Episode 4- VW Legend David Evans : 53 Herbie's Journey through Time

WEBVTT

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Music.

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The podcast where passion meets the open road. I'm Joe Person,

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your host and also a lifelong dubber.

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Each episode, we dive deep into the lives of incredible people who have taken

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these iconic vehicles and turned them into something extraordinary.

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This show is about community, creativity, and the stories that brings us all together.

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So buckle up, because this ride is just beginning.

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This podcast is sponsored by Volksmania magazine.

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Good times, great cars, awesome Volksmaniacs.

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Visit Volksmania.com to learn more about this class-leading VW magazine.

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All right, welcome back to Dub Life Diaries. We've got an absolute banger of

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an episode today, but before we jump into today's guest, I got to give a couple of shout outs.

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First up on the list is a guy by the name of Paul Cave, Volksmania Magazine.

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This dude is all about the V-Dub community and the vibe.

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Paul, I see all the stuff that you're doing, making sure that the community is successful.

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This includes allowing promoters to promote their V-Dub events across the country for absolutely free.

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That's amazing. Make sure you check these guys out, Volksmania.com.

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Killer Magazine, absolutely killer people.

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Also, second in line, Another shout out goes out to Jay Brand from Vintage Volkswagen

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Club of America. That's VVWCA.com, VVWCA.com.

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Another dude that is all about the community. I reached out to them for some

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potential advertising for the podcast, obviously as a proud member.

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Jay ended up mentioning this podcast to their entire member base.

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Now, check this out, guys, listeners.

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Since these two have given me a push, we have had downloads in 33 U.S.

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States and eight countries.

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That is absolutely rock solid. So, Canada, shout out to you.

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Germany, shout out to you. Bangladesh, hey, Bangladesh is getting down.

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United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Japan, Netherlands, Poland.

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Guys, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the push The V-Dubs community is

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absolutely on fire Okay,

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we will get back to today's episode now Alright folks,

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today's guest is a true legend in the community Somebody whose passion for Volkswagens

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runs as deep as his love for adventure and craftsmanship He's a master builder,

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he's a road warrior He's a storyteller with

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decades of experience under the hood From restoring iconic

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air-cooled classics To logging miles on cross-country road trips This guy lives

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and breathes the dub life Get ready for some wild stories Some serious wisdom

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And a whole lot of love for these rolling pieces of history Let's give it up for the one, the only Mr.

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David Evans Hey, how come I live up to that intro?

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Man what's up David wow it's great

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to be here thanks for having me oh absolutely man thank you

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so much for doing it I am so stoked to have you on the show let's go ahead and

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jump right into this because we got a whole lot of stuff to talk about let's

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do it so from the beginning I don't think this was the beginning because I think

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you just mentioned that you had a Carmen Ghia before this but from the beginning

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that you can remember the date how about that you're driving home one day in 1985,

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you see this busted up 74 Sunbug Super Beetle off on the side of the road and say, you know what?

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Screw it. I'm all in. I'm going to buy this thing. Tell me a little bit about

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that backstory. How'd that happen?

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Yeah, actually, I wanted to buy a muscle car. I was in high school,

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couldn't afford a muscle car.

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And after about three failed attempts on the same day looking at cars that I

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couldn't afford because they needed work, I was on my way home past the 74 sun

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bug sitting on the corner for sale for $700.

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And I was like, you know what? I love VWs. I grew up with VWs.

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I said, I'm going to buy it.

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And that's, that started the journey. And I knew nothing about cars. I mean, zero.

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So what was going on in your life at that moment? Were you just looking for

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a project or was this just like an impulse type buy?

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Just wanted something cool and unique to drive. And, you know,

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of course, like I said, wanting the muscle car.

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Growing up, I was born in the 60s. Growing up in the 70s and 80s,

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we had a lot of cool car movies, TV shows.

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It just really got your adrenaline going. You know, early on was Herbie for

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me, but then it was stuff like Smokey and the Bandit. Yeah.

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The General Lee, Knight Rider, all that stuff.

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Ooh, Michael Knight. Yeah, a lot of really cool movies that just kind of,

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you know, wanted to have a fast car. VWs weren't known for being fast cars,

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but didn't have the fast car budget.

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That Beetle definitely fit the budget. And back then, we know they were cheap,

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really cheap back then to buy and effects.

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Right, right. Times have changed a bit. But you mentioned that the car was pretty bad.

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So how bad really was it? Was it like shouldn't be on the road bad? Or how was it?

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It was close. It was close. Now, you got to imagine, this car was really only

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11 years old. And I think back now and I said, wow, I was only 11 years old,

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but floor pans were completely gone.

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It was probably a Northern car and somebody had pieced it together with like

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sheet metal and pop rivets. I knew nothing. I just looked underneath.

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I didn't see seats falling through. So I figured it was good to go.

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So body issues, the engine had problems.

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I was visiting mechanic shops quite often. So you didn't know much back then.

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What were some of the most, you know, WTF moments from when you first got into

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starting to try to fix this thing?

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Yeah, really. I mean, because I knew nothing. It was about just how much,

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you know, potential for disaster there was because you find one problem,

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then you find the next, you tear into it. There's more and more and more.

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And the deeper you go, the worse it was.

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Well, I swear that's like the, everybody that restores them these days.

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That's like what they all say, right?

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As soon as we start, it's like the blooming onion.

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It like never stops until you're just doing the whole thing, right?

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It actually taught me an important lesson on how to buy cars later on,

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though, going through that car.

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Well, that was actually probably a good lesson learned then.

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So fast forward to today, what's your take on the modern trend of,

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you know, a lot of folks these days are taking these older doves, these classic cars.

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And they're, you know, they're attempting to fix them up, to restore them really

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without knowing much about them and then flip them and sell them.

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What's your, what's your take on that? How do you feel about that?

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Yeah. I mean, there's always been people who are buying a fix.

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And I did that when I was younger, I would buy, fix, sell.

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I did it more because I wanted to have a lot of different VWs.

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So I would get bored really fast. As soon as the car was done,

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I was ready to move on to something else. How I did,

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determine somebody as a flipper is really somebody who buys a car,

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does nothing to it and just puts it up for sale, you know, but there's a lot

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of people out there who will take a car, improve it, sell it.

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And I still do that on occasion now to, you know, earn a little bit extra money.

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And also it's fun to take something that's, you know, broken,

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battered and make it beautiful again, you know, and make it for somebody else.

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For me, typically I go through everything that I get and make sure it's top

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notch before it gets passed on anyone else, unless it's, you know,

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a major project and then people know what they're getting into ahead of time.

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Right. Well, that's what they buy it as. The big change in the scene is back

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when I started, everything was paper. It was in the newspaper or the Autotrader magazine.

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So you really had to hunt. Now with the internet, I used to joke that the internet

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opened up the market to people with more dollars and cents.

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That's a good statement. Because a lot of people that knew nothing about cars

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were out there just buying stuff left and right.

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And that drove up the prices of a lot of things as well. Yeah.

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Feels like they haven't stopped. They're just, they're just driving them up.

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They just keep driving them up.

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I know in a lot of the info that you sent me, which by the way,

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was a lot, you have a lot to talk about and it's exciting, but you mentioned

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along the way, and again, you don't have to really discuss any names,

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but you got burned by some sketchy BW shops over time.

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What was like the worst mechanic horror story that you have?

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Well, there was a shop in Tampa that went out of business many, many years ago.

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And that's where we took my Beetle to get the engine rebuilt.

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And I'll say that in air quotes, engine rebuilt.

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Come to find out the guy's idea of rebuilding the engine was to slap a few used

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parts on and spray paint it pretty.

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Oh, no. Yeah. So when the supposed rebuilt engine blew up, then I found myself in another shop.

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But I went from place to place until I finally landed at Total Performance Buggies.

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Yeah, so finding Total Performance, this is a cool story.

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How do you go from guy with a broken beetle to being offered a job there?

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Yeah, so I was frequently visiting Total Performance.

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And that was on Armenia Avenue near Hillsborough in Tampa.

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So much so that the owner, Ray Suarez, came to me and he said,

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Hey, you're here a lot. How would you like to work here?

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And I thought, this is great. An opportunity to learn about the cars,

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you know, learn how to fix them and, you know, put my passion to actually earn in some dollars.

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So I was all paid training. Yep, exactly. Yeah.

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Yeah. So that's pretty cool. What was shop life like?

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It was interesting because when I started, I was doing, you know,

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mostly the grunt work, so to speak.

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Somebody would bring a car in for an engine, get the engine.

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I didn't pull the engines. The mechanics that pulled the engines.

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I disassembled everything, cleaned everything, did some machine work,

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you know, cutting cases, heads, putting in case savers, things like that.

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I wasn't rebuilding engines there.

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I was just kind of, you know, gradually learning as time went.

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But then I got offered to run their parts department. there to move from the

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machine shop to the front end, which, you know, I was looking forward to doing

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something a little bit different and, you know, air conditioning got a little hot during the summer.

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That's what I did for the rest of the time I was there.

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Awesome. Any crazy customers or any insane builds that you can recall from back then?

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There's always crazy customers. You know, when you're at a shop and this happens

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anywhere, somebody will bring in a car to fix.

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And the next thing you know, Hey, my horn wasn't broken when I came in.

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You know, there's always these stories.

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Back to this. So you get thrown into engine teardowns, you get thrown into machine work.

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When you first did that, did it feel like you were, that you knew what you were

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doing or were you a young kid still trying to just wing it?

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Yeah. I mean, I was just doing what I was told, you know, learning how to, to do things.

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And it was definitely a cool learning experience, you know, getting into tearing down these engines.

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I mean, you're talking about like crazy stories.

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I remember tearing down one engine where the customer had never done an oil change on her Beetle.

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And if you guys can think about, there was so much sludge in the engine case

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that it was above the oil pickup.

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That's what killed the engine. It was completely like solidified in there.

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When I pulled that engine apart, it was like, oh my gosh, we're talking about

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several inches of sludge. Never change the oil.

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She just kept adding more if she needed it. Wow.

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That's crazy. That's cool, though. That's cool to hear that it withstood.

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You know, it withstood. I don't know how many miles it made it, but.

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Ray Sores, Budweiser sponsor, Drag Bug. How fast was that thing?

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You know, I actually had to reach out and ask him because I didn't remember what it was.

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But he told me that the quickest he did was a 524 in the eighth mile.

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Didn't remember what his speed was on that run, but what was,

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what was the, what was the engine?

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Well, he ended up, originally it was naturally aspirated, but then he went to

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a turbo setup and that was kind of his forte there.

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But he built, or we built that entire car at the shop.

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You know, he built the whole chassis, everything.

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The cool thing about Ray, Ray's from Cuba. So you had to learn to make something

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if you want it down there. So he was a master at building.

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And man, he was just incredible at what he did.

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But yeah to be sponsored by budweiser at

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the time was the only volkswagen to my knowledge that was ever sponsored

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by budweiser and it was an incredible car and

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we did a lot of shows up the east coast up and

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down the east coast racing and even to get out of the country before i didn't

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do that i was going to ask you because you had mentioned that what was it like

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i i envision it's being something like a you know a rock star that goes to different

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cities being sponsored by Budweiser and being that fast,

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what was traveling the East Coast like and going to these different, you know,

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big races and big drag strips? And what was that like?

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Yeah, it was really cool. It was, there were some challenging times,

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you know, driving to Virginia, North Carolina, getting lost one time.

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I remember taking us like 18 hours to get somewhere as we got lost. Yeah.

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I remember being, being awake for three days.

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I'm one of these. I'd never been awake for that long. And when I got home,

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I could not sleep. I could not close my eyes. I was just crazy.

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I swore, I said, I'll never do that again. And that's when I was young.

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You know, driving all night, you know, the things we did when we're younger.

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Yeah. Yeah. So you're young, you're passionate. You don't even care if you go broke.

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You're just happy to be in the mix. But looking back, do you feel like those

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were the best years or the best years? Were they still yet to come?

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No, I mean, everything has a purpose. Everything is a season of life.

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You know, I mean, there was a lot of amazing times back then,

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but I think, you know, as time went on and the longer you're in the scene and

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the community, you start meeting more and more people.

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And it's just, you know, it just continues to grow. It really does.

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You know, there's, there's a saying out there, the best is yet to come.

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And a lot of times I feel that way, you know.

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You built a registry for the very rare 96 VW Golf.

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Was it the, is it a Harlequin?

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Yeah, Harlequin. And actually what I did is I took an existing registry that

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was done by Ross Couples, he created this first registry for the Harlequins.

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What I wanted to do is I wanted to find rhyme or reason for how Volkswagen built these cars.

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And I owned two of the cars.

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I bought them from the same family.

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And when I get something like that, I get very into it and get very passionate about it.

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So I took all of his data and then other data that I found through the internet.

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And then I also reached out to some Volkswagen employees. Now I worked for VW

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years and years prior, but I found people who were willing to run VIN numbers

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and all for me so I could come up with a,

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I wanted to get a comprehensive outlook on these cars, like where they were

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delivered, different things, a lot more information that Ross had on his.

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So I just built upon his foundation.

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But the crazy thing was, is the more information I got, the less it made sense.

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Because you would think these, and I don't know if you know the history of these

00:15:48.484 --> 00:15:53.724
cars, but Volkswagen took four single colored cars, removed them from the main

00:15:53.724 --> 00:15:56.224
assembly line, then they swapped the body panels on them.

00:15:57.324 --> 00:16:00.724
So there was you know four different color patterns

00:16:00.724 --> 00:16:03.484
and the crazy thing is you look at the

00:16:03.484 --> 00:16:06.264
build dates and the vin numbers they don't line

00:16:06.264 --> 00:16:09.064
up and you would think okay you should have you know

00:16:09.064 --> 00:16:11.964
one of each color vin sequential or maybe

00:16:11.964 --> 00:16:15.244
you know a block of green block yellow nope it just

00:16:15.244 --> 00:16:18.924
it makes no sense so all this research i did i

00:16:18.924 --> 00:16:21.944
really got no you know further in answering

00:16:21.944 --> 00:16:24.944
the questions the rhyme or reason and the thing with volkswagen

00:16:24.944 --> 00:16:27.844
is they they've sent out different information the

00:16:27.844 --> 00:16:34.624
best we can figure is they did 264 cars but that's not 100 confirmed okay so

00:16:34.624 --> 00:16:39.244
you take 264 cars divided by four because there's four different color patterns

00:16:39.244 --> 00:16:44.004
makes them probably the rarest volkswagen ever sold here in north america so

00:16:44.004 --> 00:16:46.584
they distributed them in canada and the U.S.

00:16:47.044 --> 00:16:50.384
And you had two of them. I had two of them and I sold them.

00:16:51.144 --> 00:16:55.824
Yeah. I wish I had one of them still. I have a Polo Harvick one now,

00:16:56.064 --> 00:17:00.764
which was the originator in Europe. I have that car now, but it's all different than the Golf.

00:17:01.244 --> 00:17:06.264
But it was cool being a part of that history. The registry, I released it for

00:17:06.264 --> 00:17:07.964
everybody to have online.

00:17:08.164 --> 00:17:11.984
I haven't really done much updates with it over the years since I don't have the cars anymore.

00:17:12.324 --> 00:17:16.364
But originally I was working with Volkswagen. and they were going to get me a lot of information.

00:17:16.584 --> 00:17:20.144
Then they changed their tune and said, oh no, we can't give you any of this

00:17:20.144 --> 00:17:21.404
information because it's private.

00:17:21.804 --> 00:17:25.544
So they unfortunately kind of strung me along for about a year.

00:17:26.144 --> 00:17:30.864
And then they had given me some information originally and then they put somebody

00:17:30.864 --> 00:17:35.204
on the case to try to get me more information and then they changed their tune.

00:17:35.204 --> 00:17:39.064
So that's when I had to kind of go outside and find people who worked for VW

00:17:39.064 --> 00:17:41.604
to help me, you know, from dealerships.

00:17:42.004 --> 00:17:46.444
It's such a cool thing though, With such a small amount of them being made And

00:17:46.444 --> 00:17:52.704
just hearing that history Of what you already know about them Super cool Thanks for sharing that.

00:17:53.334 --> 00:17:58.274
Let's fast forward a little bit. The Steak and Shake scene was a big section

00:17:58.274 --> 00:18:02.614
in what you described to be this vibe back then.

00:18:02.714 --> 00:18:06.414
What made that the hotspot for all the air-cooled guys back in the day?

00:18:06.974 --> 00:18:10.374
Originally didn't start out that way uh steak and shake it was steak and shake

00:18:10.374 --> 00:18:15.294
on fowler avenue in tampa is where all the hot rods and muscle cars where those

00:18:15.294 --> 00:18:21.054
guys met on saturday nights and we started a small little vw invasion that quickly

00:18:21.054 --> 00:18:24.574
grew so that we were dominating the night.

00:18:25.474 --> 00:18:28.254
And we ended up drawing in a lot

00:18:28.254 --> 00:18:30.894
of people from out of town and that's how i got involved in

00:18:30.894 --> 00:18:33.834
my first vw club which was a polk county volkswagen club

00:18:33.834 --> 00:18:36.714
out of lakeland yeah those started come into

00:18:36.714 --> 00:18:39.594
the steak chick and you know i joined their

00:18:39.594 --> 00:18:43.434
club and stayed with them until they disbanded and

00:18:43.434 --> 00:18:46.894
then that's when we started the bay area v-dubs club any

00:18:46.894 --> 00:18:49.974
memorable street racing or any any crazy

00:18:49.974 --> 00:18:53.154
late night antics or anything from back then that that rings

00:18:53.154 --> 00:18:55.914
a bell well most of us had very

00:18:55.914 --> 00:18:59.194
slow cars so that wasn't a thing we

00:18:59.194 --> 00:19:01.914
did a lot of cruise went out to clearwater beach some people got into

00:19:01.914 --> 00:19:04.614
trouble you know with the police out there they didn't like the low

00:19:04.614 --> 00:19:08.294
cars they would try to ticket you for anything dark

00:19:08.294 --> 00:19:11.074
tinted windows if you had red or blue

00:19:11.074 --> 00:19:13.834
lights you know believe it or not i drove there

00:19:13.834 --> 00:19:16.674
with my tag off one time and did not get a ticket they

00:19:16.674 --> 00:19:21.854
pulled me over and i had taken the deck lid off because i put a judson supercharger

00:19:21.854 --> 00:19:25.814
on my beetle and i wanted to show off the engine driving and forgot to put the

00:19:25.814 --> 00:19:30.554
plate on the apron and the lady police officer she was like just just get your

00:19:30.554 --> 00:19:35.554
tag back on there i was like oh thank you for not ticketing me i got I pulled over on St.

00:19:35.654 --> 00:19:39.174
Pete Beach way back in the day. We're looking at probably 96, 97.

00:19:39.654 --> 00:19:44.474
And I had taken my bumpers off because I was going to go with the Cali look for painted bumpers.

00:19:45.234 --> 00:19:48.854
I'm telling you, buddy, them bumpers weren't off two days. And I got pulled

00:19:48.854 --> 00:19:50.594
over by the St. Pete Beach police.

00:19:51.154 --> 00:19:55.194
And they had the dogs come sniff my car out and all this kind of stuff.

00:19:55.334 --> 00:19:58.494
I'm like, yo, I'm a young kid. You ain't going to find nothing.

00:19:58.634 --> 00:20:01.174
I know nowadays they're not quite as critical.

00:20:02.114 --> 00:20:05.334
They were brutal back then. I mean, they were measuring headlights,

00:20:05.974 --> 00:20:09.174
all that stuff. That's why I could not believe I did not get a ticket.

00:20:09.414 --> 00:20:13.374
Well, see, there was no crime back then, you know, so they had to do something.

00:20:14.714 --> 00:20:17.394
Nowadays, they're fighting crime. So they're like, you know what,

00:20:17.434 --> 00:20:20.594
let's let the dark-tinted windows and all that other stuff go these days.

00:20:20.734 --> 00:20:23.674
Well, you're not driving like a crazy person, right? Well, that's right.

00:20:24.054 --> 00:20:28.194
Well, like you said, you know, 36 horsepower. I'm not going anywhere fast.

00:20:30.114 --> 00:20:34.294
Let's touch on Polk County VW Club for a moment. At that time,

00:20:34.634 --> 00:20:36.514
you know, what made that group so special?

00:20:37.265 --> 00:20:41.645
Well, that was the first club I was ever in. So it was really cool to be in

00:20:41.645 --> 00:20:43.365
kind of a little close-knit family.

00:20:43.645 --> 00:20:47.525
And we did everything. I mean, that club was super active back in the day.

00:20:47.685 --> 00:20:51.125
It did picnics. We did like East Coast beach runs.

00:20:51.225 --> 00:20:56.305
We'd all caravan over and go to Cocoa Beach and a lot of shows we went to.

00:20:57.225 --> 00:21:02.065
And, you know, it's just, it was a lot of fun. And then the guy who ran it,

00:21:02.205 --> 00:21:05.845
just something happened and he just kind of pulled out and the club just folded.

00:21:06.005 --> 00:21:08.505
Nobody took it over. So there was a void there.

00:21:09.585 --> 00:21:15.185
And, you know, it was some of the Polk County guys just kind of dispersed and went their own way.

00:21:15.305 --> 00:21:18.885
But some of them joined us here with the Bay Area VW Club when we formed that.

00:21:19.245 --> 00:21:23.305
How different was the car scene back then versus now, in your opinion?

00:21:24.085 --> 00:21:27.485
Well, there's, I mean, a few differences. Number one, without the internet,

00:21:28.005 --> 00:21:32.465
right? Everything was word of mouth in the old days when you had flyers and

00:21:32.465 --> 00:21:36.325
little paper newsletters to get the word out about shows and events.

00:21:37.165 --> 00:21:41.825
So we didn't have the capability of pulling together as many people as you do

00:21:41.825 --> 00:21:43.425
now. I mean, the scene is huge now.

00:21:43.965 --> 00:21:50.905
But the real big difference between then and now is the family vibe is different

00:21:50.905 --> 00:21:54.685
because Volkswagens back then were accessible to everyone.

00:21:54.685 --> 00:21:58.825
And I always say that's what makes the community so different than any other

00:21:58.825 --> 00:22:03.585
car communities, because, you know, you could have that minimum wage teenager

00:22:03.585 --> 00:22:08.045
getting into his Beetle and then a doctor driving a Beetle, you know?

00:22:08.405 --> 00:22:13.945
Yeah, yeah, yeah. This runs the whole gamut from, you know, poor to rich, everybody in between.

00:22:14.225 --> 00:22:17.225
And we all have that connection, that same love for those cars.

00:22:17.605 --> 00:22:21.805
You know, now, of course, with how the prices have spiked on so many of the

00:22:21.805 --> 00:22:26.705
cars, the buses particularly, you know, that's priced those vehicles out for,

00:22:26.885 --> 00:22:29.885
you know, the average person most of the time.

00:22:30.245 --> 00:22:33.825
Yeah. So it has definitely changed it. And I'm just hoping, you know,

00:22:34.145 --> 00:22:38.185
unfortunately, if the trend continues, then, you know, we may end up in that

00:22:38.185 --> 00:22:41.365
situation where it's a different family dynamic.

00:22:42.625 --> 00:22:46.125
That's the only thing that I, you know, worry about myself is that,

00:22:46.365 --> 00:22:53.365
you know, what makes the community so great may change because of pricing people out of it.

00:22:53.365 --> 00:22:56.805
You had a good point though, where you talk about, there's just something about

00:22:56.805 --> 00:23:01.745
the 80s and the 90s car scene that in my opinion will never be replicated because

00:23:01.745 --> 00:23:06.305
nowadays, you said it yourself, social media, people are clout chasing.

00:23:06.925 --> 00:23:10.025
Back in the day, it was just people meeting up, talking smack,

00:23:10.345 --> 00:23:13.885
driving cars. And that was the culture. That was the vibe.

00:23:14.225 --> 00:23:19.645
I feel like internet, technology, a lot of that stuff has changed a little bit

00:23:19.645 --> 00:23:21.705
of that. And then certainly you hit on it.

00:23:21.905 --> 00:23:26.445
The pricing. Well, that's actually something to bring up and talk about because you're right.

00:23:26.605 --> 00:23:30.705
It's just like really anything else that's caught wind and has value.

00:23:30.825 --> 00:23:34.465
It almost prices itself out of a certain market.

00:23:35.105 --> 00:23:39.385
And I feel like that continues, like you said, if it continues, that might happen.

00:23:39.745 --> 00:23:44.785
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, I mean, we're very fortunate as far as the Beetle goes,

00:23:45.005 --> 00:23:46.985
you know, 21 million of these cars produced.

00:23:47.825 --> 00:23:52.525
They're still reasonably priced ones out there, you know, since COVID prices

00:23:52.525 --> 00:23:53.985
have gone a little crazy,

00:23:54.505 --> 00:23:59.585
but it's come down, you know, and I see, I see the cars on marketplace and,

00:23:59.705 --> 00:24:03.105
you know, so that people can afford them, which is good.

00:24:03.245 --> 00:24:06.385
You know, it's nice to see that kind of coming back. down and returning to,

00:24:06.905 --> 00:24:10.305
you know, I just love, I love to see the young kids get into it because,

00:24:10.465 --> 00:24:13.225
you know, if, if all us old guys are the only ones in the hobby,

00:24:13.365 --> 00:24:14.985
eventually we're not going to be around, you know?

00:24:15.465 --> 00:24:19.285
Right. No, totally. A hundred percent. And that, that's something I like to see too.

00:24:19.805 --> 00:24:23.565
I like to promote, you know, when, when I see the young kids that are with them

00:24:23.565 --> 00:24:27.985
and, and they, they have a, an attraction to them, it it's, I'm like,

00:24:28.025 --> 00:24:30.485
you know, cause I, I was the same way.

00:24:30.625 --> 00:24:35.005
I don't know why I liked them. Maybe my, when I first brought my beetle home.

00:24:35.425 --> 00:24:42.105
Like I said, in 96, I bought a 72 auto stick from the Tyrone Square Mall parking lot.

00:24:42.205 --> 00:24:45.345
When I first brought it home, I remember my dad made a comment like,

00:24:45.465 --> 00:24:48.485
you ain't parking that piece of, you know what, in my driveway, are you?

00:24:48.885 --> 00:24:52.865
And I'm like, what? This thing is, what are you talking about?

00:24:52.965 --> 00:24:54.985
Look at this thing. It's beautiful.

00:24:55.505 --> 00:24:58.705
I had got the car in my dreams.

00:24:58.985 --> 00:25:02.545
Anyway, let's fast Fast forward just a little bit because this is one of my

00:25:02.545 --> 00:25:06.345
favorite parts I feel that this conversation will go in.

00:25:07.072 --> 00:25:10.512
It's Herbie time, my brother. It's Herbie time. The listeners,

00:25:10.872 --> 00:25:12.752
he's wearing his Herbie shirt.

00:25:12.952 --> 00:25:16.492
He'll explain more on that in just a second. The background's all Herbie'd out.

00:25:16.692 --> 00:25:20.112
This is absolutely awesome. So I'll start here.

00:25:20.812 --> 00:25:26.732
Disney offered to buy your Herbie replica in 1998. Just try to summarize,

00:25:26.732 --> 00:25:28.652
why did you not take the deal?

00:25:30.112 --> 00:25:34.812
Well, got to keep in mind. So I bought the car in 94. I restored it as Herbie

00:25:34.812 --> 00:25:37.492
in 97. So it was relatively fresh.

00:25:38.052 --> 00:25:42.392
And I started this Herbie website in 97. That's how Disney found out about me.

00:25:43.392 --> 00:25:47.172
It was really strange because the contact that I was getting was,

00:25:47.452 --> 00:25:49.272
you knew something was weird about it.

00:25:49.712 --> 00:25:53.812
So I finally confronted the guy. I said, hey, you know, what's up with you?

00:25:53.892 --> 00:25:56.052
And, you know, why do you want this car?

00:25:56.172 --> 00:25:58.372
What's going on? And then he says, all right, I'll come clean with you.

00:25:58.532 --> 00:26:02.332
He said, I'm a purchaser with Disney. And the reason why I don't bring that

00:26:02.332 --> 00:26:06.732
up is because when I say that, people see dollar signs in there. eyes, you know? Sure.

00:26:07.312 --> 00:26:10.072
And I said, well, you know, I'm not like that.

00:26:10.112 --> 00:26:13.872
I said, I may possibly sell a car because I, even though I loved it,

00:26:14.052 --> 00:26:17.952
I didn't have the deep historic connection that I have with it now back then,

00:26:18.052 --> 00:26:19.232
because it was relatively fresh.

00:26:20.212 --> 00:26:25.152
And he told me they were building this love bug themed hotel in Orlando,

00:26:25.152 --> 00:26:27.812
and they wanted to put the car outside on display.

00:26:27.992 --> 00:26:33.852
So as he said outside i was like no no no i said i don't want the car to sit

00:26:33.852 --> 00:26:38.452
outside and be trampled on by people and destroy it i said it's you know not

00:26:38.452 --> 00:26:40.772
that it was a mint car i bought it from the original owner but,

00:26:41.344 --> 00:26:44.824
I, you know, I just couldn't see that happen to the car. And I told him,

00:26:44.884 --> 00:26:47.564
I said, look, I said, I'd be more than happy to help you build a car.

00:26:47.744 --> 00:26:51.944
I said, I can bring you all the decals, the graphics, everything,

00:26:52.244 --> 00:26:54.044
and, you know, help you build a car.

00:26:54.164 --> 00:26:56.504
I said, I won't charge you anything just to make sure it's done right.

00:26:56.524 --> 00:26:59.024
I'll drive up to Orlando, you know, bring you all this stuff.

00:26:59.124 --> 00:27:00.564
The guy's like, great, come on up.

00:27:01.024 --> 00:27:04.324
And it was funny too, because when they invited me up, I said,

00:27:04.384 --> 00:27:07.064
should I call you when I get on property? He goes, I'll know you're there.

00:27:07.624 --> 00:27:11.484
So as soon as people saw Herbie come in the property, they were radioing this

00:27:11.484 --> 00:27:12.664
guy. Hey, Herbie's here.

00:27:13.164 --> 00:27:16.404
Cool. Yeah. He took me on a tour. I want to hear more. Yeah.

00:27:16.524 --> 00:27:19.244
Tell me more. I want to hear more about this. He took me on a tour of the property.

00:27:19.964 --> 00:27:22.364
And it was cool because they were in the middle of the construction.

00:27:22.764 --> 00:27:29.304
So you had these two wings of this complex. It's the All-Star Movies Resort on the Disney property.

00:27:29.764 --> 00:27:33.864
And two wings are Herbie themed. One side has a giant front of Herbie.

00:27:34.004 --> 00:27:38.784
The other side is the rear of Herbie. And then they had these huge tools that

00:27:38.784 --> 00:27:41.564
they were getting ready to attach to the sides of the buildings,

00:27:42.104 --> 00:27:44.444
like 915 millimeter wrench.

00:27:44.564 --> 00:27:49.344
I mean, I don't remember the numbers, but they were laying on the ground bigger than tractors.

00:27:49.544 --> 00:27:54.384
So I got up to be able to touch them. And it was really cool to see that.

00:27:54.504 --> 00:27:58.364
And then they took us to the warehouse, Disney's fabled warehouse,

00:27:58.524 --> 00:27:59.624
where they keep all their goodies.

00:28:00.604 --> 00:28:03.484
And ended up they had found that they still had

00:28:03.484 --> 00:28:06.464
the original herbie parade card that they used up through

00:28:06.464 --> 00:28:09.164
i think it was 1990 and he said

00:28:09.164 --> 00:28:12.144
this is the car we're gonna turn you know put on display

00:28:12.144 --> 00:28:15.124
and they also showed me they had some herbie go-karts up in their warehouse

00:28:15.124 --> 00:28:20.324
too which is really cool yeah so i gave them all all the materials and they

00:28:20.324 --> 00:28:23.624
gave me you know like a tour of the car and all it was pretty cool it was electric

00:28:23.624 --> 00:28:27.784
you know to go down the main street parade and the front trunk would open people

00:28:27.784 --> 00:28:30.724
the characters could jump through and come inside the car like they're being

00:28:30.724 --> 00:28:33.124
eaten yeah yeah yeah cool cool

00:28:33.503 --> 00:28:40.603
Yeah. So you say you helped them build it. Did you turn any wrenches for their? No.

00:28:40.803 --> 00:28:44.763
So it was basically just providing the information to the Imagineers so that

00:28:44.763 --> 00:28:46.923
they could do the car correctly.

00:28:48.023 --> 00:28:52.583
Unfortunately, they did not do the car correctly. Whoever was in charge,

00:28:52.683 --> 00:28:54.723
when the guy called me, he goes, I want you to come see the car.

00:28:54.803 --> 00:28:57.563
He goes, but you're not going to be happy with it. I said, what do you mean?

00:28:58.023 --> 00:29:02.623
He said, yeah, basically everything you brought us, they just threw away, did it their own way.

00:29:03.983 --> 00:29:09.023
And what they, I guess what they tried to, I don't know, I guess they just saw

00:29:09.023 --> 00:29:12.243
the way it looked and said, well, we're just going to restore it back that way

00:29:12.243 --> 00:29:13.283
because that's the way it looked.

00:29:13.703 --> 00:29:17.183
So the sad thing was it didn't even match the Herbys that were on the buildings.

00:29:17.663 --> 00:29:22.443
But over the years, they actually did listen to fans and they did restore the

00:29:22.443 --> 00:29:27.283
car to look much more accurate over the years because it's been restored multiple

00:29:27.283 --> 00:29:31.483
times because it does get damaged and, you know, just beat up by people standing on it.

00:29:31.483 --> 00:29:35.623
Did they get any advice from you over the years? Did you stay connected?

00:29:36.283 --> 00:29:40.123
No, because the person that I had connection with ended up leaving.

00:29:40.823 --> 00:29:45.323
But he was also, you know, my car, we got to open that hotel,

00:29:45.483 --> 00:29:47.623
which was cool in 99, January of 99.

00:29:47.923 --> 00:29:52.043
For two days, the car actually met guests at the front lobby.

00:29:52.343 --> 00:29:57.803
And the car has a remote horn. So I gave the employees the remote so they could

00:29:57.803 --> 00:30:00.023
talk to people, have Herbie talk to people.

00:30:00.023 --> 00:30:02.703
And what was really cool is not only did they give us, you know,

00:30:02.943 --> 00:30:07.683
two days stay and, you know, park access, but they also made us official employee badges.

00:30:07.843 --> 00:30:11.703
So Herbie actually has an official Disney employee badge on the dash.

00:30:12.043 --> 00:30:18.263
So tell me, tell me more about your car. Set the stage for, for our listeners.

00:30:18.743 --> 00:30:22.463
What, what was it like when you bought it? You said you bought it what year?

00:30:22.963 --> 00:30:27.823
Well, I met the original owner in 1988. And it was one owner,

00:30:28.043 --> 00:30:30.403
school teacher. She bought it new in Germany.

00:30:30.603 --> 00:30:35.423
It was a US spec car that was going to be shipped back over to the States after

00:30:35.423 --> 00:30:38.303
she finished working there. She was a school teacher. What year?

00:30:38.843 --> 00:30:41.303
Well, 63 the car is. Yeah.

00:30:42.073 --> 00:30:45.713
She was pulling up to a shopping plaza and I saw the car and I said,

00:30:45.853 --> 00:30:48.513
you know, of course, I'm this young kid who wants to buy and sell cars.

00:30:48.513 --> 00:30:49.653
And I was like, ah, look at that.

00:30:49.793 --> 00:30:52.953
It's a white 63 rack top. It's Herbie right there. Perfect car.

00:30:53.193 --> 00:30:55.133
Don't have to repaint it. Don't have to do anything.

00:30:55.893 --> 00:30:58.233
So I went up to her, asked her if she wanted to sell it. She said,

00:30:58.393 --> 00:31:00.353
no, but I do need somebody to work on it.

00:31:01.053 --> 00:31:04.873
So I said, I'm your guy. So I, when I was living at home with my parents and

00:31:04.873 --> 00:31:07.593
anytime she needed something, she brought it over and I fixed it.

00:31:07.673 --> 00:31:11.173
And I always did extra free stuff, hoping one day she would sell it to me.

00:31:11.313 --> 00:31:15.553
And I had, you know, long moved out and I got a call from my parents.

00:31:15.693 --> 00:31:19.813
Hey, Mary's getting ready to move to Virginia. She hasn't driven the car in

00:31:19.813 --> 00:31:20.933
six months. It won't start.

00:31:21.173 --> 00:31:23.993
She wants to know if you want to fix it or if you want to buy it.

00:31:24.273 --> 00:31:26.453
And I said, oh, you know what that answer is.

00:31:26.853 --> 00:31:30.093
Yeah, it happened. Open over, checked it out. And, you know,

00:31:30.133 --> 00:31:32.553
we discussed price and I ended up getting the car for $1,200,

00:31:33.173 --> 00:31:36.093
which believe it or not, I didn't even have $1,200.

00:31:36.593 --> 00:31:42.213
She'd let me make payments for a couple of months and fix it in her garage so

00:31:42.213 --> 00:31:45.453
I could drive it home. I love hearing these stories.

00:31:47.033 --> 00:31:50.713
But then the first drive, the tires were so low on air.

00:31:51.493 --> 00:31:55.273
My first thing was to go to the gas station. And as I'm turning the gas station,

00:31:55.433 --> 00:31:57.013
the back tire came off the rim.

00:31:57.973 --> 00:32:02.493
I had to try out the VW jack and spare for the first time on my first drive.

00:32:02.713 --> 00:32:05.033
And fortunately, the spare was good and the jack worked.

00:32:05.293 --> 00:32:08.773
So got back. So tires were my first thing.

00:32:09.873 --> 00:32:14.833
Fast forward just a little bit. Obviously, a lot of attention around your car over the years.

00:32:15.113 --> 00:32:18.913
What's been one of the craziest fan interactions that you've had with your Herbie?

00:32:19.802 --> 00:32:23.342
You know, I mean, early on, you had to keep in mind, back when I did this car

00:32:23.342 --> 00:32:26.522
in 97, there weren't any Herbie replicas anywhere.

00:32:26.762 --> 00:32:29.782
You know, I don't say mine was the first ever. It wasn't the first ever,

00:32:29.902 --> 00:32:32.462
but mine, there was a guy in Arizona named Bob.

00:32:32.822 --> 00:32:38.282
He had the first replica that had the correct Disney font 53s on it.

00:32:38.602 --> 00:32:43.202
Prior to that, all the Herbies you would see were just kind of random 53 numbers. Right.

00:32:43.622 --> 00:32:49.862
So my car is the second one to have the correct 53 font. But because I launched

00:32:49.862 --> 00:32:54.982
this website in 97, it became the most widely known Herbie replica in the world.

00:32:55.582 --> 00:33:00.802
Actually, I laugh that I have the honor of having the most stolen picture of Herbie on the internet.

00:33:02.242 --> 00:33:06.302
Everything, I took a picture out at Fred Howard Park on the causeway.

00:33:06.462 --> 00:33:10.002
Really beautiful picture. It came out great and posted it on my website.

00:33:10.002 --> 00:33:14.902
It got lifted for shirts, for mouse pads, cups, posters, artwork.

00:33:15.422 --> 00:33:20.902
I mean, you name it. And you probably could still find it today out there on stuff that people have.

00:33:22.782 --> 00:33:28.122
And believe it or not, that's kind of how I ended up in the Herbie Fully Loaded movie in 2005.

00:33:28.902 --> 00:33:31.282
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to get to that. We're going to get to that.

00:33:31.422 --> 00:33:35.622
So you got this cameo in Fully Loaded. Tell me how that happened.

00:33:36.322 --> 00:33:42.902
Yes, that was because of that picture, the one I said. And so apparently when

00:33:42.902 --> 00:33:50.282
Disney was, well, I almost considered selling my car to Disney to be used in that movie at one point.

00:33:50.422 --> 00:33:52.962
It was kind of interesting, but I was like floating the idea,

00:33:53.122 --> 00:33:56.182
but I really didn't want to do it, but thought about it.

00:33:56.402 --> 00:34:01.602
But anyways, when they were doing, I guess, the buildup to the film,

00:34:02.142 --> 00:34:06.982
whatever Hollywood does, mock-ups and this and that, they ended up using that

00:34:06.982 --> 00:34:10.062
picture that I mentioned in the film to,

00:34:10.773 --> 00:34:14.873
They used it for promotion of a book on Amazon, which when the book came out,

00:34:15.013 --> 00:34:16.933
they removed it and put the correct picture.

00:34:17.313 --> 00:34:21.513
But my car was on the front of this. I have it on my Herbiemania.com website,

00:34:21.513 --> 00:34:23.953
which is a website locked in the 90s.

00:34:23.973 --> 00:34:26.533
So if you want to see an old school website, that's awesome.

00:34:28.313 --> 00:34:33.513
But yeah, that picture, I have that book, that cover on Amazon on there.

00:34:33.733 --> 00:34:36.813
But what happened was apparently they used it in other things,

00:34:36.913 --> 00:34:41.013
including the movie. But when they finished the movie, all the editing was done.

00:34:41.253 --> 00:34:43.013
They left my car in the film.

00:34:43.673 --> 00:34:45.833
So it's a real small scene.

00:34:46.773 --> 00:34:50.873
But and I didn't even it didn't even register with me when I first saw the film

00:34:50.873 --> 00:34:53.493
because I was at the premiere. I had the car at the premiere locally.

00:34:53.953 --> 00:34:57.853
Yeah, cool. And somebody pointed out, that's your car there.

00:34:57.873 --> 00:35:01.553
And I had to rewatch it. I was like, oh, my gosh, you're right. It is.

00:35:02.173 --> 00:35:08.013
So it kind of made my car an unofficial official movie car, which is kind of weird.

00:35:08.233 --> 00:35:11.213
People ask me, is this one from the movie? I'm like, well, kind of.

00:35:12.133 --> 00:35:15.913
Yeah, I mean, you're not lying. It's there. It is in the movie,

00:35:15.953 --> 00:35:17.253
but it was never owned by Disney.

00:35:17.493 --> 00:35:21.693
But it worked for Disney, too. So it's kind of weird. But the thing about it

00:35:21.693 --> 00:35:26.173
is, you know, it's more than just being heard because there's been so many great stories.

00:35:26.173 --> 00:35:30.713
You're talking about, you know, reactions to the car. early on when I first

00:35:30.713 --> 00:35:35.313
did the car, the biggest thing I remember, I was driving down Fowler Avenue

00:35:35.313 --> 00:35:40.053
towards USF and I was at a traffic light. I think it was like Fowler and 50th street.

00:35:40.233 --> 00:35:45.733
And I hear somebody screaming and I look to my left and it's this young girl

00:35:45.733 --> 00:35:48.673
screaming, Herbie. She was so excited.

00:35:49.073 --> 00:35:52.713
And I mean, her fate, like she hit the lottery. She was so excited.

00:35:53.333 --> 00:35:56.193
My gosh but that started the trend

00:35:56.193 --> 00:35:59.533
of just people's reaction yelling screaming beeping thumbs

00:35:59.533 --> 00:36:02.473
up i mean i've owned a lot of cool volkswagens and

00:36:02.473 --> 00:36:05.433
i know a lot of people in the vw community like herbie's played out

00:36:05.433 --> 00:36:08.393
you know you see a lot of herbies but the thing is it makes

00:36:08.393 --> 00:36:12.753
people smile and that's you know that's volkswagens in general they make people

00:36:12.753 --> 00:36:17.733
smile yeah but i think you know my favorite thing just to stop right here because

00:36:17.733 --> 00:36:22.393
it it just turned in my mind when you said that my favorite thing about driving

00:36:22.393 --> 00:36:27.213
a classic Volkswagen is everywhere you go, no matter what,

00:36:27.473 --> 00:36:29.673
I don't care, culture, color, doesn't matter.

00:36:30.335 --> 00:36:37.215
Everybody has a story with a classic Volkswagen and it brings those stories out of people, right?

00:36:37.415 --> 00:36:40.915
They're all, and again, I could be taking my wife to dinner and it's a,

00:36:41.015 --> 00:36:44.155
it's date night and we're, and, and all of a sudden out front,

00:36:44.315 --> 00:36:48.275
you know, of a restaurant somewhere, you'll have, you know, people talking about,

00:36:48.455 --> 00:36:52.055
you know, some memory they have from 40, 50, 60 years ago.

00:36:52.215 --> 00:36:55.315
And it's just like, man, you know, that's, that's just so cool.

00:36:55.375 --> 00:36:58.695
It's one of my favorite things about driving them for sure is hearing all the stories.

00:36:59.195 --> 00:37:02.895
It is. I mean, and, you know, Volkswagens are not just a car.

00:37:03.055 --> 00:37:03.975
They're like part of the family.

00:37:04.555 --> 00:37:07.855
Yeah. You know, that's what makes them different. You know, you're talking about

00:37:07.855 --> 00:37:09.815
bringing your Beetle home and your dad seeing it.

00:37:09.895 --> 00:37:13.395
For me, how can you be unhappy with a Beetle? They have a smiling face.

00:37:13.555 --> 00:37:16.395
They just, they kind of radiate joy.

00:37:16.695 --> 00:37:19.975
You know, they just, they're happy little cars, you know.

00:37:20.355 --> 00:37:25.075
Truly. Yeah. I think he was more worried about maybe the trademark of the oil leak.

00:37:26.215 --> 00:37:29.475
Yeah. That's, that's marks their spot. Yeah. Yeah.

00:37:30.195 --> 00:37:34.255
And then transitioning to more modern times with Herbie, because I've had Herbie

00:37:34.255 --> 00:37:37.795
for 30 years. It's hard to believe I've owned that car 30 years.

00:37:38.195 --> 00:37:42.095
Most of my life I've owned that car. You know, this year, I'll actually be 31

00:37:42.095 --> 00:37:44.975
years. I'll finally match the original owner's.

00:37:45.558 --> 00:37:50.238
Amount of time. Yes. So December of this year will be 31 years.

00:37:50.378 --> 00:37:51.638
So then I can finally be tied.

00:37:53.018 --> 00:37:59.358
So, so also to mention you were interviewed for the Lovebug DVD special features.

00:37:59.558 --> 00:38:04.638
What was it like being a part of BW and kind of the whole pop culture history?

00:38:05.218 --> 00:38:10.418
Yeah, that was kind of, I was very fortunate because this guy named Hugh Chitwood

00:38:10.418 --> 00:38:13.178
who lives out in California, worked for Disney at the time.

00:38:13.278 --> 00:38:18.758
He saw my website and he contacted the production company that was working on

00:38:18.758 --> 00:38:20.898
doing the first DVD for The Love Bug.

00:38:21.038 --> 00:38:24.258
They were doing a two disc special edition, you know, first time on DVD.

00:38:25.118 --> 00:38:29.618
And he had them reach out to me and they wanted to do a fan interview.

00:38:30.358 --> 00:38:35.418
And what was nice about it was they were very open to my suggestions because

00:38:35.418 --> 00:38:37.998
they were going to send a film crew down to Tampa where I live.

00:38:38.338 --> 00:38:42.418
And I said, Hey, I said, do you guys know about this Herbie themed hotel that

00:38:42.418 --> 00:38:44.018
had just opened in Orlando.

00:38:44.358 --> 00:38:49.338
I said, how about I drive up there and we shoot it there? And they're like, that sounds cool.

00:38:49.658 --> 00:38:54.738
Let us get back to you. And that's exactly what happened is they decided to shoot it there.

00:38:54.938 --> 00:38:59.038
So I was invited on property to do the interview there.

00:38:59.238 --> 00:39:02.738
They did an interview inside a hotel room and then they did one outside.

00:39:02.958 --> 00:39:05.538
The one that was outside, none of that made it into the video.

00:39:05.958 --> 00:39:08.678
And I actually do have a videotape of kind of behind the

00:39:08.678 --> 00:39:11.478
scenes but believe it or not of all the videotapes i have that's

00:39:11.478 --> 00:39:14.518
the only one it won't play i have to

00:39:14.518 --> 00:39:17.438
get it fixed and when i get it fixed i'm going to convert it and i'll probably

00:39:17.438 --> 00:39:22.478
put it on my youtube channel you know down the road but super cool but it was

00:39:22.478 --> 00:39:27.178
it was a really surreal experience being there and you know if anybody watches

00:39:27.178 --> 00:39:31.738
that special features which you can it's on youtube you know i was really nervous

00:39:31.738 --> 00:39:35.078
i didn't know how to act how to talk you know and You mentioned earlier,

00:39:35.238 --> 00:39:40.618
I'm wearing the same shirt that I was interviewed in over two decades ago, just for fun,

00:39:40.938 --> 00:39:43.118
just for this interview. So awesome.

00:39:43.830 --> 00:39:48.250
If I tried to squeeze into a shirt from two decades ago for myself,

00:39:48.870 --> 00:39:51.210
hats off to you, my brother, I wouldn't be able to fit into it.

00:39:51.350 --> 00:39:55.690
But yeah, well, it was a big shirt then. So it's, you know.

00:39:55.970 --> 00:40:00.390
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Why do you think Herbie is so universally loved?

00:40:00.610 --> 00:40:03.830
Like this little German car somehow became a cultural icon.

00:40:04.250 --> 00:40:08.390
What is it about this little car that hits people so deep?

00:40:09.250 --> 00:40:12.670
The main story about the love bug, really, it's an underdog story.

00:40:12.670 --> 00:40:16.910
You know, you think about it, you've got this little meek VW Beetle that ends

00:40:16.910 --> 00:40:21.950
up having just, you know, a heart of gold and ends up beating all these,

00:40:22.010 --> 00:40:24.450
you know, Ferraris and Porsches and everything else.

00:40:24.610 --> 00:40:29.970
You know, obviously it's a fantasy movie here, but it just, it's,

00:40:30.050 --> 00:40:31.710
you know, an underdog story.

00:40:31.830 --> 00:40:34.030
We all love underdog stories, no matter what they are.

00:40:34.290 --> 00:40:37.730
And of course, as a character is very endearing. I mean, you know,

00:40:37.790 --> 00:40:41.170
if you look at the history of Disney, how they picked the Beetle,

00:40:41.390 --> 00:40:46.890
you know, they set up different model cars in the Disney studios and watch people's reaction to them.

00:40:47.070 --> 00:40:51.090
And the VW was the only car that people actually talked to and petted.

00:40:51.710 --> 00:40:54.850
And they knew that was their car, you know, because people had,

00:40:55.010 --> 00:40:57.150
like we're saying, their happy little cars.

00:40:57.870 --> 00:41:04.470
And, you know, that star was born. And then other, there was a German version called Dudu, the Super.

00:41:04.790 --> 00:41:09.230
It was like a spy Beetle. It was kind of like a James Bond beetle had gadgets

00:41:09.230 --> 00:41:14.510
and, you know, there of course cartoons, you had like speed buggy, wonder bug.

00:41:14.770 --> 00:41:17.670
I mean, so many things copied Herbie's, you know.

00:41:18.525 --> 00:41:24.525
I guess, hard coming to life persona. So it really set the path for all that.

00:41:24.645 --> 00:41:27.725
And growing up as a kid, you know, of course, I was too little to remember the

00:41:27.725 --> 00:41:30.165
original movie in theaters, but I saw it later on.

00:41:30.285 --> 00:41:35.345
I do believe Herbie was the first film probably I saw that I can remember in the theater.

00:41:36.085 --> 00:41:41.865
And my first film that I remember in a theater was Rambo, First Blood Part One. Whoa.

00:41:42.625 --> 00:41:47.385
Yeah. That's a big difference from Herbie. Yeah, I'd say. But you said your

00:41:47.385 --> 00:41:49.605
first. So I just had to go there. Yeah.

00:41:49.885 --> 00:41:52.845
And that also maybe will give you a little bit of age for me,

00:41:52.885 --> 00:41:54.425
too. I think that was early 80s.

00:41:54.865 --> 00:41:58.245
I'll tell you, I was definitely too young to probably be in a Rambo film.

00:41:58.725 --> 00:42:01.125
You're not as old as Zion. No, I'm not.

00:42:02.305 --> 00:42:10.565
But that was my first movie. So you were writing the Herbie history piece for VW Trends.

00:42:10.565 --> 00:42:18.325
This is a cool story because it also landed you on the cover of VW Trends.

00:42:18.465 --> 00:42:21.765
Let's talk about that real quick. When you were writing that piece,

00:42:21.865 --> 00:42:27.165
did you ever imagine for any second that one day you'd wake up and see yourself on the cover?

00:42:27.565 --> 00:42:32.525
No, that was a huge surprise. And I had written for VW Trends in the 90s column

00:42:32.525 --> 00:42:39.285
for a while and was very fortunate to be able to have this opportunity to write this Herbie history.

00:42:40.365 --> 00:42:44.885
What Volkswagen or VW Trends was going to do is they were going to do a feature on my car.

00:42:45.865 --> 00:42:50.185
I think I mentioned to you before that back in the 80s, I had this custom Karmagea

00:42:50.185 --> 00:42:54.145
that VW Trends was supposed to do a feature on, but the person who was coming

00:42:54.145 --> 00:42:57.565
to cover the show was leaving the magazine. He said, I'm not doing any features.

00:42:58.145 --> 00:43:02.705
Unfortunately, the car was slated to be sold shortly after, so I never got a feature on that car.

00:43:03.545 --> 00:43:06.305
When they told me they wanted to do a feature on Herbie, of course,

00:43:06.325 --> 00:43:07.585
I was all excited about it.

00:43:08.569 --> 00:43:12.029
If you've ever done a magazine feature, they give you these papers to fill out,

00:43:12.049 --> 00:43:13.609
you know, all your details, the specs.

00:43:14.589 --> 00:43:19.469
And, you know, I'd done that. And then, you know, I floated the idea about the Herbie history.

00:43:19.629 --> 00:43:21.769
And they said, well, we'll do both. We'll do the feature on your car.

00:43:21.769 --> 00:43:24.189
We'll do the Herbie history in the magazine. It'd be like a Herbie issue.

00:43:25.169 --> 00:43:29.149
But, you know, at the time, and the reason why I started my website,

00:43:29.249 --> 00:43:31.549
there was no history on Herbie. You couldn't find anything.

00:43:31.729 --> 00:43:35.729
You know, I say, you know, mine was the first Herbie website on the Internet.

00:43:35.989 --> 00:43:41.189
97, that's my claim to fame, right? But I wanted to be able to,

00:43:41.189 --> 00:43:44.629
you know, kind of get the story of Herbie out to the masses.

00:43:44.629 --> 00:43:48.629
And of course, VW Trends Magazine, you had VW Trends, Hobby W's,

00:43:48.709 --> 00:43:50.369
the two biggest magazines at the time.

00:43:50.829 --> 00:43:55.309
That was an incredible opportunity. The only thing is, you know,

00:43:55.369 --> 00:43:57.789
with a magazine, you've got so many pages you have to work with.

00:43:58.009 --> 00:44:03.489
So even with my crazy editing of this Herbie story, I could not condense it

00:44:03.489 --> 00:44:06.749
down enough to fit that story in with the feature article.

00:44:07.769 --> 00:44:14.009
So I made the decision to dump my feature article and just do the Herbie story.

00:44:15.329 --> 00:44:17.529
And it was a hard decision because

00:44:17.529 --> 00:44:20.569
I was like, you know, my dream was to have a feature in a magazine.

00:44:20.709 --> 00:44:23.389
Everybody wants to have their car featured in a magazine. Sure.

00:44:24.329 --> 00:44:28.589
But I said, I thought it was more important to get that Herbie story out than anything else.

00:44:29.729 --> 00:44:33.969
So not a lot of people know that story. And I still have that paperwork in my

00:44:33.969 --> 00:44:37.669
VW archives that I filled out for that feature, which was kind of cool.

00:44:37.769 --> 00:44:41.909
I stumbled upon it a couple of years ago, going through some boxes, but the.

00:44:42.029 --> 00:44:46.209
What was the year and the month that you were on the cover? It was June, 2000.

00:44:46.549 --> 00:44:50.429
And I joke to people like sometimes, you know, you'll get at like a work function

00:44:50.429 --> 00:44:53.069
and they'll say, you know, name something people don't know about you.

00:44:53.149 --> 00:44:54.849
And I'll say, I was a magazine cover model.

00:44:56.889 --> 00:45:02.129
Yes, you were. And, you know, I'm there driving the car on the cover, but yeah, it was crazy.

00:45:02.249 --> 00:45:06.149
Cause when, you know, I submitted the article and even then it still needed

00:45:06.149 --> 00:45:09.789
to be edited to fix. And I just told Ryan Price, who was the editor,

00:45:09.969 --> 00:45:12.549
I said, do whatever you can. I can't make it any shorter.

00:45:12.749 --> 00:45:14.989
I've already butchered it enough to try to make it fit.

00:45:15.649 --> 00:45:20.469
You read it, you'll see it doesn't read exactly. It's not great writing because

00:45:20.469 --> 00:45:22.149
of the editing I had to do on it.

00:45:23.069 --> 00:45:26.309
But he told me, he says, you're going to be real pleased when you see the magazine

00:45:26.309 --> 00:45:28.709
come out. And I said, what do you mean? He goes, you'll see.

00:45:29.509 --> 00:45:33.589
That's so great. Issue comes in the mail to me. And I was like, what?

00:45:34.389 --> 00:45:37.549
I'm on the cover? You got to be kidding me. oh that's

00:45:37.549 --> 00:45:40.969
so awesome man what was the reaction like locally you

00:45:40.969 --> 00:45:43.809
know big scene here you know the thing

00:45:43.809 --> 00:45:49.129
about it is is the you know the the crew that we have now is a big crew back

00:45:49.129 --> 00:45:52.129
then it wasn't as many people everybody thought it was really cool of course

00:45:52.129 --> 00:45:55.709
you know your friend gets on in the magazine is cool but on the cover wow it's

00:45:55.709 --> 00:46:01.909
really cool yeah the thing is i'm just a guy just like you know anybody else and,

00:46:03.015 --> 00:46:06.815
You know, and it's funny too, because everybody that knows me here,

00:46:06.935 --> 00:46:09.875
I'm just a VW guy, just like anybody, you know, I'm no different.

00:46:10.075 --> 00:46:13.855
And, you know, I'm not any more special than anyone. I have a long history of

00:46:13.855 --> 00:46:15.795
being in it, but that's, that's about what it is.

00:46:15.855 --> 00:46:18.535
Just like your intro, man. I felt like a King with your intro.

00:46:19.835 --> 00:46:24.455
Dude, y'all, I told you, I told everybody I'm, I'm coming to,

00:46:24.475 --> 00:46:28.695
to spread some flowers out for you guys that, that paved, that paved the way

00:46:28.695 --> 00:46:31.155
and have stayed consistent in this scene the whole time.

00:46:31.355 --> 00:46:34.735
I'm coming for you. Anybody else listening, I'm coming for you.

00:46:35.055 --> 00:46:38.595
I just, I mean, I have a love for the cars. I have a love for the community.

00:46:38.935 --> 00:46:42.675
And, you know, I've always wanted to do whatever I can to further that community.

00:46:42.995 --> 00:46:48.235
And, you know, it was always, you know, growing up, I was a very introverted person.

00:46:48.595 --> 00:46:51.135
And getting into Volkswagen brought me out of my shovel.

00:46:51.715 --> 00:46:54.415
You know, getting, of course, when you have a car that gets a lot of attention,

00:46:54.595 --> 00:46:57.395
people want to talk to you. So you have to, you know, be personable.

00:46:57.575 --> 00:47:00.275
So people who knew me then and know me now, they're like, really,

00:47:00.335 --> 00:47:02.355
you were an introvert? I'm like, yeah, I still am.

00:47:02.475 --> 00:47:06.095
You know but it depends on the situation but yeah

00:47:06.095 --> 00:47:09.455
i mean it just they're social vehicles and you

00:47:09.455 --> 00:47:12.915
know of course you know all the events we go to and yeah i

00:47:12.915 --> 00:47:16.035
mean just some so many great times and that's the thing with having this car

00:47:16.035 --> 00:47:20.795
as long as i have it has so much sentimental value to me you know that things

00:47:20.795 --> 00:47:26.535
done and really the people that i've met too you know when we did the big i

00:47:26.535 --> 00:47:29.715
did a Herbie show in 2000. We did it. We've done a few of them.

00:47:30.495 --> 00:47:37.335
The 50th was one that Gail Love put on and it was an amazing show.

00:47:37.515 --> 00:47:40.255
And I've been to a lot of shows. You imagine from the 1980s,

00:47:40.375 --> 00:47:43.375
we're talking 40 plus years here. Yeah, sure.

00:47:43.575 --> 00:47:45.815
That shows my age, right? And,

00:47:46.504 --> 00:47:49.724
It was the most spectacular VW show I've ever been to in my life.

00:47:49.924 --> 00:47:53.164
I mean, what he put together. But the thing was, it wasn't the cars.

00:47:53.304 --> 00:47:56.384
Now, granted, these are all Herbys, right? So people are like, every car is the same.

00:47:56.604 --> 00:48:00.624
They're not because everybody does their own little style. But the thing is, it was the people there.

00:48:00.884 --> 00:48:03.864
I mean, we talk about how great our community is, right?

00:48:04.424 --> 00:48:09.704
But when you have that singular interest, that passion, people,

00:48:09.884 --> 00:48:12.184
they love their VWs, but they love Herbie, right?

00:48:12.624 --> 00:48:16.884
Yes. So you just, I mean, it's like crazy. It's like a fire being lit,

00:48:17.024 --> 00:48:21.064
you know, with people just sharing the love and come up. Yeah. Yeah.

00:48:21.864 --> 00:48:28.964
And it was at that event that I met these teenage kids who came up to me and

00:48:28.964 --> 00:48:31.964
were crying to meet me. And I was like, what is going on?

00:48:32.664 --> 00:48:38.024
They had watched me on this DVD that came out, you know, 20 plus years ago as a kid.

00:48:38.044 --> 00:48:40.864
And they grew up watching me on these special features.

00:48:41.664 --> 00:48:44.644
And you know they were like can i can i

00:48:44.644 --> 00:48:48.284
you know sit in your car i'm like of course you know i built my car so kids

00:48:48.284 --> 00:48:52.224
can climb on it you know and didn't worry about any of that i wanted people

00:48:52.224 --> 00:48:55.924
to be able to enjoy it and they were like sitting there in tears and we're talking

00:48:55.924 --> 00:49:00.324
about guys and girls and i was like wow you know like i said i'm just a guy

00:49:00.324 --> 00:49:02.304
i didn't know this side of the story,

00:49:03.064 --> 00:49:07.064
you know that i had these people that looked at my car like i looked at the

00:49:07.064 --> 00:49:10.644
original herbie when I was a kid, you know, I had a couple of them tell me,

00:49:10.744 --> 00:49:13.504
they're like, your car means more to me than those actual movie cars.

00:49:13.644 --> 00:49:15.924
I'm like, how can that be?

00:49:16.244 --> 00:49:20.864
But, you know, it just goes to show you, you don't realize what kind of impact

00:49:20.864 --> 00:49:24.244
you can have, you know, just like you doing this podcast, you don't know what

00:49:24.244 --> 00:49:25.664
kind of impact you'll have.

00:49:25.764 --> 00:49:29.144
You know, you may trigger a memory, something like that, that really sparks

00:49:29.144 --> 00:49:32.164
somebody's passion, you know, and it's, it's great that you're doing this.

00:49:32.344 --> 00:49:34.124
So I was excited when you invited me to come on.

00:49:34.364 --> 00:49:39.564
Oh man, thank you. Yeah, you know, I saw that needed to be celebrated.

00:49:40.356 --> 00:49:45.596
What I feel when I go to these local shows, the families, the people,

00:49:45.776 --> 00:49:49.836
the connections, the friends, you know, forget the cars for a second.

00:49:49.976 --> 00:49:51.536
Like you just said, it's all about the people.

00:49:51.776 --> 00:49:55.176
Right. And, you know, it's just something I saw. Like, you know,

00:49:55.256 --> 00:49:57.356
earlier you mentioned there was a small void.

00:49:57.696 --> 00:50:02.976
I just feel like with a lifestyle like this, it has to be celebrated.

00:50:03.416 --> 00:50:07.436
I mean, what an amazing story. I mean, just sitting here talking to you and

00:50:07.436 --> 00:50:14.196
listening to all this cool Herbie history and learning like cameos and, and,

00:50:14.416 --> 00:50:19.976
you know, I mean, dude, that is just, we're talking about a VW Beetle where

00:50:19.976 --> 00:50:24.436
anybody that's outside of what we do would be like, yeah, big deal.

00:50:24.796 --> 00:50:30.156
Right. But we know, and, and listen, all these stories, we got teenagers crying

00:50:30.156 --> 00:50:32.936
and, and you're just such an awesome person, man.

00:50:32.936 --> 00:50:37.656
And something else that you had mentioned was you're actually building or in

00:50:37.656 --> 00:50:41.256
the process of building a VW community garage.

00:50:41.676 --> 00:50:44.936
Tell me a little bit about the mission behind this community garage.

00:50:45.536 --> 00:50:49.776
Yeah, I always wanted to have a dedicated garage workspace.

00:50:50.096 --> 00:50:53.696
And I finally bought a property that was big enough to build a garage on.

00:50:54.096 --> 00:50:58.116
Prior to that, I've always worked in pretty much a one-car garage space.

00:50:58.116 --> 00:51:03.016
But I just had the idea come to mind to, once this is built,

00:51:03.176 --> 00:51:06.256
to open it up to the community, people who want to learn to work on their cars,

00:51:06.496 --> 00:51:07.296
specifically teenagers.

00:51:07.436 --> 00:51:11.216
I'm looking to, you know, reach the teens and give them something to do that,

00:51:11.356 --> 00:51:13.656
you know, is constructive and they can learn.

00:51:13.816 --> 00:51:18.476
And, you know, you talk about, you know, growing up, I didn't really have any mentors growing up.

00:51:18.596 --> 00:51:23.416
And it's nice to have somebody that you can learn from. And I'm not an expert.

00:51:23.576 --> 00:51:25.816
I'm a, you know, capable guy. I'm not an expert.

00:51:26.196 --> 00:51:28.016
I've done this long enough. but.

00:51:28.906 --> 00:51:32.746
Just being able to learn with somebody and somebody, I'm very patient and I

00:51:32.746 --> 00:51:36.766
like teaching people and I'm not the one that's going to scold you if you do

00:51:36.766 --> 00:51:39.666
something wrong. I'll be right there by your side to help you.

00:51:40.206 --> 00:51:45.006
And there's a couple of young guys now in the community that I'm trying to encourage to help.

00:51:45.006 --> 00:51:49.286
I did, if you've seen my off-road Beetle Ocho that I built this year,

00:51:49.766 --> 00:51:54.166
I had a couple young guys from the Herbie community actually come out that did

00:51:54.166 --> 00:51:55.466
not know how to work on cars.

00:51:55.766 --> 00:52:00.446
And that's when I hurt my back and I couldn't do the front end swap by myself.

00:52:00.446 --> 00:52:04.206
So I had them come out and pretty much directed them what to do.

00:52:04.646 --> 00:52:08.586
And, you know, I helped them where I could help and they pulled the front end

00:52:08.586 --> 00:52:11.726
out and it was, you know, they learned and we had a great time.

00:52:11.726 --> 00:52:15.226
You know, they've, you know, built some confidence learning to work on the cars.

00:52:15.486 --> 00:52:18.706
And that's what I'm hoping with this garage that people be able to come in and

00:52:18.706 --> 00:52:20.686
be like a little community place.

00:52:20.846 --> 00:52:25.066
Maybe we can do, you know, I don't know, once a month or whatever the case may

00:52:25.066 --> 00:52:30.366
be where people come over, hang out, work on their cars and stuff together, do life together.

00:52:30.586 --> 00:52:34.206
I don't want to miss that. I want to be a part of that. I just appreciate the

00:52:34.206 --> 00:52:36.906
fact that you want to help teenagers learn real skills.

00:52:37.446 --> 00:52:40.926
Tell me why that's so important to you. It feels like that's something that's

00:52:40.926 --> 00:52:44.666
really just kind of a piece of your fabric. Why is that so important to you?

00:52:45.446 --> 00:52:49.126
Yeah, I mean, you know, like I said, I started out not knowing anything about

00:52:49.126 --> 00:52:52.846
cars. And because I worked at Total Performance, you know, I had people there

00:52:52.846 --> 00:52:55.006
who knew these cars inside and out teach me.

00:52:55.166 --> 00:52:58.066
First thing I ever learned how to do was to fix the parking brake on a Beetle.

00:52:58.286 --> 00:53:03.506
You know, it's not adjusted right. You pull it up, boom, it comes apart. But yeah.

00:53:04.060 --> 00:53:08.160
You know, there's a lot of people that are impatient in this world and a lot

00:53:08.160 --> 00:53:12.580
of kids get discouraged and they don't build any confidence.

00:53:13.640 --> 00:53:18.240
And, you know, there's, we're talking about mentorship. That's such a big thing,

00:53:18.380 --> 00:53:20.360
I think, that's missing from this world. Yeah.

00:53:20.920 --> 00:53:24.240
You know, being able to let kids, you know, do something like they have an interest

00:53:24.240 --> 00:53:29.120
in cars, you know, get out there and not feel the pressure of having to,

00:53:29.220 --> 00:53:32.540
you know, like being in a job where you have to be performing and you're evaluated.

00:53:32.540 --> 00:53:37.540
Just in a relaxed setting where you can learn and you can make mistakes and

00:53:37.540 --> 00:53:42.720
not have to feel like you're being judged and, you know, just a nice environment

00:53:42.720 --> 00:53:45.920
to, that supports you in your passion.

00:53:46.060 --> 00:53:49.420
You know, if you, something, maybe they decide, Hey, I want to do this for a living.

00:53:49.580 --> 00:53:52.260
You know, you may do it and it's like, Oh, it's not for me, but you know,

00:53:52.460 --> 00:53:55.520
as a hobby, it's cool, but either way, but just

00:53:55.520 --> 00:54:00.020
give somebody that opportunity to either ignite that inside passion that they

00:54:00.020 --> 00:54:04.200
may have or you know even just be a place like okay i thought i wanted to do

00:54:04.200 --> 00:54:08.520
this but maybe i really don't you know and we don't have that affordability

00:54:08.520 --> 00:54:11.860
a lot of times there's a lot of kids that come out of school i was like that

00:54:11.860 --> 00:54:14.000
i i had dreams when i was younger.

00:54:14.660 --> 00:54:17.580
Of actually designing cars but i was terrible in

00:54:17.580 --> 00:54:20.460
math i had some like learning issues and i

00:54:20.460 --> 00:54:23.860
didn't realize until i got in college that i got an amazing teacher that

00:54:23.860 --> 00:54:26.800
i just learned differently than most people yeah i

00:54:26.800 --> 00:54:29.740
was quite discouraged for most of my high school

00:54:29.740 --> 00:54:32.480
years because i didn't think i was smart enough to get it

00:54:32.480 --> 00:54:35.120
so i abandoned that dream and you know

00:54:35.120 --> 00:54:37.860
went down different roads but you know ironically i

00:54:37.860 --> 00:54:42.000
ended up working in the car industry for a lot of years but yeah and you know

00:54:42.000 --> 00:54:46.380
i just you know i understand that frustration i just want to make sure that

00:54:46.380 --> 00:54:50.040
i'd be able you know i'm able to try to give back to the community the way i

00:54:50.040 --> 00:54:53.660
can you know you know i didn't have anything like that growing up,

00:54:53.680 --> 00:54:55.820
but it'd be cool to have a community garage to use.

00:54:56.200 --> 00:54:59.520
Well, you know, back in the day, and you can remember this too,

00:54:59.700 --> 00:55:04.020
I'm sure we used to have the shop that we would go to.

00:55:04.220 --> 00:55:08.080
And there was always that old guy in the shop that could give us those,

00:55:08.080 --> 00:55:10.300
you know, little one-liners and those little tips.

00:55:10.780 --> 00:55:15.540
Nowadays, these kids just log into YouTube and they watch, they watch a couple of videos.

00:55:15.780 --> 00:55:20.380
Hell, they probably even watch some of yours, but they watch some videos and they're like, yeah.

00:55:20.860 --> 00:55:26.140
So that element, I agree that it's kind of missing the mentorship aspect.

00:55:26.420 --> 00:55:29.120
So I appreciate that in you.

00:55:30.540 --> 00:55:36.460
But I'll ask you, how do you want to pass down all the years of experience?

00:55:36.460 --> 00:55:39.660
How do you want to pass that down? You're patient.

00:55:40.040 --> 00:55:43.580
We're going to do this community garage. You're going to do this community garage

00:55:43.580 --> 00:55:46.880
idea. How do you want to pass down everything that you've learned?

00:55:47.784 --> 00:55:51.264
Well, I'm hoping if we can get some of the younger folks, you know,

00:55:51.364 --> 00:55:56.124
out there and just, you know, learn by my past mistakes.

00:55:56.284 --> 00:55:59.144
You know, there's a lot of stuff I've done wrong and I'm still learning today.

00:55:59.324 --> 00:56:01.744
You know, like I said, I'm not I'm not an expert in everything.

00:56:02.264 --> 00:56:06.084
Yeah, it's great. You know, I once took things to a certain level and just kind of stayed there.

00:56:06.164 --> 00:56:09.624
But there was a lot of years that, like you mentioned, you kind of got out of things for a while.

00:56:09.684 --> 00:56:12.664
I was never out of Volkswagen's, but I toned it down quite a bit.

00:56:12.664 --> 00:56:13.764
I mean, there was a time where I

00:56:13.764 --> 00:56:18.784
was working on them every week and then marriage, family, it tapered off.

00:56:19.064 --> 00:56:22.964
And that's why people online laugh at me because I'm pretty much stuck in the nineties.

00:56:23.104 --> 00:56:27.104
Like I see the prices of stuff and my mind is blown because that is kind of

00:56:27.104 --> 00:56:31.564
when I stopped for a while, like in the late nineties, there was a big gap there.

00:56:31.684 --> 00:56:35.244
And then when I got back, you know, into doing more events and things like that,

00:56:35.424 --> 00:56:39.144
it was like culture shock to see how things had changed.

00:56:39.144 --> 00:56:42.204
But, you know, one thing I never stopped was the bug jam, you know,

00:56:42.564 --> 00:56:47.564
doing that, you know, since 89, but I'd scaled way back on VW events.

00:56:47.704 --> 00:56:50.444
You know, I used to go out of state everywhere and I didn't do that anymore.

00:56:50.624 --> 00:56:53.244
It was local only. No, you said it. You said it.

00:56:53.684 --> 00:56:57.384
Life takes over and you never lose that, that love.

00:56:57.604 --> 00:57:01.404
You know, I never lost the love. I've always appreciated number one,

00:57:01.504 --> 00:57:05.684
the logo, number two, the look. And then when I start going back and,

00:57:05.684 --> 00:57:10.004
and, and having, and looking at pictures and, you know, I used to dream a lot.

00:57:10.264 --> 00:57:16.364
So back in the day, eBay, you know, used to have a moto or a motor app portion

00:57:16.364 --> 00:57:20.604
where you could, you know, it was a separate download and I could log in and

00:57:20.604 --> 00:57:21.864
I could just scroll through pictures.

00:57:22.424 --> 00:57:25.724
So, you know, I could learn the engines, I can learn the transmission matches,

00:57:25.724 --> 00:57:28.444
I can learn all the, you know, and, and I can look at pictures,

00:57:28.464 --> 00:57:32.324
but here's the thing I was to say, I'd go back and look at these pictures and I'd be like.

00:57:32.948 --> 00:57:37.008
Ah, I can still smell those seats in my Beetle, right?

00:57:37.228 --> 00:57:41.668
Like what else can connect like that in our lives? Really nothing.

00:57:42.048 --> 00:57:44.868
So the true fans, they know what's up.

00:57:45.288 --> 00:57:47.668
You know, they're out there. They're listening to this podcast.

00:57:47.948 --> 00:57:49.908
All right, couple of questions, rapid fire style.

00:57:50.048 --> 00:57:53.688
What's the best air-cooled VW ever made? Not your favorite.

00:57:53.968 --> 00:57:58.848
The best. The best. The best air-cooled. I have to say, you know, Beetle.

00:57:59.048 --> 00:58:01.948
I mean, really, you know, probably I think Volkswagen's most

00:58:01.948 --> 00:58:05.248
popular would be like a 69 70 beetle and

00:58:05.248 --> 00:58:08.068
those are probably one of the greatest beetles even though

00:58:08.068 --> 00:58:11.008
i was very much old guy 67 and earlier

00:58:11.008 --> 00:58:14.048
guy but they drive nice they're comfortable they you

00:58:14.048 --> 00:58:16.948
know still have a classic look yeah that was probably

00:58:16.948 --> 00:58:20.328
the best air cool and i think that was the pinnacle probably vw's quality

00:58:20.328 --> 00:58:23.228
then too back in that day what about

00:58:23.228 --> 00:58:26.148
water cool what's the best water cooled vw ever made

00:58:26.148 --> 00:58:29.328
gosh probably the mark one rabbits golfs

00:58:29.328 --> 00:58:32.128
you know i mean they were awesome cars i own quite a few of

00:58:32.128 --> 00:58:35.668
them believe it or not i bought a six-year-old rabbit for

00:58:35.668 --> 00:58:38.468
nine hundred and fifty dollars that's how cheap things were.

00:58:38.468 --> 00:58:41.528
Back then nine was 60 000 miles

00:58:41.528 --> 00:58:45.028
on it i just want to go back in time you know i'll

00:58:45.028 --> 00:58:47.768
acquire like like like 25 of them and

00:58:47.768 --> 00:58:50.808
find a way to store them somewhere that was my first

00:58:50.808 --> 00:58:53.548
volkswagen with air conditioning and from that

00:58:53.548 --> 00:58:56.868
point on in life i always had at least two air cool

00:58:56.868 --> 00:58:59.648
it's fun one for the weekend and then the water cool

00:58:59.648 --> 00:59:03.208
for the go to work or school one yeah yeah understood

00:59:03.208 --> 00:59:06.848
what's the most overrated classic vw

00:59:06.848 --> 00:59:10.088
all right i'll get the hate mail on this one split window

00:59:10.088 --> 00:59:16.188
bus okay tell me you want to know why yeah i love them absolutely my like one

00:59:16.188 --> 00:59:21.028
of my favorite volkswagens but have you ever driven one the coolness factor

00:59:21.028 --> 00:59:25.988
is off the charts but i went from a couple of split windows to a bay window

00:59:25.988 --> 00:59:28.928
to van again you're i I went all through the generations.

00:59:29.780 --> 00:59:33.080
And really, once I hit the bay window, I was like, I'll never get a split again.

00:59:33.260 --> 00:59:34.560
I just love this way too much.

00:59:34.920 --> 00:59:39.660
But, you know, based on what you say, overrated with how much they sell for,

00:59:39.680 --> 00:59:42.980
you know, they are cool, no doubt about it.

00:59:43.100 --> 00:59:45.380
So hopefully not too much hate mail on that.

00:59:45.540 --> 00:59:47.760
I don't think you'll get any hate at all. That's honest.

00:59:48.100 --> 00:59:51.160
That's just honest. Hey, look, man, we're getting older. You know,

00:59:51.300 --> 00:59:53.380
it's hard to fit in. Comfort.

00:59:53.740 --> 00:59:57.940
Comfort is coming into the picture now. Yeah, comfort's important for sure.

00:59:57.940 --> 01:00:00.140
And Stephanie Frank said the same thing.

01:00:00.360 --> 01:00:05.000
The bay window was her favorite as well, even for to use them for business like

01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:08.940
she does for the same thing that you mentioned, for the comfort and that type

01:00:08.940 --> 01:00:09.640
of stuff. They drive better.

01:00:09.780 --> 01:00:12.340
They ride better. They're more with me. Yeah.

01:00:13.580 --> 01:00:21.180
And you see, there's a lot of bay windows in movies, even still, even in commercials.

01:00:22.140 --> 01:00:27.140
I feel like that's a very celebrated body style for sure. For sure.

01:00:27.360 --> 01:00:32.060
All right. So if you could have Now we're going to talk about your favorite

01:00:32.060 --> 01:00:35.700
I'm going to ask every guest that comes on the show They got to answer this

01:00:35.700 --> 01:00:42.620
question Right before we wrap things up But if you could own one VW from any era What would it be?

01:00:43.380 --> 01:00:49.440
That's a hard question But I'll have to say my dream Volkswagen Was always a 49 Hebbuller,

01:00:50.120 --> 01:00:56.080
That's the one I always wanted And really any pre-50 Beetle But that one was

01:00:56.080 --> 01:01:01.740
always on top of my list And, but definitely out of the affordability range.

01:01:03.140 --> 01:01:08.540
Well, you never know, you know, you never know So where can people find you, buddy?

01:01:08.820 --> 01:01:12.140
Where, how can, how can they get involved? Eventually, if you do this community

01:01:12.140 --> 01:01:16.380
garage, like Just give us, you know, maybe where we can catch up with you,

01:01:17.186 --> 01:01:20.886
Well, right now I've got a YouTube channel, Dub World VW Adventures.

01:01:20.926 --> 01:01:23.826
If you type in Dub World VW, you'll probably find it.

01:01:24.306 --> 01:01:28.366
Also, if you're on Facebook, we've got a few different pages.

01:01:28.546 --> 01:01:32.006
Of course, I got Herbiemania.com on the internet, but we have a Herbie the Love

01:01:32.006 --> 01:01:36.426
Bug fan club on Facebook, the Florida VW shows and events page.

01:01:36.426 --> 01:01:39.426
I've got a lot of different pages online, but of course, local volks,

01:01:39.726 --> 01:01:43.386
Bay Area VWs, there's a lot of different things on there that you can find me.

01:01:43.386 --> 01:01:44.646
And eventually, once this garage

01:01:44.646 --> 01:01:49.546
is built and open, we'll be doing an open house and have a nice party.

01:01:49.946 --> 01:01:52.826
I'm excited for that. I'm coming. I'm going to be learning.

01:01:53.106 --> 01:01:56.246
I hope you'll be there. I'll be putting my learning cap on. That's going to

01:01:56.246 --> 01:01:58.406
be awesome. I'll be super excited for that.

01:01:58.786 --> 01:02:02.746
You're a super awesome guy, man. Thank you so much for your time and doing this.

01:02:03.046 --> 01:02:07.626
Final words for the listeners who are just getting into the VW world now.

01:02:07.826 --> 01:02:09.226
Give me some final words for them.

01:02:09.766 --> 01:02:13.786
Yeah, for anybody that's new, the best advice I can say is if you're looking

01:02:13.786 --> 01:02:18.886
to buy a car, try to find something that's maybe an older restoration that just

01:02:18.886 --> 01:02:20.226
needs a little bit of refreshing.

01:02:20.506 --> 01:02:23.426
Something that you can look at and you know it hasn't been patched up.

01:02:24.246 --> 01:02:27.826
An older restored car is going to be a little bit more honest to look at.

01:02:28.226 --> 01:02:31.006
But make sure you have somebody who knows these cars when you look at them.

01:02:31.386 --> 01:02:33.666
And things are not cheap like they used to be.

01:02:34.646 --> 01:02:39.286
So you want to make sure you're getting the best car for your money.

01:02:40.146 --> 01:02:44.486
And just keep that in mind. Whenever you buy something, it's going to need more.

01:02:45.066 --> 01:02:48.346
And save that money so that you don't get in over your head.

01:02:49.246 --> 01:02:52.426
Great hobby. You're not just getting a car. You're becoming part of the family.

01:02:52.986 --> 01:02:56.806
Amazing words of wisdom. Thank you, man, so much for your time.

01:02:57.026 --> 01:03:00.306
And that's a wrap for this episode of Dub Life Diaries.

01:03:00.866 --> 01:03:04.386
Thanks for riding along with us and diving into these incredible stories of

01:03:04.386 --> 01:03:06.426
the people in the Dove that drive their dreams.

01:03:06.706 --> 01:03:11.246
If you loved today's episode, don't forget to subscribe or hit that follow button

01:03:11.246 --> 01:03:12.566
so you never miss an adventure.

01:03:12.966 --> 01:03:17.526
Do you have a story to tell or know somebody else who's living the Dove life? Awesome.

01:03:17.826 --> 01:03:22.866
Reach out to us. You can find us on all socials at Dove Life Diaries or shoot

01:03:22.866 --> 01:03:24.626
me an email. I'm not hard to find.

01:03:25.526 --> 01:03:30.406
DoveLifeDiaries at gmail.com. Until next time, keep the engines humming and

01:03:30.406 --> 01:03:33.806
the wheels turning and always follow the road that inspires you.

01:03:33.986 --> 01:03:38.306
This is Joe Person. I'm signing off. I'll catch you on the next ride.

01:03:39.440 --> 01:04:35.289
Music.