Click here to tell us about your favorite car, car story or automotive trivia !
Hosts Christian and Doug welcome Eva Gregory—Hagerty insider, “Be Differential” podcast host, and lifelong Volkswagen fan—to dive into automotive nostalgia, first‑car memories, and her next big auto adventure.
- First‑Car Flashback: Eva recounts daily‑driving a ’99 Honda CR‑V through North‑Georgia mountains—then flipping it, walking away unscathed, and learning the value of calm under pressure.
- Beloved Beetle: Discover the 1969 VW Super Beetle she bought at a car show, wrenched on in college (new engine swap), and now plans to drive 700 miles south to transform into a Baja 1000 contender.
- Vintage Lifestyle Goals: Why a red ’72 Karmann Ghia stole her heart, the quick‑swap steering‑wheel mod, and the dream of owning a split‑window Porsche 356.
- Career Fast Lane: From Atlanta Motorsports Park cashier to Michelin Raceway director of operations—Eva’s path proves automotive legacy jobs exist far beyond wrenching.
- Craftsmanship Skills & Community: How classic‑car road trips, late‑night mountain drives, and air‑cooled Porsche builds shaped her mission to spotlight under‑represented automotive enthusiasts.
Eva's favorite episode is "Air-Cooled and Carefree – Guinevere’s VW Beetle Tales and Family Restoration Traditions" https://pod.link/1733902541/episode/25179670e31fa4972ec52019b456a63c
Tune in for feel‑good car memories, practical restoration tips, and inspiration to chase your own classic‑car project or automotive career.
New episodes drop every other Tuesday. Please Follow, Like, and Subscribe to be the first to hear our latest content and past episodes - https://linktr.ee/carsloved
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christian (00:04):
Welcome back to All the Cars I've Loved Before, your
authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia, where our
guests are unique, each auto hasan era and every car tells a
story.
So you know yes, indeed youknow it's time to plug in, get a
little grease under thefingernails and slip on that
(00:25):
favorite car thing t-shirt, hator jacket.
So let's welcome back listenersall over this fine country and
globe.
We call it Cars Love Nation.
Hey, for the first time, doug,have you ever heard of
Kazakhstan?
I have Other side of the planet.
First time we've had a listenerthere, really excited.
(00:46):
We have some return listenersfrom ireland.
I was there, you were lastsummer.
The driving is just um, um alittle bit of a head scratch.
Other side of the road, verynarrow road, I don't know what,
why there have to be immovablerock walls covered in ivy very
close to the road.
A lot of trickery, um, but thecar came back in one piece.
(01:10):
Hey, welcome back.
Listeners to it in san antonio,texas, portland, oregon, plano,
texas, columbia, maryland.
That's close to you, it isdetroit, michigan.
How about that motor city,motor city in tucson, arizona.
By the way, I think half ofthose cities are in the song
route 66.
That's just struck me.
Remember that song I do.
(01:32):
Route 66, I mean, I think getyour kicks on route 66.
Yeah, now I you know.
A couple years ago I visitedamarillo which I think in in
they had like the historic 66kind of where the whole thing
started, this big plaque and asign and I got kind of a
duplicate sign hanging up in my.
I'll take a picture.
(01:53):
Maybe we can get that on thephoto carousel.
Please please, hey, yeah, so dowe have any new photos for the
carousel?
Eva (02:00):
I think you did a lot of work.
Speaking of, you did a lot ofwork speaking of.
Christian (02:02):
You did a lot of work on that, so let's chat about
the website for a moment beforewe bring today's guests into our
garage, okay, so?
Doug (02:12):
uh, yeah, so I dug up a lot of pictures from our past.
Yes, my past, your past and ourlisteners past too, right?
Our listeners past yep they areguests that sent us pictures.
Yep, we, we love pictures fromour listeners too.
You don't have to be on theshow to submit a picture.
Send us a great one.
So, uh, yeah, I've beenupdating that.
(02:35):
You know it went from three toI don't know 12.
Um, there's a picture of me inthat you took of that Ferrari in
2004 that we rented the F.
Uh, what is it?
348, I thought 348.
348 TS.
Yep, yep, yeah, yep.
Christian (02:54):
And that was good times.
That was good times.
I don't recommend the top downin Vegas in August in the middle
of the day it's the greatestthing in the world First thing
in the morning.
But you know, we did the wholecircuit, we did the strip, we
did Hoover Dam and then, youknow, when it was time to bring
it back noontime we were meltingDream Car Rentals by the by.
(03:16):
If Dream Car Rentals feels likesponsoring, yeah, so thanks for
the update on the site.
Good news uh, yeah, visitcarslovecom is what we're
talking about.
Carslovecom uh, you can reachout to us over email, which a
lot of people like you christianat carslovecom.
He's doug at carslovecom, orinfo at carslovecom.
(03:39):
I guess we just hired this guynamed info and that's his email
address, so feel free to reachout to him.
Doug (03:45):
Right, he's a new hire yeah, yeah, input info for sure
speaking of uh, so pinstripe you.
Eva (03:53):
You were, you were out and about, and it was a little bit
of man I gotta tell you we lovewe send pictures of cars back
and forth to each other.
Christian (04:02):
Oh, I gotta send you this picture of.
I'm all into jeeps right nowjeep show, whatever and I want
to buy an old jeep.
That's, that's my latestobsession.
Um that if I weren't paying forkids to go to college I would
get, but and I saw an old jeeprenegade in traffic.
Old, old, old, beautiful,perfect, but anyway, toss it
(04:22):
over you.
Yes, you sent a picture of I,was it a crx?
Doug (04:26):
it was a first gen honda crx and made my day amazing
shape, black.
And you know, after looking atthe picture I'm like wow,
there's a pinstripe on it, a redpinstripe and, even more
interesting, the pinstripewasn't faded.
It was like perfect I.
I would assume somebody hadthat car repainted.
(04:49):
It looked so good and they wentthrough the trouble to add the
pinstripe.
But what do you think aboutpinstripes?
Christian (04:57):
I love them.
I love the fine detail.
Um, um, I had a car that wasjust this gorgeous green, had
the little gold pinstripe downthe side.
I like when they're intricate.
Um, yeah, it kind of reminds meof, uh, it kind of when I see
pinstripe on a car and it's allgot like the maybe the Von Dutch
styling or curvy and wavy.
(05:19):
It reminds me of, you know,some tattoos people have on
their arm or some like tattoos,that sort of thing.
Very personal, very personal.
Doug (05:27):
Yeah, and you mentioned something about Von Dutch right
and I think it was Ken Howard orKenny Von Dutch right.
He became like the guy behindthe scenes who made pinstripes
popular and I don't know ifthey're still popular on
motorcycles, but that was a bigplace, Absolutely.
(05:49):
You see it everywhere.
Christian (05:50):
Yeah, it's one of these things.
Where that was, you know, thatturned out to be his life's art
and then it just kind of movedon into the mainstream.
Its name, you'll see, is kindof his.
I don't know if it's its ownfashion label, but you will see
it there?
I think its own fashion label,but you will see it there.
Um, yeah, speaking of, let'ssee, oh sure, yeah, uh, we
mentioned at the top of the houryou got to slip on the shirt,
so you've got.
You've got a great one on today.
Doug (06:11):
Yeah, yep, so believe it or not, great deal at old, old
navy.
Back to the future flyingdelorean not too gaudy actually
no, and old navy.
Christian (06:23):
If you feel like giving us some money, that's
fine too, but they get fantasticall right.
Doug (06:27):
So we've been them money for years, so we've talked about
.
Christian (06:30):
Indeed, indeed, we've talked about shirts, we've
talked about pinstriping, we'vetalked about.
So it is time to pivot and getto today's guest.
So, doug, how did today's veryspecial guest make their way
into our virtual garage?
So our very special guest.
Doug (06:47):
I in listening to lots of podcasts I can cross her podcast
be differential and uh, great,great podcast.
Uh, all about most mostly aboutwomen in automobiles and
motorsport industries.
So and we've had, we've hadsuch great father-daughters,
just women who've grown up inthe motorsports or just got
(07:11):
involved.
Maybe they wanted to dosomething with their dad, maybe
they went to one of the collegesWeber State or McPherson right
and they just they want to docars, from students to
professionals, from hobbyists toracers, everybody else.
Christian (07:26):
Ava Gregory, welcome in.
How are you today?
Eva (07:29):
I'm so well.
I'm looking forward to thisconversation and thank you for
having me.
Christian (07:33):
Not as much as we are .
It's wow, which is kind ofhaving an idol on the show here,
so very pleased that youvisited our garage.
So what have you been intorecently?
What, if you so much going onin your world with the youtube,
um, the podcast, where do youstart?
What's the latest?
Eva (07:54):
yeah, that's such a tough question.
I definitely have a lot goingon, but I'll actually speak to
something that is about to be aproject that I'm beginning.
I um have a 69 beetle that'sbeen living up in Pennsylvania
for the past couple of years andnext month I'm going to go pick
it up and drive it down so Ican Baja it out and begin that
build to hopefully compete in itpretty soon here.
(08:15):
So that's that's most pressingbut always ongoing project.
Christian (08:20):
I love that.
So wait a minute.
Pennsylvania is that where yougrew up.
Eva (08:23):
So my family's from up north between Pennsylvania,
connecticut and upstate New York.
But I have my dad's living upthere and has been for the past
couple of years, so it's been onhis property.
Christian (08:33):
Roger Dodger.
So does it get driven much?
Is there an undercoat of ruston it?
What do you?
Is that what we got to work on,or there's certainly an
undercoat of rest.
Eva (08:44):
My dad does start it, but he does not drive it as often as
I would probably like him to.
But that's okay, we're keepingit alive and really I mean the
goal is to drive it down.
It's around a 700 mile trailpath from where he lives to
where I live.
So the goal is to kind of do alittle test run and then do a
complete like through you knowoverhaul of what needs to be
(09:06):
done and what needs to beassessed.
Christian (09:09):
So what are the odds?
It'll make it down drivingitself.
Are you going to have kind of atrailing car or will you be?
Will you be behind the driver'sseat of this car while it's on
the flatbed of an 18 wheeler,which is probably what are the
odds?
What is Vegas saying about allthat?
Eva (09:24):
So I actually daily this car in college, is my only
vehicle, and I replaced theengine in it myself with one
other kind of mentor and someYouTube videos in 2020.
So I think that the survivalrate is actually pretty decent
and, luckily, I am very acutelyaware of its inner workings and
if I'm on the side of the road,I have confidence that we can
(09:45):
get it back on the road.
Christian (09:48):
Absolutely so.
Yeah, you know where all theskeletons are, in that
particular rolling closet, whichI love, and I can just feel the
waves.
Doug's head is about to explodewith all the wonderful avenues
of discussion we have here.
Where do we start, doug?
Where do we go with this rightnow?
Doug (10:05):
Yeah, well, I think we go back to everybody's first car.
Right, yeah, we hop in the timemachine.
Right, it's on my shirt, let'sdo it.
Eva (10:15):
And we go all the way back to Ava's first car, which was it
was a 99 Honda CR-V and I wouldlike to preface that I did not
grow up in the automotive spaceor have that hobby and interest,
so it was very much point A topoint B, what I could afford,
what my options were.
So yeah, 99 Honda CRV was myold trustee for multiple years
(10:40):
until I obliterated it.
But that's okay until.
Doug (10:44):
I obliterated it, but that's okay.
Obliterate it Well before itgot obliterated.
How did you find it?
Eva (10:50):
Yeah, so actually my dad found it.
I mean, obviously I was young,so it was something.
He did the online searches atthe time and came across it and
it just worked out to be areally good deal.
From what I recall, it was like3,500 bucks.
Now I will say this was anolder model even when I
purchased it, so it had quitethe life on it already, but it
served me many memories.
Doug (11:13):
And it's funny, my daughter's first car is a CR-V
as well.
I think it's a 2014.
Christian (11:20):
All right, Now let's pray to the skies above that.
It doesn't meet the same end asAva's did Not to get that going
yet, and I don't want to bringup memories and I don't want to
step on Doug's toes.
Doug (11:32):
You're giving it away.
Christian (11:35):
Call it a segue immediately.
Doug (11:36):
Well, you know it's funny.
We've talked to a few people.
What happened to your first car?
I think about cash.
He's like I still have it.
What happened to your secondcar?
He's like I still have it.
Eva (11:52):
Right, um.
So, eva, you couldn't have yourfirst car without a second car.
But what happened to your firstcar?
So I this is I would also liketo preface.
This is not a testimony of mydriving skills, but I did.
I did total the vehicle.
Um, I had it in college and,and prior to totaling it, I
really did have so many greatmemories with this car.
And I went to Georgia or I wentto college in North Georgia, so
(12:13):
it was a mountain town.
It was, you know, the start ofthe Appalachian Trail, whatever.
I used to work at AtlantaMotorsports Park and was on my
way to work one day and it hadjust started raining as I was
going around this wide curve andwhen that happened, I began
hydroplaning and understeering.
And when that happened and Iwent to correct it, instead of
(12:35):
the wheels that kind ofinverting how you would
anticipate they locked upcompletely.
So I actually slid sideways andluckily it was just me there
was nobody else involved in mycar or any other vehicles but I
slid through a turning lane andthen hit a curb.
And when I hit the curb Iflipped and rolled two and a
(12:57):
half times and I landed driver'sside down and my seatbelt was
stuck and so I just kind of wasthere for a minute, you know,
and I, like I said I was on myway to work.
So I called a colleague, myboss at the time and now great
mentor and family friend.
But I called him to let himknow that I wasn't going to make
(13:18):
it in and said, you know, I gotin an accident.
I'm okay, but I was stillsideways when I was on the phone
with him.
So at that point in time I hadalways carried a pocket knife
and cut myself free.
And once I kind of, like youknow, came to, I guess, and cut
myself free, climbed out, andwho he had called was my
(13:40):
roommate at the time who wasworking and got the call that I
was in an accident.
So she called my phone and Iwas just standing on the side of
the road next to my sidewayscar before any emergency
vehicles or anything arrived.
And when the paramedics showedup I was literally on the call
and I was like, hey, I've got tolet you go, like they're here.
And when they arrived theydidn't know who got in the
(14:03):
accident because I was trulyfine, and I walked up to them
and said, hey, how's it goingand they were like you know we
should ask you that and saidfingers toes moving like we're
good, but unfortunately,cosmetically because of the age
I did total it, so that wasunfortunate.
Doug (14:18):
And then I got the 69 beetle yeah, and it sounds like
you were pretty I don't know atthe time, but you were pretty
calm in that scenario yeah, I,uh, I really do handle stressful
situations well.
Eva (14:31):
Sounds like it and yeah, it was so funny.
I just even more a tangent.
But I called an ex-boyfriend atthe time to come pick me up
because I was about a mile and ahalf away from where I lived
and I called to say, hey, canyou just bring me home?
I got in an accident and hepulled up and parked and was
just flabbergasted to see my carsideways and he was like I
(14:53):
thought you got in like a fenderbender and I was like I would
not have called you if I got ina fender bender.
So, yeah, it was handled verywell, fortunately, definitely
unfortunate circumstances, butit all ended up being okay and
it set me on the trajectory towhere I've been able to
experience.
Doug (15:09):
Yeah, yeah.
Eva (15:10):
No.
Doug (15:10):
I'm sure that helped you out.
Go ahead, Christian.
Christian (15:14):
You just want to get in here.
So you mentioned somethingabout the Atlanta Motor Speedway
, that you were in MotorsportsPark, atlanta Sports Park.
Eva (15:22):
So there's two different facilities Atlanta Motor
Speedway is south of Atlanta andHampton and Atlanta Motorsports
Park is in Dawsonville.
Christian (15:30):
So one is a.
Eva (15:30):
NASCAR-owned track and one is a private club track, so they
have a go-karting facility anda main car course.
Christian (15:38):
Is that where you got bitten by the odd?
Yeah, she got a big nod.
Okay, we can talk about thatnow or later, but what an
influential place to start.
Doug (15:51):
Yeah, you know and I'm just thinking about our, our
last episode, christian with aNigel.
So CEO of coastline Academy, uh, coastline heavy, I don't know
if you've heard of them, but uh,driving school and Christian
watched Christian's teaching hisyoungest son how to drive and
(16:12):
he found these great videos andone of them was what to do in an
accident, and maybe we shouldhave one off by Ava that says
what to do if your CRV flipsover truly, truly and I will say
I have since I have since donedriving courses and know what to
do.
Eva (16:32):
Now it, god forbid.
You know there's a next time.
So yeah, absolutely.
Christian (16:36):
Yeah, but she strikes me as one of these unique
people with just ice water inthe veins.
You know whether you look ather content.
You listen to it veryunflappable.
But okay, I'm going to be quiet.
This is Doug's portion.
Here's the baton.
Take it away, okay.
Doug (16:52):
So the car got total?
Sadly it did, yep, but I thinkthe next car, along with your
career, right, or maybe the nextcar really steered you in that
direction, so to speak, withmanual steering, different than
the power steering of the HondaCR-V.
So what was your second car?
Eva (17:14):
My second vehicle was a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle,
savannah-based, and I found itat a car show.
It was a Volkswagen car meet.
I was on my way out and saw itdrive in with a for sale sign
and had to go back for it.
Doug (17:31):
Nice, nice.
And how long after the?
Was that?
Pretty soon after the CRV metits fate.
Eva (17:37):
It was pretty soon after, yeah, I think.
Probably just a couple months,definitely less than less than
six months.
So yeah, not not too far.
I think it was maybe.
I think I totaled my car inOctober and then I think I had
the Beetle by April.
Doug (17:52):
So yeah, not too far.
Okay, and you just happen to beat a car show because liking
cars, right yeah, getting.
That getting that bug, so tospeak, bugs absolutely.
Christian, you went to a carshow in Florida called the great
um rare air, rare air show yeah, rare, fabulous.
Eva (18:12):
That's a great show.
Oh, you've been to it as well.
Doug (18:15):
I have yeah, okay, so is it a moving show, or you've been
to it in Pensacola, whereChristian is?
Eva (18:23):
There was a version of it hosted in Atlanta.
Doug (18:26):
Okay.
Eva (18:27):
Yeah, there's been a couple years.
It's typically held at thePorsche Experience Center in
Atlanta.
Christian (18:32):
Oh, that's cool, that's really really cool, yeah,
the one down here was held onthe grounds of five flags speed,
five flags speedway, which is awell-known regional racetrack
that hosts the snowball derby,which a lot of our listeners
will know.
It's a very famous short trackrace here, but, yeah, tons of
(18:54):
space for everybody.
Great day.
I think it was in the fall.
I think it was in the fall oflast year.
That's so perfect, perfectweather.
Doug (19:04):
But yeah, yes, doug yeah, so uh, and you still have this
Volkswagen right.
Eva (19:14):
I do, yeah, so there was a sale that transacted a couple
years ago, but it has made itsway back to the family and is up
in Pennsylvania.
Doug (19:27):
Oh cool back their first cars, tracing them back, which
apparently in the UK is a loteasier because they keep
Christian.
What did Dirk tell us, one ofour other?
They keep the same licenseplate for the life of the car.
Christian (19:43):
Oh Is that right Christian.
Doug (19:44):
The license plate stays with the car.
Christian (19:46):
So actually when you've got you know I think the
string convention is the firstthree or four characters are
actually the letters of eitherthe town or kind of the
signifier of the town, the waythat every airport is known by a
three-letter signifier.
(20:06):
So there the first few lettersare the signifier of kind of the
town or the local DMV, firstfew letters of the signifier of
kind of the town or the localdmv.
So you always kind of have anidea of um, where, the, where it
was originally titled, which,yeah, I thought that was so
interesting where here in thestates.
It's just all I've ever seen,unless you get a vanity plate,
(20:27):
since I'm not vain, I wouldn'tknow anything about that.
It's just a random string ofletters and numbers now there's
no intelligence built into thesystem.
Doug (20:35):
Yeah, that was really clever.
Well, it becomes a scavengerhunt, you know, challenge in the
States, right, to figure it out.
Yeah, yeah, and God, I can'tstop thinking about it.
Past episode with McPhersonChris Paulson actually teaches a
class not just on automotivehistory but how to research the
(20:57):
origins of your automobile,right, cool, yeah that was so
neat Interesting to know.
Christian (21:03):
And while we're on the history of cars here, while
we're teeing up the nextquestion, I was in an antique
store.
I really enjoy antiquing.
I was in an antique store and Isaw this license plate or a rack
of license plate.
They're like 50 bucks a pop.
I said what is it with theselines?
Nobody wants these.
What is it?
Well, come to find out licenseplate collecting is is a is a
(21:24):
big deal.
It's the big thing.
I don't know if it's the worldover, but you're not just going
to go go get up Now.
I'm talking about kind of youknow, old, very.
But you're not just going to goget a now.
I'm talking about kind of old,very interesting-looking license
plates.
But it's a thing.
They have shows, they have swapmeets.
They have all this sort of thing.
Yeah, it's like recordcollecting or baseball card
collecting or something likethat.
Anyway, just wanted toworthless bomb information, some
(21:46):
A bit of trivia in there.
Back to you, back to you withthat breaking news.
Yeah, yeah, thank you With that.
Back to you, back to you withthat breaking news.
Yeah, yeah, thank you with thatbreaking worthless news, yeah,
so um, the beetle.
Doug (21:56):
The beetle became a big part, but you're and you still
have it, and earlier youmentioned you're gonna pick it
up from pennsylvania, drive itback, fingers crossed, uh, down
south about 700 miles and turnit into a miles and turn it into
(22:19):
a Baja.
Yeah, the goal is to uhcompletely Baja.
Rally it out and compete in the1000.
Christian (22:22):
Awesome yeah, very great, very great yeah, so oh go
ahead.
Doug (22:27):
Oh, no, no, Um.
So I did want to ask about um,cause every Volkswagen tells the
story.
I've heard you have anotherVolkswagen, a red one.
Can you tell us about it?
And is that your daily driver,or is it?
Eva (22:42):
a I do have.
I have a 72 Volkswagen KarmannGhia and I actually.
Karmann Ghia was the dream andit was.
I couldn't afford it.
So at the same show that Iended up buying the beetle from
was the first time that I sawCarmen Ghia in person.
And this sounds so dramatic, butit literally brought a tear to
my eye and I am a big journalerand I literally journaled like
(23:07):
I'm going to find that Ghia.
And while I didn't find theexact same one, I did find a red
Gia a couple years later.
So while I bought the bug thatday, I held on to that dream of
the Gia and the opportunity cameup in 2023 now and I purchased
it not far from where I live,and it was a great story of a
(23:30):
father son who had bought it towork on and have a project
together, and now it's become myproject and it's been an
amazing experience.
It is not my daily I have anAudi A4.
It's my daily, but the KarmannGhia I do use most weekends and
definitely drive it at leastonce a week.
Doug (23:47):
Wow.
Eva (23:48):
Yeah.
Christian (23:49):
And yeah, if you want to see some, okay, so I would
like to talk about Hagerty'shere at some point, is it?
Eva (23:56):
okay if we talk about your day job and kind of like your
past, moving through the ranksand moving up quite quickly.
Christian (24:05):
I think it's very interesting.
So how did you get into that?
When did you decide that youwanted to do that for a living,
and to what do you attributeyour rapid success?
Eva (24:18):
This is so funny.
So I started in the industry bycomplete accident.
It was never the goal.
I once thought I was going tobe an attorney.
I once thought I was going toteach English as a second
language internationally, andI'm very far from either of
those things.
So when I was in college, asmost people, I was financially
independent.
I was working two jobs andneeded a third.
(24:39):
So that's how I found AtlantaMotorsports Park.
They were still underconstruction, it was still very
much in its elementary stages,and in working there I literally
began as a cashier.
That was my only previous workexperience and I ended up
getting cross-trained in everyrole between corner marshal, pit
(24:59):
stewarding, mechanic role andthen ended up creating a
position that was really focusedon marketing for their
memberships, because there was amissing piece there.
During my time at AMP I hadpeople in my life that really
really fully inundated me in it,people that became really good
friends and still strong impactin my life now and they were
(25:23):
very heavily involved in classicair-cooled German vehicles and
then some newer.
A 996 was one of my firstmemories with friends there and,
yeah, just totally got exposedand inundated.
And then, once thoserelationships began, you know,
getting nurtured and developing,I got really involved in
(25:43):
working on those vehicles andworked on some air-cooled
Porsches, specifically a 79 911SC that was built to mimic an
East African safari rally race.
And it was just some really,really cool experiences and so
many of my fond memories fromcollege, which is when I worked
at AMP, were on those mountaindrives, late night drives
(26:06):
through North Georgia up intoNorth Carolina and just getting
to experience what a visceralfeeling of an air-cooled vehicle
is.
And so that's really that's howI said okay, this is where I
want to stay.
I just I fell in love with thehobby enthusiast side and then
the people were just soimportant to my life and I just
I was fascinated.
(26:26):
Every, every car person has somany interesting stories.
An opportunity came where I wasable to move to Road Atlanta,
now Michelin Raceway RoadAtlanta and grew in the ranks
pretty quickly there as well.
So I started there actually asa corner marshal and ended up
growing and evolving intohospitality sales and finished
(26:50):
as director of operations beforejoining Hagerty now.
Christian (26:55):
Wow Well that is quite the story.
That's a lot going on there sowell.
Again, congratulations for allthe success and I wanted to chat
a minute for okay.
So you have two things.
That really interested Doug andI from the get-go was your
YouTube channel, which I thinkis so accessible and so well
(27:17):
done.
Kudos to you and your team, butalso the podcast, and it's been
really great talking to youbecause I feel like we're
talking to kind of a fellow prohere.
So how did the podcast comeabout and what is the most
unexpected, pleasant thing thatyou've learned about the whole
experience of producing one,being that you have one?
Eva (27:39):
That's such a fun question.
So the podcast really derivedfrom attending the Women With
Drive Summit in 2023.
And this is an event that'shosted by Women in Motorsports
North America and I was justblown away by the impact.
It's no secret that this is amale dominated industry, right?
And while so much change andimprovement has occurred,
(28:01):
there's still certainly a lot ofwork to be done, not just for
women, but for underrepresentedgroups across the board.
And when I went to that summit,I was just really, really
inspired by how many people Ididn't know their stories and
the fact that in motorsports,you most often see you know,
drivers and professionals, teamowners, people that are in the
(28:22):
spotlight.
So I really literally left thesummit on my flight home, filled
out 10 pages of a notebook ofwhat my vision for this podcast
was, what was missing, what Iwanted the mission to be, what
dream guests I had and whattopics I wanted to cover.
And then I just started textingsome folks in my network and
(28:44):
saying, hey, I'm kind ofthinking about this.
Does this sound ridiculous?
And then, if not, would you bewilling to join?
And it really I, I.
It's been just over a year nowsince I've started and launched
the podcast.
I launched it in March of 2024.
Us too.
I love that Same on, and themost surprising positive thing
(29:07):
has just been, no matter howdeep I've been in this I'm in
the industry for almost 10 yearsnow there's so many untold
stories and there's so manyavenues and entry points that
people are just not aware of atall, and so that's really.
I'm still learning every daythat I get to be a part of it
and join in it, and it's beenreally really cool to create an
opportunity that elevates otherpeople.
Christian (29:28):
I dig that.
That's well stated.
That's one of the things that Ilike so much about this show
that Doug and I are growing isjust the amazing people we never
would have met otherwise.
And they're not all in the carindustry like yourself.
They have a passion, but theyhave these other jobs police
people, emtp, retired lawyers,up and down the spectrum.
(29:52):
But everybody tells you know,everybody has these wonderful
stories and truly just subtextis a way to get to know somebody
.
Okay, so did the YouTubechannel—we found for us that
that was a logical extension ofthe podcast to sort of get the
word out.
Is that what happened to you?
Eva (30:11):
Yeah, I mean truly.
I was really apprehensive tostart the YouTube because I
really wanted to put qualitycontent out and I felt that my
my audio is good quality, but Iwas less confident in my video
and editing and so on.
But yeah, absolutely, it wasone of those things where I just
wanted, no matter what youraccess point is or what your
(30:33):
interest is some people don'tenjoy listening to podcasts,
some people want to watch it.
So, yeah, it was just anotherplatform to really broaden who
it could reach and who might beinterested.
Christian (30:43):
Fantastic Good stuff.
And before we ramp the showdown, I'm going to toss the
baton back to here.
Look, here's a baton, I'mhanding it.
No, it's a screwdriver.
Doug (30:54):
Sorry, looks like a screwdriver, let's go.
Yeah, so you've had a lot ofcars and there are a lot of
great car stories.
Um, hopefully, hopefully, theuh Volkswagen will end up on
YouTube again on its on itsjourney down.
South.
But, um, what is your?
What is your dream car, Ava,given all the cars that you've
(31:15):
seen ridden in, learn about inyour day-to-day life.
Eva (31:21):
Yeah, the goal has always been a 356.
And that has been the goalsince the beginning and it's an
affordability, it's gettingthere right.
I'm on the journey, I'm in thefamily, but specifically a split
window 356 is really just.
That has stolen my heart.
I the.
I have memories in 356s anddriving being a passenger and
(31:43):
when I own that car I will knowthat I have made it I heard, uh,
I heard seinfeld has one mightbe for sale you never know if
you don't ask just start asitcom you'll
Christian (31:57):
make it, we have all the faith in the world, in you.
Doug (32:00):
Great answer.
Or just stick with YouTube.
She's doing great.
Christian (32:07):
Yeah, we have all the faith in the world.
So, as we guide the podcastgently to the off ramp, here one
question for you.
One last question on the wayout.
Okay, so do Carmen Ghiaias comewith steering wheels?
Are they changeable and what doyou know about that?
Eva (32:24):
I love this.
So timely, isn't it?
Absolutely.
They come with steering wheelsand, depending on the era, some
of them are more aestheticallypleasing than others.
When I purchased my 72, theprevious owner and his son had
really tried to hot rod it out,so there were choices that I
(32:44):
personally would not have made.
So when I bought it I knewimmediately I wanted to change
it and despite mine being a 72,I actually bought an aftermarket
.
It's dated up to 71.
Very easy to change out, very,very one bolt switches it super
quick.
But I feel like it just speaksto the character and makes it
(33:04):
much more representation of whoI am through that vehicle.
Christian (33:08):
Absolutely.
And just again, we have to giveso much praise to your YouTube
channel because that thing thatyou just described is the
perfect little YouTube video.
It's everything.
Youtube should be quick, clever, fun, educational.
Uh, you struggle with the horn,you gotta you have to, you have
(33:30):
to rewire some sort of hornbutton and it's just, it's so
engaging and fast and, um, Ithink it's great.
So, hey, we appreciate youtaking some time this afternoon
to take us through your world alittle bit.
Ava, it was a distinct pleasuremeeting you.
Eva (33:45):
Likewise.
Thank you so much for the time.
I really appreciate it.
Christian (33:48):
And I would say a prayer that you can make it from
Pennsylvania to where you areright now, but you won't need it
.
All the faith in the world.
Eva (33:55):
Yeah, I will say I'll give that personal plug.
If you guys want to followalong, I'm sure the journey will
be documented.
Christian (34:03):
So Be Differential podcast Boom, mic drop.
That's it Well, thank you again, ava.
Thank you Distinct pleasure.
And you have just heard thehigh revving, low mileage, late
model heard around the world.
Authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia.
He's Doug.
Reach him at Doug atCarsLovecom.
I'm Christian.
Reach me at Christian atCarsLovecom.
(34:23):
Please follow and tell a friend.
If you like what you're hearing.
Leave a review.
That helps us grow.
Try out CarsLovecom for a lotof fun, engaging content as well
as what we call the carousel ofmemories.
Send us a picture of your carsor our link tree, doug.
Let's get into them at linktreeslash carsloved.
(34:46):
That's it.
I am sure we'll see you at thenext local car show, show, race
or race trip.
We appreciate you taking a lapwith us and we'll see you next
time.
Welcome back to All the Cars I've Loved Before, your
authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia, where our
guests are unique, each auto hasan era and every car tells a
story.
So you know yes, indeed youknow it's time to plug in, get a
little grease under thefingernails and slip on that
(00:25):
favorite car thing t-shirt, hator jacket.
So let's welcome back listenersall over this fine country and
globe.
We call it Cars Love Nation.
Hey, for the first time, doug,have you ever heard of
Kazakhstan?
I have Other side of the planet.
First time we've had a listenerthere, really excited.
(00:46):
We have some return listenersfrom ireland.
I was there, you were lastsummer.
The driving is just um, um alittle bit of a head scratch.
Other side of the road, verynarrow road, I don't know what,
why there have to be immovablerock walls covered in ivy very
close to the road.
A lot of trickery, um, but thecar came back in one piece.
(01:10):
Hey, welcome back.
Listeners to it in san antonio,texas, portland, oregon, plano,
texas, columbia, maryland.
That's close to you, it isdetroit, michigan.
How about that motor city,motor city in tucson, arizona.
By the way, I think half ofthose cities are in the song
route 66.
That's just struck me.
Remember that song I do.
(01:32):
Route 66, I mean, I think getyour kicks on route 66.
Yeah, now I you know.
A couple years ago I visitedamarillo which I think in in
they had like the historic 66kind of where the whole thing
started, this big plaque and asign and I got kind of a
duplicate sign hanging up in my.
I'll take a picture.
(01:53):
Maybe we can get that on thephoto carousel.
Please please, hey, yeah, so dowe have any new photos for the
carousel?
Eva (02:00):
I think you did a lot of work.
Speaking of, you did a lot ofwork speaking of.
Christian (02:02):
You did a lot of work on that, so let's chat about
the website for a moment beforewe bring today's guests into our
garage, okay, so?
Doug (02:12):
uh, yeah, so I dug up a lot of pictures from our past.
Yes, my past, your past and ourlisteners past too, right?
Our listeners past yep they areguests that sent us pictures.
Yep, we, we love pictures fromour listeners too.
You don't have to be on theshow to submit a picture.
Send us a great one.
So, uh, yeah, I've beenupdating that.
(02:35):
You know it went from three toI don't know 12.
Um, there's a picture of me inthat you took of that Ferrari in
2004 that we rented the F.
Uh, what is it?
348, I thought 348.
348 TS.
Yep, yep, yeah, yep.
Christian (02:54):
And that was good times.
That was good times.
I don't recommend the top downin Vegas in August in the middle
of the day it's the greatestthing in the world First thing
in the morning.
But you know, we did the wholecircuit, we did the strip, we
did Hoover Dam and then, youknow, when it was time to bring
it back noontime we were meltingDream Car Rentals by the by.
(03:16):
If Dream Car Rentals feels likesponsoring, yeah, so thanks for
the update on the site.
Good news uh, yeah, visitcarslovecom is what we're
talking about.
Carslovecom uh, you can reachout to us over email, which a
lot of people like you christianat carslovecom.
He's doug at carslovecom, orinfo at carslovecom.
(03:39):
I guess we just hired this guynamed info and that's his email
address, so feel free to reachout to him.
Doug (03:45):
Right, he's a new hire yeah, yeah, input info for sure
speaking of uh, so pinstripe you.
Eva (03:53):
You were, you were out and about, and it was a little bit
of man I gotta tell you we lovewe send pictures of cars back
and forth to each other.
Christian (04:02):
Oh, I gotta send you this picture of.
I'm all into jeeps right nowjeep show, whatever and I want
to buy an old jeep.
That's, that's my latestobsession.
Um that if I weren't paying forkids to go to college I would
get, but and I saw an old jeeprenegade in traffic.
Old, old, old, beautiful,perfect, but anyway, toss it
(04:22):
over you.
Yes, you sent a picture of I,was it a crx?
Doug (04:26):
it was a first gen honda crx and made my day amazing
shape, black.
And you know, after looking atthe picture I'm like wow,
there's a pinstripe on it, a redpinstripe and, even more
interesting, the pinstripewasn't faded.
It was like perfect I.
I would assume somebody hadthat car repainted.
(04:49):
It looked so good and they wentthrough the trouble to add the
pinstripe.
But what do you think aboutpinstripes?
Christian (04:57):
I love them.
I love the fine detail.
Um, um, I had a car that wasjust this gorgeous green, had
the little gold pinstripe downthe side.
I like when they're intricate.
Um, yeah, it kind of reminds meof, uh, it kind of when I see
pinstripe on a car and it's allgot like the maybe the Von Dutch
styling or curvy and wavy.
(05:19):
It reminds me of, you know,some tattoos people have on
their arm or some like tattoos,that sort of thing.
Very personal, very personal.
Doug (05:27):
Yeah, and you mentioned something about Von Dutch right
and I think it was Ken Howard orKenny Von Dutch right.
He became like the guy behindthe scenes who made pinstripes
popular and I don't know ifthey're still popular on
motorcycles, but that was a bigplace, Absolutely.
(05:49):
You see it everywhere.
Christian (05:50):
Yeah, it's one of these things.
Where that was, you know, thatturned out to be his life's art
and then it just kind of movedon into the mainstream.
Its name, you'll see, is kindof his.
I don't know if it's its ownfashion label, but you will see
it there?
I think its own fashion label,but you will see it there.
Um, yeah, speaking of, let'ssee, oh sure, yeah, uh, we
mentioned at the top of the houryou got to slip on the shirt,
so you've got.
You've got a great one on today.
Doug (06:11):
Yeah, yep, so believe it or not, great deal at old, old
navy.
Back to the future flyingdelorean not too gaudy actually
no, and old navy.
Christian (06:23):
If you feel like giving us some money, that's
fine too, but they get fantasticall right.
Doug (06:27):
So we've been them money for years, so we've talked about
.
Christian (06:30):
Indeed, indeed, we've talked about shirts, we've
talked about pinstriping, we'vetalked about.
So it is time to pivot and getto today's guest.
So, doug, how did today's veryspecial guest make their way
into our virtual garage?
So our very special guest.
Doug (06:47):
I in listening to lots of podcasts I can cross her podcast
be differential and uh, great,great podcast.
Uh, all about most mostly aboutwomen in automobiles and
motorsport industries.
So and we've had, we've hadsuch great father-daughters,
just women who've grown up inthe motorsports or just got
(07:11):
involved.
Maybe they wanted to dosomething with their dad, maybe
they went to one of the collegesWeber State or McPherson right
and they just they want to docars, from students to
professionals, from hobbyists toracers, everybody else.
Christian (07:26):
Ava Gregory, welcome in.
How are you today?
Eva (07:29):
I'm so well.
I'm looking forward to thisconversation and thank you for
having me.
Christian (07:33):
Not as much as we are .
It's wow, which is kind ofhaving an idol on the show here,
so very pleased that youvisited our garage.
So what have you been intorecently?
What, if you so much going onin your world with the youtube,
um, the podcast, where do youstart?
What's the latest?
Eva (07:54):
yeah, that's such a tough question.
I definitely have a lot goingon, but I'll actually speak to
something that is about to be aproject that I'm beginning.
I um have a 69 beetle that'sbeen living up in Pennsylvania
for the past couple of years andnext month I'm going to go pick
it up and drive it down so Ican Baja it out and begin that
build to hopefully compete in itpretty soon here.
(08:15):
So that's that's most pressingbut always ongoing project.
Christian (08:20):
I love that.
So wait a minute.
Pennsylvania is that where yougrew up.
Eva (08:23):
So my family's from up north between Pennsylvania,
connecticut and upstate New York.
But I have my dad's living upthere and has been for the past
couple of years, so it's been onhis property.
Christian (08:33):
Roger Dodger.
So does it get driven much?
Is there an undercoat of ruston it?
What do you?
Is that what we got to work on,or there's certainly an
undercoat of rest.
Eva (08:44):
My dad does start it, but he does not drive it as often as
I would probably like him to.
But that's okay, we're keepingit alive and really I mean the
goal is to drive it down.
It's around a 700 mile trailpath from where he lives to
where I live.
So the goal is to kind of do alittle test run and then do a
complete like through you knowoverhaul of what needs to be
(09:06):
done and what needs to beassessed.
Christian (09:09):
So what are the odds?
It'll make it down drivingitself.
Are you going to have kind of atrailing car or will you be?
Will you be behind the driver'sseat of this car while it's on
the flatbed of an 18 wheeler,which is probably what are the
odds?
What is Vegas saying about allthat?
Eva (09:24):
So I actually daily this car in college, is my only
vehicle, and I replaced theengine in it myself with one
other kind of mentor and someYouTube videos in 2020.
So I think that the survivalrate is actually pretty decent
and, luckily, I am very acutelyaware of its inner workings and
if I'm on the side of the road,I have confidence that we can
(09:45):
get it back on the road.
Christian (09:48):
Absolutely so.
Yeah, you know where all theskeletons are, in that
particular rolling closet, whichI love, and I can just feel the
waves.
Doug's head is about to explodewith all the wonderful avenues
of discussion we have here.
Where do we start, doug?
Where do we go with this rightnow?
Doug (10:05):
Yeah, well, I think we go back to everybody's first car.
Right, yeah, we hop in the timemachine.
Right, it's on my shirt, let'sdo it.
Eva (10:15):
And we go all the way back to Ava's first car, which was it
was a 99 Honda CR-V and I wouldlike to preface that I did not
grow up in the automotive spaceor have that hobby and interest,
so it was very much point A topoint B, what I could afford,
what my options were.
So yeah, 99 Honda CRV was myold trustee for multiple years
(10:40):
until I obliterated it.
But that's okay until.
Doug (10:44):
I obliterated it, but that's okay.
Obliterate it Well before itgot obliterated.
How did you find it?
Eva (10:50):
Yeah, so actually my dad found it.
I mean, obviously I was young,so it was something.
He did the online searches atthe time and came across it and
it just worked out to be areally good deal.
From what I recall, it was like3,500 bucks.
Now I will say this was anolder model even when I
purchased it, so it had quitethe life on it already, but it
served me many memories.
Doug (11:13):
And it's funny, my daughter's first car is a CR-V
as well.
I think it's a 2014.
Christian (11:20):
All right, Now let's pray to the skies above that.
It doesn't meet the same end asAva's did Not to get that going
yet, and I don't want to bringup memories and I don't want to
step on Doug's toes.
Doug (11:32):
You're giving it away.
Christian (11:35):
Call it a segue immediately.
Doug (11:36):
Well, you know it's funny.
We've talked to a few people.
What happened to your first car?
I think about cash.
He's like I still have it.
What happened to your secondcar?
He's like I still have it.
Eva (11:52):
Right, um.
So, eva, you couldn't have yourfirst car without a second car.
But what happened to your firstcar?
So I this is I would also liketo preface.
This is not a testimony of mydriving skills, but I did.
I did total the vehicle.
Um, I had it in college and,and prior to totaling it, I
really did have so many greatmemories with this car.
And I went to Georgia or I wentto college in North Georgia, so
(12:13):
it was a mountain town.
It was, you know, the start ofthe Appalachian Trail, whatever.
I used to work at AtlantaMotorsports Park and was on my
way to work one day and it hadjust started raining as I was
going around this wide curve andwhen that happened, I began
hydroplaning and understeering.
And when that happened and Iwent to correct it, instead of
(12:35):
the wheels that kind ofinverting how you would
anticipate they locked upcompletely.
So I actually slid sideways andluckily it was just me there
was nobody else involved in mycar or any other vehicles but I
slid through a turning lane andthen hit a curb.
And when I hit the curb Iflipped and rolled two and a
(12:57):
half times and I landed driver'sside down and my seatbelt was
stuck and so I just kind of wasthere for a minute, you know,
and I, like I said I was on myway to work.
So I called a colleague, myboss at the time and now great
mentor and family friend.
But I called him to let himknow that I wasn't going to make
(13:18):
it in and said, you know, I gotin an accident.
I'm okay, but I was stillsideways when I was on the phone
with him.
So at that point in time I hadalways carried a pocket knife
and cut myself free.
And once I kind of, like youknow, came to, I guess, and cut
myself free, climbed out, andwho he had called was my
(13:40):
roommate at the time who wasworking and got the call that I
was in an accident.
So she called my phone and Iwas just standing on the side of
the road next to my sidewayscar before any emergency
vehicles or anything arrived.
And when the paramedics showedup I was literally on the call
and I was like, hey, I've got tolet you go, like they're here.
And when they arrived theydidn't know who got in the
(14:03):
accident because I was trulyfine, and I walked up to them
and said, hey, how's it goingand they were like you know we
should ask you that and saidfingers toes moving like we're
good, but unfortunately,cosmetically because of the age
I did total it, so that wasunfortunate.
Doug (14:18):
And then I got the 69 beetle yeah, and it sounds like
you were pretty I don't know atthe time, but you were pretty
calm in that scenario yeah, I,uh, I really do handle stressful
situations well.
Eva (14:31):
Sounds like it and yeah, it was so funny.
I just even more a tangent.
But I called an ex-boyfriend atthe time to come pick me up
because I was about a mile and ahalf away from where I lived
and I called to say, hey, canyou just bring me home?
I got in an accident and hepulled up and parked and was
just flabbergasted to see my carsideways and he was like I
(14:53):
thought you got in like a fenderbender and I was like I would
not have called you if I got ina fender bender.
So, yeah, it was handled verywell, fortunately, definitely
unfortunate circumstances, butit all ended up being okay and
it set me on the trajectory towhere I've been able to
experience.
Doug (15:09):
Yeah, yeah.
Eva (15:10):
No.
Doug (15:10):
I'm sure that helped you out.
Go ahead, Christian.
Christian (15:14):
You just want to get in here.
So you mentioned somethingabout the Atlanta Motor Speedway
, that you were in MotorsportsPark, atlanta Sports Park.
Eva (15:22):
So there's two different facilities Atlanta Motor
Speedway is south of Atlanta andHampton and Atlanta Motorsports
Park is in Dawsonville.
Christian (15:30):
So one is a.
Eva (15:30):
NASCAR-owned track and one is a private club track, so they
have a go-karting facility anda main car course.
Christian (15:38):
Is that where you got bitten by the odd?
Yeah, she got a big nod.
Okay, we can talk about thatnow or later, but what an
influential place to start.
Doug (15:51):
Yeah, you know and I'm just thinking about our, our
last episode, christian with aNigel.
So CEO of coastline Academy, uh, coastline heavy, I don't know
if you've heard of them, but uh,driving school and Christian
watched Christian's teaching hisyoungest son how to drive and
(16:12):
he found these great videos andone of them was what to do in an
accident, and maybe we shouldhave one off by Ava that says
what to do if your CRV flipsover truly, truly and I will say
I have since I have since donedriving courses and know what to
do.
Eva (16:32):
Now it, god forbid.
You know there's a next time.
So yeah, absolutely.
Christian (16:36):
Yeah, but she strikes me as one of these unique
people with just ice water inthe veins.
You know whether you look ather content.
You listen to it veryunflappable.
But okay, I'm going to be quiet.
This is Doug's portion.
Here's the baton.
Take it away, okay.
Doug (16:52):
So the car got total?
Sadly it did, yep, but I thinkthe next car, along with your
career, right, or maybe the nextcar really steered you in that
direction, so to speak, withmanual steering, different than
the power steering of the HondaCR-V.
So what was your second car?
Eva (17:14):
My second vehicle was a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle,
savannah-based, and I found itat a car show.
It was a Volkswagen car meet.
I was on my way out and saw itdrive in with a for sale sign
and had to go back for it.
Doug (17:31):
Nice, nice.
And how long after the?
Was that?
Pretty soon after the CRV metits fate.
Eva (17:37):
It was pretty soon after, yeah, I think.
Probably just a couple months,definitely less than less than
six months.
So yeah, not not too far.
I think it was maybe.
I think I totaled my car inOctober and then I think I had
the Beetle by April.
Doug (17:52):
So yeah, not too far.
Okay, and you just happen to beat a car show because liking
cars, right yeah, getting.
That getting that bug, so tospeak, bugs absolutely.
Christian, you went to a carshow in Florida called the great
um rare air, rare air show yeah, rare, fabulous.
Eva (18:12):
That's a great show.
Oh, you've been to it as well.
Doug (18:15):
I have yeah, okay, so is it a moving show, or you've been
to it in Pensacola, whereChristian is?
Eva (18:23):
There was a version of it hosted in Atlanta.
Doug (18:26):
Okay.
Eva (18:27):
Yeah, there's been a couple years.
It's typically held at thePorsche Experience Center in
Atlanta.
Christian (18:32):
Oh, that's cool, that's really really cool, yeah,
the one down here was held onthe grounds of five flags speed,
five flags speedway, which is awell-known regional racetrack
that hosts the snowball derby,which a lot of our listeners
will know.
It's a very famous short trackrace here, but, yeah, tons of
(18:54):
space for everybody.
Great day.
I think it was in the fall.
I think it was in the fall oflast year.
That's so perfect, perfectweather.
Doug (19:04):
But yeah, yes, doug yeah, so uh, and you still have this
Volkswagen right.
Eva (19:14):
I do, yeah, so there was a sale that transacted a couple
years ago, but it has made itsway back to the family and is up
in Pennsylvania.
Doug (19:27):
Oh cool back their first cars, tracing them back, which
apparently in the UK is a loteasier because they keep
Christian.
What did Dirk tell us, one ofour other?
They keep the same licenseplate for the life of the car.
Christian (19:43):
Oh Is that right Christian.
Doug (19:44):
The license plate stays with the car.
Christian (19:46):
So actually when you've got you know I think the
string convention is the firstthree or four characters are
actually the letters of eitherthe town or kind of the
signifier of the town, the waythat every airport is known by a
three-letter signifier.
(20:06):
So there the first few lettersare the signifier of kind of the
town or the local DMV, firstfew letters of the signifier of
kind of the town or the localdmv.
So you always kind of have anidea of um, where, the, where it
was originally titled, which,yeah, I thought that was so
interesting where here in thestates.
It's just all I've ever seen,unless you get a vanity plate,
(20:27):
since I'm not vain, I wouldn'tknow anything about that.
It's just a random string ofletters and numbers now there's
no intelligence built into thesystem.
Doug (20:35):
Yeah, that was really clever.
Well, it becomes a scavengerhunt, you know, challenge in the
States, right, to figure it out.
Yeah, yeah, and God, I can'tstop thinking about it.
Past episode with McPhersonChris Paulson actually teaches a
class not just on automotivehistory but how to research the
(20:57):
origins of your automobile,right, cool, yeah that was so
neat Interesting to know.
Christian (21:03):
And while we're on the history of cars here, while
we're teeing up the nextquestion, I was in an antique
store.
I really enjoy antiquing.
I was in an antique store and Isaw this license plate or a rack
of license plate.
They're like 50 bucks a pop.
I said what is it with theselines?
Nobody wants these.
What is it?
Well, come to find out licenseplate collecting is is a is a
(21:24):
big deal.
It's the big thing.
I don't know if it's the worldover, but you're not just going
to go go get up Now.
I'm talking about kind of youknow, old, very.
But you're not just going to goget a now.
I'm talking about kind of old,very interesting-looking license
plates.
But it's a thing.
They have shows, they have swapmeets.
They have all this sort of thing.
Yeah, it's like recordcollecting or baseball card
collecting or something likethat.
Anyway, just wanted toworthless bomb information, some
(21:46):
A bit of trivia in there.
Back to you, back to you withthat breaking news.
Yeah, yeah, thank you With that.
Back to you, back to you withthat breaking news.
Yeah, yeah, thank you with thatbreaking worthless news, yeah,
so um, the beetle.
Doug (21:56):
The beetle became a big part, but you're and you still
have it, and earlier youmentioned you're gonna pick it
up from pennsylvania, drive itback, fingers crossed, uh, down
south about 700 miles and turnit into a miles and turn it into
(22:19):
a Baja.
Yeah, the goal is to uhcompletely Baja.
Rally it out and compete in the1000.
Christian (22:22):
Awesome yeah, very great, very great yeah, so oh go
ahead.
Doug (22:27):
Oh, no, no, Um.
So I did want to ask about um,cause every Volkswagen tells the
story.
I've heard you have anotherVolkswagen, a red one.
Can you tell us about it?
And is that your daily driver,or is it?
Eva (22:42):
a I do have.
I have a 72 Volkswagen KarmannGhia and I actually.
Karmann Ghia was the dream andit was.
I couldn't afford it.
So at the same show that Iended up buying the beetle from
was the first time that I sawCarmen Ghia in person.
And this sounds so dramatic, butit literally brought a tear to
my eye and I am a big journalerand I literally journaled like
(23:07):
I'm going to find that Ghia.
And while I didn't find theexact same one, I did find a red
Gia a couple years later.
So while I bought the bug thatday, I held on to that dream of
the Gia and the opportunity cameup in 2023 now and I purchased
it not far from where I live,and it was a great story of a
(23:30):
father son who had bought it towork on and have a project
together, and now it's become myproject and it's been an
amazing experience.
It is not my daily I have anAudi A4.
It's my daily, but the KarmannGhia I do use most weekends and
definitely drive it at leastonce a week.
Doug (23:47):
Wow.
Eva (23:48):
Yeah.
Christian (23:49):
And yeah, if you want to see some, okay, so I would
like to talk about Hagerty'shere at some point, is it?
Eva (23:56):
okay if we talk about your day job and kind of like your
past, moving through the ranksand moving up quite quickly.
Christian (24:05):
I think it's very interesting.
So how did you get into that?
When did you decide that youwanted to do that for a living,
and to what do you attributeyour rapid success?
Eva (24:18):
This is so funny.
So I started in the industry bycomplete accident.
It was never the goal.
I once thought I was going tobe an attorney.
I once thought I was going toteach English as a second
language internationally, andI'm very far from either of
those things.
So when I was in college, asmost people, I was financially
independent.
I was working two jobs andneeded a third.
(24:39):
So that's how I found AtlantaMotorsports Park.
They were still underconstruction, it was still very
much in its elementary stages,and in working there I literally
began as a cashier.
That was my only previous workexperience and I ended up
getting cross-trained in everyrole between corner marshal, pit
(24:59):
stewarding, mechanic role andthen ended up creating a
position that was really focusedon marketing for their
memberships, because there was amissing piece there.
During my time at AMP I hadpeople in my life that really
really fully inundated me in it,people that became really good
friends and still strong impactin my life now and they were
(25:23):
very heavily involved in classicair-cooled German vehicles and
then some newer.
A 996 was one of my firstmemories with friends there and,
yeah, just totally got exposedand inundated.
And then, once thoserelationships began, you know,
getting nurtured and developing,I got really involved in
(25:43):
working on those vehicles andworked on some air-cooled
Porsches, specifically a 79 911SC that was built to mimic an
East African safari rally race.
And it was just some really,really cool experiences and so
many of my fond memories fromcollege, which is when I worked
at AMP, were on those mountaindrives, late night drives
(26:06):
through North Georgia up intoNorth Carolina and just getting
to experience what a visceralfeeling of an air-cooled vehicle
is.
And so that's really that's howI said okay, this is where I
want to stay.
I just I fell in love with thehobby enthusiast side and then
the people were just soimportant to my life and I just
I was fascinated.
(26:26):
Every, every car person has somany interesting stories.
An opportunity came where I wasable to move to Road Atlanta,
now Michelin Raceway RoadAtlanta and grew in the ranks
pretty quickly there as well.
So I started there actually asa corner marshal and ended up
growing and evolving intohospitality sales and finished
(26:50):
as director of operations beforejoining Hagerty now.
Christian (26:55):
Wow Well that is quite the story.
That's a lot going on there sowell.
Again, congratulations for allthe success and I wanted to chat
a minute for okay.
So you have two things.
That really interested Doug andI from the get-go was your
YouTube channel, which I thinkis so accessible and so well
(27:17):
done.
Kudos to you and your team, butalso the podcast, and it's been
really great talking to youbecause I feel like we're
talking to kind of a fellow prohere.
So how did the podcast comeabout and what is the most
unexpected, pleasant thing thatyou've learned about the whole
experience of producing one,being that you have one?
Eva (27:39):
That's such a fun question.
So the podcast really derivedfrom attending the Women With
Drive Summit in 2023.
And this is an event that'shosted by Women in Motorsports
North America and I was justblown away by the impact.
It's no secret that this is amale dominated industry, right?
And while so much change andimprovement has occurred,
(28:01):
there's still certainly a lot ofwork to be done, not just for
women, but for underrepresentedgroups across the board.
And when I went to that summit,I was just really, really
inspired by how many people Ididn't know their stories and
the fact that in motorsports,you most often see you know,
drivers and professionals, teamowners, people that are in the
(28:22):
spotlight.
So I really literally left thesummit on my flight home, filled
out 10 pages of a notebook ofwhat my vision for this podcast
was, what was missing, what Iwanted the mission to be, what
dream guests I had and whattopics I wanted to cover.
And then I just started textingsome folks in my network and
(28:44):
saying, hey, I'm kind ofthinking about this.
Does this sound ridiculous?
And then, if not, would you bewilling to join?
And it really I, I.
It's been just over a year nowsince I've started and launched
the podcast.
I launched it in March of 2024.
Us too.
I love that Same on, and themost surprising positive thing
(29:07):
has just been, no matter howdeep I've been in this I'm in
the industry for almost 10 yearsnow there's so many untold
stories and there's so manyavenues and entry points that
people are just not aware of atall, and so that's really.
I'm still learning every daythat I get to be a part of it
and join in it, and it's beenreally really cool to create an
opportunity that elevates otherpeople.
Christian (29:28):
I dig that.
That's well stated.
That's one of the things that Ilike so much about this show
that Doug and I are growing isjust the amazing people we never
would have met otherwise.
And they're not all in the carindustry like yourself.
They have a passion, but theyhave these other jobs police
people, emtp, retired lawyers,up and down the spectrum.
(29:52):
But everybody tells you know,everybody has these wonderful
stories and truly just subtextis a way to get to know somebody
.
Okay, so did the YouTubechannel—we found for us that
that was a logical extension ofthe podcast to sort of get the
word out.
Is that what happened to you?
Eva (30:11):
Yeah, I mean truly.
I was really apprehensive tostart the YouTube because I
really wanted to put qualitycontent out and I felt that my
my audio is good quality, but Iwas less confident in my video
and editing and so on.
But yeah, absolutely, it wasone of those things where I just
wanted, no matter what youraccess point is or what your
(30:33):
interest is some people don'tenjoy listening to podcasts,
some people want to watch it.
So, yeah, it was just anotherplatform to really broaden who
it could reach and who might beinterested.
Christian (30:43):
Fantastic Good stuff.
And before we ramp the showdown, I'm going to toss the
baton back to here.
Look, here's a baton, I'mhanding it.
No, it's a screwdriver.
Doug (30:54):
Sorry, looks like a screwdriver, let's go.
Yeah, so you've had a lot ofcars and there are a lot of
great car stories.
Um, hopefully, hopefully, theuh Volkswagen will end up on
YouTube again on its on itsjourney down.
South.
But, um, what is your?
What is your dream car, Ava,given all the cars that you've
(31:15):
seen ridden in, learn about inyour day-to-day life.
Eva (31:21):
Yeah, the goal has always been a 356.
And that has been the goalsince the beginning and it's an
affordability, it's gettingthere right.
I'm on the journey, I'm in thefamily, but specifically a split
window 356 is really just.
That has stolen my heart.
I the.
I have memories in 356s anddriving being a passenger and
(31:43):
when I own that car I will knowthat I have made it I heard, uh,
I heard seinfeld has one mightbe for sale you never know if
you don't ask just start asitcom you'll
Christian (31:57):
make it, we have all the faith in the world, in you.
Doug (32:00):
Great answer.
Or just stick with YouTube.
She's doing great.
Christian (32:07):
Yeah, we have all the faith in the world.
So, as we guide the podcastgently to the off ramp, here one
question for you.
One last question on the wayout.
Okay, so do Carmen Ghiaias comewith steering wheels?
Are they changeable and what doyou know about that?
Eva (32:24):
I love this.
So timely, isn't it?
Absolutely.
They come with steering wheelsand, depending on the era, some
of them are more aestheticallypleasing than others.
When I purchased my 72, theprevious owner and his son had
really tried to hot rod it out,so there were choices that I
(32:44):
personally would not have made.
So when I bought it I knewimmediately I wanted to change
it and despite mine being a 72,I actually bought an aftermarket
.
It's dated up to 71.
Very easy to change out, very,very one bolt switches it super
quick.
But I feel like it just speaksto the character and makes it
(33:04):
much more representation of whoI am through that vehicle.
Christian (33:08):
Absolutely.
And just again, we have to giveso much praise to your YouTube
channel because that thing thatyou just described is the
perfect little YouTube video.
It's everything.
Youtube should be quick, clever, fun, educational.
Uh, you struggle with the horn,you gotta you have to, you have
(33:30):
to rewire some sort of hornbutton and it's just, it's so
engaging and fast and, um, Ithink it's great.
So, hey, we appreciate youtaking some time this afternoon
to take us through your world alittle bit.
Ava, it was a distinct pleasuremeeting you.
Eva (33:45):
Likewise.
Thank you so much for the time.
I really appreciate it.
Christian (33:48):
And I would say a prayer that you can make it from
Pennsylvania to where you areright now, but you won't need it
.
All the faith in the world.
Eva (33:55):
Yeah, I will say I'll give that personal plug.
If you guys want to followalong, I'm sure the journey will
be documented.
Christian (34:03):
So Be Differential podcast Boom, mic drop.
That's it Well, thank you again, ava.
Thank you Distinct pleasure.
And you have just heard thehigh revving, low mileage, late
model heard around the world.
Authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia.
He's Doug.
Reach him at Doug atCarsLovecom.
I'm Christian.
Reach me at Christian atCarsLovecom.
(34:23):
Please follow and tell a friend.
If you like what you're hearing.
Leave a review.
That helps us grow.
Try out CarsLovecom for a lotof fun, engaging content as well
as what we call the carousel ofmemories.
Send us a picture of your carsor our link tree, doug.
Let's get into them at linktreeslash carsloved.
(34:46):
That's it.
I am sure we'll see you at thenext local car show, show, race
or race trip.
We appreciate you taking a lapwith us and we'll see you next
time.
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