Grease, Grit & Girl Power - Annie's VW - Annie Van Orman Ep34

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All right, welcome back to Dub Life Diaries. Today's guest is somebody who embodies

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the do-it-yourself spirit of the VW community.

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Honestly, I've been looking at her videos. I'd pretty much say like nobody else.

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She's a content creator. She's a filmmaker. She's a storyteller.

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She's a hands-on mechanic who took a 69 Beetle named Helen Wheels and brought

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her back to life on camera.

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Every bolt, every weld, every triumph all on her own.

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She's built an international community around her work. I can say I looked at

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your Facebook. You're probably close to 60,000 followers.

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Your Instagram is what, over 100, over 200? Yeah, yeah. Pushing over 100. Yeah, for sure.

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Wow. It really is just absolutely amazing.

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Anyway, built an international community around her work, showing that you don't

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need a shop full of mechanics or a super big budget to make this vintage Volkswagen thing work.

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You just need passion, you need creativity, and a whole lot of persistence from

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restoring Beatles to building Star Wars props, which I thought was the coolest

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thing about your past, all the way to SEMA and the great race rally.

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She's living proof that art and engineering can share the same garage.

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Please welcome to the podcast, Ms. Annie Van Orman.

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Thank you. That was a very, very kind and generous introduction.

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I appreciate that. Oh, absolutely.

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What's up? Thank you so much for taking the time. I really do appreciate it.

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Just this little old podcast, we're starting to get some steam.

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So thank you so much for your time.

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Before we keep going, I want to give just a couple of shout outs to my sponsors

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and some people that support me, support the podcast.

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You guys know Volksmania, super awesome magazine.

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I feel it's the flyest VW magazine on the face of the planet,

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Volksmania.com. You can use Dublife10, that's D-U-B-L-I-F-E-1-0 at checkout. That's U.S.

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Subscribers only. Shout out to Salty Dub. Salty Dub from the beach to the bay.

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Salty Dub is tearing up the scene. They got some announcements coming out soon

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for the next V-Dubs over the Skyway PM version.

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Anyhow, saltydub.com, same discount code. It'll only work on swag, Dublife10.

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And then finally, my buddy Chris White, Riverbank Customs. Chris is out of Pell City, Alabama.

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Super stand-up guy, all about the VW community. Go check out his YouTube,

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Riverbank Customs. You can't miss him.

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You can't miss his lovely Southern accent. You can't miss his love for Volkswagen.

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So, okay, young lady, back to you. Back to you again.

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Thank you. Thank you for your time today. All right, so let's talk Volkswagens. Yeah, I'd love to.

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All right. We might be here a long time if you just open-end it like that.

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So let's go back to the beginning for you. What are your very first memories of Volkswagens?

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Well, I think it's like most kids.

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Unless you've got a family member or someone close to you that's working on

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Volkswagens, I think it's the same for everyone.

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It's sitting in the car, long road trip, and I think some people call it slug

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bug. Other people call it punch buggy, but that's the earliest memory is sitting

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in the car, you know, making, because we didn't have phones back then and devices to keep us busy.

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So it was looking out the window, looking for the punch buggy so you can slug your sibling.

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Wow. So that's probably the earliest. Yeah. You grew up in Canada, right?

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Yeah. Canada. So I'm in Alberta, which you would consider like Western Canada.

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Yeah. How did cars and creativity kind of fit into your world as a kid looking back?

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Yeah, so cars came later, I'm going to say.

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I didn't grow up in a family where we worked on cars, where we were out,

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you know, doing things like that.

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But creativity, definitely, definitely, definitely.

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Like from an early age, I came from a family where the arts were heavily focused on.

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And so, you know, not only just with some of the things that my family valued

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with, you know, maybe art and music and things like that, I was always out building stuff.

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And so my dad is a really talented woodworker. So I remember early days just

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watching him build things.

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But then also I lived out on an acreage. So we were building,

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you know, tree houses and stuff. So the building bug and the creativity with

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that sort of aspect, that's been around since I can remember.

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Cars came later, but the whole idea of wanting to go out and build things and

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create things, that's been there just from the earliest memory.

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So the artistic side's always been there, really? Yeah, it's always really been there.

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It's been, I started out, well, I'll jump ahead to part of my degree with,

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I had a Bachelor of Fine Arts. I thought I was going to maybe go through and do an art degree.

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So from an early age, I was drawing and doing things like that, maybe that way.

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And so I thought I was going to take that route, but then I did something else.

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But yeah, creativity, drawing, building, it's been lifelong.

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You know, you're a different thinker, a different type of thinker.

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The artistic thinker is a different thinker. I have one of my five kids that's also very artistic.

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He's my youngest. And ever since he was just a tiny little baby,

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like the things that he was into versus my other or watching the way,

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like the way a wheel rolls on the ground and getting off underneath it.

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And I'm like, you know, and now he's in art classes and stuff, too.

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It's just it's so cool to see the says and people, you know,

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so I can imagine by same for you.

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I'd say that people who have that artistic eye or vision, they are observers.

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And so they do want to see those things, right?

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But the funny thing is, is people see what I did early on in my career and early

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on with my life with like creativity and drawing and art.

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And then later, you know, television, video type stuff.

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But I think all of that really translates over to building a car.

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I think you have to be a creative person to build a car and have that eye.

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So I look at people who are building cars and I think they are super creative.

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Like there's a real creative sort of gene that you have to have to really to

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excel at it, I think. For sure. For sure.

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I'm also going to beg that it probably even boils down to just the raw nature

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of your IQ and your intelligence level.

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Yeah, sure. Maybe. I mean, if you're saying I'm smart, I'll take that compliment.

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Yeah, I am. I am. And I think, you know, artistic, you know,

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sometimes maybe not always the best at all the books.

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Oh, yeah, yeah. But typically very, you know, very good at the artistic side.

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And like you said, man, it's just that it's almost like a natural thing there.

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Yeah, I think that's true. I think when you got, sometimes that's just the way

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it happens is you got talents one place and then it's not so good the other

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place. So don't ask me to do like mental math and stuff like that,

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but I can do other things.

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So at what point did you realize, you know, all right, it's going to be about

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VWs. VWs is going to be my thing.

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I thought about that because, you know, it could have been.

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So my first vehicle when I was 16 was a 1971 Super Beetle.

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It could have been then, but it wasn't really. So, so the story there is that

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my first car was a Volkswagen and I loved to drive it. I only drove it for a couple of years.

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And when we got rid of it, when I went to college, I kind of knew that a Volkswagen

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would come back into my life.

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I really, really wanted to learn auto mechanics and just kind of like dive in

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and do that. But timing is never quite exactly right.

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So I don't think I knew for sure that VWs were really my thing until my late

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thirties when Helen came into my life and I started tearing her apart.

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I thought, yeah, this is what I want to do.

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We're going to talk about her in just a moment. Yeah.

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But let me tie back in what you had brought up with your degree,

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Bachelor's of Fine Arts in New Media.

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Worked in animation, worked in film, also in photography.

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How do you think those very creative style experiences really kind of shaped

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the way that you do Volkswagen restorations now.

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Oh, yeah. I don't know if I can tie it in completely to the whole restoration

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process, but I'll tie it into the way I share it.

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It's been a very interesting full circle moment where I really started out in media,

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like in literally like video editing and TV production,

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because I worked on a children's television show and all sorts of aspects where

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it's kind of come full circle where I burned out of that. that's a burnout sort of industry.

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I burned out of that and now I'm kind of back doing it. So I don't know if it's

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tied in specifically with the actual restoration, but it's definitely been a

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really interesting moment where now I'm like, I'm kind of back in video production again.

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Can't get away from it. But yeah, but you know, it's helped a lot because I've,

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I already had that foundation. I didn't need to figure anything out.

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It was just like, Oh, you know, this is like advertising again.

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Yeah, that's so nice because I've had to figure it all out.

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Yeah, exactly. And it can feel like an overwhelming, steep learning curve when

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you're learning it all out.

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So that's been one of the things that has been actually a nice thing about my

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background is there hasn't been any learning curve. It's just been like jumping back in.

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Well, something else that you mentioned that I thought was so cool,

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which I'm sure will resonate with a lot of people because a lot of people like

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Star Wars, but you built Star Wars props, right? Yeah.

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How did you get into that? Well, it was kind of one of these things that just sort of happened.

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And what had happened was my daughter, so I've got two kids,

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a boy and a girl, my daughter, who's the youngest. she was just kind of starting

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preschool and I was kind of needing a little project.

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She wasn't, you know, I didn't have kids at home. I needed a project.

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And my brother was kind of into these Star Wars props. And I thought,

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well, if he can do it, I can do it.

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So I just kind of, I kind of like sunk a bunch of money into the hobby.

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You know, you have to get a little airbrush and a little compressor and then

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lots of tools for some of the things that you're doing.

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And I made one. And the one that I made, I assume you're familiar,

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but when Princess Leia goes and And she rescues Han Solo, and she's dressed

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as the bounty hunter, Boosh.

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I don't know if you're familiar, but that's the costume. That's the helmet that I made.

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And basically what happened was...

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Hey, that's crazy. But basically what happened was I had sunk so much money into the hobby, as we do.

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I mean, you kind of have to sink some money into it to kind of get going.

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I had sunk so much money into it that I thought, well, I got to sell this thing

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and kind of make my money back, and then I'll make another one.

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And then then I'll be even.

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And so I sold it. I put it up on a Star Wars prop forum and I sold it immediately

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and immediately had about three people say, can you make me one?

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I thought, sure, why not? You know, that's no big deal.

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And it just snowballed from there. And I think I did it for about five years.

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And at my busiest, I had like a 12 month wait list for people to get on my bench

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so that I can make them the prop.

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And so and so and and and and that just has to do with the costume that I was

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doing this Boosh, who was Leia again.

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There was a big hole in the market. Nobody was making it.

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So I was like the only one kind of on the market making it. Everyone wants like

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Boba Fett and like the other bounty hunters, but not very many people were making

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this. So I found a hole in the market.

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Yeah, niche, niche. Good job. And I, and I became really, really busy.

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Wow. What a cool story. Yeah. And it was, and it was really fun to do. I enjoyed it.

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And then it just kind of, the guy that I had making the, the,

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the base helmet, the raw helmet for me, he stopped making them and then it just

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kind of fizzled. But by then I was doing Volkswagen stuff and then it didn't matter so much, I guess.

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Right. Right on. All right. So back to Volkswagens then. Yeah.

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You touched on Helen Wheels for a second. Let's talk about Helen Wheels and

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maybe how she came into your life, maybe even what condition she was in when you got her.

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Yeah, so I wasn't looking. I'm going to tell you right off the bat,

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I was not looking for a project.

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But my husband, yeah, my husband, I'm going to blame all, everything that has

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happened since I got her is my husband's fault.

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Or I'll thank him for it. But, but he, he came home from work once and he said,

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Hey, I, I think I found a Volkswagen for you because he's known since I,

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like since the beginning of a relationship that I've wanted a Volkswagen to restore.

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And he would occasionally come back and say, yeah, I think I found one.

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And I always felt like the timing wasn't quite right.

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So he sent me a pic or no, he came back and he's like, I'm going to go look

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at it. And I said, knock yourself out. I'm not getting one.

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I don't have time for this.

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So he went and looked at it and he

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sent me some pictures and she was in rough shape like she clearly needed a full

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body off restoration the engine was seized she should have been you know junked

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like like she was not worth fixing up and i saw that and i thought this is the one.

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Where most people would turn around you said this is

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the one yeah and there's a reason for that is because

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he would often come back my husband would

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come back and say I found one and he'd show it to me and I thought well great

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I can buy that one and just drive it what's the point I can buy that and just

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drive it who cares so when he sent me the picture of this one and it was rough

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and you know heater channels needed replacing the pans needed replacing the engine was no good,

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I thought, well, at least I can get this and I can dive in and I can learn something.

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Like it needs so much work. There's no way I can come out of this and not,

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you know, have learned something.

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And even if I got it and all I did was take it apart and think, well, I can't do this.

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At least, you know, I had fun taking it apart, I guess. So it needed tons of work.

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It was just the right sort of amount of sort of struggle, I guess.

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Yeah, right. That it was interesting for me. So that's kind of where she came from.

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And you did everything, right? Everything on this car.

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Yeah. So what I like to tell people is no hands have touched her except for

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mine, except for like, there's like three jobs, two or three jobs that I couldn't

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do. I couldn't lineboard the case.

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I had to take it to a machine shop. So they lineboard the case for me when I rebuilt the engine.

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And then I couldn't, I couldn't press out and press in the ball joints. But that's, that's it.

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And what, what years is Helen Wheels? she's

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a 1969 she's a 69 okay yeah

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but she's got older she's got those blade

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bumpers on her that make her look older any parts

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of the restoration that that might

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have stuck out was there any parts that you know

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really pushed back and pushed against you like anybody that

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rebuilds cars usually has those tough spots yeah

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there's two that i can think of the the

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first was she needed her whole front clip replaced so

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I cut off the whole front end and and that wasn't

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really the issue the the the clip replacement went pretty good the problem came

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was her old fenders I couldn't get one of her fenders to sit on right and you

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know it wouldn't have been such a big deal but on a Volkswagen those fenders are so iconic and

00:16:48.824 --> 00:16:54.404
you can't get that fender right? What's the point? So there was a point where

00:16:54.404 --> 00:16:58.184
I just could not figure out what was wrong with this fender.

00:16:58.304 --> 00:17:03.384
And I had done some, you know, the front clip, but also some work down by the A-pillar.

00:17:03.644 --> 00:17:08.084
And I thought, I've messed it up. I've screwed something up so bad that there's

00:17:08.084 --> 00:17:10.304
just this big gap between the body and the fender.

00:17:10.684 --> 00:17:15.504
Come to find out later, after just struggling with it for days and thinking

00:17:15.504 --> 00:17:17.304
I've got to light the thing on fire.

00:17:19.444 --> 00:17:22.944
Finding out that her original fenders the one

00:17:22.944 --> 00:17:28.404
was just right twisted and torqued and so i could never get it back on and so

00:17:28.404 --> 00:17:33.004
and so that's actually if we want to talk about the other car i've got the other

00:17:33.004 --> 00:17:37.564
car whose name is fender fender yeah this that's the 68 that you have right

00:17:37.564 --> 00:17:42.684
the 68 we named him fender because all of helen's fenders are actually fenders fenders,

00:17:44.364 --> 00:17:47.624
fenders fenders yeah so so as

00:17:47.624 --> 00:17:51.184
soon as we got new fenders on her which again

00:17:51.184 --> 00:17:55.384
came from fender everything was fine but there was a point where i just thought

00:17:55.384 --> 00:17:59.944
i must have messed something up and i was gonna have to go way backwards and

00:17:59.944 --> 00:18:04.024
figure something out but i was really glad and again this comes back to social

00:18:04.024 --> 00:18:08.484
media you just have tons of input from people saying well maybe it's this and maybe it's that.

00:18:08.924 --> 00:18:11.944
And someone did say, check your fender. It might be twisted.

00:18:11.984 --> 00:18:14.864
And I didn't believe it. And it took me two days to go and check the fender.

00:18:16.124 --> 00:18:19.184
That's cool though, that that response came. And that's what I was going to ask you.

00:18:19.364 --> 00:18:22.884
That was what I was going to kind of, before we started talking about fender,

00:18:23.104 --> 00:18:27.424
I was just going to ask kind of what the response of the VW community was,

00:18:27.804 --> 00:18:32.204
because I know you shared that entire, you know, every, all the steps of rebuilding

00:18:32.204 --> 00:18:34.104
that car online, right? Yeah.

00:18:34.564 --> 00:18:38.104
One of the things I kind of committed to at the beginning was I was just going

00:18:38.104 --> 00:18:40.344
to show everything, good, bad, ugly, whatever.

00:18:40.644 --> 00:18:44.564
Oh, cool, man. I think there's value in that. And I know a lot,

00:18:44.644 --> 00:18:48.084
I get a lot of heat for things that don't work out and people, you know.

00:18:48.824 --> 00:18:52.964
Like criticizing and stuff like that. But there's so much value in showing the

00:18:52.964 --> 00:18:56.244
good and the bad and the ugly along with the things that work out.

00:18:56.384 --> 00:19:00.804
But the response from the VW community was wonderful.

00:19:00.924 --> 00:19:05.124
And I think you'll agree the VW community is the best community. Oh, yeah.

00:19:05.524 --> 00:19:09.344
Oh, yeah. They're full of just like awesome, good people.

00:19:09.584 --> 00:19:12.564
I mean, one in a hundred might be kind of like not so great.

00:19:12.724 --> 00:19:15.944
But for the most part, the response was awesome.

00:19:16.104 --> 00:19:19.744
I had so many people who were builders of

00:19:19.744 --> 00:19:23.164
all levels really invested in the build who

00:19:23.164 --> 00:19:26.324
would give lots of awesome feedback and lots of awesome advice

00:19:26.324 --> 00:19:29.164
I made some great friends who I can like reach out

00:19:29.164 --> 00:19:32.764
to even now and be like hey this is happening can you tell me what you think

00:19:32.764 --> 00:19:39.464
is going on here so the VW community the response was amazing and and I was

00:19:39.464 --> 00:19:43.124
really happy for that because you know it's hard to kind of like put yourself

00:19:43.124 --> 00:19:48.704
out there and show the the mistakes and and the good things and, but it was awesome.

00:19:48.944 --> 00:19:51.324
They're, they're, they're fantastic people. I just love them.

00:19:51.604 --> 00:19:56.504
Yeah. Me too. That's why I wanted to do this because they're all so unique and

00:19:56.504 --> 00:20:01.064
awesome that I feel like that needs to be celebrated, you know?

00:20:01.184 --> 00:20:05.864
And I look for the most creative, the most artistic, the most right.

00:20:06.064 --> 00:20:11.064
And then I also look for just the average, you know, Volkswagen enthusiast because

00:20:11.064 --> 00:20:15.564
equally, you know, their love and their passion for these cars is the same.

00:20:16.164 --> 00:20:19.844
Uh, so they all have stories and yeah, it's so cool. So cool.

00:20:19.964 --> 00:20:23.464
All right. So looking back, would you change anything about how you tackled

00:20:23.464 --> 00:20:27.284
Helen, learn anything for getting into the new project?

00:20:28.044 --> 00:20:33.884
Yeah, I think so. The, the main thing I've learned is I probably don't have

00:20:33.884 --> 00:20:35.704
to take things quite as far.

00:20:37.004 --> 00:20:42.384
Okay. So, because here's the thing, when, when you're working on,

00:20:42.604 --> 00:20:44.264
you know, something you've never done before.

00:20:44.584 --> 00:20:48.604
And again, I'm kind of alone in my garage. I don't have my mentor or my coach

00:20:48.604 --> 00:20:52.384
kind of, you know, in their bay working on their stuff where I can be like,

00:20:52.584 --> 00:20:54.304
hey, can you come look at this? Have I done enough?

00:20:54.624 --> 00:20:59.224
So sometimes I felt like I was spending more time than I needed just because

00:20:59.224 --> 00:21:00.524
I didn't know when to stop.

00:21:01.084 --> 00:21:05.504
So, you know, with certain things, especially, you know, strip and paint or

00:21:05.504 --> 00:21:09.144
what parts need to really be refurbed and what you can get away with.

00:21:09.504 --> 00:21:15.184
I've learned a lot more, you know, there's a line and now I know where it is.

00:21:15.324 --> 00:21:18.984
So that was one thing that moving forward with Fender, I think,

00:21:19.531 --> 00:21:23.991
it'll go faster because I'll know, I'll just have a better idea of when to stop

00:21:23.991 --> 00:21:28.831
and what to do and what can be kind of like, I don't want to say ignored,

00:21:29.051 --> 00:21:30.971
but just like is not a priority.

00:21:31.411 --> 00:21:35.751
Let's talk about the creative angle of, you know, I guess the build,

00:21:35.891 --> 00:21:38.091
because a lot of it's done and documented.

00:21:38.611 --> 00:21:45.371
How do you decide what angle you're going to take when you're in a sense trying to capture the journey.

00:21:45.611 --> 00:21:49.991
I try not to make that the priority. I'll say that first, because,

00:21:50.111 --> 00:21:52.791
you know, at the end of the day, I just want to work on my car.

00:21:52.991 --> 00:21:56.831
So I don't want to think a lot about camera angles and stuff,

00:21:56.831 --> 00:22:02.631
but I try and get, you know, a wide shot to make sure that people kind of,

00:22:02.951 --> 00:22:06.071
because, because that was a few times at the beginning, I would be coming in

00:22:06.071 --> 00:22:08.511
at a really close shot and they say, we don't know what you're working on.

00:22:08.671 --> 00:22:12.331
So I try and get a wide shot. I try and get some different angles,

00:22:12.331 --> 00:22:19.991
but I don't make it a priority to try and be moving the camera every five minutes or something.

00:22:20.551 --> 00:22:24.711
And I've found that when I do move the camera a lot, or if I don't move the

00:22:24.711 --> 00:22:26.911
camera a lot, it doesn't really matter.

00:22:27.091 --> 00:22:29.391
People will still watch and engage.

00:22:29.991 --> 00:22:32.351
Occasionally they'll say, what was it that you were working on?

00:22:32.411 --> 00:22:33.491
Can we get a close up on that?

00:22:33.671 --> 00:22:39.111
And then I'll try and do that. But in general, video capture is kind of the

00:22:39.111 --> 00:22:43.031
secondary, and I try not to overthink it, I guess, you know?

00:22:43.171 --> 00:22:45.891
Yeah. So you probably don't storyboard or anything like that.

00:22:46.011 --> 00:22:48.251
You just, you just get out there and do it.

00:22:48.271 --> 00:22:52.571
No, the kind of the, the, the philosophy or the process is every time I'm out

00:22:52.571 --> 00:22:56.971
in the garage, I'll throw the camera up and whatever one little job I'm doing,

00:22:57.171 --> 00:22:58.991
that'll be, that'll be what I show.

00:22:59.251 --> 00:23:03.231
So I don't, sometimes when there's a complicated job where I know that,

00:23:03.331 --> 00:23:06.531
you know, there'll be more value in showing more of the process,

00:23:06.531 --> 00:23:10.511
I might think a little bit more about how I want to show what's happening.

00:23:10.971 --> 00:23:14.011
But sometimes a wide shot just showing what you're doing is enough,

00:23:14.171 --> 00:23:15.631
but yeah, occasionally I.

00:23:16.560 --> 00:23:21.620
I'm not not thinking about it, but occasionally I'll try and make a plan if

00:23:21.620 --> 00:23:24.320
it needs something that's just going to be a little bit more involved.

00:23:24.540 --> 00:23:30.080
But I got to keep it fun and easy and not overcomplicate it because then you

00:23:30.080 --> 00:23:31.980
can just then it's not fun anymore.

00:23:32.760 --> 00:23:38.700
With your social medias obviously growing, you know, and, and your follower

00:23:38.700 --> 00:23:40.720
kind of your fan base growing.

00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:47.800
Do you ever feel like there's pressure to perform on any of your content? Yeah.

00:23:48.300 --> 00:23:53.040
Yeah. I was going to say, cause I, I do. And I feel as my podcast is growing

00:23:53.040 --> 00:23:57.160
and I'm starting to get, you know, downloads in 36 countries and,

00:23:57.360 --> 00:23:59.140
you know, past a hundred thousand.

00:23:59.140 --> 00:24:03.500
And it's like, dude, so sometimes I'm like, you know, I feel it.

00:24:03.620 --> 00:24:06.280
I feel a little bit of the pressure. Are the questions still going to be cool?

00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:09.400
Am I still going to be, you know, so do you feel the same thing?

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:13.860
Yeah, in a way, I've had lots of people before ask, they say,

00:24:14.040 --> 00:24:18.980
you know, is the pressure to be uploading and creating content? Yeah.

00:24:19.180 --> 00:24:24.240
Is that why you're doing it so much? I can say no, I'd probably be out in the garage just as much.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:27.920
Because just because I'm in the time I've got a job right

00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:30.600
now that is very flexible and so I've got the time right now

00:24:30.600 --> 00:24:33.560
so so I'll be doing that but I do I

00:24:33.560 --> 00:24:39.580
do feel like as the hell and wheels build sort of concluded I started to feel

00:24:39.580 --> 00:24:44.360
more pressure and that was just because I thought okay we're almost done is

00:24:44.360 --> 00:24:47.660
it going to live up to the hype is it going to live up to everyone who's been

00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:50.960
following along you kind of want to do it for the people who are following along

00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:53.420
so there There was pressure to try and do it really,

00:24:53.580 --> 00:24:58.020
really well for all the people who have been watching and investing in their

00:24:58.020 --> 00:25:00.980
time watching you do it. So there was that pressure.

00:25:01.220 --> 00:25:04.900
I mean, I'm always going to do it the way I want to do it, but I would just

00:25:04.900 --> 00:25:11.460
really, really hope it was the pressure of hoping that people liked it or were happy with it.

00:25:11.580 --> 00:25:15.100
You wanted them to be as happy with it as I was going to be happy with it.

00:25:15.180 --> 00:25:18.300
So it was that kind of pressure, I guess. Well, that's good pressure.

00:25:18.740 --> 00:25:22.820
Yeah, I think so. Yeah, that'll motivate you. Well, not all personality types,

00:25:22.940 --> 00:25:23.980
but that would motivate me.

00:25:24.260 --> 00:25:26.820
Yeah, no, me too. Me as well, I think.

00:25:27.420 --> 00:25:31.480
Looking at the community feedback that you've gotten from the community,

00:25:31.660 --> 00:25:37.700
is there any piece of feedback or anything that really stood out over the test

00:25:37.700 --> 00:25:40.120
of time that's really kind of, I don't know,

00:25:40.420 --> 00:25:44.000
either somebody that's been inspired themselves and shared something with you

00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:46.760
or something that they shared with you that inspired you?

00:25:47.100 --> 00:25:51.680
Anything stand out from the community? Um, I, I don't think I could pinpoint

00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:58.300
one individual or one person, but the feedback that I get that is probably my favorite feedback.

00:25:59.033 --> 00:26:04.153
Or, you know, response or comment that I get is, hey, it's a comment that goes

00:26:04.153 --> 00:26:06.093
like this. It's like, hey, I've been watching you.

00:26:06.593 --> 00:26:10.193
I've had this project for about four or five years that hasn't been doing anything.

00:26:10.653 --> 00:26:14.233
And watching you and seeing that you're just doing it with, you know,

00:26:14.313 --> 00:26:17.613
the tools that you have and the know-how that you have, it's inspired me to

00:26:17.613 --> 00:26:19.793
get it out and get working on it again. Cool.

00:26:20.133 --> 00:26:23.433
I cannot have a better comment than that. Right.

00:26:23.813 --> 00:26:27.733
To have someone be like, man. That's like what you're doing it for, probably, to inspire.

00:26:28.013 --> 00:26:32.693
Yes. Yeah. And that's kind of, you know, along with when we talked about the

00:26:32.693 --> 00:26:36.973
pressure, I want to keep doing it because I think, man, if more people can get

00:26:36.973 --> 00:26:42.253
out and because because anyone who's worked on their cars and and then can drive them after,

00:26:42.413 --> 00:26:47.233
you know, what a wonderful like feeling it is to like to get that done.

00:26:47.453 --> 00:26:51.533
I think it's so good to go and do these things, having hobbies and goals and stuff.

00:26:51.753 --> 00:26:54.853
Yeah, I love it. love it so like yeah i

00:26:54.853 --> 00:26:57.633
can't pinpoint any one person but anyone who comes on

00:26:57.633 --> 00:27:00.453
is like man and it's not even volkswagen people they're

00:27:00.453 --> 00:27:04.513
like oh i have this whatever car it is and i haven't been working on it but

00:27:04.513 --> 00:27:09.513
i'm get i'm gonna go do it now i think yes that's exactly go do it go do it

00:27:09.513 --> 00:27:16.213
and be happy i love it yeah let's touch on women in what's the message that

00:27:16.213 --> 00:27:18.573
you hope that young builders,

00:27:18.953 --> 00:27:22.673
young women are going to take away from what you're contributing,

00:27:22.833 --> 00:27:24.513
what you're doing, what you're doing for work?

00:27:25.033 --> 00:27:30.313
Yeah. So, you know, you can go on and check your stats and the demographic and stuff.

00:27:30.453 --> 00:27:35.573
So I'll say right off, 97% of my followers are men, but I've got those 3% that are women.

00:27:36.073 --> 00:27:41.073
And I think it grows, I think, year by year, it does like just move,

00:27:41.213 --> 00:27:42.253
the needle moves a little bit.

00:27:42.593 --> 00:27:46.853
Right. But what I would love for women to see, because I think there are women

00:27:46.853 --> 00:27:51.413
out there who want to be doing this sort of thing, but they don't really know how.

00:27:51.573 --> 00:27:55.193
And by that, I mean they don't know that they can just go and do it.

00:27:55.293 --> 00:27:59.613
I remember when I started, I thought, I'm going to go buy a welder and nobody's going to stop me.

00:28:02.153 --> 00:28:06.233
Because you think, I'm not a welder. Should I be allowed to buy this?

00:28:06.313 --> 00:28:09.753
But you're like, yeah, nobody's going to stop you. Just go buy the welder and start welding.

00:28:10.273 --> 00:28:13.813
So what I want women to see is I want them to see it and think,

00:28:14.333 --> 00:28:17.893
well, my husband's got tools or my boyfriend's got tools or my neighbor's got

00:28:17.893 --> 00:28:22.273
tools if i just borrow a couple things and just start you know taking this apart

00:28:22.273 --> 00:28:23.633
or learning how to do this,

00:28:24.726 --> 00:28:29.106
I just hope that they get inspired to go and work on their own projects.

00:28:29.306 --> 00:28:32.906
You have no idea how many women I've talked to who have said,

00:28:33.086 --> 00:28:36.046
I just want to do this so bad, but I just don't know how.

00:28:36.486 --> 00:28:40.406
And so I'm hoping that they'll see me. And I've connected with tons of women

00:28:40.406 --> 00:28:43.386
who are doing this and then tons that are wanting to do this.

00:28:43.486 --> 00:28:49.266
But I think it's valuable to be sort of like visible in this space for other women to see.

00:28:50.146 --> 00:28:56.026
That's great. Yeah. Yeah, I like that. And I'm, you know, more power to that thought.

00:28:56.206 --> 00:28:58.846
Yeah, for sure. I'm not one of those weirdos.

00:29:01.346 --> 00:29:04.986
I mean, I'm kind of classic. I'm kind of old school. Sometimes I ask where my

00:29:04.986 --> 00:29:08.246
socks and my belt are, but you know. Hey, it's traditional.

00:29:08.426 --> 00:29:12.246
It's just fine. Yeah, it's just fine. It's all love though. It's teamwork.

00:29:12.466 --> 00:29:16.806
My wife is the broker owner of our real estate company.

00:29:17.206 --> 00:29:18.906
So she's the head honcho.

00:29:20.686 --> 00:29:26.626
I love it. Yeah, me too. Okay. VW shows. Do you go to any? Do you frequent any?

00:29:27.166 --> 00:29:31.106
So where I am in Canada, so that's kind of the funny thing.

00:29:31.286 --> 00:29:35.426
I know a lot of, I've got a lot of followers from like places like California and Florida.

00:29:35.626 --> 00:29:39.646
And I know that the VW scene down there is awesome. You've always got shows

00:29:39.646 --> 00:29:44.646
to go to and lots of places where you can go and be around like VW folks.

00:29:45.186 --> 00:29:48.866
Where I am, it's very sporadic and few and far between.

00:29:49.046 --> 00:29:54.006
I'd have to drive quite far. So I haven't really been to just a VW show.

00:29:54.166 --> 00:29:55.906
I've been to car shows. Okay.

00:29:56.306 --> 00:29:58.746
And Helen's only ever been to one car show.

00:29:59.547 --> 00:30:03.267
But to go to just a Volkswagen show, I'd love to do that sometime,

00:30:03.487 --> 00:30:08.047
but I feel like I'd have to, you know, I'd be traveling to try and get to it.

00:30:08.147 --> 00:30:11.987
I know there's a really big one out in the Vancouver area, I think,

00:30:12.087 --> 00:30:13.767
but that's like a 12-hour drive for me.

00:30:14.767 --> 00:30:21.887
There's a guy that I did a podcast with a while back, Jaga Rai, R-A-I.

00:30:22.127 --> 00:30:28.387
If you go back just a few episodes, he's got a yellow beetle called The Outlaw. He's up in Vancouver.

00:30:29.207 --> 00:30:32.367
Yeah, I bet he goes to, there's a really big one out there every year.

00:30:32.427 --> 00:30:36.187
I bet he goes to, I can't remember what it's called, but I get asked about once

00:30:36.187 --> 00:30:37.547
a year, are you coming out to this one?

00:30:37.607 --> 00:30:41.447
And it just hasn't worked out yet, but maybe one day I'd love to get out to that one.

00:30:41.707 --> 00:30:44.427
Well, remember what you were saying earlier about VW people?

00:30:44.947 --> 00:30:49.287
Yeah. Imagine all of them congregating to one space and hanging out for the weekend.

00:30:49.907 --> 00:30:54.967
I know. It's so cool, man. And we have big shows down. Yeah.

00:30:55.127 --> 00:30:58.127
We have big shows. We've got shows like this show called Bug Jam.

00:30:58.527 --> 00:31:02.667
There's, you know, between eight and 900 cars, you know, in Dade City.

00:31:03.327 --> 00:31:08.627
It's absolutely unbelievable. And there are so many others that are awesome, you know.

00:31:09.427 --> 00:31:13.027
Me and my buddies even do a couple shows, you know, throughout the year that

00:31:13.027 --> 00:31:15.927
we get, you know, between two and 400 cars. It's good stuff.

00:31:16.387 --> 00:31:19.427
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. Speaking of like Bug Jam and stuff,

00:31:19.507 --> 00:31:23.267
I see that online every year because I follow a lot of people back who are from

00:31:23.267 --> 00:31:24.367
Florida and stuff like that.

00:31:24.547 --> 00:31:28.447
Yeah. And I see that every year and I think, man, I just got to go.

00:31:28.667 --> 00:31:32.747
I just have to go because it'd be so fun because I think I'd connect with a

00:31:32.747 --> 00:31:35.767
lot of folks that follow me and that I follow back and stuff like that.

00:31:35.947 --> 00:31:41.127
So one of these years, I just got to make the trek and bring Helen down and have some fun, I think.

00:31:41.627 --> 00:31:43.987
Yeah, do that. Sure. For sure.

00:31:44.747 --> 00:31:49.987
Awesome. So nothing on the shows. It's interesting to have that, right?

00:31:50.147 --> 00:31:55.587
Because of specific geographic location, it doesn't really award you that.

00:31:55.707 --> 00:32:00.047
It's interesting to be able to see that because, gosh, man, I guess I could

00:32:00.047 --> 00:32:02.467
say I take some of our shows for granted.

00:32:02.747 --> 00:32:07.047
I can't imagine what it would be like to not be able to go to one.

00:32:07.827 --> 00:32:12.627
Well, they're too far away. Yeah. I mean, Volkswagen people are everywhere,

00:32:12.627 --> 00:32:17.467
but I think just in those couple places is just so much more. Oh, yeah.

00:32:17.787 --> 00:32:20.987
The scene is just awesome down there. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

00:32:21.147 --> 00:32:26.247
It really is. Talking about the scene, you have done some other pretty crazy

00:32:26.247 --> 00:32:32.067
wild things like SEMA and the great race rally. What were those experiences like?

00:32:32.467 --> 00:32:36.327
Yeah, they were positive and really good. I'll talk about SEMA first.

00:32:36.327 --> 00:32:40.567
SEMA, everyone knows, is just the big automotive sort of conference out in Las

00:32:40.567 --> 00:32:41.847
Vegas. And it's massive.

00:32:42.127 --> 00:32:47.887
It's like custom build, right? Oh, yeah. Custom build. Like hundreds of cars.

00:32:48.127 --> 00:32:51.807
Maybe not hundreds, but just so many cars. And then you've got all the vendors inside.

00:32:52.027 --> 00:32:56.967
And just like a ton of people to talk to. It was awesome and a really good experience.

00:32:57.707 --> 00:33:00.507
And I'm going to go again this year, which is really awesome.

00:33:00.527 --> 00:33:04.647
And part of the reason I'm going again this year is because I'll talk about the great race now.

00:33:04.647 --> 00:33:11.667
Is the car that we drove in the Great Race, which was a 1966 Ford Fairlane,

00:33:12.007 --> 00:33:15.267
is going to SEMA. It's going to be at a booth at SEMA.

00:33:15.527 --> 00:33:20.567
And so the Great Race, I don't know if many people are very familiar,

00:33:20.787 --> 00:33:25.807
but it is a race rally and it's about 2,300 miles.

00:33:26.287 --> 00:33:31.367
And it goes, like we started in, I think that they started in Minnesota and

00:33:31.367 --> 00:33:32.787
then ended in South Carolina.

00:33:33.367 --> 00:33:39.007
And it's a race rally and it's not, and it's not a timed event as in like fastest.

00:33:39.007 --> 00:33:40.527
It's like a precision event.

00:33:40.687 --> 00:33:44.807
So it's a really, really interesting event. And I really had a good time and

00:33:44.807 --> 00:33:50.767
I had no idea how massive of a, of an event it was, but we basically,

00:33:50.767 --> 00:33:52.267
it was like a rolling car show.

00:33:52.447 --> 00:33:56.027
So in the afternoon you stop for lunch and it was like a car show.

00:33:56.027 --> 00:33:59.467
And then at night you stopped for the evening And it was like another car show

00:33:59.467 --> 00:34:01.807
So you just got to meet tons of people,

00:34:02.487 --> 00:34:05.327
And we went through so many little towns And

00:34:05.327 --> 00:34:07.987
just back roads Basically the whole way Awesome It was

00:34:07.987 --> 00:34:13.147
awesome I couldn't believe how much fun it was Heck yeah That sounds like fun

00:34:13.147 --> 00:34:17.707
Sounds like bus Something to do on a bus Yeah there was no bus There were no

00:34:17.707 --> 00:34:22.367
buses But there were I think I counted There were three Volkswagen Beetles there

00:34:22.367 --> 00:34:25.667
Okay Yeah that ran the race And they did really well.

00:34:26.383 --> 00:34:32.183
Cool. Yeah, which was awesome. So how do you how do you get ahead in a race like that?

00:34:32.283 --> 00:34:34.543
Is it about plotting, mapping, knowing?

00:34:34.803 --> 00:34:38.783
So, yeah. So let's get into that. So what you get every morning,

00:34:38.783 --> 00:34:42.343
you get your route, which is is not a map.

00:34:42.523 --> 00:34:46.583
It is basically instructions where it's like some of the instructions would

00:34:46.583 --> 00:34:54.483
be like at mile marker, blah, blah, blah. uh, go 55 miles per hour until you see this road.

00:34:54.623 --> 00:35:00.883
And then some of it, it was like, turn right on the first non gravel road and

00:35:00.883 --> 00:35:04.203
then go 35 miles per hour for 12 minutes.

00:35:05.483 --> 00:35:10.103
Whoa. And so this is how you win the race. You have to follow the instructions.

00:35:10.283 --> 00:35:13.643
So there's no map. You can't look and see where you're going.

00:35:13.783 --> 00:35:16.883
There's no map. It's just like, and then it would be stuff like stuff,

00:35:17.083 --> 00:35:19.823
like where it says, where you see the sign where it's

00:35:19.823 --> 00:35:23.103
a turn in the road you have to decelerate from 55 miles

00:35:23.103 --> 00:35:26.183
per hour down to 45 miles per hour and so

00:35:26.183 --> 00:35:29.763
it's just like and so how you win is the

00:35:29.763 --> 00:35:35.083
organizers they know exactly how long in time it takes to do each leg of the

00:35:35.083 --> 00:35:39.623
race so in a day you might have four legs or something like that okay so basically

00:35:39.623 --> 00:35:45.243
they know exactly when you're supposed to start so it's a Every car goes out

00:35:45.243 --> 00:35:47.163
one minute in between each other.

00:35:47.803 --> 00:35:51.183
And then they have a checkpoint where someone's sitting there with a stopwatch

00:35:51.183 --> 00:35:52.623
and you come by and they click it.

00:35:52.763 --> 00:35:56.463
And either you're two seconds early or seven seconds late.

00:35:56.683 --> 00:36:00.543
And so the way you win is you have to be exactly on time.

00:36:01.223 --> 00:36:05.103
I know, I know. I know. And that's exactly how I felt. I thought,

00:36:05.263 --> 00:36:06.663
how are we supposed to do this?

00:36:06.763 --> 00:36:11.243
And so you can get really, so it's a lot of math, actually. Yeah.

00:36:11.543 --> 00:36:15.843
So you can get really into it. So the veterans who have been there doing it

00:36:15.843 --> 00:36:20.843
year after year, and so you've got a navigator who's, who's like telling you directions.

00:36:20.843 --> 00:36:24.203
So the ones that have been there doing it for years and years and years,

00:36:24.363 --> 00:36:30.703
they know exactly how long it takes them to stop, how exactly how much time they lose on a turn.

00:36:30.883 --> 00:36:36.883
Cause then you've got to make up time. Right. I think wild. I think of all the

00:36:36.883 --> 00:36:41.163
days, and I think it's a nine-day event, and all the legs, we only,

00:36:41.403 --> 00:36:45.623
so it's called acing if you get it exactly right, we only aced one time.

00:36:46.983 --> 00:36:53.023
Wow. Wow. I bet you my wife would probably do really good with that. She's super smart.

00:36:53.463 --> 00:37:00.463
Yeah. And so the ones that do really well, they spend a lot of time because like I said, they, they,

00:37:00.623 --> 00:37:04.383
they, they, they go out before and they know if they're taking a turn and they

00:37:04.383 --> 00:37:09.003
can't maintain their speed on the turn, they know how much they have to speed up.

00:37:09.203 --> 00:37:12.303
Yeah. Yeah. And they got to speed up to me. It's wild. Like.

00:37:12.952 --> 00:37:17.612
So the person that wins, do you win the day or do you win the full event?

00:37:17.952 --> 00:37:22.492
So you have to win the full event and it's cash money on the table.

00:37:22.612 --> 00:37:24.452
I think the winner wins like $50,000.

00:37:25.052 --> 00:37:30.752
Holy smoke. And I think the winner this year, I'll probably get this wrong,

00:37:30.872 --> 00:37:34.152
but I want to just give you an idea of what it is.

00:37:34.272 --> 00:37:40.852
So in the nine days and the 2,300 kilometers, I think their total time off was

00:37:40.852 --> 00:37:42.432
less than like 90 seconds.

00:37:42.952 --> 00:37:47.372
For everything, for every leg. So that means- That's absolutely nuts.

00:37:47.692 --> 00:37:51.252
It's nuts. So that means they're acing probably most of their legs.

00:37:51.492 --> 00:37:54.612
It's crazy. How can you be that on time?

00:37:58.152 --> 00:38:04.572
Somehow, you know, practice maybe. Yeah, there's no event like it that I've ever seen ever.

00:38:04.832 --> 00:38:09.372
It's really interesting. So I'm hoping that I'll get to do that again someday.

00:38:09.712 --> 00:38:13.892
Maybe in Helen, who knows? But, you know, if I can get back and do that again,

00:38:14.092 --> 00:38:16.252
that'd be so cool. Yeah, so cool.

00:38:16.772 --> 00:38:19.992
So the VW community, where do you think that it's headed, say,

00:38:20.072 --> 00:38:22.912
over the next 10 years? I'm hoping good places.

00:38:23.332 --> 00:38:29.832
I feel like we need, this is just my honest sort of point of view or what I'm seeing.

00:38:29.992 --> 00:38:32.332
I think we need more younger people getting into it.

00:38:32.912 --> 00:38:38.032
I'm worried that some of the veterans and the older guys that are still kind

00:38:38.032 --> 00:38:43.212
of like doing the hobby and stuff like that, we need to start including more

00:38:43.212 --> 00:38:45.112
of our young people and getting them into it.

00:38:45.232 --> 00:38:47.972
Otherwise, I'm worried it's going to start shrinking a little bit.

00:38:48.392 --> 00:38:52.412
But that's just my perspective. And I'm very far away from a lot of the,

00:38:52.592 --> 00:38:54.272
like you said, the VW shows and stuff.

00:38:54.392 --> 00:38:57.352
So I don't know. I don't know how many, like when you go to shows,

00:38:57.552 --> 00:39:02.792
how many young people you're seeing who are working on their cars. Yeah. So I feel like.

00:39:03.464 --> 00:39:08.224
I feel like I'm not like super, super worried, but I am a little bit concerned

00:39:08.224 --> 00:39:15.284
that if we don't start getting our young people wrenching on cars in 10 years, 15 years, 20 years,

00:39:15.524 --> 00:39:18.564
nobody's going to be able to work on them. Yeah, yeah.

00:39:19.204 --> 00:39:23.644
So you're not the first person that has kind of said that and has felt that.

00:39:23.764 --> 00:39:28.644
Yeah, yeah. You do see some amazing folks, some amazing young people that stand

00:39:28.644 --> 00:39:32.384
out at the local shows, and they always stand out. you know,

00:39:32.504 --> 00:39:34.304
they're young, they're builders, they're great.

00:39:34.484 --> 00:39:38.384
They're, you know, and it's like, you know, maybe even similar to a story like

00:39:38.384 --> 00:39:40.244
yours, nobody in their family did this.

00:39:40.344 --> 00:39:43.024
They did it on their own and they're young and you see them and you're just

00:39:43.024 --> 00:39:44.264
like, oh man, it's just so cool.

00:39:44.364 --> 00:39:47.284
You want to celebrate them because, you know, well, why, why,

00:39:47.284 --> 00:39:50.044
why VWs? You know, and they're like, man, why, what are you crazy?

00:39:50.204 --> 00:39:51.504
How could it be anything else?

00:39:52.164 --> 00:39:55.004
It's like, man, like, you know, you didn't grow up around these cars or anything

00:39:55.004 --> 00:39:59.044
like how, you know, how, but it's just cool. It's cool to see when it happens.

00:39:59.204 --> 00:40:01.504
But you're right. It's few and far between.

00:40:02.024 --> 00:40:08.464
And I think that we would see a small decline, but I still feel like there are

00:40:08.464 --> 00:40:13.644
so many of these cars that are saved, that are on the road, that are being passed

00:40:13.644 --> 00:40:16.764
down by family members into different generations.

00:40:16.844 --> 00:40:19.244
I think it continues. I think it continues.

00:40:19.844 --> 00:40:26.484
These shows, especially down here locally, sunny Florida, hot sunny Florida.

00:40:27.844 --> 00:40:31.564
They're just, they're so live, you know, it's like, man, this,

00:40:31.764 --> 00:40:33.604
it really is. It's the culture is popping.

00:40:33.844 --> 00:40:39.304
So I, I feel like it continues, but I can predict, even if you look at pricing right now.

00:40:39.604 --> 00:40:42.764
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Pricing is starting to slip just a little bit,

00:40:42.964 --> 00:40:44.304
you know, good time to buy.

00:40:46.124 --> 00:40:49.784
Great time to buy. Yeah. I think I agree with what you're saying though.

00:40:49.904 --> 00:40:52.744
I think, I don't think it'll ever go away completely.

00:40:53.004 --> 00:40:56.444
Right. I think in a couple, a couple decades here

00:40:56.444 --> 00:40:59.304
it might be less vibrant as

00:40:59.304 --> 00:41:03.564
it maybe once was but i don't think it'll ever go away classic cars people will

00:41:03.564 --> 00:41:07.584
keep on working on them but yeah especially volkswagons because they're especially

00:41:07.584 --> 00:41:11.964
volkswagons yeah yeah we can get more people excited about it i think that just

00:41:11.964 --> 00:41:18.684
helps yeah so we're touching on events you know yeah do you think that is there a possibility that an.

00:41:21.333 --> 00:41:28.033
I think so. And I wouldn't say it would be a massive event, but I think if organizers

00:41:28.033 --> 00:41:32.793
got together and started reaching out to the Volkswagen folks kind of in my

00:41:32.793 --> 00:41:34.633
area, I think we could make an event happen.

00:41:34.773 --> 00:41:38.573
I don't think it would never, ever be near as big as what happens,

00:41:38.573 --> 00:41:42.073
you know, out in Vancouver or down in California, Florida.

00:41:42.553 --> 00:41:47.133
But I do think that, and I wouldn't say that there aren't our zero events,

00:41:47.413 --> 00:41:51.833
but they're just not very big, I think. Well, I got some rapid fire questions.

00:41:52.293 --> 00:41:55.413
These are usually a fast answer, fast response.

00:41:55.653 --> 00:42:00.453
If a story evolves out of it, though, more power to us. We can slow down and

00:42:00.453 --> 00:42:02.353
talk about it. But all right. You ready?

00:42:03.153 --> 00:42:07.893
Yep. All right. First VW memory in one word.

00:42:08.713 --> 00:42:12.933
Smell. Smell. Is that the engine or the seats?

00:42:13.253 --> 00:42:19.853
So that's going to be so. So other than the slug bug in the back of the car on a road trip, first.

00:42:19.933 --> 00:42:24.993
First memory was taking the 71 super beetle for a test drive before we bought

00:42:24.993 --> 00:42:29.093
it i remember it was the first time i sat in a volkswagen and it just they've

00:42:29.093 --> 00:42:31.773
got that distinct smell they sure do.

00:42:34.753 --> 00:42:41.653
Cool yeah how about this one beetle or bus i think i probably already know by what's behind me,

00:42:42.309 --> 00:42:47.169
Yeah, I get roasted for this, but Beetle all the way. Yeah, that's okay. That's okay.

00:42:47.569 --> 00:42:51.409
All right, favorite tool in your garage? Socket set.

00:42:51.909 --> 00:42:55.709
Socket set. Dream road trip? Probably if I could go across Canada.

00:42:55.729 --> 00:42:58.629
I'd love to drive across Canada, coast to coast.

00:42:58.969 --> 00:43:03.529
Okay, and then if you could do that with somebody, dead or alive,

00:43:03.589 --> 00:43:04.949
who would you choose to go with you?

00:43:05.049 --> 00:43:08.029
Any one of my Volkswagen ladies.

00:43:08.629 --> 00:43:11.669
Okay. And I got a few that are Volkswagen. Cool.

00:43:12.309 --> 00:43:17.529
Yeah. Working on cars. And it'd have to be one of them because I think that'd be tons of fun.

00:43:18.629 --> 00:43:24.949
Worst rust repair moment. And then you can tell me, did this time come from hell and wheels?

00:43:25.849 --> 00:43:31.869
A luggage tray. Luggage tray. Not that it was really bad, but every time I pulled

00:43:31.869 --> 00:43:33.829
a piece off, there was just more to fix.

00:43:34.229 --> 00:43:37.689
Yeah. Yeah. I've heard that about the restorations.

00:43:37.909 --> 00:43:41.949
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like, let's see how far, you know, back it goes.

00:43:41.949 --> 00:43:48.309
You know yeah yeah okay how about go-to snack when you're when you're working

00:43:48.309 --> 00:43:54.649
in the garage any kind of sour candy sour candies my kids will love you my kids will love,

00:43:55.729 --> 00:43:59.489
all right how about the the two giants well they're kind of owned by each other

00:43:59.489 --> 00:44:05.689
but facebook or instagram if you had to pick one and one only oh if i had to

00:44:05.689 --> 00:44:08.389
i'd i'd choose facebook right now, but honestly,

00:44:08.789 --> 00:44:12.109
my better audience is on Instagram.

00:44:12.449 --> 00:44:16.989
They're so nice over there. And I think your bigger audience is also on Instagram.

00:44:17.229 --> 00:44:21.629
Yeah, my bigger audience is there. So if money weren't a factor,

00:44:21.889 --> 00:44:23.549
Instagram 100% of the time.

00:44:23.789 --> 00:44:29.069
Yeah. My wife is the same as you. She loves Instagram. She starts all of her posts from Instagram.

00:44:29.449 --> 00:44:34.229
I don't know why, but I start all of my posts from Facebook and then she's like.

00:44:35.512 --> 00:44:38.772
But it didn't upload. It'll go one way, but it won't go the other.

00:44:38.912 --> 00:44:40.332
So she's instantly through and through.

00:44:40.612 --> 00:44:45.332
I think just because of, I don't know, maybe just what I'm used to.

00:44:45.632 --> 00:44:48.592
I think Facebook maybe, right? Because I had that first.

00:44:48.872 --> 00:44:53.452
Yes. But either way, it's like algorithms and this and that.

00:44:53.592 --> 00:44:59.172
And it's like, you know, you got to be doing everything like perfect to, I guess, fit the mold.

00:44:59.732 --> 00:45:04.872
Yeah. I'm just having fun, man. Yeah. It's hard. It's hard to chase that.

00:45:04.872 --> 00:45:06.652
I try not to chase that very much.

00:45:06.852 --> 00:45:09.192
It is hard. It is hard to chase that.

00:45:10.012 --> 00:45:16.152
Okay. Any upcoming projects or any collabs or just, I don't know,

00:45:16.232 --> 00:45:18.092
anything that the listener should know?

00:45:18.532 --> 00:45:21.512
Well, I'll be working on Fender.

00:45:21.752 --> 00:45:25.392
So Fender was kind of a parts car that I got during the Helen Wheels build,

00:45:25.572 --> 00:45:28.252
but Fender's in pretty good shape. So we're going to try and get him back on the road.

00:45:28.392 --> 00:45:32.752
So that's currently kind of at the beginning stages. And so if people want to

00:45:32.752 --> 00:45:35.812
tune in, I'll be working on that for the next couple of years, at least.

00:45:36.072 --> 00:45:39.432
It's a good time to jump in because you'll see the whole process.

00:45:39.672 --> 00:45:43.632
So that's kind of for my own like personal sort of projects.

00:45:43.632 --> 00:45:44.832
That's what I'm working on now.

00:45:44.992 --> 00:45:49.712
I am heading down to, because we're going to get that Ford Fairlane ready for SEMA.

00:45:50.012 --> 00:45:53.552
I'm heading down to Florida. I'll be working on that with some of the other

00:45:53.552 --> 00:45:56.872
women who are on the team that we were raised.

00:45:58.820 --> 00:46:02.780
What's Sarasota? Oh, dude, you're like 25, 30 minutes from me.

00:46:02.880 --> 00:46:05.680
I'm Tampa Bay, St. Pete. Shut up. Yeah, yeah.

00:46:06.400 --> 00:46:12.060
We could have done this in person. Yeah, maybe we'll meet in Fist Bump or something.

00:46:12.320 --> 00:46:15.600
Yeah, maybe we should. Actually, that would be cool. So I'm actually heading

00:46:15.600 --> 00:46:19.540
down Thursday, and then we're working Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So crazy.

00:46:20.180 --> 00:46:26.720
Yeah, I'm going to be there. Yeah. If you are serious and we can connect for any reason, I'll come.

00:46:26.940 --> 00:46:29.240
We'll at least get a picture or something. That'd be cool. Yeah,

00:46:29.280 --> 00:46:30.500
actually, let's try and do that.

00:46:30.640 --> 00:46:32.960
That would actually be awesome. I didn't realize that you were there.

00:46:33.100 --> 00:46:34.700
But yeah, so I'm actually heading down there.

00:46:34.840 --> 00:46:37.080
We're going to be working on the Ford Fairlane, engine swap,

00:46:37.360 --> 00:46:40.540
some other stuff that were happening. Oh, cool. Content creation.

00:46:40.900 --> 00:46:45.520
So, I mean, maybe you want to come stop by. I'm sure if you came by and hung

00:46:45.520 --> 00:46:49.040
out for a little bit, that would be totally fine. So, yeah, I'll let you know.

00:46:49.440 --> 00:46:53.040
Yeah, yeah, please do. I'll share my cell and stuff after this.

00:46:53.080 --> 00:46:54.400
Yes, let's do that. Cool.

00:46:54.740 --> 00:46:59.380
Okay. I had a couple more questions for you really that are more about,

00:46:59.380 --> 00:47:01.540
you know, your followers.

00:47:02.060 --> 00:47:05.460
You know, especially let's let's talk about the young ladies,

00:47:05.620 --> 00:47:10.480
young ladies that are looking to, you know, get into classic cars.

00:47:10.680 --> 00:47:12.940
They're they're motivated by your content.

00:47:13.160 --> 00:47:18.960
You know, it's just hard. You know, they're ladies or whatever obstacles they

00:47:18.960 --> 00:47:20.820
see or they feel from society.

00:47:20.820 --> 00:47:25.260
What advice do you have for them? So, so I think the advice I'd probably give

00:47:25.260 --> 00:47:29.800
to women or ladies or young girls who are wanting to do it is to not worry so

00:47:29.800 --> 00:47:32.180
much about what other people are thinking about you.

00:47:32.460 --> 00:47:37.840
Because there is sort of this, this view that, you know, if you're working on

00:47:37.840 --> 00:47:41.660
a car, you're a certain type of person or you're this or you're that.

00:47:41.880 --> 00:47:43.400
And it's just a stereotype, right?

00:47:43.660 --> 00:47:47.500
That's right. And also there is this sort of stigma where as women,

00:47:47.740 --> 00:47:48.840
we're working on these cars.

00:47:49.060 --> 00:47:54.740
We feel like unless we're perfect, we can't show it because we all of a sudden

00:47:54.740 --> 00:47:58.920
feel like, well, we're women and we don't really, where do we fit in with the

00:47:58.920 --> 00:48:03.540
industry? If we don't do things exactly right, just get roasted.

00:48:03.900 --> 00:48:08.200
And I've seen it happen, not just with me, but with other content creators or

00:48:08.200 --> 00:48:10.280
other women kind of sharing what they're doing.

00:48:10.280 --> 00:48:16.020
Where if they don't just perform perfectly, there's a, there's a real sort of

00:48:16.020 --> 00:48:22.740
backlash in comments of, and so for some reason, the bar feels higher for us.

00:48:23.440 --> 00:48:30.280
Yeah. Well, you know, I hate, I hate that, but that, that's the reality of society. Oh yeah.

00:48:30.560 --> 00:48:35.800
It truly is. But that's why I want your, your touch on,

00:48:36.040 --> 00:48:41.360
you know, how to inspire or motivate that next young builder that has that passion

00:48:41.360 --> 00:48:46.980
that wants to get into it might feel like, I don't know, society doesn't really agree. Like.

00:48:47.756 --> 00:48:51.376
So? Yeah, that's kind of how I approach it too, I think.

00:48:51.476 --> 00:48:56.096
And you have to kind of have a tough skin a little bit and not care what people think. Okay.

00:48:56.576 --> 00:49:00.436
Like if this is a passion that you have and you feel like it's something that

00:49:00.436 --> 00:49:03.296
you would be good at, why are you stopping yourself?

00:49:03.476 --> 00:49:06.936
If it's going to make you happy, why are you stopping yourself from trying to

00:49:06.936 --> 00:49:13.356
learn something? And I think where kind of the wall happens is that you'll find

00:49:13.356 --> 00:49:18.396
that a woman or maybe a young girl will want to start learning things.

00:49:18.776 --> 00:49:23.756
And very rightly so, they will go and ask maybe an older person,

00:49:23.756 --> 00:49:28.036
a man usually, maybe a dad or an uncle or a brother, to help them do it.

00:49:28.096 --> 00:49:32.276
And what happens so often, so this will be a message for your male listeners.

00:49:32.776 --> 00:49:35.656
When, when someone comes to you like that, especially women,

00:49:35.956 --> 00:49:40.716
don't take the tool out of her hand and say, I'll just do it for you. Ooh, that's great.

00:49:41.036 --> 00:49:46.156
Yeah. Because I found for me, I would go and ask questions and instead of being

00:49:46.156 --> 00:49:51.096
taught how to do it, and this is, and this is, I will never blame any man for

00:49:51.096 --> 00:49:55.056
doing this because this is just, again, this is kind of the nature of men and women, right?

00:49:55.316 --> 00:49:59.516
Right. And so a man will just want to take that tool out of your hands and do it for you.

00:49:59.596 --> 00:50:03.396
And they think they're doing you an awesome favor. And a lot of times that is.

00:50:03.576 --> 00:50:06.296
But so for your male listeners...

00:50:06.823 --> 00:50:11.183
If a woman comes or a girl or anyone is saying, how do I do this?

00:50:11.543 --> 00:50:14.883
Don't take the tool out of her hands. Teach her how to use the tool.

00:50:15.083 --> 00:50:20.603
Teach her how to do it. That's awesome. I think a lot of times they will have

00:50:20.603 --> 00:50:24.803
that experience and then they'll stop asking and then they won't continue.

00:50:25.603 --> 00:50:30.923
So we just need to change that a little bit. So keep the tools in their hands.

00:50:31.083 --> 00:50:32.803
Teach them how to do it. Show them.

00:50:33.203 --> 00:50:38.083
Yeah. They'll keep asking if you do that. Right. show them through their hands.

00:50:38.503 --> 00:50:41.523
Don't show them like, like do it for them. No, that's great.

00:50:42.063 --> 00:50:47.383
Yeah. I think that's the biggest thing. Yeah. And then any final words for the

00:50:47.383 --> 00:50:49.363
VW family across the world?

00:50:49.583 --> 00:50:53.163
Again, we, we're fortunate enough. And I know you know this feeling because

00:50:53.163 --> 00:50:55.163
you can see these things when you chart your,

00:50:55.383 --> 00:50:58.683
you know, your reach, but my podcast software shows

00:50:58.683 --> 00:51:02.143
them in 36 countries and i'm just i'm

00:51:02.143 --> 00:51:04.963
motivated by that i'm like what the first time

00:51:04.963 --> 00:51:08.243
i ever saw a download come from bangladesh i

00:51:08.243 --> 00:51:13.263
was like nah it's a bot there's no way i went on i went on google or youtube

00:51:13.263 --> 00:51:17.583
one of them and i searched you know volkswagen community you know air cooled

00:51:17.583 --> 00:51:22.623
blah blah blah bangladesh and i pulled up this whole scene out there i'm like

00:51:22.623 --> 00:51:26.723
what it's incredible It's all over the world. It's so cool.

00:51:27.243 --> 00:51:31.743
But any, I don't know, final words for the VW community?

00:51:32.143 --> 00:51:35.983
I think just thank you for watching and being so amazing.

00:51:36.323 --> 00:51:40.543
And just to echo that, it really is a global community.

00:51:40.803 --> 00:51:45.763
I think there isn't a corner of the globe that people don't know Volkswagens.

00:51:46.563 --> 00:51:51.143
And so I guess just the message is just thank you for being amazing.

00:51:51.363 --> 00:51:56.083
Thank you for actually being the most amazing car community and being supportive

00:51:56.083 --> 00:52:01.823
and just like, you know, trying to get people into it and encouraging because

00:52:01.823 --> 00:52:04.323
every time I have a problem or anything like that.

00:52:05.050 --> 00:52:09.050
It just takes one little message on social media and people are so nice.

00:52:09.230 --> 00:52:12.350
They just are like trying to help you work through it and trying to like,

00:52:12.750 --> 00:52:14.690
you know, find the answers for you.

00:52:14.810 --> 00:52:19.210
And I know that it's not like that through like every sort of community.

00:52:19.210 --> 00:52:25.070
I've got a neighbor who recently rebuilt like a 1973 Bronco.

00:52:25.650 --> 00:52:31.010
Beautiful car. Nice. Yeah. And he's like, yeah, it's a beautiful car and he's

00:52:31.010 --> 00:52:32.230
done such a good job on it.

00:52:32.230 --> 00:52:35.750
But he's like, I don't go to car shows and I don't hang out with those car people

00:52:35.750 --> 00:52:42.730
because he says they are so just, you know, picky and critical and these sorts

00:52:42.730 --> 00:52:44.030
of things that he's judgmental.

00:52:44.210 --> 00:52:48.570
Yeah, I just can't take it. But I have never found that with the Volkswagen people.

00:52:48.770 --> 00:52:51.970
So I don't know what it is about Volkswagens that make us like that.

00:52:52.110 --> 00:52:57.590
But I just I just think we're we're we're among the top, I think.

00:52:57.790 --> 00:53:01.050
And that's a wrap for this episode of Dub Life Diaries.

00:53:01.590 --> 00:53:05.090
Thanks for riding along with us and diving into these incredible stories of

00:53:05.090 --> 00:53:07.150
the people in the Dove that drive their dreams.

00:53:07.410 --> 00:53:11.970
If you loved today's episode, don't forget to subscribe or hit that follow button

00:53:11.970 --> 00:53:13.290
so you never miss an adventure.

00:53:13.550 --> 00:53:18.230
Do you have a story to tell or know somebody else who's living the Dove life? Awesome.

00:53:18.570 --> 00:53:23.590
Reach out to us. You can find us on all socials at Dove Life Diaries or shoot

00:53:23.590 --> 00:53:25.350
me an email. I'm not hard to find.

00:53:26.230 --> 00:53:31.270
DoveLifeDiaries at gmail.com Until next time, keep the engines humming and the

00:53:31.270 --> 00:53:35.870
wheels turning and always follow the road that inspires you. This is Joe Person.

00:53:36.050 --> 00:53:38.270
I'm signing off. I'll catch you on the next...