From Skateboarding to Supercars: Tommy L's Journey with DIY Porsche Modifications

Let us know what you think!

Tommy from 'Tommy L Garage' joins us for a chat about his journey from a young extreme sports and skateboarding vlogger to a respected figure in the ever expanding Porsche YouTube community. 

We talk about Tommy's early days when YouTube first launched, where his blend of skateboarding and car content laid the groundwork for his current success. We venture into the exhilarating world of Porsche ownership, diving into Tommy's transition from Volvo to Porsche and his passion for his former 981 Cayman S and current 911 Carrera T. Tracking, modding, wrenching, making friends, living the dream.

Welcome to another episode of Curb and Canyon! 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
whoa, whoa, whoa, is that you?
James mcgrath, andy gaunt,coming loud and proud on a
friday afternoon fromminneapolis, minnesota, usa baby
oh, dude, I'm glad it's afriday afternoon for you,
because it is early here on asaturday morning and actually
it's not as early as I thoughtit was supposed to be right.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
We did have a little challenge counting hours, didn't
we Counting?
Maybe not a strong suit ofyours, but inviting wicked
guests to podcasts definitely astrength.
Yeah, dude, definitely We'vegot a fun guest coming today.
Should we get into it?

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Let's just stop fucking about a strength, yeah
dude, definitely we've got a funguest coming today.
Should we, should we?
Should we get into it?
Let's just stop fucking abouthey gang.
I can't use a hey gang.
Yeah, you can.
That's screw you.

(01:13):
I'm doing it today.
Uh, are you pumped?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
I am, I am.
I've got one of my currentyoutube crushes here to talk to
me and you I know prettyexciting he's.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
He's someone we've both wanted to have on the show
for a long time.
He's got a brilliant youtubechannel.
He's one of those people who,when he does a job on his car,
you just you just want to watchhim do it and you want to hear
him talk about it.
He is super passionate aboutcars.
Absolutely prolific as aproducer of content, he's

(01:46):
literally been on youtube sinceday one.
He can drift a car like chrisharris.
Sometimes he's a diy, he's aninventor and when we asked, he
said yes, I'm keen to talk tohim about everything from
homemade mudguards to brightlycolored north face polar fleece
jackets it jackets.
It's Tommy from Tommy L GarageTommy welcome.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Hey, gentlemen, thank you for having me.
I'm very, very excited aboutthis.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Not as excited as us.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Before you kick it off, I have to ask a question,
though.
Andy, I noticed you're a 917.
No, I think, James right.
917 area code.
What's up with that?
That's a New York area code.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
It is and I am never giving it up.
There are no more 917 numbersavailable.
When I first moved to theStates, I lived in New York.
For many years I was living inManhattan, so I got myself a
cell phone and even though I'vemoved back to the Midwest, I'm
still proud of my 917 number.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
So that's where the accent is from.
I get, I thought it was austria, but I get.
Okay, great, nice give it.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Given we're a porsche podcast, shouldn't we be
calling it 917?

Speaker 2 (02:54):
I mean, come on, oh, there we go yeah, we should make
all of our episodes nine hoursand 11 minutes long oh yeah,
great, and then we can starttaking photos of our iPhones
when the time is 9-11 andsharing that on social media.
I do that every day.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Is that just a shit, Jay?

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Reid, I do that too.
It's sickening, I know.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
But yeah, generally it is to really annoy Jay Reid.
In fact there's about five orsix people that I know that send
him those on a daily basis justto wind him up.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, that's like me.
Right before Christmas,everyone starts sending me
photos of 9-11s with Christmastrees on the roof.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Oh, I've already got a few ready.
I've got a few lined up, andy,just you wait.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well, I'll be sending you mine, because this year
again, I plan on putting aChristmas tree on my 911.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
For real.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yellow and green would match.
Yeah, yeah, I don't think I'vedone this on.
I've done it on the M3 a coupleof times, but I don't think
I've done it on the 911.
So, yeah, I think it's time.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Tommy, you're a guest so I can't say anything.
Know, I can't say anythingother than supportive words.
I think it's great that you'regoing to put a Christmas tree on
your 911.
It's a fabulous demonstrationof what a usable supercar it is
and not at all played out onsocial media.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
Definitely not.
Definitely, definitely not.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
Hey.
So, tommy, thank you for thanksfor coming on.
Man, like we say, we've beenwanting to make this happen for
a while.
Can you just for people whodon't know, for anyone who's I
don't know not ever looked atYouTube and doesn't know the
Tommy L story?
Who are you?
What's the Tommy L story?
What do you do?

Speaker 3 (04:40):
Yeah, so Tommy L story used to be Extreme, tommy.
That used to be my YouTubehandle years and years ago, and
what I would do is I would justupload random clips of my
skateboarding, snowboarding andcar adventures For example, I
would hear a cool exhaust and Iwould record it on my um, on uh,

(05:04):
on a camera back then and thenjust upload it to youtube, just
just so I can send a link to afriend.
And then, um, as I, when I wasin my early 20s, my first real
car was uh, because I used toback you.
When I was in high school andcollege, I drove my parents' car

(05:26):
.
They used to have a 97 ChevyLumina, which was an awesome
American car, then a 2000 BuickCentury.
So this is what I drovethroughout college.
And then when I graduated I mean, I was always into cars, but I
graduated I got into Volvos outof all cars.

(05:47):
So my first car was a 2003Volvo S40.
And when I bought it I didn'trealize it had a turbocharged
straight i4 engine and what madeit kind of cool is it was a
very tunable car, but not manypeople were tuning Volvos at the

(06:09):
time, so it was kind of unique.
I felt kind of cool and then soI joined some message boards and
then I would just put togetherDIYs.
I would start tinkering Ialways liked to tinker with
stuff so I would do a write-upand then I would do a quick
video.
But it wasn't anythingsophisticated, just sort of not
even I don't even know how tohow to, how to cut on, how to

(06:34):
make edits or anything.
So so I would just do a singleclip and then so I started
posting those videos and thenreally nothing came out of it.
But then when I finally and Iwent through a couple of Volvos,
I had an S60R, after that,actually two, then a couple of
other ones.
But then when I picked up my2017 BMW M3 competition with a

(07:01):
manual transmission it was aslightly used car.
Competition with a manualtransmission uh, it was a
slightly used car.
So I, I flew out to wisconsinand then I I filmed a video for
my family and kids, just so Ican have a memory of of what it
was like.
You know, two to one day.
Uh, you know, when I one daypicked up a cool car, I recorded
a video and I posted online anduh, and somehow that video

(07:24):
started getting a lot of hits.
And I remember I couldn'tunderstand it.
I was sitting at my wife, withmy wife, at a restaurant, and
then I'm looking at it Wow, lookat this, I'm actually getting
subscribers on YouTube.
What is this?
I went from like 20 to 200.
And at the end of dinner it waslike 300.
Obviously it wasn't anythingcrazy, but I'm like, oh, that's
kind of cool.
And it wasn't anything crazy,but I'm like, oh, that's kind of

(07:51):
cool.
And then I learned about, youknow, monetizing and how, how
youtube works, and I said, youknow, okay, maybe, maybe I can.
And it was never about you know, hey, I want to be a crazy, uh,
content creator.
I just, you know, I just wantedto document what I, what I did
to the car on youtube and peoplestarted getting a kick out of
it.
You know, doing simple thingsand it just kind of evolved ever
since.
You know, currently I don'teven think twice about it.

(08:14):
Anytime, you know, I know youguys are sort of similar, right,
but anytime I get something newfor the car and it's time for
me to install it, I alwaysbudget not just my personal time
but also the time it takes forme to film it and position the
camera and you know themicrophone and stuff like that.
But yeah, so that's how itstarted.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Volvos don't sound very extreme, though, tommy, if
we started off being extreme.
I can get the skateboarding andthe snowboarding, but not so
much on the Volvos.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
I think that's part of the vibe, though, isn't it?
Like you're a skater,snowboarder, and then the sort
of sleeper car that no oneexpects.
I think that is that.
That that's pretty extreme, andthis is Tommy.
This is what this is like.
2006, right, were I meanYouTube launches in 2005, I
think, and you are a true earlyadopter you know, I never

(09:09):
realized, but yeah, I suppose,yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
So I, when I started making initially BMW content, I
removed or delisted most of thethe old videos, but you can
still still see.
If you actually go through it,you can still see some of the
old ones.
I think one of the the onesthat I kept, uh, I used to um

(09:33):
intern at this uh company andthe owner of the company had a
beautiful f355, yeah, so Iremember that was those, that
was.
That was actually one of thealso first videos that I, uh,
that I that I posted um, becauseit just had the most amazing
sound, and the cool story aboutthat car is uh, uh.

(09:55):
You know we were at a, at anevent and, uh, and he brought
the car and someone else took itfor a spin and me, being a kid,
back then, you know, just anintern think, hey, can I, can I
take it for a spin?
He's like sure, the guy handedme the keys and I what, and I
and I went for a drive.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, it was uh, it was really, really cool oh, and
that's the video that went viralon supercar fails.
I remember that the 355 takesoff from a car show and goes
into a gutter.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yes.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
That's the one.
That's exactly the one, yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
So when does Porsche kind of enter your sphere?
Because obviously you're a BMWguy for quite some time.
How does Porsche sort of findits way into your world?

Speaker 3 (10:43):
You know what it's always been in the back of my
mind, but it didn't click untilI was ready for a cool car.
So in 2016 or so, when I wasdone with Volvos and I was ready
to get a cool car, I finallytook the time to learn about

(11:08):
Porsches, because I knew about,yeah, 911, there's a Cayman, but
I didn't know much about thetrims.
And I started studying it and Isaid to myself what was it?
Was it 2006?
I guess yeah.
But then I said to myself youknow what I can easily get, like
a 997, that one, that too wouldbe a stretch.
But then I realized that, youknow, we're starting a family.

(11:33):
Actually, I already had a child,so that's probably not the best
car as a first car.
So I ended up getting the M3.
But in reality I really wanteda 911.
So that's always been in theback of my mind.
And then I got the M3 out of mysystem eventually.
And then, towards the end of myownership of the M3, my friend

(11:55):
Jeff, who at the time had a997.1 Carrera S, if I'm not
mistaken, but it was slightlymodified, let me take it for a
spin.
And that was it.
It was an older car, but theway it drove, the way it handled

(12:15):
, the way it sounded, theseating position, I was
absolutely sold, sold, and and Iwas sold on not only that, but
also my, my, uh, my preferencetowards uh na engines, even
though currently I don't haveany na cars, but uh, but yeah so
.
So I did that and um, and thateventually led to me buying my

(12:38):
uh first porsche, which was myuh 981 cayman s which was um,
which was very, very sweet, andand I quickly you know, I I sold
the m3 right after that uh,because, um, I just uh, just
didn't see, uh, the reason toown two, especially what.

(13:00):
What really got me, uh with thewhole p ownership is and I know
everyone says it right, it'skind of a cliche thing to say,
but it's that engagement right,even the manual transmission.
I've always been a manualtransmission person and I

(13:20):
thought a BMW with a manualtransmission was the ultimate
car until I drove a Porsche witha manual transmission.
You guys can relate right,completely different experience.
Then, after driving Jeff's car,I went back to my M3 and I

(13:41):
realized how rubbery thetransmission is, how soft the
clutch is, so I was just kind ofthat was a big contributor.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
Yeah, yeah, we were just it's funny, james and I
were just talking about this onour last pod that level of
engagement you get from a manualtransmission and the PDK is
such an impressive piece oftechnology and, I think,
incredibly enjoyable to use.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
Uh, but yeah, the, the, the experience when you're
driving in a manual, I don'tthink it can be matched, at
least not on the street yeah, Itotally, uh, I totally agree,
although I do think that amanual transmission with an NA
engine feels better than uh,than a manual with a with a

(14:28):
turbocharged engine.
I just I I don't know, it'sjust, that's interesting.
Yeah, it's just a different,different level of engagement.
I like, I guess I like windingthe uh and my comparison is my
cayman with my current uh 901.2Carrera T, which is obviously a
turbocharged engine.
I really liked winding thatCayman and then just switching

(14:55):
gears.
It wasn't quick at all but itwas just a lot of fun, kind of
going from second to third.
That was my favorite.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
Yeah, yeah, wow.
So tell me about the T, becausethat car is well, let's say,
anything but stock.
You've made plenty of mods toit, right?
Do you buy a car like that, getit home and think, yeah, it's
perfect, and then what?
Over a course of time, startthinking, actually you know what

(15:24):
it could do with X, y and Z.
Or do you buy it always withthe plan of okay, I need to now
sit down and work out how I makethis my own interpretation of
what the perfect 911 should be.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
I think it's the latter kind of like you and
James.
I mean, you know, seeing whatyou guys do, I think you have
the same approach.
But with the 911, for me it wasslightly different because and
again I have to go back to my M3.
And even with the Volvo 60R.
So I modified it, I drove itand I said crap, why did I
modify it?
It's just I kind of made itworse.

(15:58):
It's not really drivable so Isold it.
Then With the M3, m3 wasmodified, I thought it.
Then with the M3.
M3 was modified.
I thought it was tastefullymodified.
But then, you know, towards theend of my ownership it was kind
of too low for me.
It was too bumpy.
You know, I had kids.
I couldn't really take it on my, you know, on my snowboarding
trip as much as I wanted to.
But with the 911, when I got itI knew that at the very least I

(16:23):
would lower it, because I justcan't stand, I cannot drive cars
that are not lowered.
Sorry, james, I know.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
I know you're lowering yours.
Let's get into this.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Let's get into it right now.
This is the whole reason thisinterview happened was because.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
James, this is an intervention.
We've been planning it a while,me and Tommy.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
And here it is.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
Here it is, tommy.
Unload on him, unleash, that'sright, no.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
I mean, listen, I think closing the fender gap is
always something that'snecessary.
But to kind of go back to whatI was saying with the T?
T, I knew it was, you know itwas a pretty, pretty great car.
So I, I didn't want to do toomuch, so I lowered it, uh.
Then I did the.

(17:11):
Uh, I wanted to make it alittle louder, so I did the
sport cats, but then I wanted tomake it just a little more
louder, so I did the headers andthen, after adding some spacers
, I I thought I was done, uh.
And then obviously I did theyou know some maintenance stuff
like uh, I I continued the.
The previous owner wrapped thefront, so I continued.
So I ppf the rest of the carand then, um, and then my buddy

(17:35):
jeff again talked me into anumeric shifter.
So I did that.
I did a bunch of, I hardwiredall my you know, dash cams and
stuff.
And then, and then, purelybecause of the fact that I'm a
kind of a vain person, I I likedthe way the car looked when it
was lowered, but I didn't likewhat was behind the spokes.

(17:58):
So I ended up buying a bigbrake kit only because I liked
the way it looked.
But then I was actuallypleasantly surprised at how much
of an improvement it made,especially with track pads.
I mean, what a difference.

(18:19):
And yeah, that's kind of how itstarted and I don't think I
went too crazy with it.
I, you know, I did, when I, whenI did the annual, or rather the
three-year maintenance.
It was a pretty big projectwhere you know, everything in
the back came off.
I, um, I also upgraded the airfilter.
So, and I've got that, you know, high flow air filter didn't
really make a difference.
But the biggest difference, uhand and again, james, I know you

(18:42):
can relate is tuning the car.
It was basically unleashinganother 125 horsepower and
that's when I really startedfeeling connected to the car,
and what I mean by that isbefore the tune.
The car was obviously nimble,but it just wasn't quick enough

(19:04):
for me.
There was always that that sortof you know, it just didn't
feel fast enough, right, uh.
So, uh, the the tune completelyfixed it and and now I I feel a
hundred percent connected tothe car.
I know how much power I have insecond, third gear.
They're really the fun gearsand it's just uh and it's uh,
yeah, it's, it's, it's a lot offun I.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
I feel more connected to my car now that I've tuned
it in a way where I feel moreresponsibility and and maybe
liability.
Right that that something mightgo wrong now that I've tinkered
with it, but but I get, I get.
I get what you mean.
Absolutely.

(19:45):
You know it's, it's, it's, it'smuch more my car now and it's,
it's, it's, it's, it's got mytouch, it's got my finish.
I feel like I understand itmore now as well yeah, exactly,
exactly, totally.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
and every time, you know, every time you take it, it
apart and you put it backtogether, you kind of you
develop that deeper connectionand, like you said, you
understand how things work andand, and you know, for me also,
for the longest time I wanted tokeep the car as original as
possible.
Yeah, for reasons, for reasons,that way it would be, I would

(20:25):
get a better price when I sellit.
And then it kind of hit me, youknow, first of all, I know
everyone says it, but I have noplans of of selling this car.
Um, yeah, my son loves, my sonloves it.
And then why would I want tosave a car for, uh, for the next
owner?
So so, you know, it took me alittle time to kind of get used
to that idea, but now I'm, youknow'm really, really enjoying

(20:46):
it.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
I think one of the great things about modifying a
car, even if you're just talkingabout aesthetic touches, is
that it helps to separate yourcar out from the regular
Porsches, and particularly whenyou're talking about a modern
911 or a modern Cayman.
When I owned my 991, becausethat was my daily driver I made

(21:10):
no modifications to it, I didn'tlower it, I put on very mild
spaces and that was it.
And in terms of visibility ofthat car out on the street, I
may as well have been driving aToyota Camry.
You know I would drive pastanother Porsche owner.
Give you know, you do thelittle wave, you do the little
finger lift up from the steeringwheel and just get crickets it.

(21:32):
Just, I just get nothing.
And so I always love that thingof you're modifying a car,
partly so that you're saying tothe world hey, I'm not just
driving a Porsche, I'm reallyinto this.
This means something differentto me.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
Yeah, but I also think there's a fine line and I
think it comes with age betweenmodifying the car and kind of
really-.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
Ruining the car.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
Yeah, I guess so.
And again, nothing againstanyone who's listening out there
and is modifying the cars.
I feel like it's based onsomeone's personality, based on
the age.
For me, I guess the older I got, the more my taste in modifying
has changed.
I like to keep it sort of OEMplus OEM plus.

(22:26):
Yeah and also having gone to thetrack many times, when you go
to the racetrack, you and I'mnot talking about racing, I'm
not a racer at all but I'mtalking about just regular hpd
events uh, it's you realize thatpeople who are really into hpde
and really driving the carsfast, learning, uh, learning the

(22:48):
the rules of the track theydon't modify it in in the way
that other people on the streetmodify cars so you know, you
don't you don't put white bodykids.
You don't put uh, you know, um,you know lots of unnecessary
cooling and ducts and all ofthat.
They keep it simple to make itreliable and to make it easy to

(23:10):
uh to work on.
So I was also, you know,inspired, but again, I don't
want to discourage anyone frommodifying their cars the way
they they feel should bemodified because, like you said,
um, andy, it's, it's sort of areflection of of one's
personality, right?

Speaker 1 (23:25):
yeah, and I love that .
You know, I love going to ashow and seeing a car that has
been modified in a way that Iwouldn't do, but that doesn't,
uh, invalidate the way the ownerhas modified it, and I love
talking to that person about why.
You know, why'd you make thatchoice, why'd you do this?
And I can look at anything andgo, okay, that interior is nuts,

(23:47):
but I love it.
I wouldn't do it, but I, I loveit.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yeah Right, exactly, exactly, kind of like.
Did you see Chris Harris's M5,the interior that he did?
Oh the corduroy, right, yeah,the corduroy, it's orange
corduroy.
Talk about individual taste?
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
Exactly, I guess.
If you're Chris Harris, though,why not right?
That's true, that's true yeah,um, you touched on this before,
tommy, the the kind ofdifference between bmw and
porsche.
Because you're a, you knowobviously a, a, let's say, a
porsche convert, but stillseemingly a bmw guy as well.
What's right, what's the?

(24:30):
What's the appeal of the twobrands?
How do they differ and what doyou?
I suppose?
What do you get out of thosetwo different brand experiences?

Speaker 3 (24:38):
wow, great, yeah, uh, great question.
So I think with the uh, withthe 911, I get the I feel cool
factor driving it and I get alot of enjoyment out of the car,
and it's always been.
I also feel sort of humbledthat I'm able to have a car like

(25:03):
this.
I grew up in a pretty poorhousehold and we grew up in
Poland.
Then my family moved to the US,so we had a pretty rough
upbringing and rough in terms of.
You know, my parents workedreally hard to support my sister
and I both my sisters and I.
So you know, now being able tohave a car like this is kind of

(25:27):
a humbling experience.
But, and you know, so drivingthis kind of makes me feel
really, really proud of of myaccomplishments.
But with the m5, with the bmw, Iuh, you know I there's the.
You know there's something alsocool in a different way about
the bmw, I have to say.

(25:48):
Bmw has great technology.
Uh, the uh, you know my f9.
The m5 has the, the integrationbetween, even, you know, apple
carplay and the touchscreen andand how everything is simple to
use.
It's, it's, it's really great.
I, um, I did when I was buyingthe m5, I did look at the uh,
you're getting an M5, you'rejust getting a better deal.

(26:12):
For example, I couldn't get aPanamera with ceramic brakes but
I, you know, for the price thatI paid for my M5 with ceramic
brakes.
So you know things like thatand I feel like things like that
and I feel, like you know, I,I'm also very comfortable

(26:34):
working on BMWs, so that youknow, so that that gives me the
comfort level, but also, like I,like you know, I like the, the
sort of the brand diversity.
I, you know, I, I like myPorsche and this is not my last
Porsche.
I want to continue, I want to,I want to add to the stable.
But the M, the BMW, is just,you know, bmw is just another

(27:00):
brand that I know about and itjust kind of also has a very
soft spot in my heart and Istarted my small side hustle
with TLG guards on a BMW.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
So I don't think I can ever be without a BMW in my
stable on a BMW, so I don'tthink I can ever be without a
BMW in my stable.
Yeah, it's funny because I feellike I'm only really just
waking up to BMW.
I used to follow them a littlebit back when I was a kid, but
cars like the M5, I just think,do such an incredible job of
being so many different thingsto so many different people, and

(27:33):
I think the driving experienceof these good, fast, modern
beamers is phenomenal.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
Yeah, totally.
And you know what?
Driving this, driving the M5,made me realize that I was a
manual transmission snob.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Really, because, even though it's not a yeah it's not
.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah, even though it's not a dual clutch, uh, it
still shifts very, very fast andit makes you feel like you're
in a, in a video game it's.
And I use paddle shifters allthe time.
Yeah, I would say 90 of of mydriving I use paddle shifters.
You know, when I want to, youknow, accelerate a little bit, I
just downshift, uh, with thepaddles.

(28:13):
I also actually use the, uh,this, the, the lever too, uh
yeah I'm actually disappointed.
The new, the new m5 doesn't haveit.
It's gone slider, I know, um,but yeah, so, uh.
So, which ones, andy?
Which?
Which one?
Which ones would you, if thiswas you know, if you were in the

(28:33):
market for BMW, which one wouldyou go for?

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah, look, I've always had a soft spot for the
M3.
I recently just my daily is anM340i and I actually love that
car.
It blends in in traffic Again.
May as well be a Camry, intraffic again.
May as well be a Camry, um, butthe the ride quality, the

(28:58):
chassis dynamics on that car andthen it's the speed is
phenomenal because it has torque.
For days it has so much torque,um, I took it on a drive with,
with, with my friends inPorsches and other than the
super tight twisty stuff, wherejust the weight, uh, the weight
transfer from corner to corner,started to become a little bit
of a hindrance.

(29:19):
Other than that, it kept up justfine, just fine.
I really enjoyed it.
So, yeah, I'd love an M3.
I even I really like the M2 andif I could convince myself that
I was comfortable using that asa daily driver, I would
actually have that as a dailydriver and then sometimes rally
car, yeah no, I uh, and you knowthe b58 is a is an amazing

(29:44):
engine and based and actuallythis week um brian from keys
announced that.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
So he, he built the world's fastest uh m340i.
Um, I don't I don't really doquarter mile stuff uh, but I
think it's like 8.6 secondquarter mile, which is, which is
an insane car.
That is not that he, that hebuilt in his shop, yeah, so, um,
yeah, very, very, um, very funcars yeah, yeah, hey.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
So we usually talk news on the pod james.
Um, I thought it'd be a goodtime to talk about the new
carrera t, given that we have acarrera t owner actually on the
show what?

Speaker 2 (30:22):
what?
What do we all?

Speaker 1 (30:23):
think.
What do we all think?

Speaker 2 (30:25):
I love it.
I, I really like it.
I.
I was excited when they broughtout um tommy's version of the t
?
Um.
I've got a friend here in thetwin cities that has got the
original carrera tea and it's inabsolutely mint condition.
Um, his, uh, my friend's dadpassed away.
There was hardly any mileage onthe car at all.

(30:45):
They handed it to him and so Ijust happened to learn quite a
bit about the, the classic t, asthe new one was announced a few
months later, and so that thatmodel is like has really sort of
captured my attention in thelast couple of years.
So to see um, to see the latestone released.
You know I've configured mydream t on porschecom about 10

(31:08):
times.
So far I haven't managed to yetget one configured for less
than 160 grand or something likethat.
But you know it's, I think it's.
It's almost a bit of a clichenow.
People, you know, have reviewedit and talk about it, from the
amateurs to the pros.
All talk about how it's thedriver's car?
Um, and we we should probablyexplore that a little bit here,

(31:31):
especially because we've got a Towner on the pod here, tommy.
But it seems to me like it is.
You know, you get the 911silhouette, you got the 911
features.
It's the base, carrera, withall of the mistakes kind of
fixed and solved.
It's the manual transmission.
There is so much to like aboutthat model.

(31:52):
I really like it.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yeah, I agree, and I feel like they've actually
doubled down on it too.
They've gone.
Do you know what?
Let's only do this as a manual,for example.
And again, people can choosewhichever transmissions they
like.
I have no beef with that at all, but I've always felt like the
quote-unquote correct spec for aT is manual transmission.

(32:18):
It has to be so.
I love that they've justcommitted to that.
I love that wooden shift knob.
I mean that had me at hello.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
And what's behind that shift knob is a six-speed
manual six-speed manual.

Speaker 2 (32:36):
I know oh, I didn't realize that actually, yeah,
yeah, so even more I guess, of aof a purist car although I hear
the the ratios are the samethough, right right, I think
they just cut off the seventhgear, so you just you're just
cruising at higher rpms in, uh,in seventh gear in which case,
I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
I'm not sure.
In practical terms, there's a,there's a huge benefit, although
, tommy, I know some people uh,I see online do talk about that
shift and and how, coming fromseventh, you can find your way
accidentally into I don't knowfourth or second or something.
That's a little little bitclunky.
I've not experienced it myself.
Have you?
Have you found that?

Speaker 3 (33:17):
no, not at all.
Um, I guess maybe I always payattention to it, but, um, yeah,
I.
I think the numeric shifteralso made it a little sort of
easier to not miss, uh, theshift, yeah, uh, yeah.
But you know, and quite franklyI do enjoy the, the seventh
gear, because it really allowsme to to get pretty decent mpgs

(33:41):
yeah, when I'm you know yeah,you're on the highway and and
you really don't want to.
You know you want to cruise inthe right lane.
Uh, you, um, you know youreally get decent mpgs in
seventh gear yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
I agree.
What attracted you to the T asopposed to any other models?
Considering this is your firstventure into the 911 range.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
So I wanted something unique and I couldn't afford a
GT3.
But I, you know, after doingsome research, you know the T
has some GT3 components, likethe mechanical limited slip and
some suspension tweaks.

(34:20):
I also really, really like thefact that it has the fabric door
pulls as opposed to doorhandles oh my gosh, that is one
of the best things.
Door handles oh my gosh, thatis, that is one of the uh, that
is one of the best things.
Um, less sound deadening.
Uh, I, I really couldn't careless about the plastic windows.
It's, it's really, I think it'sa, it's a gimmick.

(34:41):
Uh, not having a rear defrosterhas never been an issue.
Um, but yeah, the t doesn'thave it.
Uh, but, but that's, that'sreally it.
Just having something unique andum, and I know there were, uh,
I don't I I'm probably going toget it all wrong, but less than
2,000 imported to the US, maybeof the 901.2T.
So you know, having somethingthat's again so unique and maybe

(35:08):
will hold its value better Notthat I'm selling it, but that's
really uh, that's really what.
Uh, what attracted me to it.
And you know, I wantedsomething simple and I didn't
want, let's say, you know, rear,uh, rear steer.
I don't want to axle lift.
Uh, I, I specifically wantedthe, uh, the seats that I got as
much as I would love thebuckets.
You know I I love seeing mykids jump in the back seats and

(35:32):
and go, go for joy rides with me.
So, yeah, that's really it.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Tommy, where do you drive?
You know a weekend drive, aSunday morning.
Are you in the twisties?
You obviously take it to thetrack a little bit.
What's your kind of favoriteuse case for the T?

Speaker 3 (35:50):
So I do live in a pretty uh mountainous area so
there's a lot of nice twistyroads by me and and also a lot
of uh just straight straighthighways.
So I have the uh, the privilegeof uh of being able to to do
that.
But I'm I mostly on weekendswhen I have the time I uh I do

(36:11):
take it into the mountains onthe twisties.
Sometimes I just go for eveningdrives by myself and uh and
just wind the uh, wind the carup, uh.
But but lately what's reallywhat's been exciting me is, uh,
I've discovered a new way toenjoy my 911 at the track and

(36:32):
it's not hpde, it's uh, it's.
They call it a driver clinic.
I don't know if other stateshave it, but there's this in the
in the northeast.
There's this one group calledscda sports car sport cars
driving association or somethinglike that, and they put up
these events.
They put up a lot of hpd events, but they also put up these
events.
They put up a lot of HPD events, but they also put up these

(36:54):
driver clinics, essentially opento all cars.
If you have a pickup truck,minivan, whatever you can go,
and it splits into two sectionsthroughout the day or throughout
the four hours Autocross andthen skid pad, and then actually
the third section of the day iscombining autocross and skid
pad and, and this really openedup my eyes to what the car is

(37:20):
capable of when you turn thetraction control off and and
just want to have some fun withit.
Because the skid pad, you know,you learn how to take the car
sideways and, and once you, onceit clicks in your brain, you
just can't stop driving your carsideways and, uh, and, and you
know autocross, you're always insecond gear.
So so I want to do a lot moreof these, uh, these events.

(37:42):
So I did two so far.
I'm waiting for the next one tobe announced.
Uh, hopefully it's colder, so,uh, so I can slide the car a
little better.
My, my big thing now is I wantto, I want to get better at, uh,
at sliding.
It's kind of hard sliding theuh, uh, the 911 because you've
got all the grip, but it's, yeah, that's.
I've discovered that lately andI'm just, you know, I can't

(38:04):
stop thinking about it.
Have you guys ever doneanything like that?

Speaker 1 (38:07):
I've done track days, but not not that kind of driver
education and not the sliding,which I think is to my detriment
.
Because I think one of the realbenefits about doing a day
where you are putting your cardeliberately into a slide and
learning how that feels andlearning how to control it is
that if my car were to go into aslide around a corner on the

(38:31):
street in the hills, that's anew experience for me.
So the control of that, therectification of that, is
something that I'd be solving inthe moment versus having
experienced it multiple times asyou have.
So I think there's a realbenefit to it, right.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
I agree, and I kind of got the bug many, many years
ago, uh, because during mysnowboarding trips we would
always find empty parking lotsand and and and, find a place
where we can do donuts.
And you know, for the most partit was all-wheel drive vehicles
back then.
So it was, it was pretty uh, itwas pretty easy with we will
drive in the snow.
It's not really that much thatfun, um, but I, you know, I I

(39:15):
always wanted to learn how tokeep my car sideways and and
it's so, it's, it's starting toclick, it's starting to click.
Uh, I, I did some sidewaysactions in a closed parking lot,
uh, with the m5 the other dayand that was actually
surprisingly easy, very easycompared to the 911.
Because, you know, longerchassis, less weight in the back

(39:36):
.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
James, you've done.
Did you slide when you were atPorsche Experience Center?

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Yeah, I did, and I just couldn't get the hang of it
.
To be honest, I must have wentaround and did it three or four
times and I remember sittingthere waiting my turn and having
my instructor just say, okay,look, this is what you've got to
do.
And I was like, uh-huh, yeah,got it.
Yeah, perfect, Sounds reallystraightforward.

(40:03):
And then every time I wentacross I just fucked it up
completely, like from a littlebit to a massive fuck-up.
I just couldn't get it undercontrol.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
I don't think I got it into control once maybe it
was because you wereuncomfortable in those bucket
seats, because you don't likethem what, what would help me?

Speaker 3 (40:22):
what helped?
And I had, I guess, had somegood instructors, uh, but it's
all about looking at where youwant to go, as you know, when
you're at the skid pad, asopposed to, as opposed to, you
know where the car is going.
And one of the examples thatthe instructor used he said hey,
you've seen, you've all seen,this video of you know, a kid

(40:43):
drifting his car in a parkinglot and there's one lamp post in
the middle and he manages todrift into it.
And the reason being is becausehe, instead of looking where he
wanted to go, he was looking atthe post, trying to avoid it.
But his brain, and you know thewhole- body coordination
basically steered him directlyinto it.

(41:03):
So there's, that was a reallyreally good tip that he gave me
and, you know, and it reallyworked well, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
That makes sense, do you know?
It's interesting.
Circling back to the T James,you were saying you'd specced
yours up and, you know, couldn'tget one for less than a whole
lot of money.
I can't remember how much yousaid.
I wonder if we're at the point,with the pricing on these new
911s, that it does somewhatprotect the values of those cars

(41:32):
that are six, seven, eightyears old, because the prices
now are such that the cost ofentry is so high that to get a
brand-new Carrera T you couldget a second-gen 991 GT3 manual,
and literally in this market inAustralia you could do that.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
So I think if you're an owner of, let's say, the
generation of 9-11 that you twoguys own, I think that's
actually not a bad thing forvalues I think you're right and,
and it you know, I, Idefinitely uh do think about it
from time to time, just to makemyself feel good about the money
that I spent on the tea andknowing and knowing that the

(42:12):
value probably kind of remainsflat, because, you're right, the
cost of entry nowadays is justgetting higher and higher on all
these 9-11.
So the used market, will youknow, look, look what happened
to the 99, uh, even 99, the 996,996s.
You could, uh, I don't know inAustralia but in the US, even

(42:34):
high teens like $19,000, $20,000for like a 99, 2000.
I don't think you can touchthose anymore for that.
Same thing with the 997.
That market has gone up a littlebit.
I don't think it went, wentcrazy up, but it definitely it's
no longer as flat as it, uh, asit used to be, because also,

(42:57):
people are realizing that theims issue kind of overblown, um,
and if it's been addressed,that's even, uh, that's even
better, right.
So, yeah, I think, yeah, Ithink it's great.
What's happening to theseprices of new vehicles is great
for owners like, like us, uh,we're like if we were to ever
sell the car that is I was gonnasay owners like us that promise

(43:19):
, at the moment at least, thatwe're never gonna sell our cars
james, I think you've had, uhwhat, three or four in the time
that I've known you um, that'scorrect.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
Five total and this is my sixth.
No, this is my fifth.
Yeah, and um, every single oneof them, I've said to myself
this is it.
I'm gonna be driving this carforever.
This is it.

Speaker 3 (43:43):
This is the one, yeah I mean the, even the cayenne
was that.

Speaker 2 (43:47):
Oh no, the Cayennes don't count.
I've had five 911s.
The first Cayenne I had was thebase, and as much as I enjoyed
driving that off the lot, afterI totaled my Jeep Grand Cherokee

(44:10):
pretty quickly, and I meanwithin about 10 miles, I
realized that it was just boringas shit and I probably should
have gone for the S.
So I kept hold of that forabout a year and then I was in a
chevy silverado.
I was, uh, doing my my redneckphase for about 18 months so
that, and then now I'm in acayenne s and that's about the
right amount of power for now Iagree, it's a great, great

(44:34):
platform.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
As a matter of fact, I was very much considering um a
cayenne s before I got the m5and um ultimately went with the
m5 because I just, you know, I Iwas afraid of what you just
described with the base cayennethat it would be.
You know it would be fun, uh,because you know, for the level

(44:55):
of fun that I was looking for um, but I, you know, I also know
someone, uh, who's got a cayennegts, uh, and you know he loves
it.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
Great car I've driven the gts and I've driven the
cayenne turbo and both of thoseare absolutely phenomenal cars
like create, like the turboespecially.
Nobody needs an suv that fast.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
I mean, for god's sake, just that's ridiculous not
to uh, so not to talk about myfriend jeff, quite a lot we're
gonna meet jeff he's, probablyhe's.
He's the one, believe it or not,he's the one who turned me into
this, uh, onto this podcast,because I think at one point you
guys mentioned me and he's like, hey, look, so so that's why I
started listening, uh.
But yeah, so, uh, he, I thinkyeah, so he had a cayenne s I'm

(45:41):
probably screwing up and then heended up getting a turbo s, uh,
that came with.
It was, I think, like aseven-year-old car, but that
came with a unlimited mile,two-year warranty perfect and
yeah, so it's, it's perfect, buthe ended up letting it go
anyways.
Uh, he got an x7, uh, but yeah,that was, yeah, that was, and,

(46:02):
like you said, way too fast ofuh, of an suv, but but it's so
much fun and it sounds amazingyeah, there's something kind of
goofy fun about fast sus.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
I had a Grand Cherokee SRT and that thing was
just a monster.
But yeah, kind of goofy, goofyfun.
Mind you and it pains me to sayit when you were saying a
minute ago, Tommy, that you wereweighing up between the Cayenne
and the M5, even though we'reon a Porsche podcast, I think
you made the right choice.
Yeah, and you know, my thinkyou made the right choice.

Speaker 3 (46:33):
Yeah, and you know my other family car is a crossover
.
We've got the Tesla.
So I just didn't want.
For the times when my wife isdriving the Tesla and I'm not
driving 911, I don't want to bestuck in another SUV.
Nothing wrong with SUVs, it'sjust.
You know, I just ultimatelywent with a sedan.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
Yeah, it's just you know, I just ultimately went
with a sedan.
Yeah, tommy, a lot of people onYouTubers talk about the
platform and how it's changed.
Given you've been on it sincethe beginning and I don't want
to get too inside baseball butas a content creator, how have
you seen YouTube change?

Speaker 3 (47:11):
Obviously, there's a lot more shorts.
Everyone's into doing the videoshorts.
I'm not necessarily into itbecause I don't view YouTube as
my source of income.
I just enjoy making videos andusing iMovie to slice my videos

(47:34):
together, so I keep it simple,but I just I've seen that change
.
It's also refreshing to seethat a lot of you know you see a
lot of newcomers out there andpeople are trying stuff.
See a lot of newcomers outthere and and people, people are

(47:56):
trying stuff and and manypeople uh reached out to me and
if you know and I encourage themto to do so I always, you know,
I'm always happy to sharefeedback, uh, and you know how
to how to get started.
First thing I tell them is get agood microphone, get yourself
mic'd up and then, you know, useyour iphone and and that's it,
because having having good soundis 70 percent of of of the
experience in the, in the video.
But I think, yeah, yeah, it'schanged a lot in terms of how

(48:22):
much content there is out there.
And the only thing I I I'm sortof not it's just not my style
is, you know, people doingthings for the.
You know shock value.
You know, let me, let me dosomething crazy, just so I can,
you know, hope to get, and youknow, I guess it works for views

(48:43):
.
Yeah, I, you know, for me,since I don't necessarily I
never you know, I almost neverlook at my stats or how to
improve my stats.
I just do it because I really,really enjoy it and I want to
have a record of the work thatI've done to my cars and, you
know, and hopefully they helppeople in the future.

(49:05):
I mean, listen, I've also madevideos about non-car related
stuff.
I have some really good videosabout snowblowers.
There's one that's doing reallywell.
I got this.
I moved into a house a coupleof years ago.
It snows here a lot.
First thing I did, I got thismassive snowblower and the video

(49:26):
was actually so great that thefollowing year I was checking
out at BJ's for you, andy, Idon't know if you have.
It's like you know, it's a bigsuperstore, we get, you know, a
lot of items at a discount andwhen you walk out there's a
person, kind of like at Walmart,checking your receipt and
there's just all the gentlemen.

(49:47):
He's like I know you.
He's like, oh, you've got thesnowblower right.
I'm like, yeah, that's me, so.

Speaker 2 (49:55):
So there's all the guy recognizing me from a
snowblower video so, tommy,given that, um, I've started
really kind of following thepath that you've laid out in
terms of, um, all the mods I'vebeen to be fair, I think for the
majority of them I've made thedecision to do a certain mod on
my own, and then I've gone toYouTube to see what other people

(50:16):
have done, and invariably,you're the first person to come
up with a DIY video.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
Is YouTube stalking you?
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Completely, completely, incidentally.
But yeah, you just seem to havedone everything that I'm
thinking about doing to my car,and now, now I'm certainly
looking to you for ideas.
But of all of the jobs thatyou've done, were there any that
you got started and you thought, man, I wish I hadn't.
I wish I hadn't started thisone, or this one was definitely

(50:45):
way more complicated than I wasexpecting.
I like I kind of got the sensethat maybe that was the case
with the headers.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
Yeah, you know, headers were challenging because
I did not have a lift at thetime and just crawling under the
car and dealing with the rustybolts was very, very challenging
, but I still got through it.
For me it was about chasing thesound, so I I knew that the end

(51:14):
result was was what I was after.
So I I didn't mind the thechallenge.
But one thing that that reallygot me stuck once was when I had
the Cayman and I decided tolower it and put the so it was.
I was installing the X73 GTSsuspension in it.

(51:37):
So it's yeah.
So springs, dampers and swaybars.
I did the front, which waspretty, fairly complicated.
Especially for the sway bar,you've got to drop the subframe,
loosen up the steering rack andall of that again, I was doing
it on a set of quick jacks.
So it's uh, from from thatperspective it was it was a
little challenging.
And then, when he came to theback because the previous owner

(52:02):
drove the, the cayman, quite alot in the snow, it appears so
because it was uh, it was a bitrusty underneath and um, and I
didn't have the proper tools.
I think there's some suspensionrequired, like a 24 millimeter
wrench, uh, or something likethat.
I just I was looking at it andI was trying to figure out the,

(52:24):
with the set of tools that Ihave and and the the lack of,
can I really do it successfully?
And I decided no, so I pulledthe plug on it.
So I put everything backtogether, I lowered the front
and I took the car to a shop andI said, please do the back for
me.
So that was my, but it was theregret of not having the right

(52:49):
tools and equipment for the job.
I don't mind doing the workbecause, the way I see it, it's
none of the stuff that we sortof work on and modify is really
rocket science.
People realize that working oncars, as long as you have the

(53:16):
right set of tools and sort of,you know, you remember how
things go back together and youknow.
You've got YouTube, you've gotmessage boards although who uses
message boards now?
It's fairly straightforward.
So tools and equipment will getyou there.
To not be afraid, uh, we'll,we'll, we'll get you there, not
you know to not to not be afraid, uh.
But at that time, to kind of goback to your question, I, I, I
was a little over my head interms of the equipment and I

(53:38):
decided to pull the plug and um,and have someone else do it and
I'm I'm happy, I'm happy I did,uh, but that was the only time
when I regretted something likethat.
I know this is a Porsche podcast, but when I first did the
suspension on my M5, and Ilowered it twice the first time,

(54:00):
it wasn't low enough, so Iended up getting a different
suspension.
And when I first took it apartin the back, I made two mistakes
.
Took it apart in the back, Imade two mistakes.
I didn't pull the seat belt out, because you have to fold the
seats to remove the suspension,and I just didn't pull it out,

(54:21):
so the seat belt ended upretracting itself and I couldn't
pull it back, so I had todisassemble the whole seat belt
assembly.
And yeah, so it was like anextra two hours worth of work.
And then also, I didn't realizethere was a cable that I had to
disconnect, so I ended up, youknow, uh, damaging one of the
other connectors.
But I but I corrected that, butnone of those things ever made

(54:43):
me say crap, I, I, I probablyshouldn't have touched it.
I, it makes me.
You know, doing these thingskind of makes me like I was
saying earlier.
The fact that I can disassemblesomething and put it back
together and get to know thatpiece of equipment on a more
intimate level, that's a goodfeeling.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
You see, you've just touched a nerve there, or at
least for me, which is therehave been a couple of jobs where
one particular step, a coupleof jobs where one particular
step, which should have beenstraightforward and should have
only taken a few minutes, hastaken hours and blood and sweat
and tears and too many c wordsand f words to count, screaming

(55:23):
at the car in the garage andit's been trying to get, you
know, like a bolt out of mymuffler when I tried to get my
Pfister exhaust on a 997, it wastrying to get the airbag to
release in my 997.
And these jobs I'd planned, youknow, twice as long.

(55:44):
So this job was going to takean hour.
I'm going to plan for two hoursso I can film it and take my
time, and I'm in there for fourhours and I'm screaming and I'm
sweating and I'm just utterlyready to kill someone or break
something.
They're the moments that justdrive me crazy, those tiny
little tasks that, for whateverreason, because of rust or
you've just just approached itfrom slightly the wrong angle

(56:07):
you just just it's a time suck,you just lose that time and you,
you feel like you've beenrobbed in some way totally and.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
But you know what you've, you've got the garage
space so you can kind of relateto it.
But I've learned that andespecially if you have a, you
know, if it's not your daily car, if you have another car to let
things sit, just let itmarinate overnight, another day,
maybe two days, and and comeback to it you'll have a
different approach at doingthings.
So when I was doing my 981cayman's exhaust, I had a

(56:40):
similar issue with the uh, uh,with with the bolts.
There were one of those youknow there would the sort of the
insert bolts from the uh wedgebolts we call them from the back
, and then you had the nut uptop.
So you know the nut would spin.
So then, and but I, but again itgoes back to not having the
right tool.
So I was trying to use a dremel.
Then I ended up drilling it out, but it took me a couple of

(57:03):
days just to kind of figure outthe best approach.
But I had the comfort of, youknow, being able to walk away,
leaving the car the way it isand saying you know what, let me
, let me maybe have another ideatomorrow, but I definitely feel
your pain.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
That's what I should have done with my airbag
incident with the with the 997.
It was, I remember, startingthat job while the kids, who
were still very young, werehaving their dinner and I was
like running out for 20 minutesat a time and coming back and it
got to about 11 30 at night.

(57:36):
I'd work the next day because Ithink it was a sunday night and
that's where you know I endedup taking the knife to the front
of the airbag and just stabbingthe shit out of it like I was
in a scream movie.
Um, yeah, but had I had I comeback the next day, I would have
probably managed to get it out.
And just like the way myfriends Steve and Scott and
Patrick came over the next dayto take a look at this, because

(57:56):
obviously I went to bed sendingphotos to my friends, like one
in the morning, being like guys,I can't believe I've just done
this they came over, sat down,took one look at it and, you
know, within about 30 seconds itwas out of of the wheel and I
was just kicking myself that Ijust, you know, made a 400
mistake.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
We've all, we've all done it yeah, but we live to
talk about it.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
Yeah, it's an experience yeah, you know, let's
be fair, it made for uh, madefor a good youtube video, I
guess.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
So there's always a silver lining, yeah yeah, I
think the worst one is when yougo through that process and then
you get to the end and you'vecome through the fire, you've
come to the other side and thenyou're not happy with the mod,
you know, and that's justheartbreak.
It's like, okay, now I need toreverse all of that and then I

(58:44):
need to sell this thing or sendit back.
I just end up putting all theseparts that I've put on my car
and decided didn't work instorage.

Speaker 3 (58:52):
I'd really need to sell them at some point.
Has has that happened?
Yeah, has that any, any sort ofanything fresh in your memory?

Speaker 1 (59:01):
um, yeah, look, I've done.
Oh, what's a?
What's a good example?
I?
I think that the tricky thingwith air-cooled cars, compared
with the modern water-cooledstuff, is you can plug a laptop
into a modern water-cooled car,do a flash tune and gain 125
horsepower.
Right, are really well.

(59:27):
You don't get those sorts ofgains unless you invest
significant money and probablybuild a new engine.
But look, nothing specificright now.
I remember when I changed myseats.
I bought some turbo seats formy car which are the wrong color
, and I had them sitting therefor a long, long time, wanting

(59:50):
to put them in the car, but Ididn't want to because they were
the wrong color and I thoughtI'd wait till I could afford to
have them upholstered.
And at some point I justthought you know what, I'm just
going to put them in anyway,let's just get that done,
because I just wanted to drivewith them.
They have a lot deeper sidebolstering on them, which is

(01:00:11):
brilliant compared with thestock seats, and they looked
beautiful.
And when I got them in the carwhich actually took a bit of
work Now, in fact, it was reallydifficult when I finally got
them in, they sounded like apair of seats that had come off
an old Cadillac that had spentits time in a in a really humid

(01:00:32):
environment.
They were so creaky it wasunbelievable.
So I spent then the better partof two weeks conditioning the
leather I was.
I went down this rabbit hole onYouTube of okay, you need to
put leather conditioner on, thenwrap the entire seat in like
cling film, or glad wrap as wecall it here, and my wife's

(01:00:55):
walking out into the garagesaying why have you got glad
wrap all around your seats?

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
They're not a salad and.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
I'm like, yeah, it's just, it's perfectly normal,
Nothing to worry about, nothingto worry about.
So yeah, I mean, look, inactual fact, that modification
has been really good.
I did a muffler not so long agothat as soon as I put it on, I
took it for one drive and wentno, absolutely not, that's
coming off immediately, oh,really.

(01:01:24):
Yeah, and I don't even havequick jacks.
For me it's putting the car upon a ramp.
Quick jacks for me, it'sputting the car up on a ramp.
Uh, so, and, and I, and I hatelying there with that little
room under the car working onthe muffler.
But yeah, it was.
It was literally as soon as thecar was cool enough, it, it
came straight back off.
Now, putting a swapping asecondary muffler on a 964 is,

(01:01:47):
uh, I don't know, a halfhalf-hour job, a 45-minute job,
so it's not really thatproblematic, but so
disappointing.
You know, when you've just gotthat anticipation of oh yeah,
here it is, I've got it done,it's set, and then the result is
meh.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
You know, actually that's just happened to me this
week.
I bought a carbon fiber reardiffuser for my car.
Um, almost immediately after Ibought it, a year ago, it sat in
my garage waiting for me to putit on.
Um, I got around to doing itthe other day and the fucker
doesn't fit that's pretty good,then no, that's, that's good

(01:02:25):
news.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
That's good news.
Can you still return it?
I?

Speaker 1 (01:02:28):
uh well, I don't know .
I bought it you didn't attackit with a dremel?
Did you to try and make it no?

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
you know what, if, if it was that kind of a challenge
where you know the, you know II needed to affix it, then I
probably would have been able todo it.
But no, it wasn't even close.
It wasn't even close to fitting.
It was apart from having thetailpipes in the center.
It must have been three or fourinches off in every dimension

(01:02:54):
possible.
It was ridiculous.
It was like carbon fiber for aclown car, which is stupid no,
no, since we're you know we'retalking about james's car.

Speaker 3 (01:03:01):
I have to compliment you, james, on those, uh, on
those wheels.
Oh, thank you.
Absolutely amazing wheels.
Once, you know, definitelylooks like a four by four uh
vehicle now, but I you know,once you lower it, it'll, I
think it'll be, it'll be perfectand it's.
It's just the right blend ofsort of something new and
instead of a nice throwback tosomething old I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
Choice, thank you.
You know, honestly, I wasn'ttoo sure if I wanted to thank
you.
You know, honestly, I wasn'ttoo sure if I wanted to get
non-factory wheels, because I'vegot, I've got this thing about
factory wheels but I I've reallyenjoyed them so far.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
I do like the look and one thing that I really like
about those wheels and I, Ithink eventually I will have to
get similar wheels.
They're easy to clean.
All the wheels that I have arejust, I mean, and I and I'm
someone, I, I really, you know,maybe it's not a popular thing
to say on during a car podcast,but I really don't like spending

(01:04:01):
time washing my cars.
I, I would like it to be super.
You know, if, if, if money wasno object, I would ppf all my
cars and just quickly washeverything with one rag and call
it a day.
But I, you know, and thenhaving to just squeeze my
fingers into the spokes andbehind the spokes, just oh, it's

(01:04:21):
the worst.
But having just, you know, fivespokes on a wheel, it's perfect
.

Speaker 1 (01:04:25):
I agree with you 100% .
I mean, I wash my car all thetime.
I think everyone thinks I loveto wash my car.
I actually don't.
I get some pleasure out ofdetailing it, to be honest, but
the BBS rims are just such anightmare to wash.
And yeah, just give me a set offive spoke rims that you can

(01:04:47):
just done Gosh, I'd be happy.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
I've got the answer for both of you never wash your
cars.
You don't need to, there's just, there's no need no one cares
no one cares, and and if youcare, go to a touchless car wash
.

Speaker 3 (01:05:01):
You sit there, it takes five minutes and it gets
it good enough yeah no, itdoesn't, yeah, I mean yeah I
mean, maybe you know, I guess ona darker car, maybe my car that
is, you know, the yellow whenit gets dirty, you know, you
know, I, I like, I like lookingat it when it's dirty because it
shows that it's being used.

(01:05:21):
But then you know when, when Iwash it, it just you know it's
like a it's, it's, it's like abrand new car.
But one sort of not regret,because I guess it was never an
option for me at that time, butI wish my car had ceramic brakes
.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
So that way I would have less dust.
Yeah, yeah, have you tried theceramic composite brake pads?
They're not as good, obviously,as the PCCBs, but they really
do reduce the amount of brakedust.
They're not as good, obviously,as the pccbs, but they, they,
really do reduce the amount ofbrake dust that your, your
brakes, put out.

Speaker 3 (01:05:55):
I, uh, hawk I think it's hawk do a pretty good set
of those I've tried those padson another vehicle and um and it
was scary how little initialbite there was compared to OEM,
so I didn't want to mess withthat, but I know a lot of people

(01:06:17):
do use those and I know theywork very well yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:06:22):
But you know, on the M5, with the ceramic brakes, I
wash the wheels once every twomonths and it's great Very
little dust.
That's incredible isn't it?

Speaker 1 (01:06:32):
I mean, yeah, look, I obsess about having my car
clean, I love it being clean,but we have one rule, James,
that I know you guys don't haveon your rallies, and that is a
strict no car washing during therally rule, because who is it
in your group who, like, washesit in the morning and then in
the afternoon the same day after?

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
oh, my mate chris, yeah, yeah, totally every day.
Yeah, yeah, we, when we do likea 50 mile drive on a sunday,
he'll take his car home.
He won't just wash his wheels,he'll take the wheels off the
car to clean the insides of themand put the wheels back on.

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
That's impressive yeah, because usually when I get
home from a drive like that, Iwant to go inside and start
trying to earn back somedomestic credit.
There we go, you and me both.
Yeah Well, tommy, it's been sogood having you on the pod.
This has been a long timecoming, I know, so thank you for
being patient with us, but gee,it's been great having you here

(01:07:30):
.

Speaker 3 (01:07:30):
No, I love it, thank you.
Thank you for having me.
I also, you know, I don't feellike I fit because I don't have
a British accent.
You hear my Polish accent butit's.
You know, I do listen to a lotof podcasts.
Most of them happen to be, youknow, foreign podcasts, so
that's so, I really do enjoythem and I and I and you know,

(01:07:54):
listening to your podcasts andeven though you haven't posted
one in a while, so hopefullythat can change we gotta, you
know, we gotta make sure you,you get your consistency out
there.
But it's really refreshinglistening to your podcast
because you, you know, you two,are very passionate about the uh
, the porsche world.
Uh, have a have a lot ofsubject matter expertise have
you know personal experienceswith it.

(01:08:15):
No, you do, you do.
You know you kind of yeah,maybe you take it for granted
now, but there will be.
You know there's a lot ofpeople out there who who would
love to have a clean, you know964 right with bbs wheels.
That's uh, or you know, or, orjames same thing with you it.
You know you made such a such agreat decision buying uh,

(01:08:36):
buying the car.
That you did because you knowslightly higher mileage, but you
got the.
You got it for an amazing priceand you know it's going to be a
something reliable and that'salways going to put a smile on
your face you know, tommy,that's so kind, because usually
I have to hear andy explain thatwe're just a smile on your face
.

Speaker 2 (01:08:50):
You know, tommy, that's so kind, because usually
I have to hear Andy explain thatwe're just a couple of
knuckleheads talking about ourcars.
That's a much more eloquentdescription.

Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
We need to have Tommy .
Just give us a little bit ofvalidation pre-record every time
.

Speaker 3 (01:09:06):
I hope you continue.
And one thing, before we end, Ido have to add that my
connection with because, andy, Imet, you know I was connected
through you.
I was connected with youthrough James.
But James, I was actuallyconnected with James way before

(01:09:27):
James and I met so with theCayman when I was changing the
gauges guess which gauges Iordered for my Cayman?
The auto amateur gauges.
So I still have the stickerthat came with it.
And then I'm like, wait aminute, that guy has a YouTube
channel and he's always in hisgarage, always tinkering with a

(01:09:47):
funky camera angle.
I kind of like that.
You always have the car in thebackground, that's it.
I just wanted to mention that.

Speaker 2 (01:09:57):
That's very kind and those gauges look great in your
Cayman.
I hope you're displaying yourauto-amateur sticker proudly on
your wife's Volvo or whatevershe's driving, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:10:11):
I have it in the.
I never ended up putting it on,but I have it in my, I have it
in the office.
But yeah, I think it's alsocool that you have the little
side gig and you make thesethings.
I know you also make them foryou.

Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
Make newer-looking gauges for the older cars right,
like, for example, the 992looking one for a 911 right
that's right yes, yeah, that'sright, I've got, I've got a, a
new designer actually, so theyI've got a second kind of
generation of of gauge faces now, like they've evolved um over

(01:10:46):
the last 18 months and um, we'vegot several sort of different
styles that you can add to anyof the generations.
Going back, actually, to the964 andy, if you're ever
interested, and their factoryquality.

Speaker 1 (01:11:01):
They look good, they look very good um so anyway,
there we go.

Speaker 2 (01:11:05):
Well, tommy.
Thank you so much for joiningum everybody.
Tommy L Garage on YouTube andInstagram.
I, you know, no doubt, will bein touch with you a lot over the
next few weeks as I start tohack around in my garage with
all of these mods.
But thanks, mate, for coming onthe pod.
It's been absolutely awesomehaving you.

(01:11:26):
Thank you, gentlemen, onceagain.

Speaker 3 (01:11:28):
It was a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (01:11:29):
Tommy, it's been great, mate, mate, thanks ever
so much, and, uh, let's stay intouch.

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
Dude, I'm so glad we got Tommy on the pod.
That's wicked.
I mean, we only dropped hisname about 17,000 times in the
last episode, accidentally.

Speaker 1 (01:12:00):
Yeah, that dude owes us.
I mean, realistically, we'vepromoted his channel more than
anybody I know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
It's like, well, you, you know, let me say this I I
want to find his oldskateboarding videos and you
know, whatever tommy, whatevertommy extreme was way back when
he was driving beige, beigevolvos um, yeah, but what a nice
guy, absolutely lovely guy.
If you, if you haven't checkedhim out yet, listeners, uh, tomm
L Garage YouTube extraordinaireand he's on Instagram and, as

(01:12:33):
you can tell, obviously, super,super nice guy, but yeah, that
was a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (01:12:37):
That was great and you know.
So, considered in his answersand you know, there were a
couple of things that reallystood out to me.
I love that when it comes toYouTube, he is not doing it for
the views or the subscribers.
You know he's not worried abouthis stats, he's not spending
his time losing sleep over thatstuff.

(01:12:59):
He just wants to document thisjourney and almost seemingly
just leave something behind.
I love that.
And the other thing that reallystruck me was this gratitude
that he has.
He is so humble and to feel tobe talking about feeling so
grateful for for being able tobe driving a 911.

(01:13:20):
I just love that it was.
That was such a such a greatchat.
I loved having him on the podyeah, yeah, definitely,
definitely.

Speaker 2 (01:13:28):
I think, um, I think we should get him back,
certainly, um, after I'velowered my, my ride height and I
can start complaining to theboth of you about how terrible
it drives, um, we won't hear aword of it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:44):
We'll be like no, it's way better, it has to be
better.

Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
Awesome, well listen.
Thank you so much for checkingin for another episode of Curb
and Canyon.
There'll be another one comingsoon.
I'm sure Dot dot dot Insertdays, months, Not sure how long
ago or long in the future, butwe'll be back soon, Andy, right
Please?

Speaker 1 (01:14:03):
We absolutely will, and this one's been a great one.
It's been a whole lot of fun.
So thank you all for joining usand having a listen, and we
will see you on the next one.
Cheers.