Revving Up Memories with Chris White & Riverbank Customs: A Southern VW Legend Ep18

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Music.

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All right, welcome back to Dub Life Diaries, the VW Lifestyle Podcast.

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Today's guest isn't just a builder. He is a revivalist, a man whose blood truly runs air cool.

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Born and raised in the red clay of Odenville, Alabama, where mudslinging Sundays

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were sacred and Volkswagens weren't just cars. They were more like family.

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He grew up wrenching with his father, the legendary Frank White,

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in a backyard shop where magic happened. just one greasy bolt at a time.

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From humble beginnings, scrubbing parts to full-blown Baja builds,

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Chris White has lived and breathed a dud life longer than some of us have been alive.

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He stepped away as life sometimes demands, but fate, a 73 thing and a pandemic

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gave him a second chance.

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And that's when Riverbank Customs was born.

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Since then, he and his crew have built showstopping Volkswagens,

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dominated the Southeast scene, and reignited a movement that blends old-school

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soul with new-school craftsmanship.

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He's a husband. He's a father. He's a faith-driven craftsman.

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And today we dive into the mud, the metal, and the memories of a true Southern VW legend.

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Please welcome to the podcast the founder of Riverbank Customs,

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the king of clean build and the heart of Alabama's air-cooled revival.

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Give it up for Christopher White.

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Hey, Joe, thanks for having us on, man. And this is a huge honor for me and my crew.

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Man, thank you for being willing. I'll tell a story about you here in just a second.

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But about three years ago, I came to Bug Jam and I met you and I talked to you

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at your booth and we just rapped for a couple of minutes and you don't remember me.

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And it's OK. But back what came home was your logo and your sticker.

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And it went on my nightstand.

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It's like a I don't know. It's like next to my bed. But it's I just stuff a

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bunch of stuff in it. But you open the right side door and it's all my VW stuff

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and stickers, you know, from collectively from over the years.

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And you're up at the top left.

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So I don't know if I dream this into reality or what, but it ended up happening,

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man. So I've known you since before I knew you.

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Yeah, that's cool. And one thing that we kind of live by here,

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and one thing that God has shown in all this, God puts people in places.

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He has a plan for all of us, and he puts people in that plan where he wants

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them to be, and he makes things happen.

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So who knows? He may have put us together. it.

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Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, sometimes I feel like that's all that it can be

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because there's really nothing else that could line us up like that.

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So before we dive into some awesome questions, I can't wait to get going on

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this episode today. This is going to be so exciting.

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I do want to touch base on a couple of my sponsors.

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

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USA subscribers only. Use Dublife 10 for 10% off your subscription.

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This episode is also powered by Salty Dub, born by the beach,

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built for the road, where VW vibes meet epic events and swag.

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Obviously, you can get all the latest at saltydub.com. Also,

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use Dub Life, D-U-B-L-I-F-E, at checkout for 10% off your purchase.

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My last shout out to my buddy, Dino Styles.

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Dino's Garage in DC Metro. If you're in that area, everybody needs a good Volkswagen mechanic.

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So that is your guide. Dino, thank you for the support.

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All right, my man. Mr. Chris White, back to you. Back to you.

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Thank you. So tell me, man, what was life like growing up in Odenville?

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Man, that's a huge question right there. And that's something that is a huge

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topic in my life, around me and my family and my friends.

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Growing up in Odenville, Odenville was like small town USA.

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A lot like Mayberry, for those of you that are old enough to remember the Andy Griffith Show.

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Odenville was truly that place where everybody knew everybody.

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Most families, including the Layton family that we'll talk about later on,

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are three and even four generations deep in this community. Wow.

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Excuse me. My brother and I attended the same high school that our father did.

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You could literally stand on our front porch and see the high school.

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We live within a mile of where daddy actually grew up and spent most of his life.

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It's that town where everybody knew everybody, like I said. But I can remember

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as a teenager, and sometimes I was a pretty wild child, when I got in trouble

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with the police, they took me home.

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And that was the worst thing they could do. They took me home to daddy because

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daddy was one of their friends.

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I never got a ticket in Odenville. I always got carried home.

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And that kind of always created the feeling that Odenville was my safe place.

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If I got in trouble, if I could get back to Odenville, everything would be okay.

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If I got to running with the wrong crowd, if I could get back to Odin,

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everything would be okay.

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I actually, one time, I was older and I knew better. I got in trouble once for

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driving my rail buggy down the wrong side of the road.

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I was going to a little test hill right there beside the shop,

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and I just stayed in the left-hand lane.

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So when Chief Bill pulled me over, he kind of fussed at me a little bit,

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and he said, Chris, all I need you to do, I don't care if you're driving this

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thing on the road, he said, I just need you to stay in the right lane. Could you do that?

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So that's kind of how we grew up.

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So you mentioned your dad a couple times in that. Obviously,

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sounds like a legend. What was Frank White like in the shop?

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Well, again, thanks for asking about my daddy.

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After daddy passed away in 2013, mommy used to always say, your favorite hobby

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or your favorite thing is to talk about your daddy.

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And it actually was. Growing up in Odenville, as I talk about,

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we were three generations deep.

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Daddy was well-known in Odenville because he was from there.

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He lived in, we also lived on that main drag in town. You had to go,

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going into town, you went right past our house, right past our shop.

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At one time, my daddy and his best friend, Terry Searles, were the police in

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the city. And now imagine that.

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Daddy's shop was right beside our house. So if you, coming down that Highway

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411 right there, going into Odenville, you saw what was sitting at the shop,

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or you saw what we was working on.

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And it was just cool, because everybody saw the Volkswagen sitting out there.

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Working in the shop with Denny, he was totally focused, especially if he was

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building an engine or something.

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He didn't want a lot of humor and a lot of horseplay while he was trying to

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work on something, especially at the engine, the bottom end of the engine.

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He didn't want to miss something.

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Again, he was totally focused. He was that guy that he didn't laugh and cut up a lot.

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At least he didn't with me. He may have when he was off with his other friends.

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He was always business when he was in the shop there with me.

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And he was that guy, he was that old school, I don't want to call my own daddy

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a greaser, but for a sense, that's what he was.

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He grew up dirt road poor. He learned to fix everything. He learned to fix his

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stuff because he wasn't going to pay somebody else.

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That's right. He was that guy who always had the grease rag hanging out his back pocket.

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Growing up, if daddy moved, I moved. He was truly my best friend.

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I was there with him as much as I possibly could to hand him tools,

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to lose his tools, which he got on me pretty hard, you know,

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over the course of my life.

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Or if it wasn't nothing else but just I'd be playing in the car or the buggy

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while he was working on it, and he'd get mad because I was knocking dirt on,

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you know, knocking dirt down into his eyes while he was under the car.

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Dude, little did I know those nights out there in the shop and those weekends,

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little did I know that would shape my future.

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Learning what I learned from him, the basics of mechanics, that's what got me

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into the automotive industry.

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And my mechanical experience is what led me to where I'm at today.

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Not just in the Volkswagen scene, the Volkswagen community, but also in my career

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at Honda. Let's go back to being a kid.

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How'd it feel for you to be a young boy and grow up around all that?

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It never bothered me a bit. I mean, my mommy used to get so aggravated.

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My clothes would be nasty and greasy and ratty.

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That was my happy place. Again, and you'll hear me talk about this throughout the podcast.

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Whatever daddy was doing, wherever daddy was at, that's what I want to be doing.

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And if there was an engine sitting out there, whether it was a go-kart engine

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for me, or whether it was a Volkswagen engine or a lawnmower or whatever,

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I was that kid that was going to tear it apart.

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I was going to tear it apart, figure out what made it work, and put it back

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together. That's how I learned. And I didn't care.

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That's where I was happiest at. If I was knee deep in the grease,

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grime, it didn't matter to me. That's where I wanted to be.

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I wanted to tear that greasy, nasty engine down.

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Let's reflect on and even fast forward now to where you ended up because of

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all the lessons that you learned of being a young child, being around your father.

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What was one of the first times, if you can remember, that your dad ever saw

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one of your builds, one of your builds?

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Okay, so one of the first things that I built on my own that really comes to

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mind, I built a lot of buggies, but he and I built them together.

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So that was something we did together.

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And I remember asking him one time, I said, Dad, do you ever think I'd take

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them buggies to the next level?

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Because we were in the backyard and there was a kind of a wind burn or a water

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burn there in his backyard and I was jumping it in my rail.

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He'd tell me, he'd say, go around a little bit, go a little bit different,

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hit it a little bit different, go a little bit faster. And he was kind of getting excited about it too.

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I just remember asking him, did you think I'd ever take it to this level?

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Because I had so much more equipment, so much better equipment than he had ever had.

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He just said, yeah, I really did.

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But one of the funniest builds that really comes to mind, that he was also into

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motorcycles at a younger age, street bikes, Harley-Davidson's, that sort of thing.

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And he actually got hurt really bad when he was a young adult.

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So, therefore, a period of time when I got away from the Volkswagen scene,

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I got into the chopper product.

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You know, if you remember when Orange County Choppers and Jesse James and all that was real popular.

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Oh, yeah. I got into the motorcycle scene.

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Well, I built, as ironic as it is, I built a CB750 Honda chopper.

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Rigid frame, extended forks. I mean, outlaw.

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This thing was bad. But it was a death machine. I mean, it was an accident waiting to happen.

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And I'll never forget, Daddy got on it one time because he did.

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Again, he liked motorcycles.

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He got on it one time and go ride it around the yard. And he didn't go,

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I don't know, 50, 75 feet.

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And he come back, he got off and he said, there ain't no way I'm riding that

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thing. He said, I don't know how you can do it.

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I don't know how you can ride that thing when I was suspension.

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But that was one of my first builds. And that was, I remember seeing his expression.

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I remember seeing his smiling face because he thought it was cool, but he wasn't riding it.

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Tell me about that time that you were freezing in the

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74 beetle on the way to school i know this created

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a impactful memory for you so talking about just

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setting the 74 beetle just a little bit of history about

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that to start with and i and please excuse

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me i can get very long-winded i'm that person who loves

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to reminisce oh let's get it i love these stories

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but when my when my brother my older brother

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he's five years my brother keith he's five years older than i

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am when keith come alone daddy built

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him a 74 model standard beetle i never

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forget we bought it from my uncle's car lot it was that on that godly orange

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or in godly orange it had the vents in the back and it had to rust around the

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vents it's very common yeah just a just an average beetle run good you know

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in 70 this is 74 model and it was probably in 86 so it was fairly still fairly a new car.

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We took that car completely apart, sanded it down, you know,

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bare metal, and repainted it.

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Painted it, I don't know the exact color, painted it a metallic silver.

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Had the aluminum Kragers on it, and it was a beautiful car.

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We decromed it. We painted all the chrome a flat black, the big shock,

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the huge shock bumpers, we painted them black.

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All the trim on the side was black. Everything really matched.

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And in typical 80s theme, I told you it had the Kragers on the back,

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but it had big, it had Kragers all the way around.

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It had the big tires on the back, small tires on the front, a diamond tuck interior.

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That just screams 1980s.

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But we drove that car. Keith and I drove that car back before school every day.

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And like I said, you could stand on our front porch and see the high scope.

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But every morning during the winter, Keith would go out there,

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and God loved him. He'd crank it up.

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He'd call himself, let it warm up. And 10 minutes later, we'd go out there and

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get in, and it'd still be cold.

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And here we'd go down the driveway, and he'd go dead.

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Every time he'd lay down on the clutch, he'd go dead. It wouldn't hide on the

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safe for nothing. I couldn't figure it out.

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Why can Daddy work on all these customers' cars and make them perfect?

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But the one car that his kids are riding in, he can't make room.

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He can't make it out of them.

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So every day, we about froze to death.

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And I was so embarrassed because I was afraid that car was going to break down

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and leave us stranded right there and somebody was going to see us because i

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get embarrassed when my cars break

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down i get embarrassed real easy that's just me so i was so scared but,

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keith was good at it i had to give him credit and i and i give him credit to this day

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he could literally have his one foot on the clutch one foot on the brake have

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his foot turned sideways and trying to give it a little gas to keep it running

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and when it died he had his hand on one hand on the steering wheel one hand

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on the switch and was cranking it back up But almost before it died,

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and for two years, we made it back and forth to school until he finally – he

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graduated and moved on and traded it in and got something else.

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Those trips in that Volkswagen –,

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freezing to death and trying to keep it running, I knew right then my first

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car was not going to be a Volkswagen.

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Man, great, great memory. Talk to me about the first Baja that you built from scrap.

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So you built it from junk. So you heard me talking about, I promised myself

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my first car was not going to be a Volkswagen.

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That's right. So a few years rocked on. Keith

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was still living at home but the lowrider scene

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had come along the lowrider scene had made its way to central

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alabama you know everything cool starts on the

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east coast and makes its way here but the lowrider scene

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finally made it here so when i was 16 daddy

00:15:32.640 --> 00:15:36.820
built me a 84 mile chevrolet s10 slam

00:15:36.820 --> 00:15:39.940
hydraulic bed custom paint job custom interior

00:15:39.940 --> 00:15:42.680
it was cool so i

00:15:42.680 --> 00:15:45.940
turned 16 wasn't really wasn't really

00:15:45.940 --> 00:15:48.920
a whole lot of truck shows going on at the time it was kind of fading out

00:15:48.920 --> 00:15:51.900
a little bit and i just keep kept

00:15:51.900 --> 00:15:54.740
being pulled back to the boat's way i finally had

00:15:54.740 --> 00:15:57.800
a job where i was making a little bit of money because i was able to drive i

00:15:57.800 --> 00:16:01.300
was making a little bit of money and i could drive you know if i needed something

00:16:01.300 --> 00:16:05.980
i could go get it so there was a an older bar sitting in the backyard kind of

00:16:05.980 --> 00:16:10.320
shoved up in the woods we had we had three acres where we lived at and we kind

00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:13.200
of stored a lot of stuff in the back, kind of behind the shop.

00:16:13.940 --> 00:16:17.120
And this was a Baja that had belonged to a friend of the Daddy's.

00:16:17.680 --> 00:16:21.820
It was a swing axle. They tore the fighter gears out of it. And when that happened,

00:16:21.900 --> 00:16:23.880
they just kind of shoved it up in the woods and forgot about it.

00:16:24.400 --> 00:16:29.640
So I go up there, and I pull it out. I knew I could fix it because I knew what

00:16:29.640 --> 00:16:31.900
it'd take. No transmission, no motor.

00:16:32.560 --> 00:16:36.560
A motor transmission from a friend of mine, I want to say for $100, $150.

00:16:37.400 --> 00:16:40.940
And Daddy had an engine sitting there in the shop floor. I don't know where

00:16:40.940 --> 00:16:45.140
it come from. I don't know nothing about it. I just know it was a dual port and it was complete.

00:16:46.020 --> 00:16:49.480
So I put that transmission in there, stuck that engine in there.

00:16:50.560 --> 00:16:55.460
And in all daddy's collection, he had a set of old tractor tires, old tractor Vs.

00:16:56.040 --> 00:16:58.640
So I stuck all that together, bolted it all together.

00:16:59.680 --> 00:17:02.320
Don't even know where I mean, don't even know where all this stuff come from.

00:17:02.940 --> 00:17:05.720
Don't know where I got a battery from. Maybe it's something daddy had. Okay.

00:17:06.621 --> 00:17:11.501
And was able to get this thing cranked and running. Well, that's about all it

00:17:11.501 --> 00:17:12.481
would do is crank and run.

00:17:12.641 --> 00:17:15.161
It would drive, but it was terrible.

00:17:15.761 --> 00:17:20.081
I never even thought anything, never one time thought about brakes until I went

00:17:20.081 --> 00:17:21.701
and drive it around the yard and it had none.

00:17:23.161 --> 00:17:28.321
But it was fun, and that started it all. And honestly, I don't remember.

00:17:28.521 --> 00:17:32.081
I just remember it being a solid car, and it had been cut.

00:17:32.201 --> 00:17:35.161
You know, somebody had cut the fenders off of it, cut the front and rear aprons

00:17:35.161 --> 00:17:40.701
off of it. And I want to say, please don't crucify me. I want to say it was a 67.

00:17:41.161 --> 00:17:46.761
You just don't cut up a 67. Fast forward a bit, meeting Joel Howard and Lee

00:17:46.761 --> 00:17:50.121
Bailey, Big D. How did those guys change your perspective?

00:17:50.421 --> 00:17:53.441
So Lee and Joel were best friends.

00:17:54.041 --> 00:17:57.161
So I'm going to try and tell this story, and we'll probably go around and around

00:17:57.161 --> 00:17:59.541
and go back and forth, because this is a long part of the story.

00:17:59.781 --> 00:18:01.121
Lee and Joel were best friends.

00:18:01.801 --> 00:18:07.641
Lee was a mechanic at the bug shop. And the term Big D comes from just kind

00:18:07.641 --> 00:18:08.701
of being the leader of the bunch.

00:18:08.861 --> 00:18:11.101
He was kind of the big dog.

00:18:11.281 --> 00:18:14.501
He was the one we were always trying to knock off the podium.

00:18:15.501 --> 00:18:20.141
He was kind of, he had all the best equipment. He probably had the best skills.

00:18:21.561 --> 00:18:24.321
And other than luck, sometimes he was probably the best driver.

00:18:24.501 --> 00:18:26.941
So I met Lee from just going down to the bug shop.

00:18:27.181 --> 00:18:31.021
The bug shop was a local Volkswagen restoration parts store type deal.

00:18:31.601 --> 00:18:36.901
Just a few minutes from our shop. so I met him from there but I was coming home

00:18:36.901 --> 00:18:43.281
early one Sunday morning from a night of out partying and probably drinking all night and,

00:18:43.861 --> 00:18:48.061
as I was coming down the road little country road there I seen this car this

00:18:48.061 --> 00:18:51.661
Baja sitting at the gas station and man it was wild so I turned around and go

00:18:51.661 --> 00:18:56.041
back and the gentleman he's standing there pumping gas in it and he introduces

00:18:56.041 --> 00:19:00.761
himself as Joel Howard so he began to tell me about the car and all this and

00:19:00.761 --> 00:19:02.701
at this time I had no idea Yeah.

00:19:03.443 --> 00:19:06.343
That lee had built but it was just it was just a

00:19:06.343 --> 00:19:09.703
super cool car and it wasn't

00:19:09.703 --> 00:19:12.363
very long after that that i put lee and in

00:19:12.363 --> 00:19:15.223
and joel together joel loved riding

00:19:15.223 --> 00:19:19.023
the woods lee loved riding the woods and but it was all about hill climbing

00:19:19.023 --> 00:19:22.803
to them back then that's what we did we went we went from hill to hill and see

00:19:22.803 --> 00:19:27.243
who could make it to the top you could make it to the top you could be the king

00:19:27.243 --> 00:19:31.703
of the hill that day and they might remember you to the they might remember

00:19:31.703 --> 00:19:34.163
you to the next weekend But if you turn it over,

00:19:34.403 --> 00:19:36.903
if you turn it over and turn and do a bunch of stuff up,

00:19:37.663 --> 00:19:40.323
Adrian, man, and people remember you, remember you forever.

00:19:41.563 --> 00:19:45.223
It was that effort, the amount of effort you would give to, you know,

00:19:45.503 --> 00:19:47.763
rag doll it and make it unforgettable.

00:19:48.663 --> 00:19:52.863
Yes, yes, that's exactly how it was. What were some of the biggest lessons that

00:19:52.863 --> 00:19:57.603
you kind of stuck out in, you know, across your career from,

00:19:57.943 --> 00:20:01.183
you know, these guys, the OGs of local bug shop?

00:20:01.183 --> 00:20:07.103
So talking about the local bug shop, that also, that's a lot of what Joel's car was.

00:20:07.283 --> 00:20:11.063
Joel's car that I've seen at the gas station that morning was actually built

00:20:11.063 --> 00:20:13.163
by Lee Bailey at the bug shop.

00:20:13.663 --> 00:20:17.803
So to tell you a little bit about that car, it was the wildest creation I'd ever seen.

00:20:17.963 --> 00:20:25.003
It looked like something that would literally race in the Baja 1000, you know, every season.

00:20:25.163 --> 00:20:32.283
Big, huge travel on the suspension. and it had suspension that I had never, I never had no idea of.

00:20:32.443 --> 00:20:37.023
It had a widened suspension. It had extended trailer arms, three by six trailer

00:20:37.023 --> 00:20:39.463
arms. It had disc brakes on all four corners.

00:20:39.783 --> 00:20:44.803
It had, at that time, it just had tracker V's on them, which is common for what

00:20:44.803 --> 00:20:45.823
we were running back then.

00:20:46.143 --> 00:20:50.283
But it had these enormous shocks and shock towers that went up in the car.

00:20:50.823 --> 00:20:54.063
Not only did the shocks go up in the back of the car and tie it into like a

00:20:54.063 --> 00:20:58.923
roll cage, But it even had the gas tank in the back of the car where the back seat would normally be.

00:20:59.203 --> 00:21:01.843
And to me, that was just wild.

00:21:02.203 --> 00:21:04.683
I could see this thing climbing some monster hills.

00:21:05.343 --> 00:21:10.643
Man, that lit a fire under me and excitement that just set me on fire.

00:21:11.223 --> 00:21:14.483
I had to figure out how to build one. I had to have one.

00:21:15.183 --> 00:21:18.143
And that's a lot of what I learned from hanging around the bug shop,

00:21:18.543 --> 00:21:19.943
hanging around with Lee.

00:21:20.703 --> 00:21:24.363
We ride on Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes we'd ride Friday night.

00:21:24.583 --> 00:21:25.943
All day Saturday, all day Sunday.

00:21:26.563 --> 00:21:30.063
Monday afternoon, we all met back at the bug shop. And what we used to call

00:21:30.063 --> 00:21:35.783
benchtop racing, we was all hanging out at the bug shop there and kind of talking about things.

00:21:36.803 --> 00:21:41.163
What was this, what was that, and laughing at one another for being silly.

00:21:41.483 --> 00:21:47.123
And hanging out at the bug shop, I learned kind of more the technical side.

00:21:48.043 --> 00:21:52.243
Daddy was good. Daddy was really good at building engines, and he was really

00:21:52.243 --> 00:21:54.783
good at making them run and doing the mechanics of it.

00:21:55.531 --> 00:22:00.391
The biggest thing that daddy ever built was like an 1835, and it was a strong engine.

00:22:00.951 --> 00:22:05.471
So when I was hanging around the bug shop, these guys were taking it to the next level.

00:22:05.591 --> 00:22:10.851
They had big stroker engines and just crazy combinations and running some big

00:22:10.851 --> 00:22:15.251
tires and just things that you wouldn't normally, you wouldn't think a Volkswagen could do.

00:22:15.331 --> 00:22:17.911
They were making them do it, and I just fell in love with that,

00:22:17.951 --> 00:22:18.991
and that's what I wanted to do.

00:22:19.451 --> 00:22:23.171
So I learned a lot about how to build a stroker engine, how to clearance the

00:22:23.171 --> 00:22:24.711
case, what that was all about.

00:22:25.971 --> 00:22:29.731
I really think being down at the bug shop as a little know-it-all kid because

00:22:29.731 --> 00:22:34.891
that's what i was i was 17 18 years old hanging out with these older guys and

00:22:34.891 --> 00:22:36.471
i really think lee just like to laugh at.

00:22:38.051 --> 00:22:42.711
I think he just he he liked to laugh at me and see what he could trade me or

00:22:42.711 --> 00:22:48.851
sell me or just whatever we could do and then fast forward 33 years later we're great friends,

00:22:50.011 --> 00:22:53.971
if lee bailey had it on his car on his baja if he had it on his rail,

00:22:54.451 --> 00:23:00.991
in my mind it must be the guy it must be the best that's awesome man i never

00:23:00.991 --> 00:23:05.931
forget one time this is how much influence he had on me back then the boat shop

00:23:05.931 --> 00:23:10.871
had sponsored a big poker run there and there was probably a hundred cars hundred

00:23:10.871 --> 00:23:13.331
buddies bajas motors or whatever showed up,

00:23:14.111 --> 00:23:17.571
and again it was all about who could get to the top of the hill it was a competition

00:23:17.571 --> 00:23:20.911
But Lee had told me he'd done a lot of work in his bar to make it lightweight.

00:23:21.131 --> 00:23:22.751
And we laughed, and I was like, lightweight?

00:23:23.431 --> 00:23:26.031
You know, because these cars don't weigh nothing anyway. And he said,

00:23:26.111 --> 00:23:27.331
man, you ain't going to believe this.

00:23:27.851 --> 00:23:30.971
I said, what? He said, I even threw my ashtray out. He said,

00:23:30.971 --> 00:23:32.311
I even took my ashtray out.

00:23:32.611 --> 00:23:35.891
I couldn't stand that. I reached up and grabbed my ashtray and threw it out the window.

00:23:36.571 --> 00:23:42.271
It was $20 worth of change in the ashtray. Oh, that's a letter for me.

00:23:43.216 --> 00:23:48.836
That's how crazy it was. But on a serious note, the boat shop was owned by Mr. Bill Winsley.

00:23:48.956 --> 00:23:53.916
And he was one of the greatest guys that I was ever around. He owned the shop.

00:23:54.176 --> 00:23:56.136
He was always willing to help everybody.

00:23:56.776 --> 00:24:01.516
And if I needed something and I really didn't have the money right then, he knew I was good for it.

00:24:01.916 --> 00:24:06.576
He said, take it with you and pay me later. Those days, those kind of people,

00:24:06.716 --> 00:24:09.536
those days, those shops, they're just few and far between now.

00:24:10.316 --> 00:24:17.476
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I understand and recognize that level of commitment and almost that level of service.

00:24:17.956 --> 00:24:25.236
You know, for your best customers at times, especially young kids,

00:24:25.516 --> 00:24:28.876
you know, sometimes, like you said, man, you know, they're good for it.

00:24:29.096 --> 00:24:32.436
And yeah, I just, what a vibe for sure.

00:24:32.836 --> 00:24:37.716
You know, life continued to happen around you. You grew up and I know you went

00:24:37.716 --> 00:24:40.296
through a stint where you got away from VWs.

00:24:41.136 --> 00:24:46.696
So at the time that you were away from them, talk to me about what that timeframe was.

00:24:46.896 --> 00:24:51.096
And did you ever think that you would get back into them? So looking back,

00:24:51.136 --> 00:24:55.336
we were riding, we were riding buggies. Like I said, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

00:24:55.796 --> 00:24:58.496
And it was just, I mean, and that's what I, what we did.

00:24:58.996 --> 00:25:02.756
We'd ride them all weekend, work on them all week. And it was just a lifestyle.

00:25:02.756 --> 00:25:05.236
And it, it became consuming.

00:25:05.496 --> 00:25:10.276
So after my wife, Becky and I bought our first house, soon after that, my son was born.

00:25:10.436 --> 00:25:13.496
My first, my first child. I felt like it was time to step up.

00:25:13.716 --> 00:25:17.116
I felt like God was telling me, hey, it's time for you to grow up.

00:25:17.236 --> 00:25:19.916
It's time for you, which I've always been the one to work.

00:25:20.356 --> 00:25:24.476
I've never had a problem with that. At this time, I was working at an aviation

00:25:24.476 --> 00:25:27.896
place next to the Birmingham airport, and things were really good.

00:25:28.336 --> 00:25:32.876
But I felt like I had a bigger responsibility now than being out there in the

00:25:32.876 --> 00:25:35.736
woods, bouncing around, rolling up down the hills.

00:25:36.076 --> 00:25:39.136
I just felt like there was more. I needed to be more responsible.

00:25:39.456 --> 00:25:44.156
It was time to have something. It was time to start our life together.

00:25:45.116 --> 00:25:48.956
So at this time, like I said, I was working at the airport, and I was also running

00:25:48.956 --> 00:25:53.796
a lawn care business, kind of like Derrick Henry, but not to that size.

00:25:55.456 --> 00:26:01.516
But I wanted it to be something. I wanted to see what could I make out of it, what could I do with it.

00:26:01.996 --> 00:26:06.056
So I knew the only way I was ever going to be successful, either in my career

00:26:06.056 --> 00:26:10.136
or running my business, whatever it was, I needed to be focused.

00:26:10.716 --> 00:26:16.236
I need to be focused on the good things. I'm focused on having something besides

00:26:16.236 --> 00:26:17.996
focused on where am I going this weekend.

00:26:18.176 --> 00:26:20.676
So I made the decision. I'll never forget. I was standing out in my daddy's

00:26:20.676 --> 00:26:23.436
backyard. My buggy was sitting there on the trailer, and it was muddy.

00:26:23.596 --> 00:26:26.896
And, you know, it was just trashed from the weekend. And I was already kind

00:26:26.896 --> 00:26:29.916
of making a checklist of what I needed to fix and what I needed to do.

00:26:30.036 --> 00:26:32.836
And honestly, I was probably getting the beer cans out of it.

00:26:32.936 --> 00:26:35.176
And I thought, you know, I need to put this thing up.

00:26:35.296 --> 00:26:37.576
So I hooked my truck up to it, and I backed it, trailer and all,

00:26:37.656 --> 00:26:41.796
right inside the barn up at my daddy's. And that's where it sat that whole summer.

00:26:42.036 --> 00:26:44.696
So later on, you know, it sat there all summer.

00:26:44.996 --> 00:26:49.136
We still went on a few more rides. Everywhere we rode at had kind of got shut down.

00:26:49.596 --> 00:26:51.356
And it was just getting tougher and tougher.

00:26:52.176 --> 00:26:56.736
So it just kind of moved on to other things. Like I said, our riding place got shut down.

00:26:57.336 --> 00:27:01.456
Most of everybody had sold their equipment. And there wasn't,

00:27:01.516 --> 00:27:05.976
at that point in time, there wasn't any cars around.

00:27:06.596 --> 00:27:12.056
It wasn't like I could just go find a full-body, all-original car and restore it. There wasn't any.

00:27:12.716 --> 00:27:15.556
Any Volkswagen's that were around our community, around my area,

00:27:15.816 --> 00:27:19.836
probably in the state of Alabama. We had cut them up. People had cut them up

00:27:19.836 --> 00:27:20.676
and run them in the woods.

00:27:21.458 --> 00:27:24.978
There wasn't, the streetcar scene had never really took off here.

00:27:25.198 --> 00:27:28.038
So I kind of moved on to the other thing. That's kind of when I got into the

00:27:28.038 --> 00:27:30.458
chopper scene and building motorcycles, as we were talking about.

00:27:30.758 --> 00:27:32.598
How long, how many years did you step away?

00:27:33.318 --> 00:27:36.858
Probably from, I went to work at Honda in 2004.

00:27:37.258 --> 00:27:40.998
So I probably had got away from the Volkswagen scene shortly before that.

00:27:41.258 --> 00:27:47.118
And also I knew, looking back, there's no way I could hold down a job on a manufacturing

00:27:47.118 --> 00:27:52.398
assembly line in the automotive industry and still do the things I did every weekend.

00:27:53.138 --> 00:27:58.558
So sometime around 2001, 2002, when I got out of the Volkswagen scene,

00:27:58.738 --> 00:28:03.458
and then I stayed out of it until somewhere just before COVID.

00:28:04.138 --> 00:28:07.498
Wow. So you took a good amount of time off.

00:28:08.378 --> 00:28:12.398
Yes. I started a career at Honda, and I raised two kids.

00:28:13.218 --> 00:28:17.598
Yeah. I mean, excellent. Fantastic. Both awesome.

00:28:18.258 --> 00:28:24.678
Was there a moment in that time that you ever felt, well, not necessarily that

00:28:24.678 --> 00:28:28.178
you were done with Volkswagen, but that you would never come back?

00:28:28.398 --> 00:28:32.218
Did it ever feel like you were never coming back? That you were, man, I'm done with this.

00:28:32.338 --> 00:28:36.398
It's like, you know, just a hobby or what I did when I was young.

00:28:36.638 --> 00:28:38.898
Did you ever feel like it was, you were never going back? Look,

00:28:39.178 --> 00:28:45.018
as a mechanic, as a entrepreneur, as a gearhead, I can remember thinking,

00:28:45.278 --> 00:28:48.438
I want to learn how to work on something besides an air-cooled Volkswagen.

00:28:49.038 --> 00:28:52.658
Everybody says anybody can build a small block Chevrolet. Well,

00:28:52.918 --> 00:28:54.098
that's something I've never done.

00:28:54.538 --> 00:28:58.178
It's all the same concept, but it's just something I've never done.

00:28:58.438 --> 00:29:04.118
My main focus, my main thing, my whole life has been Volkswagen and air-cooled Volkswagen.

00:29:05.678 --> 00:29:08.918
So I wanted to do something else.

00:29:09.378 --> 00:29:12.738
I wanted to build some other kind of car. I was still into building things,

00:29:12.778 --> 00:29:14.278
but I wanted to build something else.

00:29:14.658 --> 00:29:18.878
So that's when I started doing the work on the old school Honda motorcycles.

00:29:19.078 --> 00:29:20.978
I worked on quite a few of them. And there are men.

00:29:21.854 --> 00:29:25.554
There wasn't a whole lot of Volkswagens left around here because we had cut them up.

00:29:25.854 --> 00:29:29.854
I can remember, I didn't see this personally, but one of our local junkyards,

00:29:30.194 --> 00:29:34.694
Jim's VW here in Leeds, Alabama, real close to my house, I can remember Jim

00:29:34.694 --> 00:29:39.874
telling me that they brought a crusher out to his junkyard and crushed over

00:29:39.874 --> 00:29:41.954
100 cars, so they were gone.

00:29:42.154 --> 00:29:48.434
And I remember, I grew up in these times too, 70s, 80s. I was born in 77.

00:29:49.094 --> 00:29:52.254
You know i got my first beetle that was

00:29:52.254 --> 00:29:55.794
a 72 in 96 i

00:29:55.794 --> 00:29:58.834
remember all of this i remember car crushing i remember

00:29:58.834 --> 00:30:02.154
when you know they used to tell you to pour that cease

00:30:02.154 --> 00:30:07.994
engine cease stuff in your in your block before the record come pick it up man

00:30:07.994 --> 00:30:13.674
i remember you know those years crazy crazy times they just crushed them and

00:30:13.674 --> 00:30:17.894
they were gone forever and you don't even think that just a hundred of them

00:30:17.894 --> 00:30:20.454
in just that one shop in your little old town.

00:30:20.994 --> 00:30:24.274
Oh, yeah. Crazy, man. Crazy for sure.

00:30:25.454 --> 00:30:29.854
So fast forward a little bit. I know you had touched on this in some of your

00:30:29.854 --> 00:30:34.854
background, but you got a phone call from a Miss Ora Mae Layton.

00:30:35.034 --> 00:30:38.174
And tell me how this phone call changed your life.

00:30:38.294 --> 00:30:43.114
So a little history about this, and we have touched on this a little bit.

00:30:43.294 --> 00:30:46.054
Again, growing up in small town USA, growing up in Odenwall,

00:30:46.174 --> 00:30:49.934
you knew everybody. Ms. Layton was a school bus driver, Ms. Ormay.

00:30:50.074 --> 00:30:53.614
She was a school bus driver and substitute teacher there at the high school

00:30:53.614 --> 00:30:54.574
where I went to school at.

00:30:54.854 --> 00:30:58.454
But not only that, she was a neighbor from less than a mile down the road.

00:30:59.334 --> 00:31:03.594
I went to school with her kids, Dennis and Gwen. We all grew up from little kids together.

00:31:03.854 --> 00:31:07.334
But there was a time when we were all little kids that we all hunted together.

00:31:07.534 --> 00:31:10.834
Mr. and Ms. Layton hunted, deer hunted in a club that I was in with some other

00:31:10.834 --> 00:31:13.914
friends of mine, some other, you know, friends of my daddies. My daddy didn't hunt.

00:31:13.994 --> 00:31:17.234
We worked all the time. The friendship kind of began, and I had always really

00:31:17.234 --> 00:31:19.874
been close to this family, especially after my daddy died.

00:31:20.594 --> 00:31:23.674
Mr. and Mrs. Layton kind of really took me in, and they just,

00:31:24.354 --> 00:31:26.994
Mr. Larry and Ms. Orme, they're just, they're great people.

00:31:27.354 --> 00:31:31.554
They've been really, really good to me, and they've been good to my kids and my family.

00:31:31.774 --> 00:31:34.854
I had always heard Ms. Orme talk about she wanted a Volkswagen thing,

00:31:34.934 --> 00:31:39.094
and she'd always reference to one that daddy had there at the shop.

00:31:39.654 --> 00:31:42.774
Daddy had one that belonged to a friend of ours that we kind of stored for years.

00:31:42.774 --> 00:31:45.814
Years she kept referencing referencing that car

00:31:45.814 --> 00:31:49.134
so she called me one night and she

00:31:49.134 --> 00:31:52.554
says hey chris i need you to look at something i said yes ma'am she said

00:31:52.554 --> 00:31:55.434
i need you she said i'm serious i need you to go online and go to this ebay

00:31:55.434 --> 00:32:00.514
auction and look at this car she said i want to buy it she says it's a 73 volkswagen

00:32:00.514 --> 00:32:06.294
fun and i want to say i could be wrong i had to ask her i want to say it was

00:32:06.294 --> 00:32:12.914
like in upstate new york so number one it's an northern car we all know about that and it's on eBay.

00:32:14.032 --> 00:32:18.792
So I was automatically against it because it was a substantial amount of money.

00:32:18.872 --> 00:32:22.852
And I could tell by the sound of her voice, she was determined on buying this car.

00:32:23.052 --> 00:32:26.412
So I went and looked at it, and I called her back, and I said,

00:32:26.512 --> 00:32:28.492
Ms. Ormay, I said, I'm going to be honest with you, I'm scared of it.

00:32:28.592 --> 00:32:31.372
I said, if I could, if I could, we're standing there looking at it,

00:32:31.492 --> 00:32:32.852
it may be altogether different.

00:32:33.312 --> 00:32:36.592
I said, but I'm not, and there's things that I can't see in the picture.

00:32:37.212 --> 00:32:41.992
I don't know. I'm just scared of it. It was a complete car. It had BRM wheels

00:32:41.992 --> 00:32:43.052
on it. It was black and white.

00:32:43.512 --> 00:32:48.292
And it was a nice car the way it was. So little did I know, at the time, her and Mr.

00:32:48.372 --> 00:32:49.552
Larry was kind of fussing back

00:32:49.552 --> 00:32:52.572
and forth about his money and her money and my things and your things.

00:32:52.972 --> 00:32:55.172
You know, as married couples do. Yep.

00:32:55.772 --> 00:33:00.252
And she told me later on, she said, I was buying that car. I was mad at Larry

00:33:00.252 --> 00:33:01.232
and I was buying that car.

00:33:03.372 --> 00:33:06.992
She'll get, she'll get off, she'll call me after this podcast and she'll call

00:33:06.992 --> 00:33:10.672
me and she'll say, you probably shouldn't have told that, but that's just part of the story.

00:33:11.472 --> 00:33:14.932
Yeah. So she called me later, maybe the next day, and she said,

00:33:14.992 --> 00:33:16.892
hey, I bought that car. I said, okay.

00:33:17.232 --> 00:33:21.832
She said, I'm having it shipped to Dennis' house. It's a Dennis' shop. I said, okay.

00:33:22.572 --> 00:33:25.452
She said, it's supposed to be here Friday. I think it actually got there during

00:33:25.452 --> 00:33:29.412
the day, and I wasn't there when they unloaded it, but I was there shortly after that.

00:33:30.612 --> 00:33:34.232
And luckily enough, it turned out to be a fairly nice car.

00:33:35.432 --> 00:33:39.952
It had never been restored. It was kind of unmolested. It needed some work,

00:33:40.012 --> 00:33:41.332
but it was running and driving.

00:33:41.672 --> 00:33:45.312
It was well worth what she paid for. What was it like? I know you brought that

00:33:45.312 --> 00:33:51.412
car back to life, and that's one of the things that got you back on track.

00:33:51.412 --> 00:33:53.652
But what was it like bringing that thing back to life?

00:33:54.732 --> 00:33:58.832
So the coolest thing about that car, we played with it all summer.

00:33:58.972 --> 00:34:03.152
We took it to some cruise ends, and we took it to some just local events, nothing.

00:34:03.792 --> 00:34:09.432
At this time, it was not a show car at all. I think it even had some kind of stinger exhaust on it.

00:34:09.432 --> 00:34:14.532
It was for lack of a better word it was kind of ratty but it was cool i would

00:34:14.532 --> 00:34:19.832
have left it alone but as as fall rolled around and winter rolled around she

00:34:19.832 --> 00:34:24.952
talked about doing a full restoration on that car and she asked me would i be

00:34:24.952 --> 00:34:27.432
in her wouldn't she didn't say would i be interested,

00:34:28.012 --> 00:34:32.872
she said would i be willing to build the engine and this lady this lady this

00:34:32.872 --> 00:34:37.772
family they mean the world to me there's no way i would there's nothing that

00:34:37.772 --> 00:34:39.552
can have made me say no I said, yes, ma'am.

00:34:39.692 --> 00:34:42.572
I said, when you're ready, we'll get started. She said, I'm ready.

00:34:42.932 --> 00:34:46.132
So shortly after that, Dennis pulled the body off of it at his shop,

00:34:46.472 --> 00:34:49.112
and he was going to do all the fab work and all the metal work,

00:34:49.572 --> 00:34:53.552
and I did all the chassis, engine, electrical, all that sort of thing.

00:34:53.632 --> 00:34:56.732
But the funniest part about this car is you hear me talk about Mr. Larry.

00:34:57.412 --> 00:35:03.472
Mr. Larry was Dennis and Lynn's daddy, Miss Orme's husband, and they've been

00:35:03.472 --> 00:35:04.772
married as long as I can remember.

00:35:05.597 --> 00:35:10.537
And Mr. Larry, he's a funny type guy. He's so tight with his money,

00:35:10.637 --> 00:35:11.517
he squeaks when he walks.

00:35:13.237 --> 00:35:16.637
So I tell him, we're going to need, I said, we're going to build this engine.

00:35:16.837 --> 00:35:18.457
We need everything in it brand new.

00:35:19.017 --> 00:35:23.017
No, we don't. Yes, we do. I said, we build this engine for Ms. OMA.

00:35:23.717 --> 00:35:28.317
So one thing led to another, and finally I just said, we need an open checkbook.

00:35:28.497 --> 00:35:31.377
We're going to build this car. We need an open checkbook. Just cutting up,

00:35:31.397 --> 00:35:36.477
it never was serious because I'm not that type person. I wouldn't ever take

00:35:36.477 --> 00:35:39.537
advantage of nobody. I wouldn't spend somebody else's money foolishly.

00:35:40.117 --> 00:35:43.077
But it became a running joke as we built that car. If you need it,

00:35:43.157 --> 00:35:45.917
get it, because we got an open checkbook. We got an open checkbook.

00:35:46.417 --> 00:35:51.037
So the best part about building that car, of course, working with them as family,

00:35:51.377 --> 00:35:54.497
the best part of building that car was being able to build a project,

00:35:55.117 --> 00:35:59.917
a high-end project, the best quality parts of somebody else's budget.

00:36:00.097 --> 00:36:02.417
Every nut and bolt come off. Everything was changed.

00:36:02.617 --> 00:36:05.197
Everything was brand new. It was just super fun.

00:36:05.437 --> 00:36:09.037
But the most fun part about it is it was on somebody else's budget.

00:36:09.217 --> 00:36:11.057
We showed this car all over the Southeast.

00:36:11.257 --> 00:36:15.577
We showed it at Circle Your Wagons. We showed it at Buggerpalooza. It's been the Bug Jam.

00:36:16.297 --> 00:36:20.017
We've showed this car everywhere, and we've had a lot of success with it.

00:36:20.197 --> 00:36:26.237
I've had a lot of offers on this car, but probably the most proud moment of

00:36:26.237 --> 00:36:31.457
this car came last summer, or summer before last year. My daughter was engaged to be married.

00:36:32.262 --> 00:36:36.202
And if you know my life story, you don't know anything about me and my family,

00:36:36.442 --> 00:36:39.902
my daughter is spoiled so bad, she's just terrible.

00:36:40.242 --> 00:36:43.122
She's a hardworking individual. I'm very proud of her.

00:36:43.382 --> 00:36:46.422
But I've spoiled her since day one, and her wedding showed it.

00:36:46.502 --> 00:36:48.982
So we were talking about the wedding, and we went and looked at the venue,

00:36:49.102 --> 00:36:55.562
and everything related to the venue was a white bar dominion in black trim.

00:36:55.742 --> 00:36:59.502
Everything was white with black trim. So thought popped in my mind.

00:37:00.162 --> 00:37:04.222
They're going to do what they call a fake send-off.

00:37:05.262 --> 00:37:09.302
Fireworks, whole nine yards. I said, how cool would it be to do that in Graham's thing?

00:37:09.822 --> 00:37:12.882
So me and Emily and Drew, my son-in-law, my daughter, we talked about it,

00:37:12.902 --> 00:37:14.122
and she thought that was a great idea.

00:37:14.682 --> 00:37:19.742
So we ended up using Graham's thing as the driveway car for my daughter's wedding.

00:37:20.902 --> 00:37:24.062
And Drew, he could have done it. I know he could have.

00:37:24.322 --> 00:37:27.342
But they wanted me to drive. They wanted me to be like the chauffeur.

00:37:27.342 --> 00:37:33.002
So we got video of us driving away from the venue Fireworks going off in the background,

00:37:33.842 --> 00:37:37.522
It's just, it's super cool If you get a chance, check it out on YouTube It's

00:37:37.522 --> 00:37:41.322
Drew and Emily Parker's wedding But you can see that car and what I'm actually

00:37:41.322 --> 00:37:44.262
talking about It's just a proud daddy moment,

00:37:44.882 --> 00:37:50.942
I bet, sounds awesome Little goosebumps there, thinking about how that looks 2021,

00:37:51.462 --> 00:37:56.962
the Volks Jam This is your first show back You won best of show So describe

00:37:56.962 --> 00:38:00.022
what that moment felt like when they called your name.

00:38:00.162 --> 00:38:04.382
So this is a funny story on all of its own. We've told this story many times,

00:38:04.382 --> 00:38:07.002
and we'll continue to tell this story.

00:38:07.762 --> 00:38:11.942
Vose Jam was the first all-VW show that we had carried the car to.

00:38:12.602 --> 00:38:16.042
It was just Dennis, Miss Layton, and myself, nobody else.

00:38:16.462 --> 00:38:21.242
This was new to us. We had no idea what we were doing. We had no idea what to expect.

00:38:22.642 --> 00:38:27.442
I had seen this show before, but I'd never been. I've been to Tannehill State

00:38:27.442 --> 00:38:30.002
Park many times, but never been to a Volkswagen show.

00:38:30.202 --> 00:38:33.022
All week long, we prepped the car, got it just spotless.

00:38:33.402 --> 00:38:36.562
I mean, everything underneath that car is spotless. Inside the wheel wells,

00:38:36.662 --> 00:38:38.162
the front beam, everything's spotless.

00:38:39.642 --> 00:38:43.582
Everything's new. All the fender hardware, all the fender webbing, everything's new.

00:38:45.002 --> 00:38:48.802
So as the day goes on, Miss Layton, she'd come to me and she'd say,

00:38:48.902 --> 00:38:49.722
do you see that orange thing?

00:38:50.222 --> 00:38:52.622
Do you see that thing over there? Do you see this one? Do you see that one?

00:38:52.622 --> 00:38:59.702
She was checking out every car that come in and in her mind she was making mental notes.

00:39:01.321 --> 00:39:05.401
So as the day went on, it was probably 125, 150 cars there. It's a good show.

00:39:05.641 --> 00:39:09.001
Yeah. Huge shout-out to my buddy Adam Simpson. He puts that on.

00:39:09.901 --> 00:39:13.701
So that afternoon, awards time, we're sitting on the front row.

00:39:13.841 --> 00:39:15.681
Again, we had no idea what they expect.

00:39:15.861 --> 00:39:18.021
We don't even know what they're giving for trophies. We don't know.

00:39:18.541 --> 00:39:21.441
It's just a hot day in Alabama, and we were ready to go home.

00:39:23.121 --> 00:39:26.261
So the promoter, he starts going through the trophies, and they're doing,

00:39:26.441 --> 00:39:28.181
I want to say it was top 25.

00:39:29.201 --> 00:39:33.841
And they went through the top 25 pretty quick. Not one mention of Graham Spunny.

00:39:34.301 --> 00:39:38.621
And we saw some other things that were there, and we saw a lot of awards they got.

00:39:39.061 --> 00:39:44.381
And, you know, we wasn't saying nothing. We were just kind of looking at each

00:39:44.381 --> 00:39:46.761
other and, like, confused.

00:39:47.761 --> 00:39:52.781
Because the top 25 come and gone, and no mention of Graham Spunny. Okay.

00:39:53.941 --> 00:39:57.341
So then they went to Best Paint. No mention of Graham Spunny.

00:39:57.961 --> 00:40:00.301
Then they went to Best Engine. No mention of Graham's thing.

00:40:00.941 --> 00:40:04.361
Then they went to Best Interior. No mention of Graham's thing.

00:40:04.901 --> 00:40:10.281
So it's one trophy length. And it's best of show. Well, we're not even thinking about best of show.

00:40:10.601 --> 00:40:15.561
By this time, Dennis and Miss Orme, they're both fighting mad. They're both blood red.

00:40:15.761 --> 00:40:19.161
I mean, they're just boiling. They are boiling.

00:40:20.181 --> 00:40:25.721
So I'm going into defense mode. First of all, I'm riding with them. And I'm in defense mode.

00:40:26.521 --> 00:40:31.841
How am I going to get them out of jail? Because this is fixing to go ugly.

00:40:32.141 --> 00:40:35.041
It's fixing to go south, and it's fixing to go south fast.

00:40:35.541 --> 00:40:37.421
How am I going to get them out of jail?

00:40:38.461 --> 00:40:42.701
Because she's very proud of that car, and he is too, which we all are.

00:40:43.321 --> 00:40:49.661
That's his mom. That's his blood. You know, so I'm thinking, what am I going to do?

00:40:50.141 --> 00:40:53.881
And by that time in the background, they start calling out best of show.

00:40:53.881 --> 00:40:59.921
And they calling out Oramei Graham's thing Riverbank Custis,

00:41:01.106 --> 00:41:02.566
All three of us about fainting.

00:41:04.586 --> 00:41:09.326
I mean, them two, I was standing up. They were sitting there in their chairs. I was standing up.

00:41:09.846 --> 00:41:12.926
And both of them just like fell back in their chairs and like took a breath.

00:41:13.186 --> 00:41:16.586
I watched her go get her trophy. I kid you not.

00:41:17.686 --> 00:41:20.006
And whoever's listening to this, you got my permission to laugh.

00:41:20.106 --> 00:41:21.606
All you want to do is you just had to been there.

00:41:21.786 --> 00:41:27.386
I watched two grown men and a grown woman cry over a car, over a Volkswagen

00:41:27.386 --> 00:41:29.566
that we built in our own shop.

00:41:29.686 --> 00:41:33.846
What a feeling. I was so mesmerized.

00:41:34.086 --> 00:41:37.146
Most time at a show, and this does happen, you'll know this,

00:41:37.146 --> 00:41:38.746
a lot of car shows, people get upset.

00:41:39.266 --> 00:41:42.186
They don't feel like their car was judged right. They don't feel like they were

00:41:42.186 --> 00:41:43.326
treated fair or whatever.

00:41:43.586 --> 00:41:46.486
So they request to see the judges' sheet. I go up to the judges,

00:41:46.746 --> 00:41:50.866
go up to Adam Simpson, the promoter, and I said, you know, can I say,

00:41:50.966 --> 00:41:54.706
do you mind if I see the judges' sheet and the scorecard for this car?

00:41:55.206 --> 00:41:57.946
And he's like, who are you? And I said, well, I built a car.

00:41:58.406 --> 00:42:01.026
He said, what's wrong? He said, you won. What's wrong?

00:42:01.226 --> 00:42:03.486
I said, no, no, no. I'm not upset by no means.

00:42:03.726 --> 00:42:07.226
I said, I'm just kind of mesmerized. I said, I'm in shock.

00:42:07.566 --> 00:42:10.426
I said, this is something we want to do on a regular basis.

00:42:10.786 --> 00:42:13.026
And I said, we want to be on that competitive level.

00:42:13.786 --> 00:42:18.086
So we just want to know what do judges look for? What do judges think?

00:42:18.486 --> 00:42:20.086
And where do we need to make improvements?

00:42:20.906 --> 00:42:24.786
So we kind of had a conversation with the judges and we all laughed and cut

00:42:24.786 --> 00:42:27.686
up. So that was 2021. 2021.

00:42:28.301 --> 00:42:32.441
2022, we go back to the same show and won Best of Show again.

00:42:33.301 --> 00:42:36.881
Same car? Same car. Oh, my goodness.

00:42:37.401 --> 00:42:42.541
And this is one of the oldest running shows, oldest running Volkswagen shows

00:42:42.541 --> 00:42:45.881
in this area, probably in the state of Alabama.

00:42:46.421 --> 00:42:50.321
And we won it two years in a row. We were just amazed.

00:42:50.701 --> 00:42:54.821
But that's kind of the story. That's how special this car is.

00:42:55.041 --> 00:42:59.221
We took this car to Bug Jam two years ago, Probably the year that I met you.

00:42:59.881 --> 00:43:01.921
And she won best in class at Buck Day.

00:43:02.601 --> 00:43:06.601
And you know yourself. If you win a trophy in Dayton City, you've done something.

00:43:06.861 --> 00:43:10.941
What's it like working with Stephen Presley and Dennis Layton?

00:43:11.081 --> 00:43:14.961
Well, I'm as hard-headed of a person as you'll probably ever be.

00:43:15.441 --> 00:43:19.901
I'm going to do it my way. You can tell me your way, and I'll listen.

00:43:20.401 --> 00:43:22.401
But I almost promise you I'm going to do it my way.

00:43:22.921 --> 00:43:26.621
I've learned a lot of lessons the hard way. I've tore up a lot of stuff in my

00:43:26.621 --> 00:43:29.301
life. A lot of stuff that my daddy had come along and fixed.

00:43:29.541 --> 00:43:34.781
I probably work better by myself, but working with these guys is a pleasure.

00:43:35.041 --> 00:43:36.841
It's an honor. It's a privilege.

00:43:37.881 --> 00:43:42.821
Dennis is that guy who wants to just get something done. He wants to, he's dedicated.

00:43:45.141 --> 00:43:49.441
He's focused. He's driven. He wants to, this is what we're going to do today.

00:43:49.781 --> 00:43:51.481
This is what we're going to get done.

00:43:52.441 --> 00:43:56.481
Well, I'm not that guy. I'll work on it at my pace and get to where I want to be.

00:43:57.221 --> 00:44:04.141
Steven, he's the guy who is detail-oriented, and he's the guy who can tell you

00:44:04.141 --> 00:44:09.221
it needs to be this color, this interior, this trim package.

00:44:10.432 --> 00:44:16.372
All of our skills kind of all come together. I'm kind of the mechanics in the

00:44:16.372 --> 00:44:20.792
group and they kind of bring their own to the group.

00:44:21.152 --> 00:44:23.332
So it's a privilege.

00:44:24.012 --> 00:44:30.292
Yeah, that's like the ultimate build is a build that's looked at from several

00:44:30.292 --> 00:44:34.332
perspectives not just one. So that's got to be pretty awesome.

00:44:34.632 --> 00:44:38.732
Tell me, what role does Lee Bailey play now in this new chapter?

00:44:38.952 --> 00:44:41.852
So Lee is is Lee and I worked together.

00:44:42.092 --> 00:44:44.432
After the bug shop days, Lee and I worked at the same place.

00:44:44.552 --> 00:44:46.852
Lee actually worked for my daddy at the airport.

00:44:47.132 --> 00:44:50.892
We always stayed in touch, and we always swapped stories and kind of did the

00:44:50.892 --> 00:44:51.952
motorcycle thing together.

00:44:53.152 --> 00:44:56.872
So a couple years back, when I started kind of getting back into the Volkswagen

00:44:56.872 --> 00:45:01.152
scene, I would call him up, and I'd say, hey, guess what I'm working on?

00:45:01.672 --> 00:45:02.812
Well, hey, what about this?

00:45:04.152 --> 00:45:10.032
And I knew he really, he had his own thing going, and he was doing his own,

00:45:10.172 --> 00:45:13.892
you know, we all live on the river here and we all play with boats and stuff.

00:45:14.632 --> 00:45:17.912
I knew he had his own project, so I didn't want to bother him or nothing.

00:45:18.092 --> 00:45:21.092
But after I got to showing the Graham's thing a couple of times,

00:45:21.192 --> 00:45:24.492
I called him and I said, Lee, I said, Big D, I got to tell you something.

00:45:24.632 --> 00:45:27.752
I said, you know, we played with these cars in the woods and I said,

00:45:28.532 --> 00:45:29.712
it was a lot of money spent.

00:45:30.252 --> 00:45:32.212
I said, but times have changed.

00:45:33.271 --> 00:45:36.771
Said what do you mean and i said these cars are bringing ridiculous money

00:45:36.771 --> 00:45:39.471
he said tell me so i began telling about some

00:45:39.471 --> 00:45:42.611
of the cars i'd seen and the value they were bringing in and

00:45:42.611 --> 00:45:46.491
i said dude i want to open shop and

00:45:46.491 --> 00:45:50.671
i said i think there's money to be made i said but you know i just think the

00:45:50.671 --> 00:45:56.151
opportunity to do what we really love is there that's it's not that there's

00:45:56.151 --> 00:46:00.351
money to be made you know i'm not trying to get rich by no means i said but

00:46:00.351 --> 00:46:03.851
there's there's enough work out there and people are spending money,

00:46:03.851 --> 00:46:08.151
they want quality work and they don't mind paying for it. That's it.

00:46:08.691 --> 00:46:12.211
So that's how, in today's world, that's how you run a business.

00:46:12.491 --> 00:46:16.671
Say what you do, do what you say. So my theory was if we can build a quality

00:46:16.671 --> 00:46:22.211
product, if we can build the best car at an affordable rate and treat people

00:46:22.211 --> 00:46:26.611
right, we'll have more work than we can ever do. Amen. And so that's what I saw.

00:46:27.891 --> 00:46:31.891
So as time rocked on, I'd keep telling him. and I'd tell him,

00:46:31.971 --> 00:46:34.591
and I'd call him, and I'd tell him, and I'd call him, and I'd tell him something else.

00:46:35.491 --> 00:46:37.971
And finally, he called me one day, and he said, I found this car from you I

00:46:37.971 --> 00:46:40.931
think I'm going to buy. And I said, I told you. I told you you'd want one.

00:46:42.931 --> 00:46:47.851
So as he kind of got back into it, and he was building his own car,

00:46:48.551 --> 00:46:52.411
we kind of used the shop to finance our hobby.

00:46:52.631 --> 00:46:56.691
He'd come help me on a project or whatever, a service job or whatever,

00:46:57.951 --> 00:46:59.631
and we'd do some trading or whatever.

00:46:59.631 --> 00:47:02.251
Whatever i'd pay him whatever so he's kind of

00:47:02.251 --> 00:47:06.111
the technical guy he he's he's that go-to guy when i need help i give him a

00:47:06.111 --> 00:47:11.191
call when i need help he comes to help me when i have a question he's used to

00:47:11.191 --> 00:47:16.311
got to answer or me and him together can can compile our knowledge and our experience

00:47:16.311 --> 00:47:20.471
and we figure it out together so he he's a huge part of riverbank custom,

00:47:21.496 --> 00:47:24.096
That's awesome, man. And you guys do wear a lot of hats there.

00:47:24.376 --> 00:47:27.076
I know there's, you know, you got your merch, you got the mechanics,

00:47:27.076 --> 00:47:28.756
you got the paint, you got the YouTube.

00:47:29.216 --> 00:47:32.996
How do you guys kind of keep all that together and harmonizing?

00:47:33.196 --> 00:47:36.336
So it's not easy. There's only so many hours in a day.

00:47:36.956 --> 00:47:40.976
And honestly, during COVID, I found this YouTube channel called VW Live.

00:47:41.216 --> 00:47:44.556
And I'm sure you've seen it because, I mean, it's just, it's one of the larger

00:47:44.556 --> 00:47:47.376
VW communities there is.

00:47:47.476 --> 00:47:50.856
And I got them watching that every day and I binge watched every one of their shows.

00:47:52.016 --> 00:47:54.976
And that just made me want to start my own YouTube channel.

00:47:55.396 --> 00:48:00.816
So there again, I thought, if I can start a YouTube channel and ever get monetized,

00:48:00.996 --> 00:48:04.816
I can take what money I make off of YouTube, put back in the shop.

00:48:05.536 --> 00:48:08.936
YouTube can promote the shop and help finance my hobby. Well,

00:48:09.136 --> 00:48:12.496
when Stephen come on board, Stephen has always been the hat and T-shirt guy.

00:48:12.696 --> 00:48:15.876
He does hats, T-shirts for everybody in this area.

00:48:16.296 --> 00:48:19.216
So he brought that to the table. He's the paint and body guy.

00:48:19.216 --> 00:48:22.916
He's always he's always done painting body so

00:48:22.916 --> 00:48:25.636
he has this part i have my part dennis has his

00:48:25.636 --> 00:48:28.456
part and we just make it work we we

00:48:28.456 --> 00:48:31.896
make a plan out every year what shows we want to go to and we

00:48:31.896 --> 00:48:35.296
kind of we kind of know what it's going to cost what shows

00:48:35.296 --> 00:48:37.956
we want to sponsor what shows we really want to

00:48:37.956 --> 00:48:41.056
be involved in and we just we all work together we

00:48:41.056 --> 00:48:43.736
all make you know decisions based on what we

00:48:43.736 --> 00:48:46.716
know how close are you in your i know

00:48:46.716 --> 00:48:50.436
you're you're also full you got a full-time job still right yes

00:48:50.436 --> 00:48:53.596
i've been at honda i've been at honda manufacturing

00:48:53.596 --> 00:48:57.216
for 21 years steven and i steven and i have been there 21 years and i think

00:48:57.216 --> 00:49:02.416
dennis is probably in his 24th year so are you guys close to making this a full-time

00:49:02.416 --> 00:49:07.556
gig with volkswagons or is it still remain something that you you just do on

00:49:07.556 --> 00:49:12.536
the side kind of so right now it's it's something we're doing on the side,

00:49:12.796 --> 00:49:19.076
but it's actually a full-time job because if I'm probably in a shop working,

00:49:19.316 --> 00:49:20.816
I'm working on a YouTube channel.

00:49:20.856 --> 00:49:26.736
If I'm not on a YouTube channel, I'm on the phone ordering parts or making plans or whatever.

00:49:27.076 --> 00:49:29.036
It's kind of gotten into a full-time business.

00:49:29.516 --> 00:49:32.016
We can all retire in the next five years.

00:49:33.296 --> 00:49:38.076
So I keep telling them and we keep, Dennis and I had this conversation this weekend.

00:49:39.042 --> 00:49:41.862
Got to get the shop up and running we got to

00:49:41.862 --> 00:49:44.642
get we got to get to where we've got the

00:49:44.642 --> 00:49:47.522
experience the know-how to bring a car

00:49:47.522 --> 00:49:54.702
in and get it out in a suitable amount of time where the customer's happy and

00:49:54.702 --> 00:49:59.662
we can pay the bills we got to get the shop up and running to where five years

00:49:59.662 --> 00:50:03.022
from now we walk out of honda it's like we don't even miss a day's worth of

00:50:03.022 --> 00:50:05.622
work we go full time well you know that's possible,

00:50:05.922 --> 00:50:08.662
especially with the culture where it's at.

00:50:08.842 --> 00:50:11.682
You even said it yourself. They'll pay for good work.

00:50:12.262 --> 00:50:16.662
And we will. I say we because I'm a part of that community.

00:50:16.802 --> 00:50:22.282
I got a bad back. I'm not the best at the mechanical side, just not my cup of

00:50:22.282 --> 00:50:25.742
tea, something I never really learned growing up that just wasn't me.

00:50:25.982 --> 00:50:30.102
I've been into Volkswagens. I had one in high school, But I had to pay other

00:50:30.102 --> 00:50:32.702
people to work on it, and I'm okay with that.

00:50:32.942 --> 00:50:38.082
I feel like the community is large enough now to be able to support that.

00:50:38.382 --> 00:50:41.102
Y'all keep doing your thing. You're obviously making waves.

00:50:41.462 --> 00:50:45.042
Something that you didn't mention that you're making time for is even stuff

00:50:45.042 --> 00:50:49.302
like this. You're coming out, you're doing podcasts and putting Riverbank on the map.

00:50:49.442 --> 00:50:52.142
So I know everybody probably appreciates your hustle.

00:50:52.382 --> 00:50:57.802
It's funny you talk about building the community, and we all talk about that.

00:50:57.802 --> 00:51:02.922
From a builder's standpoint or just from an enthusiast, a hobbyist.

00:51:03.502 --> 00:51:08.162
One thing that Stephen and Dennis and I, one thing we talked about in the months

00:51:08.162 --> 00:51:15.002
back and in the beginning stages, if we can build a community because we've

00:51:15.002 --> 00:51:17.382
got a pretty hardcore group that runs with us.

00:51:18.616 --> 00:51:24.496
A huge shout out to all my friends, 71 Vert, 65 Euro, 67 Blue.

00:51:25.716 --> 00:51:30.116
There's a lot of cars, Michael and Helen Blunt with Doodles that run with us. They've been to Bug Jam.

00:51:30.856 --> 00:51:37.436
If we can build a community, the work will come, but you've got to build a community first.

00:51:39.096 --> 00:51:43.976
That's solid gold right there. So you mentioned God a lot throughout the podcast.

00:51:44.536 --> 00:51:51.636
How has your faith played into this journey that you're on two years ago my mother passed away from,

00:51:52.176 --> 00:51:57.816
terminal breast cancer and as a man of faith i've always been a praying type

00:51:57.816 --> 00:52:01.856
person i believe in the power of prayer i believe in i believe in god i believe

00:52:01.856 --> 00:52:07.856
god has a plan for all of us god opens doors that that no god closes doors that

00:52:07.856 --> 00:52:10.396
no man can close and he opens doors that no man can open.

00:52:11.216 --> 00:52:15.176
So through all of this with my mother, prayer was a constant thing.

00:52:16.056 --> 00:52:19.536
Even with her, all my life, prayer was a constant thing. In one of my early

00:52:19.536 --> 00:52:24.056
drives to work one morning, I was having a conversation with God and praying

00:52:24.056 --> 00:52:27.116
for this and praying for that and praying for this person and that person.

00:52:27.536 --> 00:52:32.036
Something come over me, honestly. And the Bible tells you, if you want something, ask for it.

00:52:32.096 --> 00:52:35.956
If you want God's blessing, ask for it. So I never forget and talking to God.

00:52:36.096 --> 00:52:41.276
And I said, God, if Riverbank Customs is my future, if that's what you want me to do, show me the way.

00:52:41.656 --> 00:52:45.956
God, I'm willing to step out on faith. Show me the way.

00:52:46.416 --> 00:52:52.356
And, dude, I promise you, that day the phone began to ring, one customer after another.

00:52:52.536 --> 00:52:54.796
And we're not talking about oil change and valve adjustments.

00:52:55.156 --> 00:52:58.156
We're talking about full restoration.

00:52:58.676 --> 00:53:04.036
A guy called me with a 58 Beetle wanting to do a full restoration.

00:53:04.696 --> 00:53:08.056
A good friend of mine lives down the road, 74-mile bus, full restoration.

00:53:08.856 --> 00:53:13.476
Just one after another. We got a 67 convertible sitting here with full restoration.

00:53:13.776 --> 00:53:17.056
We just finished a full restoration on a 79 convertible.

00:53:17.416 --> 00:53:21.076
These are big jobs that carry you into the next level.

00:53:21.456 --> 00:53:25.596
But not only that, we've had multiple jobs that were engine build.

00:53:25.756 --> 00:53:29.276
We've had multiple jobs that were just bringing the car in and redoing the suspension.

00:53:30.156 --> 00:53:32.836
The big jobs come, but the little jobs also are coming.

00:53:34.096 --> 00:53:37.336
I've actually started, for lack of a better way of saying it,

00:53:37.396 --> 00:53:41.236
I've actually kind of started turning a little bit of work away because I've

00:53:41.236 --> 00:53:44.376
got more than I can do. And it's all through the grace of God.

00:53:45.272 --> 00:53:49.692
What an amazing feeling for your quality and the way that, you know,

00:53:49.772 --> 00:53:54.512
you want things to be for that to be recognized and for it to happen for you.

00:53:54.672 --> 00:53:58.972
I mean, I just I couldn't be happier for somebody to step out in faith and to

00:53:58.972 --> 00:54:02.652
do what makes them happy instead of what they have to do.

00:54:03.112 --> 00:54:07.732
Right. Yes. As men, we grow up, you know, we do what we have to do,

00:54:07.852 --> 00:54:09.152
man. We support our families.

00:54:09.292 --> 00:54:12.152
You know, we do what we have to do. And that's where that that's where that

00:54:12.152 --> 00:54:13.632
bumper sticker comes from. Right.

00:54:14.392 --> 00:54:18.652
Yes. When you do what you want to do, there's something special in that.

00:54:18.772 --> 00:54:22.552
There's a recipe for a different level of success in your life.

00:54:22.752 --> 00:54:26.532
So I'm happy to hear that that's there for you. Tell me what your kids think

00:54:26.532 --> 00:54:32.012
about dad stepping off of the corporate wheel and getting into wrenching on

00:54:32.012 --> 00:54:34.572
VWs full-time potentially here in the future.

00:54:34.792 --> 00:54:37.092
Well, and that's a funny question there.

00:54:37.872 --> 00:54:44.052
Emily, my daughter, she's just finished her four years at Jacksonville State in the nursing field.

00:54:44.192 --> 00:54:49.612
So she's just, in the beginning of her career, she's very career-focused and just got married.

00:54:49.972 --> 00:54:55.392
And my son, Blake, he just lives right up the street, but he's very career-driven.

00:54:55.532 --> 00:54:58.932
He's very focused on his career in the electrical field.

00:54:59.212 --> 00:55:02.952
And both of them kind of do their thing, but they're right there when I need them.

00:55:03.352 --> 00:55:06.172
When I'm in the shop and I need some help, I can call Blake.

00:55:06.172 --> 00:55:08.232
And if he's in town, he's right there to help me.

00:55:08.972 --> 00:55:13.892
And he's in a lot of my videos. And honestly, he thinks it's just working on Volkswagen.

00:55:14.752 --> 00:55:18.172
But it's not. It's more about making memories. Now, he's not a gearhead.

00:55:18.172 --> 00:55:20.412
I don't know. I don't know what happened.

00:55:20.732 --> 00:55:23.772
That kind of skipped him. He's not like me or his papa.

00:55:24.032 --> 00:55:27.972
But he likes cars, but he's not really into the Volkswagen thing.

00:55:28.172 --> 00:55:29.592
But he likes to see me have.

00:55:29.852 --> 00:55:32.172
Now, Emilio. I got boys.

00:55:32.552 --> 00:55:35.812
I was just going to say, man. And I got boys, and I anticipated –.

00:55:36.972 --> 00:55:40.892
You know, almost even tried to predict the way that they would grow up and the

00:55:40.892 --> 00:55:42.352
things that they would be interested in.

00:55:42.512 --> 00:55:46.592
And my brother, I couldn't be further away from, from hitting that mark.

00:55:46.772 --> 00:55:52.212
They went, you know, opposite directions and, and everything of what I expected.

00:55:52.212 --> 00:55:55.952
So, you know, I got five kids. Wow.

00:55:56.412 --> 00:56:01.212
Yeah, buddy. So, so by kid number two, even I was like, you know what?

00:56:01.872 --> 00:56:05.952
They're going to do what they're going to do. I'm just going to be a good example.

00:56:07.452 --> 00:56:11.432
Because, you know, I couldn't, they didn't like, you know, my first was my daughter,

00:56:11.612 --> 00:56:12.892
you know, she's the oldest.

00:56:13.492 --> 00:56:16.452
So I didn't know what it was like to have a girl.

00:56:18.712 --> 00:56:23.652
Right. So I had to learn that. Well, she, she liked animals and stuff and reptiles,

00:56:23.652 --> 00:56:26.872
and she wanted to be a veterinarian, all that type of stuff growing up.

00:56:27.212 --> 00:56:32.352
So there was no car, classic cars, V-dubs, any of that type of stuff with her.

00:56:32.772 --> 00:56:39.152
My second boy, my first boy was into video games and, and, and computer technology.

00:56:39.152 --> 00:56:44.612
And, and then I finally got a tinker, you know, and I could tell early on,

00:56:44.692 --> 00:56:48.532
he was collecting the little tiny things and watching the way things worked

00:56:48.532 --> 00:56:49.952
and trying to see how they'd roll.

00:56:50.112 --> 00:56:53.492
And, you know, and then he got in dirt bikes real young and,

00:56:53.492 --> 00:56:58.932
and learn how to clutch and, you know, and he still to this day is the one that

00:56:58.932 --> 00:57:02.692
I usually say, Hey, I need some help out outside with this.

00:57:02.792 --> 00:57:05.592
And I'm going to try these wheels and i'm gonna do that and he'll go

00:57:05.592 --> 00:57:08.432
all right dad but he does it

00:57:08.432 --> 00:57:14.272
he comes and he helps me so i got one out of five that's a wrencher yeah uh

00:57:14.272 --> 00:57:19.452
now i will say this about emily emily she she's a girly girl she never was a

00:57:19.452 --> 00:57:24.592
tomboy by no means so she wasn't coming to the shop she'll stay if she needs

00:57:24.592 --> 00:57:28.232
me she'll stand on the back porch until i come up there she'll call me and say dad i'm leaving.

00:57:29.248 --> 00:57:32.928
When I started the YouTube channel, I was as lost as I could be.

00:57:33.168 --> 00:57:36.208
Some of my first videos, and I'll admit they're painful to watch.

00:57:36.888 --> 00:57:40.088
She made a comment one day to her mama. She said, Mama, Daddy's doing really

00:57:40.088 --> 00:57:42.588
good with this YouTube. I want to help him.

00:57:43.368 --> 00:57:48.548
Okay. So she come on board with me, and she taught me a couple of things about

00:57:48.548 --> 00:57:51.248
doing YouTube. I had no idea what a thumbnail was.

00:57:51.348 --> 00:57:55.608
I had no idea what Canva was or how to use it or anything. Didn't even know I had an account.

00:57:56.228 --> 00:57:58.208
She'd been using it. I'd just been paying for it.

00:57:59.288 --> 00:58:02.568
So she helped me with three or four videos and it brought, it brought,

00:58:02.748 --> 00:58:06.588
she and I really close. I mean, she brought things to the table that I had no idea about.

00:58:07.128 --> 00:58:10.148
Awesome. So once we really, once we really got going and I thought,

00:58:10.188 --> 00:58:13.168
Hey, this is cool. You know, this is bringing me and my daughter closer together.

00:58:13.708 --> 00:58:17.468
That's about the time she went off to nursing school. And when she went to nursing

00:58:17.468 --> 00:58:21.508
school, she didn't have time for daddy no more. So now I'm back on my own and you took time.

00:58:21.848 --> 00:58:23.908
Well, good thing she hopefully taught you that stuff.

00:58:24.448 --> 00:58:30.088
She did. She did. Good stuff. So talk to me about the VW culture as we know

00:58:30.088 --> 00:58:33.048
it, because we're on this podcast, right?

00:58:33.208 --> 00:58:38.808
You and I are well-equipped into the VW culture, but I feel like it's different

00:58:38.808 --> 00:58:40.168
than any other car scene.

00:58:40.368 --> 00:58:45.268
Tell me what you think makes this culture different than other car cultures.

00:58:45.528 --> 00:58:49.028
Well, I'll tell you the same thing anybody else tell you, and I've heard multiple

00:58:49.028 --> 00:58:50.668
people on your podcast say it.

00:58:51.068 --> 00:58:54.088
I've heard them on many other podcasts, many of you tell me.

00:58:55.028 --> 00:58:58.568
The car is special. There's no doubt about that the car is special.

00:58:58.988 --> 00:59:01.368
Everybody has a Volkswagen story. Everybody.

00:59:02.048 --> 00:59:05.708
But what makes the Volkswagen community so special is the people.

00:59:06.388 --> 00:59:11.208
You won't meet a stranger. You don't meet the know-it-all. You don't meet the smart aleck.

00:59:12.668 --> 00:59:17.088
Everybody, it's like you've known each other forever. It's all about the people.

00:59:17.288 --> 00:59:19.228
I tell you, and I told this story.

00:59:19.908 --> 00:59:22.808
I know my buddy, Robert Johnson. I know he's sick of hearing it.

00:59:22.808 --> 00:59:27.148
But I'm going to tell it one more time because I want everybody to know this

00:59:27.148 --> 00:59:30.168
is the perfect example of the Volkswagen community.

00:59:31.148 --> 00:59:32.848
We were in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

00:59:34.508 --> 00:59:38.728
First two years, maybe one or two years after COVID, we were at Bugapalooza.

00:59:39.648 --> 00:59:44.188
And it was pouring down rain. It was sleeting. It was snowing. It was cold.

00:59:45.128 --> 00:59:50.168
We went on a cruise in that night in Graham's thing to Long's Restoration,

00:59:50.288 --> 00:59:51.848
to open house at Brad Long's shop.

00:59:52.588 --> 00:59:58.148
And had a great time. The car ran fine, but it was cold. It was bitter cold.

00:59:58.628 --> 01:00:04.168
So we hung out there all afternoon, and when we was coming back that night, we're lost.

01:00:05.028 --> 01:00:08.748
We're out-of-towners. We're lost, but we're following a GPS,

01:00:08.968 --> 01:00:11.928
and we're headed back to Camp Jordan where the show was.

01:00:13.099 --> 01:00:16.419
Top this hill on the interstate, and there was a broke-down Volkswagen sitting

01:00:16.419 --> 01:00:17.219
there on the side of the road.

01:00:17.719 --> 01:00:20.639
So Dennis was driving, and he looked at me, and he said, what are we going to

01:00:20.639 --> 01:00:23.519
do? And I said, there's no doubt. There's no question what we're going to do.

01:00:23.579 --> 01:00:24.259
We're going to pull over.

01:00:24.439 --> 01:00:28.319
So we pull over, and I immediately saw they had jumper cables hooked from one

01:00:28.319 --> 01:00:30.499
vehicle to another, and I said, what's wrong?

01:00:30.579 --> 01:00:34.239
And he said, well, my battery's dead, and I'm running my lights,

01:00:34.299 --> 01:00:38.259
and the battery went down, and the engine just shut off. And I said, you're not charging.

01:00:38.539 --> 01:00:42.499
Something's going on with your operator you're not charging okay and

01:00:42.499 --> 01:00:45.319
the owner he's looking at me like are you

01:00:45.319 --> 01:00:48.379
sure do you know what you're talking about and i said buddy i said

01:00:48.379 --> 01:00:52.139
i'm just here to help you i said i've been doing this a long time i said if

01:00:52.139 --> 01:00:56.319
you listen to me i'll help you tell me what i need to do i said how long you've

01:00:56.319 --> 01:01:00.919
been hooked up to his battery he's about 10 minutes i said crank it up he did

01:01:00.919 --> 01:01:04.339
and i said where are you headed he said i'm going back to camp jordan i said

01:01:04.339 --> 01:01:07.019
good i said you take takeoff.

01:01:07.459 --> 01:01:10.519
You're going to the same place we're going. I said, don't run your light.

01:01:10.679 --> 01:01:12.539
Don't run your radio. Don't even run your phone charger.

01:01:13.159 --> 01:01:16.739
I said, you go. And I said, we'll be right behind you running our lights.

01:01:16.819 --> 01:01:19.419
We don't know where we're going. So we're following you. We'll be the headlights.

01:01:20.139 --> 01:01:25.119
Okay. Okay. That makes sense. And I turned to go back and get in the thing with Dennis and Ms. Orme.

01:01:25.899 --> 01:01:30.139
There stood Robbie Johnson. Robbie had stopped to help, but not only Robbie,

01:01:30.519 --> 01:01:33.699
there was 50 Volkswagens pulled over on the side of the interstate.

01:01:34.299 --> 01:01:36.999
All stopped to help one another. The people.

01:01:37.639 --> 01:01:42.179
That's what makes the Volkswagen community special. That's why we do what we do.

01:01:43.559 --> 01:01:47.039
So, man, talk to me about what's coming up next for Riverbank Customs.

01:01:47.159 --> 01:01:51.039
Like, what's the big dream? What's the five-year dream? I know you're anticipating

01:01:51.039 --> 01:01:54.279
retirement at some point, but let's lay it out there.

01:01:54.359 --> 01:01:57.439
Let's speak it into existence. What's the dream for Riverbank?

01:01:57.439 --> 01:02:02.019
First and foremost, and to anybody watching this podcast or listening to this

01:02:02.019 --> 01:02:05.439
podcast, first of all, thank you. And I'm asking for your help.

01:02:05.719 --> 01:02:11.419
My number one goal right now this year is to get the Riverbank Customs YouTube channel monetized.

01:02:11.579 --> 01:02:17.279
The five-year dream is to have the YouTube channel monetized and generate a

01:02:17.279 --> 01:02:21.239
little bit of income, but to be able to create videos that people want to see,

01:02:21.259 --> 01:02:24.779
to be the people, to be approachable, To be the people at the show,

01:02:25.139 --> 01:02:27.539
have the booth to set up the cars at a show.

01:02:27.659 --> 01:02:31.479
But people want to come and not just look at our cars, but they want to come and hang out.

01:02:32.373 --> 01:02:36.713
Want to come and sit around and laugh and joke and cut up and just be part of the community.

01:02:37.073 --> 01:02:40.973
I don't ever want to be that unapproachable guy. If you've got a question about

01:02:40.973 --> 01:02:44.353
something, there is no dumb question. I want to be that guy that can help you.

01:02:44.893 --> 01:02:48.933
My number one passion in life is being able to help people.

01:02:49.033 --> 01:02:54.533
People are all the time asking questions and I do the very best I can to answer them. Am I always right?

01:02:54.813 --> 01:02:58.953
No. I do the best I can to answer, but I create that friendship.

01:02:58.953 --> 01:03:02.633
I want to be that guy who's always there to help somebody else.

01:03:03.693 --> 01:03:07.613
Relationships over transactions. Yes. That's what I'm getting from you.

01:03:07.833 --> 01:03:13.633
And what a hell of a way to represent yourself and your team and do business.

01:03:13.993 --> 01:03:17.813
That's really what it's all about. You know, the people are different. They are special.

01:03:18.073 --> 01:03:23.353
They do make up this culture. And you're fortunate enough to be able to do business with those people.

01:03:23.533 --> 01:03:27.613
The same ones that we celebrate and we talk about. And the same ones that I'm,

01:03:27.613 --> 01:03:34.193
I'm making a podcast off of because I said to you, I've, I have recognized that

01:03:34.193 --> 01:03:36.953
everybody has a story in, you know,

01:03:37.693 --> 01:03:43.773
the quick story I can just say, is it because it happens all the time is just last Friday,

01:03:44.133 --> 01:03:50.193
the news, the local news network here, Bay News 9, they did a story on the,

01:03:50.193 --> 01:03:53.513
the car show that me and my buddy Alan hosted this weekend.

01:03:53.513 --> 01:03:56.033
V-dubs on the pier, downtown St. Pete.

01:03:56.353 --> 01:04:00.013
And as they're bringing up this story to talk about, hey, a couple of local

01:04:00.013 --> 01:04:03.613
Volkswagen guys, they start talking about the Volkswagen Beetle.

01:04:03.853 --> 01:04:06.133
And the guy's like, oh man, this is our news anchor.

01:04:06.733 --> 01:04:11.933
He's telling a story with his giant smile on his face about his memories of

01:04:11.933 --> 01:04:15.913
being a kid. And then one time piling up six of his cousins and going somewhere.

01:04:16.153 --> 01:04:20.373
And then the other lady that's to his right also has a story.

01:04:20.373 --> 01:04:22.813
And she remembers her ladybug floor mats.

01:04:23.673 --> 01:04:28.073
And it's like, man, everybody has that dream. They have that.

01:04:29.231 --> 01:04:33.131
Volkswagen story. So again, it's these people. I'll go back to that.

01:04:33.291 --> 01:04:35.991
I don't want to get too far down the rabbit hole. It's just,

01:04:36.191 --> 01:04:38.011
I celebrate those people too.

01:04:38.211 --> 01:04:43.911
I get to meet guys like you, true craftsmen, true awesome people that put relationships

01:04:43.911 --> 01:04:45.731
over transactions every day.

01:04:45.831 --> 01:04:49.811
And listen, buddy, in corporate America, I come from that background too.

01:04:50.071 --> 01:04:52.771
It's transactions over people. You're a number.

01:04:53.211 --> 01:04:57.571
You're very lucky if you get your name called in most cases.

01:04:57.891 --> 01:05:01.191
You're You're number 10 or you're number 300, right?

01:05:01.591 --> 01:05:05.811
Like you're a number. You're not a name. So awesome to hear you say that.

01:05:05.891 --> 01:05:06.991
Heck of a way to do business.

01:05:07.131 --> 01:05:13.051
All right. I got some rapid fire style questions that I want to throw your way.

01:05:13.571 --> 01:05:19.411
Fast, quick answers. All right. Standard Baja or Beetle or Bug?

01:05:19.691 --> 01:05:23.271
That's kind of a loaded question. When I was younger, it was the off-road Baja.

01:05:23.671 --> 01:05:27.351
Okay. As I'm getting older, it's all about the street call. Yes, sir.

01:05:28.091 --> 01:05:30.111
So bug now, Baja then.

01:05:31.151 --> 01:05:36.911
One tool that you can't live without. I've got a dial torque wrench that belonged to my daddy.

01:05:37.111 --> 01:05:40.311
It'll always be in my toolbox. I use it on every engine build.

01:05:40.871 --> 01:05:42.751
Man, that's awesome. That's special.

01:05:43.351 --> 01:05:45.851
Favorite VW show in the Southeast?

01:05:47.191 --> 01:05:50.771
Okay, this is another loaded question. And please excuse me.

01:05:50.811 --> 01:05:52.251
I can't answer this real fast.

01:05:53.211 --> 01:05:58.611
Bug Jam is a great show. And it's one of my ultimate favorites. I have two favorites.

01:05:59.311 --> 01:06:04.771
Bug Jam for the size, the structure. Randy is a great promoter.

01:06:04.891 --> 01:06:07.251
He really makes us feel welcome when we're in town.

01:06:08.471 --> 01:06:12.071
As long as we're in business and we're able, we'll always attend Bug Jam.

01:06:12.431 --> 01:06:16.371
Proud to be a gold sponsor there. When I see my name on that banner up there

01:06:16.371 --> 01:06:18.511
beside that stage, that's a proud moment.

01:06:18.731 --> 01:06:22.471
One of my also favorite shows is Robbie Johnson's show, The V-Dub Getaway.

01:06:22.731 --> 01:06:26.571
And I tell you about that, it's a small-scale show. It's growing every year.

01:06:26.571 --> 01:06:31.871
But from the time we get in town on Thursday afternoon to the time we leave on Sunday afternoon,

01:06:32.571 --> 01:06:36.611
there's something going on there's all there's a one event right after another

01:06:36.611 --> 01:06:41.211
there's it's there's people just going around and around it's just a great event

01:06:41.211 --> 01:06:47.391
and Robbie I become friends with him a few years back and he makes me me and

01:06:47.391 --> 01:06:51.791
him talk on a regular basis and he kind of makes me feel like I'm a part of that show.

01:06:52.011 --> 01:06:57.411
He respects my opinions and my thoughts, and he just makes me and my crew feel

01:06:57.411 --> 01:06:58.691
like we're a part of that show.

01:06:58.911 --> 01:07:02.131
So those are two of my favorite shows.

01:07:02.391 --> 01:07:06.091
Two awesome shows. Who's one builder out there in the scene?

01:07:06.191 --> 01:07:07.631
Could be anywhere in the world.

01:07:07.811 --> 01:07:11.511
One builder that works on these cars that still inspires you to this day.

01:07:11.751 --> 01:07:13.711
All right, so I'm going to throw you for a little curve here.

01:07:13.811 --> 01:07:16.071
I'm going to get away from the Volkswagen scene for a minute.

01:07:16.431 --> 01:07:19.251
When you talk about builders, you talk about car builders in general.

01:07:20.256 --> 01:07:23.916
One builder who has inspired me more than anybody in my career is Mr. Honda.

01:07:24.236 --> 01:07:27.676
Of course, he's done going on. I never actually got the chance to meet the man,

01:07:27.776 --> 01:07:30.556
but I've worked for his corporation for 21 years. Mr.

01:07:30.716 --> 01:07:35.356
Honda was dedicated to the detail. He was dedicated to his team.

01:07:36.076 --> 01:07:42.136
And just the values, the core values that Honda manufacturing is built on has

01:07:42.136 --> 01:07:44.816
kind of directed my career to where I'm at today.

01:07:45.016 --> 01:07:49.036
Favorite engine to build and why? My favorite engine to build,

01:07:49.116 --> 01:07:51.096
I've built a lot of them over the years.

01:07:51.156 --> 01:07:53.736
I've been a part of a lot of engine builds. I've built engines with Daddy.

01:07:54.116 --> 01:07:57.076
I've watched Lee build many of the engines, helped him with many.

01:07:57.796 --> 01:08:01.796
I've had some really big stroker engines that built incredible power.

01:08:01.876 --> 01:08:06.256
But my favorite engine to build is the Stock 1600.

01:08:06.516 --> 01:08:12.736
I like to build that Stock 1600 with as original equipment as I can get because

01:08:12.736 --> 01:08:17.296
I like to see what kind of longevity, what kind of reliability,

01:08:17.296 --> 01:08:21.456
What kind of drivability can I get out of the original car?

01:08:21.656 --> 01:08:25.616
We're not trying to drag race these things. We're not trying to climb hills with them no more.

01:08:25.836 --> 01:08:30.436
We're trying to drive them A to B. And A to B might be from here in Pell City,

01:08:30.576 --> 01:08:32.576
Alabama, to Bug Jam in Dade City.

01:08:32.816 --> 01:08:36.176
That's the kind of engine I like to build. Yeah. Okay. Good.

01:08:37.336 --> 01:08:42.116
My favorite as well. They start getting too souped up and needing all these

01:08:42.116 --> 01:08:46.156
extra bits and pieces. To me, that's just more stuff that can fail. Yeah.

01:08:46.947 --> 01:08:50.267
So now I'm not saying I don't, you know, everybody likes the hot rod,

01:08:50.307 --> 01:08:54.887
you know, I wouldn't, I wouldn't mind to have a, you know, a lot of power and

01:08:54.887 --> 01:08:57.127
be able to do something with that and have some fun with it.

01:08:57.287 --> 01:09:01.607
But, you know, the more, like I said, the more bells and whistles, the more problems.

01:09:01.807 --> 01:09:04.647
So I'm a 1600 fan myself.

01:09:05.267 --> 01:09:09.867
Dream VW project that you haven't built yet. The dream VW project that I haven't

01:09:09.867 --> 01:09:12.367
built yet. It's a car that I've already purchased.

01:09:12.807 --> 01:09:16.007
It is a 69 standard Beetle convertible.

01:09:16.847 --> 01:09:20.627
We're gathering parts of swap meets for it now, but it's a dream car because

01:09:20.627 --> 01:09:24.847
it's a car I'm building in my shop for my wife.

01:09:25.387 --> 01:09:30.867
I'm trying to get her involved in all this with me and building her a convertible.

01:09:31.307 --> 01:09:35.447
I think that's going to bring her on the scene more and more. Ooh, I like it.

01:09:36.287 --> 01:09:40.787
What's the worst thing you ever did to a VW? All this time, all this wrenching,

01:09:40.847 --> 01:09:41.987
what's the worst thing you ever did?

01:09:42.607 --> 01:09:45.927
Worst thing I ever did, and I knew better. I knew the car.

01:09:46.787 --> 01:09:51.147
It's not the Baja I talked about in the first part of the podcast,

01:09:51.907 --> 01:09:59.087
but I bought a full-body, solid, rock-solid 67 standard beater from a good friend of mine.

01:09:59.587 --> 01:10:02.907
And I cut the fenders and the aprons off of it and made a Baja.

01:10:03.707 --> 01:10:08.047
Worst thing I ever done. Who's crazier behind the wheel, you or your brother

01:10:08.047 --> 01:10:10.627
Keith? He's never been really into the off-road scene.

01:10:10.967 --> 01:10:15.847
He's kind of the computer guru of the family. Okay. So I've seen him do some

01:10:15.847 --> 01:10:18.827
crazy stuff behind the wheel, but I'd have to say I got him beat.

01:10:19.127 --> 01:10:22.927
Okay. What's one piece of advice you'd give your younger self today?

01:10:23.207 --> 01:10:27.607
Looking back, if I could tell my younger self anything, it's basically don't

01:10:27.607 --> 01:10:29.067
never give up on your dreams.

01:10:30.207 --> 01:10:35.867
Always be that one who chases your dreams. And Tim McGraw wrote two songs about it.

01:10:36.347 --> 01:10:44.787
Live your life like you're dying and don't never don't never be a victim to a clock or paycheck.

01:10:46.127 --> 01:10:48.867
Live your life to your fullest dreams if that's what you want

01:10:48.867 --> 01:10:51.607
to do go for it yeah man it's such a

01:10:51.607 --> 01:10:54.647
privilege and a blessing to be able to work and

01:10:54.647 --> 01:10:57.267
and like i said just a second ago to be able

01:10:57.267 --> 01:11:00.087
to do the things that you want to do instead of the things that you have

01:11:00.087 --> 01:11:03.067
to do and that's that's really what i hear coming coming all

01:11:03.067 --> 01:11:06.007
all from that so man tell me where where

01:11:06.007 --> 01:11:09.007
people can find you you know if you want to give any shout

01:11:09.007 --> 01:11:12.247
outs to any of your your youtube channel your instagram

01:11:12.247 --> 01:11:15.367
any of your how can people find you just is

01:11:15.367 --> 01:11:18.307
blaring out from the rooftops man where where where

01:11:18.307 --> 01:11:21.507
can they go to to give riverbank a holler so if

01:11:21.507 --> 01:11:24.307
you're looking to get in touch with riverbank customs you can find us

01:11:24.307 --> 01:11:27.887
on social media and face on facebook at riverbank customs you

01:11:27.887 --> 01:11:31.267
can find us on instagram at riverbankcustoms.com you can find us on youtube

01:11:31.267 --> 01:11:36.047
at riverbankcustoms.com please if if you're interested in the Volkswagen community

01:11:36.047 --> 01:11:40.087
you're interested in anything we got going on please check us out drop us drop

01:11:40.087 --> 01:11:43.467
us a line tell us where you're from what you got going on ask us any questions

01:11:43.467 --> 01:11:45.847
you need to we'll get back to you with an answer.

01:11:46.804 --> 01:11:50.964
Please, I'm asking, please like, share, and subscribe.

01:11:51.824 --> 01:11:56.164
Awesome. And you guys have a heck of a YouTube that you're starting and it's growing.

01:11:56.544 --> 01:12:00.704
And I've seen some of the work, man. I'm excited to have you here on the podcast,

01:12:00.704 --> 01:12:03.284
but even more excited now to know you.

01:12:03.584 --> 01:12:07.764
I'll see you at Bug Jam this year. I'll be out there. Randy is putting me in

01:12:07.764 --> 01:12:13.204
charge of the, and this is something that nobody knows yet. So there's going

01:12:13.204 --> 01:12:17.804
to be a stereo competition this year, and it's going to be sponsored by the podcast.

01:12:18.704 --> 01:12:23.484
So we're excited to be a part of that. We're excited to team up with Randy.

01:12:23.624 --> 01:12:25.184
Like you said, he's a hell of a promoter.

01:12:25.404 --> 01:12:30.544
We agree with that, and we're excited to certainly be given that opportunity.

01:12:31.124 --> 01:12:34.724
Randy's an awesome guy. Bug Jam is awesome, but even more awesome,

01:12:34.784 --> 01:12:37.184
I get to meet and hang out with guys like you.

01:12:37.384 --> 01:12:41.624
So excited for that. And that's a wrap for this episode of Dove Life Diaries.

01:12:41.944 --> 01:12:45.644
Thanks for riding along with us and diving into these incredible stories of

01:12:45.644 --> 01:12:47.704
the people in the Dove that drive their dreams.

01:12:47.984 --> 01:12:52.524
If you loved today's episode, don't forget to subscribe or hit that follow button

01:12:52.524 --> 01:12:53.844
so you never miss an adventure.

01:12:54.124 --> 01:12:58.804
Do you have a story to tell or know somebody else who's living the Dove life? Awesome!

01:12:59.104 --> 01:13:02.984
Reach out to us. You can find us on all socials at Dove Life Diaries.

01:13:03.124 --> 01:13:05.884
Or shoot me an email. I'm not hard to find.

01:13:06.784 --> 01:13:11.824
DoveLifeDiaries at gmail.com. until next time keep the engines humming and the

01:13:11.824 --> 01:13:16.444
wheels turning and always follow the road that inspires you this is Joe person

01:13:16.444 --> 01:13:18.304
I'm signing off I'll catch you.

01:13:18.480 --> 01:14:16.447
Music.