Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome back to To
all the cars I've loved before.
As we barrel into season 2,next stop, season 3, and the
mileposts along the way Be partof it.
Carslovecom Check us out.
I am at Christian atCarslovecom the guy who's the
(00:26):
Pupp pulling the string behindthe scenes.
Hey, what's this thing hangingout of my back?
It's Doug Doug at CarsLovecom.
Morning Doug.
How you doing, pal.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Doing great, doing
great Good.
To be back with you.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Amen.
Good to see you.
Good to see our guest Jim.
How you doing this morning, JimGood, how you.
Good to see our guest, Jim.
How are you doing this morning,Jim Good, how are you doing?
Excellent, Excellent.
Before we get into formalintroduction, we'll just tell
you where we stand Again.
The tent continues to broadenaround this planet and I think
we have a few people listeningin from Venus and Mars.
(00:59):
I don't think we've gone as faras Jupiter and Saturn, but you
know what?
Hey, with Starlink, Elon Musk,Starlink satellite, lighten up
the universe, who knows?
I think anything is possiblewith low Earth orbit.
So you'll want to check us outat carslovecom for pictures of
guests, everything they've done,as well as ensure, please, that
(01:20):
you're following the show onyour podcast streaming platform
of choice, as they say, anddownload the episodes.
You know because you'refollowing the show on your
podcast streaming platform ofchoice, as they say, and
download the episodes.
You know because you're goingto be somewhere without signal
but you desperately want to hearthe latest episode, joining
thousands and millions of peoplewho've never heard of us and if
you have it downloaded, youknow you don't need signal and
you can just go into a cave, youknow.
(01:43):
and as long as you have enoughbattery, you'll be able to check
us out.
So that's sort of where westand, and I'm going to bring in
my partner to let us know.
We always have some big timethings going on.
What's the latest Doug in ourmarketing and outreach
strategies?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Well, before I go
into that, just for those who
are listening and downloading,as Christian said, you know what
better place to listen to apodcast about people in their
cars than in your car?
So if it's a holiday, if you'recommuting to work, great time.
Our episodes are 30 ish minutes, good for the average commute.
(02:21):
If you're like me and you don'tcommute, you go on lots of
walks Another great time.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
But yeah, I you know
I like to visit caves very often
and be like Mammoth Cave inKentucky and I like to go into
the bowels of the cave and turn,you know, get all the lights
turned off and then listen tothis podcast and if you download
it, you know, and you have itlocally on your machine, it's
just, it's very helpful, I findsorry.
Keep going, doug.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
No, no, no, that is
good.
So, depending on when you'rehearing this episode, we are
over 500 downloads.
Thank you to everyone.
500 downloads of the podcastfrom your preferred platforms.
Many more on the website.
Yeah, thank you.
(03:09):
Many, many countries, citiesacross the world um really
getting somewhere.
So we're super happy, um reallyhappy about season two.
We all survived and, uh,there's there's a lot more to
come yeah, actually join theconversation.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You know, email us if
you want to be there.
There's a form on the website.
You can shoot up a flare gunand we'll either Doug or myself,
will probably see it.
We'll, we'll track you down.
Make sure you're safe, numberone.
But then talk about how to getyou on the show Now also, you
know, yeah, oh, back to you,doug.
Yeah, oh back to you, doug.
(03:44):
You had something else to sayno.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
No, I would say hey,
and if you're at your local Cars
and Coffee, feel free to Amention our show to anybody.
But if you see somebody andthey just have a cool car or
they're just so animated andexcited about it.
Tell them about the show We'dlove to have them on, which
brings us uh back full circle toour awesome guest.
You got it, yeah.
So uh jim and uh jim, may weuse your last name for can?
(04:15):
Yeah?
Yeah, hopefully I'll pronounceit right jim gravina, correct?
That's correct.
Originally from upstate newyork, syracuse, syracuse, now
living in northern Virginia.
But so yeah, christian, I knowyou have a very good way of
getting to the meat of things.
(04:37):
So, yeah, let's find out moreabout Jim.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, for sure, jim.
So let's start with.
You want to tell us a littlebit about yourself, and then
let's step back in time, as itwere, into our time machine and
meet young jim and hismotivations, his family.
But let's, let's start with youin the here and now.
Anything you'd like to share.
You may stay as anonymous asyou'd like.
(05:03):
This is important for anyfuture guests.
We have a lot of people, or wehave had guests come on that
want to give us very little andwant to remain anonymous, and
then there are people that wantto, you know, put their credit
reports on our website.
So wherever you fall Jim take itaway, pal.
Tell us a little about yourself.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Sure, so I'm about to
have a 41st birthday here in
another two weeks, so that'scoming up.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Happy birthday.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Go ahead Backing up
to my younger years.
I'm from Syracuse, new York,born and raised.
I started getting into when Iwas in school.
I got really into the computerdesign and computer editing as
early as, I think, middle schooland that caused me to continue
(05:50):
that into college and I went tothe Art Institute of Pittsburgh
where I took classes in visualeffects and motion graphics and
the dream was to work for themovies and on like Transformers
movies or Star Wars type moviesand stuff like that.
But that didn't really exactlyhappen and after college I had
(06:12):
moved back home and I had workedat a local TV news station.
So I took I was still in thesame world of design and editing
I got hired as a promotions itwas called a promotions art
director where I was basicallyin charge of making the graphics
for the TV stations, theanimations and all that for the
local news stations.
It was a CBS affiliate inSyracuse and I worked there for
(06:35):
about eight years or, excuse me,eight months, and what had
happened was this is my firstjob out of college.
What happened was the TVstation was about to go into
what we called a shared serviceagreement with another local
station, which unfortunatelymeant about 80% of the people at
that TV station were going tolose their jobs to the people at
the other station when they didthe merge.
(06:56):
So I was still young, I wasonly like 22, 23 years old,
didn't affect me whatsoever.
Longer story short, my boss,who basically ended up laying me
off, told me about a job at hissister TV station which was an
NBC affiliate in Fort WayneIndiana.
So he kind of pulled somestrings and got me a job in Fort
Wayne Indiana so moved overthere.
(07:18):
I was there for about two and ahalf years, which is where I met
my now wife, and then we caughtwind of something very similar
happening and I did the sametype of work, just at a
different TV station.
Something similar was comingdown the lines where some people
might be losing their jobs andstuff.
So I caught wind of that awfulquick and I went and did a
similar move to Fresno,california, another TV station.
(07:39):
Now all these TV stations wereunder the same umbrella, they
were all owned by the samecompany.
Now all these TV stations wereunder the same umbrella, they
were all owned by the samecompany, just in different
markets.
So I moved over there.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
My wife ended up
coming with me A lot of Sinclair
, something like that.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah, yeah, she
wasn't, she didn't.
You know, we weren't married atthe time.
You know we were still dating,but she moved with me to
California and there for aboutanother three years or so, and
then again I wanted somethingmore.
So we left, uh, we left thereand we went to um, to Miami,
(08:13):
florida, where Miami.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah, then we did.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Miami and we were uh,
we were there for about three
and a half years and again, Iworked at.
This was the first time that Istepped away from the local TV
stations under the same companyand worked for what we called an
O&O, which was an owned andoperated NBC station in Miami.
So it was still the same kindof work, it was a little bit
more.
(08:37):
It was definitely a you know,it was a pay raise.
It was a better TV station, itwas a better experience.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Sure, you're moving
up.
You've got to do whatever ittakes to move up.
Yeah, I was moving up theladder, but this time it was a
little bit more of a seriousthing.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I was there for
longer.
It was three and a half years.
Then we left there because Ijust didn't want to do news
graphics anymore.
We moved out of there.
I took a new job that landed mehere in Alexandria, virginia,
and I am now a senior motiondesigner at a post-production
shop in Washington DC.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So that's what I do
now.
So interesting, very, verygreat Now.
So I find it very interesting.
Three, these are three longhaul stretches kind of from
Syracuse to a stop in between.
I understand we need to get toFresno and then down to Miami.
Long haul stretches kind ofcome from Syracuse to a stop in
between.
I understand what we're named.
Again, a two to Fresno and thendown to Miami.
(09:31):
May I ask how a Syracuse guy,where I think it's knows more
than just about anywhere, buriedin Miami because it is hot down
there I live in the panhandleof Florida and that heat down
there is another level of what Iexperience here which is orders
of magnitude worse than whatpeople experience in syracuse.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
So just a minute or
two, if you can, on on living
those two places for for yeah,so it was, um, you know, I I
that was actually part of thereason why we left was because
of the heat and the humidity,and my wife's the same way.
She prefers seasons.
She's, you know, we lived inindiana for a long time, so she
was used of the heat and thehumidity, and my wife's the same
way.
She prefers seasons.
She's, you know, we lived inIndiana for a long time, so she
was used to the seasons, and weagain.
(10:11):
The whole reason why I wentthere was because of work.
So you have to do what you haveto do, but after three and a
half, four years of the samekind of weather, it just got to
be enough.
I mean, there was more factorsthan just the weather, but there
was stuff at work going on thatI wanted to kind of just move
on.
But yeah, we did not care forthe weather.
It just got too hot, too humid,too much at the time.
And so we just said you knowwhat this isn't for us, landed
(10:33):
in Virginia, and we think it'sperfect.
Back to the seasons.
We get the change of seasons,but we also don't get the snow
that I used to get in Syracuse,so that's a nice little
trade-off.
You get the winter, but youdon't get all that snow that I
used to get.
So it's been very lovely and myfolks are still home.
They're still in Syracuse so Istill go up for holidays and
stuff.
So they're still there.
Love that.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Love that.
Well, thank you for sharingthat with us.
And now, if we could, let'sstep into the way back machine,
as it were.
Way way back, yeah, way wayback.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Oh, you guys want to
go way back.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
We could go way back
I mean well, not to the diaper
stage.
It was fast and let's see.
Let's talk about aspirations asa young man, and when was the
first time you slid behind asteering wheel?
And feel free to include anyfamily history, if that's
appropriate as well.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Yeah, of course.
So it's me and my parents, pauland Wynne.
So it's me and my parents, pauland Wyn.
I also have two twin sisters.
They're twins of each other,not of me.
They're four years younger,jillian and Lisa.
And yeah, growing up we lived in, like I said, in a little
suburb of Syracuse, new York,and my first experience driving
was our family owned a lakehouse on Cross Lake.
(11:41):
It was something that we hadever since I was born.
It was something mygrandparents had built in the
70s and growing up, as little asI can remember, it was only
about a 25-minute drive from ourhouse, this lake house, and it
was, I mean, my dream place.
I mean I loved it there.
I'd go fishing, I mean it wasjust the place to be.
(12:02):
I mean there would be days,even after school, we would go
up there for a couple hoursbecause it was so close.
But I mentioned this becausethere's a dirt road, what we
call the fire road.
It's just a dirt road thattakes you down to where our lake
house is, and it's about a mileand a half road or so, and that
road is where my firstexperience driving was.
I was probably 12 years old,sitting on my grandfather's lap
(12:25):
in his pickup truck.
He would let me steer the wheelas we would go down and then I
did that for several years orwhatever it was, and then it got
to the point even under the ageof 16, he would let me actually
drive.
I mean, because it was aprivate road, it was not a
public road, it was very private.
So people do that kind of stuffall the time with the kids
(12:46):
drive and stuff.
So yeah, he would let me drivehis pickup truck up and down
that dirt road at our lake house.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Nice yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
And so it was my
first experience driving.
And then one thing I want tomention is my father has a 1980
Z28 Camaro and he bought thatbrand new on leap year day
actually in 1980.
And he bought that.
He still has his original owner, but he bought that in 1980.
He bought it before he marriedmy mother and before he had me
(13:16):
and my sisters, and it's a funnystory that I'm going to get to
in a second.
But after he had started havingchildren, the car kind of had
to end up becoming a dailydriver because money was tight.
They couldn't really affordanother car to keep the Camaro
garage, so he had to startdriving it and in the Syracuse
(13:36):
winter months, with all the salton the road, it just started to
deteriorate and it got so badthat he just parked it in the
corner of the garage and it justsat there for 15, 20 years or
something like that.
But then you know life goes onand, you know, we got older, we
moved out of the house and itgot to a point where my dad
started to want to restore thecar.
(13:58):
So he ended up doing a fullrestoration on it about 10 years
ago.
But that that kind of inklingof restoring the car and seeing
his passion for that led me tokind of pursue my passion, which
you know when I was, um, youknow when I was a kid growing up
.
You know one of my I don't knowif we want to get into this
(14:19):
just yet, but one of my favoritemovies is Back to the Future.
I've always wanted a DeLorean.
We get that a lot.
Yep, I've heard that.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, but
unfortunately my first car was
not a DeLorean.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
My first car was a
1998 Chevy Cavalier.
That was my very first car.
Close, they're very similar, Ifind.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
yes, yes, yes, it's
the stainless, it's the
stainless steel finish on bothof those cars is what does it
tell it?
Tell us, uh, tell us about thatum, first part actually, if you
don't mind rewinding.
So your dad did the um, yourdad did the restoration.
Did he do any of the workhimself or he farmed it out?
Speaker 3 (14:54):
so he a little bit of
both.
And I say that because mysister's now husband, his father
, is a car mechanic and that'swhat he does.
So my dad is not a mechanic.
I mean he knows his way aroundthe toolbox, but he was not a
mechanic.
So you know, he was lucky andit was.
It was my sister's husband'sfather, his name's Todd.
It was because of him that heeven decided to take the leap to
(15:17):
get it restored, you know,because my dad knew he had the
help that he would need.
So, yeah, he did what he could.
He turned some wrenches andturned some screwdrivers, but
you know he wasn't.
he wasn't in there boring outcylinder heads or anything like
that, but he did what he could,but he kind of left the rest of
it up to the professionals youknow.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
And your dad plans to
keep this car till.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yeah, he restored it.
It was his baby.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
It was the only thing
that he can say he still owns
prior.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
To being married and
having children.
And it's funny because mymother's name is Lynn and his
license plate is B4 Lynn, nice.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
So that's the license
plate on this car, because it's
the one thing my mom, my momloves it.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
She gets a kick out
of it every time, but it's.
It really is.
The one thing he can say is hisown.
Prior to being married andhaving kids.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Love that.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
And uh, have you ever
driven this car, Jim?
Speaker 3 (16:19):
I've never driven it.
No, I've I've.
I mean, you know, growing up Iwas just too young and then,
since it's been restored, I justI honestly just really haven't
had the time and I just I don'tknow, I'm a little nervous, I've
it's.
Yeah, might come to a shock tosome people, but I've actually
never driven a manual car andI'm just kind of nervous to do
so on his.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
So oh, it's a manual.
Okay, that's a manual and thatjust.
But it's his baby.
He takes it out on weekends.
Yeah, he does cars and coffee.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
It's not a daily
driver anymore, thankfully,
finally, and he just keeps itnice and just takes it to car
shows and cars and coffees.
Yep, nice.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Nice, so yeah, so of
course there's a good parallel
that we'll talk about in theBack to the Future.
And your dad had his dream carbefore lynn and your car, but,
um, your first car being this1998.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Um, chevy cavalier,
high school, high school yeah,
it was actually just after highschool.
I never had it in high school,okay.
But after I graduated highschool, my dad said look, you
know, and even growing upthrough high school he says look
, whatever you save for a car,I'll match it.
Okay, so I kind of put moneyaway.
(17:25):
I would do some odd jobs.
I'd mow lawns, shovel driveways, keep all the money from the
grandparents at holidays, youknow.
So I would keep all that.
And I ended up having andnumbers.
I don't know if I rememberexactly the number, but I think
I had like 3,500 bucks saved upto get a car.
And my dad says okay, well,here's another 3,500, as I
promised.
So you have 7,000 to go buy acar.
(17:47):
And I think that was the numberI don't remember.
So this would have been in 2001, because that's when I
graduated.
So I think it was that summeris when I got the car and we
went down to the local dealersaround town, started looking
around and out of the corner ofmy eye I saw this blue Cavalier.
I didn't realize it was aCavalier at the time.
I just saw this blue car that Iliked, so I took it for a test
(18:08):
drive and we actually ended upbuying it on the spot and it was
a great car.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Can I hop in here one
second?
I think that's a bit this.
I don't know if work ethic islost on the younger generation,
but I gotta pause and rewind forjust a second here because I
say to my kids you know I saythe same thing, children, if you
save a certain amount of money,father will match it.
And you know my kids say, nothanks dad.
Well, I think we'll just walkand it.
(18:37):
You know, it's this, it's thismatching principle that I think
is so key, and I don't thinkwhen they when they go out in
the real world and and see thatthe old man is willing to match
absolutely zero of what you wantto spend on.
So, hey, I'm going to say kudosto your pops, which sounds like
a great guy, but to you too,for meeting that challenge.
Anyway, I had to squeeze thatin there.
(18:58):
Please continue, Sorry.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Any redeeming quality
about the car.
You got to pick it right.
It wasn't a hand-me-down oranything.
No, no.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
I got to choose it.
I mean, as long as it fit in mybudget.
My dad said I can have whateverI wanted.
You know, and I don't know,something just drew me to it.
I don't know.
I honestly just think it wasthe color and it was a two-door.
It was a two-door coupe.
It was a coupe I always thoughtthey were sharp-looking cars.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Honestly, I thought
they were sharp-looking.
And I know that blue you'retalking about.
It's that GM electric blue?
I know that car exactly.
It's eye-catching for sure.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Not to be confused
with the song Electric Blue.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Yeah, exactly Could
be.
So, I had that car for severalyears.
It went to college with me,though it didn't go to my first
year of college because studentswere not allowed to have cars
on campus their first year, butmy second year of college, you
know, it was on campus with me.
And then I even had it a fewyears after that, um, until it
just got to the point where itjust started just breaking down.
(20:02):
It just wasn't worth the upkeepanymore.
Resting out, yeah, exactly yeah, gotcha.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
But um, yeah, so blue
cavalier, great car.
And um so what happened?
What happened to that car?
So I'm not in your dad's garageanymore, right, yeah, no it
wasn't parked in the garage, Iended up selling it.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
A fun story about
that car, though, which is what
they really liked, is you knowwhat a lot of people don't know
is or a lot of people do know.
That know me, of course, is Iactually do sleight of hand
magic.
I'm a magician, and for a longtime I actually had the word
magic man plastered as a bigdecal on the back of that car.
(20:43):
So that was one thing.
That was a real takeaway for mewith that car, because anytime
I'd be driving around, myfriends would stop me because
they would know it was medriving because it said magic
man on the back.
And to this day, from what Iheard, we sold it to somebody
local in Syracuse, and I thinkjust as early as maybe two years
ago.
My dad says he still sees thecar driving around because the
(21:05):
guy never took the magic man offthe back.
Whoa, yeah.
So I don't know if that's trueor not, if he's just saying that
, but there's a good chance,because it was in good shape.
It wasn't completely like outof its misery, but it was just
time for it wasn't completelyout of its misery, but it was
just time for me to move on tosomething else.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Something more
responsible and reliable, and
maybe it's still on the roadbecause of that magic that you
did.
Maybe you put a spell on it.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
That's a very good
point.
It's going to be around forever?
Very well could be.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Let's not be too
cavalier about the point of
magic.
So how serious were you intothe magic scene?
Was this just sort of a passing?
No, at the time I was veryserious.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
I mean I started
doing magic in high school and
you know I would learn frombooks and stuff about basic
sleight of hand and you know Iwas not a stage magician.
I don't do the stage illusionsor any of that.
I was just you.
Give me a deck of cards andsome coins and I can do a lot of
sleight of hand for you.
And a lot of people that knowme now don't realize that I was
(22:06):
actually pretty shy in highschool and learning magic was a
great icebreaker to really openup to people and meet new people
, huge confidence booster.
Exactly A big confidence booster.
And when I realized that thismagic thing was actually working
, not only by just being able tofool people but to legit, you
know, be a confidence booster.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
You know, and that
was a big, that was a big help.
Let me just pause.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Now is this?
No, please continue no.
And then I was just going tosay yeah, so it's it's.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
it was, you know,
after high school and into
college when I really it reallystarted to take off.
I would do local bar andrestaurant magic, I would do
corporate events and things likethat.
So, yeah, it really startedtaking off when I was in my
college years.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
So what is your?
What is your favorite trick?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
So my favorite trick
is what it's actually a trick
called could be.
And it's basically an effectwhere it's a regular deck of
cards and it's a fact where Ikeep showing somebody selects a
card and I narrow it down towhat could be four cards.
That is their card.
And those four cards actuallyall become their card, so it's
(23:19):
all the same card.
But then I can't tell you how.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
But then they all
change the four aces at the end
I am not at your level, but butbut I know that trick, yeah,
okay, yeah, that that is cool.
So, so, slighted hands, uh,sliding in mostly cards.
Are there other things that youdo?
You mentioned you're not anillusionist or a big stage man.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Yeah, I don't even
call myself an illusionist, yeah
, but 80% of what I do is allcard stuff.
I don't use trick decks ortrick cards, I focus on the pure
sleight of hand.
But coins, rubber bands, justanything kind of around the
house, around the office.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
But yeah, I really
don't do much outside of that
because I want to always be onthe ready.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
So if someone says,
hey, can you do a trick?
Being funny, I can actually dosomething.
So, whether it's withsilverware or a napkin, I mean,
there's always something I cando.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Fantastic.
Yeah, there's always a deck ofcards sitting at the ready.
There's always a salt shakerexactly it's a napkin yeah,
beautiful hey, thank you.
That's very interesting.
Thank you for sharing that.
Yeah, it's been a big part ofmy life.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I don't I don't
perform as much as I used to.
I mean, I used to do corporateshows and restaurants and bars,
but over the years and now thatI'm settling down to my my you,
I just don't have the time asmuch as I used to.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah, the only magic
now is trying to get a good
night's sleep.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
Figure that out
Exactly?
Let me know, I'll let you know.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
What do you say, Doug
?
Should we move on to the nextcar in his luxury fleet?
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yeah, yeah.
So we know the Chevy Cavaliermay still be living to this day.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Cabalier, if you're
French, yeah but Jim got another
car.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Tell us about this.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Yes, so after I got
rid of the Cavalier, I needed a
car, of course, because thiswould have been.
I'm trying to remember this wasbefore, this was between.
It was between geez, some ofthe details are fuzzy because
I've moved around so much andthe years get get confused.
But I believe it was when I wasmaking my move to go to fort
wayne, indiana, that I hadgotten rid of the cavalier and
(25:30):
actually acquired a hyundaisonata.
It was a 2005 hyundai sonataand that was not a choice car.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Uh, it was actually a
hand-me-down Love, how you put
it.
Yeah, not a choice car, familyheirloom we could call it.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah, it was a great
car, but just not something I
would have picked, but it was mygrandfather's who had it.
My parents bought it for himbrand new, and he would only
drive it to the store and to getgas and stuff.
He did not really drive it much.
But my grandfather, over theyears, you know, he started
becoming disabled and he just hecouldn't drive anymore.
(26:03):
So my parents as well, you knowwe paid for this car.
We might as well see if Jimwants it.
So long story short, I don'tthink they asked me for anything
for it.
They just they gave it to meand so I had that car and I
believe I I don't remember if Idrove it or traveled it to
Indiana, but Indiana was when myfirst really that kind of came
(26:24):
into my possession and I startedusing that as my daily driver.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
And how long did you
keep the car for?
Obviously it's a family car,maybe not your favorite, but it
was yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
So I had that all
through indiana it also came to
fresno california with me, andalso made the move to miami,
florida, with me.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Uh, so I had it in
all three of those states so how
many, how many years would yousay you had that, so that would
have been about six or sevenyears.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I had that yep and
yeah.
No, honestly, there's really nowow stories on that car.
It was just a daily driver forme.
It got me to and home from workand stuff, so but yeah, there
was no, I didn't put Magic manon the back of that one or
anything you know.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Not magic worthy.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
No, no so, but it's
still a great car and it really
did help me through those years.
But the only reason why I gotrid of it is because I had a
little mishap in the parking lotof the TV station that I worked
at.
Uh-oh, now, when these TVstation people, when they have a
breaking story, they bolt likea bat out of hell to get out of
there and go to that story, Ibet.
(27:35):
So, I'm parked in the parkinglot and I'm backing out.
I'm a good driver, I look bothways.
So, as I'm backing out out ofnowhere, I just get hit in the
back and the back passenger rearquarter panel.
And I'm thinking where the helldid this guy come from?
Because I did not see him.
So I got hit.
(27:56):
It made the trunk pop open.
Luckily, the vehicle was stilldrivable, but it was just not
something I wanted to worryabout getting fixed or anything
like that.
So I ended up selling that carto CarMax.
I think Some of these detailsare fuzzy, but I believe I sold
it to CarMax and then, whilestill in Florida, I think just a
(28:20):
few weeks later, I ended upbuying my current daily driver,
which is a red 2014 Mazda 6.
That is just about to hit100,000 miles.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Nice, nice, I was
going to ask yeah, you put some
miles on that puppet, yeah, nice.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Any redeeming quality
?
Obviously, I'm sure the familywas sad to hear about the
Hyundai, but any redeemingquality about the Mazda 6 and or
the color and why you made thatchoice?
Speaker 3 (28:52):
So the Mazda 6 I have
it was the first year of the
current generation.
So it was the first year of thecurrent generation.
So it was the first year of thecurrent Gen 3 that they still
have that generation out.
It was the first year and Ijust loved the design because it
was so different from theirprevious generation, and I got
what they call Soul Red color.
I've always wanted a red car.
(29:13):
It's just a very, verybeautiful red color.
It's one of those colors thatlooks different in the night
than when the sun's on it.
You know, it just sparkles.
It's just a really sharp color.
And it was also the first brandnew car I had ever bought.
I had never bought a brand newcar, so I bought it brand new.
(29:34):
In, believe it or not, it was a2014 model.
I bought it brand new inFebruary 2013.
So they were out a whole almosta whole year earlier than when
they would usually come out, andI did all sorts of research on
how to wheel and deal with a cardealer and that stuff kind of
gets me excited.
(29:54):
I like trying to figure outthese car guys and stuff and try
to get the best deal.
So I was after this car for Iwould say, about two months
before I actually bought it.
You know, I'd go in, I'd playtheir games, I'd pretend to be
more interested than I was, andall this and all that and a
little, a little sleight of handyeah, that's actually a good
way to put it.
(30:14):
And eventually, after themagician after a couple weeks
they cracked and I ended upgetting what I originally wanted
for it.
So I was happy with uh withthat purchase nice, nice.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Yeah, I'll say one
thing I always wanted a red car
and my second red car, I got twotickets in two weeks.
I was like 20'm, like no morered cars ever again.
Now being 50, I would probablyget another one.
But you know I'm a big fan ofMazdas.
I think I've had about fourMazdas Mazda RX-7, mazda MX-6.
(30:51):
Oh wow, two Miatas over theyears.
Mazda's a great car.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Yeah, I've had it
100,000 miles.
The only one thing I had weresome of my seals on my engine
were starting to go and needednew seals.
But other than normalmaintenance I've had zero issues
with that car.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Nice, nice, so you're
.
You touched on it a little bitearlier, right, so we have your
daily driver.
Obviously, your wife has adaily driver, she does yeah,
what?
What's your dream car?
It's obviously not a.
(31:28):
It's not a Chevy Camaro.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
I think maybe the
dream car was his Cavalier out
of the gate.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
What's your next
dream car?
Pay attention, it's his dream.
Okay, are you?
Saying it could be that Dreamachieve Chevy Cavalier Can't go
beyond that.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
I keep all my dreams
very low and achievable.
I don't dream big, I dreamextra small.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Yeah, so I like to
think of it as the chevy
cavalier was a first car.
The hyundai sonata was a neededcar.
My mazda 6 is a yeah, I guess,another needed car.
I mean I was able to to pickand choose that one, but I
picked and chose it for the longhaul.
I'm usually not one to, youknow, get a new car over a
couple of years just to get anew car.
(32:14):
I mean I only got new cars asmy story goes just because I
needed to.
You know, cavalier was on itsway out, needed to get the
Sonata, the Sonata got damaged,needed another car.
So the dream car actually hasalways been, since I was about
10 years old, the DeLorean fromBack to the Future.
That has always been my dreamcar and I remember the day I saw
(32:40):
the movie I was about 10 yearsold.
My folks and I were living atmy grandparents' house because
my house that I grew up in mostof my life was being built and
that's where my folks are nowstill in Syracuse.
I remember the movie coming onand watching that iconic scene
from Back to the Future of thatDeLorean coming out of the back
of that van and I just said, oh,this is cool, this is really
(33:01):
cool, so yeah, so that was onething I said I wish I could have
one of these one day.
Now, look at 10 years old, youdon't really think that you
don't even really know what anyof that means.
You know.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
But over the years.
It's just something I've always, always wanted, nice, nice.
So there's probably a longstory about it.
But how did your wife feelabout it?
What drove you to finally makethat leap into the DeLorean,
knowing that it wouldn't be youreveryday car and it's an
expense.
It's not super cheap, it's notFerrari expensive, but somewhere
(33:38):
in the middle.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yeah, it was at a
point I had forgotten about the
DeLorean for a long time, forseveral years, I mean, even
throughout high school.
Something would pop up and itwould make me think of it, but I
never really thought I wouldbuy it or get one, or even want
to get one, you know.
And so what had happened was Iwas home from college one day
and there was a gentlemanoutside of my neighborhood
growing up where my parents live, and wouldn't you know, he was
(34:07):
washing a DeLorean and it wasthe first DeLorean I had ever
seen in real life.
And this was on my way home fromcollege.
I think, after my between myfirst and second years, I was
coming home for the summer and,long story short, I took my
buddy and we went right.
We marched, I literally walkedthere because it was so close.
(34:31):
And we walked to this guywashing his DeLorean and I'm
like, oh my God, this is a realDeLorean, this is not a joke,
this is not a car.
I mean I could tell it was areal DeLorean.
And I said I just we juststarted talking to the guy, oh,
I've always wanted one of these,I can't believe it.
So that kind of sparked my, Iguess, more serious interest in
the car, being 18, 19, 20 yearsold, however old I was, and a
real funny story about it.
And you know, I was still youngand dumb even at 22 years old
(34:52):
or whatever.
I think I was like 22, 21,somewhere in there.
I asked the guy I says, geez,you know, if you were able to
sell it, how much would you wantfor it?
And he says, geez, I, Iwouldn't, I wouldn't take
anything less than 35.
So my stupid head thinks 3,500.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Oh, dear yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
So I go home.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
You obviously didn't
major in math, Jim.
My goodness, You're an order ofmagnitude off pal.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
So my buddy and I are
walking back to my dad's house
and I'm like man, 3,500 bucks,that's really not that bad.
I'm sure my dad would lend methat kind of money.
So, long story short, my dadbasically made me realize he
wanted 35 grand for the car.
So I just was embarrassed.
And then, but in over the, Imean I was 20, I'm 40 now, so
(35:35):
this was about 20 years ago andanytime I had been home to visit
, for holidays or whatever, Istill looked to see if that
DeLorean was there.
And for 20 years I saw nothing.
Well, wouldn't you know, lastsummer I was home.
I actually trailered myDeLorean.
I own a DeLorean now.
(35:55):
I guess we could get into that.
I kind of skipped ahead alittle bit there.
Sorry about that, that's okay,but I now own a DeLorean, we can
get into that.
But I brought my DeLorean up toSyracuse, new York, for a huge
annual car show and while I wasthere, wouldn't you know the
time I am back in town with aDeLorean I saw that guy outside
(36:20):
with his DeLorean.
After 20 years he still has it.
And I of course brought myDeLorean up to see his DeLorean
and stuff like that.
So that was just, it was justquite the the experience.
I'm sorry, I just kind ofskipped ahead a little bit there
.
I just realized that.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
No, no, that's that,
that's okay.
No, it's pretty cool.
You know, I'm going about 20years over time and yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
I finally picked one
up about three years ago and
getting back to you asking aboutmy wife yeah, my wife was 100
percent on board.
You know, she knew I had apassion for it.
She, she knew I was in aposition to buy it and she's
been on board the whole time andshe just loves that.
I have something that I loveand it's it's been great.
And she's like, yeah, 100percent, you should buy it.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
It's been great, and
she's like, yeah, 100%, you
should buy it.
Nice, nice, exactly, all right,well, and Christian, if I may.
So you mentioned your verysupportive wife.
What does your wife do?
Speaker 3 (37:17):
My wife is in real
estate.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
She's a realtor.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Yep, yep, she's been
doing real estate for about
three, going on four years now.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Nice, nice, and just
in Northern Virginia, or
Virginia, yeah, northern.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Virginia, technically
Virginia State, because that's
where she's licensed.
But yeah, she just focuses onthe Northern Virginia area.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Okay, wonderful.
So yeah, for you guys listeningNorthern Virginia, We'll put in
the show notes some detailsabout Jim's wife.
What's her name?
Her name is Daniela DanielaGray.
So, yeah, be on the lookout.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Love, that name is
daniella, daniella green.
So yeah, be on the lookout.
Love that, yeah, thank you forsharing that.
So, yeah, yeah, we, we arecoming up and again we're only
it happens more and more oftenwith these great guests that we
have.
We, we close in on the half anhour mark and and we're just
getting into it- so we're goingto do something.
I believe that, yeah, we've,even with all my babbling, we've
even gone past the 30-minutemark, so somebody should really
hit the mute button on me everyso often.
(38:20):
So let's do a couple of thingshere.
We're going to do somethingwe've never done before.
We're going to have atwo-parter where we're going to
have Jim back, because we reallyhaven't even gotten to some of
the interesting things that wespoke about in Jim's
pre-production, which was thefact that he has an Emmy sitting
(38:41):
on his bookcase and we spied itand we had a zillion questions
and I found we got into thisfascinating discussion that we
haven't even gotten into now.
So we'd like to have him back.
I would like to chat a littlebit more about that.
I would also like to go into alittle more detail around the
(39:01):
practical framework, or decisionframework, that got him into
the DeLorean First drive.
When did he know what's it likeowning one?
Because it's a huge commitment.
A supercar any car is acommitment, but a supercar is a
next-level commitment.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
And that itself is
part of the story too.
And yeah, I kind of wanted tostop to save that for later,
because, yeah's, that's a storyin and of itself.
Oh my god, you got it and um.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
So, if I may,
christian, um, yeah, so, um,
just a quick aside.
Yeah, we'll definitely have youback to talk more about your.
Uh, talk about the emmy and howyou got there and the delorean
and everything that's happenedsince then, absolutely and, uh,
you know, for for what it'sworth.
Uh, we have, we have an episodewith Kat DeLorean, uh, born
(39:51):
Catherine DeLorean, but this isJohn DeLorean's only daughter
and we were so privileged tohave her on, so anybody who
hasn't had a chance to listen,it's, uh, she's just a great
lady.
She's doing some really amazingthings, but I won't give it all
away, but it's some reallyamazing things, but I I won't
give it all away, but it's, it'sin the the last episode of uh
(40:13):
season one.
So, um, yeah and um, you know,we're, we're all, uh, we're all
happy to talk about deloreans,right, and we actually spoke to
a delorean which is pretty rare.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Brian on once already
, that's great yep, yep, exactly
, exactly, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
Yeah, brian's one of
our favorite episodes.
We hear from a lot of thelistenership on that.
Kat Lorien was very generouswith her time, wonderful guest
and yeah.
So, jim, can we do this againin maybe a?
Speaker 3 (40:42):
week or so?
Absolutely, you, just, you justnamed a day in class.
Was there a bad taste out ofyour mouth?
Yeah, wonderful, yeah,absolutely.
You just named a day in class.
Was it got?
Speaker 1 (40:48):
the bad taste out of
your mouth.
Yeah, wonderful.
Yeah, 100%, lovely, excellent,well, hey, yeah, it was great
meeting you, jim, and thank youto my partner in crime, doug,
here for another really funepisode.
The neat thing about this showthat means a lot to me is all
the interesting people that Iget to meet, and this has turned
(41:08):
out to be a wonderful hobby.
We got to thank Doug for the,for being the prime mover, the
invisible hand, the man with aplan.
So what do you say, doug?
We'll have him, we'll have himback in a bit here.
Any any parting words before I,before I pull into the parking
lot, so to speak?
Speaker 2 (41:26):
No, no, just
appreciate everybody's support
and, um, you know, loved havingJim on, um love the idea of the
uh two part episode, so, um,yeah, just really can't wait Um
absolutely have Jim back.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Yeah absolutely.
Should be great.
Well, Matt, well magic man, itwas great to have you at the
stick.
No sleight of hand here.
Everything we do is above board.
Check us out carslovecom.
Carslovecom To all the carsI've loved before.
Check us out on your preferredpodcast streaming platform of
choice and email us.
(42:03):
Let us know what you think.
You can either use the form onthe site.
There's feedback.
We post quotes If you like whatyou write.
You don't have to use your lastname.
First name would be nice and,as always, reach out to us.
I'm Christian at carslovecom,he is at Doug at carslovecom.
Please join the conversation.
(42:24):
This motor only runs becauseyou are the gasoline.
Please join the conversation.
This motor only runs becauseyou are the gasoline.
Check us out, Give us somefeedback, Get involved, Be a
guest.
Thanks for coming along with uson this journey.
We'll see you next week.
Talk to you soon.
Thank y'all.
Goodbye.