68. VIP Cars, Traveling For Shows, Drive Cartel w/ John Krueger, Kyle Harty

And hello, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Minnoxide podcast. I'm your host, Harris, aka Minnoxide, man of many automotive aspirations. And today we're going beyond the meat with, obviously, my good friend, Dan from Gunner Garage.

How's it going?

It's going good, man, thank you for asking. And then we're changing things up for a while. We've been on a nice long streak of show cars, and I wonder if that train outside is getting picked up on the mic. I don't know. I know for sure you guys will be hearing the dyno here shortly, but... So John, you reached out to me a couple weeks ago, or maybe like a month ago. I don't know, I'm losing track here, but I've always wanted to have some more show car people on, so when you reached out, I was like, all right, this is perfect, because especially VIP cars, because I don't know anything about that scene. I always thought they were super cool, and I just thought it was a great opportunity to just kind of talk about it. So you guys are associated with Drive Cartel, do a lot of cool shows and stuff. Win trophies, sometimes not in cars. But just kind of tell us a little bit about yourselves, your builds, and we'll just kind of go from there. So let's start with you, John.

Yeah, my name is John. You know, Instagram, NLPKNSHIBA. I've been, I don't know, like I was telling you kind of before we got this going, like I used to do a bunch of, I was a big street racer growing up. You know, that's what it was. Had 900 horsepower Lexus back in the day. I did the 180 and started building show cars because like when I first got into the car scene, 15, 16 years old, you know, like hot import nights was, you know, full swing. So that was like my first intro into like car show stuff. And I always thought it was really cool. So I went down like the VIP car route, saw a video on YouTube in Japan, 2001, LS430. Okay. But yeah, so I've got a 1998 Infiniti Q45, otherwise known as a Y33 SEMA, you know, full VIP build, you know, goes all over the country and, you know, all that fun stuff, met a lot of cool people, including, you know, Kyle here, that's how we met, so.

So what makes it a VIP build? That's something I don't think I've ever heard of before. Is that?

So, he's a Mustang guy, forgive him.

Nothing VIP in that guy.

So VIP, like, if you ask the purists, and like where it started, there's 10 platforms. So in order for a car to be VIP, it needs to be one of 10 platforms, and they span basically Nissan and Toyota. So on the Nissan side, you've got the President, SEMA, Gloria, and the Cedric. And then on the Lex, Lexus Toyota side, you have the Crown, the Aristo, the Celsior, and the Majesta. So it needs to be, for it to like, you know, the purists, for it to be a VIP build, it needs to be one of those 10 platforms. Anything else that's like, styled like a VIP car would be then classified as like VIP style.

So were these like packages that they put out then that they had? So like, Lincoln guy, Ford guy, they have like the Cartier version, and they got like the fancier ones. It would be like an executive package, these things that were production?

So these are like specific car models. I mean, there are different trim packages like within those categories. But like, I mean, basically like a VIP build is gonna be something that's very low, whether you do that static on coilovers or air ride, usually a good bit of bodywork, and then big deep dish wheels, and then like a really plush interior, and then the colors are very monotone, like black, gray, silver.

Which makes sense, because like, I don't know if you did like a hot pink or something like that, it just went, I don't know, it doesn't sit right with me.

Basically, like where it started is the Japanese mafia, the Yakuza. So like the bosses would get driven around in Mercedes S-classes, and then all the generals and lieutenants, they would drive the Japanese versions of the car, and they'd try and dress them up to be like the Mercedes S-class.

But also low-key, they could drive around and it wasn't gaudy and loud, but it had the luxury stuff emulating what the bosses had.

Okay, that makes sense. When you said the black, white and gray, it just makes sense. I've seen, there's only a handful of VIP builds here in Minnesota, right?

Yeah, there's my car, Kyle's car, Edwin also has a Q45 like mine.

Joe's M45, that one ive seen once in the last couple of years.

Is that Joe Fowler?

Joe Fowler, yeah. And then, well, there's Brody's car. He had that white Celsius, but he sold that. So that's down in Texas now.

I think, yeah.

But yeah, as far as one's still left, yeah, there's only probably like four or five maybe.

Okay.

There's a few that are earlier stage builds. To get to the point where him or I are, it takes a lot of time and a lot of patience.

I didn't hear the word money in there. Is that part of the joke?

There's money.

Well, and I would say the only way around that, slightly even as if you've got extremely deep pockets, even then stuff is going to take time and waiting. So I see cars that are probably in the infancy of getting there someday around here a little more, but I've had my car since 2008. So it's that whole process of just a little more every year, fix this, refine.

Yeah, well, 16 years. I mean, it's 2024 now, so you've probably refined every single year.

Did you pick it up with intention to do a VIP build then, or did you get the car and then you're like, okay, now we're going to start going little bits at a time?

You know, not initially. I wouldn't have seen going that route, but I think where eventually it probably ended up there, like my first getting into cars, I loved seeing low riders around.

Yeah.

And in a way, I think there's a little correlation between, there could be a little bit of like a Japanese version of a low rider.

I could see that.

Where, you know, you've got the interior, you've got all that.

The same love, you know?

And the attention to detail in the low riders is unmatched. You know, and that's a lot of what my car's been. The last few years is looking at stuff and like, okay, this little tiny thing needs to be fixed. Like this could be just this little bit better. And so that's what, you know, the last handful of years on my car have been is just almost, you hit a point where doing more isn't necessarily good.

Yeah, yeah.

But take what you're already doing and figure out how you can do it better.

What kind of wheels are on your car?

They're a collaboration between a company called Luxury Abstract. It's a little tiny company. It's founded by one of the kind of VIP OGs and Junction Produce, which is kind of like the OG Japanese company for VIP stuff.

It's a funny name. It sounds kind of like a food market. A market out of Colorado or something.

Exactly.

Because it has the beads or whatever on the wheel, or am I thinking the wrong wheel?

Well, it's an engraving, a little engraving along the windows on the edge of the spokes. And that's sort of the luxury abstract touch on the Scara. It's always been kind of a five-spoke, pretty plain wheel. And they do some more kind of wild designs.

Yeah, they have some really intricate designs, luxury abstract does. So shout out to Aggie on that one.

Yeah, there's nobody that's got vision quite like he does on that stuff.

Now, what about the interior of your car? Does that something that you grab inspiration from somewhere, or were those ideas where like, oh, we should do this, this, and this? Because I saw there was like a bar, cigar holders, lights in the doors, things like that. Do you guys have like an interior guy you use, or is that all you guys?

Well, none of that stuff in mine at least is completely original. The tray tables and that sort of stuff has been one of those kind of old traditional, almost to the point where it's played out things, and people are starting to move away from it sometimes.

I thought it was cool as s***, to be honest with you. I was like, damn, that's awesome.

You know, some of it, like, I've seen people do like the infinity mirrors in the doors, that sort of thing before too. So it's all, it's really all taken inspiration from various places, and you try to, try to do something a little different with it if you can, but...

Yeah, like Kyle's interior is definitely more, I guess, like staple VIP slash show. Like, mine is very plain compared to Kyle's. Like, I was like, like you said, the tables and the pillows and the curtains and that stuff, that's like very correct. Like, that's what people go after. Me, I was like, I'm not like the biggest fan of it and like my personal car. So I just like my seat, my seats are actually covers, like... Dino run. Yeah, well, yeah, dino run. One of the things I found out from like a lot of the Japanese cars was they were just having seat covers made instead of just like reupholstering the full interior. So I got some seat covers and stuff from a company in Japan. And then, you know, actually Kyle made the floor mats and stuff in my car. But I have like some traditional stuff like the gauge cluster has like Swarovski crystals and stuff from a company called DAD that does a lot of like VIP interior stuff. So, you know, I have stuff like that. And then we both, Kyle helped me do my audio setup. Kyle has like a really killer audio setup in his car. So he helped me do mine. So that's like another big piece to like a VIP build is they have some pretty serious audio setups.

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At one point, I had a Grey Goose bottle years ago. That was... Well, they ended up completely remaking that console and changing it. I'm trying to remember how long ago that was now. I kind of went into some of that, like the cigars and some of that stuff that... I don't know if you quite call that a lane. But some of those, your vices and sins.

I would have a cigar holder for sure.

Yeah, I thought right away when you guys started saying Yakuza, stuff like that, that's exactly what I was picturing. Just a couple of Japanese mob bosses in the back of that thing cruising around smoking cigars.

We did the photo shoot when you were with Singh dressed up in the suit and the sunglasses and all that, sitting in the back with his cigars and his $100 bills and playing Yakuza for the day.

That's cool. Yeah, no, I'm looking at all that fine detail, and I'm thinking to myself, man, I'd rather pull the transmission in and out of my car three times than do all of that fine, you know, just that real fine-tuning stuff really is, I don't have the patience for it. You know, I just can't. The curtains and the lights and all of a sudden, it'd be a lot of work, I feel.

Well, sometimes it can be a pain. Like, I like that sort of fabrication and that sort of stuff where I would, if you asked me to pull the transmission out of my car, I would not be confident that it was all going to work when I put it back together. Like, I could do mechanical work, but like to that level, I don't know how much I trust myself.

You put that supercharger in yourself, so.

That, yeah, I had a little help, a little guidance on that. The worst part of that is can you unbolt your intake manifold and just, there was some fab work on that too, but that's not pulling a motor or... That stuff scares me more than...

Still pretty educated. We won't, I've got two P3s in the trunk of my Lincoln, but I won't show you the wiring or anything. Don't ask me to pop the trunk, because it doesn't look pretty. But it sounds good.

Yep. Well, that's how I got started. The first thing I was doing to cars when I was 16, 17, was audio stuff.

Yep.

Because then you can take your sub box and your amp with you to the next car if you don't have money to do much of anything. And so you're trying to do something cool. So that was sort of my roots, and it was doing audio.

I played around with that. I'm a 90s kid, so I grew up doing that stuff. I remember my first set. I had an MTX 2000s that I bought from a friend of mine, and I went to go put them in my Breda Pace car, and they wouldn't fit in the trunk. So I had them in the back seat for a long time, just right there, two 12s. And I eventually cut the box down and put the sides back on and got it to fit in my trunk.

Those things were, if you ever got in an accident, that box was probably killing you.

Yeah, absolutely, just a minor fender bender. It might have hit me in the back of the head.

Right, you don't think about that when you're...

Absolutely not. This is back when I didn't even have a deck, right? So I had my Walkman CD player thing there with the line, the 3.5 millimeter jack out to two RCA cables, you know, that Y cable going into my amp and into there, and that's how I was powering everything, so it's stock stereo. The things you got to do to be cool, you know?

You try to just do whatever you can to make stuff work and work with what you've got.

Didn't you drill through your wiring harness too?

Oh yeah, we don't want to talk about that.

No, no, no, I'd love to talk about that.

I'd love to talk about your trauma.

Yeah, so I had a Fox body that I had got, and it was, you know, I'd wanted one forever and ever and ever. I mean, it was like my dream sports car that I wanted. Again, growing up in the era I grew up in, being into Fords. And I went to go put subs in the hatch, and I was like, all right, cool, there's that rubber boot right around the main harness. And I'm like, normally I poke a screwdriver through or I'll get a little razor knife or whatever. Well, I had my drill sitting right there with the drill bit on. I was like, I'll just squeeze the trigger and just pop through the rubber there real quick. Well, it grabbed and went, and it went all the way through the 32 wires of our rubber mini were in that thing right through the middle of the wiring harness. Pull the dash, reroute the wiring harness. It was a total nightmare.

Yeah, how many hours did that?

Well, the car sat for a decade after that. I just parked it and didn't mess with it.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, it took me a good weekend to get it fixed once I decided to fix it.

I'm sure.

I mean, when I did my Lexus build, not my race car Lexus build, but my VIP Lexus build, I scrubbed through the harness.

Oh, really?

Yeah. The car was so low, and even though I relocated it, where it came out of the chassis, it still scrubbed on the tire. And all of a sudden, I just like came out one day, and like nothing worked on my car. I was like, what happened? Friggin pulled it or got it into the garage and jacked it up and pulled the wheels off and everything. My buddy's like, I'm pretty sure I found your problem. I was just cut in half by the tire. I was like, oh, yeah, that'll do it.

So when did you get rid of the race car?

So actually, I finally got rid of the shell just last year. I kept the shell for like a long time. So the heyday of my IS300 was 2007 through 2012. 2J, big turbo, all the laundry lists of go fast super parts back in the day.

Did you do all of it yourself?

Or you had a shop do it?

Mix and match?

Yeah, mix and match. So the motor was built by RS Motors. And then full blown did all the fabrication for the turbo, exhaust, fuel system.

Yeah, that's the name I was looking for.

Yeah, all that stuff. And yeah, I ran that car around for 3 or 4 years. I had Texas 2K back when it was still all Supras, before all Skylines and Vipers took over. I did that all the way through 2012, and then I ended up somehow cracking a 2J block. I don't know how.

That's talent.

Yeah, I don't know what happened. So the plan was to rebuild it, and then it was just the amount of money I had already sunk into the car, plus the amount of money. Because I was like, oh, well, the car made $900 through an auto. I was like, I want $1,200, $1,213 under horsepower, because that was the number back then. And the amount of money, I was like, somebody is always going to be faster. And growing up, things happened. I decided to buy a house. I parted out the car for the down payment on my house. I kept the shell because my friends wouldn't let me sell it. They always figured I'd do something with it again. But once I started, after the house and everything was settled, and I started building cars again, it was just doing the show car stuff. And the Lexus just kept on sitting and sitting and sitting. And eventually it's just like, between me and my partner who also builds cars, we have our hands full with a number of projects. And it's like, I'm never going to get back to this thing, I don't think. And one of my former coworkers hit me up, his son was looking for a drag car project. And I was like, he's like, you know, everybody's selling an IS 300. And I was like, I have one sitting, that's been sitting for going on 10 years now, and it's got 80,000 miles on it. Because I bought the 1,000 second owner of that car. So, you know, I was just like, yeah, you know, he showed up, had the right size wad of cash. There was like no real price. I was like, I like that size of wad of cash. You know what, you can take it. You know, you're going to do something with it. Actually, somebody sent me a picture of it. It's at, I don't know what shop it's at, but it's at some fab shop getting a cage. He's like, locally here? Yeah, so I was like, OK, like he is doing stuff with it. So, you know, it'll be weird to see. Like, I've never like all my previous cars have gone out of state. So like, I've never ever had a car stay local.

So where you've got to see it running around.

Yeah. So it'll be interesting, like when that car comes back, like, especially if he doesn't paint it, you know, like, it'll be weird. It'd be like, man, that's my old car.

It'll be kind of weird.

Yeah, we'll see.

You know, if they're just sitting though, it is, like you said, let somebody else enjoy it. They're only going to get worse as they sit. I mean, the cars rot eventually, you know, just even sitting. So it's, I did say that car we were just talking about where I messed up the wiring harness. It was one of my first cars, so it was kind of special to me. Well, I finally sold it this last fall because I was like, it just sits there.

Yeah, it just sits. Yeah, that's what it eventually came down to. And I was just like, you know what? There was a dream to bring it back and do something with it. And I'm just like, I'm just tied up in other things. And we want to build a bigger garage to house all the cars. So it's like, one of my, my partner kept joking. It's like, you're going to be 80 years old, and I want to get around to this thing one day. Sinking into the ground.

And this is an intervention, Dan. How many cars do you have sitting currently?

I sold a bunch this year.

Did you?

How many are left though?

On this episode of Hoarders. You should have your own AGTV show.

It's in the works. I just had a meeting with a friend of mine that him and I do a little bit of car flipping, and he might be getting a bunch of my parts to do some eBay stuff. It's coming. I'm trying to clean house.

It's a must. What are you making power-wise since you have that supercharger on yours?

It's still slow. I haven't had it on a dyno or anything. I'm guessing 325 to 350 at the wheels.

So like GR86 numbers with a supercharger?

The motors hasn't been opened up or anything. On the 1UZ, you can't put that much boost into them without building the rods and all of that stuff. And it's a show car. It's not going to Mexico. It doesn't matter how fast it is when it comes down to it.

It's just that bling in the engine bay.

And it makes a little bit of noise. And every once in a while, it's kind of fun to get into it a little bit. But I don't have the desire to go fast.

That's another laundry list of expenses.

So was it like something that you've tuned, was flashed on from wherever you got the supercharger then, like from whatever company?

It's much more primitive than that. Basically, I bought the supercharger manifold setup from a guy in Texas that had kind of built it himself and figured out how to make it work before there was as much stuff on the market for the 1UZs. And he basically figured out, paired up the right size injectors with the mass airflow sensor. And it's got what's called a split-second enricher module that controls basically when you're on partial throttle and kind of tricks the stock ECU into cooperating.

Oh, okay.

And then it's got a ninth injector that also has a separate controller. So you can use that to help fine-tune the air to fuel ratio, too. So I've always thought about a Pexi Neo or something like that to at least bring it into the semi-modern era. But like I said, I'm not pushing for numbers or speed or any of that. As long as it runs reliably and it's safe. I don't really feel the need to mess with it too much. It is more for looks under the hood than anything else. But it is kind of an oddball way to tune things.

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's kind of why I was wondering if you just bolted stuff on or if there was some kind of a way to have tuned it or whatever. That's the same thing back in the FoxBody days. You match your injectors with your MAF, and then you do a little bit of tweaking and there you go.

Well, and I think the guy that figured out how to make all of this work, he was more of that kind of old school mechanic, where if I can avoid adding extra computers and all that stuff into this, I want to just keep it simple.

Speaking of not simple things, well, to be fair, it's an older Audi, so there's the fireball. Okay. I wonder how many runs they're going to do on that thing yesterday. Dude, I was here in the office yesterday, and they had a four-digit car on the dyno. I know, shaking my water. Yeah, I think it was four digits. It might not have been. I'm guessing. But let's see. Oh, this is what I'm going to ask. So how wide of a tire are you running on yours? Because you guys have some big wheels.

So I've got a 19 by 11 in the front with a 245 35 and a 19 by 12 in the back with a 275 30.

We're going to make the performance guys cringe right now.

Yeah, the tires stretched. It's what the performance guys are going to hate. But it's not built for that purpose. I guess you could, you know, and it's stretched, but it's not that crazy. I've driven that car all over the place and never had a problem.

My car is 19 by 11 in the front with a 255 35 19, and then the back is a 19 by 12 with a 295. My old set of wheels, the rear was a 20 by 13 with a 315, and that was stretched.

Were you running, did you ever end up with the R888?

I'm sponsored by Toyo Tires, and back when I had my 20s, my 20-inch setup, I was running the Toyo T1R, and they discontinued that tire. And it was the only tire that they made with a 315. And I tried stretching, because now on my 19s, I run the Proxy, Toyo Proxies. And they do, the widest the Proxy goes is a 305. I tried that on the 20, and it wouldn't, it didn't hold. The bead would keep popping.

How do you even get the bead on on a stretched tire? I've always wondered that.

I still don't know. I mean, it's like watching the tire guys do it, like it's magic to me. So, but just like, honestly, the 20 by 13 wasn't that hard actually with the 315, like no cheetah or anything. They just, you know, popped it on. But the Proxies on the 19 by 12s, we use a cheetah front and rear to get it on. But, you know, it wasn't anything like too crazy. I mean, I've done some crazy stretches. So like the craziest stretch I've done is a 245, 40 on a 12.5. So that's f******, that's crazy, dude.

It just hit me.

I'm assuming you guys know Carissa, right?

Yep.

I'm with her on a rally one time, and she gets a flat tire.

Oh, is that in Wisconsin?

So I actually hauled her wheel back in the back of my wife's Mustang for her. And she's calling discount tires.

Oh, yeah. They're not going to touch it.

I was like, did you tell them that it was this and this? She's like, no. I'm like, dude, they're not. They're going to just show up with that, and they're going to go, not happening.

Yep.

So yeah, that's what ended up having to haul everything back.

I mean, I use Samaritan.

I've heard good things about them.

Yeah, they do a good job. If you're in the North Metro or want to drive top shelf tires in Ramsey, we'll also stretch. They do high-end. I used to know the current owner, but me and the former owner, that place go way, way, way, way back. He's like, they're all car people, so they take care of stuff. But yeah, in the cities, I use Samaritan, and they do a good job.

JWP's got a machine in-house now, too. He's the one I've been going to for a while. And obviously, with that kind of wheel and tire, you don't trust just anybody. Usually you find somebody that will call up John, and he'll get Tyler, and he'll take care of you. He's good. But your random discount tire, that ain't happening. They're not going to take on the liability.

It already looks like it's defined physics as is, being mounted like it is.

Discount tire, back when I bought tires, discount tire wouldn't even sell me tires without that... What's it going on?

I hate when they do that.

I'm like, no, here's the size I need to sell it to me. They're like, well, we need to know what it's going on. And I'm like, it's going on a 2000 Lexus. They're like, well, that's not going to fit. I was like, bro, I know that. Your computer says it's not going to fit, but it's going to fit.

We'll make it fit. It's like when you go to literally any grocery store and they request for you to put in your rewards number, it's like, let's skip this. Let's just get this going.

So yeah, even with my infinity, it's like the same thing. It's just like, dude, just sell me the tires. But luckily, got picked up by Toyo with the... Actually, my partner's build. So, you know, they saw it and they're like, hey, you guys build cool cars. So...

So what does that relation... I mean, and you don't have to touch on this if you don't want to, but what does that relationship look like with Toyo?

So, I mean, how I kind of like really got started with it is... So I used to be a judge for Stance Nation.

You said judge, and I was at court last week, so...

And that's like my big relation to Drive Cartel and Modest is I... I'm in charge of the judging and award categories at Modest. But so when Stance Nation, you know, that big behemoth of an online website and Instagram channel, we used to do several shows around the country, and I was one of the judges that traveled with. And so that's kind of how I got to know all these corporate people at Toyo Tires, Meguiar, all these companies, because they would sponsor the shows. And then so like 2017, me and my partner has the Rocket Bunny, the Red Rocket Bunny Miata. So we debuted that car, and Toyo actually used it for like a poster. Like I literally went to a car show in West Palm Beach, Florida, and they're handing out posters with a photo I took of the car with Toyo tires on it. And I'm like, hey, this is cool. This is my car. And they're like, oh, and like Stan, the big boss, one of the big bosses at Toyo was there. And he's like, oh, I didn't know we had a guy in the Midwest. And I was like, well, I'm not sponsored by you guys, but I always run your tires. And then they're like, he's like, here, get your, you know, give me your info. And then literally, I get back from the car show, and a week later, a big packet from Toyo tires shows up with, you know, a contract and everything like that. You know, it's been smooth sailing since. I mean, obviously, I put in work. You know, I travel a lot for car shows. You know, 2021, after the pandemic, I went, I put 36,000 miles on my truck and trailer in one year. Four car shows? Four car shows. I literally went coast to coast four times. So Minnesota is, the show schedule is, I did basically like a whole tour with Tuner Evo and Weekfest, which are like the two big show circuits that I do. And so it was like Minnesota to Chicago, and then back, and then Minnesota to Philadelphia and back, Minnesota to Texas and back. And then I did Minnesota to Vegas for SEMA, and then San Diego and back, you know, all in one year with My Infinity. And then, you know, we do the, like, we only have a one car trailer, so then 2022, we did it with the Miata after we rebuilt that for the second time.

Isn't it an enclosed trailer?

No, it's an open.

Open, okay.

Yeah, I mean, an enclosed would be nice, but I don't know. We'll see where we go.

Having a show car on a trailer has got to be kind of cool.

Yeah, it is. It sparks a lot of conversations at like gas stations and stuff like that, because people are just like, the Infinity or the Rocket Bunny Miata, they're just like, what is on the back of the trailer? And I'm just, it's an Infinity or it's a Mazda. And that's like one of the things with like VIP cars is like presence, and the Infinity certainly like commands it, wide body and everything. So. That's like how that relationship is. And then like McGuire's same thing, I got to know the right people. I worked as a detailer for a while in college and stuff like that. So I always use the McGuire's products and just got to know the right people. And they extended me an offer, and then we have a couple other smaller companies and businesses that we work with that we just use to promote and stuff like that.

So when you say promote, is there anything, I guess, do they have any requirements of you?

Or attend this many shows or something? Yeah, Toyo is, they're very results driven, so we have to do so many shows a year or so many events and get media coverage and stuff like that. And then me being a, I still do photography, but not as much as I used to. So I shoot a lot of cars, my cars, and I find other cars on Toyo's. I do photo shoots to give Toyo content. So that's kind of my relationship with Toyo. And then same thing with Maguire, is if I detail a car, clean the car, I have to give them content or shows and stuff like that. And I have branding obviously on the cars to promote them. But since Maguire is in Toyo, I've been with for six years now. So we have a really good relationship to where they know that the show stuff is going to slow down a little bit for me and my partner. We're redoing the Miata for its final, final, final phase. But we also have two Honda Civics that we actually road race with.

Okay, what are your Civics?

One's a 92 and one's a 93. Both are hatchbacks.

Nice, okay.

Like, Hondas are where I started. That was my first car. And so, picked up, I picked, I, like, for ten years, my partner has heard me, I want to build a Civic. I want to build one more, I want to build another Civic. And so, I, you know, I bought, I picked one up during the pandemic, you know, California car, and to do, like, my dream Civic build. So, and it's all, like, just pure correct B series and, like, spoon and moogan parts everywhere. So, that's perfect. Yeah. A lot of parts, like, I've had for, like, ten plus years, too. Like, I've just had Civic parts, you know, before they became unobtainable.

Yeah, I was going to say, I always thought those things were cool, too, the Civic hatches back in the 90s ones that you're talking about. And I was like, just for fun, I was like, maybe I could pick one of those up. They're not giving those things away anymore, are they?

When I went to go get mine, I was like, what's going on? And then I still bought mine for a reasonable price. My partner, Civic, we got a couple years later, but we got a screaming deal on it, because California and Texas and stuff, a lot of times you can still find really good deals because they aren't rotted away. So we still got a screaming deal on his car. But when I started looking at parts and stuff, it was almost cheaper for me to go K-Series than stick with a B. Back when I was doing Hondas, and this is the early 2000s, you could B-swap a car for $1,500. Now that's the transmission. I was like, what happened to the price of parts?

I think Rhett said that when he was on the podcast too. He took some Honda and just did it overnight, super cheap or something.

When I was in college, I had a turbo coupe, B20 turbo coupe, and I built the whole car, including buying the car for $8,500. I took a B20 turbo, like 15 pounds. I took it to Rock Falls on Slicks and 1100. That's legit. Yeah, I was like, you can't do that anymore.

So you guys road course then, you said road course? So locally, like Brainerd and stuff?

Yeah, we try and go to Brainerd as much as we can, but I live right on the border of Lakeville, Apple Valley, so DCTC is like five miles from the house.

Right there.

So I do, me and my partner, we pretty much do all the like, back when it was just the Impulse guys running the track days, and then now it's like the Gary Curtis and Impulse. And then, you know, even we still do some of the SCCA track nights and stuff like that, so. I mean, DCTC is right there. I mean, it's hell on tires.

Yeah, but I've heard that.

Yeah, the track chews up tires, but they are repaving sections of it, so.

Oh, that's good to hear. Is that happening this season or?

Like last season or like this past season, they had a few sections paved, and then they're supposedly doing some more, so. Yeah, but yeah, you know, we try and do those as much as possible, so.

So, because we kind of just left you hanging there for a little while. So, what got you into your start? So, before, or I guess, is your current, okay, I'm trying to get all the cars mixed up. You have the Q45, right? Or is that you?

That's me.

I got the Lexus.

Okay, I'm trying to get the names locked down here.

I don't know what any of them are, so.

Yeah, we'll have to send you back to the Ford agency. So, okay, what was yours again?

It's a Lexus GS400.

GS400, okay. Had one of the hundred numbers in there, okay. So then, when did you start, so you said you started out building like 2008-ish, I think it was, right?

Right, that's when I bought the car. It was pretty basic for a while, you know, just wheels and suspension, you know, the audio.

Oh, that's what I was going to ask you.

What do you have for an audio setup?

I've got a Kenwood Doubled-In. Old US amps. From one of them is, I think, from probably the late 90s. The other one, a little newer. And CDT components, a three-way front stage with the mid-bass in the doors and the mids and tweeters in the kick panel pods. That's kind of an old school way of doing that, too, is the fiberglass pods. And then an old, they call it version one, RE audio triple X12 in the trunk. Then I'm really thinking about redoing that part of that setup again.

Your trunk is fired, dude, like seriously.

No, I had one little one tweak to things, and it's sort of just kind of snowballed from there. Where I've probably got about $400 worth of acrylic in a cart somewhere. We'll see what happens there.

Yeah, well, I've held on to all my old stuff, too. And I actually have a bunch of punch amps, right? And there's actually like a Facebook page and a following. Some of them are worth kind of some money now.

No, I was going to say, those things are probably worth something now.

Yeah, I've got a few of them. Yeah, well, back in my day, that was like the creme de la creme of stuff, right?

Oh, yeah.

You really wanted all that stuff. Right now, I have, like I said, I have the old P3s, and then I have Alpine V12 running it.

I've got an Alpine V power. My stuff's old, too, besides the head unit.

What was quality stuff then? Probably the quality stuff now is still not as good. I mean, things that were older usually were made a little better.

Remember those PPI Art Series amps? They're white, and they had the 80s, 90s theme painting on it. It's like, dude, I want to find those. I'm in a Facebook group for those amps, and I'm sitting there waiting for a 600 or a 1,000 watt one to come through just so I can get it.

Snatch it up?

Yeah.

Yeah, those are a period piece right there. Some of that, if you're going back to the stuff that was cool when we were in high school or middle school, and that's what's happening to some of those 90s JDM cars, too, is we grew up on that stuff, and now our generation has a little more money, and we're going back and trying to buy up what we wanted when we were a kid and we couldn't afford.

Well, it's kind of nice to be able to nerd out with some guys on car audio stuff, too, because I hang out with these race car guys that are all like, they wouldn't dream of adding weight to their car.

They're trying to take everything out.

Exactly.

Oh, yeah. I drove one that's on a scale at one point, and my car is at least 400 pounds above what the curb rate is. Between all the audio stuff, the air setup, the 11 and 12 inch wide wheels, it all adds up. Where those guys are all trying to strip weight, we're throwing all this extra stuff on there.

Metal wide bodies and everything.

I'm going to take a second to support the home team. Many of you know the podcast is based out of Radified Motorsports, who make some of the sickest builds out here. That dyno you all hear downstairs has seen some serious cars. Whether you're looking for a standard tune for your cute little Volkswagen to a full-on Supra or RS3 build, you should give Radified a call to get the sauce. Check out radifiedmotorsport.com/performance to see what they can do for you. Let's get back to the show. Are you on air as well?

No, so my car is on coilovers. It's static.

What coilovers?

So my car is on Part Shop Max, PBMs. It's actually full S chassis suspension. So the Q45 actually shares the same chassis as a Nissan S14. So 240SX. So all the suspension components swap over, but you need to swap over everything. So coilovers, spindles, all the arms, and everything of mine is adjustable. It's, I guess, PBM coilovers, 30 kilogram spring rates for those playing the home games. The home game of inch pounds is like 1800 inch pounds on each corner for springs. And then I have Kazama Auto adjustable arms and tie rods and everything that they have for a S chassis. So for the car to sit as low as it does and not...

I was wondering how, when you guys were talking about how wide your wheels were, I'm like, how in the hell do you even... Because you're probably not tubbing the car or doing anything like that.

My car is actually tubbed.

Is it?

Okay. So my Q45, so it has a history before me. So the car was originally built in California by a guy by the name of Josh, and his screen name back on the VIP forums was brokeY33, and that's why the car is called that. And he was like diehard static, slammed as possible, drag frame, everything like that. So when the wide body and stuff happened, I mean, the rear is tubbed and everything like that. It tucks 20 by 13s. It swallows like 19 by 12s. My car could go another two inches lower. I've had the car drag frame on a flat road.

And you can still turn and do all that stuff.

Yeah, still turn and everything. What got expensive was... So the Aero kit, the body kit, is completely one off. And I've had the bumper fixed like three or four times. And...

Rookie numbers. Yeah.

And it's like $2,000 to $2,500 every time I've had the bumper fixed. So like how I got the car is the car got wrecked. And I stepped in to buy it and save it. And so like I had the car rebuilt. I did some of the bodywork. Most of it was handled by Lake Marion Collision down in Lakeville. But I mean, the car probably had... The bodywork and paint on the car is probably $35,000. So like if you want to talk money, of what it takes... That came up earlier. Obviously, time...

Yeah, race car guys think they have it bad, right?

And then it's like money was the other thing. So it's like, here's like VIP 101 build. So like your suspension, so like most cars are going to be bagged. I mean, even coilovers, like a good static setup, like my car with the coilovers, the knuckles and all the arms and stuff, you're probably looking at $6,000 just in coilovers and arms. Kyle set up on the air ride because I supply it. I was an airlift dealer, so he is running airlift. You're probably still five, six grand into an airlift setup with digital management. Wheels and tires are going to be, depending on like who you go through, but your wheels, and it's usually three-piece and real wheels, you know, none of these cheaper brands out there. So it's going to be your work, SSR, Leon Harderit, your luxury abstract, VIP Modular. You're anywhere from like four grand all the way up to like $10,000 for a set of wheels.

Well, and that's, you touched on one of the other big things about the VIP. Authenticity is everything. There's no knockoff parts.

And this is where patience comes in too, because everything comes from Japan. Like nobody, there's very few shops, stateside, that are going to stock anything related to like the VIP market. Most of the stuff you are literally buying straight from the company that makes it in Japan. So then it goes on a container and, you know, floats across the ocean. So you're waiting. Brakes are going to be another anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 for a brake setup. Then you get into like your basic arrow kit, like, you know, ready made or not a one-off kit. Like your basic body kit, front bumper, side skirts, rear bumper, is going to be about $5,000, $6,000 before shipping, and then before paint and stuff like that. So then, and then you got your interior, and that can frickin, that can vary, and your audio and all that stuff. But like, just like do like your suspension, arrow, wheels, brakes, and like paint it and put it on a car, you're like 30 grand.

Oh, my mental calculator is clocking over 50. Like all said and done, because I'm guessing audio, if you go all out, it's probably not cheap either.

I mean, like my interior is probably as basic as you get, and that's like a couple thousand dollars. So, you know, Kyle's being as custom as it is, I mean, there's more in it than that.

Did you do all that work yourself?

Yep.

Yeah?

And that's what I was going to say, a lot of it, you know, the one way you can avoid a little bit of the cost is if you're willing to try some of that stuff yourself. And, you know, I'm more of like partially, if I have the capability to do something myself, I would rather do it myself, mostly because I don't have that much money.

But it adds up.

But also at the same time, like if I'm fabricating something, if I'm doing something, I know when it's done, how it was done, how well that it was done to my standard. You know, it's hard to find a shop where they're going to treat your stuff as well as you would.

Maybe not for me, I treat my stuff horribly.

And if there is something that is not quite up to par with it, I can blame myself for it instead of saying, man, I paid those guys $3,000 to do this for me, and it should be flawless, and it's not. And then you get into that position. So if you've got the patience to try to do things yourself, that can save you money and can give you a little more pride in how things turn out. If you had your own hands on all those different aspects of it.

Yeah, that makes sense. Real quick, because I had a few people reach out to me, literally this week, since you probably had to deal with this more with four bumpers, do you have a Peyton body guy you recommend here locally?

So, like I said, my car was done by Lake Marion Collision down in Lakeville. I mean, I highly recommend them.

There was a pause there.

So, they also painted my Civic, and them, like a lot of other body shops, are moving towards strictly insurance work.

Yep, that's the hard part. Just because they do it for you, they may not do it for anybody who calls them.

Yeah, and they have, like, anytime I go there, there's always some... I mean, they have... The reason I got referred to them was one of my friends with an NSX had body work done by them, so I'm like, okay, they're good enough to work out.

What color was the NSX?

The black NSX.

He...

His name was Mike. He used to... Remember the shop base zone from, like, way back? I'm probably dating myself.

I was probably, yeah, I was probably in elementary school.

Well, anyways, he had a turbo black NSX. He's since sold the car. It might still be local, but they did the paint and body work on his car. He's like, and when, like, the shop that he worked for did, like, all, like, the res cars. So, like, you know, they were, like, over by Mystic Lake, so they did all the cars for the res and the Vikings players, so they all sent them to Lake Marion. But every time I go there, there's always some classic muscle car on a rotisserie, and they've literally told me, they're like, yeah, guys, come here and spend $250, $300,000 on their car, and they're like, it's cheaper for us to knock out insurance jobs. So they told me when I painted my Civic, they're like, you know, we'll work stuff in, but like, we're really trying to go towards.

Yeah, it's tough, man. Like I, you know, I know I have friends that own paint and body shops, but even though I might send work or refer work out their way, I always like to leave a little bit of caution.

Yeah.

When I tell people, because like you ask anybody on the f****** planet, nobody has a good experience with a paint and body shop. I mean, or it's amazing.

Yeah. But there's, like I said, Lake Marion has treated me really, really well. I mean, their paint and body work is top notch. I mean, like I said, the car, my Q45 was wrecked, it was rear ended. And so, I mean, you're talking like big parts that have been widened and tubbed, all metal. And I was like, I don't want this to be like a mud car. Like, you know, I want as much metal work done as possible. And they delivered on it. You put a magnet on my rear and it sticks pretty much anywhere. They use as little mud as possible, and they weren't intimidated at all by all the custom work done. And then the paint has been phenomenal.

Black too, which is not an easy one to work with.

Yeah, when I had the car painted, it was jet black off of an R35 GTR, and then we added blue, green, and gold flake to it. So when the sun hit, in ambient lighting or convention center lighting, my car looks really deep black. But then in the sunlight, all of a sudden it just pops and sparkles and all this stuff. But there's another, like I said, me and my partner were redoing his Miata, and we're looking for a body shop to do it. Lake Marion, they're a little hesitant to do it, because like I said, they want to do insurance work, and they're like, if we're going to do it, we're going to charge you.

Right.

There is, I got to look up the name, but somebody referred me to a body shop. Just right, it's in Lakeville near the little airport there. I guess there is a body shop. It's independently, it's an independently owned body shop, and they apparently are good with like doing custom work and stuff like that. So I'm going to check them out.

Yeah, might as well. And I should clarify, there's people out there that do good work. It's just that no two people have the same experience.

Right.

Like there's like, it's like any business, right? Like they have good reviews and bad reviews.

Who did like your, because you got, so Kyle got a new kit last year. Who did your paint and body?

Well, I've got a guy down by him right outside of me, my little tiny town in the middle of nowhere that, you know, and actually I graduated from high school with his son and, you know, he's a little one man and body shop out behind his house.

Those are kind of the best.

Those are the ones that are usually willing to do that too.

And, you know, I've been like, like you said with everything, I've been like 95% happy with his work. I've had him repaint a bunch of different stuff for me. And, you know, fix some stuff that's you crack a bumper, you know, that sort of thing.

It seems like a recurring theme with you guys.

Well, no, I ride this load of the ground.

Is that what it is?

I cracked my bumper once and that was my own fault because I was backing up the driveway and I didn't realize that one corner had sunk down a little bit on the air ride. And so I just caught the bumper on the driveway lip and ripped it.

That didn't piss you off at all, did it?

I'm lucky. I got out and kicked the bumper, and I actually got lucky I didn't damage it worse because the section I kicked, we didn't even end up having to repaint. But yeah, that's part of where you almost modify a car to the point where you've got to be so much more careful about how you drive it. And I don't ride anywhere near as low as John does, but I try to drive low enough that it doesn't look completely whack when you're...

You ride around in an S10 or something.

Right, some of these bagged cars that...

That was my thing about bagged. Your ride has come so far with the digital management and the height and pressure sensors that 10 years ago, bagged cars were running around like skyjacked.

Four by four.

Four by four status. And then it's like, okay, cool. You look cool when you're parked, but man, see this thing roll, and he's cruising high. And it's like now the bad guys finally ride low, and then they fully air it out, and bumpers touch the ground. I'm like, that's the purpose of bags. Like right there, undrivable. People would say my car is undrivable too, but you know.

Well, and for me, as far as riding like that bag, the height sensors is the game changer there. Because the pressure can vary by conditions and weight and atmosphere, all that stuff. But the height sensors allow me to feel a lot more comfortable driving like that bagged. Because you know exactly where that tire is in relation to the fender. Because if it drops down a quarter inch, a half inch, my tires are going to be rubbing all over everything. And so having that insurance that I'm going to be able to drive without cracking a fender or tearing something up, you know, turn in a corner. And that's probably the difference maker on that.

One Airlift and AccuAir. There's a whole bunch of other ones, but AccuAir and Airlift were like the two that really started it with the digital management and the height and pressure sensors. That was like a big game changer for the Air Ride guys.

Well, I have this, I've decided that I like my Lincoln enough that I'm going to try and find a clean one and build it. I was going to go and donk with it, but now you guys got me thinking I need to go Air Ride and drop that son of a b**** down.

I mean, man, the donk stuff like gotten crazy. I'm not even going to lie. It's got, they do, you know, whether you like it or not, like, you know, same thing with like the VIP cars, like, you know, there's a lot of work that goes into them. So like the donk stuff, like, yeah, I used to be like, what's going on with this stuff? But then when I look at the builds, especially like the ones nowadays, I mean, those guys aren't pulling any stops. I mean, frickin full paint body stereo, and then they got like a twin turbo LS under the hood, and they go frickin run 10s on 26s with rubber bands.

That's such a cool category. Yeah, so I don't know if you guys know Sam Moraine. He works at the other Ratify location. We had him on the podcast. He loves donks. Like, and that's his dream, is to have like a donk that's fast as s***. Like, that's a whole category, dude.

Well, like my previous job, I did the, you know, we came out with the suspension for like the donks. So, you know, we'd, we do all like the Chevy B-Bodies and stuff like that. And I, you know, I put together like a Caprice and a G-Body on 24s and a Caprice on 28s. So, like, it was a lot of fun. I was like, man, I kind of want to do one of these. But I was like, I got my VIP, you know, I want to take my infinity, you know, like, you know, they like, I think a lot of people think me and Kyle have, like, like some big rivalry. And it's like, you know, we became like good friends over like the VIP stuff. And I think like our friendship and building the cars together, like it forces us to like not one up each other, but like keep pushing each other to like go to new levels in like a good way.

Like a friendly rivalry.

Yeah, like, you know, we finally like, you know, we started showing together and stuff like that and having like the cars together at various shows. And it's like, it's a huge impact like to have, I mean, in terms of like Midwest stuff goes like, you know, fine, I'll put my name out there. I'll be the one to say it. Like, nobody's touching my car, Kyle's, in terms of like Midwest VIP, you know.

Those are fighting words.

I, you know, it's...

It's truth.

The truth hurts. I, you know, if anything, it's like to inspire people. You know.

Well, that's what you got to do. Like in the race car scene, if you get beat, get f****** faster.

I mean, that was like the one thing I missed from the racing days is, you know, the trash talking. I mean, that was it. You know, that was it. That's what got you going. Like almost more on the racing was, was, you know, talking trash for like months to some dude call outs and all this stuff. And then you finally set up the race and get it done. And whether you win or lose, I think at the end, you're just like your buddies with the dude now, even though just, you know, drug his name through the mud. But it's like, yeah, show car stuff, like same thing.

Like, you know, there's too dramatic to have that. And like, yeah, it just adds up a bunch of drama.

But like, you know, just, you know, I don't know, putting it out there, like, I want to see, like, you know, Chicago step it back up, you know, like me and Kyle been going down to Chicago and just taking names in terms of life.

You guys got something unique enough, too. I mean, there's not a ton of them out there. So I think there's no reason for you to be you're fighting for a space that's not very big anyway. You should be fine. And I have what I thought was a really cool I have a 2021 GT 500 that's wrapped Mystic Chrome. I was like, man, I'm going to win car shows. And then I keep losing to Randy, you know. So it's like, you know, you wrap your car like a pink brushed aluminum and you throw lights on the bottom of it. So I keep him and I have an argument and I was like, we should just start collecting these together. I was with you.

Yeah, I mean, you know, like, like I said, that's kind of like, you know, I think a lot of people like thought me and Kyle had some like, you know, big rivalry or whatever.

What gave him that idea?

I don't know, just because like we, you know, we're like always these two that are always going out of state and competing and, you know, really taking it serious. But you know, it's like, we're always like, especially like local stuff, we, you know, try and hang out and all that stuff. So and I've been like pushing him to like even go like for, you know, West Coast and all that stuff. Because I mean, that's like to us, car show people, like West Coast is like the heaviest of heavy hitters.

Yeah.

You know, like, I think, you know, Kyle's car can go out there and compete with the best of them.

So who's got more trophies between the two of you? That's what's going to speak truth right now. Whoever's got more trophies like that settles the beef right here and now, right? That's how your community works.

Well, and what I would say as far as that goes, like the local stuff in general, the Lexus guys have been stepping up. Like I'm seeing there's a lot more, you know, high level Lexuses out there locally now. But you.

Know, the infinity guy.

Ten years ago, it was a little different, and so in those classes, when you've got those guys that have a bunch of motor work done and that sort of a thing, it's kind of apples to oranges, and you're almost stuck without a class that really suits what you're doing.

Yeah, because there is a VIP specific category at the big shows, and then we'll have one at Modest as well. So it's like the VIP specific trophy is going to really try and capsulate those platform cars, and then I usually don't compete against the other infinities, but actually this past Tuner Evo, you took best VIP and I took best infinities. So we've kind of gone back and forth. For a while, Kyle was winning best Lexus or best interior, and I'd win best VIP. Kyle got the big one, the back-to-back best of show.

Is there a show that has the biggest number of VIP cars?

That'd be VIP Fest in San Diego. So that's the 2021 I took my car out there. And it's a smaller show. It's probably like 150 cars, but it is like...

Strictly VIP.

Strictly VIP. And it's all of the West Coast, the finest, all the top guys. There used to be one on the East Coast called Black. The show was just called Black, but they haven't done that for a couple years. So that was put out by Liberty VIP. They're one of the OG car crews. So OG VIP car crews. And then I'm with Endless Projects, which is NorCal based, but we have members in SoCal, Vegas, Arizona, and then Japan. And then me and my partner are here in Minnesota. And then, yeah, we have a Texas chapter, too. They would have thrown me other the bus for that one. Thomas would be like on the phone right now.

He's screaming at the windshield.

Bro, don't forget about me in Texas.

So you said that you don't travel as much, or I think you said that. So, I mean, I guess how much traveling have you done then for shows?

Well, in most years, I've gotten down to Chicago once or twice for either Slammed Enough or Tune or Evo or Weekfest. And I do some stuff in Wisconsin. I've been to Gatlinburg a couple times, and that's the big Slammed Enough show that's basically on the edge of the Smoky Mountains. And so everybody goes and gets a cabin. And the whole three-town area is just overrun with cars.

Yeah, it's not a photos. Everywhere you look.

And that's a wild thing that hopefully they can keep calm enough that it can keep going.

I heard it was rowdy this year too, right? Or 2023?

Well, it's almost like it's on the edge of going H2OI, where things start getting out of control outside of what the show can control. And we know how that goes for event permits and all of that sort of thing. And so they do a good job down there at all their events, but it'd be a shame to see that one disappear too. Because it is kind of a destination. You see people there from Washington state, like all over the East Coast.

That's like a 25-hour drive at least.

Oh yeah, if not more. Yeah, because that's about a thousand miles from here. And Seattle is about another 24 hours from here.

Nashville is 12 hours or 11 hours from here, I believe. And then you're going further into the mountains over there, like past Knoxville, I think, right?

It's just past Knoxville, yeah.

Something like that. That was really cool. I saw a lot of... There was a lot of memes from that one too, though.

Yeah, I mean, from what I've seen, I've never been to that one. I'd like to check it out once before it either gets too rowdy or just... But there's some extreme stance cars. So VIP and stance, you go hand in hand, but I think VIP keeps it a little bit more conservative.

Classy.

Yeah, a little bit more classy. Like I said, I definitely have grown up. My car has nine degrees of camber on all four corners. I've had a car that had 16 degrees of camber all around. But there have been... There's that... Well, I don't even want to bring it up. I don't want to give him that spotlight because that's what he wanted.

The one that burned down?

Yeah, the car that burned down.

I knew immediately what you were talking about.

Probably burned down. It's just as bad, if not worse, in person than you think it is based off of everything you've seen.

You see cars out there that are like... They're doing it strictly for cloud and Instagram likes. That's like a whole other discussion about the modern car scene and the younger generation doing it for cloud and you hear the term TikTok car or Instagram car. It's built for cloud and likes, rather than passion.

But nine times out of ten, they're not as good looking in person as they are online.

Yeah, it's like online, it might seem cool, but then you see it. I saw a couple of them when I went down to Tuna Revo Houston, and there's this Ultima, a pink wrapped Ultima with 15 degrees of camera all the way around, and the tire d-beated trying to leave the show. You can't even get it on and off the trailer. Yeah, it's like, come on, it's like, you know, but tastefully, I don't know.

Just to backtrack real quick, 2,600 miles and 39 hours from Seattle, Washington to Gatlingburg, Tennessee.

That's dedication right there.

It says one day in 15 hours.

You factor in stops and stuff. Oh, yeah.

That's crazy.

Well, just the thing that gets me on those longer trips, you know, what's held me back a little bit is almost just fuel cost.

If you hit a headwind, it's game over.

You're towing a car, you're getting 10, 12 miles a gallon.

If you're lucky.

That starts adding up real quick.

That's where I love my tundra. I have a Toyota tundra. I think it's like 14 miles a gallon towing my heavy boat.

We were struggling on the way down to Texas, dude. I think on the way back, we hit a headwind. We were doing six miles a gallon.

Oh, wow.

I mean, it's a TRX, you know.

I mean, that gets like 10 on a good day.

You guys don't need to up to the diesel game. That makes towing so much better. I'm towing two cars down, and those need 12 to 14.

Well, the nice thing about the T-Rex is you don't technically need to put in 91. So we were getting pretty cheap gas most of the way.

That'll hurt your mileage though, too.

Sometimes you're almost better at it.

It worked out. It mathed out. I'm not gonna get into the math. I'm not the math guy. But the headwind cost us an extra couple hundred bucks.

This isn't a math podcast?

Yeah, it is.

Not this episode. Well, actually, if you have this much camper and you're hitting this many speed bumps, how much will Billy spend on this year's bumpers?

It's only a math podcast when we have Michael Peterson on.

Oh my god, that was a wild episode, which by the way, make sure you check out our sponsor, Raise a Hood. But the heck was I gonna ask? Oh, VIP cars. So with VIP cars, you guys typically see a higher quality across the board. Is there any cheap VIP cars out there? Because I feel like with some show cars, like you said, you have these Instagram famous guys that look amazing on Instagram, and it's just a POS in person.

My personal opinion and experience with it is, I think VIP cars, it's just higher quality across the board.

They respect the game more?

Yeah, because it's a higher cost of entry, and it's usually a more mature, dedicated individual to- It's a gentleman's game.

Yeah.

I like how you said that, yes, yeah. There are, so especially with a lot of 90s and now, I mean, we're up to 2000s becoming legal very soon here in the US for the 25-year rule, so a lot of, you can buy an imported Celsior, SEMA, Majesta, Crown, really cheap. I'm talking like 10, $12,000 landed here from a dealer or something like that. So the cost of entry for the car is relatively affordable for some of these younger people getting into it. But they aren't, bags and wheels or suspension and wheels isn't a build. I mean... Hot take.

I'm offended.

You're seeing a lot of people importing these cars, and doing just that and being like, oh, put some pillows, put the lace seat covers, or put the little... I call it a pretzel, but the Suna, the knot hanging from the...

Yeah, you can get 80% of yourself at O'Reilly's.

So those cars, it's not really VIP. But the true VIP cars like my car, Kyle's car, or any of the big guys on the West Coast, East Coast, Texas, the competition is stiff. If you run into other VIP cars at a show, it's top notch versus top notch.

You can't fake it.

Yeah, exactly.

And that first car you were describing, almost it's not even the same category, even if it's technically, you could say it's in the same category.

Yeah, it is a platform car, but it's stock with bags and wheels. The judges know enough, yeah, it's a platform car, but it's not going to compete in the VIP category with cars like mine or Kyle's.

So you said, again, we're about striking those 2000 plus cars legal here. So earlier you mentioned there's like, you know, like whatever, 10 VIP cars. What are some, is there any incoming additions that we're going to start seeing or what's going to be the next hot thing?

I mean, no talent cars.

You can be inspired, inspired or styled.

What was that one dude, he's like building like a 2001 Cadillac DeVille.

Oh, he just sold it actually.

He like took like the Cadillac DeVille that your 70-year-old grandma drives like with the North Star, just a nightmare. But like, I mean, the guy took it, bagged it, put like SSRs on it, and then he grafted like Lexus, like a Mode Parfum kit from like a Lexus onto it. And you'll get to know this, we talked about Junction Produce earlier, every like body kit manufacturer for like VIP cars has some weird name. So it's just, it's just Japan and we love them for it. So I mean, there's like, there's Junction Produce, there's Vleen, there's Job Design, there's Mode Parfum, which, you know, he was trying to say perfume, but misspelled it. You know, it's like, you know, there's all that.

So I sidetracked you from this. So is there any more coming in to the hot 10s?

Like what's hot in Japan, right? Because they actually have these cars legal, right?

Yeah, so I mean, the big ones that are coming over, the big one is the Century. So the Toyota Century, that is like, I don't know how many people know this, but like, so Toyota, the Century was made for the Royal Family and Prime Minister of Japan. Like, that's the car they get driven around in. And they actually make a V12 version. So Toyota has a V12 that they make. The base model Century comes with the V8, the same engine that's in Kyle's car.

Is that V12, the, isn't it like, because I don't know if there was, is that the same Toyota V12 I've been hearing about? What is it?

Yeah, it's like a 1G.

1GZ8, right?

Yeah, 1GZ8.

It's kind of like, yeah.

So, what kind of like put that motor on the map was top secret, built a Supra. They took a JZ880, and they put a Toyota V12 in it, and twin-turboed it, and did all this crazy stuff with it. So, that was kind of like the car that made the motor famous, and then somebody else. Like, people have been swapping it into crazy things.

It's not a well-known motor.

No, it's not.

Yeah. Yeah.

I didn't know it existed until just right now. Yeah. Not many people know that Terio animated V12.

I have to tell you something off-camera.

I'm picturing the Mercedes did a similar thing.

Yeah.

They had a V8 and a V12 version of it.

So, it was an S600. So, the S600 and the S500. So, you had the V8 and the V12. You know, you straight pipe. It sounds like an F1 car. BMW, same thing. The 750 IL, or the BMW 7 Series, they had the 740, 750. The 440 was a V8. The 550 was a V12. So, Toyota, same thing. So, the Century is one of the big ones that VIP guys are trying to go after because it's the pinnacle.

That's kind of like your guys' R34, in a way.

Yeah. I mean, they are kind of dated looking because they made the first one in the early 80s and then the second generation was in the early 90s. And then they just came out with the third generation.

A few years ago.

Yeah, a few years ago. It's kind of dated, but the other two big ones that are really, really popular are the Toyota Crown and the Toyota Magista, which those two are Toyota's upper-echelon cars prior to them making. So Lexus was the US version of Toyota. Lexus got so big and popular that they homologated all of those models. So in Japan, Kyle's car is a Toyota Aristo, not a Lexus GS. Now there's Lexus in Japan. So now the LS500 and stuff like that and the LC500, it's all sold as a Lexus over in Japan instead of having a Toyota variant. So the Crowns and the Majestas, we're seeing those, especially once the newer gens start becoming available, the lines get much more updated rather than your boxy 90s luxury car look. So once we get into the 2000s, the 18 Crowns and the 18 Majestas, those are going to probably be really popular for people. There's a lot more parts and a lot more arrow available.

That's going to be awesome. Here's a question I had lingering, and maybe there is no answer to this, but who's the goat in your scene? Is there anybody that's just hands down the most known in the scene? Not necessarily Minnesota.

I have a couple names I could drop. Who's just killed the game? The real godfather of the US VIP scene is John Liwenang. He was the first. He built a GS back in 2001 for SEMA, and that's kind of like where it started.

For reference, I was two years old.

I was not.

Me either. I'd say him, and that's not just because he's also one of the original founders of Endless Projects. Yeah, Nax in Florida. He's been in the scene a long time, and right now, I think he's the one killing it. I mean, his cars are just next level. It's show mixed with go. He finds all the rare parts, and the bodywork. I mean, dude runs dual eight-piston calipers front and rear.

Oh, that's insane, dude.

On a car that's not even going anywhere.

On a car that literally just, you know, he has an LS430 that's just absolutely insane, one-off. Thomas in Texas.

That's sort of what I would consider an OG, too.

He's been doing it just cars in general a long time, but his GS is, besides John's, like I think that's your number one and two GS right there. John and Thomas.

I would say so.

And then...

Definitely some of my inspirations.

Yeah, and then you probably got to throw Aggie.

Yeah, from the...

He built a car called... They called it the President, so he did a Q45 with a Bentley front end.

Oh, that sounds... Okay, I have to look this up.

Back in 2002, nobody knew what anything was, especially on the East Coast. So...

That's the guy who founded the Luxury Abstract, the wheel company. So the guy's that's been around for a long time and has the respect for the culture and how everything's... how to do it right.

Yeah, so yeah, I mean, I think overall, OG is John, Endless Projects, VIP Style Cars, and just West Coast in general. But overall, him, and then you got Aggie in the East, Thomas in the South, and Max, that's southeastern region. And those are, that's my top, you know, my opinion.

I don't have anything to argue. I think that's pretty spot on.

Now you keep bringing up your partner. Do you have a shop then?

So I'm married, I have a husband. So, you know, partner is kind of one of those a little bit more.

In the car game, it could be running a shop together or whatever.

Yeah, so, yeah, me and my, you know, husband, we've been together for 12 years and like four months now. And, yeah, he was in the Mustangs, actually. That's like when we met, he had a fox body and all that stuff. And I kind of, I don't, I was like, build your Mustang? Like, sure, do it. And then like, yeah, how did the Rocket Bunny happen? Yeah, he was just like, he's always kind of like...

To be fair, they are Ford affiliated. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, there is that.

So like his fox body, like, you know, it's just a project that was more sitting rather than moving. And so like, he's like, yeah, I'm ready to move on from it. And he wanted like a roadster, so he wanted like an S2000 or like a Miata or something like that. And the Miata was just a lot more accessible. And so we bought one from a friend of ours, even though it was like, it was like kind of their drift beater. It was a rust free car. So yeah, it's kind of funny because like, if you looked at the car when we got it, to like what it is now, like you'd be like, this is the same car. Like it was pretty rough when we got it, but it was just a clean chassis. And he just learned how to build, you know, learned how to do everything. Like that car is 95% built, me, him, and a couple of friends in our garage. Like paint, bodywork, shave bay, all the wire tuck, the shaved interior, everything was done in our garage or our friend's garage.

I'll have to look at that car a little closer, because I've seen it at the Under 94 meet like four years ago when I was a nobody in this scene. I can't remember if it was you or somebody else taking photos in that produce area.

Oh, so that was actually my Miata. That was my MB. Oh, are they different cars? Completely different cars. Oh, okay.

Which one's the other car?

So there's a Rocket Bunny one, it's an NHS. He sold first gen Miata.

Okay, and what color is that one?

It's also red.

Okay, that's what threw me off then.

I think like 80% of Miata's are red, aren't they?

Yeah, it's something crazy. We've been on this mat, like he got a Miata, and I was like, man, this is a lot of fun, so I got a Miata. And so that was my MB that you saw me shooting at the farmer's market. And then I sold that and that's when I got my Civic. And then I got my Civic, and I've had that for a couple of years, and my partner's like, I want a Civic.

It's good that you're on the same page.

He basically drove my car. We went to a Brainerd for AJ's birthday. When he ran it out.

Yeah.

I've known AJ since his Suburban. Oh my God.

I was giving him so much s*** in the comment section the other day.

I knew AJ as one bad burb. That was his screen name on the forums back in the day. I was like, this dude, he's got a supercharged Suburban. That's how long I've known AJ. I'll go way back. So my husband drove my Civic up at Brainerd, and he got hooked on it. He's like, oh, I want a track car or something. Because the Miata, we could do it, but that car has been taken so far along the show level. Like, he doesn't want to do anything to it. I mean, that was the first Rocket Bunny Miata in the States.

Oh, wow, in the States.

We got the first kit because I have some connections with Kay Meera. And some people I know at Greti. So, like, when Kay Meera announced that he was going to do a Rocket Bunny kit, or like, he messaged me, like, you know, that he was going to do a Rocket Bunny kit and showed me, like, some of the early renderings of it, I was like, because he knew I had one, and I was like, yeah, I want the kit. So, you know, we were the first one in the States to have it.

So Rocket Bunny is, like, an addition of the car? Like, I thought it was a really cool name for the car.

It's the body kit. So, like, Rocket Bunny is, like... Like Liberty Walk. Yeah, Liberty Walk. Oh, okay. So, you know, they just don't do Ferraris and Lambos. Yeah.

I know Rocket Bunny Lambos.

Yeah, that doesn't... Okay, he did do a kit for, like, the R... The one that really made hit was he did one for... He's done a number of kits for, like, the FRS and BRZ, but then he did a R35 kit, and that was, like, you know, kind of his...

Yeah. We had one or two Rocket Bunny R35s here.

Yeah, there's been a handful, so...

Yeah, I forgot her name. The red one. I think that was a Rocket Bunny, I believe.

Yeah, and then the white one, too.

Oh, yeah, yep.

TJ Miller.

Yeah.

Like, his wife, fiancee. I don't know. I don't know their relationship.

He had that FRS, too, that sold.

Yeah, Rocket Bunny.

Yeah, that was a cool car.

That car is really, really well put together.

It's still around.

Yeah, yep. Somewhere, I think, South Metro, maybe? I don't know.

I don't know where it is.

I don't know.

You just parked with us at Tuner Evo like this.

You know, I think... Because he knows Carissa.

Yeah. He didn't ask for them for a lot when he sold that car either, I think.

Yeah, he was... I mean, he's selling his 240.

Oh, really?

Yeah. And he's very reasonable on the price. So he's not asking for them.

On to the next project. I get it.

Well, there's guys like that. Once you feel like you're done with the build, you get bored with it and you want to start building again. You know, so it's either you enjoy the process but not the finished product.

Yeah.

So then it's like, okay, time to start over.

That's how we're wired, man. That's the weird thing about humans, and there's like a whole dopamine episode I listen to or whatever. It's like you... Dopamine is like firing the most, like when you're in the process of something, and then once you finish something, it's like, all right, we're back to normal. It's so f***** up how we're wired. Like we cannot enjoy something once we're finished.

Yeah, it's like me, I can like... I've learned to like enjoy my cars like finished, even though like I want to take the infinity up like one more notch.

Just rip it apart.

Like, and we're in the... We just started the process with the Miata. Like, my husband thought the Miata had gone as far as it had gotten, and he wanted to like sell it and move on to something else. But now he's like, he really wants... He wants to like take it to that level where it's like, he wants to pull into a show and it's like, there's your best of show. Like, he wants that level. Yeah. And it's like, you either, you know, build it to a point, enjoy it, move on, build something else, or like, with like Kyle's car, you just keep refining it over and over because there's...

Like, keep nitpicking it, you know, like... For example, earlier this winter, you know, with the engine covers, all this stuff, noticing if you look at the motor from just the right angle, there's this little section, you know, about like that, that you can see of the valve cover and a couple of the coil packs. It's kind of... There was crusty, old, you know, 25-year-old motor. So I'm pulling the valve cover out and sanding it down and polishing it.

He hand-polished his supercharger.

And it didn't come like that?

That was an entire winter of, like, my fingers not bending straight.

The man's attention to detail is insane.

Well, that's where, you know, I guess my combat to, like, getting bored is I keep finding other little stuff I can play with on the same car. That's probably where my trunk thing comes from, is finding something I can change, like something where I can make better. You know, and it's always like being your own worst critic as far as like nitpicking things and, you know, like looking at your own, if you're a show car, looking at your own car, like, if I was judging this car, what would I hold against it? And then fixing that. Yeah.

Well, a lot of times you see the stuff that nobody else sees.

Oh, yeah.

Like, there's so many things even on my car, like I'm wiping it down, doing something like, oh my God, that sticks out like a sore thumb at 99%.

Nobody else notices.

Nobody even notices, yeah.

You know, even the judge, like, for the most part, they come through and they might spend, if you're lucky, they spend two minutes looking at your car.

Yeah.

Usually it's less than that.

Yeah.

Unless they're going back and forth between two cars for an award and they're digging deeper into each of them, they're spending a lot less time looking at the little details of your car than you think they are.

In our defense, we are looking at anywhere between 250 and 400 cars. And we're trying to do it in less than six hours.

It adds up real quick, yeah.

I never, I always think it's crazy, like, some of those concourse, like, judging one, where they get, like, you can't have the wrong hose clamp or screws. That is nuts.

I've been to one concourse event and, like, fall around the judges. That made my brain hurt.

Yeah.

Your screws are all clocked exactly. If your screws aren't clocked exactly right, they're taking points off.

I have a friend, he might listen, SW down in Austin.

What was the handle?

His name is SW. His real name is really hard to pronounce. It's like Suryanthia with Surya. Like, sorry if I butchered that. Yeah, he owns Elite Motorsports down in Austin, and he's like an exotic car or just specialty car dealer. But one of his personal cars is a second gen Trans Am that was built for SEMA like, I don't know, six years ago. It was in the ARP booth. So every bolt in that car is ARP, and it is clocked so that it reads ARP top. Like every single bolt on the chassis, on the suspension, on the motor, every single bolt is clocked so that it reads ARP right side up.

The amount of time that takes is...

Oh, I bet.

I would go bat s***.

It depends on how much ARP, how much money they're willing to give me before I'm willing to do that.

I don't know if it's VIP cars, but do VIP cars put goldfish in the trunk or no?

Oh, are we talking about the... What's his name? Keoki. Yeah. That's definitely unique to him.

That's... You know, thinking outside the box, and, you know, I've seen a few cars with waterfalls in the trunk. You know, and he's definitely unique with the Koi pond.

Was that a VIP car?

Yeah, so it was a... He came from Vegas one year for Modest. And, yeah, like, it's a 2GS, so it's a second gen GS, just like Kyle's, so...

That's where I know him. Yeah. You kind of end up, like, you know... You just end up knowing the people who have the same cars.

All the GS guys know each other. All the Q45 guys know each other. It's a cult.

Well, they've got, like...

All, like, eight of us that have a Q45.

Well, it's like people, like, these are my friends to this day just because we happened to have the same type of car 10 years ago. Like, it's kind of crazy how that works. And, you know, that's what you really... What I take or what you should take from doing the shows and meets and that stuff more than, you know... Yeah, you show up in the bigger shows, you compete for the trophies and that sort of stuff. But really, if that's all you're going for, you're missing out.

Yeah, it's like, you know, me and Kyle, like, don't strictly do it for, you know, the trophy at the end of the day.

Well, that's what second place usually says.

But like, especially the VIP community, it's very tight knit. You know, it's pretty small. And kind of like what got me to the position where I'm in the automotive industry has been going outside of this little bubble that is the Midwest. And, you know, experiencing events like Texas 2K and H2O, and, you know, all these big car shows on like the West Coast and the East Coast and down south and stuff like that.

It's all networking.

And putting like names to like, we're putting like actual like faces to like screen names, you know. Forums are like still, that was like it when I was like getting started, you know. Facebook and Instagram like killed car forums, you know.

Well, now they got the pages.

Yeah, I mean, they're still like, it's not the same. Yeah, because like there was so much like information that like, I'm glad like all the big forums are still around because like the like the amount of information in like those tech sections is like, it's invaluable. Like honestly, like so, I mean, but it's just that whole networking and like meeting people. And that's what like really made it, you know, and why I still travel, even though like I don't judge national car shows. You know, I still get asked occasionally, but it's like, you know, mainly my job here is modest. So for Drive Cartel, so.

Yeah, that's actually and as we start to wind down here, that's one thing we didn't even touch on was Drive Cartel, which is funny enough. So I've only been to Cars and Craft. That's pretty much all I've been to. I've never actually been to a modest yet. It's just by the time I do the mile, I'm already burnt out of shows by the first season.

So I mean, you know, we'd love to have you out at modest. So it's July 20th this year.

And I'll be there this year, because again, I'm trying to make it to more things. And that's one that I just, you know, there's like, for example, I missed out on Street Machine for the last five years, too.

Yeah.

So it's like, I just got to make it so these other big shows.

Yeah. So, you know, that. Cars and Craft is what, you know, Drive Cartel like really started and got their kind of their feet wet.

That still, you know, Modest is we they do a great we they do a great job at that of the like the big production show. Cars and Crafts are still like my favorite nights every summer. You know, and I'm really happy to be back at St. Paul Brewing.

Was it back there this year?

Yep.

Oh, awesome. OK, because remember that.

Bent is cool for what it is. You can't recreate just the feel.

Yeah, the vibe.

The vibe at St. Paul Brewing.

Venue at St. Paul Brewing is like is really cool. Like just even from my aspect of like traveling to a bunch of stuff, like some of those smaller events, like when you have a venue like that, that's that kind of like photogenic and it has like its own feel to it is really cool. So, I mean, yeah, Cars and Craft. We've got three dates.

Yep. We're doing I believe it's May, August and October.

OK, so it's not every month.

Yeah, that that that was also like one of the the conflict issues from last year apart from, you know, some of the issues that that happened outside of Cars and Craft that, unfortunately, Drive Cartel can't control. Saturdays are like, I guess, for St. Paul Brewing, they have a lot of like private events booked on Saturdays. So like there's that conflict.

Scheduling.

Scheduling conflict.

Three shows. I mean, there's more of an incentive to go to.

Yeah, we're going to try. We're going to up the production level of like the Cars and Crafts and like make it a little bit more of like a mini show. It's still going to have like the same feel and everything as Cars and Crafts has always been. But like, you know, we're going to kind of like up the production of like the cars and the selection and all that stuff, you know, to kind of really gear up for, you know, modest now.

They finally repaved the lot, too.

Yeah, they repaved the lot. Really?

Yeah. So we've got a nice smooth parking lot now.

No way. That was part of the vibe.

It was a little, there was a part of that that was the charm, but at the same time, it's like, OK, those cars can't go down there because they're too low. Like, we need to put this truck over here because it can make it down there and back.

Like, yeah, I remember when I yeah, I barely made it down to the end with my golf. I mean, I'm fairly low. I should not nearly as low as you guys, but it was interesting. You're still you're still like, you almost took off my bumper here a couple of weeks ago.

That was funny.

Literally. Like, yeah, you were there too. Like, Rat literally just shook his head. He's like, what the f***?

Yeah. So, you know, we'll we'll have the three events and then, you know, modest, modest is kind of the big.

Yeah.

You know, the St. Paul River Center, you know, highly curated selection of cars. And, you know, we want we want variety, too. You know, I know we're probably associated more with the imports, but, you know, race cars, domestics, classics, hot rods like we the more variety you can get, the more the more interesting it is, the more you're exposed to stuff you're not familiar with.

And what is Drive Cartel? Is this like is it like a club that people can join or what?

So other than you guys doing these good as a group of this more a brand than OK, you know, call it kind of an automotive lifestyle apparel brand. You know, one of those sort of things. And, you know, so we've been doing the events for a while. And, you know, your kind of usual merch and all of that stuff. That's OK. Yeah. And I think more than anything, just everybody on the event team is extremely talented at what they do. You know, the guy that does the audio and a lot of the DJing, that stuff, that's what he does professionally, like a touring, for touring concert musicians. Are we thinking of Josh Michael?

Oh, yeah.

Josh is the other hosts and emcees.

Gotcha.

The loud, obnoxious guy.

Yeah. He's grown on me. But the last couple of years, I was like, oh, my God, stop. But as I figure out the...

He's an a******, but he's our a******. That's why sometimes you explain those guys like, he's going to rub you a little bit, you know, but...

Grows on you.

Grows on you. And super good dude. Like, he's a jerk, but he's our jerk. Yeah.

Well, I remember when he was chasing people out of one of the meets because they were just... I can't remember what they were doing. They were being obnoxious or something like that. And he was yelling them off. I'm like, yeah, that guy's got my respect now.

Well, my wife says you can't trust anybody with two first names.

Well, no, that's his first and middle name.

It's not his last name. If it's a trifecta, she said you just need to avoid them all the time. So hopefully his last name isn't like Scott or something.

That's what he goes by on Facebook. So I think that's where...

So then, is this... So are you guys like... Is there like a Minnesota chapter? Is this Minnesota-based? Or what exactly is it? Because I've always been kind of confused. It's like a national thing too, right?

So, well, no, Drive Cartel is Minnesota-based. You know, that's where it started. You know, I got brought on a lot later, you know, after like the foundation has had been laid just with my experience in doing the bigger production shows. So, you know, but they do have, you guys do have like your own specific, like almost like car group within Drive Cartel. So, yeah, we've put some like collabs together. So like, you know, I'll get, you know, my friends and my teammates, and we'll like combine to like, you know, make a super crew, if you will, for like, you know, shows like Tuner Evo and stuff like that.

So, you know, I remember seeing, I think the first time Drive Cartel put on an event, like the Cars and Crafts was 2017. You know, it was Nuke and Sing and Joey and, you know, those guys that I'd seen them, seen them around beforehand as kind of like Drive Cartel High Horse Club and, you know, remember them being, you know, have kind of, I was having that same spot at Hottieport Nights out at Canterbury and, you know, so they've been, it was kind of the infancy of it. And, you know, so it started out of St. Paul and, you know, basically started at St. Paul Brewing with that Cars and Crafts was really the beginning of it. And they've kind of brought on, you know, mostly organically, you know, just people like your friends that like, okay, here's somebody we enjoy spending time with that has something they could contribute to help work the events, make the events better. You know, I'm the guy who checks the cars in at the entrance basically, you know, but I think part, part of what I might have to offer is that traveling a little more and having a little more perspective and experience with other events outside of Minnesota where you'd say, you know, this is what these guys are doing well that we can incorporate, you know, and this is what we're doing better than most of those guys are, you know, that sort of thing or...

So this isn't like something that somebody can join other than going to the shows, you know, seeing everybody and kind of working your way in.

They have their merch and stuff like that. So, you know, anybody can, you know...

I like the blue, like it looks good.

Yeah, I mean, they're designs and stuff, you know.

I mean, you guys let Randy and Chris in there. So, I mean, you can't, your standards aren't that high. Just kidding, if you guys are listening.

No, but to where you're saying, it's not necessarily like a club where you... You'd apply and join and pay your dues or whatever.

It's not like a crew or anything like that, you know. It is a brand. I mean, you know, it was started by a good group of friends, and it's grown into what it is, and keeps growing, so... Like I said, I got brought on late, you know, along with, like, you know...

Me too.

You know, Brian Janouche. He's affiliated with Drive Cartel, and he's top rank.

Yeah. I thought that name sounded familiar.

And that was mostly because he was a good friend of Josh's, and, you know, so... Let's say I like to... Who are the people you want to hang out with and work with, and that sort of a thing. To me, that's kind of how things have ended up. From my perspective, I'm not the one who has any say on who's being brought in, or, you know, that sort of a thing.

There's been plenty of car clubs I've been in that have been ruined by a few a** hats, so yeah, I've been a little more selective as well.

That's where you kind of got to be careful, because I've seen that plenty of times, too, where you get one or two toxic people that, you know, and it's probably they've got brought in because, hey, this guy's got a really good car, like, we can use this car, and then the personality just kind of grenades everything.

We've seen that on rallies, man. We've seen people kill rallies, you know, just by, you know, like running on the shoulder and whatever, like, you know, at 130 miles an hour. It's like, it happens in every aspect of the car community, but that's just the name of it.

That happens.

When you get to the dinner at the end and nobody wants to talk to you, like, sorry, but you're a freaking a******.

Oh, yeah. We've seen a lot of those stories. I saw you shift in your chair, so I'm guessing that we're hitting a two-hour mark.

My a** has been numb for a little bit.

That's the unfortunate part. We're going to talk about something after this episode. I got some ideas that I want to unbind you. Since we are hitting that two-hour mark...

Chair-related ideas?

Yeah, we've been playing with the studio a little bit.

We're going to get him a butt cushion.

Either way, he gets the cushy chair, I get this one.

That's the way it goes.

I used to have a chair like this in my home office, and I could tell when it starts going out because it shifts to the right, and that's actually how I f***** up my hip. So it might be time to upgrade again soon. But since we're hanging out two-hour mark, obviously we usually try to wind down around this time, so do you want to pop the usual three? Because with two show car guys, it's probably going to take a minute.

Oh yeah. All right, so at the end of every episode, we like to ask our guests to pick three cars, a show car, which you guys should probably have pretty loaded up, a daily driver, and a track car. So we'll start with you.

Unlimited budget. The only limit is your imagination.

Well, in the imagination part, it's probably going to be a little disappointing, but I've given this some thought. You know, in the show car, I went back and forth to go back to the century that John had mentioned earlier, and like an LS 500 or something like that, kind of staying true to my Toyota, Lexus.

Can we give up the GS for that?

You sure you don't want a Buick Century? Because when you guys said that right first, that's what popped in my head right away. All right, anyway, I don't want a Buick Century.

You know, and that would be the other thing. Like, I'm assuming I'm not giving up everything I own already. But, you know, I think I'd probably have to go to the century. Just that's a little cooler than you can buy a really expensive car and build it. It's just more unique. The daily, I think, you know, a truck is probably, you know, for daily, like, I don't want to have to worry about driving it. Like, I want something I can just get in and go. And a tow vehicle at the same time would be good. You know, like a Tundra or a Sierra or something. And some nice, full-size truck that can tow. And the track car, I'm probably going to throw you for a loop, because I don't really have the desire to autocross or do that. Like, I want to take a drift car, like an S15, something like that. You know, so I'm...

That counts.

Nothing like crazy, high-budget, like Lamborghinis or anything.

Yeah, no, that makes sense, yeah.

I keep my simple tastes.

So S15, and let's nail down a truck. Are you going to stick with an American truck?

I'll stick with my Toyota and go with a Tundra.

All right, Toyota Tundras.

Yeah, let's pretend like Toyota Tundras aren't like...

I mean, they are made in Texas.

Right, I was going to say that's probably more American...

All right, your turn.

This is going to be... Believe it or not, I have it. I have my three. I own them. So literally, my show car, the Q45, is kind of everything that I've wanted and could hope to want in a show car.

Except for the goldfish.

There's some missing there. Me and Kyle got some plans for the trunk. But yeah, I don't know if water is going to be involved.

That's a little sketchy.

Make a lava lamp, that ould be kind of cool.

I know that I've seen that before.

I haven't seen that. That ould be different.

Listen, you make a f****** lava lamp. Maybe make some jellyfish in there. I don't know. You want some crazy ideas. Let's go do some quailudes or something. We'll figure it right out.

Yeah, no, like, yeah, the show car, I mean, literally, my Q45 is kind of everything that I'd hoped for and could ever want from a car. Yeah, I want to take it up another notch, but just the history of the car and everything, that precedes me, I'm just caretaker right now. Daily driver, my Tundra, it's a 2012 Tundra. Thing is phenomenal. I mean, it tows great, it drives great. I don't gotta worry about anything in the winter. And it's something that I can get in and drive and not worry about anything. It's still just a great truck. And on the track car, it's hard. I know people always say Miata is always the answer. EG Civic is always the answer. So as my friend Jose just recently said, there's, I mean, you might have a GT3 RS, but it's not better than a fifth gen Civic.

If that ain't the hottest take of the f****** episode, I'll take it. That's a win. Well, sweet. Well, where can people find you guys?

So, you know, Instagram, NLPKenshiba is how I go by there. And then you can also look that up on Facebook too, Twitter as well, you know, for the few people that are still active on it. Can't make me call it X.

It ain't happening. And then you?

So, my IG is KyleHarty, K-Y-L-E-H-A-R-T-Y-G-S-400. And that's really about all I really use. I've got Facebook, but I'm not really there. Sweet.

And then you?

Gunna Garage with two N's. I finally posted a reel of one of my daughters riding a stone wheel the other day. So we had about two inches in the yard.

Oh, congratulations. We're used to two inches. So, and as you all know, you found me here. Since we're two hours deep, you know where you're at. Be sure to check out our sponsor, Raise a Hood, of course. And if you're not signed up for the rally yet, I don't know what you're doing. Dan finally got his ticket. So we're going Minneapolis to Chicago for the first one, two track events on that one. And then south, we're doing Chicago down to Alpharetta again. It's basically the bigger, better whiplash rally. So I'm really excited for that one. That's gonna be my second coming. So let's see what else. If you're not on the Carmmunity app, you're a loser. Let's see, what else do we need? I think we got everything. We got everything for the most part. And on that note, thank you guys for coming on. Thank you for reaching out. This is a blast. I learned a thing or two or 10.

Thanks for having us.

Super awesome. Dan, thanks for existing, and we'll see y'all next time.