Wrenching Through Time: Dennis Deno-Stiles' VW Journey Ep10

WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:38.800
Music.

00:00:38.649 --> 00:00:43.249
All right, welcome back to Dub Life Diaries, the VW Lifestyle Podcast.

00:00:43.249 --> 00:00:47.309
If you love classic air-cooled Volkswagens and the stories behind the people

00:00:47.309 --> 00:00:50.489
who live this lifestyle, well, you're in the right place.

00:00:50.609 --> 00:00:53.229
Now, my guest today is a legend in the VW scene, Mr.

00:00:53.389 --> 00:00:57.849
Dennis Dino-Styles. This guy's been turning wrenches, cruising the highways,

00:00:57.909 --> 00:01:00.709
and keeping the classic VW spirit alive for years.

00:01:00.969 --> 00:01:05.309
He's got some insane stories, some deep knowledge, and a passion for these machines

00:01:05.309 --> 00:01:08.129
that is second to none. We're going to dive into his journey,

00:01:08.369 --> 00:01:12.809
how he got into VWs, and go through some just straight-up crazy stories from

00:01:12.809 --> 00:01:15.169
the VW world. So, that's your cue.

00:01:15.629 --> 00:01:20.069
Grab a drink, kick back, and let's get into it. Mr. Dino Stiles from Dino's

00:01:20.069 --> 00:01:22.169
Garage. Welcome to the show.

00:01:22.829 --> 00:01:26.249
Hey, what's up, Joe? It's good to be here. What's up, brother?

00:01:26.409 --> 00:01:29.849
Yes, man, thank you. Now, before we get things kicked off, I do want to give

00:01:29.849 --> 00:01:33.729
just a couple shout-outs to my sponsor, Voltsmania Magazine,

00:01:34.409 --> 00:01:36.589
the flyest VW magazine in the world.

00:01:36.749 --> 00:01:41.049
They have issued me and you, my listeners, a discount code.

00:01:41.369 --> 00:01:44.829
If you go and subscribe today, use Dublife10.

00:01:45.149 --> 00:01:52.309
That's D-U-B-L-I-F-E, the number one, the number zero. So Dublife10 for 10% off your first issue.

00:01:52.669 --> 00:01:57.489
Also, shout out to you, my man Dino, helping out the podcast by donating,

00:01:57.629 --> 00:01:58.429
brother. Thank you, man.

00:01:58.989 --> 00:02:01.609
That feeling you get when somebody believes in you.

00:02:02.325 --> 00:02:05.105
I got that feeling from you the first time we talked. And, man,

00:02:05.205 --> 00:02:09.665
I got to tell you, bro, I just appreciate that, man, because not everybody gets to feel like that.

00:02:09.765 --> 00:02:12.185
So thank you for that. I do respect you.

00:02:12.465 --> 00:02:15.825
Got a lot of people that believed in me and my team whenever we got started.

00:02:15.825 --> 00:02:18.125
So, you know, it's just trying to pay it forward, you know.

00:02:18.465 --> 00:02:21.325
Man, that's so awesome. I really do appreciate it.

00:02:21.425 --> 00:02:27.825
So also shout out to the 26th annual V-Dubs Over the Skyway ride down here in Tampa Bay.

00:02:28.245 --> 00:02:35.045
Go to saltydub.com to register. make sure that you use ABLEBUILDERS. All one word, all caps.

00:02:35.425 --> 00:02:41.065
A-B-L-E-B-U-I-L-D-E-R-S. ABLEBUILDERS is your discount code. Why?

00:02:41.485 --> 00:02:43.745
Because the first 300 dubs are free.

00:02:44.245 --> 00:02:49.545
That's right. First 300 dubs are free. We got about 158 registered right now.

00:02:49.725 --> 00:02:53.285
So keep it rocking, keep it flowing. All right, buddy.

00:02:53.825 --> 00:02:57.905
Back to you, man. So look, how does a guy go from turning wrenches in his home

00:02:57.905 --> 00:03:02.785
garage to run in one of the biggest vintage VW shops in the DC Metro.

00:03:03.485 --> 00:03:06.525
So I'm actually in the garage right now. I started in, you know,

00:03:06.685 --> 00:03:08.565
it really boiled down. It was an accident.

00:03:08.745 --> 00:03:14.845
So often you hear these stories, you know, without going like wasting too much time on the ins and outs.

00:03:15.005 --> 00:03:21.665
Basically I had a family business that was not doing all that great that I shared with my brother.

00:03:22.145 --> 00:03:25.685
And as a consequence, I was like driving a truck and trying to,

00:03:25.765 --> 00:03:29.785
you know, so often you hear about family businesses and you just think they're just making millions.

00:03:30.125 --> 00:03:36.245
And that's often not the case. And we were basically restructuring it and it was making no money.

00:03:36.365 --> 00:03:42.325
And I've been wrenching on Volkswagens for over 20 years now and have always

00:03:42.325 --> 00:03:45.625
had them as a hobby and have worked on cars on the side.

00:03:45.805 --> 00:03:48.125
And I was getting really tired of driving a truck.

00:03:48.385 --> 00:03:53.625
And my wife one day came to me and said, you know, you ought to,

00:03:53.745 --> 00:03:55.585
why don't you start working on some cars on the side?

00:03:56.045 --> 00:03:59.445
And another good friend of mine, this lady, Adrienne, who I had been helping

00:03:59.445 --> 00:04:03.445
her with her bus in that time frame, big shout out to Adrienne London.

00:04:03.925 --> 00:04:07.005
She was like, you ought to do this too. So I had some really good friends that

00:04:07.005 --> 00:04:10.605
were like, hey man, give it a shot. So I have this three bay garage I'm in right

00:04:10.605 --> 00:04:11.665
now. We're just so blessed.

00:04:12.205 --> 00:04:14.845
It's funny because people see this garage. I think I have this huge house.

00:04:14.945 --> 00:04:18.925
No, I have a little teeny house with a garage that's like the size of the house.

00:04:18.925 --> 00:04:20.985
It's priorities, man, priorities.

00:04:21.305 --> 00:04:24.985
And I started working on Volkswagen's in the evening and it was just going to

00:04:24.985 --> 00:04:27.145
be like, okay, like one or two cars here and there.

00:04:27.405 --> 00:04:31.425
I knew there weren't many shops left in my area, but because I always worked

00:04:31.425 --> 00:04:36.125
on my own cars, it was never like, I didn't really pay that much attention, if that makes sense.

00:04:36.605 --> 00:04:38.565
What I didn't realize was like.

00:04:40.382 --> 00:04:44.782
Absolute vacuum of, of full service, like shops willing to kind of do anything.

00:04:44.922 --> 00:04:48.462
So I started working on cars in the evening and then it turned into,

00:04:49.022 --> 00:04:52.162
like, I started having to like call out from work to get work done on the cars.

00:04:52.582 --> 00:04:55.282
And one day my wife kind of looked at our finances and said,

00:04:55.362 --> 00:04:59.862
honey, you're making more in like a three or four hour window at night working

00:04:59.862 --> 00:05:04.962
on these cars than you're making all day driving a truck. And it was a pretty good paying CDL job.

00:05:05.102 --> 00:05:08.202
So she was like, honey, once again, you know, props to my wife,

00:05:08.442 --> 00:05:11.142
Brittany, I just cannot tell you how much this woman means to me.

00:05:11.282 --> 00:05:14.042
She said, you know what, quit your truck driving job. Let's go all in.

00:05:14.242 --> 00:05:17.262
The other consequence, I had a little newborn baby and she's like,

00:05:17.342 --> 00:05:18.662
you need to be home with your daughter more.

00:05:18.802 --> 00:05:22.382
And if you work out of the garage, some of the coolest memories I have early

00:05:22.382 --> 00:05:25.842
on were my little infant daughter opening the door to the garage,

00:05:26.002 --> 00:05:29.902
you know, my wife holding her in her arms and her looking at me and, and,

00:05:30.222 --> 00:05:34.142
you know, there's daddy at work, you know, those are, I hope some of her earliest memories.

00:05:34.442 --> 00:05:38.702
So yeah, just kind of by accident. And, you know, before I knew it,

00:05:38.822 --> 00:05:42.102
I had like cars lining my street.

00:05:42.602 --> 00:05:47.902
I had, my wife couldn't park in the driveway because we had like four Volkswagens parked side by side.

00:05:47.962 --> 00:05:51.022
You couldn't even, you had to like open the door and crawl through them to get in.

00:05:51.402 --> 00:05:54.242
You know, sooner or later, you know, your neighbors are going to be like,

00:05:54.342 --> 00:05:57.542
you're not operating a business out of your house, are you?

00:05:57.822 --> 00:06:00.882
So that's, that's kind of how it started go

00:06:00.882 --> 00:06:04.862
back to the beginning of of your volkswagen passion

00:06:04.862 --> 00:06:07.962
what was the first vw air cool vw

00:06:07.962 --> 00:06:11.222
that that you had or had access to that really

00:06:11.222 --> 00:06:16.282
made you fall in love with the culture when i was about i can tell you exactly

00:06:16.282 --> 00:06:21.382
i was about six years old and i was at the rockville maryland classic car show

00:06:21.382 --> 00:06:25.222
it's been going on for like 50 something years makes you wonder like what were

00:06:25.222 --> 00:06:29.222
the first classic cars they're just like horses or something i mean It was just, you know what I mean?

00:06:29.302 --> 00:06:32.782
Like, like it must've been like old shitty, shitty bang, bang cars and stuff.

00:06:33.062 --> 00:06:36.282
But, you know, you'd walk, I was walking around as most kids do and,

00:06:36.382 --> 00:06:39.442
you know, get off my car. Don't touch my car. I'd look at a Camaro or a Mustang.

00:06:39.582 --> 00:06:40.662
Don't touch that. Get away from it.

00:06:40.962 --> 00:06:46.482
And there was this group of just this kaleidoscope of buses and bugs.

00:06:46.602 --> 00:06:50.302
And I remember there was like a, like a Samba bus with the big tent awning on

00:06:50.302 --> 00:06:52.302
the side of it. And he had Coca-Cola things everywhere.

00:06:52.782 --> 00:06:56.322
And, and I just was drawn in. I was like, what are these different looking little cars?

00:06:57.362 --> 00:07:01.462
And these people were so kind and they let me sit in the car.

00:07:01.562 --> 00:07:06.862
And I remember one guy, I wish I knew who this guy was in like 1991.

00:07:07.322 --> 00:07:11.422
If you were at the Rockville Classic Car Show and you had an early like sort

00:07:11.422 --> 00:07:15.822
of Indian red colored beetle, please, please reach out to me because I'd love to thank you.

00:07:16.122 --> 00:07:19.762
This guy let me sit in his car. He showed me the motor, how the motor was in the back.

00:07:20.242 --> 00:07:23.882
And I knew I was looking at not only something different, but even as a little

00:07:23.882 --> 00:07:28.562
kid, I recognized there was this wonderful culture and I want,

00:07:28.662 --> 00:07:30.582
and, and then, you know, the next thing you know, it's, you know,

00:07:30.662 --> 00:07:31.722
Oh, I want the toy beetle.

00:07:31.842 --> 00:07:35.402
I want this. And I saw the movie Herbie and all that, but it was that car show.

00:07:35.462 --> 00:07:37.062
And those, the kindness of those, that,

00:07:37.588 --> 00:07:40.628
group of people that drew me to it at a very young age.

00:07:41.228 --> 00:07:46.268
Okay. I mean, that's, I feel that. And I felt that just the coolness of that

00:07:46.268 --> 00:07:49.648
culture of the culture, the one that you and I know so well,

00:07:49.788 --> 00:07:55.748
we were, we were touching a moment ago on the moment that you knew that you had to go all in.

00:07:55.808 --> 00:07:59.968
And it felt like that moment was when your income started to surpass,

00:08:00.228 --> 00:08:06.468
you know, working just a few hours a day, your full-time job when you were wrenching on, on, on cars.

00:08:06.488 --> 00:08:10.008
So we don't have to elaborate that on too much more, but I do want to hear this.

00:08:10.188 --> 00:08:15.288
What was one of the biggest challenges that you had in scaling from a side hustle,

00:08:15.528 --> 00:08:20.288
extra money to now, Hey, I'm all in full scale business. So I think this is a great segue.

00:08:21.088 --> 00:08:26.548
So, you know, necessity is the mother of invention and there's nothing better

00:08:26.548 --> 00:08:28.228
than doing something you love for work.

00:08:28.548 --> 00:08:32.028
I realized, you know, like you said, I've, I've got the ability,

00:08:32.028 --> 00:08:36.668
I've got the, you know, the money's coming in so I can actually afford to do this.

00:08:36.928 --> 00:08:41.128
It was finding a place to do it. I live in, like I said, the DC metro area.

00:08:41.268 --> 00:08:47.748
It is incredibly expensive to find a place to rent or buy or anything.

00:08:47.768 --> 00:08:49.468
And I couldn't keep operating out of my garage.

00:08:49.668 --> 00:08:55.168
So there was this little gas station near my house that is full service.

00:08:55.268 --> 00:08:57.648
It's been owned by the same family since the fifties.

00:08:57.988 --> 00:09:01.508
And I used to always kind of tip the gas station attendant well,

00:09:01.748 --> 00:09:03.428
just because it's the right thing to do.

00:09:03.808 --> 00:09:06.748
But I kept telling him, man, I'm really looking for a place,

00:09:06.828 --> 00:09:10.088
you know, if you know anybody, because, you know, scuttlebutt of these places is tremendous.

00:09:10.788 --> 00:09:13.288
And eventually he said, you know what, we actually have a guy,

00:09:13.488 --> 00:09:14.948
we have a three-bay garage downstairs.

00:09:15.648 --> 00:09:19.588
And, you know, you didn't hear it from me, but the landlord is,

00:09:19.868 --> 00:09:22.748
you know, it's, it's, this guy's probably not going to be here a whole lot longer

00:09:22.748 --> 00:09:26.228
and they might be interested in renting you some space. And they did.

00:09:26.528 --> 00:09:30.668
The price was so just incredibly reasonable. It was absolutely a gift.

00:09:31.308 --> 00:09:35.248
And the gas station is direct to you, Gas. Huge, huge shout out to the Langdon

00:09:35.248 --> 00:09:37.808
family who gave me my opportunity.

00:09:38.688 --> 00:09:42.848
And it was interesting. One of the hangups was there was a bay that had like

00:09:42.848 --> 00:09:44.888
a skid steer they used for snow plowing.

00:09:45.168 --> 00:09:47.788
And they had a big oil tank and a tractor. And we couldn't figure out,

00:09:47.828 --> 00:09:49.348
well, what do we do with that stuff?

00:09:49.528 --> 00:09:53.508
The guy who was renting it had been an auto detailer. So most of his work was done outside.

00:09:54.068 --> 00:09:57.128
And I said, well, why don't I just buy a sea container? We'll stick all that

00:09:57.128 --> 00:10:00.508
stuff in a sea container. and then heaven forbid things don't work out,

00:10:00.888 --> 00:10:03.408
I'll just pack all my stuff up in the seat container and move off.

00:10:03.508 --> 00:10:09.248
So the answer, roundabout answer is just being able to find a place to work

00:10:09.248 --> 00:10:12.028
and it was just, you know,

00:10:12.188 --> 00:10:15.968
the universe works in mysterious ways and just things line up and just really,

00:10:15.968 --> 00:10:22.168
I owe it all to this one grumpy old gas station attendant. Huge shout out to Gary who kind of,

00:10:23.040 --> 00:10:26.260
you know, put the, put the bug in my ear that, see what I did there,

00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:28.560
the bug in my ear that this might be available.

00:10:28.940 --> 00:10:33.420
And, and this is a, this is a 1950s gas station. Yeah. Yeah.

00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:38.220
Which is even cooler, right? Oh yeah. In my opinion. When I saw the place,

00:10:38.220 --> 00:10:40.220
I was like, I wish I could be based here.

00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:43.920
And, and it, and it manifested it, you know, it manifested into existence. Yeah.

00:10:44.380 --> 00:10:48.220
Amazing. Amazing. And a super cool story, how it all came together.

00:10:48.400 --> 00:10:51.880
When you put out there in the universe, sometimes you got to be careful because

00:10:51.880 --> 00:10:56.240
they, they happen. Be careful what you wish for. Yeah. That's why they say it.

00:10:57.340 --> 00:11:02.060
So talking about the shop now, what's one thing that somebody's brought into

00:11:02.060 --> 00:11:04.480
your shop thinking it was an easy fix?

00:11:04.660 --> 00:11:07.380
Like they always say, like my background's HVAC.

00:11:08.060 --> 00:11:11.520
Sometimes we'll take service calls and they'll say, oh, it's, it's just this.

00:11:11.660 --> 00:11:15.160
And it's just that. And they're like limiting. You're like, you have no idea

00:11:15.160 --> 00:11:20.820
what this is. So, you know, I have one that's, I have one that stands out and it's, it was a car.

00:11:20.940 --> 00:11:23.680
This lady wanted me to look at a car that she was buying.

00:11:23.900 --> 00:11:27.920
It was pretty far away. So she was only able to send me pictures and some video

00:11:27.920 --> 00:11:31.280
and it was a beautiful blue, light blue, super beetle.

00:11:31.660 --> 00:11:37.080
And the price was right. I actually negotiated the price down quite a bit and

00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:38.880
the car ran wonderful and looked great.

00:11:39.040 --> 00:11:42.720
And we, and I, and she took pictures underneath the car and there was no rust obviously.

00:11:43.220 --> 00:11:46.800
And we get the car to my shop and it actually took a few days because we were

00:11:46.800 --> 00:11:50.760
initially just kind of doing minor tune-up stuff to it and we put the car on

00:11:50.760 --> 00:11:51.640
the lift and we put the car on the lift

00:11:51.947 --> 00:11:58.067
I had never seen this before. The, the rear transmission mounts,

00:11:58.227 --> 00:12:04.627
you know, those two forks that come off the back had, had very apparently rotted out at some point.

00:12:04.867 --> 00:12:08.287
None of the other car was rotten. It looked like it had the original pans and

00:12:08.287 --> 00:12:12.987
the previous owner somewhere along the line, a mechanic had replaced or patched

00:12:12.987 --> 00:12:16.127
them with schedule 40 sewer pipe.

00:12:16.307 --> 00:12:20.887
And it's still, they were cut in half shoved on there welded in place and they

00:12:20.887 --> 00:12:22.207
still had threads on them.

00:12:23.167 --> 00:12:27.487
And we didn't really know what to tell that like we were like this is the craziest

00:12:27.487 --> 00:12:32.827
repair i've ever seen we put a jack on it we jacked the car up but it actually

00:12:32.827 --> 00:12:38.287
was pretty solid but like for how long and we reached out to the lady and she

00:12:38.287 --> 00:12:42.107
was like yeah we we probably you know she understood that this surprise,

00:12:42.567 --> 00:12:48.027
we were able to, I have a, I have an amazing fabricator who came in and,

00:12:48.147 --> 00:12:51.467
and, and, you know, was able to take an old car with good, you know,

00:12:51.587 --> 00:12:55.807
frame warm, square everything up and the car, you know, and got the car back together.

00:12:55.987 --> 00:12:59.427
But man, that was definitely nothing else on this car. Like everything else

00:12:59.427 --> 00:13:01.587
in this car, the interior, the motor, everything else was beautiful.

00:13:01.747 --> 00:13:05.747
It just, that definitely was a way we go. When we saw that it was something.

00:13:06.887 --> 00:13:11.527
So the scene, you're heavy in it. You guys are busy. It seems like,

00:13:11.607 --> 00:13:15.527
you know, I've seen the videos of the shop and all the cars there.

00:13:15.707 --> 00:13:20.247
How do you balance being a dad, being a husband, and also being a business owner?

00:13:22.607 --> 00:13:25.587
It is hard it is really hard and

00:13:25.587 --> 00:13:28.467
i'll be up front man we've been in business now a few years and it's still

00:13:28.467 --> 00:13:31.867
very difficult sometimes you know

00:13:31.867 --> 00:13:36.207
i'll tell you a big one and this is not a knock to my customers because i do

00:13:36.207 --> 00:13:41.927
i consider all of my customers friends i really try to and and early on i i

00:13:41.927 --> 00:13:47.567
a lot of customers like became my friends on facebook and it i had to really

00:13:47.567 --> 00:13:51.267
set some boundaries with like, you know, I had people message me. I'll tell you what I had.

00:13:52.887 --> 00:13:55.607
They're no longer a customer for, for a bunch of different reasons,

00:13:55.607 --> 00:13:59.527
but somebody messaged me at like one in the morning on like a Sunday,

00:13:59.727 --> 00:14:02.367
wanting to know where they could get a VW shaped cake made.

00:14:02.847 --> 00:14:06.967
And, and they started calling me like, it was really like using Facebook messenger.

00:14:06.967 --> 00:14:10.007
And it's like, I, it was strange because this was a customer.

00:14:10.147 --> 00:14:12.827
We get a lot of weird, like we get a lot of, we're, we're big enough that

00:14:12.827 --> 00:14:16.407
we get cars dropped off where we never actually meet the person and

00:14:16.407 --> 00:14:19.587
and then it just gets taken you know on a tow truck or something back to them

00:14:19.587 --> 00:14:24.167
and this was one of those and it was like i don't know you and i have a you

00:14:24.167 --> 00:14:27.347
know at the time you know two you know one and a half year old and i'm not going

00:14:27.347 --> 00:14:31.007
to answer where to get a vw cake at like one in the morning on a sunday that's

00:14:31.007 --> 00:14:35.047
absolutely crazy that said i do know where to get a vw shaped cake.

00:14:35.707 --> 00:14:38.807
Yeah, I was, yeah, I'm a night owl, but it's like, that's my time,

00:14:38.907 --> 00:14:40.167
you know, so it's, it is difficult.

00:14:40.547 --> 00:14:43.347
Just shut the phone off at five. You know, that's really it.

00:14:43.447 --> 00:14:44.647
Just, just, I have a work phone.

00:14:44.787 --> 00:14:47.647
It just gets shut off and, you know, anything that comes through,

00:14:47.767 --> 00:14:52.507
you know, get, you know, there's nothing I can do to help you at like 1030 on

00:14:52.507 --> 00:14:56.527
a Tuesday that, you know, I'm going to, you know, I, I, I just can't,

00:14:56.587 --> 00:14:59.087
you know, call Hagerty, call AAA, whoever, I'm sorry.

00:14:59.427 --> 00:15:01.827
We'll work it out in the morning, you know, we'll get things figured out.

00:15:01.827 --> 00:15:05.187
So I think that's really it, just setting boundaries with customers that,

00:15:05.187 --> 00:15:08.867
you know, there is the time that I am at work and I am all in.

00:15:09.127 --> 00:15:13.787
And there's the time that I'm at home with my family. And that's just super important.

00:15:14.347 --> 00:15:19.067
Super healthy. Awesome. So I've seen your Facebook. I've seen some of your videos.

00:15:19.547 --> 00:15:24.927
It made me think about social media and business because I know how much of

00:15:24.927 --> 00:15:29.707
an impact social media can have. So do you have, I guess, a different approach

00:15:29.707 --> 00:15:32.127
to Facebook, to Instagram, to TikTok?

00:15:32.467 --> 00:15:37.487
How do these social media style sites play into your business or what's their

00:15:37.487 --> 00:15:39.247
role in your success these days?

00:15:40.127 --> 00:15:46.047
So I got a funny story about that. So I use Facebook mostly just because it's

00:15:46.047 --> 00:15:47.727
just such an easy platform to

00:15:47.727 --> 00:15:51.347
just sort of linearly go from my personal Facebook to swap back and forth.

00:15:51.727 --> 00:15:59.227
I'm really not a very tech savvy guy. I really enjoyed like technology until probably like 2003.

00:15:59.427 --> 00:16:03.327
And then it just got so crazy and discombobulated that I just kind of,

00:16:03.547 --> 00:16:08.087
you know, if I could have a flip phone, I probably would. I'm one of those people.

00:16:08.887 --> 00:16:14.367
But one day a customer reached out and said, hey, I saw your Instagram and I

00:16:14.367 --> 00:16:16.947
really like what you guys are doing. And I really want to get some work done.

00:16:17.687 --> 00:16:20.927
And they were very specific about some work we had just done.

00:16:21.827 --> 00:16:24.847
And there was a long pause and I said, yeah, I'd be happy to help you.

00:16:24.927 --> 00:16:28.207
And I finished the phone call and I got off the phone and I sat there kind of

00:16:28.207 --> 00:16:30.087
looking around like, I don't, I don't have an Instagram.

00:16:30.267 --> 00:16:33.907
What are they talking about? Like, and they were very specific about something

00:16:33.907 --> 00:16:37.007
we had just finished relating to fuel injection work.

00:16:37.267 --> 00:16:40.307
So I asked my employees and one of my employees goes, oh yeah,

00:16:40.407 --> 00:16:42.287
we've got an Instagram and a Tik TOK.

00:16:42.407 --> 00:16:45.407
And, and I, one of my employees had just been behind the scenes,

00:16:45.527 --> 00:16:49.827
like building a social media sort of network for me.

00:16:49.847 --> 00:16:52.927
And he showed it to me. And it was really, it was really, really wonderful.

00:16:53.047 --> 00:16:55.167
He's a young guy, you know, he's in his early twenties and it,

00:16:55.207 --> 00:16:56.647
and that was wonderful, you know?

00:16:56.847 --> 00:17:00.707
So the answer is yeah, vicariously I use, we were on Instagram and,

00:17:00.747 --> 00:17:03.207
and I don't think our TikTok's real active, but we definitely,

00:17:03.427 --> 00:17:08.607
Facebook is, is mostly at, as far as impact we're so busy.

00:17:08.767 --> 00:17:11.667
I know, I don't, I know this sounds like almost pretentious,

00:17:11.807 --> 00:17:13.467
but like, I have a hard time. I'm like.

00:17:14.543 --> 00:17:18.503
Advertising because we are just so like, we just hired another employee just

00:17:18.503 --> 00:17:21.723
to keep, you know, because it's spring and we just have so many cars that need to get done.

00:17:21.963 --> 00:17:26.363
So I'm actually kind of careful about how much I advertise. Cause I really like

00:17:26.363 --> 00:17:30.083
using things like this podcast where it's like people that are very serious

00:17:30.083 --> 00:17:34.023
and in the scene are going to be reaching out to me and not just sort of casual,

00:17:34.223 --> 00:17:37.883
like, Hey, I'm thinking about getting a bug and you know, you know, yeah.

00:17:38.223 --> 00:17:42.503
So, so speaking on that community, the VW community is pretty tight one.

00:17:42.983 --> 00:17:48.423
So yeah, any, Any legends, any, any big names, any celebrities or anything like

00:17:48.423 --> 00:17:52.123
that ever, ever, you know, come in as a customer or anything like that?

00:17:53.503 --> 00:17:55.403
You know, I've had, I have, I

00:17:55.403 --> 00:17:59.103
have a very good friend of mine who was in a pretty well-known punk band.

00:17:59.723 --> 00:18:04.523
And I, I don't, I hate being silly. You've heard their music. I guarantee it.

00:18:05.303 --> 00:18:09.063
And I don't be like being cryptic, but just he's, he prefers privacy.

00:18:09.363 --> 00:18:13.023
Not him, but he's recommended some people from the Long Island area.

00:18:13.023 --> 00:18:17.503
I'll just say that. to get some work done, and I'm working on a couple of their cars. So, yeah.

00:18:17.763 --> 00:18:23.143
And some of these people are pretty, I wouldn't say famous, but a couple of

00:18:23.143 --> 00:18:26.043
very well-to-do people that have some really ambitious projects.

00:18:26.143 --> 00:18:29.203
One we finished that was really cool and one that we're working on right now

00:18:29.203 --> 00:18:32.163
that, you know, probably aren't the average...

00:18:33.106 --> 00:18:36.606
You know, hey, I just want to get a tune up, just want to get some carburetors

00:18:36.606 --> 00:18:40.246
done, that kind of thing. So it's always cool when you can start working on stuff like that.

00:18:40.486 --> 00:18:44.826
What's one of the sketchiest road trip stories that you've heard?

00:18:44.926 --> 00:18:48.046
Because you're in a unique position. You get to be, you know,

00:18:48.126 --> 00:18:51.786
the guy at the end that gets to hear all these crazy stories of how people broke

00:18:51.786 --> 00:18:55.146
down on the road and then they end up at your shop. I had a buddy of mine.

00:18:55.846 --> 00:19:02.946
I'll one. Yeah, definitely. There was two of us back in like 2004 and we were

00:19:02.946 --> 00:19:07.286
driving to Ocean City and I had this beat up 77 Beetle.

00:19:07.466 --> 00:19:09.446
It was a standard. It was like the last year of the standard.

00:19:09.606 --> 00:19:14.646
And he had like a 74 super and he had been teaching his girlfriend to drive stick.

00:19:15.266 --> 00:19:19.326
And we made it over to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which is pretty substantial

00:19:19.326 --> 00:19:23.926
bridge, about seven mile long bridge. and he just lost his clutch coming down the other side.

00:19:24.026 --> 00:19:30.686
We rolled into a place called Kent Island and we were able to get the car kind of the side of the road.

00:19:30.806 --> 00:19:34.766
Now these were late enough model Beetles that had kind of heavy bumpers on them.

00:19:34.866 --> 00:19:38.906
So I pushed him into town and there was like an independent,

00:19:39.126 --> 00:19:44.126
like it wasn't a Western auto, but like, you know, a very small independent auto parts place.

00:19:44.786 --> 00:19:48.906
And he, you know, he went in and bought a clutch, just a clutch,

00:19:49.046 --> 00:19:51.186
no pressure plate, no anything. All he could basically afford,

00:19:51.286 --> 00:19:53.186
he wanted to have some beer money for the weekend. So he definitely,

00:19:53.346 --> 00:19:54.586
all he was going to buy was a clutch.

00:19:54.946 --> 00:19:58.186
And he borrowed a jack and we're in the parking lot.

00:19:58.306 --> 00:20:04.746
And this guy is laying under the car with the motor. This is a tough dude.

00:20:05.006 --> 00:20:09.246
With the motor on his chest and, you know, thinking that he could like,

00:20:09.466 --> 00:20:13.326
you know, he could lower the motor down onto his chest. It completely knocked

00:20:13.326 --> 00:20:16.126
the wind out of him. I probably heard him, frankly.

00:20:16.306 --> 00:20:19.726
He slid out from under the car. This whole thing is being held up with like

00:20:19.726 --> 00:20:22.606
scissor jacks and stuff that we got from junkyards.

00:20:22.886 --> 00:20:27.126
Wow. It was so sketchy. And finally we realized, you know, we,

00:20:27.126 --> 00:20:31.426
we got a, you know, we get the clutch put on the, on the motor and everything like that.

00:20:31.486 --> 00:20:36.106
And, and we finally, you know, we're trying to figure out how to get the motor

00:20:36.106 --> 00:20:38.746
backup in it. And that's what it was. The shop felt bad.

00:20:38.946 --> 00:20:43.126
This, the shop, they actually gave us, I think it was like a jack that was new

00:20:43.126 --> 00:20:46.966
and they let us use it just so we could get this motor backup in the car.

00:20:46.966 --> 00:20:52.366
And I mean that guy was just waste just absolutely useless the whole weekend I mean when that motor.

00:20:53.646 --> 00:20:57.606
He puffed his chest up with like a piece of plywood he'd found from the back

00:20:57.606 --> 00:21:01.326
behind the shop and just like the videos you see you know where the guy pulls

00:21:01.326 --> 00:21:03.106
the motor out of the car and it was just,

00:21:03.826 --> 00:21:06.566
I'm amazed it did I mean it could have killed him you know when you really think

00:21:06.566 --> 00:21:09.926
about it and but he got the clutch in we got the car down the road and we made

00:21:09.926 --> 00:21:13.226
it to Ocean City we had us a good old weekend and it was it was a lot of fun

00:21:13.646 --> 00:21:16.666
after that for us maybe not for him,

00:21:17.406 --> 00:21:21.066
How about any of your customers?

00:21:21.406 --> 00:21:27.566
Anybody ever tell you a crazy breakdown story that just immediately impacted

00:21:27.566 --> 00:21:30.786
you and their car that was broken down, ended up in your shop?

00:21:31.828 --> 00:21:36.308
You know, we've definitely, yeah, I mean, we've had, we have a van to get our

00:21:36.308 --> 00:21:39.968
shop right now that caught on fire while the guy was driving it. I mean, burned up.

00:21:40.968 --> 00:21:44.428
I'm not going to, we're doing an engine swap on it. It is going to have a flat

00:21:44.428 --> 00:21:45.748
four in it. But that was pretty wild.

00:21:45.868 --> 00:21:48.848
Like he was driving down the road and it caught on fire and he was like going

00:21:48.848 --> 00:21:53.408
fast enough that he was struggling to get it off the road so that he could,

00:21:53.528 --> 00:21:57.408
you know, just be able to stop and put out the fire, you know,

00:21:57.468 --> 00:21:59.508
and once he did, he was able to get it out.

00:21:59.508 --> 00:22:03.168
It was pretty, the Vanagans actually are pretty good about like kind of being

00:22:03.168 --> 00:22:07.188
contained compared to like older bay window buses and stuff from what I've seen.

00:22:07.288 --> 00:22:09.708
But man, it just cooked the motor and he was very lucky.

00:22:09.828 --> 00:22:12.128
He was able to get in there with a good size fire extinguisher.

00:22:12.388 --> 00:22:15.308
I mean, this is definitely, if we're going to make a plug, this is definitely

00:22:15.308 --> 00:22:18.928
a plug for blaze cut systems because it could have maybe prevented it.

00:22:18.928 --> 00:22:23.548
But that was a pretty sketchy story and seeing the bus afterwards with the plastic

00:22:23.548 --> 00:22:28.268
vents just melted down into the bus and seeing how bad the engine was burned

00:22:28.268 --> 00:22:29.708
and the fire damage from it.

00:22:29.768 --> 00:22:32.808
I can only imagine how scary that must have been.

00:22:33.148 --> 00:22:37.788
So, yeah. And definitely as a mechanic makes me just really remember that when

00:22:37.788 --> 00:22:40.628
these cars are leaving, the fuel systems have to be perfect.

00:22:40.708 --> 00:22:42.508
There can be no leaks, et cetera, et cetera.

00:22:42.788 --> 00:22:46.588
So what's your craziest personal adventure aside from that clutch?

00:22:47.688 --> 00:22:52.128
It's kind of dark. I'm going to be up front, but a Volkswagen saved my life because it broke down.

00:22:54.188 --> 00:23:02.368
Give me the dirt. Yeah. So I was working with a volunteer outfit out of Logan,

00:23:02.508 --> 00:23:06.068
West Virginia, and they had a Vietnam era Huey helicopter.

00:23:06.288 --> 00:23:09.428
And I was involved with that. I'm also a pilot.

00:23:09.608 --> 00:23:14.948
That's something I did for quite a few years until I, that family business I

00:23:14.948 --> 00:23:18.388
mentioned And that, that came along and I, I stepped into that,

00:23:18.548 --> 00:23:21.868
stepped away from flying and stepped into that and, and once I had a family

00:23:21.868 --> 00:23:23.688
and stuff, I just decided, you know,

00:23:24.401 --> 00:23:29.141
you know, to step away from flying as a career and focus on my family's businesses.

00:23:29.361 --> 00:23:33.201
So this, we were supposed to go to an event where we're going to be taking up

00:23:33.201 --> 00:23:37.281
like Vietnam veterans and veterans of any war up in this Huey.

00:23:37.741 --> 00:23:43.241
And I was one of the crew members on it. I was expected to be there on a weekend for this event.

00:23:44.001 --> 00:23:47.981
And I live about six hours away. And there was kind of this running joke that,

00:23:48.081 --> 00:23:50.581
you know, I better leave like a month ahead if I'm coming out there in the bus.

00:23:50.581 --> 00:23:56.981
And I had the 71 VW bus, we called the pickle and it was a Westphalia and it

00:23:56.981 --> 00:23:58.101
was this ugly green color.

00:23:58.461 --> 00:24:03.801
And I, I just had a, you know, rebuilt the motor in it and, and redid everything.

00:24:03.801 --> 00:24:05.881
I converted it to an alternator and all that.

00:24:06.001 --> 00:24:09.701
And we're dry. I'm driving along and I make it pretty good ways out of town.

00:24:09.921 --> 00:24:14.701
And what, what ended up happening. And I haven't seen this much if even ever,

00:24:14.961 --> 00:24:19.041
the brand new alternator's internal voltage regulator failed.

00:24:19.901 --> 00:24:26.081
And it just, you know, wouldn't charge. And there's no easy way to fix that on the side of the road.

00:24:26.581 --> 00:24:30.561
I had, you know, I called Haggerty. I had it towed back. I called the event.

00:24:30.561 --> 00:24:32.241
I said, hey, guys, I'm not going to make it.

00:24:32.701 --> 00:24:35.121
You know, and at this point, I wasn't working in aviation full time.

00:24:35.161 --> 00:24:39.401
This was just a volunteer thing for fun. And they said, hey, don't worry about it.

00:24:39.901 --> 00:24:46.961
And it basically, a few days goes by and I'm making plans to come out that weekend

00:24:46.961 --> 00:24:50.061
in a normal vehicle and get a hotel and that's no fun.

00:24:50.381 --> 00:24:55.381
And I get a call the night that I'm leaving that the helicopter went down.

00:24:55.961 --> 00:24:59.961
And it was a night that I was supposed to be there on that helicopter's crew member.

00:25:00.641 --> 00:25:04.961
And three very good friends of mine are no longer with us because of that incident.

00:25:05.761 --> 00:25:10.401
And I just can't help. I'm starting to get emotional thinking about it because

00:25:10.401 --> 00:25:13.541
they were good people, good men, veterans. Two of them were veterans.

00:25:14.921 --> 00:25:21.621
And I also, around that time, had found out that I was going to be a father

00:25:21.621 --> 00:25:24.161
to a little girl. We had just done our gender reveal.

00:25:24.601 --> 00:25:29.981
And I just wonder sometimes with an insane amount of grief and guilt.

00:25:30.481 --> 00:25:37.361
Did that bus decide, you know what, today's the day that you're not going on a helicopter ride?

00:25:37.821 --> 00:25:42.641
And in a peculiar way, it just said, no, we're done. We're done here.

00:25:43.081 --> 00:25:46.361
And yeah, that bus, I'm convinced, saved my life.

00:25:46.881 --> 00:25:50.701
That just gave me the goose bumps all over. Yeah, yeah.

00:25:51.561 --> 00:25:54.821
Sorry to be dark, but it's, yeah, it's probably my craziest story.

00:25:54.941 --> 00:25:57.541
It really is to these cars, I'll tell you. It really is.

00:25:57.981 --> 00:26:00.161
What's the weirdest thing you've ever found inside one?

00:26:00.901 --> 00:26:05.461
A, I'm trying to see if it's easy to grab. I think it's actually in my shop right now.

00:26:05.581 --> 00:26:09.841
It was a pistol holster and it was in the front of,

00:26:10.394 --> 00:26:15.414
When you remove, it was on a standard Beetle, and it was where you remove that

00:26:15.414 --> 00:26:18.574
plate you take off right in between

00:26:18.574 --> 00:26:23.734
the beam that you remove the shifter linkage, the shifter shaft out.

00:26:24.674 --> 00:26:27.854
We opened that up, and it was just kind of sitting in there.

00:26:28.074 --> 00:26:33.394
And we borescoped it to see if there was also a pistola in there, and there was not.

00:26:33.534 --> 00:26:36.754
But there was a small holster for like a Saturday night special.

00:26:37.534 --> 00:26:40.694
Why somebody would have put that in there, just a holster.

00:26:40.834 --> 00:26:43.834
I could see almost putting the whole pistol in there, why they would just put

00:26:43.834 --> 00:26:46.274
this little leather, real small little thing like that.

00:26:46.574 --> 00:26:49.634
It was very strange. I contacted the owner. They had just bought the car.

00:26:49.754 --> 00:26:51.514
They didn't have any idea.

00:26:51.734 --> 00:26:54.514
So they said, you know, they didn't have any interest in keeping it.

00:26:54.614 --> 00:26:56.894
So we just kind of have it here. I have it in my shop at the house.

00:26:57.794 --> 00:27:01.574
Weird, strange thing, you know. I mean, we find a lot of stuff in buses,

00:27:01.934 --> 00:27:03.294
you know, especially older buses.

00:27:03.294 --> 00:27:06.354
But you know we find a lot of questionable

00:27:06.354 --> 00:27:09.054
substances sometimes that that you find that

00:27:09.054 --> 00:27:14.094
are really really old you know and sometimes the owners are like oh yeah about

00:27:14.094 --> 00:27:17.574
that sometimes the owners are like all right and you know that wasn't mine you

00:27:17.574 --> 00:27:23.214
know and who knows so if you time travel if you could time travel and go to

00:27:23.214 --> 00:27:27.754
any vw era which one are you going to and tell us why.

00:27:28.795 --> 00:27:32.535
Man, there's a great book that I read.

00:27:33.255 --> 00:27:36.715
It's about Volkswagen buses, and it has a lot of kind of short stories.

00:27:36.895 --> 00:27:41.315
And one of them, they're talking about taking a VW bus up into,

00:27:41.615 --> 00:27:44.095
of all places, like Afghanistan and Persia.

00:27:44.715 --> 00:27:48.795
And before it was like, this was back in like, I think it was the 60s or something,

00:27:48.975 --> 00:27:51.895
before there was, you know, any wars going on there and stuff.

00:27:52.055 --> 00:27:55.935
And they just meandered from Europe all the way up through that part of the

00:27:55.935 --> 00:27:59.975
world. So seeing that part of the world in like an old bus would have been just

00:27:59.975 --> 00:28:04.235
incredible before everything went to chaos in that part of the universe.

00:28:04.735 --> 00:28:08.515
That would have been incredible. So yeah, Europe going into Persia and stuff

00:28:08.515 --> 00:28:10.615
in the 60s would have been pretty rad.

00:28:11.875 --> 00:28:17.675
What's one model, one air-cooled model that you feel is the most underrated?

00:28:19.235 --> 00:28:24.015
1993 manual Eurovans. because they're absolutely everything.

00:28:24.195 --> 00:28:27.655
They're the complete opposite of what makes Eurovans awful.

00:28:27.975 --> 00:28:32.655
They're a 2.5, brutally simple, five-cylinder, naturally aspirated motor,

00:28:32.795 --> 00:28:36.115
and they have a wiggle stick. They have a manual transmission.

00:28:36.375 --> 00:28:42.675
I am partial because our shop van is a 1993 manual Eurovan, but it is absolutely

00:28:42.675 --> 00:28:44.715
the easiest thing to work on.

00:28:44.775 --> 00:28:48.335
It is probably one of the few water-cooled Volkswagens I actually enjoy,

00:28:48.335 --> 00:28:53.335
And it's interesting because that lineage immediately becomes terrible when

00:28:53.335 --> 00:28:57.075
you start introducing, like, the automatics in those are, in the later model

00:28:57.075 --> 00:28:58.555
ones, are just about unsupportable.

00:28:58.635 --> 00:29:01.315
It's like $9,000 to get one rebuilt or something.

00:29:01.495 --> 00:29:06.395
And then the VR6 motors, while they're great motors, they're just awful to work on in that tight space.

00:29:06.555 --> 00:29:11.035
So, yeah, 1993, first year, first generation Eurovans with a manual.

00:29:11.709 --> 00:29:15.649
Most underrated what's a controversial vw opinion

00:29:15.649 --> 00:29:18.689
of yours that will piss people

00:29:18.689 --> 00:29:21.529
off in my opinion and i'm saying

00:29:21.529 --> 00:29:26.649
that very carefully dual carburetors just in my opinion are the juice isn't

00:29:26.649 --> 00:29:32.429
worth the squeeze on a 100 stock motor generally speaking i there's not a whole

00:29:32.429 --> 00:29:39.489
just you have to jet them down so much and well i agree they will add a little

00:29:39.489 --> 00:29:41.089
bit of performance If you just,

00:29:41.289 --> 00:29:45.309
if you don't have like Panchito heads or bigger heads, you're just,

00:29:45.429 --> 00:29:49.349
I think you're just better off putting more money and effort into like a nice

00:29:49.349 --> 00:29:52.169
set of, nice exhaust, a good distributor,

00:29:52.169 --> 00:29:55.949
like pat down shockwave or a MagnaSpark or something like that.

00:29:56.049 --> 00:30:00.049
And really just, you know, I think a lot of people are trying to fix problems

00:30:00.049 --> 00:30:04.729
with cars by putting dual carbs on, not realizing that the problem isn't actually there.

00:30:04.889 --> 00:30:07.069
You know, the carburetors aren't going to fix the problem.

00:30:07.489 --> 00:30:10.489
Check, you know, do valve adjustments, things like that. and you'll get a much

00:30:10.489 --> 00:30:12.309
better running car. So yeah, I'll just say it.

00:30:12.509 --> 00:30:16.209
I don't think dual carbs should be on stock-size motors unless you're doing

00:30:16.209 --> 00:30:18.169
a lot of head work. And then they're great.

00:30:18.449 --> 00:30:22.949
You know, 1600 with some Panchitos and some little 34s or some Baby Dells or

00:30:22.949 --> 00:30:25.009
something is pretty rad. They run good.

00:30:25.609 --> 00:30:28.549
Yeah. So money wasn't an issue. What's your drain bill?

00:30:28.829 --> 00:30:32.049
Is it behind you? You know, it very well could be.

00:30:32.229 --> 00:30:38.629
I probably would go a little bit more all in. This is a 1957 Oval Beetle. It's named Mabel.

00:30:39.409 --> 00:30:45.589
Shout out to my guy, Jason Warton, who did all the pinstriping on it. This has a 56, 356 motor.

00:30:46.169 --> 00:30:50.049
It's not currently in it this second. It's just getting some final machine work done.

00:30:50.169 --> 00:30:53.429
It's actually, it's being assembled right now, but it's, you know,

00:30:53.549 --> 00:30:57.769
it's had a 356 motor in it. And that's a pretty cool setup.

00:30:57.969 --> 00:31:00.969
Makes right around 100 horsepower, but it is pretty rad to be able to say,

00:31:01.069 --> 00:31:03.209
yeah, I got to actually have a Beetle with a Porsche motor.

00:31:03.369 --> 00:31:06.289
That said, money, no object.

00:31:07.316 --> 00:31:14.256
I would probably do like a 50, like a 52 split and money to object.

00:31:14.496 --> 00:31:18.216
I'd put one of those crazy quad cam Porsche motors from like five,

00:31:18.376 --> 00:31:20.356
you know, like a James Dean Porsche or something.

00:31:20.456 --> 00:31:24.236
That would be, there's some guys out in Cali that have one in like a Baja bug

00:31:24.236 --> 00:31:27.256
and it's like a $200,000 motor.

00:31:27.376 --> 00:31:31.136
And these guys are ripping it around in this Baja bug somewhere in Southern

00:31:31.136 --> 00:31:35.336
California, just on the streets being, being just, just complete.

00:31:35.336 --> 00:31:38.256
You know, these guys are like in their like late fifties, sixties,

00:31:38.396 --> 00:31:39.836
just being delinquents in it on the street.

00:31:39.996 --> 00:31:43.336
It's just such a cool fantasy of mine to have one of those motors.

00:31:43.496 --> 00:31:45.936
So yeah, there you go. Quad cam and a split window bug.

00:31:46.316 --> 00:31:49.336
I'll definitely be cool. Yeah. Where can people find you?

00:31:49.896 --> 00:31:53.316
Yeah. I know your phone number is behind me, but this is a podcast.

00:31:53.576 --> 00:31:56.876
So they're not going to be able to see you unless it'll be on the shorts and stuff.

00:31:56.996 --> 00:32:01.156
But if somebody wants to work with you or book you or come check out the shop,

00:32:01.396 --> 00:32:04.136
DC metro area, tell us how they can find you.

00:32:04.796 --> 00:32:07.636
We're on facebook that's probably the easiest way to find

00:32:07.636 --> 00:32:11.356
us or you can give me a call on that number during business hours you

00:32:11.356 --> 00:32:14.196
know we're i'm i'm in

00:32:14.196 --> 00:32:17.396
and out all the time you know picking up parts and motors moving motors around

00:32:17.396 --> 00:32:21.236
things like that so definitely call first but yeah just just through facebook

00:32:21.236 --> 00:32:25.516
through uh we have messenger i'm very active on on dino's garage facebook messenger

00:32:25.516 --> 00:32:32.356
things like that i will say this time of year we are super busy you know we we we are probably

00:32:32.536 --> 00:32:36.516
not taking any major work right now for a couple months,

00:32:36.716 --> 00:32:39.856
but, you know, anything small, like brake jobs, you just need to get your car

00:32:39.856 --> 00:32:41.596
ready for, you know, show season or whatever.

00:32:41.716 --> 00:32:43.836
Give me a call, you know, we'll try to squeeze you in, you know,

00:32:43.916 --> 00:32:45.936
valve adjustments, you know, things like that.

00:32:46.076 --> 00:32:48.476
So, so look, what's next for the shop?

00:32:48.676 --> 00:32:53.416
Any, any big plans, any, any ideas, any, any, any groundbreaking announcements

00:32:53.416 --> 00:32:55.416
or anything? Tell me what's coming up for the shop.

00:32:55.796 --> 00:32:57.616
Uh, well, we've got, we've been

00:32:57.616 --> 00:33:00.736
working pretty heavily with fuel injection systems over the last year.

00:33:01.136 --> 00:33:08.176
And the Holley Sniper systems are pretty good, but they're really good for like stock to mild cars.

00:33:08.936 --> 00:33:12.716
And we've got some interesting stuff coming down the pipe with fuel injection

00:33:12.716 --> 00:33:19.676
that I think is going to give people looking for a sort of middle of the ground performance option.

00:33:20.636 --> 00:33:22.776
You know, give people with more middle of the ground performance motors,

00:33:22.956 --> 00:33:25.656
some options that aren't really available right now, unless you're spending,

00:33:25.956 --> 00:33:28.396
you know, five, six, seven, $8,000.

00:33:28.936 --> 00:33:32.516
So So, yeah, be looking for that. Also, just generally just expanding.

00:33:32.716 --> 00:33:34.416
You know, we've just hired some more employees.

00:33:34.956 --> 00:33:39.156
We've just actually leased some more space. So, we have more space to work on cars.

00:33:39.376 --> 00:33:42.636
You know, we have at any given time like 20 cars at our shop.

00:33:42.796 --> 00:33:43.836
So, you know, we really...

00:33:44.612 --> 00:33:47.412
Yeah. You know, to those that are watching, they're like, where's my car?

00:33:47.572 --> 00:33:50.032
Hey, we're, we're working on it. We're getting, we're getting more help.

00:33:50.152 --> 00:33:51.612
We've, we're up to five employees now.

00:33:51.792 --> 00:33:54.252
So good for you guys, man. Good for you guys. It's awesome.

00:33:54.712 --> 00:33:59.352
It's awesome to hear that, that it's alive like that, you know? Oh yeah.

00:33:59.552 --> 00:34:03.652
I know you're in a pretty densely populated area, but still,

00:34:03.832 --> 00:34:09.332
it's still cool just to know that there's that kind of a, of a scene that's there.

00:34:09.332 --> 00:34:13.012
Yeah well like and like i said oh yeah and we have multiple i mean there's like

00:34:13.012 --> 00:34:17.732
five or six air-cooled clubs all around me let me see i'm not like here's one

00:34:17.732 --> 00:34:22.572
right here this is a shout out to my guy flip the air vw air raid and they represent

00:34:22.572 --> 00:34:24.952
from you know dc maryland virginia,

00:34:25.612 --> 00:34:31.232
you know so yeah flip you're out there one of the coolest dudes i know you know

00:34:31.232 --> 00:34:36.972
there are so many clubs and scenes out here the the mid-maryland vw club shout

00:34:36.972 --> 00:34:40.572
out to gidget you're my girl i was I went with her down a few years ago to the

00:34:40.572 --> 00:34:42.712
53rd Herbie anniversary, and we got to drive

00:34:43.132 --> 00:34:46.972
in her car, Levi, her 66 Beetle Levi on Daytona Speedway.

00:34:47.512 --> 00:34:52.212
I was actually dressed as Buddy Hackett from Herbie. I'm actually in,

00:34:52.332 --> 00:34:54.972
I think I'm in Hot VW is one of the issues, dressed as Buddy Hackett.

00:34:55.192 --> 00:34:57.792
I always thought I'd get in there for having a cool car. I got in there for

00:34:57.792 --> 00:35:00.032
being a fat guy, but hey, I'll take it.

00:35:01.052 --> 00:35:03.972
You know Dave Evans, don't you? Oh, yeah, Dave Evans. Yeah, Dave,

00:35:04.072 --> 00:35:06.692
I was hanging out with Dave Evans down there. He's a good friend of mine. He's a great dude.

00:35:06.812 --> 00:35:12.992
Shout out to Dave, man. And, you know, he is the Herbie guru of gurus. So, yeah.

00:35:13.792 --> 00:35:16.792
Yeah, it's been incredible seeing how big we've gotten, how quickly.

00:35:17.012 --> 00:35:20.192
I think it's just, but the sad reality is there just aren't a lot of shops down here.

00:35:20.552 --> 00:35:24.692
There are a few. I mean, you know, Cooker's Performance out of Williamsport,

00:35:24.772 --> 00:35:26.232
Maryland. Huge shout out to Bob Cook.

00:35:26.572 --> 00:35:31.312
They produce some of the most incredible, you know, both, you know,

00:35:31.572 --> 00:35:34.612
restorations as well as performance builds.

00:35:34.872 --> 00:35:38.272
You name it. but they're really, their focus really is on, you know,

00:35:38.472 --> 00:35:40.332
really, really high-end restorations.

00:35:40.512 --> 00:35:43.152
And, you know, our focus is more on just, you know, keep, you know,

00:35:43.292 --> 00:35:50.672
more, more keeping cars running and, you know, more, more basic customizations and things like that.

00:35:50.752 --> 00:35:54.452
But we do, we do absolutely have access to a great painter and things like that.

00:35:54.492 --> 00:35:57.672
We have done a couple of full restorations, but I know my pecking order,

00:35:57.692 --> 00:35:58.772
I'm nowhere near cookers.

00:35:59.012 --> 00:36:04.072
So, but yeah, there aren't really any other full service shops directly in my area.

00:36:04.232 --> 00:36:07.512
There are in my area, but they're not directly. And I work with these guys.

00:36:07.752 --> 00:36:12.012
You know, that's the nice thing. You know, I am friendly with these shops and

00:36:12.012 --> 00:36:16.072
we do, you know, share each other's shirts and sugar sometimes and certainly

00:36:16.072 --> 00:36:18.792
give each other work as we're busy or as necessary.

00:36:19.252 --> 00:36:23.952
Yeah, that's awesome. And again, that's this community, this amazing community.

00:36:24.292 --> 00:36:27.852
There's just so much work, you know, with the lack of shops that anybody who's

00:36:27.852 --> 00:36:31.812
doing any, you know, anything on a small scale, there's plenty of slices in

00:36:31.812 --> 00:36:34.072
the pie to eat. I promise you that. We can all work together.

00:36:35.854 --> 00:36:39.654
All right, so no overthinking this, but I'm going to go through a few questions

00:36:39.654 --> 00:36:42.234
with you, and these are what I call rapid fire.

00:36:42.374 --> 00:36:44.894
So I want the first answers that come to mind.

00:36:45.114 --> 00:36:47.614
Let's make it quick. You ready? Yeah, let's go.

00:36:48.154 --> 00:36:52.494
All right, best VW engine ever made? 1600 dual port. They just run great.

00:36:53.034 --> 00:36:58.294
Very easy to work on, very easy to modify. All right. How about worst VW model of all time?

00:36:59.494 --> 00:37:02.074
Diesel Vanagans, and I'm probably going to get fried for saying that,

00:37:02.154 --> 00:37:04.994
but they don't do anything well. They overheat. They're slow.

00:37:05.854 --> 00:37:10.034
I don't think there's a lot of part support for them. I just never encountered

00:37:10.034 --> 00:37:13.794
anybody that had anything good to say about them. I've never encountered one that ran well.

00:37:14.594 --> 00:37:21.034
All right. One tool in your shop that you can't live without. 13 millimeter wrench.

00:37:21.694 --> 00:37:24.934
13 millimeter wrench. 13 millimeter wrench. Use it all the time.

00:37:25.614 --> 00:37:28.274
Dream road trip. Where are you going? Who's going with you?

00:37:29.854 --> 00:37:35.034
I've got a good friend of mine, a guy named Evan. He does a lot of VW dismantling

00:37:35.034 --> 00:37:39.254
and stuff like that, and he has been a huge supporter of me in the VW world,

00:37:39.274 --> 00:37:41.074
not just with parts, but as a friend.

00:37:41.554 --> 00:37:49.414
Probably me and Evan and just grabbing probably a bug and just running down

00:37:49.414 --> 00:37:55.174
up into the Northeast and just kind of picking and finding old parts and cars

00:37:55.174 --> 00:37:56.554
and barns and things like that.

00:37:57.334 --> 00:38:01.334
He's a guy that is a good guy to go on road trips with. Yeah,

00:38:01.434 --> 00:38:05.934
Evan Buchanan, if you know that name, look him up. He's got a lot of cool, cool VW parts.

00:38:06.074 --> 00:38:09.074
He's a cool guy to go VW picking with. So yeah.

00:38:10.794 --> 00:38:16.194
Biggest DIY mistake that VW owners make in the air-cooled scene.

00:38:17.606 --> 00:38:22.526
It's really just this trying to go cheap on things, you know,

00:38:23.006 --> 00:38:25.646
parts are, yeah, absolutely.

00:38:26.086 --> 00:38:30.186
Get the best quality parts you can afford. And I think just understand these

00:38:30.186 --> 00:38:33.826
cars aren't economy cars anymore. They're classic vintage cars.

00:38:34.286 --> 00:38:36.746
You know, I always feel terrible when people call and they're like,

00:38:36.826 --> 00:38:41.006
oh yeah, I want to build a car with my son. You know, we're just going to kind of build it as we go.

00:38:41.226 --> 00:38:45.846
And, you know, they, we start talking and I explain to them what it actually

00:38:45.846 --> 00:38:48.806
costs to do it. and they're like, oh my gosh, I didn't, I didn't realize.

00:38:49.046 --> 00:38:52.586
And it's like, well, you know, but it, you know, as long as you remember that

00:38:52.586 --> 00:38:57.066
it's all about the smiles per gallon and, and, you know, the sentimental value.

00:38:57.286 --> 00:39:01.366
Yeah. You know, it's, that's really what it's about. They're, they're so worth it.

00:39:01.506 --> 00:39:04.926
And the community alone, you know, the cost of admission just to the community

00:39:04.926 --> 00:39:07.626
alone is worth the, worth the, you know, paying the piper.

00:39:07.806 --> 00:39:10.926
So yeah, just good parts, good parts, spend the money, do it once, do it right.

00:39:11.506 --> 00:39:17.066
Love it. One piece of advice from you for somebody who is potentially looking

00:39:17.066 --> 00:39:18.766
to start their own VW shop?

00:39:19.666 --> 00:39:23.146
You know, do it. I mean, that's really the biggest thing. Do it.

00:39:23.346 --> 00:39:27.446
You know, do a lot of just a lot of research. Do not be afraid to look in the

00:39:27.446 --> 00:39:29.706
book. Don't be afraid to go on YouTube.

00:39:30.326 --> 00:39:33.726
You know, don't think you know everything.

00:39:34.046 --> 00:39:37.966
You know, to this day, I walked into my shop this morning and one of my employees

00:39:37.966 --> 00:39:42.086
was looking at a, there's a guy at Slade's Beatles and he was looking at a,

00:39:42.226 --> 00:39:45.006
shout out to Slade, one of my amazing dude.

00:39:45.006 --> 00:39:48.606
He was watching a Slade's Beetle video on how to do something on a,

00:39:48.626 --> 00:39:49.966
you know, some suspension thing.

00:39:50.146 --> 00:39:53.846
And it was not necessarily that he didn't know like how to do that sort of thing,

00:39:53.906 --> 00:39:57.226
but it was really just like a good reference. Like, okay, let me watch somebody

00:39:57.226 --> 00:40:00.326
do this right now so I don't mess this up.

00:40:00.426 --> 00:40:02.646
And there's no shame in that at all.

00:40:02.846 --> 00:40:05.786
You know, just open the book, open the service manuals, Bentley,

00:40:06.006 --> 00:40:06.906
whatever. They're great.

00:40:07.566 --> 00:40:12.006
That's really it, you know, and just do it. Get out there, grab a wrench, do it. Great advice.

00:40:12.266 --> 00:40:16.326
Just do it. So who's the biggest legend in the VW world to you?

00:40:17.066 --> 00:40:20.906
This is going to be an interesting one because he was not a mechanically inclined

00:40:20.906 --> 00:40:23.486
person, but it would absolutely be my father.

00:40:24.366 --> 00:40:34.906
My father, when I was young, really invested in me to be involved in mechanical stuff.

00:40:34.906 --> 00:40:39.706
And he knew that my love for Volkswagens was so powerful that he always made

00:40:39.706 --> 00:40:41.866
sure to get me model kits of Volkswagens.

00:40:42.426 --> 00:40:47.606
And, you know, as I got older, he, he helped me get my, he let me some of the money to buy my first VW.

00:40:47.746 --> 00:40:51.066
He bought me my first tool set to work on VWs.

00:40:51.586 --> 00:40:56.226
Funny story. He actually repoed my first VW. I was making payments to him and

00:40:56.226 --> 00:40:58.386
I came out from high school and then the car wasn't there.

00:40:58.466 --> 00:41:00.766
And I said, where's my car? I thought it got stolen. And he said,

00:41:00.826 --> 00:41:03.646
well, son, you know, life lesson, you don't make your payment,

00:41:03.886 --> 00:41:06.206
you know, dad, this spring, come take the car from you.

00:41:06.546 --> 00:41:10.026
And yeah, I mowed the lawn a few times and got the car back. But, you know,

00:41:10.066 --> 00:41:13.126
my dad taught me good job dad good job dad yeah you

00:41:13.126 --> 00:41:17.126
know and that's the only time i've ever had a car repoed you know so it was

00:41:17.126 --> 00:41:21.386
my dad so my dad you know real legend in the sense that he just you know he

00:41:21.386 --> 00:41:25.586
saw my passion and i think the the biggest thing here is he he recognized that

00:41:25.586 --> 00:41:29.526
he himself was not a mechanically inclined person he'd had beetles as a kid

00:41:29.526 --> 00:41:30.926
and a teenage you know as a teenager,

00:41:31.426 --> 00:41:34.506
and and always told me stories about having them but it was always kind of like

00:41:34.506 --> 00:41:38.966
in the background that he didn't know how to work on it himself and he always

00:41:38.966 --> 00:41:40.946
had to take it to gas station things to get fixed.

00:41:41.046 --> 00:41:44.846
And he thought it was so brilliant that even as a teenager, there I was teaching

00:41:44.846 --> 00:41:48.546
myself using, there was no YouTube back then, you know, teaching myself through

00:41:48.546 --> 00:41:52.226
books and trial and error, how to work on it. He was just so supportive of that.

00:41:52.946 --> 00:41:57.646
Yeah. And my dad's not here anymore. So, you know, I really feel strongly that

00:41:57.646 --> 00:42:02.986
I, you know, I, I do it, you know, really, you know, a lot of it with him in

00:42:02.986 --> 00:42:05.846
mind, you know, awesome, man. Keep that moving forward.

00:42:06.026 --> 00:42:11.246
Yeah. So my dad, yeah what's his name his name is david styles and he was a

00:42:11.246 --> 00:42:14.886
tremendous man so yeah yeah,

00:42:15.590 --> 00:42:20.550
All right, one mod that should be absolutely illegal on classic VWs.

00:42:20.650 --> 00:42:25.170
Oh, man, I know exactly what it is. Those mods of mufflers with the four tips.

00:42:26.730 --> 00:42:31.630
Anybody who has those just needs to go to jail. I'm sorry. I'm sorry if you have them.

00:42:32.650 --> 00:42:35.610
And they were so cool. They were so cool.

00:42:35.630 --> 00:42:39.890
And I'd almost go so far to say that there are certain vehicles,

00:42:40.110 --> 00:42:44.830
if you're doing a really retro 80s or 90s looking build,

00:42:44.830 --> 00:42:47.590
like you like i'll almost give it a pass but man

00:42:47.590 --> 00:42:50.270
if you're just building like a normal cowlick car or something

00:42:50.270 --> 00:42:53.470
like that do not put those on there they don't add performance they

00:42:53.470 --> 00:42:56.330
don't sound very good and they're just going to rust

00:42:56.330 --> 00:42:59.590
out in a year or two get something decent get something stainless get

00:42:59.590 --> 00:43:02.830
something with a merged header don't put those monzas on there what's

00:43:02.830 --> 00:43:05.810
the craziest thing you've ever seen a classic air-cooled car

00:43:05.810 --> 00:43:09.090
turned into i like

00:43:09.090 --> 00:43:11.870
a hot dog like there's there's this bug that kicks around it's

00:43:11.870 --> 00:43:14.730
a hot it's a giant it's got a big old like just coming out the front

00:43:14.730 --> 00:43:18.890
of it and out the back of it this fiberglass big just giant wiener sticking

00:43:18.890 --> 00:43:23.030
out of the front of the car set up like a bun and it's still a bug like it doesn't

00:43:23.030 --> 00:43:26.070
they didn't like try to make it like completely change it you know it's not

00:43:26.070 --> 00:43:28.970
like a banana car where the whole car is a banana it's literally just a bug

00:43:28.970 --> 00:43:32.250
with a wiener sticking out of the front a wiener sticking out of the back,

00:43:32.812 --> 00:43:37.072
It's the funniest looking thing. I can almost hear how that looks.

00:43:37.352 --> 00:43:40.812
Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Yeah, and it's in a hot dog stand.

00:43:40.972 --> 00:43:44.672
It's somewhere up in PA. It's pretty funny. It's red, of course, you know.

00:43:44.912 --> 00:43:47.112
Listen, man, this has been awesome. Oh, yeah.

00:43:47.372 --> 00:43:53.212
Some of your stories are amazing. They're legendary. Any last words for the VW community?

00:43:53.472 --> 00:43:57.732
Thank you. Just thank you so much for the support. You know, it's...

00:43:58.432 --> 00:44:01.172
I'm thinking about my daughter. You know, I've got a two-and-a-half-year-old

00:44:01.172 --> 00:44:06.972
daughter, And the fact that you as a community are, you know, how I'm able to,

00:44:07.472 --> 00:44:11.632
you know, support my family, how I'm able to not just my family,

00:44:11.772 --> 00:44:14.912
but my employees' families, you know, these are, I have employees that came

00:44:14.912 --> 00:44:16.972
to me looking for work and,

00:44:17.312 --> 00:44:21.812
you know, are now able to, you know, I'm able to just, I'll just say it,

00:44:21.852 --> 00:44:25.272
I'm able to pay them well enough that they're able to have, you know,

00:44:25.372 --> 00:44:29.032
life altering changes, buy homes, you know, have nice things.

00:44:29.032 --> 00:44:34.612
And it's tough when you're in the custom car community or the customer classic

00:44:34.612 --> 00:44:38.932
car or the car culture community to be able to find something that actually

00:44:38.932 --> 00:44:42.392
can not only support you, but support you in a way where you can really get ahead.

00:44:42.572 --> 00:44:45.492
So, I mean, if there's anything I can say to the VW community as a whole,

00:44:45.652 --> 00:44:50.092
it's just thank you so much for believing in what we do.

00:44:50.332 --> 00:44:55.692
My name is Dino. My shop is Dino's Garage. But it really comes down to my employees.

00:44:55.692 --> 00:44:59.312
I am nothing without my team. So just thank you so much for believing in us

00:44:59.312 --> 00:45:02.852
and what we're doing, and we really look forward to being able to continue to

00:45:02.852 --> 00:45:05.892
serve the VW community and bringing these cars,

00:45:06.292 --> 00:45:09.172
you know, keeping these cars going and taking them to places that,

00:45:09.212 --> 00:45:12.632
you know, they've never gone. So thank you.

00:45:13.232 --> 00:45:16.752
And that's a wrap for this episode of Dub Life Diaries.

00:45:17.092 --> 00:45:20.792
Thanks for riding along with us and diving into these incredible stories of

00:45:20.792 --> 00:45:24.672
the people in the dubs that drive their dreams. If you loved today's episode,

00:45:24.912 --> 00:45:28.992
don't forget to subscribe or hit that follow button so you never miss an adventure.

00:45:29.272 --> 00:45:33.932
Do you have a story to tell or know somebody else who's living the dove life? Awesome.

00:45:34.252 --> 00:45:39.292
Reach out to us. You can find us on all socials at Dove Life Diaries or shoot

00:45:39.292 --> 00:45:41.052
me an email. I'm not hard to find.

00:45:41.352 --> 00:45:46.832
Dove Life Diaries at gmail.com. Until next time, keep the engines humming and

00:45:46.832 --> 00:45:51.572
the wheels turning and always follow the road that inspires you. This is Joe Person.

00:45:51.712 --> 00:45:53.792
I'm signing off. I'll catch you all in the next one.

00:45:53.680 --> 00:46:51.824
Music.