July 29, 2025 • 37 mins
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What links a flame‑painted 1954 Chevrolet school bus from Johnny Depp’s cult classic Cry Baby to a modern 2020 Hyundai Venue, a 1958 Chevy Apache, 1973 Chevy pickup, and a cushy ’96 Mercury Grand Marquis? Maryland enthusiast Brian shares the full ride.
In this episode of To All the Cars I’ve Loved Before he recalls rescuing the movie‑prop bus, daily‑driving a $500 Ford, and swapping a police‑grade Crown Vic comfort for sub‑compact practicality—while still dreaming of late‑’60s muscle‑car torque. Along the way we dig into the mechanics of three‑on‑the‑tree clutches, the allure of vintage paint colors, and how small crossovers like the Hyundai Venue replace hatchbacks without killing driving fun. If you’re into classic pickup restoration, movie‑car history, or affordable enthusiast ownership, buckle up for a coast‑to‑coast conversation that proves great stories can start in any parking lot.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christian (00:05):
Welcome back to All the Cars I've Loved Before, your
authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia, where
every car tells a story, everycar has a culture.
Hey, it's time to plug in dustoff and let's fire up this beast
and see if it'll start in coldweather.
Speaking of cold weather, I'm alittle under the weather.
(00:25):
I'm here in the panhandle ofFlorida.
It is going to snow tomorrow.
That hasn't happened,definitely not since I've been
down here.
But wherever you are, I hopeyou are warm, safe, dry, driving
the car of your dreams and itfires up every time you turn the
key.
Let's welcome our new listenersIn Winchester, illinois.
(00:49):
Welcome In Mesa, arizona.
Welcome.
Feel free to.
We always love getting emailsfrom the new folks.
Let us know what you thinkabout the show.
Ensure, please to write areview.
If you like what you hear, tella friend show.
Ensure, please to write areview.
If you like what you hear, tella friend forward to the degree
possible.
Let people know that we are onyour preferred podcast platform,
(01:11):
streaming device of choice here, and we have some new special
listeners.
Again, the show isinternational.
This is my favorite part.
We have some listeners inNigeria.
Welcome.
We have some listeners inNigeria, welcome.
Feel free to reach out, email,send us a picture of what you
drive.
We love having internationalguests, as well as Pakistan on
(01:33):
the other side of the world.
So pleased that you're aboard.
Feel free to reach out, be partof the conversation in
community.
Speaking of community, myco-host, doug, how you doing?
Partner, doing great, great tobe back here with you.
Look good, sound good and bylooking good, I dig the shirt,
(01:58):
and if you're listening to thisas opposed to seeing this, you
will.
You got to check out his shirt.
It's a Freesia Brothers of one.
Oh, let's see Greenwich,connecticut.
Greenwich, connecticut of one.
Oh, let's see greenwich, Idon't know, greenwich,
connecticut.
Uh, guinevere freesia, who's onthe show, had been on the show.
Uh, just a delight, wonderfulperson, really good, champion of
helping us spread the word.
And let's see, can you, are youstanding up right now?
(02:19):
Can we get a full shot?
It's really a great shirt too.
All things air-cooled For thosewho can't see it.
That's right, vintage VWs.
I think they'll do anything.
They'll from the top to theupholstery Greenwich Connecticut
.
They can handle it all.
Feel free, if you're in theneighborhood, to stop by and
(02:41):
we're going to.
Is it untoward to say thatshe's going to be back with a
special guest sometime soon?
Should we keep that under thehat?
Doug (02:48):
I think we should keep it back under the hat just in case,
let me tuck it behind my ear.
Yeah, Established in 1922before Volkswagen's, but one of
the first companies in GreenwichConnecticut to service
Volkswagens.
Christian (03:06):
And that is what they're known for.
So check it out.
Really nice website too, andGuinevere is all over the
socials.
Fun to follow Again, awonderful person, and we like to
take care of our friendsbecause they take care of us.
What is happening on themarketing side before we cue in
today's guest, doug?
I know that we had been postingsome content on YouTube and we
(03:31):
kind of took a break over thepast week or two, but we have a
flurry of recordings coming uphere in the next week or two,
anything we want to share withthose in listener land.
Doug (03:46):
New website coming up soon .
Uh, there'll be more video andpictures and testimonials.
Uh, total redesign.
So it doesn't look like a 12year old, did it?
I guess I'm the 12 year old andemotionally 12, a grown man.
Christian (04:01):
But no, I, I thought it looked great.
What are we changing about it?
Just a little refresh.
Doug (04:06):
You'll have to wait and see Total refresh.
Oh wow, it'll look like a20-year-old, did it?
Christian (04:13):
Do we have new pictures?
That's funny, do we have newpictures of us, or is it the
same?
Doug (04:18):
We're going to have to get some.
We'll figure it out, don'tworry it out.
Don't worry, I'm taking somenow.
But uh, um, we do have a topfive episode playlist on YouTube
under the podcast.
So if you want to hear our topfive as voted by our listeners,
you can find that there.
Um, kind of surprised me, butuh, I'm super happy with uh the
(04:43):
list.
It's all from season one, whichmeans we need more people
listening to season two andthree.
Christian (04:50):
Yeah, good point, good point, Good stuff.
Thank you for that.
Should we mention the link treehere?
I'm going to mention it realquick, please do.
Yeah, our link tree is reallyour digital switchboard direct
shoot of all of our presencesout in the ether L-I-N-K-T-R dot
E-E, slash Cars, loved.
We'll get you to the Instagram,all the socials, the YouTube,
(05:14):
where we are published on thepodcast, et cetera, et cetera.
I think that that gets us.
That brings us to today's veryspecial guest.
And Doug, how did Brian?
How did he come to land in ourgarage, so to speak?
Doug (05:33):
So I bumped into Brian almost literally, but not
exactly.
Brian saw me in the parking lotat Annapolis Harbor Center in
Maryland and of course I was inmy DeLorean.
He pulled up beside me, askedme some questions and then,
(05:53):
christian, you may remember this, I go into Barnes and Google
and I called you and I said, hey, this guy just asked me a
couple questions.
He's like God, I hope you canfind him, give him your business
card.
And so, sure enough, I turnedaround, there was Brian and I
gave him his business card, mybusiness card, our business card
, and we just stayed in touchand you know it turns out
(06:14):
Brian's pretty interesting cars.
He's got a great history,native Maryland guy and his
dad's real interest in cars.
He grew up with them andthere's a family thing that has
been on the big screen thatwe'll talk about later today.
Christian (06:35):
So, Brian, welcome.
How are you this fine afternoon?
Brian (06:39):
Thank you, I'm doing well .
Thanks for having me Alsotrying to stay warm.
We we got some, uh, very cold,frigid temperatures come in the
next 24 hours in maryland but nosnow, but no snow there was
going to be an inch or two andthey took that away.
So maybe next week, I guesswe'll see you sent it all down
to florida, thank, you for that.
Christian (06:59):
You're very welcome, not really yeah, I have no idea
what's going to be happening.
Kids in the streets withsnowmen?
Doug (07:08):
Yeah, they won't know what to do, no snow shovels on sale
in Florida.
Christian (07:12):
I tell you what the last thing before I move from
the mid-Atlantic to Florida is.
I had about three or four snowshovels and I pitched them in
the garbage can.
It was very poetic and I saidnever again, never again, as I
pulled away laughing and that'syou know, karma coming back
around.
But speaking of karma comingback around, yeah, there were
(07:36):
some very interesting early carsin Brian's world.
So tell us a little bit aboutsome of your first cars, brian,
and how they came about, whereyou got them, and I find a lot
of your backstory interesting.
Brian (07:51):
Oh, thank you.
Let's see, I started driving Iguess 99, 2000.
I remember going with my mom wefueled up the car.
Uh, I guess it was the last dayof 1999, in case Y2K, in case
everything went down and youcouldn't get fuel and all that
Um.
And then you know, luckilynothing happened.
(08:13):
But so that's kind of.
When I started Um, the firstvehicle that I really started
driving was a 1973 Chevy pickup,this God awful like, like puke
pea green kind of olive greencolor, but it was.
It was.
My dad bought it for like $250from a work colleague and so you
(08:37):
know I didn't have a lot ofmoney.
So that was a good know, it wasa, it was beautiful.
You know, I was very blessed,um, that's kind of.
When I learned, startedlearning the mechanics on how to
keep a truck going, um, andthat one was one of the ones
that, uh, was three on the treeup on the column, so it took me
a while.
My dad, dad, taught me how to,you know, drive a manual and
(08:58):
then, like I said that, up thereon the column Later on,
actually the clutch linkagestarted falling apart and we put
in a floor shifter and if youdidn't exaggerate that pattern
it would get stuck on one sideor the other, either first
reverse or second and third.
So that made it interesting too.
But definitely a lot of coolstories with that old truck and
kept it going for probably aboutseven, eight years before I
(09:21):
finally killed it so what?
Christian (09:24):
what was what was so compelling about the pea green
color in the 60s and the 70s?
You?
Just want to get your thought,because I'm going to circle back
here in a second.
Any it, the, the.
I've mentioned this on the showbefore.
But this dull yellow, yeah,this, like you said, exactly
right, pea green and this peptobismol pink, what?
(09:47):
Why that aesthetic, in youropinion, brian?
Brian (09:50):
well, I'm not sure, because I was born in 83, so it
was about a decade before mytime, but I I've noticed that
you either had that weird orangecolor, a lot of things were
orange.
Christian (10:00):
Oh, orange, I forgot that or that weird green Yep and
I don't know that's a goodquestion.
Brian (10:07):
I'm not sure.
I guess that was just the rageduring the time.
The palette of the day yeah.
I think about that it waseverywhere.
Christian (10:16):
My old house, built in the 50s here has this pink
tile in the main bathroom andsometimes it's charming and
sometimes it makes me want tograb for the nearest
sledgehammer.
The one thing I want to circleback on is nowadays you'll see
new cars, or it's all the rage,or it's all the rage.
It's not this deep forest color, but it's kind of this duller,
(10:48):
almost not.
It's kind of a lighter shade ofgreen.
I've seen it on Toyota LandCruisers.
I've seen it.
I was looking at it a ShelbyCobra.
This is way out of my pricerange.
It's right around the cornerthese days, but I don't know.
There's something about thatgreen now.
That's right around the cornerthese days, but I don't know
there's something about thatgreen.
Brian (11:00):
Now, that's beautiful yeah, I've noticed some
different, newer cars havedifferent colors that are almost
like two different colorsmerged in you.
You almost can't decide if it'syeah, it's, it's nice because
it's something.
For 20 years you've had justthe standard, uh, you know
almost primary colors, uh, butit's it's.
You're almost looking at it, itcatches your eye and you're
(11:22):
like wow, what's that?
You know it's, it's, it's niceto see something new hitting the
market, something kind of thatstands out um interesting point.
Christian (11:31):
I like the way you put that.
I had not thought about thatbefore, but I think in a lot of
and we had uh tom, one of ourguests from I I think it was
last season mentioned, you know,the technology of, of colors.
Yes exactly, exactly, and howthey get these glitter effects.
(11:51):
And you know, I don't knowanything about that, but
interesting what you just said.
It's almost like it's a coupleof colors merged or it's this
hue right between one and two.
Brian (12:02):
I think the Tesla is maybe some of the first to do
that.
Depending on the light, italmost looks one color, and then
if it's sunnier out, it looks adifferent color.
Doug (12:12):
It's interesting.
In the I want to say, mid tolate 90s, Ford and others had
these colors, if you looked atit a certain way, including on
Mustangs and, I think, FordProbe GT second gen.
It was a different color and myonly thought about that was,
(12:33):
wow, if you get in an accident,how do you get that fixed?
The right way.
But nowadays, of course, youcan make your car any color you
like just by a wrap job and itcould be far out there.
It could be neon green, itcould be chrome.
Brian (12:54):
I saw a.
Doug (12:54):
Subaru the other day.
That was probably the color ofBrian's truck.
It was a newer Subaru.
Whether it was factory or not,I don't know, but somebody liked
that color.
Christian (13:04):
I just keep it vintage and we're off on a
tangent, on a tangent, on atangent.
But I have to throw in here afriend of a friend has a 57 Bel
Air and Chevy Bel Air and whenhe bought it he bought it maybe
five years or so ago, wrappingaround and fulfilling that
childhood dream, I want to saythe rear driver quarter panel
(13:28):
with the wheel well rusted, kindof a known issue.
That car was decades old anyway, I think the fellow he bought
it from was original owner, allrusted, rusted through.
So they had to cut out thatwhole panel and they got a new
one from someplace in California.
That fabricates all this.
They were able to color matchit exactly.
When I saw it I said there's noway You're telling me they were
(13:51):
able to color match this exactly.
How'd they do that?
He said you'd be surprised atwhat body shops can do these
days.
He said you'd be surprised atwhat body shops can do these
days.
He said you'd be shocked, andall right.
So before we move on to thenext car, I'm going to hand it
over here to Doug who wants toclimb in the rest of your cars
here.
But yeah, what is it with the?
And we mentioned this before inprevious episodes when did
(14:16):
buying a $250 car stop?
I think that's the greatestthing in the world.
I wish they'd bring it back.
I just bought my little son hisfirst car.
When did that stop, and can webring that back?
What do you think, brian?
Brian (14:29):
Yeah, Well, I don't know if we can go back.
I do know that about around2019, I want to say my dad and I
did buy another truck for $500.
It's a Ford, I think that one'san 85.
Somebody that my dad workedwith.
(14:52):
He lived out in Frederick,maryland, and he said hey, you
know I got a truck, I'm sellingit, you know I don't need it
this.
And that my dad finally askedme I don't really need.
We got a couple of trucks, buthow much you guys?
Well, for $500, it's yours.
He says I can bring it nextweek.
(15:15):
He said, okay, and you know,sold he goes.
Do you want pictures of it?
He said, said if you can driveit from frederick to pasadena,
maryland, I don't, I don't needto see it, I don't care what it
looks like for 500 bucks, I'mnot picky.
And that's uh, that one isactually the two-tone, the brown
and green, and uh, that one'sanother.
Another manual, which Iactually prefer manual overall.
Overall, it feels like you'remore one with the machine
absolutely and five hundredAbsolutely, and $500.
Now that one means a distributor.
(15:35):
He's a little work there, um,and then, yeah, 500 bucks, I
went have Z's, he went have Z's.
Uh, I really feel like COVIDthe, the economic, the fine,
everything got turned upsidedown.
You can't find things for underfour or five grand.
Now, it's hard, you're readingmy mind.
Christian (15:53):
Yeah, exactly that that's what I said, doug.
We have to print on bumperstickers or a t-shirt or
something.
I don't know the exact wording.
But what is?
500 bucks?
I don't need pictures.
I think that is a brilliantlife rule.
If you can get it here, yeah Ifor for five c notes I'm all
about it, but give me 10.
Brian (16:12):
Give me 10 of the proceeds.
Yeah, you got it.
It's you got it, it's brilliant.
Christian (16:15):
You got it.
Yeah, there is something magicI'm finding here around.
There's something magic aboutthat $4,000 number.
It's almost like four grand nowis like the $250 of 20 years
ago.
I forgot all about this.
I sold a little compact of minefor like $300.
Go ahead, Doug.
Doug (16:37):
No, I was just writing it down.
It's a great book Before wemove on, I got one other local.
Brian (16:42):
It was one of the local lemon lots where they sell used
cars.
A couple weeks ago I found itwas a Dodge Shadow.
I thought it was a Dodge Spiritat first, but it was a Dodge
Shadow $93 93, I want to saywith 55,000 miles on it.
He was asking 2,500 bucks.
So I called the guy because myniece is getting ready to drive.
I said what's up with this?
(17:03):
I said did an older person haveit?
He said bingo, older person hadit.
It was hardly driven.
It's older.
None of my family wants it.
My kids don't want it.
So my sister said her daughtersame thing.
You know, if it doesn't, itcould be a little ugly, but it's
not $20,000.
It's 2,500 bucks.
I called back a day or twolater.
(17:23):
Somebody from the Eastern shoreactually came and looked at it,
gave him $500 deposit and saidI'll come back with a trailer
tomorrow.
So we missed that.
It was a unicorn for 2,500, andit's running.
Who cares if it's 30 years old?
You might have to, you know.
Just a couple little thingshere and there, but it did look
nice.
Christian (17:43):
So it can happen, but it's very hard.
Doug (17:44):
I dig it, I dig it.
They're out there.
Christian (17:49):
They're out there for sure.
So I think Doug wants to knowand I will hand the baton off.
I will hand the three on thetree off to doug.
Doug wants to know whathappened to that first car, and
then he wants to get into thatnext car yeah, uh, well, op
green.
Brian (18:03):
Actually, what finally killed it was I was going to
aacc.
I was going to school and I wasdriving around the back parking
lot and somebody ran the stopsign.
I could see they were not goingto stop and I mashed that brake
all the way and the the, thebooster broke.
(18:23):
That plunger went through and Ilost.
Actually I lost my front brakes, I believe I only had back
brake power.
So the drive home later was alittle dicey only having back
brakes, brake power.
So the drive home later was alittle dicey only having back
brakes.
And, um, seeing as my dad boughtthat one for 250 dollars, uh, I
just felt like it wasn't worthputting any more money in that
(18:44):
one.
I was able.
My dad had me cut thetransmission out because it was
a rare short transmission and hesaid somebody will want that.
You know, there's a whole bunchof stuff we were going to take
to carlisle.
Here in another year or two wecould sell a whole trailer full
of rare things.
But yeah, I cut that out, cut, Ithink, the seatbelt out as a
little reminder, a littlememento, and I don't remember if
(19:07):
I got some money for cash.
I think somebody might havecome and picked it up for $200.
So we actually got $200 backfrom it and uh, yeah, I just
didn't feel like fixing the.
You know, I actually mothballedit once before because I had a
95 or 96 grand marquee and then,june 6th of 2003, I I totaled
(19:28):
that I wasn't paying attention,didn't look at the light, and so
, uh, I only had that for a fewmonths and I wrecked that, and
so I went back and apologized tothe truck, pulled it out from
and I said, well, you're, you'regetting, you're now my primary
vehicle again.
Doug (19:41):
Yeah, and you have a.
You have a bunch of parts rightthat you're going to take and,
and, and maybe for our listeners.
Um, I know about Carlisle, butmaybe you could talk about it
real quick and, if you've beenthere before, yeah, I've
actually.
Brian (19:57):
I don't think I've ever been my uncle, other people in
the club, the car club, theother guys that we associate
with it's come up and I justknow that's a big meet on the
East Coast that you can go andget all kinds of odds and ends,
things.
Now of course this is allpre-advent of the internet and
stuff, but still just theculture there.
(20:18):
And you know, I brought it upto dad.
I said there's a lot of stuffhere that you know I don't know
about.
You know, one day, when you'renot here, you know, unless you
label everything for me I'm notgoing to know what all this
stuff is.
And I said we need to maybe go.
We can maybe make a fewthousand.
We can bond, take some stuff upthere and maybe sell some stuff
, give it new home.
(20:38):
I'd love to see it.
You know the heart beatingagain and something else.
And you know it's great we canmake a little bit of cash, clear
up some stuff, less work for meto do, however, many years down
the road and, like I said, justa good bonding experience and
and it's just a big, big carswap meet and you know, I'm sure
I could get some goodmerchandise, maybe get another
cool shirt or something whileI'm up there.
Doug (20:59):
Yep, yep.
And they also have certain dayswhere it's only certain types
of cars or making models right,like they might have a Ford
specific show or they might havea 50s specific show where they
have those vendors.
Brian (21:14):
Yeah, I think that's right Okay gotcha.
Doug (21:17):
Okay, I guess I knew more than I thought about it, but
Carlisle, pennsylvania, sothat's a big end of summer event
, if I remember correctly.
But yeah, so you had someinteresting cars, but you're
also a motorcycle guy, right?
Brian (21:34):
Yep, yep, I have a 95 Harley Electric Glide with the
Evolution motor.
We wanted something.
You know we were looking.
I wanted a bike, I wanted areal bike.
As a younger man I had a HondaEnduro and I had tags on it for
a while.
But I wanted a real bike.
So found one for I think it waslike $4,000 or something, and
my dad's hey, it's carburetedstuff we can work on without
(21:57):
needing a 5,000, $10,000computer.
That can, you know, doeverything.
So, um, you know, went aheadand bought it.
Um, a few years back, aboutthree years back, I went and got
it it needed.
I got basically what I call thesuper tune up, took it
somewhere it was a little bitoutside of my area.
Um, when it safe mainly.
(22:20):
I have two, two younger kids,so I wanted it safe.
So I um, basically bought itback again.
It was almost four grand foreverything I got done new tires,
this and that.
Christian (22:27):
And was it?
Yeah, it was well, yeah, nottoo bad.
Brian (22:30):
It was a local guy um down in Calvert County, so um
yeah, and it was a local guy umdown in calvert county, so um
yeah, and it was.
The main thing was is that was,and it rode so much better I
said wow.
I said when you, you kind of get, but kind of like, when you're,
you're, you're nose blind tocertain smells that you're used
to and stuff, you're like man, Ididn't realize everything was
tight again, everything was niceand uh.
So, yes, I enjoy, and it's thewind therapy, like there's
(22:51):
nothing like getting out thereand you can't tell people if
you're upset or having a badweek.
You can't stay mad on a bike,not for long.
Doug (22:59):
Yeah, that's interesting.
I never had a bike.
I did have a friend who had oneprobably shouldn't have had one
that I rode around the backwith him without helmets and all
that dumb stuff.
But I mean it could be 100degrees out and you would go out
and you would go out and youwould cool off so quickly.
(23:21):
Uh, I was a convertible guyback in the day.
I'm still hoping to get backinto a convertible again, but
yeah, the the bike was prettycool.
Christian (23:25):
Yeah, one of my favorite saw this.
Oh, this was on a Harley and Idid a double take and the timing
wasn't right.
I think I had no money.
Three kids probably hadsomething to do with that.
But right on the bottom of thewindscreen it said have you ever
seen a motorcycle parked infront of a psychologist's office
(23:48):
?
Brian (23:49):
or a therapist's office.
Christian (23:50):
It was something like that and I just thought it was
brilliant.
Again, that was kind of abeautiful green color to that
one.
I think I went back the nextday and it was gone.
But such is life you snooze,you lose, and I like to take
naps.
It is what it is.
What can you do?
What was that?
Now, I was was gonna ask you,boy, we got so much to get to.
(24:15):
We're gonna have to have youback in the future, brian, but I
had to.
I know doug's got a few otherthings here, but I'm curious
about the, uh, the 96 grandmarquee.
What was?
What was that car like?
Because one popped up.
You know what I do sometimeswhen I, you know, after work, uh
, and I like to ramp down.
I just go to craigslist and Igo to cars for sale and I sort
from lowest price just to seewhat's out there.
Um, and a grand marquee poppedup and, I think, a town car of
(24:39):
the same vintage, not not toolong ago.
So so that's a big v8, that'san enormous american car.
Of course they don't makemercurys anymore.
What was that car like?
What do you remember from thatcar?
Brian (24:51):
it was nice, it was funny because I mean I was 19, 20
years old, so I mean my, my dadgot one for mom, so it's
basically the hand me down.
When my mom was done with it orstarted having some issues, uh,
then you know I, I would get it, it would become mine, and it
was just so smooth.
People teased around said, oh,you're like that's an old person
(25:11):
car, that's an old.
But it was nice, it was verysmooth.
Uh, it was safe.
Like I said, I got in anaccident, was already thinking
about the weekend, it was fridayand uh, and it's safe.
I mean it was like a littletank.
You know, I got t-boned.
The guy that had theright-of-way hit me, uh, airbags
deployed and that was the worstinjury was my cousin got a
little bit of airbag burn, uh,but everybody walked away.
(25:33):
Everybody walked away um it wasa great car.
It was, um, you know, like yousaid, it was the v8, but you
still, if you, if you babied itand didn't get too crazy with
the gas, you could get close to20 miles a gallon yeah 20 with
highway because I don't think itwas a big eight I want to say
it was like maybe a 4.6 literrear wheel drive.
Christian (25:53):
So those cars, they just drive, man steer, no torque
steer, just as smooth as butter.
Brian (25:58):
It's basically the crown vic platform absolutely the
local officer for the longesttime police officer.
We had the crown vics I lovethem and then we switched over
to a couple other things.
Now we all have the fordexplorers, um, and you know,
it's good, it's a lot of room,it's nice to not have to crawl
out of a vehicle.
You hop out, it's good on yourknees, um and uh, yeah, I always
(26:20):
like the crown vics, uh, or, inthis case, you know, the
marquee is basically just thehigher model, um, a couple extra
bells and whistles.
Doug (26:28):
It's funny.
That brings me back when I was,uh, post high school.
I was doing some work with someuh who's actually repairing atm
machines or refilling them, um,and it's near uh, near um
anterondo county policeheadquarters.
So it was a lot of uh, uhcounty police officers when they
were not working.
(26:48):
That was their side job, if youwill.
And I remember talking to oneof them and I said hey, why do
you?
You know that's when thetoruses started coming out, or?
tori and I and he had a crownvic and uh, it's had to be
probably 1992, ish 91, uh, yeah,92.
(27:10):
And he said, sit inside, sitinside the crown Vic.
And he's like the Taurus is notthis comfortable, not even
close, and so that was his thing.
Brian (27:21):
We also went with the Chevy Caprice a little bit.
And for a few years there wehad some of them had the uh, the
Ford Taurus.
I mean the crown, also thetrunk.
I like the layout of the CrownVic's trunk.
The Taurus was deep but thenyou can't get to some of your
equipment back there.
It was just, you know, it waswide, big, a nice trunk.
(27:41):
Like I said, the steering, thehandling, it was luxury.
Christian (27:49):
Oh, yeah, yeah, good point American luxury, I like
that, I like that.
So I tell you what is we?
Oh, go ahead.
Doug wants to hop in here, butall I wanted to say, doug, is I
know we got to wrap up here inthe next few minutes.
Doug will talk to you aboutcars all night, brian, so I'm
trying to get you out of here ontime, but I would like to chat
a little bit about the 2020Hyundai Venue.
(28:11):
But, doug, let me toss it overto Doug.
There's something elseinteresting in the passion we've
got to get to.
Doug (28:19):
Well, we were talking about these, you know, the Grand
Marquis, the Crown Vic, right,these big vehicles, right.
And I just think about a busand Brian, you told us, you
started telling us a great story.
We had to save it because wewant all our listeners to hear
it.
But tell us about the 1954Chevy school bus that your
(28:43):
family has owned for I don'tknow how long, and it was in a
famous movie yes, so it actuallyties into the shirt.
Brian (28:51):
I'm wearing an old Cumberland shirt.
Out in western Maryland theyhave the Labor Day weekend, the
street rod roundup, and that wasmy introduction to old cars.
Ever since, well, my dad hadbeen going since the late 70s.
So as a baby I think I wasalmost one.
One was the first year that Iwent and it would have been 84,
(29:12):
um, but yeah, so my dad went outthere with some friends.
They slept in a tent that firstyear.
Um, actually they were close tothe railroad track.
They said the train came bylike the midnight or 2 am train
I guess it was the 2 am becausethey were still, you know,
partying at midnight.
But um, it came by and theythought they were on the tracks
and they said they made surethey weren't on the tracks.
(29:33):
And after that weekend theysaid man, sleeping on the ground
is no fun, we need a camper orsomething.
And somebody I think it was mydad's buddy Mike somebody said,
hey, this bus is for sale andit's already.
It was converted as like acamper anyway.
So they all three of them wentin six hundred dollars for this
(29:57):
bus.
They all went to two hundreddollars and bought this bus and
it was the perfect camper.
Um now, and I want to say 90 orsay somewhere around 1990, and I
forget the producer, but theywanted to do this movie cry baby
johnny depp was in it.
And they came, somebody, how?
They found my dad and they saidlook, this is the the only
running full-length bus that'sstill running on the east coast
(30:18):
that we can find.
Can we, you know, use it inthis movie now?
At the time the bus wasbeautiful, paint job, flames, it
was black, with flames and, andmy dad said, well, I don't know
this and that, and they finallycame worked out a deal monetary
value.
And my dad said, well, I don'tknow this and that, and they
finally came worked out a dealmonetary value.
And my dad had them, in short,for I think it was 10 grand.
And he and he said, well, if werun a truck into it, you're
(30:39):
filming and something happens.
And you already said it's rare,you know, yeah, he said he was
so, so, so, uh, concerned,tempted, no, he's so tempted to
go up there and set it on fireone night and get 10 grand.
But uh, but no, so, uh, he gotit back and then it was yellow,
obviously for the movie.
And you can tell in the movie.
It's only the first fiveminutes of that film, but you
(31:01):
can tell because if you look onthe passenger side as it pulls
up there's a vent in there, theside, I think, for the stove
that they had had in there atone time, and so you can tell
that that was an aftermarket,that square vent for the stove.
Um, but yeah, and then, andthen my dad got some more money
out of them because when it cametime to paint it back that was
in the contract tell you, youpaint it back in flames.
(31:21):
He goes smart, for five hundreddollars I'll paint it back.
And at that point that I thinkit was the enron paint.
It was cheap, it was, you couldget a gallon for you know
whatever.
It was the Enron paint.
It was cheap, it was, you couldget a gallon for you know
whatever it was.
And then environmental concernsin the 90s started going up to
hundreds of dollars a gallon forthis paint, because you know
whatever was special about theoil.
It's kind of like the old fuelwhen it was leaded and it
smelled different than thegasoline in the 80s and the
gasoline now.
(31:41):
But but yeah, so he got it backand it was yellow for years.
Actually it was.
Uh.
It was so much fun every yearwashing the bus, getting it
ready, do a little work, get it,getting it ready to make it up
to the mountains again for the,the show and um.
Christian (32:04):
Yeah, so the producers?
Yeah, I thought this predated,I thought your ownership,
father's ownership, kind ofpredated the move.
But no, the producers came toyour father that's yeah.
Brian (32:13):
Well, the movie was just set in the 50s.
The movie was set in the 50sbut I believe it was 1991,
somewhere around.
Christian (32:18):
There is where when it came out yeah I remember I
saw that in the theater.
I saw that in the theater metoo.
Doug (32:25):
So I I was just looking up there's something called the
internet movie car database.
Now I'm going to spend all mytime on this now that I've found
it.
Oh boy, it is a 1954 Chevrolet.
Advanced Design is what it'scalled In the movie Crybaby from
1990.
Brian (32:43):
All right, well, memory's pretty good then, and it looks
like it's painted bus number 37for the movie.
Part of history, part rememberhistory, buddy, they had to put
seats in there.
The first half of the bus, toyou know, they put these bench
seats in there and I rememberhelping my dad yank them out and
when it was time to convert itback, and then at that point he
put in a bed and he kind of we,we set it up how we wanted it
(33:07):
for a camper and we put a tablethat would collapse to another
bed and everything.
And now sadly we just use it asstorage.
Okay, I drove it, I think, in2007.
I took it to AACC.
I had some finals coming up andI actually gave the physics
professor a ride back to his carand some of my other classmates
(33:29):
ride back to their car.
But it means a whole overhaul.
So I was hoping one day I gotto find somewhere, I got to find
somebody with some money and wecould maybe partner up and get
it restored and back on the road.
We could do something with it.
But we'll bring the bike backto it Part of Hollywood history.
Christian (33:47):
That's fantastic.
And now that Doug has theinternet movie car database
Internet movie car database.
We got to get you out of here,Brian.
He will keep you here all night, but you got to go feed your
family.
But real quick, let's talkabout the venue, the Hyundai
venue Where'd you get it?
(34:07):
Why'd you get it?
Hyundai Venue Where'd you getit?
Why'd you get it?
And I was looking at those.
Brian (34:15):
They're nice and small and seem like they'd be great on
gasoline.
Oh, that's a fun game I play.
I try to keep it over 40 milesto the gallon.
It usually ends up around 35because obviously, as you drive
it and if you're local it'slower, but if you baby, baby it,
you can keep it at 40 miles tothe gallon.
Um, so my, my wife, had alittle kia rio that she loved.
It was the first car she bought.
(34:36):
I drove it.
I ended up killing it ininclement weather.
I got in an accident I I'veroughed them up sometimes, you
know and uh, it was such a shortwheelbase I wasn't able I'm
real proficient with driving inrain and snow and sleet and
stuff, but there's nothing youcould do to counter steer with
that short wheelbase.
So I ended up that car was,sadly was, totaled.
(34:57):
So we ended up getting the Venueas the replacement to the Kia
Rio.
It's a good car.
Like I said, I use it as mylittle hopper.
I'll run up to see dad inPasadena and I'll take take, you
know one of the kids in theback because it's a little small
.
Both kids are in the back andwith the white it's a little
tight and I put the seat all theway back anyway, so then
they'll be kicking, you know,their feet will be right there.
(35:18):
So, um, but yeah, it's a goodlittle car, good gas mileage and
, um, you know, now, like oneday though, I have, I, I will
and I'm getting to that midlifecrisis point when I find a good
two-door muscle car late 60s or1970s somewhere around there.
Now it doesn't have to be aCamaro, it doesn't have to be
this or that, an old Roadrunneror something.
(35:38):
Anything will be good.
That's something cool.
One day maybe I can have that.
It'll be mine, and then she canhave the venue and then I can
have a muscle car.
Christian (35:46):
Well, that car is going to last forever.
Oh yeah, my son my 16-year-old,I think is going to drive it.
Absolutely, you keep thetransmission.
You change the transmissionfluid.
Keep that oil change.
That's your child's first careasily.
Yeah, fantastic.
Well, we have had so much fungetting to know you.
Brian, thank you for taking thetime.
This was a blast.
(36:06):
Appreciate time.
This was a blast.
Appreciate the stories.
A little bit of Hollywood, alittle bit of this, a little bit
of that.
Brian (36:16):
So it was a pleasure.
It was great meeting you andthank you for taking the time
yeah.
Thank you so much and I'd loveto come back in another season
sometime, absolutely.
Christian (36:22):
You got it.
You have just heard to all thecars I've loved before the high
revving, low mileage, late model.
Heard around the world.
Authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia yes, heard
around the world Nigeria andPakistan.
Again, welcome friends, reachout, let us know.
My co-host is Doug.
Reach him at Doug atCarsLovecom.
I'm Christian.
(36:42):
Reach me at Christian atCarsLovecom and he was Brian.
Again, it was great.
Thank you for being here.
Please follow, tell a friend,check out our link, tree,
linktree, slash carslove.
Check out all the onlinepresences and just an easy way
to hit us up, get to know us andbe on the show.
Just like Brian, I'm sure we'llsee you at the next local car
(37:06):
show, showroom, race trip orconcourse.
Thank you for listening.
Keep the rubber side down andwe'll see you next week.
Welcome back to All the Cars I've Loved Before, your
authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia, where
every car tells a story, everycar has a culture.
Hey, it's time to plug in dustoff and let's fire up this beast
and see if it'll start in coldweather.
Speaking of cold weather, I'm alittle under the weather.
(00:25):
I'm here in the panhandle ofFlorida.
It is going to snow tomorrow.
That hasn't happened,definitely not since I've been
down here.
But wherever you are, I hopeyou are warm, safe, dry, driving
the car of your dreams and itfires up every time you turn the
key.
Let's welcome our new listenersIn Winchester, illinois.
(00:49):
Welcome In Mesa, arizona.
Welcome.
Feel free to.
We always love getting emailsfrom the new folks.
Let us know what you thinkabout the show.
Ensure, please to write areview.
If you like what you hear, tella friend show.
Ensure, please to write areview.
If you like what you hear, tella friend forward to the degree
possible.
Let people know that we are onyour preferred podcast platform,
(01:11):
streaming device of choice here, and we have some new special
listeners.
Again, the show isinternational.
This is my favorite part.
We have some listeners inNigeria.
Welcome.
We have some listeners inNigeria, welcome.
Feel free to reach out, email,send us a picture of what you
drive.
We love having internationalguests, as well as Pakistan on
(01:33):
the other side of the world.
So pleased that you're aboard.
Feel free to reach out, be partof the conversation in
community.
Speaking of community, myco-host, doug, how you doing?
Partner, doing great, great tobe back here with you.
Look good, sound good and bylooking good, I dig the shirt,
(01:58):
and if you're listening to thisas opposed to seeing this, you
will.
You got to check out his shirt.
It's a Freesia Brothers of one.
Oh, let's see Greenwich,connecticut.
Greenwich, connecticut of one.
Oh, let's see greenwich, Idon't know, greenwich,
connecticut.
Uh, guinevere freesia, who's onthe show, had been on the show.
Uh, just a delight, wonderfulperson, really good, champion of
helping us spread the word.
And let's see, can you, are youstanding up right now?
(02:19):
Can we get a full shot?
It's really a great shirt too.
All things air-cooled For thosewho can't see it.
That's right, vintage VWs.
I think they'll do anything.
They'll from the top to theupholstery Greenwich Connecticut
.
They can handle it all.
Feel free, if you're in theneighborhood, to stop by and
(02:41):
we're going to.
Is it untoward to say thatshe's going to be back with a
special guest sometime soon?
Should we keep that under thehat?
Doug (02:48):
I think we should keep it back under the hat just in case,
let me tuck it behind my ear.
Yeah, Established in 1922before Volkswagen's, but one of
the first companies in GreenwichConnecticut to service
Volkswagens.
Christian (03:06):
And that is what they're known for.
So check it out.
Really nice website too, andGuinevere is all over the
socials.
Fun to follow Again, awonderful person, and we like to
take care of our friendsbecause they take care of us.
What is happening on themarketing side before we cue in
today's guest, doug?
I know that we had been postingsome content on YouTube and we
(03:31):
kind of took a break over thepast week or two, but we have a
flurry of recordings coming uphere in the next week or two,
anything we want to share withthose in listener land.
Doug (03:46):
New website coming up soon .
Uh, there'll be more video andpictures and testimonials.
Uh, total redesign.
So it doesn't look like a 12year old, did it?
I guess I'm the 12 year old andemotionally 12, a grown man.
Christian (04:01):
But no, I, I thought it looked great.
What are we changing about it?
Just a little refresh.
Doug (04:06):
You'll have to wait and see Total refresh.
Oh wow, it'll look like a20-year-old, did it?
Christian (04:13):
Do we have new pictures?
That's funny, do we have newpictures of us, or is it the
same?
Doug (04:18):
We're going to have to get some.
We'll figure it out, don'tworry it out.
Don't worry, I'm taking somenow.
But uh, um, we do have a topfive episode playlist on YouTube
under the podcast.
So if you want to hear our topfive as voted by our listeners,
you can find that there.
Um, kind of surprised me, butuh, I'm super happy with uh the
(04:43):
list.
It's all from season one, whichmeans we need more people
listening to season two andthree.
Christian (04:50):
Yeah, good point, good point, Good stuff.
Thank you for that.
Should we mention the link treehere?
I'm going to mention it realquick, please do.
Yeah, our link tree is reallyour digital switchboard direct
shoot of all of our presencesout in the ether L-I-N-K-T-R dot
E-E, slash Cars, loved.
We'll get you to the Instagram,all the socials, the YouTube,
(05:14):
where we are published on thepodcast, et cetera, et cetera.
I think that that gets us.
That brings us to today's veryspecial guest.
And Doug, how did Brian?
How did he come to land in ourgarage, so to speak?
Doug (05:33):
So I bumped into Brian almost literally, but not
exactly.
Brian saw me in the parking lotat Annapolis Harbor Center in
Maryland and of course I was inmy DeLorean.
He pulled up beside me, askedme some questions and then,
(05:53):
christian, you may remember this, I go into Barnes and Google
and I called you and I said, hey, this guy just asked me a
couple questions.
He's like God, I hope you canfind him, give him your business
card.
And so, sure enough, I turnedaround, there was Brian and I
gave him his business card, mybusiness card, our business card
, and we just stayed in touchand you know it turns out
(06:14):
Brian's pretty interesting cars.
He's got a great history,native Maryland guy and his
dad's real interest in cars.
He grew up with them andthere's a family thing that has
been on the big screen thatwe'll talk about later today.
Christian (06:35):
So, Brian, welcome.
How are you this fine afternoon?
Brian (06:39):
Thank you, I'm doing well .
Thanks for having me Alsotrying to stay warm.
We we got some, uh, very cold,frigid temperatures come in the
next 24 hours in maryland but nosnow, but no snow there was
going to be an inch or two andthey took that away.
So maybe next week, I guesswe'll see you sent it all down
to florida, thank, you for that.
Christian (06:59):
You're very welcome, not really yeah, I have no idea
what's going to be happening.
Kids in the streets withsnowmen?
Doug (07:08):
Yeah, they won't know what to do, no snow shovels on sale
in Florida.
Christian (07:12):
I tell you what the last thing before I move from
the mid-Atlantic to Florida is.
I had about three or four snowshovels and I pitched them in
the garbage can.
It was very poetic and I saidnever again, never again, as I
pulled away laughing and that'syou know, karma coming back
around.
But speaking of karma comingback around, yeah, there were
(07:36):
some very interesting early carsin Brian's world.
So tell us a little bit aboutsome of your first cars, brian,
and how they came about, whereyou got them, and I find a lot
of your backstory interesting.
Brian (07:51):
Oh, thank you.
Let's see, I started driving Iguess 99, 2000.
I remember going with my mom wefueled up the car.
Uh, I guess it was the last dayof 1999, in case Y2K, in case
everything went down and youcouldn't get fuel and all that
Um.
And then you know, luckilynothing happened.
(08:13):
But so that's kind of.
When I started Um, the firstvehicle that I really started
driving was a 1973 Chevy pickup,this God awful like, like puke
pea green kind of olive greencolor, but it was.
It was.
My dad bought it for like $250from a work colleague and so you
(08:37):
know I didn't have a lot ofmoney.
So that was a good know, it wasa, it was beautiful.
You know, I was very blessed,um, that's kind of.
When I learned, startedlearning the mechanics on how to
keep a truck going, um, andthat one was one of the ones
that, uh, was three on the treeup on the column, so it took me
a while.
My dad, dad, taught me how to,you know, drive a manual and
(08:58):
then, like I said that, up thereon the column Later on,
actually the clutch linkagestarted falling apart and we put
in a floor shifter and if youdidn't exaggerate that pattern
it would get stuck on one sideor the other, either first
reverse or second and third.
So that made it interesting too.
But definitely a lot of coolstories with that old truck and
kept it going for probably aboutseven, eight years before I
(09:21):
finally killed it so what?
Christian (09:24):
what was what was so compelling about the pea green
color in the 60s and the 70s?
You?
Just want to get your thought,because I'm going to circle back
here in a second.
Any it, the, the.
I've mentioned this on the showbefore.
But this dull yellow, yeah,this, like you said, exactly
right, pea green and this peptobismol pink, what?
(09:47):
Why that aesthetic, in youropinion, brian?
Brian (09:50):
well, I'm not sure, because I was born in 83, so it
was about a decade before mytime, but I I've noticed that
you either had that weird orangecolor, a lot of things were
orange.
Christian (10:00):
Oh, orange, I forgot that or that weird green Yep and
I don't know that's a goodquestion.
Brian (10:07):
I'm not sure.
I guess that was just the rageduring the time.
The palette of the day yeah.
I think about that it waseverywhere.
Christian (10:16):
My old house, built in the 50s here has this pink
tile in the main bathroom andsometimes it's charming and
sometimes it makes me want tograb for the nearest
sledgehammer.
The one thing I want to circleback on is nowadays you'll see
new cars, or it's all the rage,or it's all the rage.
It's not this deep forest color, but it's kind of this duller,
(10:48):
almost not.
It's kind of a lighter shade ofgreen.
I've seen it on Toyota LandCruisers.
I've seen it.
I was looking at it a ShelbyCobra.
This is way out of my pricerange.
It's right around the cornerthese days, but I don't know.
There's something about thatgreen now.
That's right around the cornerthese days, but I don't know
there's something about thatgreen.
Brian (11:00):
Now, that's beautiful yeah, I've noticed some
different, newer cars havedifferent colors that are almost
like two different colorsmerged in you.
You almost can't decide if it'syeah, it's, it's nice because
it's something.
For 20 years you've had justthe standard, uh, you know
almost primary colors, uh, butit's it's.
You're almost looking at it, itcatches your eye and you're
(11:22):
like wow, what's that?
You know it's, it's, it's niceto see something new hitting the
market, something kind of thatstands out um interesting point.
Christian (11:31):
I like the way you put that.
I had not thought about thatbefore, but I think in a lot of
and we had uh tom, one of ourguests from I I think it was
last season mentioned, you know,the technology of, of colors.
Yes exactly, exactly, and howthey get these glitter effects.
(11:51):
And you know, I don't knowanything about that, but
interesting what you just said.
It's almost like it's a coupleof colors merged or it's this
hue right between one and two.
Brian (12:02):
I think the Tesla is maybe some of the first to do
that.
Depending on the light, italmost looks one color, and then
if it's sunnier out, it looks adifferent color.
Doug (12:12):
It's interesting.
In the I want to say, mid tolate 90s, Ford and others had
these colors, if you looked atit a certain way, including on
Mustangs and, I think, FordProbe GT second gen.
It was a different color and myonly thought about that was,
(12:33):
wow, if you get in an accident,how do you get that fixed?
The right way.
But nowadays, of course, youcan make your car any color you
like just by a wrap job and itcould be far out there.
It could be neon green, itcould be chrome.
Brian (12:54):
I saw a.
Doug (12:54):
Subaru the other day.
That was probably the color ofBrian's truck.
It was a newer Subaru.
Whether it was factory or not,I don't know, but somebody liked
that color.
Christian (13:04):
I just keep it vintage and we're off on a
tangent, on a tangent, on atangent.
But I have to throw in here afriend of a friend has a 57 Bel
Air and Chevy Bel Air and whenhe bought it he bought it maybe
five years or so ago, wrappingaround and fulfilling that
childhood dream, I want to saythe rear driver quarter panel
(13:28):
with the wheel well rusted, kindof a known issue.
That car was decades old anyway, I think the fellow he bought
it from was original owner, allrusted, rusted through.
So they had to cut out thatwhole panel and they got a new
one from someplace in California.
That fabricates all this.
They were able to color matchit exactly.
When I saw it I said there's noway You're telling me they were
(13:51):
able to color match this exactly.
How'd they do that?
He said you'd be surprised atwhat body shops can do these
days.
He said you'd be surprised atwhat body shops can do these
days.
He said you'd be shocked, andall right.
So before we move on to thenext car, I'm going to hand it
over here to Doug who wants toclimb in the rest of your cars
here.
But yeah, what is it with the?
And we mentioned this before inprevious episodes when did
(14:16):
buying a $250 car stop?
I think that's the greatestthing in the world.
I wish they'd bring it back.
I just bought my little son hisfirst car.
When did that stop, and can webring that back?
What do you think, brian?
Brian (14:29):
Yeah, Well, I don't know if we can go back.
I do know that about around2019, I want to say my dad and I
did buy another truck for $500.
It's a Ford, I think that one'san 85.
Somebody that my dad workedwith.
(14:52):
He lived out in Frederick,maryland, and he said hey, you
know I got a truck, I'm sellingit, you know I don't need it
this.
And that my dad finally askedme I don't really need.
We got a couple of trucks, buthow much you guys?
Well, for $500, it's yours.
He says I can bring it nextweek.
(15:15):
He said, okay, and you know,sold he goes.
Do you want pictures of it?
He said, said if you can driveit from frederick to pasadena,
maryland, I don't, I don't needto see it, I don't care what it
looks like for 500 bucks, I'mnot picky.
And that's uh, that one isactually the two-tone, the brown
and green, and uh, that one'sanother.
Another manual, which Iactually prefer manual overall.
Overall, it feels like you'remore one with the machine
absolutely and five hundredAbsolutely, and $500.
Now that one means a distributor.
(15:35):
He's a little work there, um,and then, yeah, 500 bucks, I
went have Z's, he went have Z's.
Uh, I really feel like COVIDthe, the economic, the fine,
everything got turned upsidedown.
You can't find things for underfour or five grand.
Now, it's hard, you're readingmy mind.
Christian (15:53):
Yeah, exactly that that's what I said, doug.
We have to print on bumperstickers or a t-shirt or
something.
I don't know the exact wording.
But what is?
500 bucks?
I don't need pictures.
I think that is a brilliantlife rule.
If you can get it here, yeah Ifor for five c notes I'm all
about it, but give me 10.
Brian (16:12):
Give me 10 of the proceeds.
Yeah, you got it.
It's you got it, it's brilliant.
Christian (16:15):
You got it.
Yeah, there is something magicI'm finding here around.
There's something magic aboutthat $4,000 number.
It's almost like four grand nowis like the $250 of 20 years
ago.
I forgot all about this.
I sold a little compact of minefor like $300.
Go ahead, Doug.
Doug (16:37):
No, I was just writing it down.
It's a great book Before wemove on, I got one other local.
Brian (16:42):
It was one of the local lemon lots where they sell used
cars.
A couple weeks ago I found itwas a Dodge Shadow.
I thought it was a Dodge Spiritat first, but it was a Dodge
Shadow $93 93, I want to saywith 55,000 miles on it.
He was asking 2,500 bucks.
So I called the guy because myniece is getting ready to drive.
I said what's up with this?
(17:03):
I said did an older person haveit?
He said bingo, older person hadit.
It was hardly driven.
It's older.
None of my family wants it.
My kids don't want it.
So my sister said her daughtersame thing.
You know, if it doesn't, itcould be a little ugly, but it's
not $20,000.
It's 2,500 bucks.
I called back a day or twolater.
(17:23):
Somebody from the Eastern shoreactually came and looked at it,
gave him $500 deposit and saidI'll come back with a trailer
tomorrow.
So we missed that.
It was a unicorn for 2,500, andit's running.
Who cares if it's 30 years old?
You might have to, you know.
Just a couple little thingshere and there, but it did look
nice.
Christian (17:43):
So it can happen, but it's very hard.
Doug (17:44):
I dig it, I dig it.
They're out there.
Christian (17:49):
They're out there for sure.
So I think Doug wants to knowand I will hand the baton off.
I will hand the three on thetree off to doug.
Doug wants to know whathappened to that first car, and
then he wants to get into thatnext car yeah, uh, well, op
green.
Brian (18:03):
Actually, what finally killed it was I was going to
aacc.
I was going to school and I wasdriving around the back parking
lot and somebody ran the stopsign.
I could see they were not goingto stop and I mashed that brake
all the way and the the, thebooster broke.
(18:23):
That plunger went through and Ilost.
Actually I lost my front brakes, I believe I only had back
brake power.
So the drive home later was alittle dicey only having back
brakes, brake power.
So the drive home later was alittle dicey only having back
brakes.
And, um, seeing as my dad boughtthat one for 250 dollars, uh, I
just felt like it wasn't worthputting any more money in that
(18:44):
one.
I was able.
My dad had me cut thetransmission out because it was
a rare short transmission and hesaid somebody will want that.
You know, there's a whole bunchof stuff we were going to take
to carlisle.
Here in another year or two wecould sell a whole trailer full
of rare things.
But yeah, I cut that out, cut, Ithink, the seatbelt out as a
little reminder, a littlememento, and I don't remember if
(19:07):
I got some money for cash.
I think somebody might havecome and picked it up for $200.
So we actually got $200 backfrom it and uh, yeah, I just
didn't feel like fixing the.
You know, I actually mothballedit once before because I had a
95 or 96 grand marquee and then,june 6th of 2003, I I totaled
(19:28):
that I wasn't paying attention,didn't look at the light, and so
, uh, I only had that for a fewmonths and I wrecked that, and
so I went back and apologized tothe truck, pulled it out from
and I said, well, you're, you'regetting, you're now my primary
vehicle again.
Doug (19:41):
Yeah, and you have a.
You have a bunch of parts rightthat you're going to take and,
and, and maybe for our listeners.
Um, I know about Carlisle, butmaybe you could talk about it
real quick and, if you've beenthere before, yeah, I've
actually.
Brian (19:57):
I don't think I've ever been my uncle, other people in
the club, the car club, theother guys that we associate
with it's come up and I justknow that's a big meet on the
East Coast that you can go andget all kinds of odds and ends,
things.
Now of course this is allpre-advent of the internet and
stuff, but still just theculture there.
(20:18):
And you know, I brought it upto dad.
I said there's a lot of stuffhere that you know I don't know
about.
You know, one day, when you'renot here, you know, unless you
label everything for me I'm notgoing to know what all this
stuff is.
And I said we need to maybe go.
We can maybe make a fewthousand.
We can bond, take some stuff upthere and maybe sell some stuff
, give it new home.
(20:38):
I'd love to see it.
You know the heart beatingagain and something else.
And you know it's great we canmake a little bit of cash, clear
up some stuff, less work for meto do, however, many years down
the road and, like I said, justa good bonding experience and
and it's just a big, big carswap meet and you know, I'm sure
I could get some goodmerchandise, maybe get another
cool shirt or something whileI'm up there.
Doug (20:59):
Yep, yep.
And they also have certain dayswhere it's only certain types
of cars or making models right,like they might have a Ford
specific show or they might havea 50s specific show where they
have those vendors.
Brian (21:14):
Yeah, I think that's right Okay gotcha.
Doug (21:17):
Okay, I guess I knew more than I thought about it, but
Carlisle, pennsylvania, sothat's a big end of summer event
, if I remember correctly.
But yeah, so you had someinteresting cars, but you're
also a motorcycle guy, right?
Brian (21:34):
Yep, yep, I have a 95 Harley Electric Glide with the
Evolution motor.
We wanted something.
You know we were looking.
I wanted a bike, I wanted areal bike.
As a younger man I had a HondaEnduro and I had tags on it for
a while.
But I wanted a real bike.
So found one for I think it waslike $4,000 or something, and
my dad's hey, it's carburetedstuff we can work on without
(21:57):
needing a 5,000, $10,000computer.
That can, you know, doeverything.
So, um, you know, went aheadand bought it.
Um, a few years back, aboutthree years back, I went and got
it it needed.
I got basically what I call thesuper tune up, took it
somewhere it was a little bitoutside of my area.
Um, when it safe mainly.
(22:20):
I have two, two younger kids,so I wanted it safe.
So I um, basically bought itback again.
It was almost four grand foreverything I got done new tires,
this and that.
Christian (22:27):
And was it?
Yeah, it was well, yeah, nottoo bad.
Brian (22:30):
It was a local guy um down in Calvert County, so um
yeah, and it was a local guy umdown in calvert county, so um
yeah, and it was.
The main thing was is that was,and it rode so much better I
said wow.
I said when you, you kind of get, but kind of like, when you're,
you're, you're nose blind tocertain smells that you're used
to and stuff, you're like man, Ididn't realize everything was
tight again, everything was niceand uh.
So, yes, I enjoy, and it's thewind therapy, like there's
(22:51):
nothing like getting out thereand you can't tell people if
you're upset or having a badweek.
You can't stay mad on a bike,not for long.
Doug (22:59):
Yeah, that's interesting.
I never had a bike.
I did have a friend who had oneprobably shouldn't have had one
that I rode around the backwith him without helmets and all
that dumb stuff.
But I mean it could be 100degrees out and you would go out
and you would go out and youwould cool off so quickly.
(23:21):
Uh, I was a convertible guyback in the day.
I'm still hoping to get backinto a convertible again, but
yeah, the the bike was prettycool.
Christian (23:25):
Yeah, one of my favorite saw this.
Oh, this was on a Harley and Idid a double take and the timing
wasn't right.
I think I had no money.
Three kids probably hadsomething to do with that.
But right on the bottom of thewindscreen it said have you ever
seen a motorcycle parked infront of a psychologist's office
(23:48):
?
Brian (23:49):
or a therapist's office.
Christian (23:50):
It was something like that and I just thought it was
brilliant.
Again, that was kind of abeautiful green color to that
one.
I think I went back the nextday and it was gone.
But such is life you snooze,you lose, and I like to take
naps.
It is what it is.
What can you do?
What was that?
Now, I was was gonna ask you,boy, we got so much to get to.
(24:15):
We're gonna have to have youback in the future, brian, but I
had to.
I know doug's got a few otherthings here, but I'm curious
about the, uh, the 96 grandmarquee.
What was?
What was that car like?
Because one popped up.
You know what I do sometimeswhen I, you know, after work, uh
, and I like to ramp down.
I just go to craigslist and Igo to cars for sale and I sort
from lowest price just to seewhat's out there.
Um, and a grand marquee poppedup and, I think, a town car of
(24:39):
the same vintage, not not toolong ago.
So so that's a big v8, that'san enormous american car.
Of course they don't makemercurys anymore.
What was that car like?
What do you remember from thatcar?
Brian (24:51):
it was nice, it was funny because I mean I was 19, 20
years old, so I mean my, my dadgot one for mom, so it's
basically the hand me down.
When my mom was done with it orstarted having some issues, uh,
then you know I, I would get it, it would become mine, and it
was just so smooth.
People teased around said, oh,you're like that's an old person
(25:11):
car, that's an old.
But it was nice, it was verysmooth.
Uh, it was safe.
Like I said, I got in anaccident, was already thinking
about the weekend, it was fridayand uh, and it's safe.
I mean it was like a littletank.
You know, I got t-boned.
The guy that had theright-of-way hit me, uh, airbags
deployed and that was the worstinjury was my cousin got a
little bit of airbag burn, uh,but everybody walked away.
(25:33):
Everybody walked away um it wasa great car.
It was, um, you know, like yousaid, it was the v8, but you
still, if you, if you babied itand didn't get too crazy with
the gas, you could get close to20 miles a gallon yeah 20 with
highway because I don't think itwas a big eight I want to say
it was like maybe a 4.6 literrear wheel drive.
Christian (25:53):
So those cars, they just drive, man steer, no torque
steer, just as smooth as butter.
Brian (25:58):
It's basically the crown vic platform absolutely the
local officer for the longesttime police officer.
We had the crown vics I lovethem and then we switched over
to a couple other things.
Now we all have the fordexplorers, um, and you know,
it's good, it's a lot of room,it's nice to not have to crawl
out of a vehicle.
You hop out, it's good on yourknees, um and uh, yeah, I always
(26:20):
like the crown vics, uh, or, inthis case, you know, the
marquee is basically just thehigher model, um, a couple extra
bells and whistles.
Doug (26:28):
It's funny.
That brings me back when I was,uh, post high school.
I was doing some work with someuh who's actually repairing atm
machines or refilling them, um,and it's near uh, near um
anterondo county policeheadquarters.
So it was a lot of uh, uhcounty police officers when they
were not working.
(26:48):
That was their side job, if youwill.
And I remember talking to oneof them and I said hey, why do
you?
You know that's when thetoruses started coming out, or?
tori and I and he had a crownvic and uh, it's had to be
probably 1992, ish 91, uh, yeah,92.
(27:10):
And he said, sit inside, sitinside the crown Vic.
And he's like the Taurus is notthis comfortable, not even
close, and so that was his thing.
Brian (27:21):
We also went with the Chevy Caprice a little bit.
And for a few years there wehad some of them had the uh, the
Ford Taurus.
I mean the crown, also thetrunk.
I like the layout of the CrownVic's trunk.
The Taurus was deep but thenyou can't get to some of your
equipment back there.
It was just, you know, it waswide, big, a nice trunk.
(27:41):
Like I said, the steering, thehandling, it was luxury.
Christian (27:49):
Oh, yeah, yeah, good point American luxury, I like
that, I like that.
So I tell you what is we?
Oh, go ahead.
Doug wants to hop in here, butall I wanted to say, doug, is I
know we got to wrap up here inthe next few minutes.
Doug will talk to you aboutcars all night, brian, so I'm
trying to get you out of here ontime, but I would like to chat
a little bit about the 2020Hyundai Venue.
(28:11):
But, doug, let me toss it overto Doug.
There's something elseinteresting in the passion we've
got to get to.
Doug (28:19):
Well, we were talking about these, you know, the Grand
Marquis, the Crown Vic, right,these big vehicles, right.
And I just think about a busand Brian, you told us, you
started telling us a great story.
We had to save it because wewant all our listeners to hear
it.
But tell us about the 1954Chevy school bus that your
(28:43):
family has owned for I don'tknow how long, and it was in a
famous movie yes, so it actuallyties into the shirt.
Brian (28:51):
I'm wearing an old Cumberland shirt.
Out in western Maryland theyhave the Labor Day weekend, the
street rod roundup, and that wasmy introduction to old cars.
Ever since, well, my dad hadbeen going since the late 70s.
So as a baby I think I wasalmost one.
One was the first year that Iwent and it would have been 84,
(29:12):
um, but yeah, so my dad went outthere with some friends.
They slept in a tent that firstyear.
Um, actually they were close tothe railroad track.
They said the train came bylike the midnight or 2 am train
I guess it was the 2 am becausethey were still, you know,
partying at midnight.
But um, it came by and theythought they were on the tracks
and they said they made surethey weren't on the tracks.
(29:33):
And after that weekend theysaid man, sleeping on the ground
is no fun, we need a camper orsomething.
And somebody I think it was mydad's buddy Mike somebody said,
hey, this bus is for sale andit's already.
It was converted as like acamper anyway.
So they all three of them wentin six hundred dollars for this
(29:57):
bus.
They all went to two hundreddollars and bought this bus and
it was the perfect camper.
Um now, and I want to say 90 orsay somewhere around 1990, and I
forget the producer, but theywanted to do this movie cry baby
johnny depp was in it.
And they came, somebody, how?
They found my dad and they saidlook, this is the the only
running full-length bus that'sstill running on the east coast
(30:18):
that we can find.
Can we, you know, use it inthis movie now?
At the time the bus wasbeautiful, paint job, flames, it
was black, with flames and, andmy dad said, well, I don't know
this and that, and they finallycame worked out a deal monetary
value.
And my dad said, well, I don'tknow this and that, and they
finally came worked out a dealmonetary value.
And my dad had them, in short,for I think it was 10 grand.
And he and he said, well, if werun a truck into it, you're
(30:39):
filming and something happens.
And you already said it's rare,you know, yeah, he said he was
so, so, so, uh, concerned,tempted, no, he's so tempted to
go up there and set it on fireone night and get 10 grand.
But uh, but no, so, uh, he gotit back and then it was yellow,
obviously for the movie.
And you can tell in the movie.
It's only the first fiveminutes of that film, but you
(31:01):
can tell because if you look onthe passenger side as it pulls
up there's a vent in there, theside, I think, for the stove
that they had had in there atone time, and so you can tell
that that was an aftermarket,that square vent for the stove.
Um, but yeah, and then, andthen my dad got some more money
out of them because when it cametime to paint it back that was
in the contract tell you, youpaint it back in flames.
(31:21):
He goes smart, for five hundreddollars I'll paint it back.
And at that point that I thinkit was the enron paint.
It was cheap, it was, you couldget a gallon for you know
whatever.
It was the Enron paint.
It was cheap, it was, you couldget a gallon for you know
whatever it was.
And then environmental concernsin the 90s started going up to
hundreds of dollars a gallon forthis paint, because you know
whatever was special about theoil.
It's kind of like the old fuelwhen it was leaded and it
smelled different than thegasoline in the 80s and the
gasoline now.
(31:41):
But but yeah, so he got it backand it was yellow for years.
Actually it was.
Uh.
It was so much fun every yearwashing the bus, getting it
ready, do a little work, get it,getting it ready to make it up
to the mountains again for the,the show and um.
Christian (32:04):
Yeah, so the producers?
Yeah, I thought this predated,I thought your ownership,
father's ownership, kind ofpredated the move.
But no, the producers came toyour father that's yeah.
Brian (32:13):
Well, the movie was just set in the 50s.
The movie was set in the 50sbut I believe it was 1991,
somewhere around.
Christian (32:18):
There is where when it came out yeah I remember I
saw that in the theater.
I saw that in the theater metoo.
Doug (32:25):
So I I was just looking up there's something called the
internet movie car database.
Now I'm going to spend all mytime on this now that I've found
it.
Oh boy, it is a 1954 Chevrolet.
Advanced Design is what it'scalled In the movie Crybaby from
1990.
Brian (32:43):
All right, well, memory's pretty good then, and it looks
like it's painted bus number 37for the movie.
Part of history, part rememberhistory, buddy, they had to put
seats in there.
The first half of the bus, toyou know, they put these bench
seats in there and I rememberhelping my dad yank them out and
when it was time to convert itback, and then at that point he
put in a bed and he kind of we,we set it up how we wanted it
(33:07):
for a camper and we put a tablethat would collapse to another
bed and everything.
And now sadly we just use it asstorage.
Okay, I drove it, I think, in2007.
I took it to AACC.
I had some finals coming up andI actually gave the physics
professor a ride back to his carand some of my other classmates
(33:29):
ride back to their car.
But it means a whole overhaul.
So I was hoping one day I gotto find somewhere, I got to find
somebody with some money and wecould maybe partner up and get
it restored and back on the road.
We could do something with it.
But we'll bring the bike backto it Part of Hollywood history.
Christian (33:47):
That's fantastic.
And now that Doug has theinternet movie car database
Internet movie car database.
We got to get you out of here,Brian.
He will keep you here all night, but you got to go feed your
family.
But real quick, let's talkabout the venue, the Hyundai
venue Where'd you get it?
(34:07):
Why'd you get it?
Hyundai Venue Where'd you getit?
Why'd you get it?
And I was looking at those.
Brian (34:15):
They're nice and small and seem like they'd be great on
gasoline.
Oh, that's a fun game I play.
I try to keep it over 40 milesto the gallon.
It usually ends up around 35because obviously, as you drive
it and if you're local it'slower, but if you baby, baby it,
you can keep it at 40 miles tothe gallon.
Um, so my, my wife, had alittle kia rio that she loved.
It was the first car she bought.
(34:36):
I drove it.
I ended up killing it ininclement weather.
I got in an accident I I'veroughed them up sometimes, you
know and uh, it was such a shortwheelbase I wasn't able I'm
real proficient with driving inrain and snow and sleet and
stuff, but there's nothing youcould do to counter steer with
that short wheelbase.
So I ended up that car was,sadly was, totaled.
(34:57):
So we ended up getting the Venueas the replacement to the Kia
Rio.
It's a good car.
Like I said, I use it as mylittle hopper.
I'll run up to see dad inPasadena and I'll take take, you
know one of the kids in theback because it's a little small
.
Both kids are in the back andwith the white it's a little
tight and I put the seat all theway back anyway, so then
they'll be kicking, you know,their feet will be right there.
(35:18):
So, um, but yeah, it's a goodlittle car, good gas mileage and
, um, you know, now, like oneday though, I have, I, I will
and I'm getting to that midlifecrisis point when I find a good
two-door muscle car late 60s or1970s somewhere around there.
Now it doesn't have to be aCamaro, it doesn't have to be
this or that, an old Roadrunneror something.
(35:38):
Anything will be good.
That's something cool.
One day maybe I can have that.
It'll be mine, and then she canhave the venue and then I can
have a muscle car.
Christian (35:46):
Well, that car is going to last forever.
Oh yeah, my son my 16-year-old,I think is going to drive it.
Absolutely, you keep thetransmission.
You change the transmissionfluid.
Keep that oil change.
That's your child's first careasily.
Yeah, fantastic.
Well, we have had so much fungetting to know you.
Brian, thank you for taking thetime.
This was a blast.
(36:06):
Appreciate time.
This was a blast.
Appreciate the stories.
A little bit of Hollywood, alittle bit of this, a little bit
of that.
Brian (36:16):
So it was a pleasure.
It was great meeting you andthank you for taking the time
yeah.
Thank you so much and I'd loveto come back in another season
sometime, absolutely.
Christian (36:22):
You got it.
You have just heard to all thecars I've loved before the high
revving, low mileage, late model.
Heard around the world.
Authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia yes, heard
around the world Nigeria andPakistan.
Again, welcome friends, reachout, let us know.
My co-host is Doug.
Reach him at Doug atCarsLovecom.
I'm Christian.
(36:42):
Reach me at Christian atCarsLovecom and he was Brian.
Again, it was great.
Thank you for being here.
Please follow, tell a friend,check out our link, tree,
linktree, slash carslove.
Check out all the onlinepresences and just an easy way
to hit us up, get to know us andbe on the show.
Just like Brian, I'm sure we'llsee you at the next local car
(37:06):
show, showroom, race trip orconcourse.
Thank you for listening.
Keep the rubber side down andwe'll see you next week.
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