He Bought His Dream VW at 15-18 Years Later, He Still Owns It! James Vedder Ep85

0:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Dub Life Diaries. [SPEAKER_00]: The podcast where passion meets the open road. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Joe Parson, your host, and also a lifelong lover. [SPEAKER_00]: Book it up because this ride is just beginning. [SPEAKER_00]: This podcast is sponsored by Volk's Mania Magazine. [SPEAKER_00]: Good times, great cars, awesome Volk's Maniacs. [SPEAKER_00]: Visit Volk'sMania.com to learn more about this class leading VW Magazine. [SPEAKER_00]: All right, welcome back to Wife Diaries. [SPEAKER_00]: This one is gonna be awesome. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm connected to this dude because he lives in a portion of Colorado Springs that I spent nine years of my life around with my kids.

0:51 [SPEAKER_00]: So back to him, what if the car that you fell in love with as a kid? [SPEAKER_00]: He came to one that he spent the next 18 years of your life refusing to let go of. [SPEAKER_00]: James Vetter was just four years old when Volkswagen's grabbed his attention. [SPEAKER_00]: By the time he was a kid, he was already riding his bike around Colorado Springs, trying to hunt down every beetle that he could find. [SPEAKER_00]: He called this beetle hunting. [SPEAKER_00]: How cool. [SPEAKER_00]: One day he found a yellow 1968 beetle this car he never forgot. [SPEAKER_00]: Years later, it just 15 years old getting close to getting his, his driver's license. [SPEAKER_00]: James tracked down this exact same beetle and hustled his way into coming up with the money to buy it.

1:34 [SPEAKER_00]: He became the owner of this heavily modified Volkswagen before he even had his driver's license. [SPEAKER_00]: That car had a big engine. [SPEAKER_00]: That car had big cars. [SPEAKER_00]: That car had fiberglass everything. [SPEAKER_00]: And according to its previous owner, that car could even lift the front wheels off [SPEAKER_00]: He drives it, he breaks it, he crashes it into an F-150 and for years that beetle sat wrecked. [SPEAKER_00]: Now most people at that time probably would have walked away. [SPEAKER_00]: James couldn't. [SPEAKER_00]: So he rebuilt it. [SPEAKER_00]: He rebuilt it again. [SPEAKER_00]: He rebuilt the transmission. [SPEAKER_00]: He rewired it. [SPEAKER_00]: He reworked the body. [SPEAKER_00]: He even backdated it. [SPEAKER_00]: He even painted it.

2:15 [SPEAKER_00]: And now more than 18 years later that same beetle is still his. [SPEAKER_00]: here's the crazy park. [SPEAKER_00]: That's 68 isn't the only neighborhood Volkswagen that James would track down and eventually own. [SPEAKER_00]: He's got another childhood obsession that he owns sitting right behind him now, which is a Euro 57 oval, a dream for most of us, right? [SPEAKER_00]: This story is going to be about Volkswagen's about obsession, about friendship, about crashes, about rebuilding and about why [SPEAKER_00]: James Vetter, welcome to Dublight Diaries. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you very much, sir.

2:55 [SPEAKER_00]: I bet you are. [SPEAKER_00]: Very welcome. [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, man. [SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate your attention to this nice and early in the morning. [SPEAKER_00]: Before we get into your life story, let's go ahead and give a quick shout out to some of my sponsors. [SPEAKER_00]: First up on the list, Volkswagen Magazine, you guys know how I feel. [SPEAKER_00]: The fly SVW Magazine on the face of the planet, check these guys out. [SPEAKER_00]: Volkswagen, you can use [SPEAKER_00]: subscription, make sure that you mention us, mention the podcast, always like to let the magazine know that the listeners are also out there supporting, you know, the guys that support us and sponsor. [SPEAKER_00]: So, yes, let them know.

3:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Also, shout out the salty dub. [SPEAKER_00]: From the beach to the bay salty dove is tearing up the west coast of Florida. [SPEAKER_00]: We got epic events and the swag make sure you check these guys out. [SPEAKER_00]: The full fall lineup for events is live now. [SPEAKER_00]: We got beatups on the pier coming up in January. [SPEAKER_00]: We got beatups beach bash coming up next weekend next Saturday the 17th. [SPEAKER_00]: We've got the PM Skyway Ride coming up in December, which is the night time ride. [SPEAKER_00]: We've got sunglasses, hats, shirts, all kinds of swag on the website. [SPEAKER_00]: Guess what? [SPEAKER_00]: The same discount code works on the swag. [SPEAKER_00]: So you can get 10% off on the website by entering Dublife 10.

4:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, man, there's your discounts. [SPEAKER_00]: All right. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm done with sponsors for now. [SPEAKER_00]: The most sponsors. [SPEAKER_00]: Back to you. [SPEAKER_00]: Story is all about you moving forward. [SPEAKER_00]: Before we even dive in and really ask any questions, I do want to know who is James Better, tell us where you're from, kind of, you know, the short inversion of who you are, where you're from, your family, all that good stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, originally born in Wisconsin. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, Claire Wisconsin. [SPEAKER_01]: I lived there for three years until we moved here to Springs. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's when we moved off of you went to, you know, right next to Manatee and Old Colorado City. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's where the obsession, that's where the obsession with bugs started.

4:58 [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, I had a great family. [SPEAKER_01]: My mom and dad were hustlers. [SPEAKER_01]: They were constantly. [SPEAKER_01]: They would just always no matter what they'd make ends meet. [SPEAKER_01]: And so that was really cool to grow up and watch. [SPEAKER_01]: They always stuck together. [SPEAKER_01]: I had a really good life. [SPEAKER_01]: I had an older brother, younger sister. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I still had them. [SPEAKER_01]: But, [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you know, in 98, we moved to this neighborhood here over in the 80915 and BMX skate boarding, you know rock and roll music definitely 80s hair metal 70s 60s. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't really listen to anything modern honestly. [SPEAKER_01]: I hate to say it, but I always feel like I was a hipster before hipsters were a thing and that's is the most hipsters thing you can say, but I did always.

5:44 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's just that you're an old soul, right? [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I met a lot of them and you just don't quite fit in. [SPEAKER_00]: But also, I feel like Manitou's full of that vibe, you know, the old soul, you know, kind of vibe. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, they say birds of a feather kind of flock together, you know? [SPEAKER_00]: So it would be a pro to say that for sure. [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, looking back over your life, what are your earliest memories of Volkswagen's? [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I can tell you exactly the moment that I [SPEAKER_01]: finally fell in love with these cars. [SPEAKER_01]: My mother, um, when we lived on UNTA, she, uh, was a stay at home on and she day cared kids. [SPEAKER_01]: And so these kids became my friends.

6:26 [SPEAKER_01]: And, um, to be completely honest, if I remember correctly, I didn't care about beetles. [SPEAKER_01]: And I, in fact, I think I may have even found them unattractive. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was for to even have an opinion on what a car looks like, you know, I don't know. [SPEAKER_01]: But, [SPEAKER_01]: My buddy Chris, who my mom day cared, you know, he we became friends and I saw him every day, he always had different beetle toys and I don't know why he like his parents had boxes and boxes of these beetle toys and I didn't understand why I think they did flea markets or something and he would always have them and he'd always be show me and I was like you know whatever and then one day he had one that I [SPEAKER_01]: thought looked pretty cool. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, OK, I kind of like this one.

7:08 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I did what little kids do. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, I like this one. [SPEAKER_01]: Dude, this is really cool. [SPEAKER_01]: And eventually he's like, do you want it? [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: And so you let me have it. [SPEAKER_01]: And that it was that was it right there on you went to, you know, that little boy bug was what really started [SPEAKER_01]: Wow, man. [SPEAKER_00]: And you were young, dude. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, to even have those types of memories of that time, super cool, man. [SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, was it normal to see Volkswagen's everywhere around old Colorado City and Manitude back then? [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they were, you couldn't go 100 feet without seeing probably three of them, you know? [SPEAKER_01]: So I can't even imagine what it was like in, you know, the 60's, 70's back in the real heyday.

7:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Or even the 80s when they kind of started getting really cheap because yeah, I mean they were everywhere man and it was exciting and I know I got to the point like sometimes it would stress my father out because we'd be driving I would scream like that down a bug and he would be like whoa dude you couldn't you can't really dream I don't know where well I'm driving but yeah they were everywhere and you know I was when I was on you went to I was like four or five years old so [SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't allowed to wander off or anything. [SPEAKER_01]: So I would certainly wasn't doing any looking for cars back then. [SPEAKER_00]: Cool to have those memories, though. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm still stick with you today.

8:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, you used to ride your bike around the neighborhood, looking for Volkswagen. [SPEAKER_00]: So in your back story, you called that beetle hunting. [SPEAKER_00]: Tell me how serious that was for you as a kid. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: So once we moved over to where my parents, my mom still lives, [SPEAKER_01]: down I'm actually up the street from my childhood house. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, I bought house out of the street. [SPEAKER_01]: So we're still in the area. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, so I'm, I'm trying to think, I mean, I was pretty young when I found the 68. [SPEAKER_01]: So might, you know, it was, it was the early 2000s. [SPEAKER_01]: I believe it was 2000 or 2001 maybe. [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was about eight, nine years old and apparently back then that was that was good enough to just go off and do what you want it.

9:20 [SPEAKER_01]: So, [SPEAKER_01]: I loved it and I had friends and I didn't, you know, I wasn't always right with my friends sometimes it was solo, but yeah, I would cruise around and I would look for Volkswagen's and I mean it was easy they were they were always popping up and I remember literally next door to the house where I found my card there was a 1960 bug and so and it was on a curved treat so I remember I was right my bike and I was looking around and I was with my buddy. [SPEAKER_01]: And as soon as I rounded that corner I saw I didn't even know what snowflake tail lights were but I saw the tiny tail lights and I could tell by the little license plate light I was like this looks different than anything I've seen and so I wrote as quickly as I could over that bug.

10:05 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's that was one of my best finds ever right there and I don't know whatever happened to it I feel like I've seen it around town a few times if I ever did chance on that one I'm definitely going to try to buy that but yeah it was serious man and I felt bad honestly felt bad for my friends because they didn't care. [SPEAKER_01]: They're like, we're doing what? [SPEAKER_01]: Like, let's go look for old Volkswagen's. [SPEAKER_01]: You want another old thing to do? [SPEAKER_01]: You know, old Cameras and Chivellas, other cool things that we were interested in, but the bugs were the main thing. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and you know, they were always to me, they were always attainable. [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's what kind of takes the hobby, you know, even so cool. [SPEAKER_00]: Even nowadays, they're still attainable. [SPEAKER_00]: When you look at, you know, and I'll just say a 64 beetle next to say a 64 Chevy Impala.

10:52 [SPEAKER_00]: You've got two different versions of classics, right? [SPEAKER_00]: The Beetle, to me, is still an attainable car. [SPEAKER_00]: The 64 Chevy's of $55, $60,000 classic car. [SPEAKER_00]: Don't get me wrong, the Beetle could be too, depending on how nice it is. [SPEAKER_00]: But if you're comparing apples to apples, [SPEAKER_00]: you know, an older Chevy like that is still, you know, two to three times the value of a beetle. [SPEAKER_00]: So again, still obtainable. [SPEAKER_00]: Let's touch on herbie and your childhood obsession because in your backstory, you said at some point you had found a copy of a VHS, which to the listener's means a tape.

11:33 [SPEAKER_00]: Of the love bug. [SPEAKER_00]: Tell me what that did to your obsession as a kid. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, man. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so I talked to my mom last night because I was like right mom helped me kind of iron out these details because I and I was like I know it's a hard ask in it but I was I know that I was helping my parents move my uncle into another house and he had a box of VHS and her be was in it and it was just a paper you know sleeve VHS and I grabbed it and you know he had kids whatever nobody was interested in it they're like we don't care take it and I was like sweet I took it home [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't honestly don't even think I knew what Herbie was at that point.

12:14 [SPEAKER_01]: I was trying to remember this last night. [SPEAKER_01]: I think my dad may have mentioned it at some point in time. [SPEAKER_01]: And maybe I caught a scene on TV, maybe, but I didn't know what it was. [SPEAKER_01]: So when I put it on, it blew my mind. [SPEAKER_01]: And I got so lucky that I got the 1968, 1969 original. [SPEAKER_01]: So I saw the very first time I saw Herbie who was seeing [SPEAKER_01]: the the beginning story of her be before he had his stripes and all that stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: And so like I don't know that's that's a weird coincidence because all the other you know pretty much all the other movies were out at that point. [SPEAKER_01]: So for me to find the original was really cool and I still have it it's pretty tattered up but I still have it. [SPEAKER_01]: It still works.

12:55 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to know. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: What do you think it was about a beetle? [SPEAKER_00]: Specifically, that connected with you compared to, you know, a bus or a geo or, you know, even the type three or just whatever any of the other models. [SPEAKER_00]: What do you think it was about the beetle that really kind of hooked you? [SPEAKER_01]: It's that shape man. [SPEAKER_01]: It's that shape. [SPEAKER_01]: Before I even saw her be, I felt like these cars were alive. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I really truly felt like there's something more going on here. [SPEAKER_01]: And then I watched her beat and that changed it all. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, Oh, other people feel the same way. [SPEAKER_01]: That's great. [SPEAKER_01]: Like because in my family, I was the Volkswagen guy. [SPEAKER_01]: And that was it. [SPEAKER_01]: It came out of nowhere. [SPEAKER_01]: The seed flew from the sky, hit me.

13:37 [SPEAKER_01]: No one else ever owned a Volkswagen. [SPEAKER_01]: No one else cared about them. [SPEAKER_01]: I had to do this completely on my own. [SPEAKER_01]: So research. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, figuring out all this stuff was on my own until I met some great mentors later. [SPEAKER_00]: Your dad eventually, young, really young, ends up buying you this 75 super beagle for 60 bucks. [SPEAKER_00]: I think your story said you're about nine or 10 years old. [SPEAKER_00]: What does a nine or 10 year old do with a car? [SPEAKER_01]: So we got it, we got it in the backyard and I was just ecstatic. [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know what to do. [SPEAKER_01]: The plan was like, yeah, you know, this could be your first car. [SPEAKER_01]: This could be your bug, you know?

14:18 [SPEAKER_01]: And I didn't know a lot about, even then I didn't know a lot about them. [SPEAKER_01]: I knew I liked them, but I didn't know, because I would see bugs, you know, early bugs around town and I'd be like, why does that bug look so attractive? [SPEAKER_01]: And then I'd see super beetles, and I would still be excited, [SPEAKER_01]: different. [SPEAKER_01]: Why am I not as like attracted to that? [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm what I mean, you know, I just played with it, man, me, my friends freaked out. [SPEAKER_01]: We would all just pretend we were driving it. [SPEAKER_01]: I'd have my little sister in the back seat. [SPEAKER_01]: We'd pretend like we were driving, um, I'd go out there and completely alone. [SPEAKER_01]: I would just be using my imagination. [SPEAKER_01]: I'd pretend like I was drag racing, whatever, you know, [SPEAKER_00]: What a cool, fine, and a cool toy, essentially, to buy for a nine or ten year old, stick it out in the backyard and let them dream.

15:21 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you know, obviously it festered something because look around in your background and in your story, right? [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this really did something to you. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you really think that one day this car was actually going to be somewhat or a car that you would actually drive? [SPEAKER_01]: I did absolutely, because, you know, I [SPEAKER_01]: Bright eyed, but she tailed young, didn't know better. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, yeah, this, that one day, because, you know, my dad was the man. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he could, he really could do it all. [SPEAKER_01]: And if you were to put his mind to it, he could have definitely done the Volkswagen, you know. [SPEAKER_01]: But we didn't understand these cars. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, we didn't understand heater channels and we didn't understand, you know, okay, once those rust out, the body is really not connected anymore.

16:09 [SPEAKER_01]: So the car was rough. [SPEAKER_01]: later on, you know, what happened was fast and furious came out. [SPEAKER_01]: My brother was always a Honda guy and I was always a muscle car guy and a X-Wagon guy. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: And fast and furious came out and I got really heavy into the idea of speed and performance and all that. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_00]: So I kind of, so 36 horsepower one going to cut it for now. [SPEAKER_01]: No, no, it just wasn't going to do it, so I was like, [SPEAKER_01]: I kind of, I did lose interest for a little, a little bit. [SPEAKER_01]: I packed up all my Volkswagen stuff, but put it in my closet, and I had a lot of stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: Toys, posters, all kinds of stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: I put it all away, and my dad sold the bug.

16:52 [SPEAKER_01]: I think he sold it for like 150 bucks. [SPEAKER_01]: He asked me, and I was like, oh, that's fine. [SPEAKER_01]: He said the guy looked at it, and it was absolutely, it was done, like, because I didn't know any better, but he said he looked under it, and he's like, this thing, it's gone. [SPEAKER_01]: If it did exist, I would absolutely try to find it and get it back, just for nostalgia. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that can put that sucker all back again. [SPEAKER_01]: Let the kids play in it. [SPEAKER_01]: Exactly. [SPEAKER_01]: Like you can hurt this thing. [SPEAKER_01]: Have fun. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, right on man. [SPEAKER_01]: So no idea what that one ended up, obviously. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, none whatsoever. [SPEAKER_01]: That was, I want to say, I don't even, I was going to research it a little bit because Craigslist, it has was a big part of my early journey.

17:34 [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm like, when did Craigslist come out? [SPEAKER_01]: Because I mean, I'm sure I think my dad threw it in like the thrifty nickel, which was the paper you could get down at the gas station. [SPEAKER_01]: So just threw it in there, you know, and some guy came in. [SPEAKER_01]: Because the, the quick story on the super is [SPEAKER_01]: my dad was a residential electrician for a long time. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: And he at the supply house there was a guy who had a bug and he would help my dad always just kind of be like, hey, what's up with that bug? [SPEAKER_01]: You know, kind of joking around. [SPEAKER_01]: And then one day the guy was like, look, man, just come get it. [SPEAKER_01]: My dad was like, what? [SPEAKER_01]: And he's like, yeah, just come get it, man, because I'm moving soon, whatever. [SPEAKER_01]: And so the guy gave it to us for free, but [SPEAKER_01]: My dad was like, look, I'll give you everything I had in my wallet. [SPEAKER_01]: And he just happened to have $60.

18:16 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's, you know, but it was, it was a free card. [SPEAKER_01]: But my dad was, he was way too nice. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, he couldn't just take it. [SPEAKER_00]: That's pretty cool. [SPEAKER_00]: And a such a cool story. [SPEAKER_00]: And again, you know, it's, I love always hearing these lifelong books, wagon enthusiasts. [SPEAKER_00]: I always love hearing, you know, the stories of their childhood and how these cars were so influential in their lives. [SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's fast forward just a little bit now now we're eight maybe ten years old all right so the yellow 68 which you still have you found this car when you are out riding around right eight or ten years old what do you remember about the first time you saw this car those riding along I believe at this time the 1960 bug was gone so I was like okay I was looking around and then I see this yellow bug on the side of the neighbor's house.

19:06 [SPEAKER_01]: And due to the grass was just so green like I don't know what it was. [SPEAKER_01]: It was just a it was perfect. [SPEAKER_01]: It was a perfect day. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, well, well, maybe maybe the neighbor bought it, but it doesn't look quite the same. [SPEAKER_01]: And there was just something about it. [SPEAKER_01]: It looked menacing and it looked like a hot rod, but I didn't understand. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was just like, you know, drooling over it. [SPEAKER_01]: And then I moved along. [SPEAKER_01]: And I may have rode by again one day and checked it out. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure. [SPEAKER_01]: But [SPEAKER_01]: This moved along and that was around that transition period where I was like bugs were fun. [SPEAKER_01]: for me when I was a little kid. [SPEAKER_01]: But to be a teenager in a man, I got to get a V-hater, whatever. [SPEAKER_01]: So I kind of forgot about the car.

19:47 [SPEAKER_00]: To give the smallest of some of the things that you had described and talked about, right? [SPEAKER_00]: Why it stuck out, I guess, for the listeners, right? [SPEAKER_00]: Fiberglass fenders, slot mags, adjustable beam, which means it had probably a lowered stance, [SPEAKER_00]: once you started understanding and realizing the different parts and pieces you had disc brakes from a gear up in the front pop out windows, fiberglass dash, all kinds of mods. [SPEAKER_00]: I think you said the motor was a 21, would you say it was? [SPEAKER_00]: 2165. [SPEAKER_00]: 2165. [SPEAKER_00]: So at what point did you start really understanding? [SPEAKER_00]: what this car had and what it was that it take you acquiring it or did you start to research and learn and really start to know maybe what this car had before you even owned it.

20:38 [SPEAKER_01]: So, um, like I said, when I saw it, it looked, it looks, it looked wide and it was very shiny, you know, it had a nice yellow paint job, it had a dub, a fiberglass W deck lid, um, but I didn't [SPEAKER_01]: All of the little changes at Volkswagen was making throughout the years and I all I saw was the back end and then I forgot about the car for a while and then I started hanging out with this kid in middle school and we're still friends to this day's name is Zach he eventually went to the water cool route, but he decided dude I kind of like bugs and I was like you're kidding I was like I was obsessed with bugs forever when I was a kid. [SPEAKER_01]: And he was one of those friends that, you know, he was over every day and he would spend the night all the time.

21:24 [SPEAKER_01]: So I pulled out, you know, all my boxes of stuff and seeing him get excited about what I had and looking at that stuff again, it completely reignited it. [SPEAKER_01]: And I must have been, I mean, it was before I bought the car. [SPEAKER_01]: I think I was probably 14 maybe 15 when I was like, okay, actually I do love bugs and I need to get a bug. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's when I started riding around again. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, all right, let's see what's still around. [SPEAKER_01]: Let's see what's new. [SPEAKER_01]: Let's go find a bug. [SPEAKER_00]: So the small detail, which was one of my favorite parts of reading this part of the story, was the day you're sitting in computer class. [SPEAKER_00]: And you're looking at the kid sitting next to you, who says his dad has won.

22:06 [SPEAKER_00]: And you realize, holy shit, it, this is it. [SPEAKER_00]: This is the car. [SPEAKER_00]: Tell us that portion of the story. [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely, so, um, when I was, when I started looking for a book, I was like, I wondered that book is still there. [SPEAKER_01]: And they had put up a fence and stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: So I was like, okay, and I didn't even think to look, but I saw this kid. [SPEAKER_01]: It's so funny. [SPEAKER_01]: It was so random. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sitting there right, might be a next bike. [SPEAKER_01]: And this kid's sitting, you know, Chris cross out Apple sauce on the sidewalk and he's playing with rocks and dirt. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, what is going on here? [SPEAKER_01]: So I just have ride by. [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm sitting in computer class one day and he was a nice kid and he was sitting next to me. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was looking at Volkswagen's and stuff, I, you know, I'm sure I finished my assignment before I started doing this.

22:52 [SPEAKER_01]: And started looking at bugs and he's like, oh, you like bugs, huh? [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, hmm. [SPEAKER_01]: And I thought he was going to make fun of me because I dealt with a lot of that. [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people were like, you like beetles, you know, like it wasn't necessarily very cool. [SPEAKER_01]: Right. [SPEAKER_01]: Beetles. [SPEAKER_00]: They were just old junkie cars. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I got a lot of, I do like a lot of crap for that when I was growing up, but I started with it. [SPEAKER_01]: And he's like, my dad has won he redid the interior, you know, the same story that you hear right, oh, my dad had a Volkswagen or my uncle has one and I was like, even at that age, I was already numbed out to it. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, that's nice dude. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, like, not trying to be a jerk, but I was like, that's cool. [SPEAKER_01]: That's cool. [SPEAKER_01]: And then I started putting the pieces together after class.

23:34 [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, wait a second. [SPEAKER_01]: I saw him sitting playing with dirt in front of that house. [SPEAKER_01]: Is he talking about the same car? [SPEAKER_01]: And I remember, you know, I rode by, heaped over the fence. [SPEAKER_01]: It was there. [SPEAKER_01]: I got in contact with that. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, dude, I wanna buy that car. [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, let me get you in contact with my dad and he's like, come meet me after school today. [SPEAKER_01]: Went over there, his dad was like, yeah, you're interested, whatever. [SPEAKER_01]: It had already been sitting for five years at that point. [SPEAKER_00]: Wow. [SPEAKER_01]: He was hurt. [SPEAKER_01]: And he was like, yeah, man, 2,000 bucks. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I got to figure this out now. [SPEAKER_01]: And at that point, I did own a truck. [SPEAKER_01]: I worked at Captain D's seafood restaurant.

24:15 [SPEAKER_01]: When I was 14 and saved up some money and my parents helped me buy my brother's truck. [SPEAKER_01]: He sold it to me for two grand. [SPEAKER_01]: My parents paid $1,000 and I paid $1,000. [SPEAKER_01]: And, but I was like, okay, I need to buy this buck, but my whole plan at the beginning was to keep the truck because my dad was like, look, if you're gonna have an old car, you're gonna have a project car, you need to have a good reliable daily. [SPEAKER_01]: And so the plan was always like, okay, I just need to save up $2,000 to buy this bug and it just wasn't working. [SPEAKER_01]: And eventually I was able to talk my dad like, can I try to sell the truck and he's like, sure, man. [SPEAKER_01]: So I spent $2,000 on it. [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't put a single dollar into it. [SPEAKER_01]: I just scrubbed it and scrubbed it and scrubbed it and looked all with brand new and I sold it for $3,300.

24:57 [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, so. [SPEAKER_01]: There was a super beetle basically down the street from there and I was like well shoot I've got 3300 bucks I could buy something else so I snatched that one up for 700 bucks and and then we went and got that 68. [SPEAKER_01]: So that night my mom she drove the super beetle home because it ran and then I think it was the same night my dad we toast wrapped the 68 home and luckily it was literally like it's not even a mile from where I'm at right now. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it's so cool man, and they'll talk to the guy I've stopped by and talked to him. [SPEAKER_01]: He's amazed the car does not look anything the same. [SPEAKER_01]: There's almost nothing except for the yellow paint down deep in the layers that could tell you it's the same car now.

25:43 [SPEAKER_00]: cool man. [SPEAKER_00]: So 15 years old now, now you're the owner of two cars, not really common for most 15 year olds. [SPEAKER_00]: Those prices sound pretty, pretty appealing though, right? [SPEAKER_00]: 700 bucks, 1800 bucks. [SPEAKER_00]: You probably even had a little bit of money left over then, right? [SPEAKER_00]: Um, anybody, anybody of school or anybody really start to, you know, understand what you, what you're doing. [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, accumulate in Volkswagen or, or, I think you're crazy or, you know, how to that play out. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, um, I don't think anyone cared that much. [SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, I was extremely impressed with myself. [SPEAKER_01]: And I know that my close friends, my family, they were like, this is crazy.

26:25 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, like, this is awesome. [SPEAKER_01]: It was easy, you know, I was like, wow, I didn't realize how easy this actually can be. [SPEAKER_01]: You just have to do it, you know. [SPEAKER_01]: And so my close friends, like my best friend, Elliott, we're still friends today, he got it. [SPEAKER_01]: He ended up getting a bug. [SPEAKER_01]: I actually ended up just by loving it. [SPEAKER_01]: I never tried to force it on anybody. [SPEAKER_01]: I never tried to tell anybody to do anything. [SPEAKER_01]: I just, they saw that the genuine pure joy and excitement I got out of these cars. [SPEAKER_01]: Man, it's got to be four or five people to get bugs. [SPEAKER_01]: Now, they don't have many more, but they got the bug for a little bit, and I was like, this is crazy, it's spreading.

27:09 [SPEAKER_00]: But Google, you know, and it's the feeling, it's not just owning it. [SPEAKER_00]: It's what happens to us when we drive them, you know, and it's the same thing all the time from people, especially outsiders, meaning outside of, you know, the craft, they always say the same thing. [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what it sounds like. [SPEAKER_00]: Man, this car rides a lot better than I thought it would. [SPEAKER_00]: Right? [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: You hear it all the time. [SPEAKER_00]: You're like, I mean, were you expected it to be like a wagon? [SPEAKER_00]: You're like, you know, no, man. [SPEAKER_00]: It's engineered flawlessly and they perform very well. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, for again, 36 horsepower or whatever. [SPEAKER_00]: But back it's engine and all of these, you know, I guess modifications.

27:51 [SPEAKER_00]: The previous owner had mentioned to you that this car could do wheelies, right? [SPEAKER_00]: Off a hard launches. [SPEAKER_00]: What does that mean to a 15 year old kid? [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, are you at this age? [SPEAKER_00]: Done enough research now to know, you know, what these motors are, can be or can do? [SPEAKER_00]: Or are you still learning? [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: So at that point, I had been getting VW Trans Magazine for a while. [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, I did. [SPEAKER_01]: I loved it. [SPEAKER_01]: And so I understood, you know, the [SPEAKER_01]: And so I, you know, once he popped that deck lid, I was like, oh, my goodness, like, that's crazy.

28:32 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, back then I was like, that's probably like five grand right there, but you know, my than more, I don't know, but, um, [SPEAKER_01]: I think he originated from Texas, but he was big in the Volkswagen scene, and he was a super cool guy. [SPEAKER_01]: And he was like, oh, it's gonna be crazy. [SPEAKER_01]: And he was the first one, he sat in the car, and he was like, he's like, God, I love that smell. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, what are you talking about? [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, the Volkswagen smell. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, what is that? [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, oh, they all have the smell.

29:13 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, oh, and so that's when I, once I owned the 68 and my neighbor sat in it, that's where I learned about the VW smell. [SPEAKER_01]: Had a good idea before I bought the car. [SPEAKER_01]: I was doing a little bit of creep in and sneaking on and I was taking pictures of it. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, you could see it from other angles in the neighborhood side, you know, everything I could just to get a photo of it. [SPEAKER_01]: So I knew it, I'd pop out, say, knew it had slot wheels. [SPEAKER_01]: I could tell at that point that I had wide fenders. [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I knew what it was. [SPEAKER_01]: I knew how good of a deal it was because I was surfing glass action in creative car craft. [SPEAKER_01]: I knew how expensive these pieces were. [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

29:53 [SPEAKER_00]: So you eventually end up pulling the engine and you were talking about Craigslist a little while ago, you had put an ad up on Craigslist, you know, were you trying to sell this engine or are you trying to trade this engine or how does that portion of the story go. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, so what I should have done was take in the 1600 dual port out of my 71 super and put it into my 68. [SPEAKER_01]: But I didn't realize how easy that would be. [SPEAKER_01]: I ended up selling the super for a thousand. [SPEAKER_01]: I made some money on it. [SPEAKER_01]: That was like my first flip, I guess. [SPEAKER_01]: So the engine was still installed in the car. [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know where to begin. [SPEAKER_01]: I knew nothing about cars. [SPEAKER_01]: Even though I desperately wanted to, I knew nothing.

30:35 [SPEAKER_01]: So I got a post on Craigslist. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was just like, hey, I've got 150 bucks right now. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm looking for a Volkswagen engine, a 1600, whatever. [SPEAKER_01]: I've got 150 bucks and I'm trying to sell some stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: I'll have more money soon. [SPEAKER_01]: Let me know what's up. [SPEAKER_01]: And I get a call from somebody. [SPEAKER_01]: And it was this guy, Chris. [SPEAKER_01]: And he's like, hey, man, I saw your ad on Craigslist. [SPEAKER_01]: And I think I might know you. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, oh, really? [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, yeah, I think you might be my little brother's friend. [SPEAKER_01]: And he was like, John. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, oh, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, yeah, man. [SPEAKER_01]: How about I come over and check it out? [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think I've remet this dude.

31:17 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what made him decide he wanted to be cool like that, but he showed up and he was like, look at it over and he's like, okay, I got this guy and anybody in the Colorado Springs area is going to know, or, you know, if you're deep in the scene, you're going to know who Dale is when I say Dale and he's like, I got this guy Dale, let's go see him and maybe he can help you out. [SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, he came and looked at what I had and he's like, yeah, I think I can build [SPEAKER_01]: And so Chris and I pulled the engine out of my bug and he was showing me everything, you know, that's when I learned what an exhaust manifold was an intake manifold like just finally being able to put, you know, these things in front of my and see them and put a name to these pieces and so that's the this cars was really where I kind of like learned a lot of terminology and kinds of stuff.

32:10 [SPEAKER_01]: So what was Dale like. [SPEAKER_01]: The Volkswagen man, he don't remember what he did actually did for a living, but he had the I man, he lived out east here in Colorado, not too far from me and he had like a little barn and a nice little slice of property and yeah, he just had Volkswagen's all over it and the barn was all. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he had like, doing buggy molds. [SPEAKER_01]: He had like weird stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: He would just come across the craziest things. [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, just perfect decades hanging on the wall original paint.

32:55 [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, he would the super guy man. [SPEAKER_01]: He was really cool. [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody needs a Dale in their life, right? [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: It's funny, because we, you know, you hear these stories about guys that grow up in this culture, and there's always this guy, right? [SPEAKER_00]: That has a garage full of parts. [SPEAKER_00]: That's always willing to, you know, help the brok kid, keep the Volkswagen, it's on the road and keep them alive. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think that's a super interesting unique part of our culture. [SPEAKER_00]: And it's still alive today. [SPEAKER_00]: Do you also feel that it still exists today? [SPEAKER_01]: I do. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: I've met enough good people now and I still run across somewhere. [SPEAKER_01]: I do believe it still exists. [SPEAKER_01]: And I, you can personally, I can't wait until, you know, I get to be the old guy in that situation and maybe help somebody out one day.

33:41 [SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm just patiently waiting here, you know, we've had a few kids in the neighborhood take interest in a couple things, but then they moved away or whatever it might be. [SPEAKER_01]: So it's like, all right, eventually I'll get someone that I can kind of help out and just keep this thing alive. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, down for paint or it's down for transmission, whatever it might be, it's like the worst part of it is not being out there and just I want kids to see these things and get excited and inspired and stuff, you know, did I not out there. [SPEAKER_00]: I got goosebumps when you just said that and and I'll tell you why my wife is a 71 Carmen Gia and we you know we've we've we've spent the last you know a couple of years putting some money into it and we named it Carmen Gettin and it's got this really crazy cool green paint job on it.

34:33 [SPEAKER_00]: and it's lower and it's got some Porsche phone dials on it and it's just a really loud kind of bright when I say loud I don't mean volume. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean the way it looks, right? [SPEAKER_00]: It's just a really loud car. [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, I drove it to the office this morning. [SPEAKER_00]: and to come here and do this podcast with you. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm driving by this bus stop on the way up 30 ath Avenue here in St. Pete a little while ago. [SPEAKER_00]: There's a bunch of older kids. [SPEAKER_00]: They look like teenagers that are sitting there waiting for the bus stop. [SPEAKER_00]: And then there's this mom and she's got this little daughter kind of hanging on her leg. [SPEAKER_00]: And nobody's paying attention to me as I drive by with this little probably four, maybe five year old little girls holding her mommy's leg.

35:15 [SPEAKER_00]: And she's watching this car go by and she just has to smile and start waving at the car. [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm just like, that is what's up right there. [SPEAKER_00]: I love that same feeling, man. [SPEAKER_00]: I love when the kids get inspired and excited by these cars. [SPEAKER_00]: These cars just look happy dude. [SPEAKER_00]: They look like they're smiling. [SPEAKER_00]: They look like they have a cool personality. [SPEAKER_00]: They look like they're your friend, right? [SPEAKER_00]: So, uh, I love it with little, little kids get, get bit by that. [SPEAKER_00]: It's so cool. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. [SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about this section first freedom. [SPEAKER_00]: Let me see here how I want to intro this portion here.

35:56 [SPEAKER_00]: So you finally get your driver's license. [SPEAKER_00]: Tell me what it feels like when you finally get this 68 running and you're driving it. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: So when I got the engine from Dale, [SPEAKER_01]: He, you know, me and Chris, we, we threw it in, got the fuel lines hooked up and, and it wouldn't run. [SPEAKER_01]: So we had to take it back out, clear the fuel lines, you know, all the normal things you have to do with a car that's sad. [SPEAKER_01]: But once we got it running, I was so excited. [SPEAKER_01]: And at that point in time, thankfully, I knew how to drive stick. [SPEAKER_01]: I learned in the 71 super bevel that I bought for 700 bucks. [SPEAKER_01]: My buddy Elliott who went and got it with me.

36:37 [SPEAKER_01]: He knew how to drive stick. [SPEAKER_01]: So he taught me how to drive stick in front of my house in that bug. [SPEAKER_01]: So, um, [SPEAKER_01]: Man, I took it first spin and I was like, this is amazing. [SPEAKER_01]: I, I think at the time I'm trying to, I think I had like a dual quiet hack exhaust because that's what it came with. [SPEAKER_01]: But that quickly turned into a stinger. [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was just, you know, illegally driving it just in the neighborhood, you know, basically called a sack for a while before I got my license because I didn't end up getting my license until I was 17. [SPEAKER_01]: And it was just like, I didn't know what to do. [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know what I was supposed to do to get it. [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not even trying to talk some after about my parents, but they didn't really like step in and like do that.

37:21 [SPEAKER_01]: So once we figured it out, I didn't end up getting it until I was 17, but that first drive was crazy. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I had to take my driver's test and my mom's forward explorer because everything worked and nothing worked on the bug. [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, as soon as I got home, my mom was like, free, go do what you want. [SPEAKER_01]: But what I needed to do was go to the DMV and get it registered. [SPEAKER_01]: So I was like, OK, I got it. [SPEAKER_01]: That was the maiden voyage. [SPEAKER_01]: I took it all the way up the academy, all the way up to the chocolate hills is small, because they had a little DMV out there back then. [SPEAKER_01]: And my air filter fell off while I was on my way up there. [SPEAKER_01]: It didn't vibe good at all.

38:02 [SPEAKER_01]: I was terrified for my life the whole time. [SPEAKER_01]: And then it started raining, and I had no air filter, and the deck lid was, you know, propped open, so I was like, had to sit under parking garage for a while till it, it was a crazy day, but it was amazing. [SPEAKER_01]: It was so fun. [SPEAKER_01]: And it was summertime. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I got my license in the summer. [SPEAKER_01]: So that was really cool. [SPEAKER_00]: I tried to create some memories like that for my kids here who just over the last couple of years started getting their driver's license and driving, but with this Carmen Gia, it's an auto clutch, so it's an auto stick. [SPEAKER_00]: That was one of the things in my wife. [SPEAKER_00]: She didn't necessarily want a stick shift, but [SPEAKER_00]: She wanted a classic air cooled.

38:44 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm like, well, my first beatle was a 72 and it was an auto clutch. [SPEAKER_00]: So I can probably find you on her favorite cars, Carmen Gia. [SPEAKER_00]: So anyway, we found her one. [SPEAKER_00]: But twice now, this has happened to me where my kids are eager and excited to go take their test in this old Gia because they drove it, you know, if they learn how to drive cars, you know, pretty much drive in this thing. [SPEAKER_00]: around our small city here, but the morning I go to to get in it to take them for their driver's test. [SPEAKER_00]: My first one, the horned stop working and it was really frustrating because he had a nine o'clock appointment and we had like 15 minutes and it's like good.

39:26 [SPEAKER_00]: So he ends up taking it in my wife's Audi, which you know, great. [SPEAKER_00]: But he missed that opportunity to have those memories. [SPEAKER_00]: So it ends up going off and getting some break work and getting the horn fixed and all that cool stuff. [SPEAKER_00]: And so my next son, 16, turn 16, he's going the morning of his 16th birthday to go take his, so the way they do it here is they take a class and then they test and then they pass. [SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, it's a little prior to about a week or so prior to their actual birthday, but then the day they turn of age, they can take that certificate to the DMV and they can get their printed driver's license.

40:07 [SPEAKER_00]: So, it was the day he was going to take the driver's portion of the test. [SPEAKER_00]: We're excited. [SPEAKER_00]: We wake up. [SPEAKER_00]: We're like, yeah, dude, let's go. [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to do this in the, in the guilla. [SPEAKER_00]: He's excited. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm excited. [SPEAKER_00]: We go get in it. [SPEAKER_00]: It starts. [SPEAKER_00]: Everything's fine. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, [SPEAKER_00]: Let's just test the components because like you just sit. [SPEAKER_00]: Everything's got to be working. [SPEAKER_00]: The horns got to work, you know, the turn signals have to work. [SPEAKER_00]: Everything has to work for this, this buddy, I blew the horn, didn't work. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, oh, yeah, so I missed that opportunity for both of them. [SPEAKER_00]: But one of them out of the, out of the three brothers is bit, is bit by the Volkswagen bug. [SPEAKER_00]: He's a water-cooled guy. [SPEAKER_00]: He's got a 2020 MK 7.5 and dude, it's a rocket.

40:50 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a two-liter really, really nice car, you know, I'm super happy for him. [SPEAKER_00]: I told him I said, man, you're lucky. [SPEAKER_00]: When I was 16, I had 36 horsepower. [SPEAKER_00]: You're 16, you got 236 horsepower. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, it's insane, man. [SPEAKER_00]: It really is, it really is. [SPEAKER_00]: So back to your story though, so now you're you got this freedom right you're you got your driver's license you're 68 to run in you're driving this thing around Colorado Springs are you the coolest kid in town or what what's it feel like. [SPEAKER_01]: Man, I sure thought it was honestly I was like I'm the main character I'm the man everybody's looking at me.

41:36 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: No, it felt really good. [SPEAKER_01]: It felt really good. [SPEAKER_00]: That's a cool man. [SPEAKER_00]: I love that feeling. [SPEAKER_00]: And I know that feeling because I did the same thing at 16 with a 72 beetle. [SPEAKER_00]: So let's fast forward just a little bit then. [SPEAKER_00]: Your transmissions given you problems. [SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, I know you have this crash, but to talk about this transmission a little bit, [SPEAKER_00]: You, well actually, I'm not going to say it, you say, tell us what's going on with this transmission that was given you problems and how did this end up, you know, becoming, uh, I guess this crash into this F-150. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, um, yeah, a quick story, uh, it's super sad because obviously, you know, it's 68.

42:21 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's got the 12 volt bell housing and it's the long axle. [SPEAKER_01]: So it's like a two-year-only transmission if you think about the bell housing size. [SPEAKER_01]: So what happened was I'm sitting there, [SPEAKER_01]: It was the dumbest one of the dumbest things I've ever done in my life because it was pointless. [SPEAKER_01]: So there was a Cavalier next to me and he had this muffler cut off or something and he was going straight and I was turning left. [SPEAKER_01]: And for whatever reason because he was revving at me and stuff we were revving back and forth had my stinger and I guess I decided I'm going to do a burnout to show him I don't know. [SPEAKER_01]: So I go to do a burnout and I go to put it in the second and it grinds. [SPEAKER_01]: And instead of, you know, letting it go, I just kept grinding it and grinding it and trying to get it into gear.

43:04 [SPEAKER_01]: So the point where the synchronizer was gone and second gear was not exist anymore. [SPEAKER_01]: So I limp it home, you know, I shifted first to third, limp it home, talk to Dale. [SPEAKER_01]: He had a transmission, but he, you know, he's like 50 bucks, man. [SPEAKER_01]: But I don't know if it's good or not. [SPEAKER_01]: It's shifting technically, but I don't know if it's good or not. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, the bug was down all summer for that. [SPEAKER_01]: And that really sucked. [SPEAKER_01]: I, you know, had a break up. [SPEAKER_01]: So I was like, man, my car don't run. [SPEAKER_01]: I got broken up with. [SPEAKER_01]: So it really sucked. [SPEAKER_01]: And then I got that transmission. [SPEAKER_01]: And finally. [SPEAKER_01]: And we were trying to find seals for it and stuff at the local shop. [SPEAKER_01]: Shout out Randy sport car.

43:46 [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, I don't have anything for these because people don't blow them up. [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, how did you even break this? [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, stock transmission parts because they just don't break. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, I don't know, but I did. [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, it took forever to get it done, but finally got it done and then it popped out every single gear every single gear. [SPEAKER_01]: So I drove it like that for a while, but um, yeah, one night after work, I decided to take the long way home, I had taken a turn a few days earlier and got the rear end loose and I was like, that was really fun. [SPEAKER_01]: And that was really cool. [SPEAKER_01]: So I was going to go try to do that again, but I turned I saw just making a left hand turn and I turned into early and I hit a F 150 trying to turn right.

44:31 [SPEAKER_01]: Just smack right into it. [SPEAKER_01]: And so the sound of shattering glass, all that stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: It was horrible man. [SPEAKER_00]: I guess what I feel like described that feeling of. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, reckon this car you've not only spent years of your childhood chasing, but now also, you know, you've spent a lot of time on it doing stuff and fixing it up and, you know, making it drivable, now you destroy it in a car accident. [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, walk us through that feeling. [SPEAKER_00]: How how how that feel? [SPEAKER_01]: I was devastated, man. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you know, I was 17, I felt like my life was over. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, dude, Brian shaken on the scene.

45:12 [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I hit, you know, I cut my right here to the side of my eye. [SPEAKER_01]: I cut there. [SPEAKER_01]: I cut here. [SPEAKER_01]: So there is a lot of blood. [SPEAKER_01]: I wasn't hurt or anything, but there was blood everywhere in the guy was freaking out. [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, are you okay? [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, no, no, no, no, no. [SPEAKER_01]: Let me just let me just call my mom and dad because he's like, I need to call you an ambulance. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, [SPEAKER_01]: No, it was devastating. [SPEAKER_01]: And I thought, I really thought my life was over because that car really, even at that point in time, that thing meant everything to me. [SPEAKER_01]: If it was all I had, it's all I cared about, you know, my mom, she gave me the best advice ever when I was before the crash, you know, she was like, dude, if you're sad about, you know, whatever, just go work on your car and I was like, you're right.

46:04 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I started channeling a lot of things into that car and I was like, this car, you're you're it. [SPEAKER_01]: I would talk to it. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, I don't care about anything else. [SPEAKER_01]: I got you do. [SPEAKER_01]: And so yeah, I really felt like I just lost like my best friend, I guess. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man, that's that's having man. [SPEAKER_00]: So so this car now, it's going to sit around for a while, right, because it's wrecked how long to sit around for. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it only ended up sitting for maybe two and a half years on but right the night I crashed it I had had a conversation with my buddy Zach he had a 63 bug once again if anybody in the Colorado Springs area deep in the scene is going to know who I'm talking about when I say Blake but my buddy Zach bought Blake 63 bug and then he wanted to trade for my 68 and we had a whole thing going where I was I was going to keep my fiberglass vendors.

47:01 [SPEAKER_01]: I was going to basically get to keep all my stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: He just wanted a 68 body for some reason. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know why. [SPEAKER_01]: And then I crashed it. [SPEAKER_01]: And I jumped out, you know, a few days later, he was still interested in trading. [SPEAKER_01]: So technically, technically, I traded my 68 to my friend Zach for, I don't even know how long it was. [SPEAKER_01]: It might have been a year. [SPEAKER_01]: But the title never left my possession or my name. [SPEAKER_01]: The card never left my property. [SPEAKER_01]: And then, as time went on, I was like, [SPEAKER_01]: kind of, I don't want to say worthless, but they were cheap. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, dude, I really feel like I should keep this car. [SPEAKER_01]: My dad was starting to get mad that it was still there.

47:44 [SPEAKER_01]: And he's like, Zach, you need to get it out of here. [SPEAKER_01]: And Zach's like, I don't have any place to put it. [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was like, look, I, he wanted, I had like an, an alpine, high bar 12 inch subwoofer. [SPEAKER_01]: Some sort of fancy amplifier, like I gave him a couple nice sound system pieces and [SPEAKER_01]: some like a hundred bucks, and I got my card back. [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I think it's sad for like two years. [SPEAKER_01]: And then I found a rusty beam like it was completely rotted, but I was like, it's fine. [SPEAKER_01]: I just needed the card at role, because it didn't, when I crashed, it cracked the front beam in half. [SPEAKER_01]: Dang! [SPEAKER_01]: And then I, I cut the hole, you know, front clip box and stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: So it was sitting on a log. [SPEAKER_01]: So I was like, okay, I just need to get it on wheels.

48:25 [SPEAKER_01]: So I just slapped a beam on there [SPEAKER_01]: from because I ended up putting it in the backyard where my super beetle was when I was a kid. [SPEAKER_01]: So I got it out of the backyard. [SPEAKER_01]: And once I saw it back in like the garage, we're like in a normal car setting. [SPEAKER_01]: I got so motivated and excited and it was like, all right, let's get this car back together. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't care if it's held together by zip ties, duct tape. [SPEAKER_01]: As long as it runs and drives, I literally don't care what it looks like because it's just got a story. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_00]: So then you backdated it. [SPEAKER_01]: So tell us what you did when you backdated it. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_01]: So when I got the car, it was partially backdated already. [SPEAKER_01]: It had the fiberglass fenders had early headlights in them.

49:06 [SPEAKER_01]: It had 62 to 67 tail lights. [SPEAKER_01]: It had a W deck lid. [SPEAKER_01]: So the guy had backdated a little bit. [SPEAKER_01]: But I put the nearly hood on it. [SPEAKER_01]: It had a 68 hood on it. [SPEAKER_01]: So the little, [SPEAKER_01]: cut off. [SPEAKER_01]: I put an early hood on it, which changed the look immediately. [SPEAKER_01]: And I found some snowflake tail lights at the bug in at the band a mere. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think it was like 60 bucks or something for a set of snowflakes back then. [SPEAKER_01]: So picked up some snowflakes and yeah, when I crashed it, I picked up a front clip from the junkyard and it completely escapes my mind [SPEAKER_01]: Even though I knew that information, it escaped my mind when I was there with solids all.

49:52 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, this front clip will work. [SPEAKER_01]: And so I grabbed it from a, it's like a 61, two or three. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure. [SPEAKER_01]: I still have the thin plates. [SPEAKER_01]: So I need to find out exactly, but it's a, you know, it's a 58 to 64 small window front clip. [SPEAKER_01]: So it didn't work. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it didn't work at all. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, what am I going to do here? [SPEAKER_01]: So I drove it around for a while with the windshield kind of installed. [SPEAKER_01]: And then eventually I took the cow from the old 68 clip, grafted that into the older front clip. [SPEAKER_01]: And that involved a lot of random stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: Like it was annoying, but so now it's got an early dash. [SPEAKER_01]: It's been converted to wide five.

50:33 [SPEAKER_01]: The window size and like the door hand certain tiny tiny little details about it for people who know what they're looking at, they can tell it's not an early car, but a lot of people are like, what is that of 61 or something? [SPEAKER_01]: just heavily heavily back dated. [SPEAKER_01]: And that was I did that because early cars were just more expensive and hard, you know, they did weren't as affordable. [SPEAKER_01]: So I was like, I'm just gonna make a late car look old. [SPEAKER_00]: So tell me what this car means to you now because you still own it, right? [SPEAKER_00]: Compared to maybe what it did when you were 15. [SPEAKER_00]: So back then, like I said, I thought the thing was alive. [SPEAKER_01]: I loved it to death. [SPEAKER_01]: It was really, I love hearing him say that. [SPEAKER_01]: It was extremely important, man. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it was everything.

51:14 [SPEAKER_01]: And it was for the longest time. [SPEAKER_01]: And I met my now wife in 2016. [SPEAKER_01]: And then we had our daughter in 2017. [SPEAKER_01]: And that has, my daughter has changed it a lot. [SPEAKER_01]: I still really, really care about my bug. [SPEAKER_01]: I love it. [SPEAKER_01]: It's never going to go anywhere. [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, everything can go if it needs to for more important reasons. [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't, it does not have the same feeling it did because I have much bigger things in my life now right and I'm just you know I'm sure you and everyone else can understand that it's like, I wish that I still felt the same way and I definitely do a lot where it's like when people ask me why do you like these little cars so much really what it goes back to it's like this is like the last thing I have that like makes me excited like a child you know like, [SPEAKER_01]: There's something when I see him out on the road, whatever it might be like this is the one last thing I have that kind of is like a time machine or something.

52:15 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what it is, but they will always be so special. [SPEAKER_01]: So it is extremely special. [SPEAKER_01]: I love it to death. [SPEAKER_01]: I want to have it forever. [SPEAKER_01]: I hope my daughter takes interest as she does. [SPEAKER_01]: And I hope she, you know, Mary is a guy who takes interest because I have a lot of stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't want it to disappear at the very least. [SPEAKER_01]: I'd like this card stay in the better family. [SPEAKER_01]: So I hope, you know. [SPEAKER_00]: do you feel like after 18 years that this car is finished or not? [SPEAKER_01]: No, no, no, no, also, once again, as I'm sure you can understand, I don't think there ever actually done. [SPEAKER_01]: No, no, no, no. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I thought I had an idea of what I wanted when I was 15, and I basically bought it that way, and then it was like, okay, it gets dated or, you know, I don't know, like the, um, [SPEAKER_01]: how I have it right now is kind of like the most mature.

53:08 [SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of ever been kind of like the cleanest most like I'm understated in mature. [SPEAKER_01]: It's ever been and I'm like, okay, it makes sense. [SPEAKER_01]: Like it was what it was when I bought it. [SPEAKER_01]: It was perfect and then it was a different color before and it was how to hold different look then. [SPEAKER_01]: And now I like I said, I took it apart in November of 2025 and I just kind of recently got back together. [SPEAKER_01]: And so this is the new version of it for a little while. [SPEAKER_00]: Now the one we can see behind you is this 57-year-old oval. [SPEAKER_00]: You've got this car kind of keeping you busy. [SPEAKER_00]: Now just describe again, you know, kind of how this car came about. [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe where it came from, I know this was another car.

53:51 [SPEAKER_00]: I think you said you were chasing around the neighborhood for years. [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, man, just kind of give us that backstory on this 57. [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: found it before I even owned my 68, you know, we were just riding in the car. [SPEAKER_01]: I saw it on the side of a house and I had a cover on it, but I could see some lime green poking out. [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was like, oh, that's the 70s bug. [SPEAKER_01]: So I had no interest in it. [SPEAKER_01]: I wanted nothing to do with it. [SPEAKER_01]: When I got time I'd drive by, I'd be like, ah, there's that old 70s bug. [SPEAKER_01]: And then I believe it was after Lily was born. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, you know, [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe a 70's bug wouldn't be so bad.

54:33 [SPEAKER_01]: It's, you know, 2017, probably at this time. [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to get a 70's bug because they're all going through the roof and 70's bugs are getting cool now. [SPEAKER_01]: So I was like, I'm gonna go check it out. [SPEAKER_01]: So I go to check it out. [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, as soon as it comes into my view, the cover's gone blew away and I see the oval. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, are you kidding me? [SPEAKER_01]: never in a million years that I expected it was an oval. [SPEAKER_01]: I knew about this car for like 15 plus years and never once even considered that it could be an oval or anything. [SPEAKER_01]: And so once I saw that, I was like, oh my gosh, I think I drove home, grabbed a pen and paper because I didn't have any.

55:18 [SPEAKER_01]: Left a note on the door. [SPEAKER_01]: I knocked on the door and lady answered. [SPEAKER_01]: She's like, oh yeah, that's my son's car and I was like, would he be interested in selling it? [SPEAKER_01]: She's like, I wish he would. [SPEAKER_01]: I can't remember it's like a while later I got a call from the guy's brother and he's like, hey man, my mom gave me your numbers. [SPEAKER_01]: She said you're interested in the bug. [SPEAKER_01]: We're kind of trying to clean things up. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, what would you be willing to offer it? [SPEAKER_01]: And I felt so bad. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, is this the the oval, the green oval? [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, oh, I'm I was like, sorry. [SPEAKER_01]: I at least notes on Volkswagen's all over town. [SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know which one this is. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, dude, [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know what to say.

56:00 [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, because it was a complete shell. [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know what was. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, I don't know, man, like 500 bucks a thousand, depending on, I don't know what he has for it. [SPEAKER_01]: It could go up and up and up. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, and I'm not trying to insult you. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't even know. [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, no, no, you're fine. [SPEAKER_01]: And then I never heard back from him. [SPEAKER_01]: And then one day, I stopped by the house, knocked on the door, nobody answered. [SPEAKER_01]: And I kind of got frustrated. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, man, I just want to buy this car. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I was mad at these people, [SPEAKER_01]: I just don't get it. [SPEAKER_01]: How do you know a lot of people everywhere that's lifting sit. [SPEAKER_01]: And it's like it could be getting used. [SPEAKER_01]: So I was like, I'm going to call that number because I saved the number when that guy called me. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, hey, man, this can sound really weird. [SPEAKER_01]: But I left a note on your house and you called me about your brother's bug.

56:45 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was just wondering if you, you know, if you guys would be interested in selling it. [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, yep, it's for sale right now today. [SPEAKER_01]: I'll go get the money right now. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, I'll come get it, then you're like, all right, well, let me call my brother. [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll set up, you know, when Kizita he's working right now, I was like, okay, I, you know, rounded up a tow bar. [SPEAKER_01]: I got, went and got the cash. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, we got a, I got to get this thing out immediately. [SPEAKER_01]: And it was crazy. [SPEAKER_01]: My dad, that was kind of, you know, I don't want to sell it because it's my first oval anyway, but that was the one of the last things that my dad went and grabbed together. [SPEAKER_01]: I've got pictures of both of us on the rescue and everything. [SPEAKER_01]: So sweet, yeah.

57:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Question about the search. [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, are you ever going to stop looking for another meal? [SPEAKER_00]: You've been doing it through a little kid, man. [SPEAKER_01]: Yep, no, I will never stop. [SPEAKER_01]: I still to this day know where everything is. [SPEAKER_01]: My search has gotten a lot wider now that have a car. [SPEAKER_01]: So I know where they're at, man, and two, I know where they're at. [SPEAKER_01]: No, Colorado, the city, I know where they're at. [SPEAKER_01]: North, you know, [SPEAKER_01]: And things are always changing, you know, people are herding things. [SPEAKER_01]: So I see bugs pop up nowhere. [SPEAKER_01]: And it's still funny, my daughter's nine years old now, but she gives me. [SPEAKER_01]: Just gives me a lot of crashes like dad, you already have to dad, you already have seven cars. [SPEAKER_01]: Why are you looking at another one? [SPEAKER_01]: I was like. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_01]: I just, you can always find room for another bug.

58:10 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll tell you why because they find you. [SPEAKER_00]: It's not really necessarily that we're looking. [SPEAKER_00]: And I talk about this, man, with a lot of guests that come on the show. [SPEAKER_00]: I always say this at the same statement. [SPEAKER_00]: Old Volkswagen's are like cats because they say cats. [SPEAKER_00]: They find their owners, right? [SPEAKER_00]: If you really think about a lot of cats, alley cats, cats that you find around the neighborhood, et cetera. [SPEAKER_00]: they choose their families, right? [SPEAKER_00]: And they start, you know, kind of hanging out with you, you start feeding it and it becomes your cat. [SPEAKER_00]: These old cars are kind of the same way. [SPEAKER_00]: In a roundabout way, they always end up finding their ways into our lives. [SPEAKER_00]: And even if it's not, [SPEAKER_00]: real similar to that, right?

58:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Like a cat. [SPEAKER_00]: It's like somewhere or somehow the story becomes like all of a sudden you fall into this money and it just pops up and you just see this ad or this opportunity or somebody will call you and say, hey man, I saw that one you've been talking about for years. [SPEAKER_00]: Did you see that I had a for sale sign on it today? [SPEAKER_00]: You're like, it does. [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like, you know, those types of opportunities always come and find us as Volkswagen people. [SPEAKER_00]: But the bigger question is why do you think that Volkswagen's have the ability to be color part of people's identities? [SPEAKER_00]: Because it's very true that they do. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's something I've been trying to figure out forever.

59:35 [SPEAKER_01]: And I've had this conversation with a lot of heavy Volkswagen guys where it's like, what is this thing? [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if they put witchcraft on these cars in Germany or what's going on. [SPEAKER_01]: So, don't think that play, man, because I know Camaro guys are Camaro guys, and must and guys are Mustang guys, but dude, there's something very different about an specifically air-cooled Volkswagen guys, and I don't know what it is, man, but it gets inside you, and it never leaves its crazy, and [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I definitely notice like absolutely guys can get into the scene later in life and fall in love and never get out of it, but it's it's especially those people that really loved them from when they were little because it's a core memory at that point right it actually is a part of your personality at that point I mean it's as much as something can be a part of you it is especially from an early age like that, you know, and.

1:00:35 [SPEAKER_01]: Amen. [SPEAKER_01]: Amen. [SPEAKER_00]: Amen to that. [SPEAKER_00]: So in your life, what do you think you would have missed had you not acquired or found that yellow beetle? [SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, it probably would have taken me longer to learn about cars. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, I wouldn't have started hanging out with Chris, which I still hang out with Chris. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, he was, I think he was seven years older than me at the time. [SPEAKER_01]: And so it was really incredible [SPEAKER_01]: liked me and my friends, and wanted to hang out. [SPEAKER_01]: And so we had this guy who had a house, he had money, he had a car, he would take us around, he would help us out.

1:01:16 [SPEAKER_01]: So I probably wouldn't have started hanging out with Chris, which eventually led to the job that I have now. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this, I've known this dude for 18 years. [SPEAKER_01]: And it's still affecting me and helping me. [SPEAKER_01]: And I still [SPEAKER_01]: I talked to Randy all the time. [SPEAKER_01]: Randy's the guy who owned sport car here in Colorado Springs. [SPEAKER_01]: These shop to go to, and I'm like, man, I've been bugging you some hours of 15-year-old kid, man. [SPEAKER_01]: Like asking your little questions and just like, just bugging you, and he's just the coolest, you know? [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I think it kept me out of a lot of trouble. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what else I would have been able to be that passionate about. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I loved BMX. [SPEAKER_01]: I really loved BMX and just bicycles and stuff, [SPEAKER_01]: I did too.

1:02:01 [SPEAKER_00]: I raised actually as well as a late teen when I started driving especially my beetle when I started driving. [SPEAKER_00]: I raised cruiser so you know I liked a little bit of a larger frame myself but then I [SPEAKER_00]: turned 16, started driving my beetle. [SPEAKER_00]: It was long before I actually picked up surfing and kind of put the bikes down because it wasn't as cool anymore, you know, to be still, you know, carton along a bike or riding bikes when I could be hanging out with girls and surfing. [SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of the way my life went, but I was really into BMX heavy for a number of years.

1:02:42 [SPEAKER_00]: I was ranked, we had this magazine or this newspaper back then. [SPEAKER_00]: I think it was the MBL, the National Bicycle League, where they would rank the race riders all over the state of Florida. [SPEAKER_00]: So I had that addition every month or every week that it would come out. [SPEAKER_00]: I think it was every month. [SPEAKER_00]: I'd be able to thumb through and see, you know, I mean, on a number three in the state for my age group or whatever, so yeah, it was good, it was good times. [SPEAKER_00]: Going back in time, if you could go back to the 15 year old James that, you know, that bought his first car, you know, this 68 beetle, what advice would you give him or tell him?

1:03:23 [SPEAKER_01]: The first and foremost, I would say, don't touch that pain. [SPEAKER_01]: When I got to power. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what my dad told me to, man, and him and I would laugh about it. [SPEAKER_01]: He'd be like, I bet you wish you didn't touch that paint. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, absolutely, but yeah, I'd be like did, because I really liked the Tena cars. [SPEAKER_01]: Like I was heavy into like hood ride. [SPEAKER_01]: Like that was my identity at that point. [SPEAKER_01]: And so I was like, I started sanding it back and you know, doing little patches and stuff. [SPEAKER_01]: So I'd be like, man, don't paint it. [SPEAKER_01]: And I would probably tell 15 year-old James to all that 2165, I'll put it on stand. [SPEAKER_01]: Take that 1600 out of the super and use that to drive around for a while and see what you can do with that that big motor and I don't know maybe sell the 71 as a shell.

1:04:07 [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's what I would probably want to tell them. [SPEAKER_00]: I got some rapid fire questions for you, all right? [SPEAKER_00]: These are questions that are going to demand a fast response, but if the story comes of it, as I always say, I'm not going to sway you away from telling a story, but these are supposed to be kind of gut, you know, instinct like top of the mind type of responses. [SPEAKER_00]: All right, you ready for? [SPEAKER_01]: A bit. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, sir. [SPEAKER_00]: All right, rapid fire. [SPEAKER_00]: All right. [SPEAKER_00]: Here we go. [SPEAKER_00]: First VW that you would buy if money didn't matter, VW 38 prototype. [SPEAKER_01]: Damn, you went in for the kill. [SPEAKER_01]: Yep, that's the top of the hill I think, right there.

1:04:49 [SPEAKER_01]: That's got to be number one. [SPEAKER_01]: Headmielder would be good too. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, yeah, I had a guy on a few weeks back that has won number 357 headmielder. [SPEAKER_00]: Pretty awesome guy out of Texas, but anyhow, it's so cool. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, for sure. [SPEAKER_00]: All right, another one. [SPEAKER_00]: Here we go. [SPEAKER_00]: Favorite beetle year 61. [SPEAKER_01]: 61. [SPEAKER_01]: Nice. [SPEAKER_01]: I got a sick. [SPEAKER_00]: I got a 62 in my driveway. [SPEAKER_01]: You know the the interior things they did in early 60, like it was still 1960, I think, but they were considered 61 and so the Turkish cars had like the hydrate green interior pieces.

1:05:32 [SPEAKER_01]: in the ice blue and then you know all the cars had their own like color combos do you know about those remember those? [SPEAKER_00]: I know about them but it's not like anything I ever studied or anything like that. [SPEAKER_01]: That's that's kind of why as turkeys is my favorite you know so it's like that would be that would be it right there 61. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay 61 rockin 62 one of the small things I can say about that car is it's the first year of the gas gauge. [SPEAKER_00]: So kind of cool that when I get in and I sit behind it, I'm actually going to volk to rod that beetle. [SPEAKER_00]: So this year in 27, I've been working on my wife's gear for the last couple of years.

1:06:16 [SPEAKER_00]: I've had a few, I've had a thing, I've had a split bus, a 67, it was pretty far gone, had some frame rot, and some other stuff ended up selling it. [SPEAKER_00]: but talking back to what you were saying a minute ago, you know, I've had a lot of passions. [SPEAKER_00]: I've had a lot of cars that wish I didn't get rid of, but I don't beat myself up. [SPEAKER_00]: No one that they're gone because [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I've always made the decisions about the things that really matter in my life, right? [SPEAKER_00]: I've got five kids. [SPEAKER_00]: I've got, you know, a life I've been together with for 25 years. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, a lot of that stuff's going right in my life. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, the fact that I'm going to, you know, cry over a car that I shouldn't assault or whatever to me is, you know, it's just not my priorities are [SPEAKER_00]: where they're supposed to be.

1:07:03 [SPEAKER_00]: These cars always find us. [SPEAKER_00]: The ones that are supposed to. [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, man, I'm on a Volk's rod this 62 and I'm looking forward to it. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll show you a picture here in a few minutes of what my dream is with this car, eventually. [SPEAKER_00]: But [SPEAKER_00]: I got a 1776 and my garage right now that came off the back of a track. [SPEAKER_00]: So it's all chrome out with the side exhaust that just shoots straight back and basically off the back of a bike, right? [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I can't wait for the fender is in the back to come off and that motor to go in. [SPEAKER_00]: It's happened in here actually in the next few weeks. [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm excited about about that. [SPEAKER_00]: I've got the original motor that's in that car.

1:07:45 [SPEAKER_00]: It's 126 volt. [SPEAKER_00]: on Facebook Marketplace right now, trying to sell it. [SPEAKER_00]: So I can make, trying to make room. [SPEAKER_00]: All right, back to you, beetle, oval or split beetle, split, split. [SPEAKER_00]: All right, cow look or patina. [SPEAKER_01]: That's hard. [SPEAKER_01]: I'd have to say both, man. [SPEAKER_01]: And I like it when you mix both, too. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, heck yeah, heck yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Big motor or stock motor. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and reliability or max 1776 I think and you still got good reliability. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm I have to agree with you there.

1:08:26 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'll probably have to ask this next one because you just said it. [SPEAKER_00]: But favorite air cooled engine. [SPEAKER_01]: What my very favorite one because I've just always had great luck with them is a 1600 single port. [SPEAKER_01]: That's awesome. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_01]: I like them a lot. [SPEAKER_00]: favorite or best vw that you personally have ever driven. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so Chris is Dad Frank. [SPEAKER_01]: They were a big Volkswagen family huge and he had a 66 Bahama blue bug and it had the Amazon interior so it was that dark green and had a 2,750 and he let me drive that. [SPEAKER_01]: That's the biggest engine car I've ever actually got to drive as far as the Volkswagen goes.

1:09:07 [SPEAKER_01]: And it was beautiful. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it was perfectly sorted. [SPEAKER_01]: He's a perfectionist. [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: Wow, cool man. [SPEAKER_00]: Cool man. [SPEAKER_00]: Here's the go on. [SPEAKER_00]: Most overrated VW model. [SPEAKER_00]: Overrated. [SPEAKER_01]: Overrated. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, man. [SPEAKER_01]: All right. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, man, I wish I could speak from experience. [SPEAKER_01]: I actually took no interest in any other type of book swag and growing up, then a bug. [SPEAKER_01]: And then eventually, I was like, man, Carmen Ghee is a really cool. [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, looks like a Porsche, you know? [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, those things are sick. [SPEAKER_01]: And then it's funny. [SPEAKER_01]: One night, I had a dream that I was driving a 23 window bus for some reason. [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know why. [SPEAKER_01]: And I woke up and from that day on, I've been a bus guy, but I haven't driven one.

1:09:51 [SPEAKER_01]: So I guess, yep, I guess I'll bus. [SPEAKER_00]: All right, so I asked overrated, most overrated. [SPEAKER_00]: How about the most underrated VW model? [SPEAKER_00]: Underrated. [SPEAKER_01]: You know what, let's go for it and give the 411 some love. [SPEAKER_01]: That thing's too underrated. [UNKNOWN]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. [SPEAKER_00]: Appreciate that. [SPEAKER_00]: Here's one. [SPEAKER_00]: Could be weird. [SPEAKER_00]: Might not. [SPEAKER_00]: How about favorite VW accessory? [SPEAKER_01]: The most valuable thing I ever did that I really appreciated was the herst trigger shifter. [SPEAKER_01]: That really changed the drive and a roller gas pedal. [SPEAKER_01]: Those are like my two favorite things. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh cool man, interesting. [SPEAKER_00]: The gas pedal haven't haven't had that in any of my cars yet. [SPEAKER_00]: The shifter I have and I have to agree.

1:10:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Great, great, great ad, great mod. [SPEAKER_00]: The roller, I see them all the time, especially in these nice builds. [SPEAKER_00]: Probably something with here and you say that that I'm I'm going to fancy because it looks hot rock anyway, you know, it looks cool. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and it just [SPEAKER_01]: Cool rolling up and down your foot when I first got the car at had it and I was like what is that you know And I didn't even know that really early cars came that way And I was like this crazy and then I drove it and then yeah everybody who sees it who doesn't know They're like what is that dude? [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like that's the gas pedal and they try it and they're like that feels crazy But it's awesome. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm cool kind of cool. [SPEAKER_01]: All right about this one favorite wheel I've always said if I had to live the rest of my life with one wheel only it would just be [SPEAKER_01]: some smoothies.

1:11:19 [SPEAKER_01]: That's my favorite wheel ever. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. [SPEAKER_00]: I can take that. [SPEAKER_00]: I like them too. [SPEAKER_00]: A lot. [SPEAKER_00]: Especially when they tub them out and they make them a little wider at the back and yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_00]: And I like the early, you know, early stance, you know, a lot before independent. [SPEAKER_00]: But anyway, how about favorite color? [SPEAKER_00]: Favorite, read W color. [SPEAKER_01]: So that would be L380 turtis. [SPEAKER_00]: That's my favorite color. [SPEAKER_00]: Bam, even down with the code. [SPEAKER_00]: Let's go, buddy. [SPEAKER_00]: Yep. [SPEAKER_00]: Probably when I don't have to ask, but I'm going to ask in any way, favorite VW movie. [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm going to have to say the original herby. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, it's untouchable, man.

1:12:00 [SPEAKER_01]: It's untouchable. [SPEAKER_00]: Sure. [SPEAKER_00]: Sure. [SPEAKER_00]: How about favorite VW sound? [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I love it when a Volkswagen has their original P shooters because you can always, you know it before you see it every time like there's no way that's anything but a Volkswagen and I haven't had a stock exhaust in years but I do love the way they sound their hilarious. [SPEAKER_01]: They are. [SPEAKER_01]: They're, they're, they're, they're little horn sound is also. [SPEAKER_00]: If you can describe it, could you talk about this in, in, in, in the episode, favorite WWE smell?

1:12:41 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, yeah, I mean, I guess, I mean, it may be the smell you get when you first start that bad boy up after not running for a long time or just, yeah, the interior, you know, the way the, [SPEAKER_01]: The vinyl and the horse hair and the glues and all that stuff, the gas and exhaust, it all just mix together and marinates and it just makes that smell. [SPEAKER_00]: It really, it's an indescribable scent, you know, and that's it. [SPEAKER_00]: You hit it. [SPEAKER_00]: It's the gas. [SPEAKER_00]: It's the mixture of the gas burning and igniting. [SPEAKER_00]: It's the exhaust. [SPEAKER_00]: It's the seats. [SPEAKER_00]: It's the horse hair. [SPEAKER_00]: It's the vinyl. [SPEAKER_00]: It's the glue. [SPEAKER_00]: It's the carpet. [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's the carpet.

1:13:21 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the carpet that got wet. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, exactly. [SPEAKER_01]: If there's, you know, back there, see just who knows. [SPEAKER_00]: Um, worst Volkswagen you've ever owned. [SPEAKER_01]: The worst Volkswagen ever owned. [SPEAKER_01]: Let's see. [SPEAKER_01]: It was either I bought a 69 bug just for the engine back in the day and my buddy actually owns it still. [SPEAKER_01]: That one was pretty rough. [SPEAKER_01]: So I bought it for the engine or I. [SPEAKER_01]: It was a 71 super beetle once again. [SPEAKER_01]: I bought it just for the engine. [SPEAKER_01]: So it was probably one of those two. [SPEAKER_01]: They were just, you know, road hard. [SPEAKER_01]: There wasn't anything necessarily your redeemable doubt on or anything, but they were pretty rough.

1:14:03 [SPEAKER_00]: One Volkswagen, you regret selling. [SPEAKER_01]: Right now, I really regret selling the 74 super beetle that I owned. [SPEAKER_01]: When I moved into this neighborhood here, when I was five, there was a 74 super beetle, [SPEAKER_01]: up the street in the cold sack. [SPEAKER_01]: And over the years, I talked to them, kind of tried to buy it. [SPEAKER_01]: And they were never interested in selling. [SPEAKER_01]: And then in 2017, the day, I brought my daughter home. [SPEAKER_01]: I get a call from the lady. [SPEAKER_01]: And she's like, hey, you still want the bug. [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, ah, absolutely, how much do you want? [SPEAKER_01]: You know? [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, yeah, come get it. [SPEAKER_00]: Told you they find us. [SPEAKER_01]: still I went up there and I couldn't believe it.

1:14:44 [SPEAKER_01]: Man, I couldn't believe it. [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm actively looking for that car right now. [SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, I don't have the bin, so we'll see what happens. [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what here's a good one for you. [SPEAKER_00]: May require you to think for a second, but it's a great one. [SPEAKER_00]: And I ask every guest that comes on the show this question. [SPEAKER_00]: Describe the Volkswagen community for me and just one word. [SPEAKER_00]: God, I don't want to sound like [SPEAKER_00]: and if you get only keep one car for the rest of your life, which one's it going to be? [SPEAKER_00]: My 68-bug. [SPEAKER_00]: Why Volkswagen?

1:15:24 [SPEAKER_01]: Initially, it was the way they looked and stuff and just how abundant they were. [SPEAKER_01]: And then once I got older and realized prices and stuff, it became okay. [SPEAKER_01]: They're abundant and they're affordable. [SPEAKER_01]: So it was one of those deals that I did a project on it in school, where I was like, you know, Volkswagen Beetle, the most births of the whole car, what, you know, and pictures of drag racing off road, low riders, everything, a buck can do anything. [SPEAKER_01]: So you can fit in anywhere, you know, I would go to vintage car shows and nobody would look at me weird and I would fit in with these 60,000 dollar cars because everybody just likes a buck. [SPEAKER_01]: So I think it's just everything about it, man.

1:16:05 [SPEAKER_01]: It was affordable. [SPEAKER_01]: They're adorable. [SPEAKER_01]: You get to know that they feel like they have a personality and yeah they're just special. [SPEAKER_01]: They become a friend. [SPEAKER_01]: They're not just a tool. [SPEAKER_01]: They're not just an inanimate object. [SPEAKER_01]: They really do become a part of you. [SPEAKER_00]: And that's a wrap for this episode of Dub Life Diaries. [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for riding along with us and diving into these incredible stories of the people in the Dub that drive their dreams. [SPEAKER_00]: If you love today's episode, don't forget to subscribe or hit that follow button so you never miss an adventure. [SPEAKER_00]: Do you have a story to tell or know somebody else who's living the dove life? [SPEAKER_00]: Awesome. [SPEAKER_00]: Reach out to us. [SPEAKER_00]: You can find us on all socials and dove life diaries. [SPEAKER_00]: Or shoot me an email.

1:16:46 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not hard to find. [SPEAKER_00]: Double life diaries at gmail.com. [SPEAKER_00]: Until next time, keep the engine tummen and the wheels turn in and always follow the road that inspires you. [SPEAKER_00]: This is Joe Person. [SPEAKER_00]: I'm signing off. [SPEAKER_00]: I'll catch you on the next ride.