The Patina Prophet - Jason Davis - Davis Customs Ep33

WEBVTT

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Music.

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To learn more about this class-leading VW magazine.

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All right, welcome back to Dub Life Diaries. Today on the podcast,

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we've got a true craftsman in the classic car world, Mr.

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Jason Davis. Jason's a self-taught car guy.

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Grew up in Sanford, Florida with a Hot Wheels in his hand and a vintage junkyard as his classroom.

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From humble beginnings at local auto parts shops to launching Davis Customs in 1999.

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He's now built a reputation for tackling the jobs that most people would run from.

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That's going to be rust repair and body restoration on classic Volkswagens and Porsches.

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We're diving deep into his journey, his passion for saving these classics,

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and what it really means to be the guy that people call when rust is eating their dream car alive.

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Jason Davis, welcome to Dublite Diary. Hi, man. Good morning. How's it going?

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What's up, brother? What's up, man? I'm excited for this one.

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Yeah, man. This is awesome. Thanks for having me on.

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Absolutely. Absolutely. Before we get hopping on this, I want to give a shout

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out to my sponsors real quick.

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Obviously, Volxmania Magazine, as you guys know, I feel they're the flyest VW

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magazine on the face of the planet.

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Give those guys a jingle if you haven't already.

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Www.volxmania.com. Use Dublife10 at checkout. That'll give you 10% off your

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subscription. Those are U.S.

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Subscribers only Also, quick shout out to my buddy Chris White over at Riverbank

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Customs Chris is a supporter of the podcast He's an awesome VW dude He supports

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the scene Super stand-up guy Check him out Check out his YouTube channel,

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Riverbank Customs Make sure you like and subscribe to all his stuff Awesome

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dude Awesome dude All right, my man,

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Back to you. This is all about you. I'm excited for this one.

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I've been wanting to sit down with you because I've been following along.

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I feel like you got kind of a unique journey for people that don't know you at all.

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And they walk up to you at a show. How are you going to introduce yourself?

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Usually at the show, they're driving a Volkswagen.

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So, you know, probably already know them or I'm getting ready to know them.

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It's usually people come up to me because my bus will be right behind me.

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They want to come see the bus. And then we just get in conversation and we'll be there for an hour.

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And then somebody else come pull me over. Say, hey, man, he talked to you.

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Can you come this way with me? Yeah.

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Can I tell you my bus? You know, I got rust over here. So I don't know.

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I think just, you know, I try to communicate with everybody.

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Really, you know, if they come up to me, I meet a lot of people and I've gotten

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really good at, because I was, you know, before all this, I was kind of a shy person.

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I wouldn't do podcasts. I wouldn't videotape myself up, you know,

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I was like, that's more to me, it's more for the cars, but I do enjoy talking to people now.

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I love hearing their stories. I love checking out their rides,

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you know, and they're keeping it alive, man.

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The Volkswagen world, that community is just amazing yeah

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it's on fire too you know and i feel like it's been

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on fire it's been on fire for years it just took a little pause you know because

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back in the 80s my brother and everybody everybody had all bolt wagons my brother

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had a bolt wagon it was lowered my now my neighbor had a bolt wagon that was

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lowered you know i grew up with them didn't want one.

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But I grew up with them. So, you know, John Bonner, Beaner, you know,

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he's got a couple of Volkswagens.

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He used to work at the Bolt Shop in Sanford, you know, in high school.

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So we've always been surrounded by it. And it took a little pause for a little

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bit. But when it came back, it came back stronger than it's ever come back. Right, right.

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I feel like, you know, even in myself, I took a break from it myself just to raise my family.

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And, you know, I had my first Beetle in high school, 16, you know,

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about a 72 auto clutch standard Beetle. And I drove the absolute dog out of that car for years, man.

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I ended up having eventually to put a manual transmission in it because back

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in the late 90s, they couldn't find parts for the solenoid for the shift.

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Nobody wanted them either.

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Right. All right. I think they're still cool, honestly. That's just me.

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Yeah. But you said pretty much that you were born with a Hot Wheels in your

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hand. I want to start there.

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What did that mean when you was a kid growing up?

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Yeah, that's a phrase that my mom says all the time. My mom is my momager.

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That's awesome, man. She's in with me on this.

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Her comment's always been, oh my gosh, she was born with the Hot Wheels in his hand.

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Because I used to go to college with my mom and I would take certain Hot Wheels

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and put them in my clothes and go to college with my mom while she was doing

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school. I was playing with Hot Wheels. And I was absolutely obsessed With cars like,

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That has been my whole life, you know, and then I got into models in the 80s

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and in the early 90s, and I still built models and I would do model shows in

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Orlando. And I mean, I got serious.

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And then I stepped into the big cars.

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So that was a big journey for me on that. But yeah, I mean, I had pedal cars when I was a kid.

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Anything that moved the wheels, I pretty much had it, you know, go karts, mini bikes.

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I was just born motorhead, I guess. Yeah, well, you grew up in the 80s,

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and you said, I believe in your past, that you had access to or lived around

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a vintage junkyard, right? I did.

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So when I was 16 years old, I wasn't exactly on the perfect track at that particular time in my life.

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I was young, didn't know really what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to

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build cars, and that was it.

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So if anybody that knows me knows I am an absolute Nova fanatic.

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But I have probably, since I was 16 years, I probably owned at least 30 to 35 Novas in my lifetime.

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Dang. So, yeah. So my stepdad's brother lived up in Washington State.

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He lived in a vintage junkyard.

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And he asked me one time, he was down here, he says, what do you want?

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What kind of car do you want? I was like, I want a 62 Nova. Now I was 16 years old.

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And he's like, come up, build the car, and you can work in the yard all summer.

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Drive it home. It'll be yours. I was like, whoa, really?

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This is for real? You know, I'm like waking up, trying to do something.

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So I flew up there. Ended up staying three and a half years.

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It started, I think the earliest car was a 1929 Model A.

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And probably the latest car at that time was maybe like a 78 Malibu.

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I mean, I literally studied and,

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I learned interchanging on parts. I learned to identify old parts.

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You know, I can go swap meets now and I'll be looking down there.

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I was like, oh, yeah, it's 47 Chevy, you know.

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So basically what my mom would tell me was that was basically my college.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can see that. In the real world,

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if you look at like a leadership side, like people hire skill like that more

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than they do the knowledge like that.

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If you can learn it from hands-on, you know, that's what people want. They want experience.

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They don't care if you from the book, what you're talking about is real experience. That's awesome.

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Yeah. I got to hold the rust. I got to hold the old parts and I got to take

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them off the old parts, you know, I mean him and we built the,

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actually one of the first cars, hot rods I've ever built was with him up there.

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Um, his name was scrap iron. He was a huge mentor to me and was a 39 Hudson Terraplane.

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I'm like 17 years old and I'm dipping into this car and learning the bodywork

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and all, you know, everything that goes with it, you know, and doing a frame swap.

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We did a frame swap on that car in the 80s. Man.

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So, this is stuff, this is stuff that you, there's no way you ever could have

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learned stuff like this in a classroom.

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No. Didn't want to either because I was not a classroom type of person.

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I wanted to be in a shop surrounded by cars somewhere.

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That's, that was, you know, I would sit in class and draw cars on my books you

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know i didn't school was not my gig reminds me of my six-year-old everything

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he does is all about cars and cars and cars cars he made this an art class yesterday.

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Yeah and that's awesome because that's you know that it's that spirit staying

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in there you know people say oh this is a dying art this is dying art but if

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you really step out into the world you'll find that it's really not a dying

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art you can go on tiktok and see kids all day long doing hot rod stuff,

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you know, and, and they have some knowledge to it. So it's coming from somewhere.

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It's coming from their parents or a mentor they have.

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Right. So it's, it might be a dying art where you're surrounded,

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but you know, there's tons of metalwork guys out there that are just unbelievable

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that I follow, you know, it's like, wow, I'm still learning from them.

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I'll watch them do something. I'm like, oh, wow, I need to change my technique

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and, you know, try to get as good as this guy because he's really good.

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Yeah, no, that's really awesome, though. And to be in a position like yours,

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which is really kind of at the top of the rust game, and still be the mindset

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of being coachable, still being open to learning, like you're saying, right.

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That's huge, brother. That's huge. Yeah. You know, that's an awesome character trait for sure.

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But when you look back at the, at the junkyard time, do you think that having

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access to cars that, you know, you could just break apart and just whatever,

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do you think it kind of gave you more of a fearless approach toward restoration

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or taking them apart, putting it back together?

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It did. I'll tell you what it really did was the biggest thing on junkyards

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is, and that's where I bought majority of my Noahs. I had a stack of Novas up there.

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It broke my heart to see the cars sitting in the woods, sitting in junkyards.

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And so what I did was, to me, every car has a story. It doesn't matter.

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You know, I've built a lot of cars in my life. And you will get a car and you

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start the project and you'll see, you'll take the windows out and the back glass will be scratched.

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You know, somebody scratched that. Where's that car been?

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Where's it traveled? Who owned it? You know, every car. has

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history so it would break my heart seeing cars and i'm like

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i could fix that you know that's easy why don't somebody

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fix that and put it back on the road so someone else can enjoy it you know and

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that's pretty much where that started and like i said on that that my nova had

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come out of that junkyard that i built and then that 39 hudson came out we went

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out and picked the car he's like which one do you want to save i was like i

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want to really save that one because every time i walk by it,

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grabs me it's like yeah you know somebody the cars

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the rust is in there say save me you know please somebody save

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me and i think that's really where it comes from you know

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i just i want to save them all it's funny you said

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you said that it it kind of chose you i feel like that kind of happens with

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these cars you know i can look at them all day but man some of them they they

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just i i need it i need that car i want that car i need that i'm gonna find

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a way to get that car and it doesn't happen that often,

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but it does stop your life. It'll happen.

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You know, it'll happen. That's kind of cool. It's kind of cool.

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Yeah. And every car I've come across that I personally own has some sort of

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a connection. You know, it's, I don't know if you ever seen,

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I had a burnt orange and two-tone bug, a 61 at one time.

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His name was Herbert. Everybody knew the car, but it ended up in a junkyard

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in Sanford. And I went back to get the car.

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Guy wouldn't sell it, wouldn't sell it. well I sent Bubba.

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Don Corsi over there to the junkyard he calls me says

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hey man you want to buy this car I'm like yeah he's like give him 450 bucks

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I so I ran down there got the car and then I had to

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do a title search on it so I did

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the title search there was a lien on the car to a lady

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that lived off a colonial drive in Orlando and I went and

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met with her to get the title work done and lo and

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behold she was the original owner of the car she bought

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it brand new in Winter Park and she

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actually bought two of them there was there was a black one and a white one

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i owned the black one the white one her husband

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was on his way surfing one night or one

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early morning in the white one he was killed somebody run

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him off the road he was going to coco to go surfing and he

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was killed so the way that the car the lean went in there

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is one of the the boyfriend later on in life that

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she was dating needed a car so she said well you can drive this

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car but i'm gonna put a lean against it so you don't run off with it.

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But he so he kind

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of ran off with the car and she she was she

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was like well where is my car and i'm like explain it to her

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so i sat down with with her for two hours and

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we did all the paperwork and she couldn't drive she was much older and

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i told her all about the car and she's like yeah yeah here's

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all the paperwork here's pictures of it when you know

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so i reunited the just just by that little thing

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right there i reunited that car with the original owner you

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know and then when i was done with that i drove it down to her

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house and she couldn't believe it i let her sit in it you know

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and she and that was really when it hit heart right there

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is she had made a comment to me she's like it's

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beautiful but the memories are painted away

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you know the memories of the car it's so awesome

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to see actual car back in my driveway but it's

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not the same car as it was right when you had it

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you know and that really hit home i was like yeah because now if

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i'm doing full restorations i'm wiping away all the the history of the car so

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i try to keep as much history of the car as i can that's a really good point

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and that's probably going to resonate with a lot of folks too just the fact

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that you're thinking like that kind of shows the level of.

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Artistry and like you know true craftsmanship that goes into what you do that's

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really really cool man i'll give you a really quick one this is my latest one

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we went holly and i flew out to her family lives in Little Rock and we were

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going to her sister's wedding.

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My shoe blew out just before the wedding. My shoe blew out.

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So I was sort of the soul just started flipping around. So I was like,

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I'm going to run to the Walmart real quick.

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OK. So I ran, jumped in the car, ran to the Walmart, crossed the street from

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the Walmart in the turning lane in the woods.

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There is a grown over junkyard.

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And I could not believe the amount of cars that was stuck in this field, in these woods.

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So here I am, and I'm in a full suit, bringing the shoes that I just bought

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from there, jumping the fence, going into this junkyard. I said,

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I got five minutes. I can do this.

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So I probably spent eight minutes, but I wanted to go back. I marked that spot

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so I can always go back and see them cars again.

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I haven't been yet, but my goal is to go back because there was a couple of buses in there.

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I couldn't believe it. And I did not have my phone with me where I would have

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taken pictures, but that's how I am.

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It's like, I don't care how I'm dressed, what I'm doing. If I see something

00:15:21.341 --> 00:15:22.961
that's going to grab me, I'm going after it.

00:15:23.061 --> 00:15:27.081
You know, I got to go check it out because it's a car. There's history out in the woods.

00:15:27.561 --> 00:15:33.101
Let's touch on your, your past, like leading up to, you know, Davis customs.

00:15:33.241 --> 00:15:37.881
But I know at some point you had started at an auto parts store.

00:15:38.021 --> 00:15:44.341
I believe it was Napa. What did that job back then teach you back then about

00:15:44.341 --> 00:15:47.721
what applies to business and even customers now?

00:15:47.961 --> 00:15:52.661
What I did was I am self-taught on everything I do, painting the cars.

00:15:52.701 --> 00:15:54.941
I've actually done my own interiors before.

00:15:55.201 --> 00:15:58.801
Don't want to do that again, but I build motors.

00:15:59.061 --> 00:16:02.341
I can pretty much do anything, so I'm self-taught. So when I moved back from

00:16:02.341 --> 00:16:04.601
Washington state, I got a job at Napa.

00:16:05.221 --> 00:16:10.561
And the reason I got the job at Napa was, is I wanted to be surrounded by auto parts themselves.

00:16:10.881 --> 00:16:15.721
So I wanted to learn the different new parts and how that whole system worked.

00:16:15.781 --> 00:16:22.301
So actually it worked out pretty good because then I learned how to turn rotors, turn flywheels.

00:16:22.441 --> 00:16:27.001
I learned how to mix paint and do counterwork in a Napa. So when I left the

00:16:27.001 --> 00:16:30.801
Napa, I actually went to work for Javelin Express Lube.

00:16:30.921 --> 00:16:35.201
I started doing oil changes, tune-ups, you know, and I had the basics as automotives,

00:16:35.301 --> 00:16:37.221
but I needed to get into diagnosing stuff.

00:16:37.341 --> 00:16:41.141
When I was at Texaco, the owner of that, Ted Kurtz at that time,

00:16:41.281 --> 00:16:43.981
he was my boss. He sent me to diagnostic school.

00:16:44.181 --> 00:16:47.081
I learned to do diagnostics and learned to do all that.

00:16:47.301 --> 00:16:51.921
At that particular time, there was a guy, a gentleman working with me that was another mentor.

00:16:52.141 --> 00:16:54.981
His name was Ron Smith. He owns Southern Performance Machine.

00:16:54.981 --> 00:17:00.221
He worked there for a little bit and then he ended up moving on and I moved on.

00:17:00.341 --> 00:17:03.061
But after I did that, I went to work in a tire store.

00:17:03.241 --> 00:17:08.941
So now I'm learning tires, different size of tires, learning wheel backspacings, you know.

00:17:09.121 --> 00:17:13.801
So I worked for John Sellers at that time and he ended up being a very big mentor.

00:17:13.981 --> 00:17:18.921
I call him like my adopted dad, but I worked for him for probably four or five

00:17:18.921 --> 00:17:21.701
years learning that particular business.

00:17:21.701 --> 00:17:28.981
And then I left there and went to work with Ron Smith at Southern Performance Machine in DeLand.

00:17:29.261 --> 00:17:33.221
And I learned how to build motors, pulling motors, pulling transmissions,

00:17:33.461 --> 00:17:36.541
building the motors and doing all the machine work on the motors.

00:17:36.901 --> 00:17:42.361
Wow. So I felt at that time I was pretty good where I needed to be.

00:17:43.026 --> 00:17:47.826
So I started Davis Customs in 99 because Don and Ron and I had separated.

00:17:48.026 --> 00:17:53.046
He took his he was a chicken farmer. So he went back to his gig and I kept the

00:17:53.046 --> 00:17:54.626
wholesale of the business.

00:17:54.926 --> 00:17:57.806
So I kept all the customers that were local car.

00:17:58.306 --> 00:18:02.526
Because back then, you know, people were leasing cars and they would never change old.

00:18:03.126 --> 00:18:07.866
And then the car, the leased cars with blown motors would go to dealerships

00:18:07.866 --> 00:18:09.246
and they were out to the auction.

00:18:09.426 --> 00:18:12.706
And these little dealerships around town would buy them, send them to us.

00:18:12.706 --> 00:18:15.566
We'd rebuild the motor and then they would put the cars in a lot and resell them.

00:18:15.926 --> 00:18:20.726
So that was a pretty, pretty tight gig back then when that happened,

00:18:20.766 --> 00:18:24.266
you know, started Davis customs, automotive repair.

00:18:24.706 --> 00:18:27.606
So at all those stops, right.

00:18:27.806 --> 00:18:32.346
To, to create the craftsmen, so to speak, which one of those do you think had

00:18:32.346 --> 00:18:36.786
the biggest impact on, on, on how you are today? All of them.

00:18:37.286 --> 00:18:41.126
All of them. All of them. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I learned, I learned something from

00:18:41.126 --> 00:18:44.466
all of them. I'm kind of envisioning you going through these different things,

00:18:44.626 --> 00:18:46.106
becoming a master of all of them.

00:18:46.346 --> 00:18:51.146
And it's like, damn, you know, you're lethal. You can do it all.

00:18:52.246 --> 00:18:56.686
And I kind of had to because I couldn't afford to pay somebody to build my cars, you know.

00:18:56.886 --> 00:19:02.186
So then, so after that, I started Dave's Customs Automotive Repair and I was done with it.

00:19:02.306 --> 00:19:05.646
You know, I was done with dealing with the customers. And then I was like, you know what?

00:19:05.826 --> 00:19:09.946
It's going to be Dave's Customs fabrication from now on. And I want to do get

00:19:09.946 --> 00:19:13.926
into exterior customizing and that style of work.

00:19:14.326 --> 00:19:19.346
So I took it home and started in my garage.

00:19:19.386 --> 00:19:21.706
I got another job at that time just

00:19:21.706 --> 00:19:25.926
to get the bills paid and keep Davis Customs on the side more or less.

00:19:26.366 --> 00:19:31.166
So I got extremely busy. And then Bubba brought me his Volkswagen bus.

00:19:31.286 --> 00:19:32.806
And I want to say it was about 03, 04.

00:19:33.286 --> 00:19:38.886
Okay. And if anybody remembers Bubba's first bus, it was a 21 window,

00:19:39.586 --> 00:19:42.106
yellow and white. It was a beautiful bus.

00:19:42.686 --> 00:19:45.566
I wanted nothing to do with this bus when he brought it to me.

00:19:46.846 --> 00:19:51.166
So I didn't want nothing to do with it. I was never a bus guy. I had just got my bug.

00:19:51.746 --> 00:19:55.566
So he's like, no, I want to put a roof on it and I want to make it a 21 window bus.

00:19:55.666 --> 00:20:00.146
Can you do it? It's like, let's do it. So him and I, we did it and we did all the metal work to it.

00:20:00.266 --> 00:20:04.546
And that bus ended up being beautiful bus. Bob actually drove that to California

00:20:04.546 --> 00:20:09.366
To Octo I believe he drove it out there to that So and Josh Wheeler Painted

00:20:09.366 --> 00:20:13.486
it you know there was an Interior shop that was in Orlando Did the interior

00:20:13.486 --> 00:20:16.846
and the bus is just really cool Sitting on Fooks it was hammered it was bright

00:20:16.846 --> 00:20:19.786
Yellow and white it was a cool bus Yeah I bet,

00:20:20.826 --> 00:20:22.766
Yeah So,

00:20:23.573 --> 00:20:28.193
It just started from that day on. I did right after that, John Bonner,

00:20:28.253 --> 00:20:32.153
Beaner, I did a chop top bug for him. It was flat black with red spokes.

00:20:32.293 --> 00:20:36.333
And most people will know that car when they hear it. They're like, oh, I remember that car.

00:20:37.113 --> 00:20:40.273
And it just took off from there. You know, people are like, yeah,

00:20:40.293 --> 00:20:43.893
man, I want you to do some metal work for me. And then I just started gradually getting better.

00:20:44.053 --> 00:20:48.353
So I picked up a welder and I self-taught myself to weld.

00:20:49.653 --> 00:20:51.873
So cool. I went and bought the

00:20:51.873 --> 00:20:55.993
welder and on the way home, I saw some bed frame on the side of the road.

00:20:56.113 --> 00:20:59.993
I picked it up and I built that, I built the bed frame welder stand.

00:21:00.013 --> 00:21:03.713
And I had that thing for probably 25 years before I finally got rid of it.

00:21:04.053 --> 00:21:08.213
But I built the stand that the welder was on and then I just got getting better.

00:21:08.453 --> 00:21:13.473
And now I want to change over to TIG, but I'm kind of afraid to because I have

00:21:13.473 --> 00:21:18.253
adapted myself so much to wire feed that it's pretty much, I can control my heat.

00:21:18.413 --> 00:21:21.193
And, you know, I don't warp panels. i'm not into that

00:21:21.193 --> 00:21:24.033
and doing all the mud work on my cars over the

00:21:24.033 --> 00:21:26.973
years and i was like there has to be a better way to do this this

00:21:26.973 --> 00:21:29.653
is just not working for me i i can i have a

00:21:29.653 --> 00:21:32.673
rule there's a sign in my shop says there is no bondo allowed

00:21:32.673 --> 00:21:35.533
in the shop period i don't i don't like it

00:21:35.533 --> 00:21:38.373
because i used it for so many years that it's hard

00:21:38.373 --> 00:21:42.293
work man you got to be a sculpture to do that stuff right and it's like there's

00:21:42.293 --> 00:21:45.733
got to be an easier way so i started welding and i started really getting into

00:21:45.733 --> 00:21:49.873
figuring out how i can do this without warping the metal you know and they just

00:21:49.873 --> 00:21:53.433
took off and then people started figuring that out and they're like you want

00:21:53.433 --> 00:21:55.813
to do my bus i'm like sure you know and during.

00:21:56.513 --> 00:21:59.273
I'll tell you that what really took off for me is when

00:21:59.273 --> 00:22:04.113
they had to crash what was that 08 or 05 or something the oh oh yeah it was

00:22:04.113 --> 00:22:10.453
08 08 was collapse of subprime and then all the the the more the real estate

00:22:10.453 --> 00:22:15.293
values plummeted and well i could get mortgages and then everybody started their

00:22:15.293 --> 00:22:16.773
houses, it was crazy time.

00:22:17.033 --> 00:22:19.513
Eight was. To like 10, 11-ish.

00:22:20.213 --> 00:22:24.133
Yeah. Well, I did nine buses in a year that year.

00:22:24.869 --> 00:22:28.029
At my house damn they were packed

00:22:28.029 --> 00:22:30.789
they were stacked up man i mean on saturday i'd be

00:22:30.789 --> 00:22:33.409
pushing one out in the road to get on a trailer and another one would be

00:22:33.409 --> 00:22:36.789
coming in like you know i'm like recession proof business

00:22:36.789 --> 00:22:39.669
and it kind of was and i was you

00:22:39.669 --> 00:22:42.469
know i was really nervous about it but people weren't paying

00:22:42.469 --> 00:22:45.209
their mortgages man they were getting their buses done you know they're like that's

00:22:45.209 --> 00:22:48.289
great they're like yeah we're gonna enjoy it yeah why

00:22:48.289 --> 00:22:51.089
not i guess i would have done the same thing but i owned my house i was in

00:22:51.089 --> 00:22:53.869
i was in pretty you know good shape on that i didn't have really

00:22:53.869 --> 00:22:56.829
have to worry about it but yeah those are some good times so

00:22:56.829 --> 00:23:01.829
the bus world really took off for me then that's when it really got big well

00:23:01.829 --> 00:23:08.329
then introduce dc which is your your your double cab just kind of in the timeline

00:23:08.329 --> 00:23:14.049
right yep so tell me about that story about uh how,

00:23:14.869 --> 00:23:19.169
gerson had pulled up to i don't know if you were at your house or the shop and

00:23:19.169 --> 00:23:23.289
and had this thing But walk me through that story. I think that's it.

00:23:23.709 --> 00:23:27.849
At that time, I was getting to a point where I think I was going to want a bus.

00:23:27.989 --> 00:23:31.529
Because I drove Bubba's bus and I drove some, you know, like Nacho's bus.

00:23:31.689 --> 00:23:33.769
And it's like, man, I think I want a bus, you know.

00:23:34.949 --> 00:23:38.209
So during that time, I was doing metal work for Gerson at my house.

00:23:38.949 --> 00:23:42.109
And I had two of his cars. I probably had two or three of his cars at my house

00:23:42.109 --> 00:23:43.069
at that particular time.

00:23:43.369 --> 00:23:46.609
So he evidently, he had called Bubba and he'd asked Bubba. He says,

00:23:46.749 --> 00:23:51.209
Bubba, what kind of bus would Jay want? And he's like, I know he would love to have a double cab.

00:23:51.589 --> 00:23:53.769
He's like, oh, well, that's perfect because I got one.

00:23:55.249 --> 00:24:03.149
So Gerson had taken this bus. He had sold it to somebody here in Florida and dropped it off to him.

00:24:03.589 --> 00:24:08.849
Well, the guy's wife came home and had a fit. So he called Gerson and says,

00:24:09.009 --> 00:24:11.289
dude, man, you got to come get it back. I can't take the bus.

00:24:11.369 --> 00:24:14.089
And he's like, what? You know, okay, well, I'll come back and get the bus.

00:24:14.529 --> 00:24:16.329
And he's like, well, when am I going to do this bus?

00:24:16.809 --> 00:24:20.009
So he called Bubba, and that's when that arranged. So I'm at my house,

00:24:20.049 --> 00:24:22.969
and lo and behold, here comes Gerson coming around the corner.

00:24:23.209 --> 00:24:27.049
And that old Ford truck he drove, and on the trailer was his double cab and

00:24:27.049 --> 00:24:29.929
a bunch of metal and stuff on the back. And I'm walking out of my garage,

00:24:30.049 --> 00:24:35.389
and I'm saying, no, Gerson, I have three of your cars here now. No. He's like, no.

00:24:35.789 --> 00:24:39.849
I'm like, wait a minute. Just wait a minute. He's like, I talked to Bubba.

00:24:39.909 --> 00:24:42.329
Bubba told me what kind of bus you wanted. This is yours.

00:24:42.849 --> 00:24:46.149
I was like, what? He's like, it's yours. He said, for all you've done for me,

00:24:46.429 --> 00:24:47.909
you know, you do a lot of metal work for me.

00:24:48.149 --> 00:24:51.809
Your prices have been good with me. He said, we built a good friendship.

00:24:52.069 --> 00:24:55.769
He's like, it's yours. Just, it's yours. You can have it. I'm like,

00:24:55.829 --> 00:24:57.189
well, in that case, let's unload it.

00:24:59.229 --> 00:25:04.549
Absolutely. Yeah. And then he's like, he says, okay, so what I want you to do

00:25:04.549 --> 00:25:10.509
is make a list, call the shop, have every piece of metal you want for this thing sent. Yeah.

00:25:10.934 --> 00:25:16.454
And I was like, okay. And in the back of this thing was already a walkthrough

00:25:16.454 --> 00:25:17.974
section cut out of another bus.

00:25:18.354 --> 00:25:21.594
So I knew right off the bat I was doing a walkthrough. And I said,

00:25:21.674 --> 00:25:25.874
well, Gertzian says, can you guys pop me out the pillars, the C pillars and

00:25:25.874 --> 00:25:27.534
D pillars? He's like, absolutely.

00:25:28.314 --> 00:25:30.514
So I turned it into a double door.

00:25:31.894 --> 00:25:32.734
So, yeah.

00:25:34.914 --> 00:25:39.234
So Holly and I had never done a project together because we've been together for 13 years.

00:25:39.974 --> 00:25:43.034
And she she's a little car nut too so she wanted

00:25:43.034 --> 00:25:46.114
to get on the project and i said well let's build this bus together so there was

00:25:46.114 --> 00:25:48.994
a video i posted a couple months ago her and i on the back porch and

00:25:48.994 --> 00:25:52.114
we're cutting this thing open and we're making it a walkthrough and then we

00:25:52.114 --> 00:25:56.394
started so she did so i did eight inches all the way around the bus got it going

00:25:56.394 --> 00:26:01.394
and she did all the patina work she did all the logos on the door because my

00:26:01.394 --> 00:26:07.154
wife's an artist so she does murals she does Her artistic work is just amazing.

00:26:07.674 --> 00:26:11.594
So she did all the lettering on the doors, and she handled all that.

00:26:11.694 --> 00:26:13.474
And we got the bus going and done.

00:26:14.134 --> 00:26:17.214
And we took a no-do for the first time that year. It's been eight years now

00:26:17.214 --> 00:26:21.634
that bus has been on there. The guy that he sold it to walks up.

00:26:22.174 --> 00:26:25.954
He's like, oh, my gosh, that's the bus. He's like, honey, come here.

00:26:26.114 --> 00:26:29.574
Check this out. Look. She's like, oh, my God, I love it. And he's like,

00:26:29.674 --> 00:26:32.154
yep, I own that bus for about five minutes.

00:26:34.254 --> 00:26:39.474
Damn. So, yeah, so it's, that bus has a lot of sentimental value to me just

00:26:39.474 --> 00:26:43.114
because it was a gift from Gerson, but, you know, it's not every day you run

00:26:43.114 --> 00:26:47.774
into a double door, walk through, double cab, you know. Forever.

00:26:48.594 --> 00:26:52.754
Yeah, and it's a cool bus and we, and we use it as a family vehicle.

00:26:52.934 --> 00:26:56.734
I mean, we haul, I went and got fence on it a month or so ago.

00:26:56.914 --> 00:26:59.874
I bought, you know, went to Lowe's and bought the big eight by four by eight

00:26:59.874 --> 00:27:01.914
panels and stacked them up on the bed, took it on.

00:27:02.294 --> 00:27:07.074
The wife hauled mulch in it. I mean, we use it. And my daughters grew up in it.

00:27:08.054 --> 00:27:10.874
So they love that bus just as much, you know. Oh, yeah.

00:27:11.474 --> 00:27:15.434
Yeah, the story on that bus is really cool. So that's just one of our we will

00:27:15.434 --> 00:27:18.194
not sell collection. I have three cars that I will not part with.

00:27:18.674 --> 00:27:22.414
Number one is my Nova. I have a 65 Chevy Nova named Scratch.

00:27:22.694 --> 00:27:24.494
I'll be buried in that car. And

00:27:24.494 --> 00:27:28.794
then I have my 47 Chevy Fleetline that I'm building now and then our bus.

00:27:29.154 --> 00:27:34.154
And the rest of them, they're just fun toys to have. Sure. I enjoy them. Yep.

00:27:34.961 --> 00:27:40.741
But that was the story on the bus. What a cool story. And love that it's sentimental.

00:27:41.221 --> 00:27:45.261
These cars, if we have them for a long time, the experiences,

00:27:45.481 --> 00:27:49.821
the things that happen around us, the kids, the memories, they become part of the family.

00:27:50.241 --> 00:27:54.481
They do. Yeah. Yeah. It really is. Yeah. It's like scratch.

00:27:55.041 --> 00:27:59.581
Everybody knows scratch is scratch. It's just that's one of those cars that

00:27:59.581 --> 00:28:02.341
my mom will, she's like, I'll post a picture of.

00:28:02.381 --> 00:28:06.441
My mom's like, oh, my gosh, I love scratch so much. you know oh

00:28:06.441 --> 00:28:10.301
i raced scratch years ago you know in the streets you know we just it's just

00:28:10.301 --> 00:28:15.081
it becomes family and i have so many memories in that car and holly and i got

00:28:15.081 --> 00:28:18.941
huge memories in that car you know we met when we met where i was in that car

00:28:18.941 --> 00:28:22.641
so yeah and i've had that car for 37 years,

00:28:23.221 --> 00:28:28.921
dang man that's like you know that's your heart that's your homie yeah that's

00:28:28.921 --> 00:28:32.401
yeah holly said that's my first born yeah that's your homie right there that's

00:28:32.401 --> 00:28:36.741
cool cool yeah i want to touch on something because I think this is what you're,

00:28:36.761 --> 00:28:39.561
you're most known for, but I just want to, I want to talk on it.

00:28:39.661 --> 00:28:44.481
Now, rust, essentially, I think I saw something last year when I was sharing

00:28:44.481 --> 00:28:48.641
some of your posts, bring your rust to us or something like that. Yeah.

00:28:49.381 --> 00:28:54.781
So you've said, you know, or claim, not even claim, but you are rust is kind of your specialty.

00:28:55.001 --> 00:28:58.941
Why, why do you love tackling projects like that?

00:28:59.101 --> 00:29:05.021
Big time rust when a lot of other people might not, They might say it's too far gone or whatever.

00:29:05.421 --> 00:29:08.461
There's nothing that's too far gone. I'm living proof of that.

00:29:08.981 --> 00:29:15.401
So I did, if you noticed, it was probably, it's been several months now.

00:29:15.581 --> 00:29:20.961
There was a video I posted of a green 65 Mustang fastback that my brother and I built together.

00:29:21.581 --> 00:29:26.101
And he is not allowed to go look for cars without me. That thing was horrible.

00:29:26.923 --> 00:29:30.643
It was horrible, but I told him, you know, and it's his dream car.

00:29:30.863 --> 00:29:34.663
So that's what really keeps me going is when he said that's really,

00:29:34.763 --> 00:29:36.943
and it has been, I remember him talking about it when we were kids,

00:29:36.963 --> 00:29:38.903
you know, he always wanted a 65 fastback.

00:29:39.723 --> 00:29:45.583
If you can take and build somebody's dream and watch them smile when they come

00:29:45.583 --> 00:29:49.443
get it, that to me is the greatest gift in the world.

00:29:49.623 --> 00:29:53.583
This car, basically that Mustang, I changed everything on that car,

00:29:53.703 --> 00:29:54.703
but the roof and the firewall.

00:29:54.703 --> 00:30:01.083
The rest of the car was completely reconstructed on my—I have a table out there

00:30:01.083 --> 00:30:05.663
that I built to keep buses straight, and then I ended up just using it for any kind of car.

00:30:05.823 --> 00:30:09.203
So every car I've ever built has been welded down on there.

00:30:09.383 --> 00:30:14.083
And I'm actually building—so the biggest rust project I'm doing right now is

00:30:14.083 --> 00:30:19.363
that—I don't know if you've seen it, but it's the Datsun 510 that I'm working on. It's red.

00:30:20.043 --> 00:30:21.703
That car is from Japan.

00:30:22.443 --> 00:30:25.503
And I remember seeing a post about this not

00:30:25.503 --> 00:30:28.343
nobody in Japan would touch that

00:30:28.343 --> 00:30:31.163
car they were like this car is way too far

00:30:31.163 --> 00:30:33.923
gone and Gerson says want to bet he says I

00:30:33.923 --> 00:30:36.963
got a guy in the states that'll fix his car and they're like no

00:30:36.963 --> 00:30:39.623
way I was like yep so he calls me

00:30:39.623 --> 00:30:43.223
he says guess what you're getting ready to build but the

00:30:43.223 --> 00:30:46.303
reason I'm doing this car is because it's extremely rare

00:30:46.303 --> 00:30:49.763
it is an early 70 510 triple

00:30:49.763 --> 00:30:52.883
s coupe so if you're not familiar with

00:30:52.883 --> 00:30:56.103
those which you probably aren't because they're that rare there

00:30:56.103 --> 00:30:59.323
was not very many made so when dotson first produced you

00:30:59.323 --> 00:31:04.063
know the 510 everybody's familiar with the 510 little square box looking dotson

00:31:04.063 --> 00:31:10.963
very popular this one is the most high demand 510 that was ever built but they

00:31:10.963 --> 00:31:15.643
didn't build that many gerson found the The car was found in Russia in a barn,

00:31:15.643 --> 00:31:17.303
and then they shipped it down to Japan.

00:31:17.503 --> 00:31:20.863
I'm changing pretty much everything on this car. And I'm doing videos,

00:31:20.883 --> 00:31:22.923
and I'm doing day-to-day steps through there.

00:31:23.043 --> 00:31:26.383
I'm on hold on right now on getting metal from Gerson for this car.

00:31:26.943 --> 00:31:31.243
But this is a full build. And the reason I'm doing this is because...

00:31:32.540 --> 00:31:36.700
People say they can't do it. They said that car is not fixable. And that's not true.

00:31:38.480 --> 00:31:43.040
Finding the person that wants to take the time to fix the car will be the problem.

00:31:44.060 --> 00:31:47.700
But I'll do it. And if I can't do it, I'll look at it right off the bat and

00:31:47.700 --> 00:31:49.260
say, no, I can't touch that car.

00:31:49.380 --> 00:31:54.900
Because I know I've done so many cars that I know that they get so far gone

00:31:54.900 --> 00:31:57.800
that you really, you just can't do nothing with them.

00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:02.160
And especially when there's body, you can buy bodies now. Now,

00:32:02.340 --> 00:32:04.640
you can buy just about anything you want brand new.

00:32:05.100 --> 00:32:09.080
A lot of people don't like that. But if you want that particular car because

00:32:09.080 --> 00:32:11.120
yours is so bad, then go buy a new body.

00:32:11.360 --> 00:32:13.400
You know, by the time you're done, it's going to be cheaper to do that.

00:32:14.700 --> 00:32:18.240
So I have, Gerson has thrown me some bones, man. I'm telling you,

00:32:18.280 --> 00:32:22.460
he has thrown me some rusted out cars that I have fixed, you know, a lot.

00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:25.880
And he's just like, I know you can do it. So that's why I have you do it.

00:32:26.220 --> 00:32:29.600
And my brother was the same way. You know, when I looked at the car and I looked

00:32:29.600 --> 00:32:31.780
at him, I was like, man, this thing is horrible, dude.

00:32:32.060 --> 00:32:37.100
He's like, can we fix it? You know, I'm like, hey, if you want to step in and

00:32:37.100 --> 00:32:39.740
buy all the metal, we'll fix this car. And he's like, yeah, let's do it.

00:32:39.900 --> 00:32:43.280
So there's another guy that I did a double cab project with,

00:32:43.400 --> 00:32:45.460
Dave Rowland, builds beautiful cars.

00:32:46.040 --> 00:32:50.260
Very dear friend of mine. He has a double cab that we found out in the woods.

00:32:50.820 --> 00:32:55.120
And this bus was so bad, it was rotted in half. Whoa, dude.

00:32:55.900 --> 00:32:59.460
Yep. And we were out there on the man's property looking at the bus.

00:32:59.560 --> 00:33:02.820
And he looked up at me in the front. He was in the front. I was in the back.

00:33:03.200 --> 00:33:08.440
And he says, can you fix it? And I was like, I can fix it. He's like, yeah.

00:33:08.700 --> 00:33:11.520
And, you know, because he always wanted a double cab. It took me about three

00:33:11.520 --> 00:33:14.740
years to put that bus back together. But he drives it all the time. It's beautiful.

00:33:15.160 --> 00:33:18.000
I'm going to try to save them, man. That's constantly telling people,

00:33:18.100 --> 00:33:21.360
man. You know, I see it all the time on Marketplace or somebody.

00:33:21.920 --> 00:33:24.980
I'm scrapping this car. Dude, don't scrap the car. There's somebody out there

00:33:24.980 --> 00:33:28.300
that really needs that car. Because one day, those cars are going to be gone.

00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:31.440
Right. And somebody's really going to want them. Actually, if you're scrapping them. Yeah.

00:33:32.225 --> 00:33:35.845
Yeah, that's the worst thing. To me, that's the worst thing you could do to a car.

00:33:35.985 --> 00:33:40.165
It is. It's gone forever. It's gone. It's probably a good thing that I don't

00:33:40.165 --> 00:33:45.665
have 500,000 acres because if I did, I'd have a 500,000 acre junkyard.

00:33:48.125 --> 00:33:51.645
That's funny, man. Let's touch on your show.

00:33:51.885 --> 00:33:57.205
I know that you host a VW event every year in January.

00:33:57.665 --> 00:34:02.385
And I know this is kind of a way of you more or less giving back to the scene.

00:34:02.745 --> 00:34:06.985
What, I guess, what inspired you to start that event? How long has it been going

00:34:06.985 --> 00:34:08.905
on? Tell us about it for those that don't already.

00:34:09.725 --> 00:34:15.025
Gosh, I think we're going into our, I think this is our sixth year this January 17th.

00:34:15.705 --> 00:34:19.765
So Henry's Depot was just opening up at the time, right?

00:34:19.985 --> 00:34:23.305
Right when the COVID stuff was getting towards the end of it.

00:34:23.305 --> 00:34:27.425
But Henry's Depot, if you've been there, it's just a hallway full of restaurants.

00:34:27.425 --> 00:34:29.725
And all the restaurants are really good in there. There's a killer bar.

00:34:29.925 --> 00:34:33.025
The atmosphere of the place is just really awesome. So we do lunch.

00:34:33.265 --> 00:34:36.505
All us guys do lunch every Wednesday. So we went down there to try the place out.

00:34:36.825 --> 00:34:39.345
And one day we went down there for lunch. I was driving a bus.

00:34:39.545 --> 00:34:44.085
And Sean Kelly that owns it, he's like, dude, I love that bus.

00:34:44.245 --> 00:34:49.025
He's like, would you be interested in doing a car show down here? I was like, yeah.

00:34:49.425 --> 00:34:52.245
Not a fact that you say that. I said, I know a lot of people.

00:34:52.245 --> 00:34:58.025
And he's like And when we put that show together In less than six months So

00:34:58.025 --> 00:35:01.545
it was an instant thing And he's like I'll tell you what I'll do,

00:35:02.165 --> 00:35:06.685
I'll handle everything You get the people here I was like you got it And we'll

00:35:06.685 --> 00:35:11.085
do it So the first year that we did it In the short amount of time that we did it,

00:35:11.645 --> 00:35:18.145
We only expected maybe 100 cars It was 250 cars the first year Damn dude,

00:35:18.725 --> 00:35:20.285
Yes So Impressive.

00:35:21.144 --> 00:35:26.904
And I think the reason that it took off like it did was because it was right at the end of COVID.

00:35:27.084 --> 00:35:30.344
And people wanted to get out. They were tired of being cooped up.

00:35:30.504 --> 00:35:33.264
You know, people weren't driving their Volkswagens because you had to wear a

00:35:33.264 --> 00:35:37.684
mask. And, you know, everybody was still kind of hesitant about going out.

00:35:37.884 --> 00:35:43.184
And we were just like, you know, this is to get everybody, the Volkswagen community, back out.

00:35:43.604 --> 00:35:46.744
It's time. We've been put up enough. Yeah, good luck.

00:35:47.544 --> 00:35:52.004
It was, yeah, it was the season for it. and people ask me, they're just like,

00:35:52.144 --> 00:35:53.664
why do you have it in January?

00:35:53.904 --> 00:35:59.044
I'm like, hmm, because I want you to be cold at my show.

00:35:59.364 --> 00:36:01.924
And they're like, what? I'm like, there's no winter shows, man.

00:36:02.424 --> 00:36:06.684
You know, back then Bubba and them had winter jam back in the day that was out

00:36:06.684 --> 00:36:08.544
there in Daytona. And it was always in winter.

00:36:09.004 --> 00:36:12.084
And I remember it was some of the funnest time. It was cold,

00:36:12.204 --> 00:36:16.244
but everybody was bundled up and, but your cars ran good. You weren't sweating.

00:36:16.424 --> 00:36:20.304
It was amazing. So it was just good. And I was like, let's do like a winter show.

00:36:20.484 --> 00:36:24.884
Let's just make it cold, you know, and it just took off. And then the next year

00:36:24.884 --> 00:36:28.204
was our rain year. So they say every car show has a rain year.

00:36:29.284 --> 00:36:33.504
So we had a rain year. I think we had maybe 150 cars that year.

00:36:33.984 --> 00:36:38.004
And then the following year, we're up to 320 now. Damn.

00:36:38.704 --> 00:36:41.704
Yeah. So it's grown and we want it to grow.

00:36:41.884 --> 00:36:45.584
We didn't expect it to grow like it did. But Sanford's a good little town,

00:36:45.744 --> 00:36:47.164
man. There's a lot to do there.

00:36:47.324 --> 00:36:50.824
It's a good drive destination for people to come and check it out.

00:36:51.884 --> 00:36:55.564
No-Do is one of my favorite shows. We spend the weekend over there.

00:36:56.406 --> 00:37:01.426
And it's, you know, you're so close to home. I mean, I'm 30 minutes from there.

00:37:01.626 --> 00:37:04.866
So it's like, I'm just close to home, but it almost feels like you're still on vacation.

00:37:05.366 --> 00:37:09.086
Yeah, yeah. No, that's awesome. I'm going to freak.

00:37:09.266 --> 00:37:12.066
I'm going to get out there to that one to no doubt. I haven't been,

00:37:12.366 --> 00:37:17.086
but after hearing about it last year, you know, last couple years,

00:37:17.106 --> 00:37:19.326
actually, I'm going to definitely check that one out.

00:37:19.466 --> 00:37:25.226
And then I almost came to yours last January, but I forget what had come up.

00:37:25.226 --> 00:37:30.486
I've got some young kids and something had come up and I ended up not making

00:37:30.486 --> 00:37:32.246
it, but I got a buddy that lives up there too.

00:37:32.386 --> 00:37:36.986
I was going to connect with him, but I'll have to in the future come out and

00:37:36.986 --> 00:37:42.066
support you guys and maybe even set up a little vendor spot or something for

00:37:42.066 --> 00:37:44.726
the podcast. I think that'd be kind of cool.

00:37:45.006 --> 00:37:48.086
I'll put you right in there. Yeah, cool, man. Yeah.

00:37:49.386 --> 00:37:54.426
Like I say, the Volkswagen community, man, it's just a good community.

00:37:55.226 --> 00:38:00.686
You know, and they always have been. I remember there was there was one time

00:38:00.686 --> 00:38:05.146
driving down I-4 and right at an exit there, there was a Volkswagen that was

00:38:05.146 --> 00:38:06.266
broke down the side of the road.

00:38:06.286 --> 00:38:09.446
And I was like, oh, no. So I got up and he was on the other side of the road.

00:38:09.666 --> 00:38:15.246
So I got off, got back on. By the time I got to the guy, there's two Volkswagen's already parked there.

00:38:15.846 --> 00:38:19.946
See, you know, and I wasn't in my Volkswagen. It's kind of something you can't

00:38:19.946 --> 00:38:22.886
really explain. You got to be a part of it to feel it.

00:38:23.226 --> 00:38:27.926
You know, it's not really. If you told me that story, I'd be like, yeah, that's cool.

00:38:28.406 --> 00:38:32.186
But to feel that, to really go through that and see that, damn,

00:38:32.326 --> 00:38:36.726
man, how many people do you drive by maybe in your life?

00:38:36.866 --> 00:38:40.446
Think about it. Everybody that's listening, that's not a Volkswagen that you

00:38:40.446 --> 00:38:44.946
just cruise right on by. Right on by, yeah.

00:38:46.286 --> 00:38:50.266
I look at them, I was like, they look like they're doing all right.

00:38:50.346 --> 00:38:57.686
But a Volkswagen person, I'm stopping regardless. What's going on You know the

00:38:57.686 --> 00:39:00.206
thing about Volkswagen's is We've all been there,

00:39:01.114 --> 00:39:03.914
We have all been on the side of the road. If you own a Volkswagen,

00:39:04.414 --> 00:39:06.854
you have never been on the side of the road, period.

00:39:07.434 --> 00:39:11.214
For something. Something. It's either small or it's big.

00:39:11.394 --> 00:39:16.254
But everybody has been parked on the side of the road in a Volkswagen. I think we expect it.

00:39:16.774 --> 00:39:20.774
We do. And it's not something that any of us run from.

00:39:21.174 --> 00:39:27.454
I remember through the 90s into the early 2000s, I'm a teen into my 20s.

00:39:27.454 --> 00:39:33.214
And I developed this kind of this energy where if a car ever broke down on me, it was gone.

00:39:33.734 --> 00:39:36.414
And that's kind of, you know, I was like, nah, man, you leave me hanging.

00:39:36.654 --> 00:39:39.914
You're not, you're not, you're not hanging around me. You're out. I'm selling you. Right.

00:39:40.294 --> 00:39:43.814
I, I don't feel that way about my Volkswagen. So I never have,

00:39:43.854 --> 00:39:47.054
I'm like, you know, I know you're going to break down on me. I know you are.

00:39:47.214 --> 00:39:49.674
You're going to leave me hanging. I'm going to be late for work.

00:39:50.894 --> 00:39:53.994
Yep. If it can happen, it's going to happen in one of these old cars,

00:39:54.134 --> 00:39:55.874
but it still doesn't tour us.

00:39:56.454 --> 00:40:00.994
No, it doesn't. It doesn't, you know, a rule of thumb, if you put a toolbox

00:40:00.994 --> 00:40:02.754
in it, it'll never break down.

00:40:05.074 --> 00:40:09.374
That's great. I like that. Or if you, you know, like me, I pile a bunch of parts in there.

00:40:09.534 --> 00:40:12.074
If we're going on a trip, say we go to St. Pete or something in the bus,

00:40:12.174 --> 00:40:16.834
you know, I'll throw an extra distributor in there. I'll everything pretty much if anything craps out.

00:40:17.034 --> 00:40:20.534
And then what craps out is the parts that you don't have. St. Pete.

00:40:21.154 --> 00:40:25.734
That's, I'm here. I'm, I'm born and raised here. So that's cool to hear that you come here.

00:40:25.854 --> 00:40:31.174
But I'm saying. Yeah, we brought the bus over to the bully several times over there. Yeah.

00:40:31.674 --> 00:40:34.034
Have you seen the Skyway rides?

00:40:34.734 --> 00:40:37.994
Yeah, but I haven't. I've never done it. I've driven my bus over it,

00:40:38.094 --> 00:40:41.654
but, you know, some of them buses, they get to the top and they,

00:40:41.714 --> 00:40:42.954
ooh, they're about peter out.

00:40:43.254 --> 00:40:49.794
Yeah, I know it. 20, 24, we did the 25th year. We had 450 cars.

00:40:50.194 --> 00:40:53.414
That's a lot. The line was over two miles long.

00:40:53.534 --> 00:40:57.374
It was in snow. And then we stopped at lot five, Tropicana Field and just had

00:40:57.374 --> 00:41:00.034
a big, you know, big hangout for, for several hours.

00:41:00.294 --> 00:41:03.994
We got it again, you know, this year it'll be in April again on a Sunday,

00:41:03.994 --> 00:41:06.334
but we're also doing, you mentioned the winter thing.

00:41:06.474 --> 00:41:11.194
We're doing a nighttime, the PM ride is the same Skyway ride,

00:41:11.194 --> 00:41:15.774
but this time it's at night and everybody's cars are tricked out in the LED

00:41:15.774 --> 00:41:17.054
lights, the Christmas lights.

00:41:17.394 --> 00:41:21.514
So we got, we got that coming up in, yeah, in November as well.

00:41:21.514 --> 00:41:25.334
If you follow those pages, V-dubs over the sky.

00:41:25.834 --> 00:41:32.514
Yeah. So I pretty much follow, so my Facebook is like full a lot, like.

00:41:33.100 --> 00:41:38.060
I guess because I post every day. And that's one of the reasons I post is I

00:41:38.060 --> 00:41:43.100
do it for two reasons. I do it because I want people to see exactly what we

00:41:43.100 --> 00:41:46.440
do and the process that we do it. But it's also for the customer.

00:41:46.800 --> 00:41:52.160
Like every day, my customer gets a phone full of pictures of exactly what was

00:41:52.160 --> 00:41:55.940
done to his car that day. I feel good. Money's going.

00:41:56.400 --> 00:42:00.920
Yeah. Yeah. It's for his build sheet, you know, and it's really worked.

00:42:01.120 --> 00:42:03.500
And people, they love that. They want to be a part of it. They,

00:42:03.500 --> 00:42:08.520
they want pictures or something, you know, instead of just dropping it off and they never see it again.

00:42:09.200 --> 00:42:12.760
Right. You know, and that's the feeling they have. It's like,

00:42:12.800 --> 00:42:14.380
what are they doing? Are they working?

00:42:14.620 --> 00:42:17.340
Are they not, you know, and you can't help it.

00:42:17.460 --> 00:42:20.700
But that's the anxiety that most people have when they send their,

00:42:20.740 --> 00:42:25.420
you know, beloved car, you know, to a shop and they have no updates.

00:42:25.520 --> 00:42:27.600
So that's a really good touch, man.

00:42:27.720 --> 00:42:31.160
Really good touch. Yeah, we keep up there But then back to my Facebook,

00:42:31.340 --> 00:42:35.720
that's why we post So I follow everybody A lot of times I don't get to comment

00:42:35.720 --> 00:42:37.480
I don't have the time to comment But,

00:42:37.900 --> 00:42:40.840
you know, I want everybody out there to know If you have pages or if you're

00:42:40.840 --> 00:42:45.280
Volkswagen related I'm watching, you know I don't, sometimes,

00:42:45.340 --> 00:42:47.060
you know My Facebook gets so

00:42:47.060 --> 00:42:50.520
flooded with stuff That it's hard for me to see everybody But when I do,

00:42:50.660 --> 00:42:53.980
I'll hit a like or something Because there's so many Volkswagen guys out there

00:42:53.980 --> 00:42:55.740
Doing so many cool things Yeah,

00:42:55.980 --> 00:42:59.760
I love it, man, I love the community It's buzzing. It's buzzing. It's great.

00:43:00.300 --> 00:43:03.940
It is. That's why I wanted to do this. Why I wanted to get out in front of you

00:43:03.940 --> 00:43:08.260
guys and show you guys off. You guys are all a bunch of cool MFs.

00:43:09.460 --> 00:43:13.380
We try. We try. I've been doing it a long time, man. I've got a lot of VWs under

00:43:13.380 --> 00:43:15.600
my belt. You know, I just did. I think it was.

00:43:16.080 --> 00:43:22.780
I've done. Holly stinks. It's more, but I think I'm right at like 100 buses under my belt.

00:43:23.800 --> 00:43:30.400
Dang, man. Probably since 2003. three. The experience there is just, it's a lifetime.

00:43:31.000 --> 00:43:34.980
Yeah. Yeah. I know the split bus is pretty well. Yeah. That's pretty awesome.

00:43:35.420 --> 00:43:39.680
Yeah. We're talking about this community. I know it means the world to both

00:43:39.680 --> 00:43:43.680
of us, but if you had to describe the VW community in just one word,

00:43:43.680 --> 00:43:47.380
what would that one word be? Family. Family.

00:43:47.740 --> 00:43:52.820
All right. Why that word? Why family? Because we, for some reason,

00:43:53.420 --> 00:43:55.560
Volkswagen's peace, like it brings peace.

00:43:56.140 --> 00:44:00.460
So it brings a community together. You know, you go to different shows,

00:44:00.780 --> 00:44:01.460
you get different people.

00:44:01.820 --> 00:44:06.160
I've been to Corvette shows. I've been to Mustang shows. They're nothing,

00:44:06.400 --> 00:44:10.000
not even remotely close to Volkswagen shows.

00:44:10.200 --> 00:44:14.880
To me, every Volkswagen show that is out there is just one big family reunion.

00:44:15.180 --> 00:44:18.480
And it really is because majority of the time, everybody knows everybody.

00:44:18.480 --> 00:44:20.680
It's just everybody getting together,

00:44:21.577 --> 00:44:25.737
to show off what they've been doing for that year and what they're doing,

00:44:25.897 --> 00:44:27.417
what they've been doing, what they're going to do.

00:44:27.657 --> 00:44:31.237
And everybody just knows everybody. We all, everybody waves,

00:44:31.357 --> 00:44:32.297
you know, that's the thing.

00:44:32.417 --> 00:44:37.177
You got to go to No-Dough and camp because majority of the people camp there

00:44:37.177 --> 00:44:42.097
at the Nova campground and you just drive around the whole park and people are

00:44:42.097 --> 00:44:44.977
just, they're watching. Hey man, you know, everybody knows everybody.

00:44:45.397 --> 00:44:50.377
And it's, it really, to me, the Volkswagen community is just one big family.

00:44:51.197 --> 00:44:54.017
And i think that's where it's it stays you know

00:44:54.017 --> 00:44:57.277
there's not a lot of drama you know it's the volkswagen world

00:44:57.277 --> 00:45:00.257
is not like oh my volkswagen's better than yours or

00:45:00.257 --> 00:45:03.737
you know no you should have done this it's like dude i love your car man it's

00:45:03.737 --> 00:45:07.857
it's it's awesome you know it's just matter what it don't matter how you know

00:45:07.857 --> 00:45:12.477
far left or right it is it could be shiny and glossy or you know rusted and

00:45:12.477 --> 00:45:17.957
and barely stripe it in and they're still they're still dough yeah and there's and there's people,

00:45:18.117 --> 00:45:21.177
you know, that they look at cars and they're like, man, how could he do that

00:45:21.177 --> 00:45:24.257
to that Volkswagen, you know, but they keep their mouth shut about it.

00:45:24.337 --> 00:45:26.997
They just don't express it. They're like, you know what? It's his car.

00:45:27.417 --> 00:45:30.697
He drives it. He has to look at the dash every day, not me. So,

00:45:30.757 --> 00:45:35.357
you know, somebody else will probably like it more than me, but I'm not gonna,

00:45:35.357 --> 00:45:38.317
I'm not gonna downsize any car for that matter.

00:45:38.337 --> 00:45:41.697
You know, just because it's, it is, you know, in the sixties,

00:45:41.797 --> 00:45:43.057
look at Volkswagen in the sixties, man,

00:45:43.237 --> 00:45:46.637
every hippie love piece person had when my parents cruised around

00:45:46.637 --> 00:45:49.697
in buses when they were hippies you know it's just

00:45:49.697 --> 00:45:52.557
Volkswagen brings peace and love man it's just a

00:45:52.557 --> 00:45:55.297
really good community and and you're not going

00:45:55.297 --> 00:45:59.517
to find another one like it you're not you won't find them in any kind of other

00:45:59.517 --> 00:46:04.157
groups like you know like British cars or even American car clubs for that matter

00:46:04.157 --> 00:46:07.977
you know it's a good community but you get into those clubs and they're still

00:46:07.977 --> 00:46:13.217
kind of there's politics in there you know it's oh my My car is a little bit better than yours,

00:46:13.257 --> 00:46:15.517
you know, or I spent this much money on my car.

00:46:15.697 --> 00:46:18.897
That's not it. It's not about that with me. It's about the car.

00:46:19.357 --> 00:46:23.657
I could care less about you. And that's another funny thing is,

00:46:23.857 --> 00:46:28.237
you know, somebody asked me one time, says, why are all your cars the windows tinted?

00:46:28.657 --> 00:46:31.897
I was like, because it's not about me. It's about the car.

00:46:32.704 --> 00:46:34.884
And they're like, well, I never thought of that. I'm like, well,

00:46:34.984 --> 00:46:36.204
yeah, I don't. People don't.

00:46:36.504 --> 00:46:40.464
Look, 90% of the time when you see a cool car going down the road,

00:46:40.684 --> 00:46:41.924
you never see the driver.

00:46:42.424 --> 00:46:44.344
Because the first thing you look at, you're going to look at the car.

00:46:44.724 --> 00:46:46.004
And that's what's going to grab you.

00:46:46.124 --> 00:46:49.404
And you're going to be like, wow, you know, I wouldn't see the driver.

00:46:49.544 --> 00:46:51.644
So I tint my window so you don't see the driver.

00:46:51.884 --> 00:46:55.624
And plus, I like the comfort zone of a living room when I'm driving down the road.

00:46:56.384 --> 00:47:01.864
So. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a fan of tint. I'm a fan of deep tint.

00:47:02.104 --> 00:47:05.264
I like tint. I like real dark tint, too. So do I.

00:47:06.104 --> 00:47:10.664
I like it where I have to roll my windows down at night. That's how my bus is.

00:47:11.264 --> 00:47:14.124
And actually, when I first did my bus, I tinted the windshield,

00:47:14.304 --> 00:47:15.904
but I took the tent off because I couldn't.

00:47:16.024 --> 00:47:20.424
It was such a reflection on the back seat that I couldn't see out the windshield. Yeah.

00:47:22.224 --> 00:47:27.084
I've had a couple of cars that were so dark. I put this vinyl strip out of 96

00:47:27.084 --> 00:47:30.064
Jetta back in the day. First year of the new body style back then.

00:47:30.224 --> 00:47:36.044
And it was a 97. And I had this black vinyl sunstrip I thought would be this

00:47:36.044 --> 00:47:42.184
really good idea to just 100% block the light. So when the sun would set or

00:47:42.184 --> 00:47:44.144
rise on my way to school or whatever.

00:47:44.964 --> 00:47:49.484
Like a permanent visor. Yeah, it was just this little orange dot.

00:47:50.004 --> 00:47:53.944
It wouldn't penetrate at all. But I also couldn't see through the windshield

00:47:53.944 --> 00:47:55.424
because then below that was tint.

00:47:56.284 --> 00:47:58.424
It was too dark. I had to take it off.

00:47:59.144 --> 00:48:03.204
Yeah, it's amazing that you could actually get it too dark. Yeah,

00:48:03.784 --> 00:48:05.824
but you can. You know it at night.

00:48:06.644 --> 00:48:11.104
Oh, yeah. It always talks to you at night. You're like, shit, I can't see.

00:48:11.444 --> 00:48:13.904
I can't see. You're going to your windows down. You're like,

00:48:14.004 --> 00:48:17.384
am I good? Am I trying to open the door? Yeah, that's funny.

00:48:18.184 --> 00:48:25.124
All right, so describe a typical week right now, a work week right now at Davis

00:48:25.124 --> 00:48:30.504
Customs. Is it sun up to sun down grinding and metal work or kind of give me

00:48:30.504 --> 00:48:31.544
what it what it looks like?

00:48:31.684 --> 00:48:38.004
A typical week looks like a typical week is can not absolutely chomping at the

00:48:38.004 --> 00:48:41.224
bit on Sunday afternoon to get here on Monday morning.

00:48:41.504 --> 00:48:47.404
I open at eight o'clock, so I'm normally eight to four, four thirty hour lunch.

00:48:47.664 --> 00:48:51.324
And it's balls to the wall until lunch.

00:48:51.424 --> 00:48:55.764
And then it's balls to the wall until I leave. And then I go home and I leave everything here.

00:48:56.724 --> 00:49:00.844
My mindset stays here. I go home and hang out with family.

00:49:01.164 --> 00:49:04.704
You know, we're involved in church. So we do some church projects and,

00:49:04.804 --> 00:49:06.884
and our kids are homeschooled.

00:49:07.184 --> 00:49:10.104
Thursdays, typically Thursdays at the shop. They're here. The whole family's

00:49:10.104 --> 00:49:13.824
here on Thursday. So we hang out and, you know, they just, they ride their scooters

00:49:13.824 --> 00:49:16.664
around the parking lot and we just do a family day at shop.

00:49:16.804 --> 00:49:19.404
But we're a very tight knit family.

00:49:20.164 --> 00:49:22.924
So we stay very close to four of us we're

00:49:22.924 --> 00:49:25.944
very close together and then i work

00:49:25.944 --> 00:49:28.784
through the week i do lunch typically for an hour on

00:49:28.784 --> 00:49:31.864
wednesday with the boys and it's grind until

00:49:31.864 --> 00:49:35.324
friday and then i'm friday typically fridays

00:49:35.324 --> 00:49:39.504
are supposed to be my days where i work on my cars but i do get projects in

00:49:39.504 --> 00:49:42.964
here that need to be done you know they want their cars so i'll just ah i'll

00:49:42.964 --> 00:49:48.604
just do that today you know so that's a typical week yeah i try not i do get

00:49:48.604 --> 00:49:51.744
stressed out sometimes it happens everybody does you know you get a car that's

00:49:51.744 --> 00:49:53.404
being a real pain in the butt or you just,

00:49:54.264 --> 00:49:57.044
making something you know sometimes when i post i'm

00:49:57.479 --> 00:50:02.279
me making a piece of something, you know, sometimes I've done it right on the first bat.

00:50:03.619 --> 00:50:07.219
Or secondly, it's probably the third or fourth one that I've made, you know.

00:50:07.539 --> 00:50:13.199
So when I got into, into shaping metal, I was watching that Discovery Channel

00:50:13.199 --> 00:50:15.579
on Jesse James years ago.

00:50:16.239 --> 00:50:19.999
And there was, he was pounding out metal and he was building that bike at the first time.

00:50:20.079 --> 00:50:23.019
And I was just getting into motorcycles. So I said, I can do that.

00:50:23.019 --> 00:50:29.699
So I literally went out in my garage and built an English wheel and built my

00:50:29.699 --> 00:50:31.339
chopper that sits in my office.

00:50:31.819 --> 00:50:35.899
And that was in 05. And I built 90% of that bike. I posted it the other day

00:50:35.899 --> 00:50:37.039
on Facebook. It's yellow.

00:50:37.279 --> 00:50:41.799
It's a chopper. It's a ground pounder. It's got like tribal flames on it. Really cool bike.

00:50:42.079 --> 00:50:45.899
It was outside. I took pictures of it because my daughter came and cleaned the office.

00:50:46.459 --> 00:50:50.819
So I was like, well, take it outside and I'll, you know, just get some sunlight on it.

00:50:50.879 --> 00:50:53.639
I've had it for years is it on davis customs or

00:50:53.639 --> 00:50:56.699
is it on your actual it was it was

00:50:56.699 --> 00:51:01.199
it was it was actually it was one of my reels on my personal one jason davis

00:51:01.199 --> 00:51:07.159
okay i'm just gonna get the visual yeah it's a cool bike um i built the tank

00:51:07.159 --> 00:51:12.099
the bars the frame the rear fender um and it's actually i built the gas tank

00:51:12.099 --> 00:51:14.979
extensions was the very first thing i built on my english wheel,

00:51:15.499 --> 00:51:18.459
that i made from scratch so i got like 15 dollars

00:51:18.459 --> 00:51:22.139
my english wheel and i've had it for since 05 and

00:51:22.139 --> 00:51:25.039
i use it and i so i've all

00:51:25.039 --> 00:51:27.959
your contacts and all this work dude you are an

00:51:27.959 --> 00:51:30.579
animal yeah dude there's a

00:51:30.579 --> 00:51:34.979
lot there's a lot it goes way back all the way and it goes way before facebook

00:51:34.979 --> 00:51:39.739
was ever introduced i mean that you know i go way back i got boxes of pictures

00:51:39.739 --> 00:51:44.939
i was constantly going up to the cvs getting pictures printed out like weekly

00:51:44.939 --> 00:51:47.839
you know rolls of pictures because i I kept track of everything I did,

00:51:47.859 --> 00:51:49.579
you know, back in the day.

00:51:49.739 --> 00:51:55.099
So, yeah, I built rail buggies. I built cars, drag cars, motorcycles. I built wagons.

00:51:55.379 --> 00:51:59.539
I've restored refrigerators. I've restored an icebox.

00:51:59.799 --> 00:52:04.399
I restored a piano grid. This lady bought me this piano grid that she wanted

00:52:04.399 --> 00:52:07.239
smoothed out. And this thing was like 700 pounds.

00:52:07.639 --> 00:52:10.899
And she was going to hang it on her wall. And I actually built the structure

00:52:10.899 --> 00:52:14.359
that went into the wall so they could hang it on the wall in her house.

00:52:15.919 --> 00:52:19.039
So I don't really turn down anything I mean

00:52:19.039 --> 00:52:21.939
yeah that pedal car that's on my bus at the

00:52:21.939 --> 00:52:25.019
purple pedal car that's usually in a picture I built that for the girls and

00:52:25.019 --> 00:52:32.339
it still pedals and shit I probably got 30 hours in that day on thing so but

00:52:32.339 --> 00:52:36.599
it's just to be able to take that metal and just shape it into where I need

00:52:36.599 --> 00:52:41.239
it to be and to make what I need to make it's it's awesome it's it every time

00:52:41.239 --> 00:52:42.839
I do it it makes me want to do it more,

00:52:43.840 --> 00:52:49.200
When a customer, you know, comes to you or finds you, you know,

00:52:50.300 --> 00:52:53.460
describe what your mindset is when a new project comes in.

00:52:53.580 --> 00:52:57.620
Like, how do you decide how far it's supposed to go?

00:52:57.760 --> 00:53:01.820
Is it a budget thing or is it a, you know, do you just know by looking at them?

00:53:02.080 --> 00:53:03.680
Like, give me your opinion there.

00:53:04.040 --> 00:53:08.440
I can pretty much look at a car and tell you now, you know, I'm so educated

00:53:08.440 --> 00:53:12.260
myself with it that I can look at a car and figure out exactly where I'm going

00:53:12.260 --> 00:53:14.340
to go with it. if I was going to do it.

00:53:14.840 --> 00:53:18.660
Typically, the first thing I ask a customer is, what do you want?

00:53:18.740 --> 00:53:21.380
Are you wanting a SEMA car or do you want a driver?

00:53:21.800 --> 00:53:25.440
You know, two different cars. I do not build SEMA cars.

00:53:26.260 --> 00:53:31.720
If, you know, I don't, I build drivers. I want you to get out there and I want you to drive.

00:53:31.800 --> 00:53:34.920
And if you don't want to drive it, I'll come to your house. I'll get it and I'll go drive it.

00:53:35.720 --> 00:53:40.040
For you. You know, it's just like that. Why build a car if you're not going to drive it?

00:53:41.600 --> 00:53:47.260
So typically 90% of my customers are drivers They want to drive them And probably

00:53:47.260 --> 00:53:52.320
50% are sentimental family value cars And then I asked them,

00:53:52.380 --> 00:53:53.320
I said, well, what's your budget?

00:53:53.480 --> 00:53:59.220
You know, because I'm $125 an hour at this shop So I'm basically more or less,

00:53:59.340 --> 00:54:01.620
I'm a labor shop So if you bring me your car,

00:54:01.920 --> 00:54:08.080
you bring me all the parts And I will charge you to put them on And if you don't

00:54:08.080 --> 00:54:11.100
have the part, I'll make it but everything gets seam sealed and delivered.

00:54:11.300 --> 00:54:13.180
You know, it's, I don't cut corners.

00:54:13.560 --> 00:54:17.580
If I'm in a, if I'm in a rocker, I paint the inside of the rockers.

00:54:17.580 --> 00:54:21.360
I spend time and make sure it's not going to take another 30 years to rust out

00:54:21.360 --> 00:54:23.080
or 50 years again to rust out.

00:54:23.260 --> 00:54:25.560
I want it, you know, I want it right.

00:54:25.940 --> 00:54:32.700
And I tell customers, if your car comes into my shop, I treat it as if it was my own car.

00:54:33.360 --> 00:54:38.920
So, and that's another cool thing that I do that I love so much about these cars is,

00:54:39.620 --> 00:54:43.280
my car list is huge there's still thousands

00:54:43.280 --> 00:54:46.500
of cars that i want to get my hands on that i want so bad

00:54:46.500 --> 00:54:50.400
but i'm at the point in my life now it's like these cars are showing up with

00:54:50.400 --> 00:54:55.080
different owners but i can treat it as my own and i get to experience the car

00:54:55.080 --> 00:54:58.620
and a lot of times i get to drive them you know i'm doing a 35 ford coupe right

00:54:58.620 --> 00:55:02.900
now new motor transmission yesterday i'm driving around with the ac on and a

00:55:02.900 --> 00:55:06.440
35 ford coupe you know i'm how cool is that you know.

00:55:07.823 --> 00:55:13.423
So my list has gotten a lot shorter because I can enjoy all my customers' cars

00:55:13.423 --> 00:55:16.903
if I want to. But when they're here, I treat them as my own.

00:55:17.123 --> 00:55:23.603
You know, I would want that done correctly and nice. I don't want no crappy work done in my car.

00:55:24.803 --> 00:55:29.803
So, and they look at it like that. And then they will give me,

00:55:29.963 --> 00:55:32.943
okay, well, we can get this. We can get this. We can get this. And I'm like, I'll do it.

00:55:33.083 --> 00:55:35.643
You know, I'll do whatever you want me to do. It doesn't matter.

00:55:35.643 --> 00:55:39.443
If you bring me the car and I, and it happens all the time, you know,

00:55:39.523 --> 00:55:44.003
I'll get a car, I'm working on a Z28 Camaro and he's like, you know,

00:55:44.083 --> 00:55:45.443
I'm done with all the work that did to it.

00:55:45.523 --> 00:55:49.263
He calls me the other day, says, Hey, how much will it be if I shave and move

00:55:49.263 --> 00:55:50.443
the bumpers back a little bit?

00:55:50.583 --> 00:55:55.003
And I'm like, I'm $125 an hour, you know, takes me an hour.

00:55:55.183 --> 00:55:57.103
It's what it is, man. It takes me two hours. It's what it is.

00:55:57.183 --> 00:55:57.843
And he's like, we'll do it.

00:55:58.383 --> 00:56:01.623
You know? So I'm very open with everybody that comes into shop.

00:56:01.623 --> 00:56:06.303
I mean, I'm just absolutely 100% because this is a hobbyist business.

00:56:07.543 --> 00:56:11.803
And when you're doing this, you're messing with, you're not messing with somebody,

00:56:11.943 --> 00:56:14.303
but you're tackling someone else's vision with them.

00:56:14.823 --> 00:56:19.083
So everybody has their own vision of what they want the car to look like.

00:56:19.363 --> 00:56:25.123
Sometimes it's not the greatest thing, but okay. You know, I'll tell you a perfect example.

00:56:25.523 --> 00:56:30.383
Yesterday, I'm doing pans in a bug. This is a 65 Beetle from Oregon.

00:56:30.383 --> 00:56:34.883
Again, it was bought out of Oregon, and it is absolutely by far the most cleanest

00:56:34.883 --> 00:56:37.823
bug I have ever laid my eyes on in this shop.

00:56:38.143 --> 00:56:41.223
There is absolutely no rust in this car, period.

00:56:42.095 --> 00:56:45.595
Like, it's had a one respray. It's never been bumped in the front,

00:56:45.715 --> 00:56:48.915
the rear. It's never, he unbolted all the pans.

00:56:49.315 --> 00:56:52.035
The pans are still shiny where the seal was.

00:56:52.815 --> 00:56:57.055
What? So beautiful. I mean, absolutely beautiful car.

00:56:57.535 --> 00:57:03.195
The battery area was rotted out on the pan, and he wants both pans fixed.

00:57:03.635 --> 00:57:07.875
And I'm like, are you sure you want me? I says, I can just graft in a battery

00:57:07.875 --> 00:57:10.855
box, and then you still have an original car here. He's like,

00:57:10.955 --> 00:57:15.155
no, because now if you do one pan, the other one's going to look crappy.

00:57:15.775 --> 00:57:19.795
So just do them both. I'm like, oh, it hurt, man. It hurt to have to cut them

00:57:19.795 --> 00:57:21.695
pans out of there yesterday with no rust.

00:57:21.835 --> 00:57:26.275
But sometimes it's the customer, you know, it's his vision.

00:57:27.015 --> 00:57:30.395
So if it was mine, I would have doctored them up, cleaned them,

00:57:30.895 --> 00:57:33.055
pour 15 of them, and we would have been rocking that thing.

00:57:33.195 --> 00:57:35.715
But this guy, his vision was a little bit different than mine.

00:57:35.815 --> 00:57:37.735
So I absolutely have to respect that.

00:57:37.735 --> 00:57:40.495
You know as bad as it hurts to cut the pan i'm

00:57:40.495 --> 00:57:43.515
not going to say okay come get your car and get it out of my shop because

00:57:43.515 --> 00:57:46.915
you're not doing exactly what i want done i need

00:57:46.915 --> 00:57:51.735
to do that to my thing it's not yeah we talked about it yeah the floors aren't

00:57:51.735 --> 00:57:56.955
gone by any stretch they're they're starting to to rust especially in the back

00:57:56.955 --> 00:58:04.175
section but i want to i want to like pour 15 them and just you kind of start over,

00:58:04.375 --> 00:58:09.975
seal them up, and at least have that just not looking so rough down there.

00:58:10.695 --> 00:58:15.535
Anyhow, back to you. So I've got some rapid fire style questions.

00:58:15.535 --> 00:58:19.295
These are questions that have a fast response or a fast answer.

00:58:20.475 --> 00:58:26.795
You ready to rock them? Sure, man. Let's do it. All right. All right. Hot Wheels or Matchbox?

00:58:27.515 --> 00:58:28.875
Hot Wheels by far.

00:58:30.455 --> 00:58:37.115
Matchbox had some cool ones, though. Favorite VW model of all time.

00:58:38.053 --> 00:58:42.633
Bus. Bus. Now, 60s bus. We split windows.

00:58:43.213 --> 00:58:46.573
Yeah, split bus all the way. Absolutely. Okay.

00:58:48.033 --> 00:58:52.273
One rust repair tool that you can't live without. Welder.

00:58:55.213 --> 00:58:59.273
That's a fun answer. Yeah, man. I guess so. Yeah. You need that. Yeah.

00:58:59.893 --> 00:59:06.133
Best feature of DC. DC's his double cab, by the way. Yeah. Double door walk through.

00:59:06.813 --> 00:59:09.473
Mm-hmm. Just. all the patina you know

00:59:09.473 --> 00:59:13.153
it's factory patina we call it factory patina too that's the

00:59:13.153 --> 00:59:16.073
best feature on that bus is that it's a double door

00:59:16.073 --> 00:59:18.813
it's pretty cool when you open up both doors and walk through

00:59:18.813 --> 00:59:22.333
there yeah dude absolutely yeah

00:59:22.333 --> 00:59:25.113
that thing's got surround sound in it so i put i took the

00:59:25.113 --> 00:59:28.353
air box off the in the ceiling and and extended that

00:59:28.353 --> 00:59:31.313
box out and put a entertainment up there so the girls watch

00:59:31.313 --> 00:59:34.193
tv yeah they'll get in there watch stall wars the neighbors

00:59:34.193 --> 00:59:36.913
next door be like are you guys what are you guys watching over there and

00:59:36.913 --> 00:59:40.033
the girls are in watching star wars in the bus in

00:59:40.033 --> 00:59:42.933
the garage you know or watching chip and dale or something

00:59:42.933 --> 00:59:46.233
yeah it's got the round town yeah how about

00:59:46.233 --> 00:59:49.193
a dream project that you may not have built yet god this

00:59:49.193 --> 00:59:52.813
is a tough one because man you've been you've been around a lot yeah

00:59:52.813 --> 00:59:55.693
you ain't kidding man i would

00:59:55.693 --> 00:59:58.653
have to probably say my 47 fleet line

00:59:58.653 --> 01:00:01.913
that's been you know i've wanted

01:00:01.913 --> 01:00:05.153
a 47 fleet line since we built that 39 hudson

01:00:05.153 --> 01:00:07.933
back in 88 wow you

01:00:07.933 --> 01:00:10.693
know yeah i mean that was a long it's

01:00:10.693 --> 01:00:13.793
a long time i love the fleet line man yeah i've

01:00:13.793 --> 01:00:22.133
been doing this a long time yeah the sanford vibe there yeah beach life or small

01:00:22.133 --> 01:00:26.933
town charm beach life i do surf i surf with bubba we all still get together

01:00:26.933 --> 01:00:30.773
and go surfing I saw pictures of that. Yeah, I saw some surfing.

01:00:31.073 --> 01:00:34.373
I grew up, you know, I'm West Coast, but I grew up surfing here.

01:00:34.473 --> 01:00:38.433
And then, you know, we used to drive over to East Coast to take the B line,

01:00:38.553 --> 01:00:42.253
come through Orlando and end up in Daytona.

01:00:42.393 --> 01:00:45.353
And then south of that, we'd go RCs, we'd hit...

01:00:45.777 --> 01:00:49.857
Spanish house, we'd hit Ponce Inlet, New Samaritan, you know,

01:00:49.977 --> 01:00:54.097
that whole Patrick's Air Force base, that whole East Coast flavor.

01:00:54.397 --> 01:00:59.237
So I remember the surfing days, too, 90s. Those were some good times.

01:00:59.697 --> 01:01:07.997
I left 2008, stopped surfing, came back 2022, and still not surfing.

01:01:10.437 --> 01:01:13.957
My kids are out there now, though, and they're enjoying it. So that's probably

01:01:13.957 --> 01:01:17.597
one sport that I probably won't give up just because I love it so,

01:01:17.777 --> 01:01:20.677
so much, you know, Bubba and I, we all surfed when we were younger,

01:01:20.957 --> 01:01:25.137
you know, Rob Mulligan, we all surfed together in New Smyrna in high school

01:01:25.137 --> 01:01:27.037
days, you know, it's back in the eighties. Yeah.

01:01:27.517 --> 01:01:30.757
Shredding. You guys were the shredders. We were something. I mean,

01:01:30.837 --> 01:01:32.857
we, we don't know if we were shredding, but we were riding.

01:01:34.017 --> 01:01:38.217
We used to pull up on the locals, you know, at your, at the spots up and down

01:01:38.217 --> 01:01:41.937
the East coast. And, you know, you could always tell the guys that lived there

01:01:41.937 --> 01:01:44.357
because they were just so much better, so much faster.

01:01:44.917 --> 01:01:48.337
And, you know, they dropped in on the wave harder and they cut back harder.

01:01:48.477 --> 01:01:51.517
You're like, damn, man, who's who pissing at those Cheerios?

01:01:53.057 --> 01:01:57.157
New Smyrna is my hometown for surfing. I'm right next to New Smyrna.

01:01:57.337 --> 01:02:01.237
So and that's where we grew up surfing and I actually learned to surf in New Smyrna.

01:02:01.417 --> 01:02:04.277
So, yeah, we can go out there on a flat day and I can shoot.

01:02:04.417 --> 01:02:08.357
Sometimes I can catch a boat wake, man. I mean, any shark stories?

01:02:08.937 --> 01:02:11.417
Gosh, I've got tons of them, man. I've never been bit.

01:02:13.737 --> 01:02:18.597
I know the hammerheads come in there. I've never been chased by a shark.

01:02:19.757 --> 01:02:23.977
They got a pretty bad rap. They're not as bad as you think they are.

01:02:24.097 --> 01:02:25.717
They're just as scared of you as they are.

01:02:25.897 --> 01:02:29.557
It's mistaken identity 90% of the time with the shark attacks.

01:02:29.877 --> 01:02:32.217
You're actually playing in the refrigerator, man.

01:02:33.877 --> 01:02:36.137
They're feeding zone. It's where they are.

01:02:37.018 --> 01:02:39.478
I'm a little more south of the jetties. I really don't smoke.

01:02:39.598 --> 01:02:41.678
I don't really don't surf down there much anymore.

01:02:41.958 --> 01:02:46.478
I got my little spot that I did when I was a kid, when I learned and I surfed that area.

01:02:46.638 --> 01:02:49.718
I have stepped on them. Pretty big shark. I landed on one time.

01:02:49.838 --> 01:02:52.758
I've had little baby sharks. Actually I'm paddling out and little baby shark

01:02:52.758 --> 01:02:56.838
jumped up on my, landed on my board and he's flopping between my 10 and I'm

01:02:56.838 --> 01:02:58.598
just like, whoa, you know, and it was a shark.

01:02:59.118 --> 01:03:02.298
Crazy. And I've been, I've been on the same waves with sharks.

01:03:02.558 --> 01:03:05.938
I've surfed with them before. Pretty good sized sharks, but you know,

01:03:06.038 --> 01:03:07.918
like I say, that was clear water days.

01:03:08.118 --> 01:03:12.038
So they know you're out there and if they really want to bite you,

01:03:12.138 --> 01:03:12.698
they're going to bite you.

01:03:12.918 --> 01:03:16.198
But 90% of the time, it's just mistaken identity.

01:03:16.418 --> 01:03:20.258
You know, they're not targeting you. I spent a lot of time, a lot of hours,

01:03:20.418 --> 01:03:25.238
many days, skipped high school and went surfing for the hurricane swells, et cetera.

01:03:25.878 --> 01:03:30.778
And I never had any, any, any close calls, but I know they're there.

01:03:31.118 --> 01:03:35.738
I know they're there. I've seen them and you know, there's been the warnings

01:03:35.738 --> 01:03:38.998
on the beach and all that. Yeah.

01:03:40.558 --> 01:03:45.298
Alright, so Beach Life was the answer though for Sanford Vibe.

01:03:45.578 --> 01:03:49.558
How about music? What kind of music are you guys into? You got any music playing at the shop?

01:03:50.158 --> 01:03:53.358
Gosh, okay. So, I have a system in everything.

01:03:54.298 --> 01:03:58.038
Everything has a system in it. You're a music guy.

01:03:58.518 --> 01:04:04.558
I'm a music guy. My greatest music that I'm I love 80s rock.

01:04:04.558 --> 01:04:07.278
So back in the days before I got

01:04:07.278 --> 01:04:10.458
in surfing I had long hair played drums oh hell

01:04:10.458 --> 01:04:13.598
yeah man a rock yeah I was a hairband some

01:04:13.598 --> 01:04:16.818
poison rat yeah yeah played on

01:04:16.818 --> 01:04:20.778
so I still play drums today I have a drum set at the house and I'll play on

01:04:20.778 --> 01:04:23.758
occasionally my one of my good friends he's a guitarist he wants to come over

01:04:23.758 --> 01:04:28.478
and play a little bit too you know get back into that scene but music stick

01:04:28.478 --> 01:04:33.758
figures probably one of my top line artists seen him five times.

01:04:34.696 --> 01:04:38.736
I follow him. Matter of fact, he just had a son. So he's a dad now.

01:04:39.216 --> 01:04:42.876
You know, so he's settled down. Stick figure. We do some worship music.

01:04:43.016 --> 01:04:46.296
I have my worship days. Then I listen to the worship music and,

01:04:46.296 --> 01:04:50.356
you know, elevation worship and stuff like that. I'll pick my days at the shop

01:04:50.356 --> 01:04:52.476
and just get into that, you know.

01:04:53.036 --> 01:04:56.476
And then just pretty much anything, man. I love all kinds of music.

01:04:56.656 --> 01:05:01.316
I don't really listen to rap and I'm not huge into country, but I know some

01:05:01.316 --> 01:05:04.076
of the songs. But I'm more of a rocker, I guess, than anything.

01:05:04.696 --> 01:05:08.816
You know, that's your alternative reggae is stick figure and all those bands,

01:05:09.036 --> 01:05:11.136
you know, and I kind of like that because it's really upbeat.

01:05:11.636 --> 01:05:14.736
It's not a lot of drama music and just good energy.

01:05:15.136 --> 01:05:21.136
Yeah, I like good energy. I grew up, I grew up on probably more of the hip hop

01:05:21.136 --> 01:05:23.796
culture, you know, here, St.

01:05:23.896 --> 01:05:30.236
Pete, 90s, you know, Tupac and Biggie and all that was, was real big at that time.

01:05:31.096 --> 01:05:37.156
MTV was real big with MTV Raps and you know Just a couple stations north was

01:05:37.156 --> 01:05:43.896
BET and you know we We were just real heavy into the hip hop Scene I feel like as I Grew up.

01:05:45.536 --> 01:05:52.056
The quality rap music Which we can call it is Gone now it's a lot of I don't

01:05:52.056 --> 01:05:56.856
even know what the hell they're doing now It doesn't It's more like a violence

01:05:56.856 --> 01:05:59.916
rap It's something Yeah, I don't really get it.

01:06:00.036 --> 01:06:05.096
The artistry, I feel like, is more gone. They're using more computers and stuff

01:06:05.096 --> 01:06:10.796
to make the music, and especially the vocals and stuff. And it's like, what is this stuff?

01:06:10.976 --> 01:06:17.836
So I switched up and started listening to kind of a little bit more of a country vibe, I feel like.

01:06:18.501 --> 01:06:22.621
It's still rap. It's just with some singing behind it. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

01:06:23.001 --> 01:06:26.901
Yeah, there's a lot of it. I like the Outlaw Country. I like Outlaw Country.

01:06:27.041 --> 01:06:30.201
That's pretty good stuff. It's more like a rap. I like some sort of rap.

01:06:30.641 --> 01:06:34.241
I'm more into when the Beastie Boys came out.

01:06:34.621 --> 01:06:38.281
Oh, hell yeah. Love the Beastie Boys. Then I figured out bass,

01:06:38.381 --> 01:06:40.101
and I'm like, oh, my gosh, I got to have bass.

01:06:40.241 --> 01:06:44.401
So I started putting systems in and started to listen to that kind of music,

01:06:44.421 --> 01:06:48.381
and I loved it, and I still love it to this day. I mean, I listen to the Beastie Boys all the time.

01:06:48.501 --> 01:06:51.741
Just because it takes you back to the good old days. Yes.

01:06:52.261 --> 01:06:57.361
The funny thing about music is you can hear a song and you'll remember exactly

01:06:57.361 --> 01:07:01.121
where you heard it, when you heard it, the day you heard it. Yes.

01:07:01.681 --> 01:07:04.841
Sometimes you can't remember last week. Isn't that amazing?

01:07:05.101 --> 01:07:08.661
And music does that. It does that for me too. I think it does that for a lot

01:07:08.661 --> 01:07:12.721
of people, but I think that's why music becomes so meaningful to us is because

01:07:12.721 --> 01:07:17.401
we can attach ourselves to real core memories of things.

01:07:17.401 --> 01:07:20.161
And then it might be several years before you

01:07:20.161 --> 01:07:23.541
hear that song and then it comes up again and you're like oh like

01:07:23.541 --> 01:07:26.381
look I'm getting goosebumps right now just thinking it'll pull

01:07:26.381 --> 01:07:29.201
you right back in you'd be like oh man I was in

01:07:29.201 --> 01:07:36.741
this kitchen standing over making this pasta dish yeah crazy man crazy just

01:07:36.741 --> 01:07:42.021
remember it but yeah man music so we have the shop has a system they can hear

01:07:42.021 --> 01:07:46.581
me oh yeah it's loud the holly will come out and they're just like turn down like nope.

01:07:49.141 --> 01:07:52.261
By getting that groove out there when i'm making stuff

01:07:52.261 --> 01:07:54.961
a lot of times when i'm doing something like i'm hand you know

01:07:54.961 --> 01:07:58.101
i'll be making something for a car or something i've got the music jammed

01:07:58.101 --> 01:08:01.321
up you know and sometimes i'll go out there it's very funny sometimes when

01:08:01.321 --> 01:08:04.281
i'm building motors i listen to 50s music

01:08:04.281 --> 01:08:07.121
okay so it's very strange and

01:08:07.121 --> 01:08:10.521
i think it comes from working with ron at that time yeah

01:08:10.521 --> 01:08:13.861
his machine shot because it's all he listened to was oldies so

01:08:13.861 --> 01:08:16.841
it kind of takes me back and it what it does is

01:08:16.841 --> 01:08:19.561
it kind of refires my memory and it's like oh yeah i remember i

01:08:19.561 --> 01:08:22.401
got to set this bolt first or something like that so i

01:08:22.401 --> 01:08:25.481
kind of put my music towards my you know

01:08:25.481 --> 01:08:28.281
that error and it helps because

01:08:28.281 --> 01:08:31.821
it refires your memory a little bit you know because it makes you remember yeah

01:08:31.821 --> 01:08:36.101
yeah it sure does like we're saying music takes you back there what advice would

01:08:36.101 --> 01:08:41.781
you give to a young builder you know the next generation that's coming in to

01:08:41.781 --> 01:08:45.641
do the same type of Russ work and VW Russ work like you do,

01:08:46.021 --> 01:08:48.921
what type of advice would you give the next generation?

01:08:49.281 --> 01:08:52.061
Don't give up. Just don't give up. You're going to have your highs.

01:08:52.121 --> 01:08:54.441
You're going to have your lows. You're going to have your struggles.

01:08:54.781 --> 01:09:02.041
You're not going to climb the top ladder in the metal world right off the bat.

01:09:02.201 --> 01:09:08.661
It is an art, and it's something you have to stick with it. It's just like anything. If you get good.

01:09:09.508 --> 01:09:12.848
If you stick with it, you know, it's just with surfing, music,

01:09:13.108 --> 01:09:16.048
cars, it doesn't matter what it is. The more you do it, the better you get.

01:09:16.208 --> 01:09:19.848
Yeah, the more experience you get, the more, and it goes with anything,

01:09:20.108 --> 01:09:22.108
you know, anything that you apply yourself to.

01:09:22.308 --> 01:09:25.788
I think the more experience you get, the kind of the easier it gets for you.

01:09:26.248 --> 01:09:30.848
I'm still, like I said, I still learn. I'm still, you know, a guy told me one

01:09:30.848 --> 01:09:33.308
time, he says, you know what? You will never stop learning.

01:09:33.668 --> 01:09:38.708
Yeah. You may think you know everything, but you will continue to learn. And that's a stat.

01:09:39.508 --> 01:09:44.788
That's a known fact. I mean, it's, I learn daily and it's getting better because

01:09:44.788 --> 01:09:49.008
now I'm learning more stuff on like TikTok and just doing videos and watching

01:09:49.008 --> 01:09:52.188
these cars and stuff. And I'm like, wow, I didn't know that.

01:09:52.288 --> 01:09:54.488
You know, that's pretty cool. Maybe I should try that.

01:09:54.828 --> 01:09:59.448
Yeah. You know, everybody's pretty much, everybody's a teacher in their own sense.

01:09:59.828 --> 01:10:04.248
Yeah. And we are in this information age, you know. Yes.

01:10:04.668 --> 01:10:07.148
People are dying for information. They want to know. Google,

01:10:07.268 --> 01:10:12.108
man. And if we had Google in high school, man, I'd probably be some bigwig. Okay.

01:10:14.888 --> 01:10:19.808
When Jackass came out and the whole BAM and all those guys were making millions

01:10:19.808 --> 01:10:24.608
in movies off of just acting like complete idiots, I remember me and my buddies

01:10:24.608 --> 01:10:27.588
were like, can y'all imagine if we would have had cameras?

01:10:27.988 --> 01:10:34.048
Like, you know, we were doing some crazy, crazy stuff. We did. Yeah.

01:10:34.568 --> 01:10:38.488
But our problem was is we would have been like, I didn't have no time for a

01:10:38.488 --> 01:10:40.128
camera. I was too busy playing.

01:10:40.968 --> 01:10:43.248
Right. Right. Right.

01:10:44.248 --> 01:10:46.828
They weren't quite as easy back then. You know, they were like,

01:10:46.828 --> 01:10:50.228
they want VCR tapes on your shoulder. Yeah.

01:10:51.228 --> 01:10:54.468
50 pounds. You know, you got to carry that thing around. We didn't want to do

01:10:54.468 --> 01:10:58.788
that. We wanted to go do stupid shit and just do it. We didn't care. You know, that's right.

01:10:59.728 --> 01:11:04.448
And we jumped bicycle. I was into, I was into BMX when I was a kid. I got into bicycles.

01:11:05.068 --> 01:11:07.668
Huge. I mean, Yeah, me too. Probably when I got out of models,

01:11:07.748 --> 01:11:10.528
I was still building models, but I got into bikes.

01:11:11.648 --> 01:11:14.828
And I verged from bikes, and then I went into dirt bikes and motorcycles,

01:11:15.108 --> 01:11:17.828
and then I just started gradually going up to the cars.

01:11:18.908 --> 01:11:22.648
I did bikes too. I think I raced until I was about 15.

01:11:22.748 --> 01:11:26.428
As soon as I started getting behind the wheel of a car, I was like,

01:11:26.488 --> 01:11:29.528
oh, I'll never work that hard again.

01:11:30.008 --> 01:11:33.768
Yeah, man. Yeah. That's everybody's way right there. It's like, yeah, I'm done.

01:11:34.208 --> 01:11:37.088
Yeah, yeah. The bike was done with the bike. It was good, though.

01:11:37.248 --> 01:11:42.268
It was good. I was a skater for many years, you know, coming up. And then I got into BMX.

01:11:42.488 --> 01:11:46.408
And we had an NBL, a major bicycle league, I think was it back then.

01:11:46.488 --> 01:11:50.008
We had an NBL track right in Azalea. And it was a nice track, man.

01:11:50.248 --> 01:11:52.548
You know, Wednesday nights were practice. Saturdays were race days.

01:11:53.619 --> 01:11:57.199
Yeah. And I raced, you know, I practiced every Wednesday. I raced every Saturday

01:11:57.199 --> 01:12:01.459
and we started to travel, started going around the state, started picking up

01:12:01.459 --> 01:12:05.299
some sponsors and it was fun, man. It was fun. We had a good time. I was fast.

01:12:05.499 --> 01:12:09.219
I could air it out and I was fast, but I'm telling you, it was like a light switch.

01:12:09.219 --> 01:12:13.579
I used to have people coming and watching me and you know and then as soon as

01:12:13.579 --> 01:12:19.219
i got access to a car you know with my restricted driver's license i started

01:12:19.219 --> 01:12:23.459
missing practice i'm like well it's no big deal you know i just i want to practice

01:12:23.459 --> 01:12:28.699
driving right my car and i'm like bike who,

01:12:29.519 --> 01:12:33.459
yeah before you know it you're too old to ride the bike again it's just like

01:12:33.459 --> 01:12:39.599
yeah I restored a PK Ripper, an 86 PK Ripper. Yes.

01:12:40.559 --> 01:12:44.999
Southeast bikes. I had a profile, and I loved the cruiser class.

01:12:44.999 --> 01:12:46.999
I was a 24-inch. That was what I raced.

01:12:47.279 --> 01:12:51.839
But I had profile cranks, profile neck, profile seat post clamp,

01:12:52.059 --> 01:12:56.999
profile bars, and profile is still right here in Bay Pints, Florida.

01:12:57.419 --> 01:13:00.659
No kidding. Yep, they're still right here. They still make bikes right here.

01:13:00.999 --> 01:13:04.559
Yep, they're still here. Still making bikes, right? Bay Pines,

01:13:04.779 --> 01:13:06.759
which is right out on the way out to Madeira Beach.

01:13:08.159 --> 01:13:11.099
But sorry, didn't want to go down a rabbit hole. No, that's all right.

01:13:11.519 --> 01:13:14.159
Any shout outs? You got any shout outs that you want to give?

01:13:14.279 --> 01:13:15.639
We're pretty much at the end here, brother.

01:13:16.319 --> 01:13:23.419
Just want to shout out to anybody that can spread the word about the show, January 17th, 2026.

01:13:23.839 --> 01:13:26.999
You know, get that Volkswagen out, get it cleaned up, bring them out.

01:13:27.239 --> 01:13:30.479
Let's visit, let's talk, you know, hang out for the day.

01:13:30.479 --> 01:13:34.579
And where can people find you if, you know, if they want to look for you or

01:13:34.579 --> 01:13:37.939
look up your work, those that I know everybody around here knows you,

01:13:38.079 --> 01:13:43.339
but this I'm fortunate enough to say that this podcast is downloaded in 36 countries.

01:13:44.199 --> 01:13:45.539
Wow. Yeah, man.

01:13:46.598 --> 01:13:50.758
Yeah, I'm in a couple countries. I'm in Brazil, Japan, and Africa.

01:13:52.718 --> 01:13:57.698
Daviscustoms.net. You can reach us there. You can pretty much Google anything

01:13:57.698 --> 01:14:00.198
rust and we'll pop right up. Yeah.

01:14:01.138 --> 01:14:04.178
And they can find me on Instagram. They can find me on YouTube.

01:14:04.178 --> 01:14:09.018
We have a YouTube channel. Show some chop tops that we did and some projects on those.

01:14:09.738 --> 01:14:12.838
Instagram. You know, we're all over the place.

01:14:13.318 --> 01:14:17.838
All under Davis Customs? Yeah. And YouTube.

01:14:18.798 --> 01:14:23.138
Yeah. All Davis customs. Yeah. Davis customs was named from that mentor,

01:14:23.358 --> 01:14:26.938
Ron Smith, that owned Seminole or the machine shop.

01:14:27.178 --> 01:14:29.738
He, I said, well, I wouldn't get a name for my business. He's like,

01:14:29.838 --> 01:14:34.478
Davis customs. I'm like, that's a no brainer. Yeah. That was easy. You're like, thanks.

01:14:35.138 --> 01:14:39.098
And then our logo that's on there now, that was done in about two minutes.

01:14:40.018 --> 01:14:43.678
Holly was tired of waiting for me to come up with a logo. It's so cool.

01:14:43.818 --> 01:14:46.218
I love the, I love the bus. It's like the bus front.

01:14:46.778 --> 01:14:52.418
Yeah. She's like, she sat down at the table. She's just do give me a logo right now.

01:14:52.558 --> 01:14:57.478
Do not get up. And I just, I scribbled it and she's like, Oh my God, that's it. That's wow.

01:14:57.738 --> 01:15:01.398
It took you this long to do that and it's stuck. So that's our logo.

01:15:03.238 --> 01:15:06.918
And that's a wrap for this episode of Dub Life Diaries.

01:15:07.298 --> 01:15:10.978
Thanks for riding along with us and diving into these incredible stories of

01:15:10.978 --> 01:15:14.838
the people in the dubs that drive their dreams. If you loved today's episode,

01:15:15.098 --> 01:15:19.158
don't forget to subscribe or hit that follow button so you never miss an adventure.

01:15:19.458 --> 01:15:24.118
Do you have a story to tell or know somebody else who's living the dove life? Awesome.

01:15:24.458 --> 01:15:29.458
Reach out to us. You can find us on all socials at Dove Life Diaries or shoot

01:15:29.458 --> 01:15:31.218
me an email. I'm not hard to find.

01:15:31.518 --> 01:15:36.998
Dove Life Diaries at gmail.com. Until next time, keep the engines humming and

01:15:36.998 --> 01:15:41.738
the wheels turning and always follow the road that inspires you. This is Joe Person.

01:15:41.898 --> 01:15:44.758
I'm signing off. I'll catch you on the next ride.

01:15:45.680 --> 01:16:41.559
Music.