Reviving VW Trends Magazine : Dan Leadbetter’s Return to Passion Ep41

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To learn more about this class-leading VW magazine.

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Welcome back to Dub Life Diaries. Today's guest is a true legend in the VW world,

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a guy whose fingerprints are quite literally in the pages that shaped the culture that we love.

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He's the publisher and the editor of VW Trends magazine, a man who's been wrenching,

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writing, and resurrecting one of the most iconic publications in our scene.

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That man goes by Dan Ledbetter.

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From buying his first bug from a retired pastor in Orland, California,

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to type in his first feature on a clunky old typewriter that actually landed

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him his dream job at VW Trends.

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Dan's story is full of grit, full of humor, and it's full of pure Volkswagen soul.

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We're diving into magazine wars, burnt clutches, late night deadlines,

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and what it takes to bring a legend back from the dead.

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Dan Ledbetter, welcome to Dublite Diaries. I am so glad to be here.

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I am absolutely honored and humbled to be a part of this, so thank you.

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Absolutely, dude. You're the man. I'm excited for this one.

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You know, you might think to yourself, hey, he's wearing a Volksmania shirt.

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We got BW Trends in the background.

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This is what this community is all about.

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There's enough to go around, guys. We should all get along. I reached out to

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Dan and he was more than open to jump on this podcast with me.

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How awesome is it to have somebody that is this ingrained in the community and

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also this open to working with me, right?

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That's awesome, man. So thank you. Before we get going, I do want to give a

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couple of shout outs to a couple of my sponsors.

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Salty Dove, first one up from the beach to the bay.

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Salty Dove is tearing up the coastal VW scene with VW events and all types of swag.

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Check those guys out, SaltyDub.com. You can use the discount code DubLife10.

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That's D-U-B-L-I-F-E, the number one zero. Get you 10% off of merch.

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Second shout out to my buddy Chris White, Riverbank Customs.

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One hell of a VW nut. This guy is just all about the community.

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His videos are awesome. Check these guys out, Riverbank Customs on YouTube.

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He's out of Pell City, Alabama. You'll know you got the right guy.

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Southern Bell, he's got an awesome accent. Just a stand up, dude.

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Check those guys out. All right. Back to you, my friend. Back to you.

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All right. I'm ready. Let the questions fire at will.

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All right. So let's go back to the beginning for you, right?

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I know it all started with a 64 Beetle, right?

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It did. Yes. All right. So give me the story of the 64 beetle that you bought from a retired pastor.

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All right. Well, let's, let's go back a little. I feel like the Sherman and

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Mr. Peabody and the way back machine.

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Let's, let's go back a little bit. I was born in Southern California, Harbor city.

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My father worked Northrop air core.

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When he retired, he bought a hobby farm in Northern California.

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It's a little town called Orland, which is about, about a hundred miles North of Sacramento.

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Right off the five freeway. In fact, funny story, if you are on the five freeway

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going towards Sacramento, you go past and you go through Orland.

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When you see the road seven sign, if you look off to your left,

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you'll see the barn that I used to climb up and play on when I was a kid.

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So all that to say, tiny little place, 4,000 people, one stoplight,

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not what I would consider the mecca of VW activity, but I was into all kinds of like custom cars.

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Like I love choppers, like the old school choppers with the big front ends that

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went out there and the big ape hangers.

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And I loved, I loved the custom scene.

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Well, I had gotten into a automotive mishap with a couple of my best friends

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and the insurance company gave me 400 bucks for my troubles, I guess.

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And so I was going, well, you know, I'm coming up on driving age I'm going to

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need something to drive So I started looking for a car Well,

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the church that I went to Reverend Sam Smith.

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Which sounds like a made-up name if ever I heard one. I was going to say,

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I think that's in a Snoop Dogg song. I think it is. It is.

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So he had this beat-up 64 bug that he had pulled the back seat out of and put

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down a board so he could carry his golf clubs.

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And he was looking to sell it. And I said, look, I got 400 bucks. He says, I'll take it.

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So that's how I got the car. And that was my first experience of actually,

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well, number one, owning, and two, actually riding in a VW. Okay.

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And I was just so blown away by the simplicity of the car,

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but yet how complex it was from a standpoint of all of this stuff working together,

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you know, in the air-cooled motor, which was, you know, something that I just could not comprehend.

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So that was my first introduction to it. And while living in a small town,

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the biggest, nearest town to us was called Chico, California.

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And they had one of the last auto house stores there.

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So I would go over to Chico and stop there and I would pick up a copy of Hobby

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W's magazine because they sold those at the counter.

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And I'd look, you know, almost like the Sears Christmas wish book.

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I'm looking around the store going, oh my gosh, I want to do this. I want to do that.

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I want to do this. And I think the first modification I did on my car was I

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bought a pair of fiberglass bucket seats and pulled the stock seats out and had my friend help me.

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We drilled into the, you know, the seat frame and we put these things on,

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but they never really quite, no pun intended, they never really quite seated.

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So my best friend would be, my best friend Don would be on the passenger side.

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Every time I'd take off the seat would come out of the hinges and throw him

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into the back. It was great.

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It's like weebles wobble, but they don't fall down kind of thing. That's right.

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But that's, that's where I got it. And I love that car.

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I could go to the gal. Now I'm really going to show my age. I could fill up

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my tank for five bucks, 50 cents a gallon back in the day.

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Wow. But I loved that car. And it was quirky, and it was fun, and it was reliable.

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And I just immediately fell in love with it. And of course, reading Hot VWs,

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I'm like, people do this to their car?

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People do that to their car? Oh my gosh, it opened up a whole new world of what Volkswagens could be.

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So that was my first experience of actually owning and starting to catch the

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bug, so to speak. Yeah, what year was this?

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Oh, gosh, this would have been 1977.

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I think it was 77 or possibly late 76, I think.

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Oh, yeah, because I got my driver's permit when I was 16. So,

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yeah, 76. 76, okay. I was born in 77.

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Oh, good. Yeah, don't make me feel old. showing you my age.

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Okay. So I think we're right here in the, in the, in the timeframe though,

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for your first letter that got published, right? Was that 75? I think.

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I believe that was, well, yeah, I guess it would have been 75.

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I was looking at stuff to do to my car. And one of the things that I absolutely

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was so hooked on, God knows for what reason now I I look back and go,

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what the hell was I thinking?

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I wanted those plexiglass.

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Quarter window scoops that used to go in the

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back window so it'd be like a scoop bringing the air yeah you

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know what i'm talking about yeah yeah and and i'm like oh i

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want that but i don't know where to find them and so i wrote a letter to hobby

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w saying hey i'm looking for this i'm looking for that looking for this and

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they actually published it i was i was so surprised i was like that my first

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taste of of a vw stardom is what i call it so yeah yeah yeah awesome and then i know So after that,

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timeline wise, you eventually ended up moving to Southern California.

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I did. I actually prompted the move.

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You know, it's kind of funny. I had, I had gone on a tour.

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I was in a band actually. And I'd gone over to England for a,

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for a few weeks touring up and down England and Scotland in a band.

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I'm a drummer by, well, not by trade, but just by happenstance.

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And so, and so I got back and, and some friends that I had met while I was over

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there said, dude, you got to come to LA, man. This is where we're at.

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This is where it, it is. And I said, you know what?

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I got nothing going on in this little tiny town. I was working as a short order

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cook at the, and I think it was Skip's place out on in Orland,

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like by the freeway. I was slinging burgers doing that.

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And I thought, you know what? I'm ready for a change. I'm, you know, here I am. I'm.

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23, 22, whatever, and.

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You know, I need a change. So I went and stayed with my friend,

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stayed with him and his parents, eventually got an apartment and just moved forward from there.

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So epicenter of the VW scene now, are you, are you still in the Beetle?

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Yes. Yep. Still driving around the 64.

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So this is like, you know, early eighties to even mid eighties,

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you know, Southern California, man, this is, this is the height of the scene,

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right? For back then for, yeah.

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What was that vibe like down there? Do you recognize obviously it must have

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been like a kid in a candy store? You know what's funny? I...

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I didn't see as many VWs as I thought I was going to see.

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Okay. So I was like, I'd be driving around and mine was the only bug on the road.

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And I'm going, well, how is this even possible from what I've read in the magazines, right?

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That there were bugs every 10 feet like Starbucks.

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And it turned out I just didn't see them. So I thought, you know what?

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On the weekends, I would go and I would go out to like car custom out there,

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small car specialties before I started working for them.

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Johnny speed and chrome all of the the

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socal parts places just just to drool you

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know look at the parts and go i wish i had those so yeah it was it was interesting

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because when i went to those places it was almost like a mini show in the parking

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lot there were just cool bugs parked out there and type threes and all this

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stuff and i'm going man this is where it's happening you I was in Costa Mesa,

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so I thought I must be where it wasn't happening.

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But yeah, it's just started going from there.

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And of course, you know, when you're into something, how your mind becomes more

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sensitive to seeing stuff.

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So you point it out and you go, yep, there's one, there's one,

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there's one, that type of thing. Yeah.

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So small car specialties back in that time was a big name, right?

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Huge name. Huge name. Especially they had their small car showdown every year,

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which was their big show, which was.

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Huge, just a huge show. Aside from the regular shows they would have at the

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fairgrounds, this took up their entire parking lot and their neighbor's parking lot.

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It was just this monster of a, of a show.

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And what you worked there, what, what, what exactly did you do there?

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Well, how I got to small car, I was the manager of a Vans tennis shoes in Westminster,

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California, right? Okay.

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Ask me later about my job interview. It's pretty awesome. But I was working

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there and I worked there for over a year and a half, I believe.

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And they said that they were, got a phone call from the district manager who

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said, Hey, we're firing all the assistant managers and you're going to have to let your guy go.

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And I'm going, no, I don't want to let this guy go. Cause he's good. He's solid.

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I said, I poured a lot of time into him. I mean, he, he's going to be a great

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manager. Just keep him on. No, we can't do it. It's corporate.

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And, and I go, Well, I go, one, not fair.

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And I said, two, I'm not going to do it. And they said, well,

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then you have the choice to step down. And I said, you know what? Yeah.

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I got to stand on principle on this one. I said, I'm out.

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I can't work here anymore. So here I am, you know, thinking I'm making a right

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move and I'm going, how the hell am I going to eat now?

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I got plenty of shoes to wear, so I'm not worried about that.

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I think that's, you know, us as men, early 20s, I think we're still not really

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there at the decision aspects yet. You know, we're just ready to just do whatever.

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The brain has not fully developed yet.

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I am pure testimony to that. So I'm going, well, now I got to get a job.

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Holy crap. What am I going to do?

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So I start looking through the penny saver, which is no longer around,

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but I was going through and it said, Hey, there, you know, warehouse person needed pays.

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I probably, I don't even know what it was, probably three 50 an hour,

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whatever the minimum wage was back then.

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And so I call up and it's small car specialties. And I go, Oh,

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okay. I have a Volkswagen.

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They said, Oh, that's great. So, you know, a little bit about veals that helps.

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And they threw me out of, you know, a number to, to go to work there.

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And I, in my, again, in my early twenties brain, not fully developed,

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I go, you know what, that's not a lot of money.

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And I don't think I'm going to be able to accept your kind and courteous offer,

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but thank you anyway. And good luck to you and your search.

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And you know, you, there, there are moments in life where I always call them

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a divine intersection, right? It's like I hung up that phone and everything

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screamed inside me, call them up and say you're sorry and take the job.

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So I call it back. I go, I'm sure I didn't use the word dude,

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but something is similar to that.

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I said, you know what? I may have been a bit hasty.

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I said, if the job is still available, I would like to work there.

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And they said, come on down. Come on down. So I got the job in the warehouse.

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Like I would drive the forklift,

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over to the racks of stuff is sort of the high-tech mechanical version of go

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to the freezer and get the box.

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It's like, I would drive up, pull the thing up, drop it to the ground.

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They'd grab it like, you know, a hungry beavers, pull the parts off and then go ship them.

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I would pick the thing back up, put it up there. And then I would go,

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I graduated up when they felt they could trust me enough to drive the truck

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and go around and deliver parts to some like to car custom to all these other places.

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The first I only did that once, by the way, because I got in the truck and I'm

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driving around Southern California. We didn't have GPS.

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So I'm using I'm using a Thomas guide. I'm like trying to figure this thing out.

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I left at 930 in the morning and I didn't get back until 730 that night. I was so lost.

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And the three, the three, uh, big guys were out in the parking lot.

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When I get back, they said, oh yeah, we had bets that you wouldn't come home tonight.

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So yeah, it's nice to, you know, go through those types of character building exercises.

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Oh yeah. Probably went very well said. Let's fast forward a little bit to the

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Sam Shackelford connection.

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Yes. Yes. So Sam Shackelford was my boss at small car specialties.

00:16:11.841 --> 00:16:18.861
Okay. And he was friends with Bob Clark, who was the editorial director over

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at McMullen and Yee Publishing.

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Now, McMullen and Yee had about 25 titles at this point, most notably for this

00:16:27.381 --> 00:16:32.301
purpose, VW Trends, Truckin', Mini Truckin'. Oh, yeah, I remember.

00:16:33.201 --> 00:16:36.821
Yeah, those were huge. What about Lowrider? Oh, yeah.

00:16:37.041 --> 00:16:42.681
Lowrider was not there yet. Okay. That came, that came later when the company

00:16:42.681 --> 00:16:45.701
got bought out by a New York firm, but.

00:16:45.901 --> 00:16:50.521
Massive. Uh, those were all the biggest company, uh, biggest magazines of my

00:16:50.521 --> 00:16:52.141
childhood. Oh, absolutely.

00:16:52.461 --> 00:16:56.921
Street chopper, hot bike. I mean, they had literally just, they had,

00:16:57.021 --> 00:17:01.221
I think 35 different titles, like so very like American survival guide.

00:17:01.301 --> 00:17:05.541
We had everything from like, you know, our version of soldier of fortune, uh.

00:17:07.037 --> 00:17:09.537
One of the more infamous, and we could talk about this later,

00:17:09.697 --> 00:17:13.777
but Tom McMullen, the owner, quite the eclectic person in his own right,

00:17:13.997 --> 00:17:17.157
did a one-off magazine called Croquet Today.

00:17:18.306 --> 00:17:21.746
A croquet publication. Yeah. Wow.

00:17:22.186 --> 00:17:26.126
Yeah. If you can find a copy of that, it's, it's, it's, yeah,

00:17:26.166 --> 00:17:28.806
it's something. I don't know what to call it, but it's something.

00:17:29.146 --> 00:17:34.066
That'd be like, that'd be like making a magazine that says we watch paint dry.

00:17:34.526 --> 00:17:39.666
A hundred percent. And that's what it was. It was the most painful magazine to look through.

00:17:40.326 --> 00:17:45.006
I'm going, you know, it was all about croquet fashion, which in the,

00:17:45.046 --> 00:17:49.726
in the 90s and 80s, It's like, oh, it was horrible.

00:17:49.986 --> 00:17:53.306
It was literally one of the most horrible things I'd ever seen.

00:17:53.446 --> 00:17:54.986
But it makes for a great story.

00:17:55.506 --> 00:17:59.786
Sure, sure. So back to the Sam Shackelford. Back to Sam Shackelford. Sorry.

00:18:00.386 --> 00:18:04.366
That's okay. I know there was a phone call that changed everything.

00:18:04.746 --> 00:18:09.266
Yes. So I told Sam, because I knew he knew Bob, I said, you know what?

00:18:09.286 --> 00:18:12.826
You should have Bob Clark come down and do a piece on my car.

00:18:12.826 --> 00:18:18.426
Now, mind you, car, 64, hood held down with bungee cords.

00:18:19.186 --> 00:18:23.266
Just, it was just, I was patina before patina was cool. Yeah.

00:18:23.466 --> 00:18:27.666
And it had van stickers all over the rear engine deck lid and it was just horrible.

00:18:27.786 --> 00:18:32.526
And he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll, I'll call him, but we're going to call it the pile of the month.

00:18:32.886 --> 00:18:38.866
And I go, I go, I think that's the funniest thing ever. Let's do it. So Sam calls Bob.

00:18:39.666 --> 00:18:42.866
Bob in turn says, yeah, have the kid write some up. I'll take a look.

00:18:43.106 --> 00:18:48.066
So Sam tells me and instantly freak out in anxiety mode.

00:18:48.186 --> 00:18:52.066
Cause now I've said something and now I got to do it. And I'm like, Oh crap.

00:18:52.626 --> 00:18:56.526
I don't, I don't, I don't, I've never touched a typewriter in my life.

00:18:56.626 --> 00:18:57.606
It's like, I don't know what to do.

00:18:57.766 --> 00:19:03.466
So luckily my best friend, Kenny, his parents had an old IBM Selectric that

00:19:03.466 --> 00:19:06.306
they pulled out of the mothballs and brought it down for me. And I'm like.

00:19:07.224 --> 00:19:12.304
I don't even know what I'm supposed to do. And I remember his mom was so great.

00:19:12.464 --> 00:19:16.984
She said, well, pretend you're Columbus, find key and land. And I'm like,

00:19:17.104 --> 00:19:19.264
oh my God, are you kidding me? That's what you're giving me?

00:19:19.504 --> 00:19:23.724
So I sit down and I start, I was always good at creative writing,

00:19:23.724 --> 00:19:30.304
but I was terrible at grammar, punctuation, and spelling, like D's and F's, like in high school.

00:19:30.504 --> 00:19:34.464
But I had great creative thought, even though I couldn't spell it right.

00:19:34.624 --> 00:19:38.064
So I sat down and I just started hunting and pecking and

00:19:38.064 --> 00:19:41.124
writing the story and then i'd really go tear it

00:19:41.124 --> 00:19:44.304
up you know like people like you see in those fictitious writers programs

00:19:44.304 --> 00:19:50.424
where they do do two pages tear it up finally got it done three weeks three

00:19:50.424 --> 00:19:57.624
weeks it took me to write four paragraphs i know right so i give it to sam sam

00:19:57.624 --> 00:20:01.984
in turn sends it to bob and that was early morning on a Wednesday,

00:20:02.204 --> 00:20:03.684
I think, if memory serves.

00:20:04.124 --> 00:20:07.084
So that afternoon, we get a call at the shop. And of course,

00:20:07.204 --> 00:20:09.484
it's on a landline because none of us had cell phones back then.

00:20:10.224 --> 00:20:14.924
And I pick up and he said, yeah, this is Bob Clark from BW Trends Magazine.

00:20:14.984 --> 00:20:16.864
Are you the guy that wrote this piece of shit?

00:20:17.364 --> 00:20:20.904
And I was like, oh, no. Oh, no. He hates it. Oh, I'm so embarrassed.

00:20:21.024 --> 00:20:24.764
I don't know. And I go, uh, yeah. He goes, I'm just messing with you.

00:20:25.264 --> 00:20:27.804
No, I'm just kidding. This is the funniest thing i've ever read do you

00:20:27.804 --> 00:20:34.064
want a job and i'm like yes and

00:20:34.064 --> 00:20:37.044
that's that's it that's it

00:20:37.044 --> 00:20:42.004
and it started there and then i i remember going into the office and having

00:20:42.004 --> 00:20:47.464
to write my stuff on the on a typewriter hand it to uh robin hartfield who was

00:20:47.464 --> 00:20:52.184
the managing editor at the time he'd get out a red pen mark through all the

00:20:52.184 --> 00:20:55.704
mistakes send it back to me i'd have to retype it send it back to him he'd mark

00:20:55.704 --> 00:20:56.984
Get out there with that. Dang, man.

00:20:57.584 --> 00:21:02.184
Oh, it was brutal. It was brutal. The technology of today, I'll tell you,

00:21:02.264 --> 00:21:03.644
I'm not too far behind you.

00:21:03.804 --> 00:21:08.124
You know, born in 77, what, 10 years or so? Yeah, about 10. Yeah.

00:21:08.872 --> 00:21:13.072
When I was in high school, middle school, you know, computers were just really

00:21:13.072 --> 00:21:16.012
kind of starting to kind of take over and kind of be a thing.

00:21:16.572 --> 00:21:21.512
So as you're describing this, I'm thinking about, I swear to you, this is true.

00:21:21.712 --> 00:21:26.272
I learned punctuation and grammar from Microsoft Office.

00:21:27.032 --> 00:21:31.192
Absolutely. And spell check, you know, it goes through and I'm like,

00:21:31.312 --> 00:21:33.652
what is, why is it underlining this in red?

00:21:33.772 --> 00:21:37.872
I'm like, oh, because I misspelled it, right? So over time, you just kind of

00:21:37.872 --> 00:21:39.592
start getting better at it.

00:21:39.632 --> 00:21:42.792
And I know, obviously, now, I'm almost 50.

00:21:43.232 --> 00:21:50.032
I don't suck anymore, as bad as I did in my pre-days. But this isn't about me. This isn't about me.

00:21:51.003 --> 00:21:58.423
I want to kind of touch on the feeling of working at a magazine like that,

00:21:58.683 --> 00:22:04.263
a company like that, that to me, it's in its heyday and the energy must have been crazy.

00:22:04.483 --> 00:22:09.903
But then even better is kind of this before the pre-digital era.

00:22:10.203 --> 00:22:13.203
You know, like you're saying, you're typing stuff out, handing it in,

00:22:13.323 --> 00:22:15.123
they're scoring through it, handing it back.

00:22:15.283 --> 00:22:18.923
Like, I don't know, man. Like, I don't know. What was it like working there

00:22:18.923 --> 00:22:20.843
back then? and that like describe.

00:22:21.303 --> 00:22:28.523
Yeah. Yeah. It was, well, to be honest, it was my first real job that I had.

00:22:28.623 --> 00:22:31.903
I mean, I'd always done, you know, like flipping burgers or doing this,

00:22:32.043 --> 00:22:36.703
doing that, but nothing where it was like, okay, you're, you're eight to five.

00:22:36.943 --> 00:22:40.223
You're, this is where you go. And you know, there's a lot expected of you.

00:22:40.383 --> 00:22:42.023
Uh, it was nerve wracking to

00:22:42.023 --> 00:22:45.583
be honest with you. It's like, I felt like I was totally in over my head.

00:22:45.783 --> 00:22:51.183
I felt that I can only get by with so much on my charm and wit and handsome looks.

00:22:51.563 --> 00:22:56.043
So I figure, I figure I'm just, I got to just go and I got to do this and make it work.

00:22:56.663 --> 00:23:02.803
And it was, it was exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time because

00:23:02.803 --> 00:23:05.183
doing why you should have done it.

00:23:05.723 --> 00:23:08.923
Exactly. Again, much like, you know, if you're terrified of it,

00:23:08.923 --> 00:23:10.423
you should probably at least try it.

00:23:10.703 --> 00:23:19.963
Yeah. And it was, it was amazing to be a part of that culture and that scene

00:23:19.963 --> 00:23:22.543
back in the day when it was just huge.

00:23:22.683 --> 00:23:26.723
Like it was, you know, I don't, I don't know if we'll ever see a time where,

00:23:27.057 --> 00:23:32.417
Like we, we saw in the eighties and nineties where it was, the VWs were just

00:23:32.417 --> 00:23:34.357
so prolific everywhere.

00:23:34.437 --> 00:23:36.997
It's like you, you turn a corner and there's 15 of them.

00:23:37.337 --> 00:23:41.597
I don't know if we'll see that, but I can tell you in my travels and we'll get,

00:23:41.797 --> 00:23:46.397
we'll get to that a little bit later, but there is a huge contingency outside

00:23:46.397 --> 00:23:48.677
of the U S that I was not prepared for.

00:23:49.057 --> 00:23:53.977
We'll, we'll talk about that. I've, I've learned that only because of this, this podcast.

00:23:53.977 --> 00:23:59.377
I don't have a magazine to stand on or anything prior to the podcast,

00:23:59.377 --> 00:24:05.137
so I didn't realize the worldwide presence, but I know I shared this earlier. I'll share it again.

00:24:05.557 --> 00:24:09.817
This podcast is downloaded in 41 countries, and some of the countries you would

00:24:09.817 --> 00:24:13.037
be like, no, they don't got VWs there. There's no way. Right.

00:24:13.477 --> 00:24:17.937
Like Bangladesh. So you, you, you log onto Google and you go type in,

00:24:18.037 --> 00:24:21.317
you know, a couple of things related to air-cooled Volkswagens in Bangladesh

00:24:21.317 --> 00:24:27.197
and brother, you pull up a full scene and they're doing all the same stuff we are to our cars.

00:24:27.677 --> 00:24:32.457
It is just banging. And I'm like, wow, this, so I, I resonate with that.

00:24:32.597 --> 00:24:34.837
I feel that presence all over the world too.

00:24:34.997 --> 00:24:38.497
And I wouldn't know if I hadn't have done this. yeah exactly

00:24:38.497 --> 00:24:41.637
and i think that's that's the thing i at least

00:24:41.637 --> 00:24:44.877
i know for myself sometimes i can get my blinders can

00:24:44.877 --> 00:24:48.777
be on so tight that i can't really see what

00:24:48.777 --> 00:24:53.897
else is going on like this last year i do an annual road trip every year i'm

00:24:53.897 --> 00:24:58.117
on the road for about three months this time i made it oh did you what i saw

00:24:58.117 --> 00:25:01.597
you i was on your facebook you were all over oh you're on the facebook oh i'm

00:25:01.597 --> 00:25:05.297
sorry i thought you said you ran into me i'm like no i was following i was watching

00:25:05.297 --> 00:25:07.897
you go all over the damn place. I thought it was... Oh my gosh.

00:25:08.077 --> 00:25:11.757
It was amazing. And I gotta tell you this. Canada, who would have thought?

00:25:12.438 --> 00:25:15.858
Who would have thought Canada was a hotspot? Another banging scene.

00:25:15.998 --> 00:25:20.258
I've had a few guys, mainly one that really stood out, Jaga, with the outlaw.

00:25:20.598 --> 00:25:22.418
That scene there is massive.

00:25:23.378 --> 00:25:28.858
Yeah, yeah. What a refreshing take. But yeah, man, they got it going on there.

00:25:28.998 --> 00:25:33.698
Canada, really, a lot of places outside the U.S. are just on fire for the scene.

00:25:33.958 --> 00:25:36.898
South America is huge. The U.K. is huge.

00:25:37.578 --> 00:25:46.018
I think everybody gets so microscopic on the 70s, 80s, and 90s SoCal scene.

00:25:46.978 --> 00:25:51.018
I'm not saying this to cast shade on anybody, but in my travels,

00:25:51.098 --> 00:25:56.198
the East Coast is where the SoCal scene was in the 80s and 90s.

00:25:56.358 --> 00:26:00.018
The level of shows, the level of builds, the level of stuff that I'm seeing,

00:26:00.138 --> 00:26:04.658
the quality of shows. It's not just a glorified cars and coffee where you pay

00:26:04.658 --> 00:26:06.698
20 bucks to get in and 45 minutes, you're done.

00:26:06.898 --> 00:26:10.458
They actually have stuff going on, like areas for the kids to play,

00:26:10.898 --> 00:26:14.378
you know, live music, stuff that makes you want to stay all day instead of,

00:26:14.518 --> 00:26:15.998
I get there at nine, I leave at two.

00:26:16.398 --> 00:26:20.178
Right. So, like, that's grocery shopping for most people.

00:26:20.658 --> 00:26:27.838
But anyway, back to the VW Trends story. I think I noticed the most when...

00:26:28.660 --> 00:26:33.040
I started being sent to other places when they'd say, you got a ticket,

00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:36.240
you're going to Florida, you know, you're going to the bug out or,

00:26:36.460 --> 00:26:38.140
you know, that was West Virginia, I think.

00:26:38.260 --> 00:26:42.260
But there was just so many places that I, I'd never been out of the country, number one.

00:26:42.500 --> 00:26:46.760
And here I am, I'm going to Hawaii, I'm going all over the U S and it's,

00:26:46.860 --> 00:26:52.880
it was just, it opened, it opened my eyes to a much bigger VW world than I had

00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:55.020
originally imagined. Yeah.

00:26:55.260 --> 00:27:01.320
Yeah. So any favorite stories, any, any favorite builds come back in that time?

00:27:01.880 --> 00:27:07.040
I'm thinking, you know, I'm, I'm thinking hot pink cars and. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

00:27:07.260 --> 00:27:13.280
Well, I mean, I always loved the cars that Chris Addington built,

00:27:13.560 --> 00:27:16.420
like Rod Buster and I can't remember the name.

00:27:16.500 --> 00:27:20.120
What was the one where he had a, it was on the cover of Hot VWs where they had

00:27:20.120 --> 00:27:23.940
somebody in a space suit next to it and they were on this big flat plate.

00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:25.200
I can't remember the name of it.

00:27:25.320 --> 00:27:29.280
But anyway, I always appreciated his cars because they were so over the top.

00:27:29.380 --> 00:27:33.260
I mean, a $250,000 VW build.

00:27:34.120 --> 00:27:38.420
Right. I mean, exactly. And it's kind of like, you know, one, why?

00:27:38.600 --> 00:27:41.320
And two, if you've got the money to do that, God bless you.

00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:46.380
Good on you to build a show worthy car that will kick the ass of many street

00:27:46.380 --> 00:27:48.360
rods out there. All right, right, right.

00:27:48.840 --> 00:27:53.320
Good on you. That's, uh, yeah. Yeah. But it's, it's one of those things where,

00:27:53.380 --> 00:27:58.480
uh, but then again, I mean, conversely, I have seen guys who.

00:27:59.411 --> 00:28:03.691
Don't have that kind of money, who still do a respectable build.

00:28:03.851 --> 00:28:07.651
Like you look and you go, that's a lot of time and that's a lot of hard work.

00:28:07.891 --> 00:28:12.071
And, and as we were talking earlier, you were talking about,

00:28:12.191 --> 00:28:16.451
about the real star of the VW community are the stories, right?

00:28:16.651 --> 00:28:22.071
And we talked, we talked about how, even if you've never had a VW, you have a VW story.

00:28:22.251 --> 00:28:25.911
That's right. That's, that's what I was telling you was my motivation to first

00:28:25.911 --> 00:28:31.031
start this, the thought of a podcast celebrating Volkswagen people.

00:28:31.271 --> 00:28:36.711
Well, that turned into celebrating the community, which turned into mainly us,

00:28:36.891 --> 00:28:40.771
like the people of the scene and the guys creating the shows and the builders.

00:28:41.131 --> 00:28:43.071
And that's really kind of where it caught.

00:28:43.611 --> 00:28:47.411
Yeah. And I agree with that. And we can get into this a little bit later,

00:28:47.491 --> 00:28:54.751
but that was the founding core principle that we put down in our mission statement

00:28:54.751 --> 00:28:56.251
when we brought the magazine back.

00:28:56.431 --> 00:29:03.851
Something I wanted to touch on was the rivalry between VW trends and hot VWs,

00:29:03.931 --> 00:29:05.691
because we can all picture it, right?

00:29:05.891 --> 00:29:12.131
Like you said, maybe even back then at the cliquish nature, before technology

00:29:12.131 --> 00:29:18.211
and guys like us that are like, hey, we can all just get along and there's enough space for all of us.

00:29:18.211 --> 00:29:23.791
Was there a rivalry or was this really like an overblown thought by general population?

00:29:24.131 --> 00:29:29.971
You know, here's the thing. If, if, I mean, it's a two part answer. Was there a rivalry?

00:29:30.671 --> 00:29:36.291
Yes, absolutely. But the rivalry was about being the first magazine to beat

00:29:36.291 --> 00:29:38.031
the other magazine to the punch.

00:29:38.411 --> 00:29:43.731
That was, that was one thing that, you know, we'd always strive to do because let's face it.

00:29:44.630 --> 00:29:49.850
Hot VWs has always been the elder statesman of the VW magazine world.

00:29:50.170 --> 00:29:52.130
VW Trends has always been the

00:29:52.130 --> 00:29:55.570
out-of-control younger brother who you don't know what's going to do next.

00:29:55.690 --> 00:30:00.290
And I love that. I love that about the magazine. And that's why when we brought

00:30:00.290 --> 00:30:01.370
it back, I wanted to keep that.

00:30:01.630 --> 00:30:06.750
But getting back to the rivalry part, R.K. Smith lived about four blocks from

00:30:06.750 --> 00:30:10.730
the McMullen office, and VW Trends was at the back building.

00:30:10.730 --> 00:30:14.710
Now, I don't know who came up with this brilliant idea, but back in the day,

00:30:14.870 --> 00:30:19.610
we would have these glass magazine boards that we'd have on the wall and you'd

00:30:19.610 --> 00:30:23.410
have a grease pencil and you would lay out the whole magazine on the, on the wall.

00:30:23.610 --> 00:30:26.190
So the owner of the company can eat.

00:30:26.833 --> 00:30:31.533
He knew RK lived a few miles away and he went and bought blinds and we,

00:30:31.533 --> 00:30:35.753
we called those the RK blinds so that he would not drive up here in the middle

00:30:35.753 --> 00:30:39.193
of the night with a flashlight and see what we were doing in the current issue.

00:30:39.513 --> 00:30:43.273
Wow, man. I know it's a, it cracks me up to this day. And I always,

00:30:43.273 --> 00:30:45.733
I've always told him about that. And he goes, what?

00:30:46.833 --> 00:30:50.313
I've never driven past your guys' office like that. That's crazy.

00:30:50.933 --> 00:30:54.173
But you know, it's funny. The stories you make up in your head, right? Exactly.

00:30:54.473 --> 00:31:00.373
Dude. Oh man. That's like story of my life right there. Oh, you make up in our head for sure.

00:31:00.673 --> 00:31:03.393
If you're going to make up a story, at least make it valuable to you,

00:31:03.493 --> 00:31:06.413
you know, make it, make it be something that's useful. Yeah.

00:31:07.153 --> 00:31:11.313
That's good advice. I think I had to learn that probably in my thirties.

00:31:12.113 --> 00:31:16.633
Yeah. Well, you beat me. I've learned it in my forties and I wish I would have learned it in my teens.

00:31:17.093 --> 00:31:22.833
Right. But so, yeah. So was there a rivalry? Yeah, I guess so in the sense of

00:31:22.833 --> 00:31:27.313
wanting to beat the other to the punch in that sense.

00:31:27.473 --> 00:31:31.433
But from a personal standpoint, we actually all got along.

00:31:31.693 --> 00:31:35.813
We would go to shows like if we were at Sacramento Bug-O-Rama,

00:31:36.153 --> 00:31:41.293
those were the best times because I'd get to hang out with Bruce Simurta, R.K.

00:31:41.453 --> 00:31:45.953
Smith, Dean Kirsten, all the guys from Hot VWs. We'd sit around and we'd have

00:31:45.953 --> 00:31:47.293
lunch together during the shows.

00:31:47.453 --> 00:31:51.493
We'd laugh. We'd poke fun, try to find their cars, put VW trend stickers on

00:31:51.493 --> 00:31:52.533
the back of their rental cars.

00:31:52.673 --> 00:31:56.233
They'd find our hotel room, put hot VW stickers all over the door.

00:31:56.333 --> 00:31:58.313
It was great. And I loved that.

00:31:58.933 --> 00:32:05.053
It was, it was, it was more of a good natured, you know, friendly fire kind

00:32:05.053 --> 00:32:07.633
of thing. It's like we had a job to do.

00:32:07.853 --> 00:32:10.913
They had a job to do. Their job was to beat us at what we're doing.

00:32:11.113 --> 00:32:12.453
And ours was the same way.

00:32:13.113 --> 00:32:15.553
Perfect example of that, back in...

00:32:16.714 --> 00:32:19.914
I don't remember the year and I should have done my research a little bit better,

00:32:19.934 --> 00:32:23.954
but back in the day, there was, Hey man, we're, we're getting older, dude. We forget.

00:32:24.234 --> 00:32:26.234
It's okay. It's okay. Let me

00:32:26.234 --> 00:32:30.034
tell you, I got grace, man. You seem like a nice boy. Are you my nephew?

00:32:30.314 --> 00:32:37.354
I don't know, but there was a car that we got all, both of us got snookered on.

00:32:37.534 --> 00:32:42.654
It was a pink convertible with a Brown Carson top ended up on the cover of both

00:32:42.654 --> 00:32:44.254
magazines in the same month.

00:32:44.254 --> 00:32:47.814
So that was a big no-no

00:32:47.814 --> 00:32:54.254
that is oh you have no idea how many meetings we had when that went down we

00:32:54.254 --> 00:32:57.994
even sat down with the guys from poppy w's and we go yeah we got we got screwed

00:32:57.994 --> 00:33:03.094
by the owner of the car he told us that you know oh no no one shot it yet blah

00:33:03.094 --> 00:33:06.594
blah blah and and we had meetings that said look.

00:33:07.667 --> 00:33:12.187
We'll make a gentleman's agreement. If they say that it's already been shot

00:33:12.187 --> 00:33:13.947
by Hot VWs, we won't touch it.

00:33:14.067 --> 00:33:17.227
And conversely, if it's been shot by VW Trends, Hot VWs won't touch it.

00:33:17.367 --> 00:33:23.727
So we had a camaraderie in that sense because we wanted what was best for the magazine.

00:33:23.927 --> 00:33:28.867
Having the same car on both covers in the same month with a feature inside doesn't do anyone any good.

00:33:29.167 --> 00:33:33.087
So that's been sort of a, well, I was going to say unspoken,

00:33:33.187 --> 00:33:35.887
but it was actually a spoken rule that we had during those days.

00:33:35.887 --> 00:33:40.347
So through the 80s and 90s, these magazines were everything.

00:33:40.787 --> 00:33:45.847
A lot of guests I have on, they talk about their childhood memories of thumbing

00:33:45.847 --> 00:33:49.527
through, just like you were saying, and kind of making their wish list mentally.

00:33:49.807 --> 00:33:56.367
From your perspective and your opinion, how did the magazine shape or help shape

00:33:56.367 --> 00:33:59.087
what we know of as the VW community?

00:33:59.567 --> 00:34:04.267
I think, in all honesty, I believe all the magazines meant everything,

00:34:04.267 --> 00:34:06.387
because that was your lifeline.

00:34:06.507 --> 00:34:10.267
We didn't have the internet back then to where, oh, I'll just go on the Samba

00:34:10.267 --> 00:34:11.707
and look for whatever, you know.

00:34:11.987 --> 00:34:18.427
Right, true. And all we had was the VW magazines and maybe a club newsletter

00:34:18.427 --> 00:34:20.427
from another state that they would send out.

00:34:20.707 --> 00:34:25.807
But honestly, everything was so analog and you had to be intentional.

00:34:26.167 --> 00:34:29.167
Whereas nowadays, you don't really have, it's everywhere.

00:34:29.387 --> 00:34:33.087
It's like you open up your phone, you go to Instagram and because how the algorithm

00:34:33.087 --> 00:34:37.387
knows you, boom, you got VW content lined up for a mile. That's right.

00:34:37.567 --> 00:34:42.987
And, and I think back then having the magazines was, you know,

00:34:43.087 --> 00:34:45.007
almost like a monthly Christmas present.

00:34:45.147 --> 00:34:49.067
It would show up and you tore into that thing. You were looking at the ads and

00:34:49.067 --> 00:34:52.967
going, I want that. I want that. Oh, look at that feature. I want to do what he did.

00:34:53.347 --> 00:34:56.847
So, so yeah, I think they were absolutely instrumental.

00:34:58.251 --> 00:35:03.491
And ironically, bringing a print magazine back today does have its challenges,

00:35:03.491 --> 00:35:05.171
but I'm sure we'll get into that.

00:35:05.351 --> 00:35:07.691
Yeah, we're going to touch on that. We're going to touch on that.

00:35:07.811 --> 00:35:13.011
Now, in this timeline, right, shortly after, you created Auto Sound and Security,

00:35:13.551 --> 00:35:16.871
Splash, and then Smart Electronics Magazine.

00:35:17.131 --> 00:35:22.751
Yeah, when I was at McMullen and Yee, one of the things that I incorporated

00:35:22.751 --> 00:35:25.531
into VW Trends was car audio.

00:35:25.711 --> 00:35:32.471
Because, one, I was a huge fan. And I loved car stereos and I loved subwoofers and the whole thing.

00:35:32.691 --> 00:35:37.151
You guys had truck in and, you know, all those others that had all those big systems.

00:35:37.711 --> 00:35:43.871
Absolutely. So, so it only made sense after we, I had reached out to the editor

00:35:43.871 --> 00:35:46.711
of car audio and electronics magazine.

00:35:46.991 --> 00:35:50.171
I remember. And, and had him do a column in VW trends.

00:35:50.611 --> 00:35:53.851
And we did that for about a year, I think maybe a little over a year.

00:35:53.851 --> 00:35:57.651
And I was reading it one day and I went, this is ridiculous.

00:35:57.851 --> 00:36:01.011
Why don't we have our own Car Stereo magazine?

00:36:01.311 --> 00:36:06.231
So I went in, I pitched the idea to my very good friend, Greg Gill,

00:36:06.511 --> 00:36:10.491
who was the ad salesman, actually ad manager, I believe at the time.

00:36:11.471 --> 00:36:15.171
And in turn, we went and pitched it to the president of the company and he said,

00:36:15.331 --> 00:36:17.251
run with it. And that's how that got started.

00:36:17.431 --> 00:36:22.271
And then I left VW Trends sometime in the 90s while I was actually doing both

00:36:22.271 --> 00:36:25.511
magazines at the same time. which is.

00:36:27.385 --> 00:36:34.625
When you started editing different magazines outside of, of the typical VW approach,

00:36:34.785 --> 00:36:40.085
did it change your approach to the way that you wrote or that you told stories or.

00:36:40.305 --> 00:36:45.905
In, in a way it did. I always tried to keep my voice. So we talked earlier about

00:36:45.905 --> 00:36:48.765
your podcast is very conversational and I appreciate that.

00:36:48.905 --> 00:36:51.945
And that's really how I write. it's like

00:36:51.945 --> 00:36:54.865
i want people to hear my

00:36:54.865 --> 00:36:57.805
voice when they read what i've written yeah cool man

00:36:57.805 --> 00:37:00.605
so cool yeah and i think i think it's needed

00:37:00.605 --> 00:37:03.565
because nobody wants you know no one

00:37:03.565 --> 00:37:08.325
wants an instruction manual you know they want they want like one personality

00:37:08.325 --> 00:37:12.825
type out of the many that likes that right like well yes exactly the play-by-play

00:37:12.825 --> 00:37:16.505
it ain't me oh me neither and and so

00:37:16.505 --> 00:37:21.305
we we decided I would try to keep it conversational, but at the same time,

00:37:21.445 --> 00:37:27.985
I sort of had to up my game in the electronics world just because that was a more...

00:37:29.354 --> 00:37:32.694
You know, super popular back then. Oh, it was super popular.

00:37:32.694 --> 00:37:37.234
And they were very much about the tech specs and all of this. So I had to be on my game.

00:37:37.374 --> 00:37:40.854
I couldn't just say, well, maybe it's about 300 watts. I don't know.

00:37:41.094 --> 00:37:46.234
You have to really get in and go, nope, we tested it. And it was actually 293 watts.

00:37:46.734 --> 00:37:51.314
So, but yeah, it, it, it did change. Now, Splash Magazine, I,

00:37:51.594 --> 00:37:54.354
all right, this is the first time you're getting an exclusive right here.

00:37:55.694 --> 00:38:03.514
Yeah. But the alert alert. I actually stole the idea from Splash Magazine from a Hot VWs guy.

00:38:03.774 --> 00:38:08.374
Let me set it up for you. So we're in Seattle, Washington for a big show at

00:38:08.374 --> 00:38:09.734
Seattle International Raceway.

00:38:09.954 --> 00:38:13.674
And one of the guys from Hot VWs back in the day, Jeff Walters,

00:38:13.914 --> 00:38:18.314
we were sitting around a picnic table having lunch like we always did, right?

00:38:18.974 --> 00:38:22.254
And he goes, you know, one thing I've been thinking of,

00:38:22.334 --> 00:38:25.634
and I'm going to go and propose this to to jim jim

00:38:25.634 --> 00:38:28.874
wright from wright publishing back in the day so there needs

00:38:28.874 --> 00:38:33.334
to be like a jet ski magazine and i'm like sitting there going oh i'm filing

00:38:33.334 --> 00:38:38.854
this in my little rolodex and the minute i got off the plane from that trip

00:38:38.854 --> 00:38:43.994
i went into the office and i pitched kenny with the idea for that and he went

00:38:43.994 --> 00:38:47.754
with it and it became it became believe the second.

00:38:48.853 --> 00:38:54.093
Second biggest magazine in the personal water sports marketplace. Dude, man.

00:38:54.593 --> 00:38:58.293
That's kind of cool. Well, you know, they say this is like, I think,

00:38:58.333 --> 00:39:01.393
a bumper sticker and many other things, but success leaves clues.

00:39:02.013 --> 00:39:06.713
Yes, there you go. There you go. If you're smart enough and you're brave enough,

00:39:06.713 --> 00:39:10.093
you can pick those clues up and turn them into success for yourself.

00:39:10.293 --> 00:39:12.873
So that's pretty awesome.

00:39:13.093 --> 00:39:16.353
Okay, so you mentioned this, so I'm going to have you touch on it a little bit

00:39:16.353 --> 00:39:20.693
more. But dude, you know, these magazine publications at the time,

00:39:20.793 --> 00:39:25.593
I feel like in the nineties were like, you know, the top shelf were like everything.

00:39:25.593 --> 00:39:27.693
And then you go and step away.

00:39:27.873 --> 00:39:30.013
So what, what made you step away in 97?

00:39:30.413 --> 00:39:37.853
Oh gosh. Well, at the time I, I was doing VW trends and AutoSend security.

00:39:38.433 --> 00:39:44.213
And then I stepped off of VW trends to work on AutoSend security full time.

00:39:44.653 --> 00:39:47.893
And I was doing that. And of course, me being the idiot that I am,

00:39:47.973 --> 00:39:51.193
I couldn't leave well enough alone. And I thought, hey, why don't we do like

00:39:51.193 --> 00:39:52.573
an electronics magazine?

00:39:52.753 --> 00:39:56.153
Like, you know, because I love computers and building computers,

00:39:56.293 --> 00:39:57.753
hot rodding computers and doing all this.

00:39:57.793 --> 00:40:02.173
Why don't we do kind of a, you know, kind of a VW Trend style computer magazine?

00:40:02.373 --> 00:40:08.793
And so we came up with smart electronics. And so I'm doing VW Trends,

00:40:08.793 --> 00:40:15.033
and I'm doing Auto Sound Security and Smart Electronics, and I am just burned out,

00:40:15.273 --> 00:40:18.753
like burned out because here's how a monthly magazine works.

00:40:19.113 --> 00:40:23.573
You spend three weeks like going just balls for the wall.

00:40:24.033 --> 00:40:30.853
Then you ship the magazine. You get maybe two or three days off,

00:40:30.913 --> 00:40:32.693
and then boom, you're back into it again.

00:40:33.033 --> 00:40:37.653
Next month, yeah. Back in, back in the day, we were three, three months ahead of ourselves.

00:40:38.033 --> 00:40:42.153
So like, if like, let's say, uh, we're in October now, we're coming up in November,

00:40:42.153 --> 00:40:45.513
we would be working on January.

00:40:46.441 --> 00:40:50.801
So it was just, it was relentless. It was relentless. And even,

00:40:50.941 --> 00:40:54.421
even if you took time off, your head's still not on vacation.

00:40:54.481 --> 00:40:57.381
You're in the middle of going, oh shoot, look at that car.

00:40:57.461 --> 00:41:01.481
I got to, I got to give him a card and talk to him. Like you never really take time off.

00:41:01.861 --> 00:41:06.141
And after so many years of that, it really just started getting to me.

00:41:06.521 --> 00:41:09.801
And I said, I got, I got to get out. I just have to get out.

00:41:09.981 --> 00:41:14.601
And so I, I left and the idiot that I was at the time, I said,

00:41:14.641 --> 00:41:16.301
I'll never need this VW stuff anymore.

00:41:16.301 --> 00:41:21.821
So I sold off all of my stuff and I, dude, let me tell you, dude,

00:41:21.821 --> 00:41:25.261
I can only imagine cars for 400 bucks back then.

00:41:25.421 --> 00:41:28.421
Oh, I sold, I sold off all my memorabilia.

00:41:28.641 --> 00:41:30.381
I had a complete collection.

00:41:30.861 --> 00:41:35.241
Yeah, it was, it was bad. I don't, yeah, you know what? It's just stuff.

00:41:35.461 --> 00:41:37.641
And I can always, I can always get more stuff.

00:41:38.161 --> 00:41:42.861
And it came to the point where I wanted to try different things because I,

00:41:42.961 --> 00:41:48.181
I now knew the magazine industry so intimately it's like well i want to know

00:41:48.181 --> 00:41:52.801
about like interactive cd roms back in the 90s i went and worked for an interactive

00:41:52.801 --> 00:41:56.881
cd rom company i went i was the director of.

00:41:57.561 --> 00:42:03.421
Manufacturing for a cd replication place when cds were the big thing yeah and

00:42:03.421 --> 00:42:07.981
so i did a lot of weird crap i did a lot of really weird stuff and then i ended

00:42:07.981 --> 00:42:10.401
up getting called back to the

00:42:10.810 --> 00:42:13.670
mcmullin even though it had already by this

00:42:13.670 --> 00:42:16.390
time been bought now by what was it

00:42:16.390 --> 00:42:19.590
fry media out of new york and they went through socal

00:42:19.590 --> 00:42:22.970
and bought every single mom and pop magazine company

00:42:22.970 --> 00:42:26.130
in the history of the world with the exception of hoppy w's they didn't sell

00:42:26.130 --> 00:42:34.490
out and fancy publications which was that cat dude cat fancy dog yeah yeah fancy

00:42:34.490 --> 00:42:40.790
they had every fancy publication for any animal you'd want.

00:42:40.910 --> 00:42:43.290
They didn't sell out either, but now I guess they're gone too.

00:42:43.610 --> 00:42:48.990
So yeah, who knows. Tough to keep up with the web and the, yeah,

00:42:49.350 --> 00:42:51.450
just not the same. And we're going to touch on that in a second.

00:42:51.590 --> 00:42:53.930
But before we skip past this, looking back now.

00:42:54.597 --> 00:42:58.757
Any, any regrets or any, I wish I would have, or wish I had of,

00:42:58.837 --> 00:43:00.177
or any of those type of moments?

00:43:00.417 --> 00:43:03.177
Oh gosh. Yeah. There's a lot.

00:43:03.617 --> 00:43:09.877
There's a lot of them. I wish I had never sold my 64 notch back that was on

00:43:09.877 --> 00:43:12.497
the verge of being completed. Cause that thing was going to be bad-ass.

00:43:12.577 --> 00:43:15.297
Can I have a type four motor in the back? I've never, I've never told anybody

00:43:15.297 --> 00:43:17.817
this, but I'm going to, I'm going to admit something to you. Oh, all right.

00:43:18.857 --> 00:43:24.177
Through my, you know, learning over the years, learning about all these cars.

00:43:24.717 --> 00:43:28.417
The Type 3, the notch has become my favorite. And here's why.

00:43:28.617 --> 00:43:29.877
I'm just going to give it to you.

00:43:30.177 --> 00:43:33.677
It reminds me of a miniature 57 Chevy.

00:43:35.037 --> 00:43:38.337
Yes, 100%. I've never said that to anybody, but that's what I,

00:43:38.437 --> 00:43:40.377
when I look at that car, I go, huh.

00:43:40.857 --> 00:43:44.897
It looks like a little 57, a little Bel Air. You know, just to me in my brain,

00:43:44.997 --> 00:43:46.237
that's just where my brain goes.

00:43:46.457 --> 00:43:50.097
I think that's one of the sexiest air-cooled Volkswagens out,

00:43:50.397 --> 00:43:54.277
period. It is just, it's so unique and it is so different.

00:43:54.597 --> 00:43:58.217
My wife has a Carmen Ghia, and I think probably second in line,

00:43:58.337 --> 00:43:59.877
I'm going to say that for the lines.

00:44:00.337 --> 00:44:05.777
Right. Obviously, the Beetle's iconic, but the Carmen Ghia is a pretty badass

00:44:05.777 --> 00:44:07.417
car, man. It's a sports car.

00:44:07.557 --> 00:44:11.477
It's a sports car. Right. And it should be treated as one, I think.

00:44:12.237 --> 00:44:17.897
We got horse twists on hers. Oh, do you? Nice. Yeah, it's a 71.

00:44:18.377 --> 00:44:22.037
She didn't want to drive a stick ship, so we went with the auto clutch.

00:44:22.037 --> 00:44:26.657
I found a 71 with 46,000 miles, one owner.

00:44:27.799 --> 00:44:30.759
In in pennsylvania and we drove up to uh

00:44:30.759 --> 00:44:33.859
go get it the guy opened up the door of a barn and it's

00:44:33.859 --> 00:44:36.739
in the back of this barn wow it was a real

00:44:36.739 --> 00:44:39.919
barn find a real i do i swear to god my instagram post

00:44:39.919 --> 00:44:42.839
that day was a real barn find oh that's

00:44:42.839 --> 00:44:45.759
i had the door going up and i go to the back and you know

00:44:45.759 --> 00:44:48.619
yeah and we put it on the trailer we we towed it

00:44:48.619 --> 00:44:52.239
back home it's it's a very solid awesome awesome

00:44:52.239 --> 00:44:54.999
car i'm i'm grateful but the the type three you said the

00:44:54.999 --> 00:44:58.219
notch i had to go there with it it looks like

00:44:58.219 --> 00:45:01.299
an old you know kind of chevy 57 bel

00:45:01.299 --> 00:45:04.539
air does it the roof line has 57 chevy

00:45:04.539 --> 00:45:07.719
vibes for sure and i really think that if if

00:45:07.719 --> 00:45:11.199
fredinan porsche was in charge of designing a chevy uh

00:45:11.199 --> 00:45:13.999
for an economy car that would have been the notch

00:45:13.999 --> 00:45:17.639
back okay so the thought

00:45:17.639 --> 00:45:20.899
in 2020 now we're going to come to recent times

00:45:20.899 --> 00:45:23.619
all right was all right what if we

00:45:23.619 --> 00:45:28.159
bring this thing back yeah so let's

00:45:28.159 --> 00:45:31.179
flash back to 2020 everybody's in

00:45:31.179 --> 00:45:34.119
covid we're on lockdown except for me although i.

00:45:34.119 --> 00:45:37.759
Was not on lockdown because at this time i had

00:45:37.759 --> 00:45:40.959
transitioned out of mcmullin and

00:45:40.959 --> 00:45:44.279
doing their website of things to being

00:45:44.279 --> 00:45:47.459
the director of marketing for a pre-owned

00:45:47.459 --> 00:45:50.639
harley dealership in anaheim okay that in

00:45:50.639 --> 00:45:55.039
that in itself is a great it's another one of those it's i was in the right

00:45:55.039 --> 00:46:00.299
place at the right time and i knew then that if i said no i would regret it

00:46:00.299 --> 00:46:05.179
for the rest of my life yeah cool but so i was doing that and i was working

00:46:05.179 --> 00:46:07.759
as the marketing guy for this harley place.

00:46:08.419 --> 00:46:14.319
And i was sitting there going you know what i'm 60 years old i turned 60 in

00:46:14.319 --> 00:46:19.279
2020 and i'm like i'm I'm kind of coming up on that retirement age.

00:46:19.379 --> 00:46:24.319
You know, it's like, it's, it's, it's going to be here faster than I would prefer. And I,

00:46:24.863 --> 00:46:28.223
I go, I want to do something fun in my retirement.

00:46:28.423 --> 00:46:33.343
I don't want to be that guy that sits on the couch, eating Doritos, drinking Dr.

00:46:33.423 --> 00:46:36.923
Pepper and watching who runs a gun smoke. I didn't want to be that guy.

00:46:37.143 --> 00:46:40.803
And I'm going, when did I have the most fun in my life?

00:46:40.983 --> 00:46:48.503
What period of time that I can think back on that I can say unequivocally gave me the most joy?

00:46:48.903 --> 00:46:54.303
And it was when I was doing VW Trends. I had so much fun going to these places,

00:46:54.503 --> 00:46:57.403
talking to people, hearing the stories. It's the community, man.

00:46:57.623 --> 00:46:59.943
It's the community without question.

00:47:00.223 --> 00:47:06.523
Yeah. And so, and so I went online and I started doing a little bit of a deep

00:47:06.523 --> 00:47:09.143
dive and seeing, you know, what was out there.

00:47:09.403 --> 00:47:15.823
And the, uh, the copyright had expired in 92 on that.

00:47:15.943 --> 00:47:19.843
And I'm, and it freaked me out, totally freaked me out. So I put it down for

00:47:19.843 --> 00:47:25.543
a month and I said, well, okay, I I'm reading it wrong. Have to be reading it wrong.

00:47:25.883 --> 00:47:30.103
So I go back a month later and it's still there. And I went,

00:47:30.203 --> 00:47:33.143
okay, this is God's way of saying, you know, happy birthday.

00:47:34.403 --> 00:47:38.443
Right. Merry Christmas. Happy Kanaka, Kwanzaa. It's all.

00:47:38.883 --> 00:47:44.963
Whatever. This is a lifetime of presence right here. And, and so I napped it

00:47:44.963 --> 00:47:49.103
and I reached out to four really close friends.

00:47:49.123 --> 00:47:53.323
It was myself, Paul Morton, Ron Petro, and, and,

00:47:53.931 --> 00:48:00.151
uh, uh, Becky, my girlfriend. And I said, look, I've got this crazy idea.

00:48:00.151 --> 00:48:04.231
And before I could even finish my pitch and I'd worked long on that pitch too.

00:48:04.311 --> 00:48:07.031
I really wanted to go over good before I could even finish it.

00:48:07.091 --> 00:48:08.851
They all said, yes, we're on board a hundred percent.

00:48:09.391 --> 00:48:13.311
So, you know, you told the right, you told the right ones, told the right ones.

00:48:13.391 --> 00:48:17.231
And I mean, and that lineup has shifted over the last five years,

00:48:17.391 --> 00:48:22.791
but it's still, we're, we're still on track and all of us have the same mindset.

00:48:23.711 --> 00:48:28.831
And so we decided, okay, we got it. We're moving forward. We're going to publish

00:48:28.831 --> 00:48:31.471
it. How are we going to do this? Because none of us had any money.

00:48:31.651 --> 00:48:35.271
It's like, you know, it's everyone had families and, you know,

00:48:35.351 --> 00:48:37.951
I'm getting ready to retire, so I'm not making a lot of cash.

00:48:38.391 --> 00:48:45.131
And so I said, well, what would be the best way to get the VW community involved in this.

00:48:45.271 --> 00:48:47.551
And I thought, oh, what am I even thinking?

00:48:48.051 --> 00:48:51.071
Crowdfunding. So we came up with the idea.

00:48:51.843 --> 00:48:56.943
Of having different levels of involvement, like the platinum group got you,

00:48:56.943 --> 00:48:58.543
you know, your subscription.

00:48:59.103 --> 00:49:06.183
And we threw in a magazine that was an alternative cover that only people that subscribe to that.

00:49:06.363 --> 00:49:10.643
And we, we made certificates of authenticity where we all signed it,

00:49:11.003 --> 00:49:12.823
including Shannon Ray, the cover model.

00:49:12.943 --> 00:49:16.143
And we included that a t-shirt stickers, the whole thing for,

00:49:16.283 --> 00:49:18.223
you know, I think it was, I think it was 200 bucks.

00:49:18.723 --> 00:49:25.143
Long story short, We raised all the money for three issues, and it took off.

00:49:25.283 --> 00:49:32.303
We first published in spring of 2021, and we've just been going strong ever

00:49:32.303 --> 00:49:34.623
since. We're worldwide again, which is awesome.

00:49:34.823 --> 00:49:38.603
Oh, dude, so cool. It's really picking up steam.

00:49:38.803 --> 00:49:43.543
It's really picking up a lot of steam. How'd it feel to hold the physical copy

00:49:43.543 --> 00:49:49.803
again in 2021? What was it, close to 20 years? It had been dead.

00:49:50.263 --> 00:49:56.703
VW Trends was killed in 2005. Okay. So 16 years total, 16.

00:49:57.303 --> 00:50:02.263
And to pick up when we got that magazine delivered to the house.

00:50:03.105 --> 00:50:06.885
And, you know, it was on a pallet and, you know, we cut it open and we pick

00:50:06.885 --> 00:50:13.445
with the picking up the magazine was almost a well, it was very emotional, to be honest with you.

00:50:13.625 --> 00:50:18.785
It was like, you know what? It's almost like unveiling your car at a car show for the first time.

00:50:19.225 --> 00:50:24.765
It's like there is this pride in the sense of accomplishment and this just overwhelming

00:50:24.765 --> 00:50:28.585
gratitude to a community that really got behind us.

00:50:28.685 --> 00:50:32.325
I mean, had it not been for the community, Joe, we it wouldn't have happened.

00:50:32.325 --> 00:50:36.785
Well, dude, it's, it's VW trends, you know, it's like, we all grew up on this.

00:50:37.325 --> 00:50:40.885
Yeah. You know, and, and I thought that too, because I know what it meant to me.

00:50:41.005 --> 00:50:43.865
I figured it has to mean, it has to mean something to others,

00:50:43.985 --> 00:50:47.445
you know, but, but you never really know until you know.

00:50:47.705 --> 00:50:51.425
Right. And that's what this experience has shown me that one,

00:50:51.525 --> 00:50:56.165
the magazine died too prematurely to that. There is still plenty of life left.

00:50:56.385 --> 00:51:01.885
Oh, dude. I think it's just banging now worldwide, especially with social media

00:51:01.885 --> 00:51:07.105
and these types of outlets now that, that just make branding just something different.

00:51:07.745 --> 00:51:12.805
Absolutely. And that we've really embraced that. And we realized that, you know what?

00:51:13.285 --> 00:51:18.045
And it's so funny, Joe, when we go out to events, no matter where we go,

00:51:18.285 --> 00:51:21.865
at least five people come up to the booth and go, oh, I didn't know you were back.

00:51:22.785 --> 00:51:27.145
And I'm going, are you kidding me? How could you even be living under a rock?

00:51:27.285 --> 00:51:31.105
I was going to say, hand them a rock and say, here, man, I got this off of your pillow.

00:51:31.545 --> 00:51:33.305
Right. Crawl out from under that. Yeah.

00:51:33.945 --> 00:51:37.625
But, but it's, it's, it's fascinating because, and this is the big thing that

00:51:37.625 --> 00:51:40.905
we learned from all of our road trips. Not everybody.

00:51:41.986 --> 00:51:46.086
Goes on the web. Not everybody uses Instagram.

00:51:46.406 --> 00:51:50.046
So, so we, we do a couple of shows down here, me and my buddy,

00:51:50.186 --> 00:51:53.366
Alan, about four of them in a year throughout the year, different shows.

00:51:53.746 --> 00:51:58.246
And I learned that, right? Here's how I learned it. We decided because the biggest

00:51:58.246 --> 00:52:01.386
following and all the people were coming from the Facebook page that we were

00:52:01.386 --> 00:52:03.626
just going to make the announcements on the Facebook page.

00:52:03.826 --> 00:52:09.226
Well, there were like 50 people that, that wanted these same instructions and

00:52:09.226 --> 00:52:13.746
clues to this, to this ride we were putting together that never got it because

00:52:13.746 --> 00:52:17.826
we're like, well, dude, we updated the Facebook page. We did this. We went live.

00:52:17.986 --> 00:52:20.726
We did a video. And they're like, we don't fucking log into Facebook.

00:52:20.726 --> 00:52:22.266
What are you talking about? Facebook.

00:52:22.466 --> 00:52:28.886
I'm like, oh, so there's that, right? The older community, they don't really

00:52:28.886 --> 00:52:30.026
mess around with Facebook.

00:52:30.226 --> 00:52:34.686
So dude, you're right. You're right. It's really funny too, because it kind

00:52:34.686 --> 00:52:40.566
of swings both ways on that. But I've got, I had this old lady in Canada come

00:52:40.566 --> 00:52:42.006
up to the booth and I introduced myself.

00:52:42.246 --> 00:52:45.066
She goes, oh, I know who you are. I watch you on Instagram. And I'm going,

00:52:45.506 --> 00:52:47.926
well, there you go. Here's an old lady, follow me on Instagram.

00:52:48.366 --> 00:52:54.726
And yet I got this 27-year-old guy who didn't know we were back because he doesn't do any social media.

00:52:54.886 --> 00:53:00.306
And I'm like, that I think for me is the biggest challenge is how do I reach these people?

00:53:00.306 --> 00:53:06.686
How do I reach, you know, this segment of the market that isn't on the internet?

00:53:06.686 --> 00:53:12.246
And we've really had to be very intentional and very laser-like in figuring

00:53:12.246 --> 00:53:18.026
out how to reach these people. And it's no easy chore, that's for sure.

00:53:18.186 --> 00:53:22.086
So I'm going to put you on the spot then for the future.

00:53:22.446 --> 00:53:29.386
What's the mission of VW Trends today? and looking back now for what you know

00:53:29.386 --> 00:53:33.506
versus what you did back then, what sets it apart from the 90s version?

00:53:34.316 --> 00:53:41.076
I would say this, and I can say this in all sincerity, is that back then in

00:53:41.076 --> 00:53:44.276
the, well, VW Trends started in the 70s.

00:53:44.896 --> 00:53:49.416
But back then, it was really more about just showcasing cars.

00:53:49.896 --> 00:53:56.936
Like, who had the cool car? And really, the owner of the car and the story behind

00:53:56.936 --> 00:54:00.196
the car became more supporting characters.

00:54:00.776 --> 00:54:04.996
When we brought VW Trends back this time, we, we sat down and we said,

00:54:05.076 --> 00:54:08.756
okay, if we're going to make a real, cause we had to, we had to form a printing

00:54:08.756 --> 00:54:13.496
company or not a printing company, a publishing company called STA publishing,

00:54:13.876 --> 00:54:15.456
which stands for second time around.

00:54:15.776 --> 00:54:17.896
That was my idea. Cool, cool, cool, cool.

00:54:18.296 --> 00:54:22.156
I love all the little root stuff that's rooted in the past.

00:54:22.576 --> 00:54:29.296
Yeah. And the one thing that, that I said, I go, what's the one common denominator about the Volkswagen?

00:54:30.136 --> 00:54:34.456
And my friend, best friend, Rich, he goes, he goes, everyone's got a story,

00:54:34.516 --> 00:54:35.456
even if they've never owned one.

00:54:35.996 --> 00:54:40.076
And I went that right there, that is who we're aiming at.

00:54:40.476 --> 00:54:43.756
It's like, that's what I just did. you exactly that's

00:54:43.756 --> 00:54:47.056
exactly it yeah the car the car is the star but

00:54:47.056 --> 00:54:49.916
the story is king that's that's sort of the oh

00:54:49.916 --> 00:54:52.636
man that's amazing right there the car's for the

00:54:52.636 --> 00:54:55.736
story is king you're exactly right and

00:54:55.736 --> 00:54:59.956
that's exactly why i'm i tell that's why i reached out to you because the story

00:54:59.956 --> 00:55:04.236
is king yeah and it's you know what and it's something you enjoy and when it

00:55:04.236 --> 00:55:09.036
stops being fun you got to bail out because people can tell people tell when

00:55:09.036 --> 00:55:15.636
you're just phoning something in and it it really makes a difference if you are an enthusiast now.

00:55:16.438 --> 00:55:20.198
I don't wrench on cars. I can if I'm forced into it.

00:55:20.298 --> 00:55:24.778
I really don't like it. I'm more comfortable behind the camera, but I can do it.

00:55:24.918 --> 00:55:32.138
But man, I really love watching some of these, like some of the engine builders

00:55:32.138 --> 00:55:36.498
that I've gotten to know since the last MP engine build off, like D&J Auto,

00:55:36.758 --> 00:55:43.798
like Jim's Custom VWs back east, like all these people that are hardcore into

00:55:43.798 --> 00:55:46.098
it and all of the tricks and tips that they do.

00:55:46.438 --> 00:55:51.378
Like, I can appreciate that because I can't do it. I can't do it at all.

00:55:51.498 --> 00:55:54.178
Now, I can write about it. I can take pictures about it.

00:55:54.658 --> 00:55:58.798
I'm in the same boat. I'm a creator just in different ways.

00:55:58.998 --> 00:56:04.498
Yes. I think I know enough to be dangerous, adjusting carburetor, all that type of stuff.

00:56:04.658 --> 00:56:08.438
But here's the real truth for me in my life. I've got a really bad back.

00:56:08.578 --> 00:56:13.158
I've had some back surgeries and I don't do that, get down on the ground,

00:56:13.298 --> 00:56:16.058
get up stuff. No. I don't do that. Get under the car.

00:56:16.378 --> 00:56:20.338
And it's not that. Listen, man, I wish I could. It probably saved me a whole

00:56:20.338 --> 00:56:25.938
bunch of money and time that my cars have to go away. But here's the truth.

00:56:26.338 --> 00:56:30.538
There are people out there that are actual artists with the way that we work

00:56:30.538 --> 00:56:34.358
on these cars. And those people actually deserve to be working on these cars.

00:56:34.538 --> 00:56:37.418
Not me, who's just going to be like, well, it's good enough.

00:56:38.377 --> 00:56:41.357
Right. Because that's just my nature. Like I, dude, I just want it to work.

00:56:41.517 --> 00:56:43.877
All right. Well, I'm the guy that pays to get it done. Right.

00:56:44.137 --> 00:56:46.677
And I'm, I'm all right with that. I'm all right with that. Yeah.

00:56:46.877 --> 00:56:48.117
There's no shame in that game.

00:56:48.337 --> 00:56:54.357
And it's one of those things where I would much rather go and watch and learn

00:56:54.357 --> 00:56:57.317
from somebody putting it together than try to figure it out for myself.

00:56:58.017 --> 00:57:01.157
I really don't have that much time. I mean, I'm, you know, I'm in the,

00:57:01.257 --> 00:57:06.477
in the winter of my years, as they say. And it's one of those things where if

00:57:06.477 --> 00:57:08.997
it isn't fun for me, it's like, why am I even doing it?

00:57:09.397 --> 00:57:16.357
I guess for the future of our culture, what advice would you give for the next

00:57:16.357 --> 00:57:19.257
generation of VW storytellers?

00:57:19.397 --> 00:57:24.377
We're on this topic now talking about these kids and what their interests are.

00:57:24.397 --> 00:57:28.357
What if somebody is interested in being a storyteller or a photographer?

00:57:28.357 --> 00:57:32.377
What advice would you give them moving forward? Absolutely.

00:57:33.017 --> 00:57:37.217
I, here's what I tell people that come up and ask me, like, you know,

00:57:37.297 --> 00:57:40.057
they asked me how I did it and I go, well, don't follow in my footsteps.

00:57:40.257 --> 00:57:44.297
Cause that's like, that was, that was a, it's such a, um.

00:57:45.470 --> 00:57:49.730
Well, I don't want to say happenstance, but, you know, it's crazy how I got

00:57:49.730 --> 00:57:52.990
into it and how I didn't really even think that that was what I wanted to be.

00:57:54.030 --> 00:58:00.550
But over the course of the last 30 years or so, the one thing that I've seen

00:58:00.550 --> 00:58:07.810
that people make the biggest mistake in wanting to break into being a writer or a photographer,

00:58:08.110 --> 00:58:12.470
the first two things is know something about your craft.

00:58:13.050 --> 00:58:16.730
You know, find something you're really into, whether it's VWs,

00:58:16.870 --> 00:58:20.330
whether it's Chevys, whether it's Camaros, whatever, it doesn't matter.

00:58:20.890 --> 00:58:24.670
Find something you're really into and then just start writing.

00:58:25.050 --> 00:58:27.570
Write a story about it, even though you may not have owned the car.

00:58:28.030 --> 00:58:30.890
Walk around the car and pick stuff out and then start writing a story.

00:58:31.810 --> 00:58:38.530
The biggest thing I tell people when they ask me about freelancing is I always tell them,

00:58:39.331 --> 00:58:45.031
You need to write in such a way that a person who has never seen this car could

00:58:45.031 --> 00:58:47.191
know what it looks like based on your description.

00:58:48.171 --> 00:58:52.711
And you have to do that. And then secondarily is your photography.

00:58:53.291 --> 00:58:58.671
Basic. I mean, for heaven's sakes, you can pick up a Canon Rebel camera and

00:58:58.671 --> 00:59:03.131
take magazine quality shots as long as you know where the light goes or how

00:59:03.131 --> 00:59:06.671
to use lighting, how to get different angles, make it creative and interesting.

00:59:06.671 --> 00:59:10.371
That would be the first two primary things.

00:59:10.511 --> 00:59:15.671
The third thing, and probably most important, is get yourself a very thick skin

00:59:15.671 --> 00:59:17.631
in regards to rejection.

00:59:18.811 --> 00:59:22.871
Because you're going to send stuff into magazines, and they're going to send

00:59:22.871 --> 00:59:24.331
back, well, thanks, but no thanks.

00:59:24.491 --> 00:59:28.231
Or this isn't quite along the lines of our editorial guidelines.

00:59:28.651 --> 00:59:34.791
Whatever. You've just got to keep sending it out there. It's very much a shotgun approach.

00:59:34.971 --> 00:59:39.531
It's like fishing. You just got to keep going 100%. It is like eventually something's

00:59:39.531 --> 00:59:40.531
going to hit it, man, eventually.

00:59:41.151 --> 00:59:44.631
And you have to, uh, back to the thick skin thing.

00:59:44.771 --> 00:59:49.531
This is, this is probably my favorite story that I love to tell about the first

00:59:49.531 --> 00:59:55.071
two or three years that I was with BW trends, right? I'm sure you know the name Gene Berg.

00:59:55.751 --> 01:00:00.491
Okay. So I I've met Gene a couple of times and I'm, you know,

01:00:00.671 --> 01:00:02.071
they, they were an advertiser.

01:00:02.311 --> 01:00:05.051
Well, actually they weren't advertised with BW trends sadly.

01:00:05.051 --> 01:00:10.331
But anyway, I had heard from one of the other editors who was overdoing a story

01:00:10.331 --> 01:00:14.871
at Gene's place, and this was the exact quote that Gene Berg said.

01:00:15.211 --> 01:00:20.931
He said, Dan Ledbetter is the worst thing to happen to the VW industry.

01:00:21.912 --> 01:00:24.692
And, and at first, at first I was hurt.

01:00:24.892 --> 01:00:27.652
I was a little bit hurt because that's Gene Berg, right? He's a,

01:00:27.712 --> 01:00:31.852
you know, he is a, the Zeus of the VW, uh, gods of Olympus. Right.

01:00:32.032 --> 01:00:34.852
And I'm going, oh, that's, that really sucks that he thinks that.

01:00:34.952 --> 01:00:38.392
And then I stopped and I went, you know what? He knows me.

01:00:38.752 --> 01:00:44.632
He knows me. But if I can have that kind of impact on someone,

01:00:44.852 --> 01:00:47.112
I must be doing something right.

01:00:47.572 --> 01:00:52.392
That's it. It reminded me of a story. The first time the Alice Cooper group

01:00:52.392 --> 01:00:56.912
came to Los Angeles and they were opening for the doors at the Whiskey a Go-Go.

01:00:57.552 --> 01:01:01.092
They get up on stage, they're doing their thing, and people just start getting

01:01:01.092 --> 01:01:04.052
up and leaving. And finally, they cleared out the place.

01:01:04.572 --> 01:01:08.652
Nobody was left in there except one person, and that was Frank Zappa.

01:01:09.232 --> 01:01:12.432
And he signed them to a record label the day after.

01:01:12.712 --> 01:01:18.132
He goes, anybody that can clear out a bar before the doors come on has got to

01:01:18.132 --> 01:01:22.692
have something. So I figure I'm the Alice Cooper of the VW industry. Okay.

01:01:23.132 --> 01:01:26.272
I like it. If I could piss Gene off, I'm doing good.

01:01:26.552 --> 01:01:31.932
Any favorite lessons from decades in the scene worthy of sharing?

01:01:32.132 --> 01:01:37.732
The biggest lesson I think I learned is always double check to make sure you

01:01:37.732 --> 01:01:39.692
have film in your camera. Ooh.

01:01:40.352 --> 01:01:43.412
I'll tell you, that just reminded me of a feeling. Oh, I know.

01:01:43.572 --> 01:01:45.512
Yeah. I'll give you the feeling. Here's the feeling.

01:01:45.832 --> 01:01:49.672
Lay it on me because it's probably exactly what I felt. about 10 years ago,

01:01:50.032 --> 01:01:53.252
12 years ago, these phones, they didn't have that much memory in them,

01:01:53.332 --> 01:01:55.232
but the camera started to blow up, right?

01:01:55.552 --> 01:01:59.032
There would be times that I'd get my phone out, it'd be in the middle of this

01:01:59.032 --> 01:02:02.712
Kodak moment, and it's the only time you're gonna be able to get this shot.

01:02:02.892 --> 01:02:06.372
And you draw the camera up and you go to take the picture and it tells you you

01:02:06.372 --> 01:02:07.352
don't have enough space.

01:02:09.699 --> 01:02:12.839
You look down, you're trying to do something. The dolphin already jumped.

01:02:12.959 --> 01:02:17.339
The shark already attacked the boat. You're like, you missed the whole thing, dude. So yeah.

01:02:18.979 --> 01:02:23.719
And the only reason I say that is because it was one of the most impactful moments

01:02:23.719 --> 01:02:26.019
of my life. I went out to this place and we were shooting.

01:02:26.559 --> 01:02:30.119
I was doing a tech story on how to install one of those, you know,

01:02:30.219 --> 01:02:33.079
aluminum drag wings on the back of your beetle. Right.

01:02:33.319 --> 01:02:37.139
Yeah. And we're shooting and they're drilling and making stuff and I'm shooting.

01:02:37.139 --> 01:02:40.539
And I'm going, man, I'm getting a lot of shots out of this, out of this camera.

01:02:40.599 --> 01:02:41.959
And I go, I must be doing okay.

01:02:42.119 --> 01:02:44.639
You know, so I'm click, click, click. We get all the way done.

01:02:44.639 --> 01:02:47.779
And I looked down and I had forgotten to put film in the camera.

01:02:48.259 --> 01:02:51.959
Oh, man. I'm sitting here and I'm going, okay, this is an advertiser.

01:02:52.759 --> 01:02:58.419
This is probably the most unprofessional thing that could have happened to me in my entire life.

01:02:58.619 --> 01:03:01.799
I go, I had to think quick, how am I going to dance my way out of this one?

01:03:01.959 --> 01:03:04.319
And I thought, oh my God, I have filmed.

01:03:04.739 --> 01:03:07.739
So I open up my camera. I put the film and I go, guys.

01:03:08.823 --> 01:03:11.843
100% transparency, forgot to put film in the camera. They laughed,

01:03:11.963 --> 01:03:15.163
thought it was really funny. And I said, but here's what we're going to do.

01:03:15.223 --> 01:03:18.003
We're going to shoot the installation in reverse.

01:03:18.803 --> 01:03:23.403
So I'll shoot a finished shot. You guys get your hands on it to look like you're putting it there.

01:03:23.723 --> 01:03:28.023
Start taking it off. Start taking it off and nobody knew the difference.

01:03:28.323 --> 01:03:33.423
Dude, that is a thinker right there. You got yourself out of hot water by just

01:03:33.423 --> 01:03:35.283
telling them to just reverse everything.

01:03:35.743 --> 01:03:40.403
Oh, good Lord. So that's the biggest thing. Kids, put film in your camera.

01:03:40.483 --> 01:03:43.303
Okay. Even though you don't have to worry about that these days.

01:03:43.763 --> 01:03:47.323
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't. That's kind of sad.

01:03:47.703 --> 01:03:52.783
It kind of is. But you know what? I wish we had digital cameras back then.

01:03:52.843 --> 01:03:55.343
We would have saved so much money.

01:03:55.563 --> 01:04:01.183
I just had a dude on last week, and we got to talking about he did some carpentry

01:04:01.183 --> 01:04:04.623
work on the scene on the movie set of Jackass.

01:04:04.983 --> 01:04:09.403
Oh, wow. Yeah, he's a dover. And we were just talking about stuff.

01:04:09.543 --> 01:04:11.243
And I'm like, dude, here's the truth.

01:04:11.543 --> 01:04:18.563
If we would have had cameras when I was young, me and my buddies were jackass times four.

01:04:18.783 --> 01:04:22.043
We were doing tranks. We were cutting people's bags on the Gulf Boulevard.

01:04:22.143 --> 01:04:24.083
It was the craziest childhood.

01:04:24.383 --> 01:04:25.923
We just didn't record it.

01:04:26.283 --> 01:04:29.523
You'd be a juvenile hall. 10, 15 years later, they recorded everything.

01:04:29.543 --> 01:04:34.363
And we're like, oh, so you mean you're supposed to record yourself doing all that stuff?

01:04:34.983 --> 01:04:37.883
Apparently so. We missed the boat, Joe. we really did.

01:04:38.183 --> 01:04:42.483
All right. I got some rapid fire questions. Okay. I'll try to be as rapid as

01:04:42.483 --> 01:04:43.583
I can. All right. You ready?

01:04:44.203 --> 01:04:49.023
Yep. Lay it on me. All right. Favorite VW model that you've ever owned? Oh gosh.

01:04:50.023 --> 01:04:55.803
1967 Beetle. 67 Beetle. That's first year at a 12 volt. Yep.

01:04:56.243 --> 01:05:00.863
Yep. That was probably my favorite one to own and drive that it just went forever.

01:05:01.223 --> 01:05:04.703
Okay. How about dream car that you haven't built yet?

01:05:05.343 --> 01:05:10.843
Good Lord. I have a couple of them, actually. I would love to...

01:05:12.253 --> 01:05:19.113
I would love to build a convertible bug, like a fifties era convertible VW. And,

01:05:20.094 --> 01:05:28.354
On the opposite end of that, I've always wanted to build a VW bus hearse. Ooh.

01:05:29.134 --> 01:05:34.414
I saw one, and I've always been a big fan of horror and scary movies and stuff.

01:05:34.494 --> 01:05:40.774
And my ultimate dream car would be like 5960 hearse that was tubbed in the back

01:05:40.774 --> 01:05:44.054
with the big, huge wheels, make a casket, a subwoofer enclosure,

01:05:44.254 --> 01:05:47.274
and just have this amazingly monster car.

01:05:47.274 --> 01:05:53.954
But as far as VWs go, I saw a VW bus hearse and I was like, I want one.

01:05:54.094 --> 01:05:58.714
I want one. I need one of those. I could possibly afford that.

01:05:58.874 --> 01:06:00.754
But yeah, those would be the.

01:06:01.094 --> 01:06:10.474
In your, I guess, horror side, have you ever seen or heard of a dude that does John's Horror Corner?

01:06:11.134 --> 01:06:12.714
No. He reviews.

01:06:13.414 --> 01:06:16.634
So I've got a buddy that's an insect doctor.

01:06:18.034 --> 01:06:21.434
Yeah yeah i didn't know they existed either yeah well

01:06:21.434 --> 01:06:24.314
we were really young this guy used to you know pick up

01:06:24.314 --> 01:06:27.394
grasshoppers and shit and tell me what their legs were doing and

01:06:27.394 --> 01:06:30.334
how they had you know this that and the other going on and did you

01:06:30.334 --> 01:06:33.234
know that they can omit light no and i'm like you know anyway he grows

01:06:33.234 --> 01:06:36.134
up to be an insect doctor well his passion in his life

01:06:36.134 --> 01:06:38.874
outside of insects and travel in the world he by

01:06:38.874 --> 01:06:42.554
the way he just got a job for the smithsonian so congratulations wow

01:06:42.554 --> 01:06:46.114
good moving to dc yeah heck yeah but he

01:06:46.114 --> 01:06:49.754
he has a a platform called john's

01:06:49.754 --> 01:06:53.354
horror corner where he reviews horror films uh

01:06:53.354 --> 01:06:56.914
talks about them with with a couple of his other buddies send me

01:06:56.914 --> 01:06:59.954
a link send me a link on that please i will i will

01:06:59.954 --> 01:07:02.754
all right all right back to you back to you back to you sorry we got

01:07:02.754 --> 01:07:06.214
sidelined yeah yeah here's a good one here's a good one first concert that you

01:07:06.214 --> 01:07:11.874
ever went to oh rush at the cow palace uh waves tour rush on the drums dude

01:07:11.874 --> 01:07:17.454
you're a drummer get out of town man come on so sad when neil passed oh dude

01:07:17.454 --> 01:07:21.814
all right better smell for you race fuel or fresh print ink.

01:07:22.804 --> 01:07:30.644
I would say print ink only because race feel that, yeah, I don't huff anything.

01:07:31.144 --> 01:07:37.744
Might be an iffy question for you because of your stance, but favorite VW event?

01:07:38.284 --> 01:07:42.024
Oh, gosh. You know, no, I don't mind saying it.

01:07:42.024 --> 01:07:50.184
Honestly, the one event that I remember going to that for me is the benchmark

01:07:50.184 --> 01:07:57.464
by which all other VW events will be judged was Al Martinez's jamboree at the

01:07:57.464 --> 01:07:59.864
Orange County Fairgrounds. Holy crap.

01:08:00.104 --> 01:08:05.164
That guy, let me tell you, he knew how to put on a party.

01:08:05.424 --> 01:08:08.624
Like he had the bikini contest. He had bands.

01:08:08.764 --> 01:08:13.604
He had a petting zoo for the kids. He had a little shopping area for the wives

01:08:13.604 --> 01:08:19.204
and girlfriend, huge car show on grass vendors, beer vendors, all this stuff.

01:08:19.404 --> 01:08:26.304
And I got to tell you, this is a thing that, that, that I cannot express enough is what I miss.

01:08:26.744 --> 01:08:32.864
I miss getting to an event at 6 AM and there's always like a half mile of cars

01:08:32.864 --> 01:08:38.444
waiting to get in and they stay all day long and they don't leave until 7 38 that.

01:08:39.512 --> 01:08:43.592
And I miss those days. It drives me, and I kind of understand it,

01:08:43.632 --> 01:08:45.152
but I kind of don't at the same time.

01:08:45.952 --> 01:08:50.232
I just don't understand this. Okay, the show opens at 9 or 10, and we leave by 2.

01:08:50.912 --> 01:08:55.252
I'm like, it shouldn't be this way. There should be stuff to do.

01:08:55.392 --> 01:08:56.652
There should be things to see.

01:08:56.832 --> 01:09:03.792
And I wrote an editorial about it. I think I can relate to what happened there over time.

01:09:03.852 --> 01:09:10.592
We're in this society now. all of us exist in this instant gratification instant

01:09:10.592 --> 01:09:14.532
results instant you know i get my phone i'm gonna look it up and i'm gonna you

01:09:14.532 --> 01:09:16.832
know everything is so instant right it's like,

01:09:17.612 --> 01:09:21.552
there's no more of the you know kind of going out and playing you know right

01:09:21.552 --> 01:09:27.192
and i feel like with people today they have so much other shit to do they're

01:09:27.192 --> 01:09:31.392
trying to cram into the day it's like well if we can go to the event and we

01:09:31.392 --> 01:09:33.772
can you know show our car we can be out of it by two

01:09:34.192 --> 01:09:36.192
You know, it's like the rest of the day.

01:09:36.472 --> 01:09:39.292
Yeah. That's the only reason they're going to sign up. If you try to tell them,

01:09:39.352 --> 01:09:42.752
cause we just went through this with our peer event. If we, at first we were

01:09:42.752 --> 01:09:44.212
like, all right, it's going to run till five.

01:09:46.586 --> 01:09:50.306
And registrations in the first month were like just bleak.

01:09:50.546 --> 01:09:54.626
Like it was like 19 cars registered. We're like, what is going on?

01:09:54.746 --> 01:09:57.726
So we, you know, talk to a few of the community leaders and we ask them what's

01:09:57.726 --> 01:10:00.446
going on. And they say, dude, it's Florida.

01:10:00.746 --> 01:10:04.446
You guys are expecting people with no shade or nothing to stay till five o'clock.

01:10:04.606 --> 01:10:07.486
Are you crazy? So we're like, well, dude, that's all you do is tell us.

01:10:07.606 --> 01:10:11.906
We'll dial it back. We dial it back to two o'clock. We saw like a hundred registrations in a week.

01:10:12.406 --> 01:10:17.846
Wow. Yeah. So I think people are just so preoccupied with their own agenda.

01:10:18.306 --> 01:10:21.746
They just don't have those old vibes anymore of just, hey, let's just go and

01:10:21.746 --> 01:10:24.586
set up and chill. Right, right. Exactly.

01:10:25.146 --> 01:10:28.806
And I'm in the middle somehow. I do feel you on that.

01:10:28.946 --> 01:10:33.146
And I think that there's ways you can you can kind of circumvent that.

01:10:33.286 --> 01:10:36.506
Like, I mean, I've been to a few events that are held outside.

01:10:36.506 --> 01:10:41.146
It wouldn't take much to bring out like a tent or something for people to sit

01:10:41.146 --> 01:10:42.906
under the shade or at least.

01:10:43.146 --> 01:10:47.306
You're right, though. We did that. So we had to go back to the city and we had

01:10:47.306 --> 01:10:50.926
to say, OK, at first you told us that all the buses and stuff,

01:10:51.006 --> 01:10:53.446
they couldn't set their tents up and their canopies.

01:10:53.966 --> 01:10:58.746
What's the reason behind that? Oh, fire marshal and all the stuff we got back and forth.

01:10:58.986 --> 01:11:02.486
We pressed on them. We're like, look, we're trying to create this event.

01:11:02.706 --> 01:11:07.446
The city's behind us. They're sponsoring the event. like if they can set their

01:11:07.446 --> 01:11:09.646
canopies up, it's going to change everything.

01:11:09.946 --> 01:11:13.286
We made that announcement, dude. That was the same time we dialed the time back.

01:11:13.426 --> 01:11:16.386
We had like three big things. It just blew up. Yeah.

01:11:16.766 --> 01:11:23.406
Wow. Yeah. Good stuff. Yeah. How about this one? All right. Most underrated builder in the scene.

01:11:24.146 --> 01:11:28.866
Oh gosh. That's a great question. There's a lot now, dude, man.

01:11:29.126 --> 01:11:30.946
There's, there's, there's a lot now.

01:11:31.446 --> 01:11:37.626
There is a guy out of Hesperia. Sean from Slow Ride Garage.

01:11:38.640 --> 01:11:47.920
He does some really amazing work and, you know, I try to push him as much as I can. Okay.

01:11:48.120 --> 01:11:51.300
And I would, I would just say that he's one of those hidden heroes.

01:11:51.540 --> 01:11:55.320
His work is so good and like so meticulous.

01:11:55.640 --> 01:12:01.320
Yeah. I would say he's one of the ones that I think is so good and doesn't get a lot of press.

01:12:02.220 --> 01:12:07.580
One word that sums up the entire VW journey thus far. Awesome.

01:12:08.680 --> 01:12:11.900
Awesome awesome awesome it really is it

01:12:11.900 --> 01:12:14.940
i i feel i feel blessed and grateful

01:12:14.940 --> 01:12:17.760
because i mean i i ended up where i really

01:12:17.760 --> 01:12:20.800
shouldn't have been you know by all

01:12:20.800 --> 01:12:23.700
means it's like i should not have been

01:12:23.700 --> 01:12:27.660
the editor of a vw magazine but conversely

01:12:27.660 --> 01:12:30.500
i am so grateful to be a part of this and

01:12:30.500 --> 01:12:38.000
to be a part of a community number one that is not only one of the most enthusiastic

01:12:38.000 --> 01:12:44.840
that i've ever been a part of and one of the most passionate but the one of

01:12:44.840 --> 01:12:50.140
the most kind and generous and helpful like when i was driving back east,

01:12:50.720 --> 01:12:54.700
I was going through Alabama or Tennessee, one of those places,

01:12:54.980 --> 01:12:59.820
and there was a- Two amazing shops in both, Riverbank Customs,

01:12:59.920 --> 01:13:01.880
Pell City, Alabama, and then- Oh, yeah.

01:13:02.940 --> 01:13:08.800
Long Restoration, Brad Long. Yes. Whoa, dude. Brad Long's cars, whoa.

01:13:09.540 --> 01:13:14.440
Exactly. He's kind of like the Buddy Hale of the East Coast. Dude, rock star.

01:13:15.260 --> 01:13:18.760
He's amazing. He came on the podcast. I was privileged to have him.

01:13:18.760 --> 01:13:22.840
You know, these guys, man, these real, you know, talented artists,

01:13:23.000 --> 01:13:28.200
artists of the, of the VW craft, they make it seem so easy.

01:13:29.600 --> 01:13:34.860
Absolutely. It's like, I keep tuning into his, his Instagram or his Facebook every day.

01:13:35.020 --> 01:13:38.580
Look, dude, I just pulled it up. He's, he's right here. He's working on this baby blue one.

01:13:38.720 --> 01:13:44.440
I think this is a 71 bringing it to bug jam, but I just watch his videos and I'm like, dude.

01:13:45.080 --> 01:13:49.260
Yeah. And it comes so natural. It just flows out of them. And that's what I,

01:13:49.280 --> 01:13:51.560
that's what I think is so, so amazing.

01:13:51.740 --> 01:13:56.580
But the fact that you have this group of people who are not only dedicated,

01:13:56.760 --> 01:14:00.460
passionate and willing to go out and do cool stuff, but they're also,

01:14:00.600 --> 01:14:01.500
they want to help others.

01:14:01.520 --> 01:14:05.860
It's like, I saw a VW bus pulled over at the side of the road and some dude

01:14:05.860 --> 01:14:08.580
in a beetle pulled up behind him to help him out. Exactly.

01:14:09.240 --> 01:14:13.060
That is what our industry is all about. That's it. That's the culture.

01:14:13.220 --> 01:14:17.120
Listen, man, this has been an absolute blast. I think your story is pretty much

01:14:17.120 --> 01:14:20.560
a perfect example of what happens when passion meets persistence.

01:14:20.900 --> 01:14:25.720
Oh, thank you. From typewriters to timelines, I think you have kept the VW story

01:14:25.720 --> 01:14:29.900
alive for generations to enjoy. So we thank you so much.

01:14:30.160 --> 01:14:35.100
Everybody go check out VW Trends Magazine, print, digital, whatever your flavor is.

01:14:35.220 --> 01:14:40.280
Keep supporting the people that pour their heart and soul into this culture. I know I do.

01:14:40.500 --> 01:14:44.480
I know Dan does. Dan, thank you so much, brother, for joining us today.

01:14:44.920 --> 01:14:50.220
My pleasure. Thank you. You're the man. And that's a wrap for this episode of Dub Life Diaries.

01:14:50.730 --> 01:14:54.230
Thanks for riding along with us and diving into these incredible stories of

01:14:54.230 --> 01:14:56.290
the people in the doves that drive their dreams.

01:14:56.570 --> 01:15:01.110
If you loved today's episode, don't forget to subscribe or hit that follow button

01:15:01.110 --> 01:15:02.430
so you never miss an adventure.

01:15:02.730 --> 01:15:07.370
Do you have a story to tell or know somebody else who's living the dove life? Awesome.

01:15:07.670 --> 01:15:12.730
Reach out to us. You can find us on all socials at Dove Life Diaries or shoot

01:15:12.730 --> 01:15:14.490
me an email. I'm not hard to find.

01:15:15.350 --> 01:15:20.410
DoveLifeDiaries at gmail.com. until next time keep the engines humming and the

01:15:20.410 --> 01:15:25.010
wheels turning and always follow the road that inspires you this is joe person

01:15:25.010 --> 01:15:27.330
i'm signing off i'll catch you on the.