047
Or I'm having trouble with this. What did you do to fix that?

00:58:51.707 --> 00:58:56.847
And we're sincere and we're honest. And I don't think we really we don't charge

00:58:56.847 --> 00:58:58.187
each other for that kind of stuff.

00:58:58.347 --> 00:59:02.807
There's no, you know, there's no fee. I mean, my one of my favorite stories

00:59:02.807 --> 00:59:08.927
ever was I was looking for a part with a with a guy and he called me at a swap

00:59:08.927 --> 00:59:11.107
meet and he said, hey, I'm here, man. You want me to pick it up?

00:59:11.187 --> 00:59:12.507
It was like a three hundred dollar part.

00:59:13.487 --> 00:59:16.707
And he goes yeah yeah man I got you I'll see I'll bring it next Friday and he

00:59:16.707 --> 00:59:20.787
just picked it up and I got what I it was unbelievable it was like he knew what

00:59:20.787 --> 00:59:25.407
I needed he and I've been looking desperately for right now I have a big manhunt for a.

00:59:26.314 --> 00:59:33.774
Pan Am suitcase, like the old Pan Am suitcase to put in my, in my luggage rack

00:59:33.774 --> 00:59:36.534
on the back of my car for one of my props.

00:59:37.314 --> 00:59:40.834
And I got people texting me, well, I found a handbag. I said,

00:59:40.914 --> 00:59:41.994
nah, man, it's gotta be luggage.

00:59:42.214 --> 00:59:44.034
You know, and like, they just said, well, I found the sticker.

00:59:44.174 --> 00:59:45.734
You want to put a sticker on the suitcase?

00:59:45.914 --> 00:59:49.514
I'm like, well, but, but it's that kind of energy that people,

00:59:49.914 --> 00:59:53.614
you know, that they support and you can go to any place, whether,

00:59:53.834 --> 00:59:59.014
you know, your hometown in Florida or DC or Colorado or, you know.

00:59:59.834 --> 01:00:03.334
Portland, Oregon, where there's a lot of ex-hippies that are up there with their

01:00:03.334 --> 01:00:09.794
VW buses that will genuinely care about what you need to do to,

01:00:09.794 --> 01:00:12.454
to continue the longevity of your Volkswagen.

01:00:13.074 --> 01:00:16.234
A hundred percent. I love the, love the culture.

01:00:16.574 --> 01:00:22.054
It's, it's, it's why I show up, man, you know, and certainly why I'm, why I'm doing this.

01:00:22.054 --> 01:00:24.874
So tell me about this this triple a

01:00:24.874 --> 01:00:27.954
hawaii badge that you have so i

01:00:27.954 --> 01:00:30.834
had so you know they just don't make

01:00:30.834 --> 01:00:33.494
them anymore and i'll have to send you a picture if you

01:00:33.494 --> 01:00:37.134
ever if you want to look at it but it's a triple a

01:00:37.134 --> 01:00:43.154
for a long time further i think it was like their presidential membership had

01:00:43.154 --> 01:00:48.954
badges on the back of the of the of the cars and some of them had it associated

01:00:48.954 --> 01:00:54.114
with you know it was there There was visiting the United States or traveling the United States.

01:00:54.754 --> 01:00:59.714
You didn't do it by plane. You did it by car. And there was privileges that

01:00:59.714 --> 01:01:01.594
were associated with a motor club.

01:01:01.754 --> 01:01:05.394
Like I'm associated with the motor club, AAA motor club, right?

01:01:05.974 --> 01:01:14.574
And I happened to find a California AAA honorary gold membership one.

01:01:14.574 --> 01:01:19.494
It has the California bear up top. And then I happened to be in Hawaii and it's,

01:01:19.494 --> 01:01:28.314
it's generally, it's the crest of the Hawaiian monarchy and it's AAA club of Hawaii.

01:01:28.634 --> 01:01:32.694
And I welded it. I don't even know if that's a word welded it.

01:01:32.774 --> 01:01:39.694
I welded it to a metal piece and attached it to the license plate frame of my car.

01:01:40.594 --> 01:01:44.294
And you know people are like where did you get that and I was like literally

01:01:44.294 --> 01:01:49.134
at a swap meet in Honolulu like it's just that's just where you find them you

01:01:49.134 --> 01:01:53.754
know and so that's what makes and plus my license plate says Mr.

01:01:53.874 --> 01:01:55.634
Mahalo super cool.

01:01:56.616 --> 01:02:01.436
So what's the future for you in the VW world?

01:02:01.596 --> 01:02:06.996
Do you have any other builds that you're going to work on? Any other shows that you're setting up?

01:02:07.436 --> 01:02:13.596
So I have my show on the 27th, and I encourage everyone to jump on board the

01:02:13.596 --> 01:02:17.756
Instagram if they want to even come out at Mr. Mahalo on Instagram.

01:02:18.176 --> 01:02:23.496
And that's where I put a lot of my videos of the bug, my kid driving, my wife driving.

01:02:23.776 --> 01:02:26.436
Yeah, I've been checking you out. You got some cool stuff. You know,

01:02:26.456 --> 01:02:27.796
my wife's pretty playful.

01:02:27.996 --> 01:02:31.076
She's fun to be, you know, she thinks, she thinks it's ridiculous,

01:02:31.076 --> 01:02:32.996
but she, she just loves, she loves,

01:02:33.216 --> 01:02:35.816
you know, as long as she has her hat on sometimes she's got to like,

01:02:35.896 --> 01:02:37.916
she's like, at least let me put a hat on because the sun,

01:02:38.076 --> 01:02:42.216
you know, it's like the sun is a little bit unforgiving, but what I would like

01:02:42.216 --> 01:02:48.896
to do is I'd like to buy a, whether a bay window or a split bus and it doesn't

01:02:48.896 --> 01:02:51.296
need to be pristine. It needs to be functioning.

01:02:51.876 --> 01:02:57.596
And I'd like definitely a Westie and go really the last five or six years before

01:02:57.596 --> 01:03:00.436
I get too old to kind of go camping and do stuff.

01:03:00.716 --> 01:03:07.796
And there's a big push right now to shift a lot of these buses into like electric

01:03:07.796 --> 01:03:13.756
car, electric engines, electric batteries, and or put like a Subaru engine in there.

01:03:13.756 --> 01:03:19.216
And so there's options out there, but I just kind of want to get behind the

01:03:19.216 --> 01:03:21.996
wheel and, and meet you in Chicago

01:03:21.996 --> 01:03:28.476
and bring your car and we don't need to go fast. We just need to go.

01:03:29.516 --> 01:03:34.956
And so, and so, and I found, and I've asked people, what's the norm?

01:03:35.276 --> 01:03:39.436
And they say, you know, these are, these are the guys, even with the,

01:03:39.596 --> 01:03:43.296
with, you know, they don't have to be BWs, but it's about an hour and a half.

01:03:43.296 --> 01:03:47.476
That's about as much as you can do in these classic cars is about an hour and a half.

01:03:47.836 --> 01:03:53.296
And so they pull over, they take breaks, they have snacks, you know,

01:03:53.436 --> 01:03:58.076
and you just make your way down the yellow brick road and go see stuff.

01:03:58.076 --> 01:04:01.016
And that's that's that's the part about

01:04:01.016 --> 01:04:03.916
being in an american and being able to like go to

01:04:03.916 --> 01:04:06.796
state to state and and be grateful for for

01:04:06.796 --> 01:04:11.936
what we have and the beauty that's associated with it and and and nobody nobody

01:04:11.936 --> 01:04:19.416
really does anything but just appreciates each other and mother nature and you

01:04:19.416 --> 01:04:23.376
know even if you still have your am fm radio you'll find a station don't worry

01:04:23.376 --> 01:04:26.296
about it Yeah, no It just,

01:04:26.396 --> 01:04:28.716
it sounds That sounds perfect,

01:04:29.336 --> 01:04:32.676
That sounds like something I'm definitely Interested in.

01:04:33.696 --> 01:04:40.636
That trip Across the country like that Chilling, you know, no agenda Other than,

01:04:40.656 --> 01:04:44.936
you know, learning The sights to see and creating New memories and stories,

01:04:45.116 --> 01:04:49.256
I think That'd be another thing for me before I'm too old And they have some

01:04:49.256 --> 01:04:52.076
great ones here They have buses to, uh, buses To.

01:04:53.087 --> 01:04:56.607
To the bay i can't remember i think they drive up to san francisco there's

01:04:56.607 --> 01:05:00.107
a couple bus trips out in arizona i'm not

01:05:00.107 --> 01:05:03.207
probably not saying it right buses in the bay but there's

01:05:03.207 --> 01:05:05.887
a couple spider bay yeah so there

01:05:05.887 --> 01:05:09.567
yeah so they go you guys have a pretty cool pier yeah

01:05:09.567 --> 01:05:12.447
yeah so they do a lot of great things yeah and

01:05:12.447 --> 01:05:15.447
there's there's some great guys that do really great

01:05:15.447 --> 01:05:19.427
work uh i don't know if you ever get a chance to interview robert skinner

01:05:19.427 --> 01:05:22.227
up in the sacramento area no i reached out to

01:05:22.227 --> 01:05:25.507
him i didn't hear back but uh yeah he's yeah he's he's

01:05:25.507 --> 01:05:28.487
turned into a really good and a

01:05:28.487 --> 01:05:31.147
good friend and and he has a lot of

01:05:31.147 --> 01:05:35.107
history he has the fast times at ridgemont high bus yeah

01:05:35.107 --> 01:05:39.087
i saw i saw i read he he's a great

01:05:39.087 --> 01:05:42.247
gentleman answers your questions i'd love

01:05:42.247 --> 01:05:46.047
to have him on man yeah he's just and he's a lot a lot of history but

01:05:46.047 --> 01:05:48.927
there's just i just

01:05:48.927 --> 01:05:52.507
i don't know i i think you always hang out with your friends when you have a

01:05:52.507 --> 01:05:56.527
vw and just kind of laugh at each other you know putting things together and

01:05:56.527 --> 01:06:01.547
a really cool time i've never seen a vw guy change his tire by himself i've

01:06:01.547 --> 01:06:06.147
seen about i've seen one person do all the work and about 10 guys hovering tell him how to,

01:06:06.827 --> 01:06:11.407
you're not you're not you're not kidding though yeah yeah everybody's congregating

01:06:11.407 --> 01:06:15.047
all talking all you should have done it that way you know it's like yeah yeah

01:06:15.047 --> 01:06:17.607
yeah what are you doing you You want to get down here and do it?

01:06:19.167 --> 01:06:23.007
Heck yeah, man. All right, let's hit a couple of rapid fire questions. Yeah, yeah.

01:06:23.267 --> 01:06:27.787
Fast response. First thing that comes to mind. Favorite VW color combo of all time?

01:06:28.527 --> 01:06:35.327
Oh, it's got to be that. It's got to be that pea green with the tan interior for that older split.

01:06:36.367 --> 01:06:39.987
Okay. With the semaphores. Got to have the semaphores. All right.

01:06:40.487 --> 01:06:41.747
Hard top or convertible?

01:06:42.447 --> 01:06:45.667
Oh, convertible, man. Come on. All right. Yeah, I know.

01:06:45.767 --> 01:06:51.027
I know. I still gotta ask Best song to blast while you're cruising in the bug Top down,

01:06:51.899 --> 01:06:56.019
God, that's a really good one. I would say Paul McCartney's.

01:06:56.519 --> 01:06:58.319
It'll come up. Let's keep on the run.

01:06:59.379 --> 01:07:03.299
Man on the run. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

01:07:03.879 --> 01:07:06.939
All right. Well, that one. And I tell you the other one a lot of people forget

01:07:06.939 --> 01:07:11.559
is if you drive at sunset, radar love by golden earring.

01:07:13.039 --> 01:07:16.859
Somebody absolutely is going to listen to that because you just said it.

01:07:18.339 --> 01:07:23.259
Yeah. You had to pick a daily driver, air-cooled VW. Which one are you choosing?

01:07:24.399 --> 01:07:29.359
You know, probably just because I know I said convertible, but I would probably

01:07:29.359 --> 01:07:34.519
pick, you know, a early 60s regular sedan.

01:07:34.759 --> 01:07:41.059
Just, you know, I think the 1200 engine, you know, if it's a daily driver,

01:07:41.219 --> 01:07:42.639
it'll get you everywhere you want to go.

01:07:43.199 --> 01:07:48.759
Yeah, I got to tell you, since my wife had lucked into this 71 Carmen Ghia,

01:07:49.239 --> 01:07:53.419
I go out and start it and drive it all the time just because it's easy and,

01:07:53.439 --> 01:07:55.199
you know, they like to be driven.

01:07:55.579 --> 01:07:59.879
So I always make sure I'm driving it around and that really is,

01:07:59.999 --> 01:08:02.519
it's a pretty, pretty valid choice a lot of times for me.

01:08:03.599 --> 01:08:07.519
I don't know if you experienced this either, but I know with the split buses,

01:08:07.579 --> 01:08:16.439
I remember a lot of people say the 1500 was solely made for the purpose of driving it long distances.

01:08:17.179 --> 01:08:21.799
And they found that when the car or the bus is not driven,

01:08:22.719 --> 01:08:27.819
that's when you have mechanical issues with it That's why I said that They want

01:08:27.819 --> 01:08:31.139
to be driven because of that reason, you're right If you don't drive them,

01:08:31.239 --> 01:08:33.659
that's when you have issues.

01:08:33.719 --> 01:08:40.139
One thing you always have to keep in your glove box Flashlight Flashlight,

01:08:40.139 --> 01:08:44.799
good answer Most people say a 10 or a 13mm.

01:08:46.239 --> 01:08:49.159
I have a tool bag I have a tool bag and,

01:08:50.414 --> 01:08:53.334
bro, I'm going to tell you this story. This is like, this, this is how tell

01:08:53.334 --> 01:08:59.894
you how spoiled we are is, is the reason why I say flashlight is because when

01:08:59.894 --> 01:09:05.154
I drove my car at night and I'd open the door, there's no, the dome light wasn't working.

01:09:05.834 --> 01:09:10.314
And so literally I was like, okay, you know, and you kind of use your phone. You're like, okay.

01:09:10.774 --> 01:09:13.874
But when there was drama, like, I was like, I just want a flashlight.

01:09:14.054 --> 01:09:15.894
I just dropped something. I can't even find it.

01:09:16.234 --> 01:09:19.194
So Sebastian, the, the president of

01:09:19.194 --> 01:09:22.314
our club he does work on it we looked for

01:09:22.314 --> 01:09:25.814
probably about three hours for ground to

01:09:25.814 --> 01:09:29.114
get the dome light to work and i

01:09:29.114 --> 01:09:34.634
was so happy when i opened the door and the light came on it it was like people

01:09:34.634 --> 01:09:37.674
were like dude that's awesome how did you find it i was like oh man we had to

01:09:37.674 --> 01:09:43.414
do this and do this so yeah i mean can you imagine the level of gratitude you

01:09:43.414 --> 01:09:46.594
have to have the dome light on the dome light.

01:09:47.094 --> 01:09:51.994
Yeah, man. Pretty cool. Yeah. That's why I have a flashlight in my glow box. Okay.

01:09:52.714 --> 01:09:57.274
Cool story. Where can people connect with you? If they want to follow your,

01:09:57.274 --> 01:10:00.874
your events, if they want to check out your content.

01:10:02.036 --> 01:10:06.096
Yeah, they can follow at Mr. Mahalo on Instagram.

01:10:06.616 --> 01:10:10.436
Right now, if you go on Facebook for events, you can look up Mr.

01:10:10.556 --> 01:10:15.896
Mahalo Vintage Car Show No. 5, a Roman numeral. There's information there.

01:10:16.256 --> 01:10:21.736
And then they can catch me on my email at 808mrmahalo at gmail.com.

01:10:22.076 --> 01:10:25.416
We're trying, when I say we, there's a couple of us.

01:10:25.556 --> 01:10:29.996
We're trying to put something here in Southern California that's specifically

01:10:29.996 --> 01:10:36.976
Volkswagen, that's associated with a Volkswagen dealership and celebrate, you know, just a VW.

01:10:37.276 --> 01:10:42.596
But there's a lot of great stuff out here. The Bob Baker show is huge.

01:10:42.936 --> 01:10:46.316
I mean, it's huge, but I don't know if they've been able to do a show since

01:10:46.316 --> 01:10:49.636
COVID and all the thoroughbreds come out for that one.

01:10:49.796 --> 01:10:54.256
I mean, it's, I mean, they tell you once you're locked in, don't expect to leave

01:10:54.256 --> 01:10:57.756
that parking lot till seven, eight o'clock at night, because it's packed.

01:10:58.336 --> 01:11:02.076
And it smells like oil and

01:11:02.076 --> 01:11:05.316
gas constantly you know it's just it's the

01:11:05.316 --> 01:11:08.376
exhaust of freedom when i don't have that smell anymore

01:11:08.376 --> 01:11:11.856
i'm gonna miss it that's for sure you know for sure

01:11:11.856 --> 01:11:15.916
any shout outs you want to give to anybody you know i want to give a shout out

01:11:15.916 --> 01:11:21.596
to a couple guys rj classics right now they're the ones that are doing my the

01:11:21.596 --> 01:11:27.016
my my volkswagen air-cooled community that It goes out and then I really wanted

01:11:27.016 --> 01:11:29.516
to encourage your readers out there for,

01:11:29.736 --> 01:11:34.416
you know, if they really want to get the, what I call the, the basic context

01:11:34.416 --> 01:11:39.256
is the comprehensive illustrated history of the world's most popular car,

01:11:39.456 --> 01:11:41.756
the Beetle by Keith Suen.

01:11:41.876 --> 01:11:44.616
It's actually a large print, you know, it's massive.

01:11:45.016 --> 01:11:51.076
We can see it guys like us. Yeah. And I, and you go in there and it's very simplistic.

01:11:52.296 --> 01:11:58.536
And it just gives you the basic history. And this one was by Stefan Zantini,

01:11:59.236 --> 01:12:01.856
Vintage Volkswagen Beetles and Accessories.

01:12:02.396 --> 01:12:05.936
And I actually got him to autograph the front page.

01:12:06.076 --> 01:12:13.016
And it's a collection of just going through all the areas in all the BW models.

01:12:13.436 --> 01:12:16.156
I mean, this is ridiculous. I don't know if you can see that.

01:12:16.316 --> 01:12:17.936
I mean, that's just like crazy.

01:12:18.196 --> 01:12:22.176
I mean, that's all the accessories that came with this car. That is absolutely

01:12:22.176 --> 01:12:23.856
beautiful. It's gorgeous.

01:12:24.296 --> 01:12:31.396
And it's like, you know, the guy got every option humanly possible.

01:12:31.396 --> 01:12:38.916
And he's done a great job of not only showing what's available and photographing

01:12:38.916 --> 01:12:40.716
it, but you're just amazed.

01:12:40.856 --> 01:12:47.216
I mean, there's a coffee, a coffee percolating system that's attached the car that to me is crazy.

01:12:47.216 --> 01:12:50.456
The german editions had a

01:12:50.456 --> 01:12:57.916
very expensive shortwave radio system that they had an accessory to that was

01:12:57.916 --> 01:13:02.496
and you look at it it's my wife calls it volkswagen porn she's like can you

01:13:02.496 --> 01:13:06.996
put the book down and have dinner let's can we what are you trying to buy now

01:13:06.996 --> 01:13:09.716
you know so but those are great.

01:13:10.936 --> 01:13:17.576
Context for finding out what's out there because the bug, the beetle is very

01:13:17.576 --> 01:13:20.256
simplistic, very, very simplistic.

01:13:20.716 --> 01:13:26.516
And I had a old timer tell me, he says, you know why the antenna is on different sides of the car?

01:13:26.756 --> 01:13:30.216
And I said, yeah, I've noticed that. And he goes, it's because it's what was

01:13:30.216 --> 01:13:34.576
ever easiest for the dealer that those cars didn't come with radios and antennas.

01:13:34.576 --> 01:13:36.856
Those were options that you got at the dealership.

01:13:37.116 --> 01:13:41.396
They weren't, you know, and some of them have car lighters and some of them

01:13:41.396 --> 01:13:43.856
don't. And those were a lot of dealer options.

01:13:44.096 --> 01:13:47.196
They were pre-installed to have radios, but that's why a lot of you see a lot

01:13:47.196 --> 01:13:51.676
of the bugs have just the original faceplate on them, you know,

01:13:52.116 --> 01:13:53.876
and meet some of these folks.

01:13:54.056 --> 01:13:58.456
And they said, I really couldn't afford another $30 for a radio.

01:13:59.076 --> 01:14:04.356
And I'm in my head. I'm thinking 30 bucks, 60, you know, 1962, 1963.

01:14:04.576 --> 01:14:08.276
You know, it's a lot of money, a lot of money. Yeah. Yeah.

01:14:08.836 --> 01:14:12.756
What does the VW lifestyle mean to you in one sentence?

01:14:14.090 --> 01:14:16.770
Oh man, you just look at that. Why don't you just put a gun to my head?

01:14:16.910 --> 01:14:24.590
You know, I would say owning a Volkswagen is a passionate and humble hobby.

01:14:24.990 --> 01:14:32.670
You learn, you learn patience because the car requires a lot of attention.

01:14:32.690 --> 01:14:34.870
You got to tinker with the carburetor.

01:14:35.070 --> 01:14:41.210
You got to adjust these things from time to time. You have to put, you will break down.

01:14:41.410 --> 01:14:44.310
It will leave. will break down that old law that

01:14:44.310 --> 01:14:47.050
you have of if it ever leaves me stranded i'm getting rid of

01:14:47.050 --> 01:14:50.850
it no that's not for this culture it definitely

01:14:50.850 --> 01:14:53.730
it makes you patient and it

01:14:53.730 --> 01:15:00.070
makes you appreciate the work that goes in there and i think there's a love

01:15:00.070 --> 01:15:06.730
affair between i think there's a love affair between man and his car and it

01:15:06.730 --> 01:15:11.750
and it's it's it's so cliche or tacky but there's something about.

01:15:13.630 --> 01:15:17.850
Spouses saying, you know, well, you know, where's dad? Oh, dad's in the garage.

01:15:18.090 --> 01:15:22.530
He's tinkering with Ruby. And the kids know that you're not just sitting there

01:15:22.530 --> 01:15:23.650
going through your iPhone.

01:15:23.930 --> 01:15:29.850
You're, you're, you're tinkering, you're tinkering with the car or you say,

01:15:30.050 --> 01:15:32.770
you know, like I tell my son, like, Hey, can you come out here and help me?

01:15:32.910 --> 01:15:37.790
And, and so, you know, one of the, the stuff that's hard for me and I just being

01:15:37.790 --> 01:15:42.130
transparent is, you know, the Navy, the military beat me up for a long time.

01:15:42.370 --> 01:15:45.870
And so my, my hands hurt, you know, and, and so I have, you know,

01:15:46.010 --> 01:15:47.050
a little bit of arthritis.

01:15:47.450 --> 01:15:51.730
And so like adjusting the carburetor, replacing stuff after about an hour,

01:15:51.890 --> 01:15:57.210
you know, my hands hurt, but what I can do is share that information with my kids and, you know,

01:15:57.750 --> 01:16:02.370
whether they replace the coil or replace the fuel pump or, you know,

01:16:02.470 --> 01:16:05.850
learn how to change the filter or do whatever they're learning that.

01:16:05.990 --> 01:16:09.830
And so I still get to be a part of that process and they get to ask.

01:16:10.580 --> 01:16:14.020
The questions, you know, well, what about this? Oh, that's a great question.

01:16:14.140 --> 01:16:17.680
Let me show you about this. And it's really not that hard.

01:16:18.340 --> 01:16:22.580
It's just, it's just different for them. You know, my youngest who's in the

01:16:22.580 --> 01:16:24.780
air force, he's like, it's like Legos dad.

01:16:24.940 --> 01:16:29.000
And I'm like a little bit, it's a little bit like Legos. It needs to fit correctly.

01:16:29.380 --> 01:16:32.780
So his attention to detail, he can appreciate that stuff, you know,

01:16:32.960 --> 01:16:36.540
where I have another son who just wants to put the car in and just drive it.

01:16:36.640 --> 01:16:40.720
He's not, You know, he just loves, he loves just driving it where the other

01:16:40.720 --> 01:16:43.140
one is wants to know the dynamics.

01:16:43.280 --> 01:16:46.700
I know that's a long answer, the more than one sentence, but it's,

01:16:46.800 --> 01:16:48.520
it really is a love affair.

01:16:48.720 --> 01:16:54.440
It really is. It captured it in the first, in the first portion of it with a

01:16:54.440 --> 01:16:56.820
sentence. That was good. That was good.

01:16:57.360 --> 01:17:01.240
You, you, you make this happen. You know, you guys that do these podcasts or,

01:17:01.280 --> 01:17:05.180
or, or follow on, you know, you really, you guys are class acts in this.

01:17:05.180 --> 01:17:08.800
And I think it's because I listen to a lot of not just VW, but,

01:17:08.940 --> 01:17:13.860
you know, folks that have these car podcasts is they really come down to the

01:17:13.860 --> 01:17:16.020
history and the stories that are connected.

01:17:16.100 --> 01:17:20.940
And you have that ability to listen to people's stories. We all do,

01:17:21.080 --> 01:17:21.980
especially if you have a VW.

01:17:22.580 --> 01:17:27.740
That's the gift is learning the history. I mean, it's it's, you know,

01:17:27.800 --> 01:17:28.960
when the lady comes up to you.

01:17:28.960 --> 01:17:33.720
I mean, I'll tell in this story, which was a love affair is she bought a car

01:17:33.720 --> 01:17:38.080
and her father didn't talk to her for a year because she spent all her money

01:17:38.080 --> 01:17:39.260
on a convertible Volkswagen.

01:17:40.160 --> 01:17:43.980
And he was so upset and she loved that car.

01:17:44.200 --> 01:17:50.700
She loved that car. And when she moved into assisted living or over 55 community, she had to sell it.

01:17:50.840 --> 01:17:55.140
And she had had that car for 50 years, 50 years.

01:17:55.140 --> 01:17:58.040
And you know it's those

01:17:58.040 --> 01:18:01.460
stories you know amen that's why

01:18:01.460 --> 01:18:05.300
i do this those are the stories i like to pull out and

01:18:05.300 --> 01:18:09.320
and broadcast and share and as the

01:18:09.320 --> 01:18:14.480
shorts that come out from these episodes and these little mini stories you really

01:18:14.480 --> 01:18:20.040
start to see the impact that these little tiny stories have on things like tiktok

01:18:20.040 --> 01:18:24.960
and instagram it's like wait a minute that little sentence that 30 seconds got

01:18:24.960 --> 01:18:28.900
1,600 views in an hour or two hours.

01:18:29.160 --> 01:18:33.480
It's like, wow, it really is as interesting as I thought it would be.

01:18:34.820 --> 01:18:38.900
And that's a wrap for this episode of Dub Life Diaries.

01:18:39.140 --> 01:18:44.100
Thanks for sitting shotgun and diving into these incredible stories of the people

01:18:44.100 --> 01:18:46.020
and doves that drive their dreams.

01:18:46.360 --> 01:18:49.780
Until next time, keep the engine humming and the wheels turning,

01:18:49.980 --> 01:18:55.160
and always follow the road that inspires you. This is Joe Person signing off

01:18:55.160 --> 01:18:57.100
I'll catch you on the next ride.

01:19:01.840 --> 01:19:14.092
Music.