Click here to share your favorite car, car story or any automotive trivia!
Join automotive enthusiasts Christian and Doug as Croom Lawrence shares his unique car journey that started with a Ford 1000 tractor on his family's Virginia farm at age 10. From learning to drive diesel tractors to owning the legendary Mercedes 240D "Lime Limo" and indestructible 300D Turbo Diesel, Croom's automotive story spans farm equipment to cutting-edge Tesla technology.
Discover the fascinating parallels between car maintenance and healthcare as Croom, a healthcare AI entrepreneur, explains his "million-mile philosophy" for both vehicles and human bodies. His Mercedes diesel adventures include surviving a 5-foot retaining wall drop during a romantic date, camouflage paint jobs for duck hunting, and the distinctive leather-and-diesel aroma that defined 1980s automotive culture.
From classic rock road trips listening to DC-101, and AC/DC concerts in cut-off jean jackets to modern Tesla Model 3 software updates, this episode explores how automotive experiences shape professional perspectives. Croom's work in healthcare commercialization and AI diagnostics through Predictive Healthcare and AccuRact AI demonstrates the intersection of automotive engineering principles and human health optimization.
Croom's loved our episode with Kat DeLorean where she talked about her first driving experiences on the family farm and growing up DeLorean - https://buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/15009054-what-was-it-like-growing-up-delorean-kat-s-personal-automotive-legacy-and-life-lessons
Perfect for tractor enthusiasts, Mercedes diesel fans, Tesla owners, healthcare professionals interested in AI applications, and anyone fascinated by how farm life automotive experiences influence business success. Whether you love classic diesel engines, modern electric vehicles, or the connection between mechanical and biological systems, this episode celebrates automotive diversity and life lessons learned through cars.
Croom Lawrence serves as Chief Commercial Officer of Hemostemix, where he leads the commercialization of ACP-01, a pioneering autologous stem cell therapy designed to treat cardiovascular, dermatological, and neurological diseases.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome back listener land you have found or re-found
, whichever it is, to all thecars I've loved before your
authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia, where
every car tells a story, everycar has a culture.
It is time to plug in, dust offand get a little grease under
the nails.
And you know, if you have oneof those error code readers that
(00:30):
you can just kind of stick inthe port, that's always kind of
wonderful.
I wish we had that for humans.
You know where you could justkind of stick in your ear this
device that said hey code 1234.
Yeah, strep throat and is anidiot.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Anyway, welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Well, AI is going to help us.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
We're getting there.
You know we're getting there.
I'm jumping ahead, so just hangin there.
I can't help it.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Could be tomorrow.
That's a wonderful lead-in totoday's guest.
You're welcome.
Before we cue him in here, Iwant to welcome, whether you
have found us or re-found us,refund, re-found we have Refund,
refound, we have listeners,let's see.
So we're growing.
Doug got good news.
We are growing in Japan, france, ukraine and Australia.
(01:12):
If you can believe that we seemto be stuck in Germany, this is
over the past five weeks.
Look at it Downloads only.
So I don't know what is goingon over there in Germany.
I am sure they're notpreoccupied with Oktoberfest.
It's the wrong time of year,but we need y'all to shift into
gear.
Welcome back to everyone Japan,france, ukraine, australia.
(01:34):
Welcome Germany.
Welcome back to you, let's pickit up.
So new listeners glad to haveyou.
And, as we say at the top ofthe show here, it's time to get
a little grease under the nailsand slip on the favorite
car-themed shirt Before we pivotto Doug, who always has
something interesting to sharewith his automotive-themed
(01:56):
wardrobe I'm wearing.
My team did not play in theSuper Bowl last night.
If you're an Eagles fan,congratulations.
If you're not, hey, the 31other teams crying in their beer
, it's okay.
So if you were an Eagles fan,congratulations.
And my team, the Saints.
You know, we just kind of wentto a couple of games this season
.
Superdome had a great time,super Bowl was in New Orleans
(02:18):
and just hope your team is goingto do better next year than
this year.
Again, 31 others.
I'm wondering what went wrong,all right?
Oh, so your shirt.
Let's see what you got.
What you got, all right.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
What are you wearing, let's see who are we shouting
out and giving some love to.
Today we're giving a shout outto Rich Rebuilds.
Rich is located up inMassachusetts.
His YouTube channel is doubtamazing Rich Rebuilds.
He was definitely the first Idon't know if he was the only
(02:54):
one.
He took a destroyed Tesla ModelS and put a Chevy V8 in it, so
he took a car that was designedonly as an electric car and
turned it into an internalcombustion engine car.
Man, that's clever, Very clever.
He does some amazing builds.
(03:14):
Love the guy.
Hope to have him on the podcastsoon.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
So are you in?
Have you spoken with him orconversed with him?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
We have not caught up yet yet, but there's an email
coming his way.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
He's super busy, so I hear you yeah, ebay is wild
because you can go on on ebayand find these high-end sports
cars and they'll show you onepicture and you'll say, why does
he want four grand for thisexotic, amazing car?
And you get picture from theother angle and you know a
quarter panel is missing andit's.
(03:49):
You know it was rolled like itwas a spare car on the Dukes of
Hazzard and but I mean you canhave these for a song, you
really can.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
They're salvage lots.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Absolutely yeah, absolutely People know what
they're doing.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
It's a challenge for them, right and then they get
viewers right yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's great.
And another word on all thepresences on YouTube the people
that we've had on this littlepodcast that could who have we
had that?
Had great YouTube shows,youtube channel, youtube show
Nicole Johnson, right Speedy Cop, hh Wheels.
(04:28):
We've had so many wonderfulpeople who've been gracious with
their time that just had theseknockout shows on YouTube.
Production values like you'dsee on TV, if not better.
So check them out.
Oh, and you can get the fulllist on our website.
The next thing I wanted to talkabout we have a completely
revamped website.
All props to the technical guru, mr Doug.
(04:49):
I can't believe how good itlooks.
It's leaps beyond and where itwas.
So.
Good job, partner, congrats.
And you can see a bunch ofphotos of cars.
You can see our full episodelist so you don't have to scroll
through.
I thought that was so clever,the way you made that work, as
(05:09):
well as the intake form.
What else is on there?
It just really looks.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
We have a blog, which we always have, but now it
looks much better.
We have a reviews page thatauto-scrolls, and let's see what
other thing.
We have an events page, so thatmight be an event you're going
to.
It could be a car event, itcould be.
If you look at tonight, you'llsee that we're recording with
(05:35):
our guest.
There's more info on there.
We'll do an introduction to himin a few.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, and I like the way that you've done that.
And let's see, I wanted tomention something else.
It was in my head and flewright out when you called on me
oh, now we don't have reviews onthe website, for that you have
to go to the specific we are.
Oh, no, we do, we do.
Now, he didn't do the API tokind of port them back and forth
, but they're just kind of.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
It's a manual dug process at the moment.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Well, we love that.
That's what built the internetthe manual dug process.
Speaking of reviews Speaking of.
Over to you, Parker.
Can I share one?
Yes?
Speaker 3 (06:13):
This is from Apple Podcasts from January 24th oh
recently, so not too long ago ofthis year and it's by TR
Holloway Jr.
Title super cool Five stars.
Thank you, love the five stars.
And it says this podcast is amust listen for any car
(06:36):
enthusiast.
The host's passion for carshines through every episode
with detailed discussions,fascinating stories and expert
advice.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I like that.
Thank you, mr T T Holloway, jr,2007, or whatever it was.
That's great, but this is notonly for automotive enthusiasts.
That's a great review, thankyou.
This is for anyone, you know,this is for anyone who wants to
be on the show, who has a lovefor cars or simply a story to
tell.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
And yeah, yeah, so we appreciate the speaking of
which another youtuber and bigpodcaster we had uh on recently,
crystal prophet.
Oh yeah, you didn't think shehad anything about cars to share
, but man, her first couple carswere great stories and it
wrangled in.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, and that's the thing about.
When you talk about thesemachines, you start to talk
about family.
Well, where did the first carfrom?
It came from my dad.
My dad owned a business.
Tell me about the business,tell me about grandma, tell me
about grandpa, and now you knoweverything.
And when we get to the end ofthe shows, it's interesting how
(07:44):
people are parents now and havetheir own kids.
Oh, I got my.
Like me, for example, I justgot my kid the Mustang and he
loves it.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
He's 11.
So yeah, right on.
I think there's a video of youin the Mustang introducing the
new website.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, and that just dropped today.
That just dropped today.
Do we have a lot?
Has that gotten a lot oftraffic yet, or?
Well the audio is doing greatthe audio is really.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
It's a great video we'll take it you got such a
great deal on that car and thatcar looks brand new for a 2004
and we're on the way to a brandnew for a two, yeah, and my son,
yeah, and we're on the way to asuper bowl party.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
So I got pick up my son and I said, hey, before we
go to this party, we've got todo some, we got to make some
content, we got to do a trailer,and so, hey, you know, it was
my middle son and I chatting andtalking and laughing and making
some videos.
So again, it was so again allabout yeah.
Now, before we pivot to today'sguest, you saw a rare supercar,
(08:49):
a 928, recently in a curiouscolor and did the car look like
it ran?
In your humble opinion, the carwas running.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
It was on Route 50.
And I mean it looked brand new,yikes.
I think the color was Moonstone, which is kind of a pinkish,
purplish Maroonish.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Much lighter.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Yeah, I mean, it was probably91, is my guess, so it was the
second generation, if you willWow.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
What a beautiful car car and that was near the wind
down of that car.
Right, they only made them to94 96.
I want to say something likethat, something like that yep,
was it?
Was it an s4 perchance?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
77, 78, what's that?
It wasn't an s4, was it?
It didn't didn't say on thebumper gotcha.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Okay, so then it wasn't Neat car.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, 87 was the first year of the S4, and then
they came out with GT and GTS.
It was hard to tell what it wasfrom the distance, but it
looked great it was going downthe road, no problem, at least
for as far as you weretailgating.
It looked like a little rocketship, at least for as far as you
were tailed, it looked like alittle rocket ship.
And, man, I wish I had taken apicture for you, because I know
(10:08):
it's one of your favoritechildhood cars.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah, and I'm happy because Drive and Ivan, we're
going to have him on in a fewweeks, at least on his YouTube
channel.
He owned one for quite a time,so I can't wait to talk to an
owner.
Looking forward to that in afew weeks.
So excellent, thank you.
On to.
I think we've gotten, we'vewe're done with the prologue and
(10:30):
we've we've gotten all thecommunity announcements out onto
today's guest.
So, doug, please introduce thenewest friend of the show.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yeah, so we uh have a friend of the show.
His name is Kroom Lawrence.
I met him by way of.
He was my neighbor.
He still lives in the area, butnot right around the corner.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So he moved away from you as soon as he met you is
basically what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Well, I think we kicked him out of the
neighborhood.
One of the two Beautiful.
I've been here longer.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
And yeah, Kroom turns outroon's got some great car
stories.
We reconnected just recentlyover some venture that we're
going to chat with him about,where he's trying to help
diagnose mild cognitiveimpairment in people using AI.
So we're going to chat aboutthat.
But, Kroon, why don youintroduce yourself?
(11:24):
If there's anything I left out,which is probably a lot, Well,
it is just so fun to be with youguys.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I'm really thrilled, and it was just going down
memory lane was just so fun.
Thinking about all thedifferent cars I've had over the
years, from the 70s, the 80s,the 90s, each with its own sort
of you know, each era was a bigtime in my life where the car
really was maybe emblematic ofwhat I was going through or what
(11:49):
I was trying to accomplish orwhat I was trying to stand for.
But having grown up on a farm,you know, with Ford 1000
tractors that had thisincredible energy and power in
the motor, when I got to myfirst car, which we're going to
talk about, the mercedes-benz,the 240d, that sort of rhythmic
(12:10):
thrum of that engine has alwaysbeen near and dear to my heart,
and so I hope we can talk alittle bit about that as well in
the next couple of minutes allright.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
So no, go ahead, doug no no, I'm, I'm a, I'm a green
I was just before.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Before we start talking about the cars here.
You just kind of gloss overthat.
You grew up on a farm and Ifind that so interesting.
If you could a minute or two onwhere it was, what that was
like, what did you grow?
Was it successful?
What were your memories of it?
Did you pitch in at all?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
That's wonderful.
What were your memories of it?
Did you pitch in at all?
That's wonderful, and yeah.
So I grew up on a small farmout in Virginia where we had
cows and pigs.
Where in Virginia, where inVirginia, out in the plains,
virginia, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Beautiful Horse country.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Gorgeous.
Granddaddy was essentially acattle farmer and dad was a
small town lawyer, so we had a.
It was a little bit like theAll Creatures Great and Small
show on the BBC.
You know where we're out, inthe middle of a blizzard with
sheep and they're giving birthto lambs and we're sort of
covered in sort of muck tryingto like help sheep, you know,
(13:21):
give birth to their lambs.
Lots of exciting moments, but alittle bit different, doug,
from our wonderful life inAnnapolis, maryland, where we
are and where we met just youknow, a couple of years back.
And so yeah, doug and I, youknow we met in town and I've
moved out a little bit closer tothe Bay.
It was great to reconnect, doug, especially to bring back
(13:42):
memories of the wonderful car inyour garage, and I hope we
touch on that a little bit.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Sure, I think it comes up often Happy to chat
about it anytime.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
I actually had it out yesterday.
He's got a couple of cars inthe garage Kroom.
So which one are you referringto?
The one that runs, the one thatdoesn't?
I think the silver one.
Okay, all right, we'll let Dougtake it from here.
That would be the 1981,delorean.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Okay, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Fantastic.
All right, it's a great car.
It inspired this podcast thanksto Christian actually.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yay.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
He doesn't like to take credit, but he should All
right.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yeah, let me, let me powder my nose here a little bit
, get ready for my close up.
So what's the status of the Zin the garage?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
too, or should we not ?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
talk about that.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Oh no, 90 Nissan 300zx when they first changed
body styles mm-hmm d32, notpop-up headlights.
That was the z31.
(14:55):
Actually had a friend in highschool at a z31 also and I
always liked that car.
I had the, as I've talked abouton other podcasts.
I had a 89 240s X which waskind of the poor man's version
of that car.
Always liked that car.
Keeping the story short, thatcar wanting to buy the 300ZX got
(15:21):
me partially into my field.
Looking in the want ads,thinking in 1991, 92, what am I
going to do for a job as acareer?
And hey, here's a job as anetwork administrator.
It will pay $31,000 a year andso fast forward 30 plus years.
I forgot about the car.
I never bought it and one day Ijust went and got one and it
(15:47):
was a impulse purchase it.
It got a few times on my verynarrow street in annapolis.
It's about five differentcolors and it's in my garage and
I hope.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
But I resurrect it amen, and that is beautiful, and
you know, that's the thingabout getting these items on the
bucket list.
At some point in your life, yougot to start checking them off,
and so I I think that is, um,that is commendable, that you
checked it off and we're movingon.
Speaking of moving on, so,kroon, would it be fair to say
that your first car was atractor, or was your first car a
(16:19):
Benz?
First car was a tractor.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
So I would sit on my dad's lap, he would teach me how
to use it safely, and then, byprobably the age of probably 10
or 11, I would.
I would go out and bush hog infields, you know, just by myself
on the on the tractor, and theycan be extremely dangerous,
very powerful, they could turnover, they can be lethal, but um
, but we still have them today.
(16:43):
In fact we have two of them andthey run beautifully.
They're they were from 1965.
So all these years later, thesetractors start up.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
You're saying the tractor thatyou drove as a child is still on
your folks' farm.
Yep, what kind of tractor.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
It's a 1000.
It's a classic sort of blue.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I know it.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
You've seen them around.
We have one that's calledHighlight, Another one we have
called yeah I air conditioning.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah, okay.
So kind of a one-seater for youto do your thing.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
And was it a diesel?
They're gas, they're gas.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Okay, we do have a Massey Ferguson that is diesel,
so you have to have a little bitof a love of the smell of
diesel when you're going on afarm or something, well, a um
little piece of trivia.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Uh, both porsche and lamborghini started making
tractors really that is greattrivia story great nugget, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
And then there are all these legends like they were
angry, what, what was?
One guy went to the Ferraridealership and was disrespected.
That's not a true story.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
That was Maurizio Lamborghini, Lamborghini.
He wasn't happy with theclutches and he was making
tractors at the time.
So, he got disrespected by MrFerrari Enzo and he's like I'll
build a, I'll build a competitornow, that's not true.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Is there, you have it .
It is that story's apart.
No, it's true.
It's true, amen, let's go withit.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So, speaking of diesel, crew was so taken with
the early 80s.
This was a 1984 2.4 line, aninline four that probably had
about 250,000 miles on it, soit's probably about a quarter of
what it was supposed to do.
These things were supposed togo a million miles and they're
(19:08):
famous for being, you know,incredibly slow but incredibly
powerful and just a lot ofmomentum and a lot of steel and
just you know, kind of a funnyride.
You know you stomp on the gas,a huge cloud of black smoke
comes out the back.
You know in the wintertimeyou'd have to, you know, turn on
the glow lights.
(19:28):
They have little weird glowbulbs, and then it was actually
the first plug-in right.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
So back in the day in the winter you'd plug in this
thing element.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
So we were really ahead of our time with this.
It was a plug-in diesel, that'sright.
Yeah, you know, we had seenthem as taxi cabs.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
You know, in Germany they're sort of everywhere
they're not a luxury car at all.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
So we had, we had called ours the lime limo, the
lime limo.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Now we know the color .
That's right, it was green.
I'll just say one more littletidbit, which is sort of funny
and maybe gets back to mycountry roots a little bit, is
that the green color wasstarting to fade, you know, you
know the thing was so old, youknow, and had been several
hundred thousand miles.
So we then had it camouflaged,and so we were like, let's just
(20:19):
roll this thing out into theduck blind, and we'll just stand
up out of the roof and, youknow, blast away at the geese or
something like that.
Are you serious?
Yeah, we literally had thething camouflaged, you know, at
its last sort of end of lifestage.
Anyway, there it was in thedriveway, this camouflaged 240D.
Anyway, the thing you couldn'tkill it Indestructible.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Yeah, it kept going.
You'll see these things on theroad.
Now you will.
And gosh, I was going throughthe Craigslist one ads once the
guy had one of these for salesand he said man, this is it,
this is the original battlewagon.
And I always thought that thatwas interesting because, as you
say, indestructible.
Just keep going and going andgoing.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Yep.
The model code is W123.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Correct Known as the greatest car ever made.
Yep, yep I know, you cancertainly debate that, but at
least back in the 80s you know,yeah, it's dominable yeah, I was
.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Um, I think I told you before we started.
I uh or maybe it was over atext.
I uh was watching a show calledthe car wizard on youtube that
I really like and he happened tohave a 240d on last night.
I'm like perfect timing, soawesome, got to learn about it.
And yeah, they're, they're veryprized.
I mean especially ones from thewest coast.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
People will pay upwards of 30 grand or more if
you've ever had one, you knowthere's a distinctive leather
smell.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
That that's what they were talking about.
We really do.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, I don't know what it is, but it's very
distinctive.
Yes, I mean, you mix that witha little diesel.
You might even have like a youknow to go cut maybe a little
light beer.
You know, you might be cruisingdown the country roads in there
.
Anyway, it's a whole lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yep, it is, it is, and everybody's got a, at least
from our generation.
Everybody's got a Mercedesdiesel story.
Right, right, christian, youhelped out your girlfriend who
had a Mercedes.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah, yeah, I was golly.
This podcast, it dredges up somany memories.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Good and bad.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, yeah, I was dating this girl for a short and
she drove one of these.
It's this exact one.
It was this big, it was justjet black.
It was like rolling aroundhaving first dates in a hearse
or something.
But this thing was somethingelse.
I'll never forget.
I haven't thought about this indecades.
(22:49):
Thing was something else.
And we went.
I'll never forget, I haven'tthought about this in decades.
We went, we were going toarlington national cemetery and,
uh, we park, and she can't rollup the windows and she flips
out.
What are we gonna do?
What are we thinking?
You know nobody's gonna breakin your car, we're arlington
national, give me a break.
But I said, you know, it'sprobably just a fuse, honey,
(23:11):
let's, uh, let's, go crack thehood and get under there fuse
box on there's a spare one righthere and we plop one in and
five minutes later windows areworking.
She thought I had split theatom.
It was unbelievable.
On and on about, boy, I gotfree dinner, that like that that
night, let me tell you.
But yeah, they just kind ofkept going and I, you know, I
(23:33):
drove a rust bucket.
Um, didn't have the best luckwith cars back in the day.
I made her drive everywhere andit was just like being
chauffeured that.
That was a great car, man, and,like you say, had this very up,
upscale interior.
Obviously it was a luxury forthe time that it was made so
well appointed on the inside.
(23:53):
Absolutely a beautiful machine.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Did she mind you sitting in the backseat while
she was driving?
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Oh no, I guess I was sitting in the front.
Yes, drive up, drive up.
It wasn't the lime limo, it wasthe black limo right, yeah,
this thing was a trip man, thisthing was a trip man, this thing
was a trip anyway yeah, okay,so this was the.
This was the greatest car everuntil croon, until he liked the
product line so much.
His next car was a well, a 300dturbo diesel.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
So it was the same thing, but a little bit longer.
It had the turbo, and so it, soit really then had some good
acceleration, but still the sameweight and just the diesel odor
and all the things that go withthat, the crazy fuse box and
stuff.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
The U126?
Yeah right, it had an inlinefive.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I think so yes.
Inline five.
This one was also sort ofindestructible.
It's funny, when you weretalking about your girlfriend, I
was.
I was on this incredible, youknow, this wonderful romantic
date with a wonderful girlfriendof mine back in the day and
we're driving around and he's,you know, I don't know.
We're driving through thisparking lot and somehow I I was,
(25:06):
I was focused on thisconversation with my girlfriend
and I drove the car off thisfive-foot retaining wall, whoa,
and between these two parkinglots and probably sort of this
mall went right off thisfive-foot wall.
The thing just absolutelylanded like a big hunk of steel
(25:27):
and it was totally fine.
There was zero damage to thechassis, nothing was bent, the
thing drove beautifully, it was.
It was a funny memory, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Thinking about that, uh, coming on today, Fantastic,
I can't believe that story thatyou're here to tell the tale.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Moral of the story is you got to pay attention when
you're driving.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
It doesn't matter.
Yeah, right, I mean, you knowcan't, can't be distracted when
driving, can't be?
It's a bad look on your firstdate to you know?
Run your, run your companionoff an embankment or something.
Yes, I think that would be aproblem.
Words of wisdom, Doug, what doyou think about all that?
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Well, I think if the Mercedes is indestructible,
Kroon's going to find a way tosee if that's true.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I guess so.
And yeah, three nuggets we gotto squeeze in here before we go
any further.
In writing.
Yeah, so, so, so, croom, let usknow that.
Um, okay, so the first car, the240d his dad got him for his
18th birthday phenomenal,fantastic, love that.
And in describing his first carhe says it was slow and smelled
(26:43):
like diesel but was unstoppable, which I love.
And the next car he describesas a little this is the 300
turbo diesel a little faster butstill smelled like diesel.
So it obviously made a bigimpression on you, man.
There must be diesel runningthrough your veins.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
I think you're right and that you know the, the, the,
the smell of leather and thediesel, it's all.
It all comes back, all thesegreat memories of growing up.
I I do remember I think it wasuh $3,600, uh used.
So we, we, I think we got itwith 100,000, 120,000 miles on
it, so very, you know not, youknow, seemed economical at the
time and just needed, you know,probably a couple thousand
(27:22):
dollars a year to kind of keepit going.
You know, you know the repairsweren't necessarily cheap, you
know, going to the car and autoplace, but anyway it was a lot
of fun and I took that down tocollege and was able to drive
people around and all that kindof thing.
so yeah, good, good storiesthere I can't remember where it
ended up, unfortunately.
I was trying to think what wasthe ultimate demise, this car,
(27:45):
car no one's had it.
I bet you they're still drivingit somewhere.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Oh, you know I forgot to ask you and this was going
to be a new segment.
Living out in Virginia, I livein the DC area.
You're a little farther out.
Were there any radio stationsyou liked when you were driving
this Mercedes and any particularsongs when you were thinking
back of the 84 and 90 Benzes?
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Well, you know, I do.
You know, we used to love DC101.
We loved the DC 101.
Yeah, we loved Howard Stern.
I remember that Grew uplistening to that.
For a long, long time Some ofthe you know they played a lot
of the classic rock stuff.
You know probably a little acdcand probably a little grateful
dead and little eagles and somedoors and all that stuff.
(28:35):
I remember we did go to an acdcconcert.
We were teenagers and you knowjust total nincompoops and we
got these bean jackets, we cutoff the sleeves, put on you know
t-shirts and you were trying tolook all cool and stuff you
know, rolling up in this in thisold Benz.
It didn't make any sense, butyou know what are you going to
do.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
You were the height of cool, my friend, with cutoff
jean jackets going to an ACDCshow win your.
Benz, the height of cool manyou bet it was a good years yeah
yeah, so you're moving forward.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
What's your current car?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Right, so I ended up with I was getting in.
I was interested in AI, right,and I did end up reading the
Elon Musk biography, which Ithought was very interesting,
and I ended up getting a.
I got a Series series three thelittle baby Tesla, white on
white.
So, I have that now and I driveit to death and that thing is an
(29:32):
incredible workhorse.
Very happy with that carbecause there's just a lot of
cool stuff going on.
You know it updates every twoweeks and it's you know, just
the software and thefunctionality and the capability
just keeps getting better andbetter and better.
It's just fascinating to watchthe evolution of that, that ride
yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
I'm on my second tesla.
My first was model three and uh, yeah, it was amazing from the
day I bought it to the day Isold it.
It got better, it got faster.
Yeah, it's crazy, it was moreresponsive.
The uh, the features just kindof unbelievable.
Right For sure, they call thatthe software-defined car.
(30:12):
Some people have said right,that's fascinating, and I think
you were telling us about someinteresting features in the new
Model Y, but also available insome other cars outside of Tesla
, and we were talking about thatand the tie-in to your company.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Well, yeah, so the you know, sky's the limit on
imagination.
If you have an iPad on wheelsand a battery, you know, and
different sensors, you can do alot.
And one of the fascinatingthings, you know, that Elon did
was really to streamline andstrip out as many sensors as he
(30:50):
could, just to save costs,reduce weight.
But he really had a minimalistapproach to the Series 3.
That I thought was interesting.
But now in the healthcarecontext, you can add back
different sensors that you knowin some instances can measure
your heart rate, you know.
Look at your breathing rate,look at different you know in
some instances can measure yourheart rate.
You know.
Look at your breathing rate,look at different you know
aspects of mood or othercapabilities that could have
(31:14):
sort of a more real-timehealthcare capability.
So if you are, if you're having, if you're feeling anxious or
stressed, it could automate intoa more relaxing mode.
If you're having some sort ofvisible you know health or
cardiovascular event, you knowthe car could detect that
potentially in the future andjust automatically reroute you
(31:35):
and take you to the ER.
There are just some interestinguse cases that I'm trying to
follow and understand.
You know that I think are veryinspiring and I think, practical
and, frankly, don't costanything.
It's just simply code andcapability.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
You know, it's just marvelous to see If you can
dream it.
It's there right.
The features are there right.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I think that's right.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
It's so interesting that you mentioned that, the
nexus of healthcare and the car,the car being able to take you
somewhere where you need to go.
And at this point in the showwe'd like to pivot to, uh, what
it is you do for a living, yourpassion, what do you do during
the day, and and and how doesthat interweave with with what
we're just talking about?
Speaker 2 (32:21):
well, thank you.
And so I am interested.
I've been in the health carecommercialization space for my
career ever since in the late90s, really more coming out of
biopharma, and then I've gotteninto diagnostics and digital and
AI powered care.
Ai stuff on the diagnostic side, or usually in the
bioinformatics, ai on thecommercial side is more
(32:44):
automating content, marketing,automating digital experiences,
but so I'm thinking all the timeabout bringing medical
breakthroughs to market.
So I will work with scientificfounders to they might have
discovered something that isabsolutely game changing.
It's on the shelf.
They need help to get it tomarket.
And so, you know, I just lovedand, and I think you have to be
(33:06):
a hands-on keyboard person thisday and age.
So, even being in the Tesla,just experiencing the software,
the language, the data privacyelements, the opt-ins, the
updates, the personality thatcomes from the Tesla that you
can kind of get a sense of, youknow Elon's sort of potty humor,
if you will, you know, but itinject of potty humor, if you
(33:29):
will, you know, but it injectssome personality, but all those
things I think equal sort of thekind of a brand experience
that's unique and ownable andexciting, and I frankly try to
bring that inspiration back tosome of the work that I do in
the healthcare setting, you know.
So to me it's all kind of oneintegrated experience.
It's on point.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Everybody else.
Yeah, I like that, I like that.
And as we ramp down the podcastand move to conclusion here,
one last thing I'd like todiscuss with you is you have
this outlook about how the bodycan kind of I can't really put
it into words the way you can,but how the body sort of is a I
can't really put it into wordsthe way you can, but how the
(34:07):
body sort of is a great analogyfor a car and vice versa, with
holistic machines working, andDoug and I were talking about
this some time ago.
So, yeah, could you talk alittle bit about that?
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yeah, well, there's some fascinating philosophical
dimensions that are verypractical.
So in the human body, you knowmy work at Alzheimer's and mild
cognitive impairment.
If the if the body is unhealthy,your brain is going to be
unhealthy, and so we're taughtthat there are a lot of
different functional systems inthe body.
Really, there's one system.
It's super interdependent, andso when we look at cognitive
(34:43):
health and body health, itreally is just having, um, like
a 30 point checklist and so thatI think the car is the same way
right.
I mean, you know it's a bunchof independent parts, but it
really has to function as oneindependent or one integrated
system, like my Mercedes, likeif there's one little tiny plug
that's out.
You know you're toast, right.
(35:04):
So you gotta got to make sureall the parts work.
And we had a little chuckleearlier, thinking back to a
Saturday Night Live skit.
You know I can't remember, youknow who it was, but you know
it's something the notion of isbetter to look good than to feel
good.
You got to do that from SNL, butI think with the car it's both,
and I think with the human bodyit's both.
You need to look good, you needto feel good, you know, because
(35:26):
sometimes the exterior of thecar is sort of emblematic of
what's happening on the inside.
You can lose of how to kind ofkeep this integrated system
going.
You know had its bestperformance.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
And, yeah, you raise a good point in one of the most.
So the body is this incrediblycomplex machine, the brain even
more so, so mysterious even now.
And people say, well, how can Iward off these bad things that
you were talking about Happenedto me later in life.
And it's as simple as beingactive and what you put in your
(36:01):
body.
There's no magic, there's noreal magic recipe Genetics to a
degree, but overwhelmingly beingactive, moving, very simple to
do.
Put a pull-up bar in yourparlor and then just eating.
Look, more salads, less carbs,that sort of thing.
Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful.
So could you talk a little bit,or as much as you would care to
(36:23):
, about your company, maybe itsname, its website, if you care
to.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Well, sure, sure.
So Predictive Healthcare is thecompany.
The URL is predictcareai, andthat's a fractional chief
marketing officer consultancy.
My favorite company, though,which is adjacent to it, is
called Accurist AI and that's ateleservices company where we
have a compound pharmacy, wehave OTC retail to build
(36:51):
holistic solutions reallyoutside of the healthcare system
.
So healthcare is such a thornymess and it's so daunting.
You wait months and months toget an appointment.
You get a couple of minuteswith a doctor.
You may not have access.
So we're really trying to buildcare, you know, for consumers,
for people really in thelongevity space, and so you know
(37:14):
, if you can have a million mileTesla, we want to have a
million mile body, and so we'refocused a lot on what you're
talking about a healthy mind,healthy, healthy body, and it
can be really simple.
I mean changing out a like aspark plug or changing out one
of those, those little weirdMercedes Benz things.
It's a lot like eating yoursalad, you know, and if you
(37:38):
procrastinate with your car,same thing as procrastinating
with your body.
You got to get out in front ofit and sort of lean into the
prevention thing.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Such a good point.
Such a good point.
Well, Kroom, it's been such apleasure meeting you, getting to
know you, hearing about yourpast.
Thank you for being willing tobe on the show and for stepping
into our world.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Tonight we had a blast.
Thanks guys.
Me too Great to be on.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Yeah, did it.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Yeah, you are welcome back anytime.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
So, doug, what do you think?
We're going to guide this tothe off ramp?
Did you have anything further?
Can we talk us out?
I think you've talked us out.
Amen, it was great reconnectingwith Kroon, and you and I are
going to catch up some moreabout some other adjacent work.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Yeah, kroon, we've been talking about you for some
time, so this was such apleasure.
We appreciate you again, thankyou.
Thank you All right, he is Dougat CarsLovecom.
I'm Christian at CarsLovecom.
He was Kroon, and this was agreat episode.
Thanks for spending some timewith us.
Please follow and tell a friend, write a review if you like
what you hear, and we wouldspecifically love to hear what
(38:49):
you think about the new website,wwwcarslovedcom.
You can see all of our pictures, presences, episodes, blogs,
posts.
All kinds of stuff is there foryou, so I'm sure we'll see you
at the next local car show,showroom, race strip or
concourse.
We appreciate you listening.
Welcome back listener land you have found or re-found
, whichever it is, to all thecars I've loved before your
authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia, where
every car tells a story, everycar has a culture.
It is time to plug in, dust offand get a little grease under
the nails.
And you know, if you have oneof those error code readers that
(00:30):
you can just kind of stick inthe port, that's always kind of
wonderful.
I wish we had that for humans.
You know where you could justkind of stick in your ear this
device that said hey code 1234.
Yeah, strep throat and is anidiot.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Anyway, welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Well, AI is going to help us.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
We're getting there.
You know we're getting there.
I'm jumping ahead, so just hangin there.
I can't help it.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Could be tomorrow.
That's a wonderful lead-in totoday's guest.
You're welcome.
Before we cue him in here, Iwant to welcome, whether you
have found us or re-found us,refund, re-found we have Refund,
refound, we have listeners,let's see.
So we're growing.
Doug got good news.
We are growing in Japan, france, ukraine and Australia.
(01:12):
If you can believe that we seemto be stuck in Germany, this is
over the past five weeks.
Look at it Downloads only.
So I don't know what is goingon over there in Germany.
I am sure they're notpreoccupied with Oktoberfest.
It's the wrong time of year,but we need y'all to shift into
gear.
Welcome back to everyone Japan,france, ukraine, australia.
(01:34):
Welcome Germany.
Welcome back to you, let's pickit up.
So new listeners glad to haveyou.
And, as we say at the top ofthe show here, it's time to get
a little grease under the nailsand slip on the favorite
car-themed shirt Before we pivotto Doug, who always has
something interesting to sharewith his automotive-themed
(01:56):
wardrobe I'm wearing.
My team did not play in theSuper Bowl last night.
If you're an Eagles fan,congratulations.
If you're not, hey, the 31other teams crying in their beer
, it's okay.
So if you were an Eagles fan,congratulations.
And my team, the Saints.
You know, we just kind of wentto a couple of games this season
.
Superdome had a great time,super Bowl was in New Orleans
(02:18):
and just hope your team is goingto do better next year than
this year.
Again, 31 others.
I'm wondering what went wrong,all right?
Oh, so your shirt.
Let's see what you got.
What you got, all right.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
What are you wearing, let's see who are we shouting
out and giving some love to.
Today we're giving a shout outto Rich Rebuilds.
Rich is located up inMassachusetts.
His YouTube channel is doubtamazing Rich Rebuilds.
He was definitely the first Idon't know if he was the only
(02:54):
one.
He took a destroyed Tesla ModelS and put a Chevy V8 in it, so
he took a car that was designedonly as an electric car and
turned it into an internalcombustion engine car.
Man, that's clever, Very clever.
He does some amazing builds.
(03:14):
Love the guy.
Hope to have him on the podcastsoon.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
So are you in?
Have you spoken with him orconversed with him?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
We have not caught up yet yet, but there's an email
coming his way.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
He's super busy, so I hear you yeah, ebay is wild
because you can go on on ebayand find these high-end sports
cars and they'll show you onepicture and you'll say, why does
he want four grand for thisexotic, amazing car?
And you get picture from theother angle and you know a
quarter panel is missing andit's.
(03:49):
You know it was rolled like itwas a spare car on the Dukes of
Hazzard and but I mean you canhave these for a song, you
really can.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
They're salvage lots.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Absolutely yeah, absolutely People know what
they're doing.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
It's a challenge for them, right and then they get
viewers right yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's great.
And another word on all thepresences on YouTube the people
that we've had on this littlepodcast that could who have we
had that?
Had great YouTube shows,youtube channel, youtube show
Nicole Johnson, right Speedy Cop, hh Wheels.
(04:28):
We've had so many wonderfulpeople who've been gracious with
their time that just had theseknockout shows on YouTube.
Production values like you'dsee on TV, if not better.
So check them out.
Oh, and you can get the fulllist on our website.
The next thing I wanted to talkabout we have a completely
revamped website.
All props to the technical guru, mr Doug.
(04:49):
I can't believe how good itlooks.
It's leaps beyond and where itwas.
So.
Good job, partner, congrats.
And you can see a bunch ofphotos of cars.
You can see our full episodelist so you don't have to scroll
through.
I thought that was so clever,the way you made that work, as
(05:09):
well as the intake form.
What else is on there?
It just really looks.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
We have a blog, which we always have, but now it
looks much better.
We have a reviews page thatauto-scrolls, and let's see what
other thing.
We have an events page, so thatmight be an event you're going
to.
It could be a car event, itcould be.
If you look at tonight, you'llsee that we're recording with
(05:35):
our guest.
There's more info on there.
We'll do an introduction to himin a few.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, and I like the way that you've done that.
And let's see, I wanted tomention something else.
It was in my head and flewright out when you called on me
oh, now we don't have reviews onthe website, for that you have
to go to the specific we are.
Oh, no, we do, we do.
Now, he didn't do the API tokind of port them back and forth
, but they're just kind of.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
It's a manual dug process at the moment.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Well, we love that.
That's what built the internetthe manual dug process.
Speaking of reviews Speaking of.
Over to you, Parker.
Can I share one?
Yes?
Speaker 3 (06:13):
This is from Apple Podcasts from January 24th oh
recently, so not too long ago ofthis year and it's by TR
Holloway Jr.
Title super cool Five stars.
Thank you, love the five stars.
And it says this podcast is amust listen for any car
(06:36):
enthusiast.
The host's passion for carshines through every episode
with detailed discussions,fascinating stories and expert
advice.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I like that.
Thank you, mr T T Holloway, jr,2007, or whatever it was.
That's great, but this is notonly for automotive enthusiasts.
That's a great review, thankyou.
This is for anyone, you know,this is for anyone who wants to
be on the show, who has a lovefor cars or simply a story to
tell.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
And yeah, yeah, so we appreciate the speaking of
which another youtuber and bigpodcaster we had uh on recently,
crystal prophet.
Oh yeah, you didn't think shehad anything about cars to share
, but man, her first couple carswere great stories and it
wrangled in.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, and that's the thing about.
When you talk about thesemachines, you start to talk
about family.
Well, where did the first carfrom?
It came from my dad.
My dad owned a business.
Tell me about the business,tell me about grandma, tell me
about grandpa, and now you knoweverything.
And when we get to the end ofthe shows, it's interesting how
(07:44):
people are parents now and havetheir own kids.
Oh, I got my.
Like me, for example, I justgot my kid the Mustang and he
loves it.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
He's 11.
So yeah, right on.
I think there's a video of youin the Mustang introducing the
new website.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, and that just dropped today.
That just dropped today.
Do we have a lot?
Has that gotten a lot oftraffic yet, or?
Well the audio is doing greatthe audio is really.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
It's a great video we'll take it you got such a
great deal on that car and thatcar looks brand new for a 2004
and we're on the way to a brandnew for a two, yeah, and my son,
yeah, and we're on the way to asuper bowl party.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
So I got pick up my son and I said, hey, before we
go to this party, we've got todo some, we got to make some
content, we got to do a trailer,and so, hey, you know, it was
my middle son and I chatting andtalking and laughing and making
some videos.
So again, it was so again allabout yeah.
Now, before we pivot to today'sguest, you saw a rare supercar,
(08:49):
a 928, recently in a curiouscolor and did the car look like
it ran?
In your humble opinion, the carwas running.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
It was on Route 50.
And I mean it looked brand new,yikes.
I think the color was Moonstone, which is kind of a pinkish,
purplish Maroonish.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Much lighter.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Yeah, I mean, it was probably91, is my guess, so it was the
second generation, if you willWow.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
What a beautiful car car and that was near the wind
down of that car.
Right, they only made them to94 96.
I want to say something likethat, something like that yep,
was it?
Was it an s4 perchance?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
77, 78, what's that?
It wasn't an s4, was it?
It didn't didn't say on thebumper gotcha.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Okay, so then it wasn't Neat car.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, 87 was the first year of the S4, and then
they came out with GT and GTS.
It was hard to tell what it wasfrom the distance, but it
looked great it was going downthe road, no problem, at least
for as far as you weretailgating.
It looked like a little rocketship, at least for as far as you
were tailed, it looked like alittle rocket ship.
And, man, I wish I had taken apicture for you, because I know
(10:08):
it's one of your favoritechildhood cars.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yeah, and I'm happy because Drive and Ivan, we're
going to have him on in a fewweeks, at least on his YouTube
channel.
He owned one for quite a time,so I can't wait to talk to an
owner.
Looking forward to that in afew weeks.
So excellent, thank you.
On to.
I think we've gotten, we'vewe're done with the prologue and
(10:30):
we've we've gotten all thecommunity announcements out onto
today's guest.
So, doug, please introduce thenewest friend of the show.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yeah, so we uh have a friend of the show.
His name is Kroom Lawrence.
I met him by way of.
He was my neighbor.
He still lives in the area, butnot right around the corner.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So he moved away from you as soon as he met you is
basically what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Well, I think we kicked him out of the
neighborhood.
One of the two Beautiful.
I've been here longer.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
And yeah, Kroom turns outroon's got some great car
stories.
We reconnected just recentlyover some venture that we're
going to chat with him about,where he's trying to help
diagnose mild cognitiveimpairment in people using AI.
So we're going to chat aboutthat.
But, Kroon, why don youintroduce yourself?
(11:24):
If there's anything I left out,which is probably a lot, Well,
it is just so fun to be with youguys.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I'm really thrilled, and it was just going down
memory lane was just so fun.
Thinking about all thedifferent cars I've had over the
years, from the 70s, the 80s,the 90s, each with its own sort
of you know, each era was a bigtime in my life where the car
really was maybe emblematic ofwhat I was going through or what
(11:49):
I was trying to accomplish orwhat I was trying to stand for.
But having grown up on a farm,you know, with Ford 1000
tractors that had thisincredible energy and power in
the motor, when I got to myfirst car, which we're going to
talk about, the mercedes-benz,the 240d, that sort of rhythmic
(12:10):
thrum of that engine has alwaysbeen near and dear to my heart,
and so I hope we can talk alittle bit about that as well in
the next couple of minutes allright.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
So no, go ahead, doug no no, I'm, I'm a, I'm a green
I was just before.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Before we start talking about the cars here.
You just kind of gloss overthat.
You grew up on a farm and Ifind that so interesting.
If you could a minute or two onwhere it was, what that was
like, what did you grow?
Was it successful?
What were your memories of it?
Did you pitch in at all?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
That's wonderful.
What were your memories of it?
Did you pitch in at all?
That's wonderful, and yeah.
So I grew up on a small farmout in Virginia where we had
cows and pigs.
Where in Virginia, where inVirginia, out in the plains,
virginia, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Beautiful Horse country.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Gorgeous.
Granddaddy was essentially acattle farmer and dad was a
small town lawyer, so we had a.
It was a little bit like theAll Creatures Great and Small
show on the BBC.
You know where we're out, inthe middle of a blizzard with
sheep and they're giving birthto lambs and we're sort of
covered in sort of muck tryingto like help sheep, you know,
(13:21):
give birth to their lambs.
Lots of exciting moments, but alittle bit different, doug,
from our wonderful life inAnnapolis, maryland, where we
are and where we met just youknow, a couple of years back.
And so yeah, doug and I, youknow we met in town and I've
moved out a little bit closer tothe Bay.
It was great to reconnect, doug, especially to bring back
(13:42):
memories of the wonderful car inyour garage, and I hope we
touch on that a little bit.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Sure, I think it comes up often Happy to chat
about it anytime.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
I actually had it out yesterday.
He's got a couple of cars inthe garage Kroom.
So which one are you referringto?
The one that runs, the one thatdoesn't?
I think the silver one.
Okay, all right, we'll let Dougtake it from here.
That would be the 1981,delorean.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Okay, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Fantastic.
All right, it's a great car.
It inspired this podcast thanksto Christian actually.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yay.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
He doesn't like to take credit, but he should All
right.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yeah, let me, let me powder my nose here a little bit
, get ready for my close up.
So what's the status of the Zin the garage?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
too, or should we not ?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
talk about that.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Oh no, 90 Nissan 300zx when they first changed
body styles mm-hmm d32, notpop-up headlights.
That was the z31.
(14:55):
Actually had a friend in highschool at a z31 also and I
always liked that car.
I had the, as I've talked abouton other podcasts.
I had a 89 240s X which waskind of the poor man's version
of that car.
Always liked that car.
Keeping the story short, thatcar wanting to buy the 300ZX got
(15:21):
me partially into my field.
Looking in the want ads,thinking in 1991, 92, what am I
going to do for a job as acareer?
And hey, here's a job as anetwork administrator.
It will pay $31,000 a year andso fast forward 30 plus years.
I forgot about the car.
I never bought it and one day Ijust went and got one and it
(15:47):
was a impulse purchase it.
It got a few times on my verynarrow street in annapolis.
It's about five differentcolors and it's in my garage and
I hope.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
But I resurrect it amen, and that is beautiful, and
you know, that's the thingabout getting these items on the
bucket list.
At some point in your life, yougot to start checking them off,
and so I I think that is, um,that is commendable, that you
checked it off and we're movingon.
Speaking of moving on, so,kroon, would it be fair to say
that your first car was atractor, or was your first car a
(16:19):
Benz?
First car was a tractor.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
So I would sit on my dad's lap, he would teach me how
to use it safely, and then, byprobably the age of probably 10
or 11, I would.
I would go out and bush hog infields, you know, just by myself
on the on the tractor, and theycan be extremely dangerous,
very powerful, they could turnover, they can be lethal, but um
, but we still have them today.
(16:43):
In fact we have two of them andthey run beautifully.
They're they were from 1965.
So all these years later, thesetractors start up.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
You're saying the tractor thatyou drove as a child is still on
your folks' farm.
Yep, what kind of tractor.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
It's a 1000.
It's a classic sort of blue.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I know it.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
You've seen them around.
We have one that's calledHighlight, Another one we have
called yeah I air conditioning.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah, okay.
So kind of a one-seater for youto do your thing.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
And was it a diesel?
They're gas, they're gas.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Okay, we do have a Massey Ferguson that is diesel,
so you have to have a little bitof a love of the smell of
diesel when you're going on afarm or something, well, a um
little piece of trivia.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Uh, both porsche and lamborghini started making
tractors really that is greattrivia story great nugget, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
And then there are all these legends like they were
angry, what, what was?
One guy went to the Ferraridealership and was disrespected.
That's not a true story.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
That was Maurizio Lamborghini, Lamborghini.
He wasn't happy with theclutches and he was making
tractors at the time.
So, he got disrespected by MrFerrari Enzo and he's like I'll
build a, I'll build a competitornow, that's not true.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Is there, you have it .
It is that story's apart.
No, it's true.
It's true, amen, let's go withit.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So, speaking of diesel, crew was so taken with
the early 80s.
This was a 1984 2.4 line, aninline four that probably had
about 250,000 miles on it, soit's probably about a quarter of
what it was supposed to do.
These things were supposed togo a million miles and they're
(19:08):
famous for being, you know,incredibly slow but incredibly
powerful and just a lot ofmomentum and a lot of steel and
just you know, kind of a funnyride.
You know you stomp on the gas,a huge cloud of black smoke
comes out the back.
You know in the wintertimeyou'd have to, you know, turn on
the glow lights.
(19:28):
They have little weird glowbulbs, and then it was actually
the first plug-in right.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
So back in the day in the winter you'd plug in this
thing element.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
So we were really ahead of our time with this.
It was a plug-in diesel, that'sright.
Yeah, you know, we had seenthem as taxi cabs.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
You know, in Germany they're sort of everywhere
they're not a luxury car at all.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
So we had, we had called ours the lime limo, the
lime limo.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Now we know the color .
That's right, it was green.
I'll just say one more littletidbit, which is sort of funny
and maybe gets back to mycountry roots a little bit, is
that the green color wasstarting to fade, you know, you
know the thing was so old, youknow, and had been several
hundred thousand miles.
So we then had it camouflaged,and so we were like, let's just
(20:19):
roll this thing out into theduck blind, and we'll just stand
up out of the roof and, youknow, blast away at the geese or
something like that.
Are you serious?
Yeah, we literally had thething camouflaged, you know, at
its last sort of end of lifestage.
Anyway, there it was in thedriveway, this camouflaged 240D.
Anyway, the thing you couldn'tkill it Indestructible.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Yeah, it kept going.
You'll see these things on theroad.
Now you will.
And gosh, I was going throughthe Craigslist one ads once the
guy had one of these for salesand he said man, this is it,
this is the original battlewagon.
And I always thought that thatwas interesting because, as you
say, indestructible.
Just keep going and going andgoing.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Yep.
The model code is W123.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Correct Known as the greatest car ever made.
Yep, yep I know, you cancertainly debate that, but at
least back in the 80s you know,yeah, it's dominable yeah, I was
.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Um, I think I told you before we started.
I uh or maybe it was over atext.
I uh was watching a show calledthe car wizard on youtube that
I really like and he happened tohave a 240d on last night.
I'm like perfect timing, soawesome, got to learn about it.
And yeah, they're, they're veryprized.
I mean especially ones from thewest coast.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
People will pay upwards of 30 grand or more if
you've ever had one, you knowthere's a distinctive leather
smell.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
That that's what they were talking about.
We really do.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, I don't know what it is, but it's very
distinctive.
Yes, I mean, you mix that witha little diesel.
You might even have like a youknow to go cut maybe a little
light beer.
You know, you might be cruisingdown the country roads in there
.
Anyway, it's a whole lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yep, it is, it is, and everybody's got a, at least
from our generation.
Everybody's got a Mercedesdiesel story.
Right, right, christian, youhelped out your girlfriend who
had a Mercedes.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah, yeah, I was golly.
This podcast, it dredges up somany memories.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Good and bad.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, yeah, I was dating this girl for a short and
she drove one of these.
It's this exact one.
It was this big, it was justjet black.
It was like rolling aroundhaving first dates in a hearse
or something.
But this thing was somethingelse.
I'll never forget.
I haven't thought about this indecades.
(22:49):
Thing was something else.
And we went.
I'll never forget, I haven'tthought about this in decades.
We went, we were going toarlington national cemetery and,
uh, we park, and she can't rollup the windows and she flips
out.
What are we gonna do?
What are we thinking?
You know nobody's gonna breakin your car, we're arlington
national, give me a break.
But I said, you know, it'sprobably just a fuse, honey,
(23:11):
let's, uh, let's, go crack thehood and get under there fuse
box on there's a spare one righthere and we plop one in and
five minutes later windows areworking.
She thought I had split theatom.
It was unbelievable.
On and on about, boy, I gotfree dinner, that like that that
night, let me tell you.
But yeah, they just kind ofkept going and I, you know, I
(23:33):
drove a rust bucket.
Um, didn't have the best luckwith cars back in the day.
I made her drive everywhere andit was just like being
chauffeured that.
That was a great car, man, and,like you say, had this very up,
upscale interior.
Obviously it was a luxury forthe time that it was made so
well appointed on the inside.
(23:53):
Absolutely a beautiful machine.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Did she mind you sitting in the backseat while
she was driving?
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Oh no, I guess I was sitting in the front.
Yes, drive up, drive up.
It wasn't the lime limo, it wasthe black limo right, yeah,
this thing was a trip man, thisthing was a trip man, this thing
was a trip anyway yeah, okay,so this was the.
This was the greatest car everuntil croon, until he liked the
product line so much.
His next car was a well, a 300dturbo diesel.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
So it was the same thing, but a little bit longer.
It had the turbo, and so it, soit really then had some good
acceleration, but still the sameweight and just the diesel odor
and all the things that go withthat, the crazy fuse box and
stuff.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
The U126?
Yeah right, it had an inlinefive.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
I think so yes.
Inline five.
This one was also sort ofindestructible.
It's funny, when you weretalking about your girlfriend, I
was.
I was on this incredible, youknow, this wonderful romantic
date with a wonderful girlfriendof mine back in the day and
we're driving around and he's,you know, I don't know.
We're driving through thisparking lot and somehow I I was,
(25:06):
I was focused on thisconversation with my girlfriend
and I drove the car off thisfive-foot retaining wall, whoa,
and between these two parkinglots and probably sort of this
mall went right off thisfive-foot wall.
The thing just absolutelylanded like a big hunk of steel
(25:27):
and it was totally fine.
There was zero damage to thechassis, nothing was bent, the
thing drove beautifully, it was.
It was a funny memory, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Thinking about that, uh, coming on today, Fantastic,
I can't believe that story thatyou're here to tell the tale.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Moral of the story is you got to pay attention when
you're driving.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
It doesn't matter.
Yeah, right, I mean, you knowcan't, can't be distracted when
driving, can't be?
It's a bad look on your firstdate to you know?
Run your, run your companionoff an embankment or something.
Yes, I think that would be aproblem.
Words of wisdom, Doug, what doyou think about all that?
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Well, I think if the Mercedes is indestructible,
Kroon's going to find a way tosee if that's true.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I guess so.
And yeah, three nuggets we gotto squeeze in here before we go
any further.
In writing.
Yeah, so, so, so, croom, let usknow that.
Um, okay, so the first car, the240d his dad got him for his
18th birthday phenomenal,fantastic, love that.
And in describing his first carhe says it was slow and smelled
(26:43):
like diesel but was unstoppable, which I love.
And the next car he describesas a little this is the 300
turbo diesel a little faster butstill smelled like diesel.
So it obviously made a bigimpression on you, man.
There must be diesel runningthrough your veins.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
I think you're right and that you know the, the, the,
the smell of leather and thediesel, it's all.
It all comes back, all thesegreat memories of growing up.
I I do remember I think it wasuh $3,600, uh used.
So we, we, I think we got itwith 100,000, 120,000 miles on
it, so very, you know not, youknow, seemed economical at the
time and just needed, you know,probably a couple thousand
(27:22):
dollars a year to kind of keepit going.
You know, you know the repairsweren't necessarily cheap, you
know, going to the car and autoplace, but anyway it was a lot
of fun and I took that down tocollege and was able to drive
people around and all that kindof thing.
so yeah, good, good storiesthere I can't remember where it
ended up, unfortunately.
I was trying to think what wasthe ultimate demise, this car,
(27:45):
car no one's had it.
I bet you they're still drivingit somewhere.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Oh, you know I forgot to ask you and this was going
to be a new segment.
Living out in Virginia, I livein the DC area.
You're a little farther out.
Were there any radio stationsyou liked when you were driving
this Mercedes and any particularsongs when you were thinking
back of the 84 and 90 Benzes?
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Well, you know, I do.
You know, we used to love DC101.
We loved the DC 101.
Yeah, we loved Howard Stern.
I remember that Grew uplistening to that.
For a long, long time Some ofthe you know they played a lot
of the classic rock stuff.
You know probably a little acdcand probably a little grateful
dead and little eagles and somedoors and all that stuff.
(28:35):
I remember we did go to an acdcconcert.
We were teenagers and you knowjust total nincompoops and we
got these bean jackets, we cutoff the sleeves, put on you know
t-shirts and you were trying tolook all cool and stuff you
know, rolling up in this in thisold Benz.
It didn't make any sense, butyou know what are you going to
do.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
You were the height of cool, my friend, with cutoff
jean jackets going to an ACDCshow win your.
Benz, the height of cool manyou bet it was a good years yeah
yeah, so you're moving forward.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
What's your current car?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Right, so I ended up with I was getting in.
I was interested in AI, right,and I did end up reading the
Elon Musk biography, which Ithought was very interesting,
and I ended up getting a.
I got a Series series three thelittle baby Tesla, white on
white.
So, I have that now and I driveit to death and that thing is an
(29:32):
incredible workhorse.
Very happy with that carbecause there's just a lot of
cool stuff going on.
You know it updates every twoweeks and it's you know, just
the software and thefunctionality and the capability
just keeps getting better andbetter and better.
It's just fascinating to watchthe evolution of that, that ride
yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
I'm on my second tesla.
My first was model three and uh, yeah, it was amazing from the
day I bought it to the day Isold it.
It got better, it got faster.
Yeah, it's crazy, it was moreresponsive.
The uh, the features just kindof unbelievable.
Right For sure, they call thatthe software-defined car.
(30:12):
Some people have said right,that's fascinating, and I think
you were telling us about someinteresting features in the new
Model Y, but also available insome other cars outside of Tesla
, and we were talking about thatand the tie-in to your company.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Well, yeah, so the you know, sky's the limit on
imagination.
If you have an iPad on wheelsand a battery, you know, and
different sensors, you can do alot.
And one of the fascinatingthings, you know, that Elon did
was really to streamline andstrip out as many sensors as he
(30:50):
could, just to save costs,reduce weight.
But he really had a minimalistapproach to the Series 3.
That I thought was interesting.
But now in the healthcarecontext, you can add back
different sensors that you knowin some instances can measure
your heart rate, you know.
Look at your breathing rate,look at different you know in
some instances can measure yourheart rate.
You know.
Look at your breathing rate,look at different you know
aspects of mood or othercapabilities that could have
(31:14):
sort of a more real-timehealthcare capability.
So if you are, if you're having, if you're feeling anxious or
stressed, it could automate intoa more relaxing mode.
If you're having some sort ofvisible you know health or
cardiovascular event, you knowthe car could detect that
potentially in the future andjust automatically reroute you
(31:35):
and take you to the ER.
There are just some interestinguse cases that I'm trying to
follow and understand.
You know that I think are veryinspiring and I think, practical
and, frankly, don't costanything.
It's just simply code andcapability.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
You know, it's just marvelous to see If you can
dream it.
It's there right.
The features are there right.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I think that's right.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
It's so interesting that you mentioned that, the
nexus of healthcare and the car,the car being able to take you
somewhere where you need to go.
And at this point in the showwe'd like to pivot to, uh, what
it is you do for a living, yourpassion, what do you do during
the day, and and and how doesthat interweave with with what
we're just talking about?
Speaker 2 (32:21):
well, thank you.
And so I am interested.
I've been in the health carecommercialization space for my
career ever since in the late90s, really more coming out of
biopharma, and then I've gotteninto diagnostics and digital and
AI powered care.
Ai stuff on the diagnostic side, or usually in the
bioinformatics, ai on thecommercial side is more
(32:44):
automating content, marketing,automating digital experiences,
but so I'm thinking all the timeabout bringing medical
breakthroughs to market.
So I will work with scientificfounders to they might have
discovered something that isabsolutely game changing.
It's on the shelf.
They need help to get it tomarket.
And so, you know, I just lovedand, and I think you have to be
(33:06):
a hands-on keyboard person thisday and age.
So, even being in the Tesla,just experiencing the software,
the language, the data privacyelements, the opt-ins, the
updates, the personality thatcomes from the Tesla that you
can kind of get a sense of, youknow Elon's sort of potty humor,
if you will, you know, but itinject of potty humor, if you
(33:29):
will, you know, but it injectssome personality, but all those
things I think equal sort of thekind of a brand experience
that's unique and ownable andexciting, and I frankly try to
bring that inspiration back tosome of the work that I do in
the healthcare setting, you know.
So to me it's all kind of oneintegrated experience.
It's on point.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Everybody else.
Yeah, I like that, I like that.
And as we ramp down the podcastand move to conclusion here,
one last thing I'd like todiscuss with you is you have
this outlook about how the bodycan kind of I can't really put
it into words the way you can,but how the body sort of is a I
can't really put it into wordsthe way you can, but how the
(34:07):
body sort of is a great analogyfor a car and vice versa, with
holistic machines working, andDoug and I were talking about
this some time ago.
So, yeah, could you talk alittle bit about that?
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yeah, well, there's some fascinating philosophical
dimensions that are verypractical.
So in the human body, you knowmy work at Alzheimer's and mild
cognitive impairment.
If the if the body is unhealthy,your brain is going to be
unhealthy, and so we're taughtthat there are a lot of
different functional systems inthe body.
Really, there's one system.
It's super interdependent, andso when we look at cognitive
(34:43):
health and body health, itreally is just having, um, like
a 30 point checklist and so thatI think the car is the same way
right.
I mean, you know it's a bunchof independent parts, but it
really has to function as oneindependent or one integrated
system, like my Mercedes, likeif there's one little tiny plug
that's out.
You know you're toast, right.
(35:04):
So you gotta got to make sureall the parts work.
And we had a little chuckleearlier, thinking back to a
Saturday Night Live skit.
You know I can't remember, youknow who it was, but you know
it's something the notion of isbetter to look good than to feel
good.
You got to do that from SNL, butI think with the car it's both,
and I think with the human bodyit's both.
You need to look good, you needto feel good, you know, because
(35:26):
sometimes the exterior of thecar is sort of emblematic of
what's happening on the inside.
You can lose of how to kind ofkeep this integrated system
going.
You know had its bestperformance.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
And, yeah, you raise a good point in one of the most.
So the body is this incrediblycomplex machine, the brain even
more so, so mysterious even now.
And people say, well, how can Iward off these bad things that
you were talking about Happenedto me later in life.
And it's as simple as beingactive and what you put in your
(36:01):
body.
There's no magic, there's noreal magic recipe Genetics to a
degree, but overwhelmingly beingactive, moving, very simple to
do.
Put a pull-up bar in yourparlor and then just eating.
Look, more salads, less carbs,that sort of thing.
Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful.
So could you talk a little bit,or as much as you would care to
(36:23):
, about your company, maybe itsname, its website, if you care
to.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Well, sure, sure.
So Predictive Healthcare is thecompany.
The URL is predictcareai, andthat's a fractional chief
marketing officer consultancy.
My favorite company, though,which is adjacent to it, is
called Accurist AI and that's ateleservices company where we
have a compound pharmacy, wehave OTC retail to build
(36:51):
holistic solutions reallyoutside of the healthcare system
.
So healthcare is such a thornymess and it's so daunting.
You wait months and months toget an appointment.
You get a couple of minuteswith a doctor.
You may not have access.
So we're really trying to buildcare, you know, for consumers,
for people really in thelongevity space, and so you know
(37:14):
, if you can have a million mileTesla, we want to have a
million mile body, and so we'refocused a lot on what you're
talking about a healthy mind,healthy, healthy body, and it
can be really simple.
I mean changing out a like aspark plug or changing out one
of those, those little weirdMercedes Benz things.
It's a lot like eating yoursalad, you know, and if you
(37:38):
procrastinate with your car,same thing as procrastinating
with your body.
You got to get out in front ofit and sort of lean into the
prevention thing.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Such a good point.
Such a good point.
Well, Kroom, it's been such apleasure meeting you, getting to
know you, hearing about yourpast.
Thank you for being willing tobe on the show and for stepping
into our world.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Tonight we had a blast.
Thanks guys.
Me too Great to be on.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Yeah, did it.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Yeah, you are welcome back anytime.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
So, doug, what do you think?
We're going to guide this tothe off ramp?
Did you have anything further?
Can we talk us out?
I think you've talked us out.
Amen, it was great reconnectingwith Kroon, and you and I are
going to catch up some moreabout some other adjacent work.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Yeah, kroon, we've been talking about you for some
time, so this was such apleasure.
We appreciate you again, thankyou.
Thank you All right, he is Dougat CarsLovecom.
I'm Christian at CarsLovecom.
He was Kroon, and this was agreat episode.
Thanks for spending some timewith us.
Please follow and tell a friend, write a review if you like
what you hear, and we wouldspecifically love to hear what
(38:49):
you think about the new website,wwwcarslovedcom.
You can see all of our pictures, presences, episodes, blogs,
posts.
All kinds of stuff is there foryou, so I'm sure we'll see you
at the next local car show,showroom, race strip or
concourse.
We appreciate you listening.
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