the.dub.lab dude
Joe,
So, I sent a quick message to you based on you looking for more guests on your podcast. Not sure if I'm that interesting... but here we go. Lol
My name is Derek Ryan... and most in the community would remember me from the.dub.lab days that tapered off about 10 years ago. We had a shop in Leesburg, FL that did paint and body as well as suspensions for classic VWs. The reason people *might remember us is that when we started the shop in 2011 it was when Facebook was really starting to be part of people's daily lives. We grew a presence of 40k fans on the page in a pretty short time. These numbers aren't that impressive today, but in 2013 it was unheard of. We had one of the largest VW footprints on social media at the time. The way we did that was a steady stream of photos posted every day, as well as me actually engaging regularly with comments. The community responded positively to the fact we were real people on the other end.
Quick history of my interest in VWs goes back to the late 80's when my older cousin brought his late 50's custom bug to my house to take me for a ride. Pink scallops on a black car, shaved door handles with electric actuators, lowered stance, and a bigger motor. That afternoon left a crazy impression on me of how cool these little cars were. In the early 90s when I was in high school, the rage was mini trucks and car audio. I had a Mazda b2000 custom truck and rolled with our local club. My good friend was really into the loud sound systems, and we would go to the big car audio shows... especially the nationals in Daytona. While there in 1992, I became more interested in the Boyd Coddington hot rods displayed in the Orion amplifier booth than anything else there... though there was a sweet yellow beetle with a huge sound system as well. These hotrods were six figure custom builds that were hand sculpted and modified. Blew my mind.
So, after high school, I spent about 6 years moving up in the ranks as an automotive painter at high end shops. One of my girlfriends had a 75 super beetle that we drove daily. Her father had built the car in his garage, and he was a total douche. It bugged the shit out of me to be at his mercy every time it needed work done. So, I got a job at a shop called The Bug Hut in Orlando in 1996/97 and brought paint and body to the table for him. In addition to that, I learned how to service and work on daily driven VWs so I could now work on my own. My first VW was a 1970 squareback and I got really into the type 3s. Pulled a 66 fasty out of the woods and did a thorough mechanical restoration on it and buffed the paint out. Drove it for a couple of years. Never should have sold that one. Lol. Got into the water-cooled stuff and owned a 92 Corrado VR6 that spanked all the Hondas at the time. Good times.
I then spent a few years working with a high-end hot rod builder learning how to make cars so straight with perfect paint jobs... you'd trade your wife or girlfriend for it. That was really my passion but got tired of the low pay.
Having grown up in the nursery and landscape space, I decided to start a landscape business to grow and make enough money to build cars for myself. That has always been my true goal. Things were going well until the recession in 2008. After closing the company, I went back and worked on hot rods for a few years honing my skills even better. I consistently produced show quality, award winning body and paint jobs.
In 2011, a friend of mine and I decided to start the.dub.lab in Leesburg, FL. Jim had a successful car audio and window tinting business called Autostyles. He also owned a bagged 67 panel bus and was a total VW guy. We did whatever we needed to as the doors opened, such as fender bender collision repairs and some work on nicer cars from his clients at Autostyles. As our FB presence increased, we started bringing in cooler VW builds. At the time, we were buying suspension parts from guys known in the industry. Sadly, they all started flaking out and taking deposits from people and not producing product. So, we saw the opportunity and developed our own drop plates and front beams. We shipped hundreds of beams and sets of drop plates throughout the US and in multiple countries around the world.
When I went to shows, I would hand out stickers for the.dub.lab to everyone and engage with car owners. I always had a heart for the "do it yourselfer" client that wanted to save money and install the parts themselves. I spent countless hours texting, calling, and emailing with VW owners to help them install our parts... and even ones sourced from others. For a minute or two, I was one of the "experts"... whatever that even means LOL. The drop plate rage was in full steam at the time, and I made a thread on theSamba showing a step-by-step instruction to properly adjust the indexing of rear spring plates. I still share that link to this day, as it is still confusing to so many VW owners. I spent many a night, and lots of beer, figuring out a simple way to explain that whole process.
Unfortunately, we closed the shop in 2015 due to many factors. The market had been "down" really the whole time we were in business, still recovering from the recession. We did some really cool stuff but always gave more hours than we were paid for. Everyone seemed to want a $100k car... but they only wanted to spend a fraction of that. It became unsustainable. In addition, my home life suffered, and I ended up getting a divorce. It was rough. Thankfully, my background in landscaping allowed me to slide into a career that was key to rebuilding my life.
It's possible we had a little influence on some well-known guys these days like Chase Hill (Cage66), Jeremy Brooks (VW LooseNuts Safaris), and others... in the sense that they saw how social media could help them grow their brands and expand their market reach. It's a shame things worked out the way they did... because the.dub.lab may have been a household name today. But here we are.
As a hobby, I continued to build suspension parts and chassis on the side for a few years. Ultimately, I just backed away from the scene and focused on my career. Opened a second landscape business in 2020 and sold it a few years later. I'm in sales now in the landscape industry... but still ponder the VW dream sometimes.
We own a 69 Riviera camper named Ethel that is our first love. She is a keeper and we have had tons of fun with her. Last year, I bought one of the last builds we did at the.dub.lab from the Bring a Trailer auction site. She is a 61 ragtop that is bagged and dechromed that I painted a decent driver paint job on in 2014. Super cool car that needed some love. I will be selling her soon after correcting many things that needed attention.
So, in closing, I don't know who all remembers us... but many probably do. We were the first thing they saw every morning when they opened their phones and scrolled. I enjoyed the interaction with other enthusiasts and always offered honest advice if I could. Lots of locals still know me when I go to shows, though I'm not as regular these days. Occasionally, I see our t-shirts still being worn as well. Pretty cool. If I can help your podcast... which is amazing, thank you... I'm happy to.
Derek.