July 1, 2025 • 44 mins
Click here to share your favorite car, car story or any automotive trivia!
Join To All the Cars I’ve Loved Before for a deep dive into automotive restoration as Mason—a McPherson College graduate—traces the journey that started in high school and took him from a record-speed Model T build on campus to working alongside Wayne Carini at F40 Motorsports. Sparked by an episode of Chasing Classic Cars, Mason explains how hands-on training, peer wrenching, and judging at the Audrain Concours shaped his career, then walks us through the resurrection of his 1965 Ford F-100 pickup and daily-driven Mustang GT. Along the way he shares smart upgrades that make classic car preservation practical—think LEDs, electric fuel pumps, and power brakes—while preaching his core belief that every vintage machine deserves regular miles, not museum dust. Whether you dream of restoring your own project or just crave insider stories from one of the world’s top shops, this episode delivers high-octane nostalgia and actionable insight.
Mason's favorite episode is with Andrew who shares details of what it is like to own and drive a Trabant and his dreams of a Tucker - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/17009738-classic-cars-automotive-adventures-from-trabant-to-tucker
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christian (00:06):
Welcome back to All the Cars I've Loved Before, your
authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia, where our
guests are unique, each auto hasan era and every car tells a
story.
So you know it's time to plugin, get a little grease under
the nails and slip on thatfavorite car theme t-shirt, hat
(00:29):
or jacket.
But before we do that, as oftenas my want, let's welcome back
our listeners from all over theglobe Ireland, kazakhstan,
germany, welcome back, welcomeback.
So when we say that this is aninternational program, we mean
it.
So welcome back to ourinternational listeners as well.
As stateside Ashburn, virginia,not far from Doug, san Antonio,
(00:52):
texas, portland, oregon, stPaul, minnesota and Winchester,
illinois, welcome back.
Glad to have you all aboard.
And how you doing?
You doing partner?
What's going on over?
Doug (01:04):
there, got the delorean back from the shop.
What does a car guy do afterhaving his car gone for a couple
months?
He immediately starts rippingit apart to do other things
lovely.
So it becomes inoperable.
So I remove the dashboard, uminstrument cluster binnacle.
I had a um, another onerecovered by a friend in the
(01:28):
delorean club for a modest fee,and so now I have a beautiful,
brand new looking dashboard thatI need to install.
So I have to rip out the oldone, which has a big crack in it
and it's faded, and oh, so, sohow hard was it to get the new
one or the refurbished, whateveryou're replacing?
It was difficult to say theleast I think there were about
(01:50):
18 screws bolts that I had toget at.
Actually probably closer to 20.
And it's just some prying andgently and lots of things to
take out, including theinstrument cluster.
While I had it out, I put allleds in the instrument cluster
(02:12):
is that it easy done?
I had already bought them inadvance.
It's pretty, pretty common umupgrade in.
It reduces the electric Anytimeyou put a.
LED it reduces the electricaldraw on all the old wiring, and
so you're making the car betteralong the way.
(02:33):
So now every light in my carinside, outside are now all LEDs
.
Christian (02:40):
Yeah, and also the LEDs should last way longer, of
course.
Yeah, and also the LEDs shouldlast way longer, of course.
And there's a lesson in therefor sourcing as much as you can
the small stuff, work ahead,work ahead, work ahead.
Don't pinch yourself for time.
Make sure it's all under theroof, and then we've got this
big project.
You can kind of get it all doneat the same time.
Well done, man.
Doug (03:01):
Yeah, and I had my 13-year-old Good stuff.
Christian (03:04):
So without any further ado.
It's not about us, it is aboutthe guest in this program.
So thrilled to have today'sguests on.
Tell us a little bit abouttoday's guests, how they entered
your virtual garage and let'sget a name to go with that face.
Doug (03:21):
Yeah Well, let's see, a month or two ago we had
interviews with a studentinstructor duo from McPherson
College in Kansas.
And, with the magic of theinternet, if you connect with
certain people on Facebook,let's say then you start seeing
all their friends pop up.
(03:42):
And I saw Mason pop up and so Iclicked add friend, I sent him
a message and, you know, fastforward a month or so.
Here here we have them, andMason being a graduate of
McPherson, uh, McPherson collegethere, um, uh, in majoring in
our restoration management, andI think he graduated about two
(04:03):
years ago.
We're super lucky to have him.
Christian (04:07):
Mason, welcome to the show.
How are you this afternoon?
Mason (04:11):
I'm good.
It's good to be here.
Christian (04:12):
Fantastic.
Well, first off, is everythinghe said accurate and correct?
Now that we have you to factcheck Because I don't believe it
just if I see it on theinternet, if he's click an ad,
friend and this and that can weget a fact check from you Is
everything there correct?
That is exactly how it happened.
I love it.
You told me that.
(04:40):
So how did McPherson end up onyour radar?
Tell us a little bit about theprogram.
Mason (04:42):
For those who may have not heard the prior episode or
forgot, tell us a little bitabout the program and then how
you find out about it and whatattracted you to it well, uh, my
dad and I were always fans ofwayne carini's chasing classic
cars and one saturday, while Iwas, of course, sleeping in as a
teenager, my dad was watchingthe show and he did.
(05:04):
Wayne did an episode visitingmcpherson college, talking about
it being a four-year degree andeverything, and this was about
the time I was nearing the endof my high school career, so I
he didn't know what I was goingto do after school and I knew I
needed to go to college, butwhat for?
I wasn't really interested inmuch.
And um, my dad sees thisepisode, he comes and wakes me
(05:25):
up and he says you gotta, yougotta look up this.
This school they have afour-year degree, it's working
on the classic cars and like itcan't get any better.
So I I did my research, Ilooked, looked around and
discovered they have a, a bigcar show every year in may it's
always the first Saturday in Mayand so we, I told him about it
(05:47):
and I said you know, we could govisit, go see the car show and
see the school and everything.
So that was my junior year ofhigh school.
So then that would have been wewould have gone in May and I
loved it, we we got a tour fromone of the students at the time
and just seeing the shop and thefacilities One Kansas is
(06:10):
gorgeous in the summer andspring oh wow, and so that was
just great.
And then everyone there wasjust so nice and everyone takes
the time to get to know you andremember your name.
So even by the end of theweekend people were calling me
name that I I couldn't rememberall these people's names.
So it was very special and Ijust knew I had to go there and
(06:33):
I applied and the applicationprocess is pretty uh pretty.
Christian (06:39):
It was pretty rough, or not not rough competitive,
competitive, competitive At thevery least, competitive right
yes.
Mason (06:45):
Yes, we had to.
At the time they were onlytaking 30 new restoration
students per semester, oh wow.
And I had to submit a portfolioof I think it was 25 photos and
I had to have a comment foreach one explaining what I was
doing in the photo things I'veworked on, the things I was
(07:06):
doing.
And I also had to write alittle paper about myself, why I
want to go there, why thisinterests me, where I come from,
kind of thing.
And then I also, I think I gotmy high school auto shop teacher
to write me a letter ofrecommendation as well, and so
(07:28):
you have to get accepted intothe school first and then into
the program, right?
So I got accepted into theschool and it was exciting.
And then eventually I got myacceptance letter from the
school saying I was in theprogram, and it was a big deal,
it was a lot of excitement.
Christian (07:46):
That is so what an origin story, you know that's.
That's better than any Marvelsuperhero origin story I've ever
heard and that is impressive.
Now, you didn't.
You didn't grow up anywherenear McPherson, kansas, so you
were a ways away.
It's not like you were nextdoor.
I mean, there was.
There was a lot, there was alot to go through here to make
(08:06):
this happen, to even visit.
So, um, wow, the, the, the, themagic of the referral and your
dad waking you up and you takingthe, uh, taking the challenge
and the initiative Yep.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
A hundred percent, yeah, veryinteresting.
So in interesting.
So another great thing aboutMcPherson is that you can study
(08:29):
different things and I thoughtthat was so interesting and I
guess that the restoration well,the car program is the major
and there are different emphaseswithin it right, history, I
guess yours was restoration,there's technology.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthe different areas of study
and if you considered others oryou knew exactly your path?
Mason (08:54):
And then you have the management and the history, and
I always forget all five, but Ihad at least one friend in each
one, so I know about all five ofthem.
But actually after I had beenaccepted, the summer before I
(09:17):
started there, I got a call fromone of the employees, just kind
of get some information beforeI started and what I wanted my
major to be.
And he asked me and it was oneof those things I was not ready
to commit to this for four years.
I have to make this decision.
And he said he assured me Icould change it anytime I needed
(09:38):
and whatnot, but just to get mestarted, and he explained all
five of them and I um, at thetime, my, my all time dream was
to eventually own my own shopone day, and I wanted to know
what was going to go on behindthe scenes too.
I wanted to know if I wasrunning out of money or not.
(09:59):
So that's why I basically endedup choosing the management
emphasis.
Christian (10:04):
That way.
Mason (10:05):
I could take the short classes, know how to work on
them and whatnot.
But then also, when I'm lookingat the books, I understand
what's going on and I can domath and stuff.
Sure.
Christian (10:18):
Yeah, that makes sense to be able to kind of
extrapolate and know where youwant to go.
Impressive, doug.
What do you think?
Doug (10:24):
Very very impressive.
Yeah, my daughter just got intoa college and different program
, but she is for musical theaterand she had to do the exact
same thing.
She had to apply, get into thecollege.
Then she had to go for manycolleges.
She had to go do auditions.
Some auditions were remote,most were in person.
And then you get into theprogram and so you know it's,
(10:50):
it's an, it's a lot of work,right, it's not just hey, I got
in, it's, you got in, but youdidn't.
You got into the program, andthat's another thing.
Do they?
Um, mason, I'm curious if youget into the college, do you
have, can you and let's say youdidn't get into the auto
restoration program?
Would they allow you to attendand then could you more easily
(11:12):
get into it the following year,the auto restoration program?
Mason (11:15):
great question they do have the option where you can uh
be what they call a transfer,and so you can transfer into the
program okay okay, I've had acouple friends do that.
Um, there was I've even hadfriends who they.
They came to the school forsports.
They were in baseball orfootball and they were recruited
(11:35):
by the team and they get thereand they end up making all the
friends with all of therestoration guys and they
realize they they like cars justas much as we do and they
either get in and do football atthe same time or they transfer
over and stop doing the sportsand move to the restoration.
So there's they do.
(11:57):
It's it's hard to get into, butfor a good reason.
But they do give you plenty ofoptions to try and get in
because it's there's plenty ofus with the passions they want
us to be able to.
Christian (12:08):
Yeah, yeah, and and it is the most fun you'll ever
have, reading a course catalogwhere they have the course
descriptions of the classes.
I just what I found.
I just poured over all of themand so interesting, like
anything else, hey, these areyour core classes, you got to
take these.
And then here's the elect, here, your electives All right,
(12:28):
possible elected and then,depending upon your emphasis,
these are going to be your, yourcourses that you study to
ensure that you have that coreknowledge for them.
And the wonderful thing aboutthis program is you're so
focused on what you want to do.
It's obvious you have thepassion and very often they have
(12:51):
or there's either a job waitingfor you, some sort sort of
internship.
The whole thing is built to getyou to the next specific step,
and that's wonderful, becauseyou really don't want to waste
any time as a young person.
So how did it help you set upfor your next step of your
career?
And and where are you now?
If you can share?
Mason (13:11):
so I'm currently at f40 motorsports with Wayne Carini.
That is the fun part of thestory that I like to share about
myself.
It was the episode of his showthat I saw in high school and
found out about the school andwent to the school and then with
the school, I was on the ModelT building team and there was a
(13:33):
group of five of us.
We would take a 1926 or seven Ican't remember the year now and
uh, 1926 or seven model t andwe it was a running and driving
we'd drive it up and then we'dtake it all apart all the way
down to the pieces and then we'dbasically perform in front of
an audience.
We'd put it back together asfast as we could and drive it
(13:54):
away and our best time that Iever did with the group that I
waswith was, uh, five minutes and
14 seconds from uh pieces of acar to a running and driving car
.
Wow, and so doing that, we, thegroup of us, we got invited to
the odd drain concourse in inNewport, rhode Island, and we
(14:16):
were up there doing ourperforming.
And then we also, each of us,got to be apprentice judges for
the actual Concours Day onSunday and I got put in.
We each got put in separategroups and I got put in a group
with Wayne Carini and at thetime he was basically my hero
(14:37):
well, he still is.
I mean, I have this awesome job,but at the time he was a hero
that I was wanting to meet andso I got to spend the whole day
with him, spending time judgingand stuff, and I, before we had
got to judging, I had got totalk to him and tell him about
it.
Was his episode that got me tothe school and now I'm on a
(14:58):
school trip meeting him and hereally enjoyed it and he kind of
put me to the test and, uh,while we were judging, he would
give me things to look out forand there was one.
Uh, the two cars in the classwe were judging they were really
neck and neck and so we werelooking for something to
separate the two give one firstin class and he had me looking
(15:21):
at the date codes on each of thewheels of the cars and one car
had all the date codes matchingand the other car they were all
different dates, did not allmatch and so that was what
determined the first in class.
And so from then on he, he,really we really got along and
he actually exchanged contactinformation with me that that
(15:43):
trip and invited me to come outand visit.
So I came out.
That was in, uh, october of myI don't remember, I think it was
my junior year or sophomoreyear of college.
Christian (15:54):
Wow.
Mason (15:56):
And I think it was my junior year, and then he invited
me to come visit so thatfollowing March and spring break
I spent everybody goes to thebeach or something.
For spring break I went toConnecticut to visit Wayne
Carini and see his shop andeverything and he showed me
around and I I basically got tospend the week working there and
I learned so much in that weekit was amazing.
(16:16):
And halfway through the week orso he was introducing me to
some other people and he said,yeah, mason's going to decide if
he wants to intern here or not.
And this whole time I thoughthe was deciding if I was going
to intern there or not and so Isaid, well, if it's up to me,
then, yeah, I would love to dothis.
No choice to be made, yeah.
(16:40):
And so then it was decided thatI would come that following
summer and, uh, do an internship.
And so I did my.
My dad and I drove up fromHouston all the way to
Connecticut in June.
So just a few months later and,um, so just a few months later,
we drove up with our family'scar and I got to have that for
(17:02):
the summer and my dad flew home.
So I spent the summer.
Wayne has an apartment in hisbarn for the upholstery guy and
stuff Whenever people come fromout of town and need a place to
stay to do things with Wayne.
And so I got to stay in thatapartment for the summer and I
got to work and just do some ofthe coolest things with him Go
(17:24):
to the concourse and stuff andby the end of the summer I just
loved it there so much and Iloved working at the shop.
I loved all the guys at theshop and just the experiences.
And so I pulled Wayne insideone day and it was I think it
was on the weekend or whatever.
I mean I was basically at hishouse.
So I saw him a lot and I askedhim.
(17:45):
I said, if it's possible, Ireally love working here.
Once I have this one schoolyear left, if I could come back
after I graduate, I would loveto come back and work.
And he said it took him abouttwo seconds to decide and he
said, yep, you can come back,we'd love to have you so awesome
(18:05):
man.
Well, my, what my uh fullcircle story that I really love.
Christian (18:08):
Well, I I want to say two things.
I guess three.
I want to tell youcongratulations about 10 times.
Congrats to the 10th power.
The first thing.
Second thing is that is soimpressive the way you just
willed all of this to happen.
The third thing I want to sayis what a wonderful detail about
the tires where you werelooking for delineation.
(18:30):
How do you separate one and two?
And Doug, that's's gotta go upon YouTube if it's okay with
Mason, that's just a wonderfulstory, Fantastic.
So what do you think, Doug?
Is it about time to to take himin the way back machine and to
the phone booth that teleportsor whatever?
And let's, let's go back to thefirst part, and I think it may
(18:52):
have something to do with hisbackground.
Might be the best backgroundwe've had on the show, but I'll
let you take it from here Sure,sure.
Doug (18:59):
You bet.
But before we do that,Christian, I just I do want to
put Mason on the spot.
He answered in our intake formthat his favorite episode that
he listened to was the Trebonepisode.
And, Mason, if I can put you onthe spot, why did you enjoy
that episode so much?
And I'm friends with that guy.
He actually lives pretty closeto me.
(19:19):
That's how I met him.
Mason (19:21):
Okay, I'll keep it nice then.
Yeah, no, no, if you want tocome down to Maryland, great
answer, come on down.
Christian (19:26):
You can have a ride in a Trebon and a.
Doug (19:28):
DeLorean and a bunch of other cars.
Mason (19:30):
Hey, there we go.
I have to be honest, I haven'tlistened to very many.
Doug (19:34):
I don't listen to a whole lot of podcasts, so that was.
Mason (19:37):
It was one of the few that I have listened to and I
enjoyed it because I lovelearning about cars I've never
heard about before and thoseusually I guess they would fly
below my radar, I guess never,never been something that's
really caught my eye.
And so hearing so much aboutthem and the cool stories that
they had to share and stuff andI had to look up those cars
after listening it was funstories to hear, Such a good
(20:03):
point and it's internationalhistory too those cars.
Doug (20:07):
Yeah, yep, and Christian and I grew up towards the end of
the Cold War, right, and sothose were cars we might have
heard about but we had neverseen and we never would have
seen unless we were overseas.
Until you know, fast forwardwhat 35 years later, they're all
over the place now and peoplewho grew up with them maybe
(20:29):
because they were living in EastGermany can now have those cars
in the U?
S or whatever country they'rein now, and they're actually
maintained.
It's, it's such a cool.
It's such a cool story.
We had somebody on who had aSkoda I think it's actually
pronounced Skoda which was wasthat from the Czech Republic?
(20:49):
Yeah, yeah, yep, yep.
So that was another car.
We had never heard of another.
Christian (20:55):
Oh, funny that you mentioned that Some Czech
listeners tuned in for the firsttime and I didn't mention that
in our geographic where peopleare listening from.
But I'd totally forgotten aboutSkoda and I bet that's what
(21:15):
prompted it.
It's the first time we'd everhad anybody from there.
Doug (21:18):
Listen, but it could have been one of my, absolutely from
Belarus and he he knew of Skoda,but he called it Skoda, oh,
okay.
Well, we don't have thefantastic accent like he has,
but we can say it that way, Noteven near so.
So no, thank you.
Thank you for that, Mason.
Sorry for the sidetrack, butChristian wanted me to pop you
(21:40):
in my time machine.
Try and get it up to 88, whichI think it'll actually do, even
though the speedo only goes to85.
Christian (21:46):
You'll need a dashboard to tell if you're
actually going that fast.
Doug (21:50):
But maybe We'll see well the key is to test the dashboard
before you put it, before youput it back in, because the
point because of the way ledswork.
So anyway, that's on the list,but hop in the time machine and
tell us about your first car,and I love this story.
I don't want to take too muchfrom it, but you've got several
(22:11):
generations your dad and yourgrandfather involved in it yeah,
so it was, um, I always like tosay it was a hobby of my dad's.
Mason (22:20):
It turned into my passion , um, so he was the one who got
me into cars growing up.
He had a 1998 mustang that Ijust adored.
Um, I've always been a mustangguy, but that was my dad's car
and it was a Mustang.
It was just so cool, um, and sothat's what we would work on
together and eventually my dadgot a 1978 F-150 that we would
(22:43):
work on together and stuff.
So we're clearly a Ford familyand I'm a Ford guy, and so I had
, um been saving up my money, um, when I was so, when I was 16
16, I'd saved up enough moneythat I was looking for my first
car so I could get back andforth to school.
And my dad, he, was morefamiliar with Craigslist and
(23:05):
just looking online for vehiclesfor sale and we knew I wanted
to have something, a classic,because I'm a car guy, I can't
drive a normal car to school.
I think it's got to besomething interesting.
So I um, we looked around and II really decided I wanted a
truck.
I wanted a Ford pickup truck,and there's just so many fun
(23:26):
things about pickup trucks andso I'd saved up my money and my
dad had found the ad onCraigslist and we had gone
through a few either people whodidn't get back with us or they
didn't.
We couldn't agree on a price orwhatever.
But we came across this one.
I was a huge fan of it.
It was a 1965 Ford F100, singlecab, long bed.
(23:47):
It was a V8 automatictransmission.
At the time I didn't know howto drive a stick shift, so
that's really what I was lookingfor was automatic, and it
pretty much checked all theboxes.
And it was not too far from usin Texas.
We were in Northwest Houston inspring is our town and it was
in Lufkin, texas, which is EastTexas.
(24:09):
So we and it's it's interestingit's actually my mother's
father that went with us.
He has been kind of themechanical one.
He's really handy.
Both my grandfathers are veryhandy, but my mother's father,
he's the automotive handy guy,and so my dad wanted us to have
(24:32):
as much help as we could goingto look at this, because I
didn't know that much.
My dad knew more than I did,but he didn't feel like he knew
that much and so as much help aswe could get and he had his
trailer.
So that was a really bighelpful part.
So we we made the trip all theway out there.
Um, we had to get up prettyearly.
I do remember, um, it was justfar enough away that go there
(24:55):
and come back for the days.
It was a good bit.
So we went out there and welooked at the truck and we got
to drive it.
Um, I didn't have my license atthe time, I was a little bit
slow on my driver's ed, so my,my dad drove it around and he
liked it.
And then we go to put it on thetrailer and it wouldn't start,
it wouldn't run and we couldn'tget it on the trailer.
(25:16):
And the guy that start itwouldn't run and we couldn't get
it on the trailer.
And the guy that we bought thetruck from, he was the nicest
guy.
I think he was really nice alsobecause he knew why we were
there.
It was for me, it was for myfirst car, and so he ended up
going to the auto parts store.
He probably bought like ahundred dollars worth of parts
trying to fix it so that wecould get it on the trailer.
And we eventually got it.
(25:37):
Um, it was mostly a lot of mewatching all the all the men
really go at it and worktogether and problem solve it
was.
It was really cool to watch atthe time and so, um, we got it,
got it up on and then, uh, my,we had brought the money, we had
brought the money that weagreed on and, um, it was
supposed to be mine.
(25:57):
So my dad hands me the checkand says all right, go give it
to him.
And me, being a shy, barely16-year-old, I had to just walk
up and hand it to him and thenso they give me the.
No, you have to give it to himand shake hands Thank you, sam
Pleasure, doing business withyou.
Christian (26:11):
Negative official.
Doug (26:12):
Yeah.
Mason (26:18):
So I did that and we, we brought it home and put it in
the driveway and my dad and Iworked on it all all through
high school.
I never actually got to driveit to and from school, um, but
we, we did work on it on theweekends and the evenings and
stuff and we would get itrunning.
And then we'd end up havinganother problem and it wasn't
running so, but it was runningand driving, uh by the time I
was ready to take it up tocanvas with me for, uh, my four
(26:39):
years.
Doug (26:39):
So that's kind of where that started for my, uh, my
first car awesome and and uh, wealways ask people what happened
to the car, but truck in thiscase, but you still own it,
correct?
Mason (26:54):
I do, and I have heard way too many stories of people
selling their first cars andevery single one of them has a
just always regretted it.
Yeah, and so I've made it mymission to never have to sell it
.
I never want to sell it and, um, if the time comes that I have
to to make ends meet or whatever, then I'll do what I have to do
.
But for now.
(27:15):
I don't plan on ever selling it.
I'll continue working on it,continue making it mine.
Christian (27:20):
Oh, that truck will last forever.
I mean, that truck mightoutlast you, but it's
interesting how it was adeliberate choice to keep it a
deliberate choice.
A lot of people may not bondwith their first car, and we
have a lot of people on the showthat either wrecked theirs or
some untimely demise Seems to beyeah, exactly.
Doug (27:44):
Or it was a hand-me-down.
Yeah, why should I put oil in?
Mason (27:46):
it.
What's the point?
Christian (27:47):
Yeah, but you kept yours.
You kept yours Very, veryprecocious move.
Doug (27:53):
Very nice.
And I did want to ask, sinceyou kept it um, so obviously you
needed some work.
Was it mechanical?
Was it body work?
Um and uh, how did having the,the truck with you at mcpherson
I hear they have um, do theycall it the barn?
Mason (28:14):
they call it the sheds, the sh?
Sheds.
I knew I was close.
Doug (28:17):
Did you do work on it there and how did the things you
learned at McPherson, as wellas the instructors and your
fellow students, how did thathelp you with certain aspects of
repairing the truck, if it did?
Mason (28:32):
Yeah, so I've done quite a bit of work to it over the
years since having it, foractually probably about eight
years now, I think.
So I've done a lot over time.
When I first got it it wasrunning and driving.
The brakes were a little iffy,so we did some brake work and
(28:52):
then it sat for a while becauseI still didn't have my license.
So then sitting causes things tonot run yeah so, um, it was
just, it was just lots oftinkering with it, and then,
when I got up to school, I umhad some steering issues that I
had to work on, and so that wasmy first time working on my
truck with friends that I hadmade and stuff, and so it was.
(29:15):
It was really cool how quicklythings can get done when
everyone when there's there'syou, who is really work-driven
wants to get it done, but thenyou multiply it by four or five.
You know all these guys who wantto help you get it done.
So I had to pull my steeringbox out of the truck and send it
off to get rebuilt, and so overthe years at school, in the
(29:38):
sheds, I would work on it and Iwould have friends help me work
on it.
Um, because it's that's one ofthe really amazing things about
going to the school was you getstudents that come from all over
with tons of differentknowledge, coming like
backgrounds with differentlevels of knowledge.
So I pretty much came in prettylow knowledge level and I, of
(30:04):
course, learned so much butthrough my time there.
But I'd have friends whosometimes you wonder why they're
even there, because they knowso much they can almost teach
the classes themselves too.
It was.
It was always really reallygreat, and so if I had trouble
working on something on my truck, they would help me out because
they knew what they were doing.
Doug (30:23):
And then it was always um an unwritten agreement.
Mason (30:27):
Like you help me, I help you.
So whoever?
Helped me on my truck.
I would.
I definitely would not um shyaway from whenever they need
help on their project cars andstuff.
And over the years I put a seatcover on the bench seat and I
upgraded some of the wiring.
Doug (30:46):
When I got it.
Mason (30:48):
There was a lot of wiring , nuts and no-nos under the dash
, sure.
So as basically, as I'velearned over the years where,
through it's, through school andthrough working at the shop,
I've I've, uh, I guess, upgradedmore things that I've learned.
Oh, that's not that good to beon my truck.
Well, let me, let me make itbetter, and so, and it's been
(31:11):
almost kind of fun, and it makesme laugh sometimes when I work
on the truck, because I'll evengo in and fix things that I had
worked on before.
Doug (31:19):
And then I go.
Mason (31:20):
I can't believe I did that, but at the time that was a
great, great fix.
So Yep.
Doug (31:25):
Yep, You're like who's this idiot?
Mason (31:26):
He did that.
Oh, that was me.
Doug (31:28):
Yep.
But it shows the progress thatyou've made, right yeah, and
you're concerned to make itbetter, right yes, and I, and so
there's.
Mason (31:38):
You talked about wanting to take the engine rebuilding
class.
Yes, once you take some of theclasses, you can take the
advanced versions of the classes, and that's what I did.
I've always loved mechanicalthings and so mostly mechanical
work, and so I took the enginerebuilding class and then I
wanted to take the advancedengine rebuilding class, and in
that class a lot of times youcan bring provide your own
(32:02):
engine to build.
So I did the engine in my truck.
Oh, awesome.
And it was a great experienceand I'm still actually not quite
done.
I it was a.
I wish I would have taken theadvanced class before my final
semester of school because itturns into a time crunch.
And I got it in and running.
(32:24):
But with the car show coming upand graduation coming up, I
didn't quite get it finished andit it started making a noise on
the break-in period and weweren't sure if it was a
catastrophic noise or not, so Inever got to actually finish
finding out if it was okay ornot.
(32:45):
But I did build the engine andI've since had it shipped up
here to Connecticut and I'vebeen having it in storage
because I've just been so busy,and now that the weather's
getting great again I'll get itback out and work on it.
And the mechanics at the shophave also.
They haven't.
One of them happens to be a fordguy, so he has told me he would
(33:05):
love to help me work on it too.
So I'm just very lucky with allthe resources I've had with
this truck yeah, it's the giftthat keeps giving.
Doug (33:13):
Surround yourself with smart people and good people and
you know, and tools and allthese things right.
Mason (33:21):
Absolutely.
Doug (33:22):
Yeah, and these days there are so many resources out there
right between the YouTubevideos, right?
Maybe you've even put some upthere, who knows?
Mason (33:34):
Not quite, but I am youtube mechanic certified.
Doug (33:36):
Yeah, you know I, I heard that, you know, I, I think, um,
I think, uh, uh, what was her?
Uh, ava gregory uh said that inon our podcast when we had her
on that she was youtube mechaniccertified.
Um, so, uh, before we talkabout your second car, which is
(33:57):
also Ford, I did want to ask you, and we like to ask this
question tell us about a songthat makes you think about the
truck.
I think it was a song that youlistened to in the truck, right?
But in thinking back andpreparing for this podcast, you
shared something with us.
Mason (34:19):
Yeah, I'm a huge fan of pretty much all what's I guess
considered classic music.
Now I listen to it so much Idon't consider it classic, but I
love all genres.
But being from the South, Iguess I prefer country, and so
80s and 90s country with joediffy, and he has a song, pickup
(34:39):
man, and one of the verses sayswhen I was 16 I saved a few
hundred bucks.
My first car was a pickup truckand when I heard that song I
just knew that he was talkingabout that was me, so I I would
listen to it in the truck.
I listened to it all the timeand so it was a very, uh,
relatable song.
Doug (35:00):
Yeah, yeah, it definitely, definitely a good fit and uh,
so I do want to ask about youruh, ask about your second
vehicle, which was not a truck,but it was a it was a mustang.
Mason (35:12):
Yes, the 1991 mustang gt.
Uh-huh.
Um, I I love mustangs, as Isaid before, and uh, I say I
pretty much love any year ofmustang.
You know, the mustang 2 gets alittle hairy, but I'll still
give it some love um yep, but Ilove this mustang.
It was, uh, it was the 302, thefive liter, with a five speed
(35:35):
manual, and that's really thecar that I learned to drive
stick shift.
I, I was taught on my freshmanyear roommates.
Uh, 1969 oldsmobile 442, a bigblock with a four speed.
That's where I really learnedhow to drive stick shift.
Okay, um.
But then daily driving amustang is really where I got
(35:56):
comfortable, because I got it inbetween school years, um, so it
was a summer when I was homeand I had to get to my job
during the summer and if I, if Icouldn't drive my stick shift
mustang, I wasn't going to getto work.
So, um, which, funny enough,was at a classic mustang shop.
So I, I was really living themustang dream at the time.
Doug (36:17):
Yep yeah, there are lots of mustangs there, I'm sure, and
they probably heard you uhpulling up definitely about a
mile away.
Yep, yeah, yeah, one of my, oneof my close friends in high
school had one, had a.
It was a 1990 mustang gt Ithink it was blue and they, the
all the gts had the uh what graybottom.
(36:38):
The lower half of it was gray,the the plastic on the bottom.
Yep, yep, the gt flares, Iguess you would call them.
Um, yeah, it was such a neatcar and and 225 horsepower even
back then was a lot, especiallyin a light car like that, that
thing could, oh yeah, shred sometires like, and that's what he
(37:01):
did in it yep, I did the same,yep yep, fun, fun for that.
Um, yeah, so the mustang youdon't have anymore, the truck we
know you're never going to getrid of.
Mason (37:15):
Um, what would be your dream car my ultimate dream car
is the 1967 westing uh.
Gt500 eleanor.
Uh, from the movie gone in 60seconds with nicholas cage.
Um, ever since I saw that movieI fell in love with that car
and that's one of those cars.
People either love it or theyhate it.
Um, but I love it and one day II hope to hopefully eventually
(37:42):
build my own.
That would, it would probably Iwould.
I think that would be more fun.
We'll see when the time comesaround if I'd rather buy one
than build one, but for now I'dlike to build myself one.
Yeah.
Doug (37:56):
Yeah, and you know I should have asked you early on.
I know you mentioned putting aseat cover on the bench seat and
whatnot.
What have you seen as like kindof tasteful upgrades,
especially working at F40Motorsports, that people are
asking for?
And I give this great example,like my DeLorean, you know,
(38:21):
front end, rear engine, rearwheel drive, right, but
steering's still kind of heavy.
It's a stick shift as well.
I have tennis elbow which Ican't seem to get rid of.
It's a 50 plus the age 50 plusthing that you get even if you
don't play tennis, and I hadsome other friends were doing it
(38:43):
too.
I had electric power steeringadded to that and it made it
like a different car to me.
It was.
It's so much more enjoyable.
So just just wondering if, if,whether for your truck or
customers that you've seen,would have been some kind of
modern upgrades that areimportant that you feel enhance
(39:05):
the car but don't take awayanything from it I do.
Mason (39:10):
I've seen a lot of power brake conversions.
Um I one thing that I don'tknow it doesn't really increase
the drivability.
But, uh, electric fuel pumps oncars that don't have them, they
, we sometimes will install themwith a switch under the dash so
you can't even really see itand we'll hide the, the fuel
(39:31):
pump and everything.
But most of the customers thatwe have their cars are in a
collection and they sit and evenjust being where there's actual
winters and salt on the road,and so people put their cars
away for the winter so they sitfor, you know, months on it at a
time.
So when they, when you're tryingto start them up again, that,
especially the, the really oldcars with the six volt battery
(39:53):
systems, they, they, just theystruggle to crank over anyways
on a full battery, so trying toget the fuel all the way up to
the front of the engine and getit started.
So the electric fuel pump arereally great because they flip
the switch.
You fill up the carburetor,you're already ready to go pump
the gas and it should firereally quickly and that way
(40:14):
you're not killing the batteryand the starter and stuff.
So just simple things like thatthat really help it out?
Doug (40:21):
yep, and it could make the difference between somebody put
barely driving a car that's aclassic to driving it a little
more, which I I think goes intoone of the causes that
Christian's going to ask youabout real quick.
Christian (40:37):
Yeah, just as we guide the podcast here gently
towards the off-ramp, we ask ourguests what are causes or
things that are important to you, that you espouse or that
you're passionate about, and youhad a very interesting answer.
Should I read it back to you,mason, or can you paraphrase?
(40:59):
It has to do with a lot of carsjust kind of sitting around and
, as you alluded to, that's theworst thing you can do to
anything mechanical.
Mason (41:07):
Yeah, I believe that all these cars should be driven, and
as much as a car that has satfor a while and needs help
getting running again is jobsecurity for me.
It hurts me more to see allthese cars sitting for such long
periods of time and justgetting neglected and
deteriorating without any love.
And I'm not a crazy funkyspiritual guy or anything, but I
(41:32):
almost believe that cars havesouls.
You can talk to them sometimes,so it sounds a little crazy.
You know it makes it soundbetter, but um it, it helps.
Like you don't, you're notgonna, you're not gonna leave
your best friend and uh, youknow you never talk to them and
whatever, like you're, you'regonna keep.
(41:52):
You know you don't have todrive these cars every day.
They're, they're fun cars tobring out on a nice day or
whatnot, but but letting themsit for just years and years and
I know things happen, but butif you, if you don't have to let
it sit and you shouldn't- Well,I?
Christian (42:07):
the funny thing is, I think you win either way,
because if they sit, you'regoing to fix them, but anything
mechanical will have to be fixedat some point, and that's where
you step in.
So I think you're going to bebusy and passionate about this
field for a very long time tocome, mr Mason, and I want to
thank you for taking some timewith us today, because it was a
(42:28):
distinct pleasure meeting youand speaking with you, and we
wish you all good things, myfriend.
Mason (42:33):
Well, thank you.
Thank you for having me.
I really enjoyed it.
You bet you are welcome backhere anytime, and we wish you
all good things my friend.
Christian (42:36):
Well, thank you.
Thank you for having me.
I really enjoyed it.
You bet you are welcome backhere anytime and we would love
to check back with you every sooften to see what you're into,
what's your latest project, etcetera, et cetera.
But for now you have just heardthe high-revving, low-mileage,
late-modeled herdround-the-world authoritative
podcast on automotive nostalgia.
He's doug.
(42:57):
Reach him at doug atcarslovecom.
I'm christian, reach me atcarslovecom and this was mason.
You know the best way toconnect with him, apparently, is
how doug did it just add afriend?
Add that friend button.
Mason magically appears.
If you like what you're hearing, please follow and tell a
friend.
That helps us grow incontinually finding guests and
(43:18):
telling these stories.
Try out carslovedcom,especially the carousel of
memories, as we like to call it.
Send us the pictures of yourautomobiles, we'll get them up
there.
Check out our link tree, ourdigital switchboard, which is
L-I-N-K-T-R dot E slash Cars.
Loved Always.
I'm sure we'll see you at thenext local car show, showroom,
(43:41):
race show or concourse.
We appreciate you taking a lapwith us.
We will see you next time.
Welcome back to All the Cars I've Loved Before, your
authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia, where our
guests are unique, each auto hasan era and every car tells a
story.
So you know it's time to plugin, get a little grease under
the nails and slip on thatfavorite car theme t-shirt, hat
(00:29):
or jacket.
But before we do that, as oftenas my want, let's welcome back
our listeners from all over theglobe Ireland, kazakhstan,
germany, welcome back, welcomeback.
So when we say that this is aninternational program, we mean
it.
So welcome back to ourinternational listeners as well.
As stateside Ashburn, virginia,not far from Doug, san Antonio,
(00:52):
texas, portland, oregon, stPaul, minnesota and Winchester,
illinois, welcome back.
Glad to have you all aboard.
And how you doing?
You doing partner?
What's going on over?
Doug (01:04):
there, got the delorean back from the shop.
What does a car guy do afterhaving his car gone for a couple
months?
He immediately starts rippingit apart to do other things
lovely.
So it becomes inoperable.
So I remove the dashboard, uminstrument cluster binnacle.
I had a um, another onerecovered by a friend in the
(01:28):
delorean club for a modest fee,and so now I have a beautiful,
brand new looking dashboard thatI need to install.
So I have to rip out the oldone, which has a big crack in it
and it's faded, and oh, so, sohow hard was it to get the new
one or the refurbished, whateveryou're replacing?
It was difficult to say theleast I think there were about
(01:50):
18 screws bolts that I had toget at.
Actually probably closer to 20.
And it's just some prying andgently and lots of things to
take out, including theinstrument cluster.
While I had it out, I put allleds in the instrument cluster
(02:12):
is that it easy done?
I had already bought them inadvance.
It's pretty, pretty common umupgrade in.
It reduces the electric Anytimeyou put a.
LED it reduces the electricaldraw on all the old wiring, and
so you're making the car betteralong the way.
(02:33):
So now every light in my carinside, outside are now all LEDs
.
Christian (02:40):
Yeah, and also the LEDs should last way longer, of
course.
Yeah, and also the LEDs shouldlast way longer, of course.
And there's a lesson in therefor sourcing as much as you can
the small stuff, work ahead,work ahead, work ahead.
Don't pinch yourself for time.
Make sure it's all under theroof, and then we've got this
big project.
You can kind of get it all doneat the same time.
Well done, man.
Doug (03:01):
Yeah, and I had my 13-year-old Good stuff.
Christian (03:04):
So without any further ado.
It's not about us, it is aboutthe guest in this program.
So thrilled to have today'sguests on.
Tell us a little bit abouttoday's guests, how they entered
your virtual garage and let'sget a name to go with that face.
Doug (03:21):
Yeah Well, let's see, a month or two ago we had
interviews with a studentinstructor duo from McPherson
College in Kansas.
And, with the magic of theinternet, if you connect with
certain people on Facebook,let's say then you start seeing
all their friends pop up.
(03:42):
And I saw Mason pop up and so Iclicked add friend, I sent him
a message and, you know, fastforward a month or so.
Here here we have them, andMason being a graduate of
McPherson, uh, McPherson collegethere, um, uh, in majoring in
our restoration management, andI think he graduated about two
(04:03):
years ago.
We're super lucky to have him.
Christian (04:07):
Mason, welcome to the show.
How are you this afternoon?
Mason (04:11):
I'm good.
It's good to be here.
Christian (04:12):
Fantastic.
Well, first off, is everythinghe said accurate and correct?
Now that we have you to factcheck Because I don't believe it
just if I see it on theinternet, if he's click an ad,
friend and this and that can weget a fact check from you Is
everything there correct?
That is exactly how it happened.
I love it.
You told me that.
(04:40):
So how did McPherson end up onyour radar?
Tell us a little bit about theprogram.
Mason (04:42):
For those who may have not heard the prior episode or
forgot, tell us a little bitabout the program and then how
you find out about it and whatattracted you to it well, uh, my
dad and I were always fans ofwayne carini's chasing classic
cars and one saturday, while Iwas, of course, sleeping in as a
teenager, my dad was watchingthe show and he did.
(05:04):
Wayne did an episode visitingmcpherson college, talking about
it being a four-year degree andeverything, and this was about
the time I was nearing the endof my high school career, so I
he didn't know what I was goingto do after school and I knew I
needed to go to college, butwhat for?
I wasn't really interested inmuch.
And um, my dad sees thisepisode, he comes and wakes me
(05:25):
up and he says you gotta, yougotta look up this.
This school they have afour-year degree, it's working
on the classic cars and like itcan't get any better.
So I I did my research, Ilooked, looked around and
discovered they have a, a bigcar show every year in may it's
always the first Saturday in Mayand so we, I told him about it
(05:47):
and I said you know, we could govisit, go see the car show and
see the school and everything.
So that was my junior year ofhigh school.
So then that would have been wewould have gone in May and I
loved it, we we got a tour fromone of the students at the time
and just seeing the shop and thefacilities One Kansas is
(06:10):
gorgeous in the summer andspring oh wow, and so that was
just great.
And then everyone there wasjust so nice and everyone takes
the time to get to know you andremember your name.
So even by the end of theweekend people were calling me
name that I I couldn't rememberall these people's names.
So it was very special and Ijust knew I had to go there and
(06:33):
I applied and the applicationprocess is pretty uh pretty.
Christian (06:39):
It was pretty rough, or not not rough competitive,
competitive, competitive At thevery least, competitive right
yes.
Mason (06:45):
Yes, we had to.
At the time they were onlytaking 30 new restoration
students per semester, oh wow.
And I had to submit a portfolioof I think it was 25 photos and
I had to have a comment foreach one explaining what I was
doing in the photo things I'veworked on, the things I was
(07:06):
doing.
And I also had to write alittle paper about myself, why I
want to go there, why thisinterests me, where I come from,
kind of thing.
And then I also, I think I gotmy high school auto shop teacher
to write me a letter ofrecommendation as well, and so
(07:28):
you have to get accepted intothe school first and then into
the program, right?
So I got accepted into theschool and it was exciting.
And then eventually I got myacceptance letter from the
school saying I was in theprogram, and it was a big deal,
it was a lot of excitement.
Christian (07:46):
That is so what an origin story, you know that's.
That's better than any Marvelsuperhero origin story I've ever
heard and that is impressive.
Now, you didn't.
You didn't grow up anywherenear McPherson, kansas, so you
were a ways away.
It's not like you were nextdoor.
I mean, there was.
There was a lot, there was alot to go through here to make
(08:06):
this happen, to even visit.
So, um, wow, the, the, the, themagic of the referral and your
dad waking you up and you takingthe, uh, taking the challenge
and the initiative Yep.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
A hundred percent, yeah, veryinteresting.
So in interesting.
So another great thing aboutMcPherson is that you can study
(08:29):
different things and I thoughtthat was so interesting and I
guess that the restoration well,the car program is the major
and there are different emphaseswithin it right, history, I
guess yours was restoration,there's technology.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthe different areas of study
and if you considered others oryou knew exactly your path?
Mason (08:54):
And then you have the management and the history, and
I always forget all five, but Ihad at least one friend in each
one, so I know about all five ofthem.
But actually after I had beenaccepted, the summer before I
(09:17):
started there, I got a call fromone of the employees, just kind
of get some information beforeI started and what I wanted my
major to be.
And he asked me and it was oneof those things I was not ready
to commit to this for four years.
I have to make this decision.
And he said he assured me Icould change it anytime I needed
(09:38):
and whatnot, but just to get mestarted, and he explained all
five of them and I um, at thetime, my, my all time dream was
to eventually own my own shopone day, and I wanted to know
what was going to go on behindthe scenes too.
I wanted to know if I wasrunning out of money or not.
(09:59):
So that's why I basically endedup choosing the management
emphasis.
Christian (10:04):
That way.
Mason (10:05):
I could take the short classes, know how to work on
them and whatnot.
But then also, when I'm lookingat the books, I understand
what's going on and I can domath and stuff.
Sure.
Christian (10:18):
Yeah, that makes sense to be able to kind of
extrapolate and know where youwant to go.
Impressive, doug.
What do you think?
Doug (10:24):
Very very impressive.
Yeah, my daughter just got intoa college and different program
, but she is for musical theaterand she had to do the exact
same thing.
She had to apply, get into thecollege.
Then she had to go for manycolleges.
She had to go do auditions.
Some auditions were remote,most were in person.
And then you get into theprogram and so you know it's,
(10:50):
it's an, it's a lot of work,right, it's not just hey, I got
in, it's, you got in, but youdidn't.
You got into the program, andthat's another thing.
Do they?
Um, mason, I'm curious if youget into the college, do you
have, can you and let's say youdidn't get into the auto
restoration program?
Would they allow you to attendand then could you more easily
(11:12):
get into it the following year,the auto restoration program?
Mason (11:15):
great question they do have the option where you can uh
be what they call a transfer,and so you can transfer into the
program okay okay, I've had acouple friends do that.
Um, there was I've even hadfriends who they.
They came to the school forsports.
They were in baseball orfootball and they were recruited
(11:35):
by the team and they get thereand they end up making all the
friends with all of therestoration guys and they
realize they they like cars justas much as we do and they
either get in and do football atthe same time or they transfer
over and stop doing the sportsand move to the restoration.
So there's they do.
(11:57):
It's it's hard to get into, butfor a good reason.
But they do give you plenty ofoptions to try and get in
because it's there's plenty ofus with the passions they want
us to be able to.
Christian (12:08):
Yeah, yeah, and and it is the most fun you'll ever
have, reading a course catalogwhere they have the course
descriptions of the classes.
I just what I found.
I just poured over all of themand so interesting, like
anything else, hey, these areyour core classes, you got to
take these.
And then here's the elect, here, your electives All right,
(12:28):
possible elected and then,depending upon your emphasis,
these are going to be your, yourcourses that you study to
ensure that you have that coreknowledge for them.
And the wonderful thing aboutthis program is you're so
focused on what you want to do.
It's obvious you have thepassion and very often they have
(12:51):
or there's either a job waitingfor you, some sort sort of
internship.
The whole thing is built to getyou to the next specific step,
and that's wonderful, becauseyou really don't want to waste
any time as a young person.
So how did it help you set upfor your next step of your
career?
And and where are you now?
If you can share?
Mason (13:11):
so I'm currently at f40 motorsports with Wayne Carini.
That is the fun part of thestory that I like to share about
myself.
It was the episode of his showthat I saw in high school and
found out about the school andwent to the school and then with
the school, I was on the ModelT building team and there was a
(13:33):
group of five of us.
We would take a 1926 or seven Ican't remember the year now and
uh, 1926 or seven model t andwe it was a running and driving
we'd drive it up and then we'dtake it all apart all the way
down to the pieces and then we'dbasically perform in front of
an audience.
We'd put it back together asfast as we could and drive it
(13:54):
away and our best time that Iever did with the group that I
waswith was, uh, five minutes and
14 seconds from uh pieces of acar to a running and driving car
.
Wow, and so doing that, we, thegroup of us, we got invited to
the odd drain concourse in inNewport, rhode Island, and we
(14:16):
were up there doing ourperforming.
And then we also, each of us,got to be apprentice judges for
the actual Concours Day onSunday and I got put in.
We each got put in separategroups and I got put in a group
with Wayne Carini and at thetime he was basically my hero
(14:37):
well, he still is.
I mean, I have this awesome job,but at the time he was a hero
that I was wanting to meet andso I got to spend the whole day
with him, spending time judgingand stuff, and I, before we had
got to judging, I had got totalk to him and tell him about
it.
Was his episode that got me tothe school and now I'm on a
(14:58):
school trip meeting him and hereally enjoyed it and he kind of
put me to the test and, uh,while we were judging, he would
give me things to look out forand there was one.
Uh, the two cars in the classwe were judging they were really
neck and neck and so we werelooking for something to
separate the two give one firstin class and he had me looking
(15:21):
at the date codes on each of thewheels of the cars and one car
had all the date codes matchingand the other car they were all
different dates, did not allmatch and so that was what
determined the first in class.
And so from then on he, he,really we really got along and
he actually exchanged contactinformation with me that that
(15:43):
trip and invited me to come outand visit.
So I came out.
That was in, uh, october of myI don't remember, I think it was
my junior year or sophomoreyear of college.
Christian (15:54):
Wow.
Mason (15:56):
And I think it was my junior year, and then he invited
me to come visit so thatfollowing March and spring break
I spent everybody goes to thebeach or something.
For spring break I went toConnecticut to visit Wayne
Carini and see his shop andeverything and he showed me
around and I I basically got tospend the week working there and
I learned so much in that weekit was amazing.
(16:16):
And halfway through the week orso he was introducing me to
some other people and he said,yeah, mason's going to decide if
he wants to intern here or not.
And this whole time I thoughthe was deciding if I was going
to intern there or not and so Isaid, well, if it's up to me,
then, yeah, I would love to dothis.
No choice to be made, yeah.
(16:40):
And so then it was decided thatI would come that following
summer and, uh, do an internship.
And so I did my.
My dad and I drove up fromHouston all the way to
Connecticut in June.
So just a few months later and,um, so just a few months later,
we drove up with our family'scar and I got to have that for
(17:02):
the summer and my dad flew home.
So I spent the summer.
Wayne has an apartment in hisbarn for the upholstery guy and
stuff Whenever people come fromout of town and need a place to
stay to do things with Wayne.
And so I got to stay in thatapartment for the summer and I
got to work and just do some ofthe coolest things with him Go
(17:24):
to the concourse and stuff andby the end of the summer I just
loved it there so much and Iloved working at the shop.
I loved all the guys at theshop and just the experiences.
And so I pulled Wayne insideone day and it was I think it
was on the weekend or whatever.
I mean I was basically at hishouse.
So I saw him a lot and I askedhim.
(17:45):
I said, if it's possible, Ireally love working here.
Once I have this one schoolyear left, if I could come back
after I graduate, I would loveto come back and work.
And he said it took him abouttwo seconds to decide and he
said, yep, you can come back,we'd love to have you so awesome
(18:05):
man.
Well, my, what my uh fullcircle story that I really love.
Christian (18:08):
Well, I I want to say two things.
I guess three.
I want to tell youcongratulations about 10 times.
Congrats to the 10th power.
The first thing.
Second thing is that is soimpressive the way you just
willed all of this to happen.
The third thing I want to sayis what a wonderful detail about
the tires where you werelooking for delineation.
(18:30):
How do you separate one and two?
And Doug, that's's gotta go upon YouTube if it's okay with
Mason, that's just a wonderfulstory, Fantastic.
So what do you think, Doug?
Is it about time to to take himin the way back machine and to
the phone booth that teleportsor whatever?
And let's, let's go back to thefirst part, and I think it may
(18:52):
have something to do with hisbackground.
Might be the best backgroundwe've had on the show, but I'll
let you take it from here Sure,sure.
Doug (18:59):
You bet.
But before we do that,Christian, I just I do want to
put Mason on the spot.
He answered in our intake formthat his favorite episode that
he listened to was the Trebonepisode.
And, Mason, if I can put you onthe spot, why did you enjoy
that episode so much?
And I'm friends with that guy.
He actually lives pretty closeto me.
(19:19):
That's how I met him.
Mason (19:21):
Okay, I'll keep it nice then.
Yeah, no, no, if you want tocome down to Maryland, great
answer, come on down.
Christian (19:26):
You can have a ride in a Trebon and a.
Doug (19:28):
DeLorean and a bunch of other cars.
Mason (19:30):
Hey, there we go.
I have to be honest, I haven'tlistened to very many.
Doug (19:34):
I don't listen to a whole lot of podcasts, so that was.
Mason (19:37):
It was one of the few that I have listened to and I
enjoyed it because I lovelearning about cars I've never
heard about before and thoseusually I guess they would fly
below my radar, I guess never,never been something that's
really caught my eye.
And so hearing so much aboutthem and the cool stories that
they had to share and stuff andI had to look up those cars
after listening it was funstories to hear, Such a good
(20:03):
point and it's internationalhistory too those cars.
Doug (20:07):
Yeah, yep, and Christian and I grew up towards the end of
the Cold War, right, and sothose were cars we might have
heard about but we had neverseen and we never would have
seen unless we were overseas.
Until you know, fast forwardwhat 35 years later, they're all
over the place now and peoplewho grew up with them maybe
(20:29):
because they were living in EastGermany can now have those cars
in the U?
S or whatever country they'rein now, and they're actually
maintained.
It's, it's such a cool.
It's such a cool story.
We had somebody on who had aSkoda I think it's actually
pronounced Skoda which was wasthat from the Czech Republic?
(20:49):
Yeah, yeah, yep, yep.
So that was another car.
We had never heard of another.
Christian (20:55):
Oh, funny that you mentioned that Some Czech
listeners tuned in for the firsttime and I didn't mention that
in our geographic where peopleare listening from.
But I'd totally forgotten aboutSkoda and I bet that's what
(21:15):
prompted it.
It's the first time we'd everhad anybody from there.
Doug (21:18):
Listen, but it could have been one of my, absolutely from
Belarus and he he knew of Skoda,but he called it Skoda, oh,
okay.
Well, we don't have thefantastic accent like he has,
but we can say it that way, Noteven near so.
So no, thank you.
Thank you for that, Mason.
Sorry for the sidetrack, butChristian wanted me to pop you
(21:40):
in my time machine.
Try and get it up to 88, whichI think it'll actually do, even
though the speedo only goes to85.
Christian (21:46):
You'll need a dashboard to tell if you're
actually going that fast.
Doug (21:50):
But maybe We'll see well the key is to test the dashboard
before you put it, before youput it back in, because the
point because of the way ledswork.
So anyway, that's on the list,but hop in the time machine and
tell us about your first car,and I love this story.
I don't want to take too muchfrom it, but you've got several
(22:11):
generations your dad and yourgrandfather involved in it yeah,
so it was, um, I always like tosay it was a hobby of my dad's.
Mason (22:20):
It turned into my passion , um, so he was the one who got
me into cars growing up.
He had a 1998 mustang that Ijust adored.
Um, I've always been a mustangguy, but that was my dad's car
and it was a Mustang.
It was just so cool, um, and sothat's what we would work on
together and eventually my dadgot a 1978 F-150 that we would
(22:43):
work on together and stuff.
So we're clearly a Ford familyand I'm a Ford guy, and so I had
, um been saving up my money, um, when I was so, when I was 16
16, I'd saved up enough moneythat I was looking for my first
car so I could get back andforth to school.
And my dad, he, was morefamiliar with Craigslist and
(23:05):
just looking online for vehiclesfor sale and we knew I wanted
to have something, a classic,because I'm a car guy, I can't
drive a normal car to school.
I think it's got to besomething interesting.
So I um, we looked around and II really decided I wanted a
truck.
I wanted a Ford pickup truck,and there's just so many fun
(23:26):
things about pickup trucks andso I'd saved up my money and my
dad had found the ad onCraigslist and we had gone
through a few either people whodidn't get back with us or they
didn't.
We couldn't agree on a price orwhatever.
But we came across this one.
I was a huge fan of it.
It was a 1965 Ford F100, singlecab, long bed.
(23:47):
It was a V8 automatictransmission.
At the time I didn't know howto drive a stick shift, so
that's really what I was lookingfor was automatic, and it
pretty much checked all theboxes.
And it was not too far from usin Texas.
We were in Northwest Houston inspring is our town and it was
in Lufkin, texas, which is EastTexas.
(24:09):
So we and it's it's interestingit's actually my mother's
father that went with us.
He has been kind of themechanical one.
He's really handy.
Both my grandfathers are veryhandy, but my mother's father,
he's the automotive handy guy,and so my dad wanted us to have
(24:32):
as much help as we could goingto look at this, because I
didn't know that much.
My dad knew more than I did,but he didn't feel like he knew
that much and so as much help aswe could get and he had his
trailer.
So that was a really bighelpful part.
So we we made the trip all theway out there.
Um, we had to get up prettyearly.
I do remember, um, it was justfar enough away that go there
(24:55):
and come back for the days.
It was a good bit.
So we went out there and welooked at the truck and we got
to drive it.
Um, I didn't have my license atthe time, I was a little bit
slow on my driver's ed, so my,my dad drove it around and he
liked it.
And then we go to put it on thetrailer and it wouldn't start,
it wouldn't run and we couldn'tget it on the trailer.
(25:16):
And the guy that start itwouldn't run and we couldn't get
it on the trailer.
And the guy that we bought thetruck from, he was the nicest
guy.
I think he was really nice alsobecause he knew why we were
there.
It was for me, it was for myfirst car, and so he ended up
going to the auto parts store.
He probably bought like ahundred dollars worth of parts
trying to fix it so that wecould get it on the trailer.
And we eventually got it.
(25:37):
Um, it was mostly a lot of mewatching all the all the men
really go at it and worktogether and problem solve it
was.
It was really cool to watch atthe time and so, um, we got it,
got it up on and then, uh, my,we had brought the money, we had
brought the money that weagreed on and, um, it was
supposed to be mine.
(25:57):
So my dad hands me the checkand says all right, go give it
to him.
And me, being a shy, barely16-year-old, I had to just walk
up and hand it to him and thenso they give me the.
No, you have to give it to himand shake hands Thank you, sam
Pleasure, doing business withyou.
Christian (26:11):
Negative official.
Doug (26:12):
Yeah.
Mason (26:18):
So I did that and we, we brought it home and put it in
the driveway and my dad and Iworked on it all all through
high school.
I never actually got to driveit to and from school, um, but
we, we did work on it on theweekends and the evenings and
stuff and we would get itrunning.
And then we'd end up havinganother problem and it wasn't
running so, but it was runningand driving, uh by the time I
was ready to take it up tocanvas with me for, uh, my four
(26:39):
years.
Doug (26:39):
So that's kind of where that started for my, uh, my
first car awesome and and uh, wealways ask people what happened
to the car, but truck in thiscase, but you still own it,
correct?
Mason (26:54):
I do, and I have heard way too many stories of people
selling their first cars andevery single one of them has a
just always regretted it.
Yeah, and so I've made it mymission to never have to sell it
.
I never want to sell it and, um, if the time comes that I have
to to make ends meet or whatever, then I'll do what I have to do
.
But for now.
(27:15):
I don't plan on ever selling it.
I'll continue working on it,continue making it mine.
Christian (27:20):
Oh, that truck will last forever.
I mean, that truck mightoutlast you, but it's
interesting how it was adeliberate choice to keep it a
deliberate choice.
A lot of people may not bondwith their first car, and we
have a lot of people on the showthat either wrecked theirs or
some untimely demise Seems to beyeah, exactly.
Doug (27:44):
Or it was a hand-me-down.
Yeah, why should I put oil in?
Mason (27:46):
it.
What's the point?
Christian (27:47):
Yeah, but you kept yours.
You kept yours Very, veryprecocious move.
Doug (27:53):
Very nice.
And I did want to ask, sinceyou kept it um, so obviously you
needed some work.
Was it mechanical?
Was it body work?
Um and uh, how did having the,the truck with you at mcpherson
I hear they have um, do theycall it the barn?
Mason (28:14):
they call it the sheds, the sh?
Sheds.
I knew I was close.
Doug (28:17):
Did you do work on it there and how did the things you
learned at McPherson, as wellas the instructors and your
fellow students, how did thathelp you with certain aspects of
repairing the truck, if it did?
Mason (28:32):
Yeah, so I've done quite a bit of work to it over the
years since having it, foractually probably about eight
years now, I think.
So I've done a lot over time.
When I first got it it wasrunning and driving.
The brakes were a little iffy,so we did some brake work and
(28:52):
then it sat for a while becauseI still didn't have my license.
So then sitting causes things tonot run yeah so, um, it was
just, it was just lots oftinkering with it, and then,
when I got up to school, I umhad some steering issues that I
had to work on, and so that wasmy first time working on my
truck with friends that I hadmade and stuff, and so it was.
(29:15):
It was really cool how quicklythings can get done when
everyone when there's there'syou, who is really work-driven
wants to get it done, but thenyou multiply it by four or five.
You know all these guys who wantto help you get it done.
So I had to pull my steeringbox out of the truck and send it
off to get rebuilt, and so overthe years at school, in the
(29:38):
sheds, I would work on it and Iwould have friends help me work
on it.
Um, because it's that's one ofthe really amazing things about
going to the school was you getstudents that come from all over
with tons of differentknowledge, coming like
backgrounds with differentlevels of knowledge.
So I pretty much came in prettylow knowledge level and I, of
(30:04):
course, learned so much butthrough my time there.
But I'd have friends whosometimes you wonder why they're
even there, because they knowso much they can almost teach
the classes themselves too.
It was.
It was always really reallygreat, and so if I had trouble
working on something on my truck, they would help me out because
they knew what they were doing.
Doug (30:23):
And then it was always um an unwritten agreement.
Mason (30:27):
Like you help me, I help you.
So whoever?
Helped me on my truck.
I would.
I definitely would not um shyaway from whenever they need
help on their project cars andstuff.
And over the years I put a seatcover on the bench seat and I
upgraded some of the wiring.
Doug (30:46):
When I got it.
Mason (30:48):
There was a lot of wiring , nuts and no-nos under the dash
, sure.
So as basically, as I'velearned over the years where,
through it's, through school andthrough working at the shop,
I've I've, uh, I guess, upgradedmore things that I've learned.
Oh, that's not that good to beon my truck.
Well, let me, let me make itbetter, and so, and it's been
(31:11):
almost kind of fun, and it makesme laugh sometimes when I work
on the truck, because I'll evengo in and fix things that I had
worked on before.
Doug (31:19):
And then I go.
Mason (31:20):
I can't believe I did that, but at the time that was a
great, great fix.
So Yep.
Doug (31:25):
Yep, You're like who's this idiot?
Mason (31:26):
He did that.
Oh, that was me.
Doug (31:28):
Yep.
But it shows the progress thatyou've made, right yeah, and
you're concerned to make itbetter, right yes, and I, and so
there's.
Mason (31:38):
You talked about wanting to take the engine rebuilding
class.
Yes, once you take some of theclasses, you can take the
advanced versions of the classes, and that's what I did.
I've always loved mechanicalthings and so mostly mechanical
work, and so I took the enginerebuilding class and then I
wanted to take the advancedengine rebuilding class, and in
that class a lot of times youcan bring provide your own
(32:02):
engine to build.
So I did the engine in my truck.
Oh, awesome.
And it was a great experienceand I'm still actually not quite
done.
I it was a.
I wish I would have taken theadvanced class before my final
semester of school because itturns into a time crunch.
And I got it in and running.
(32:24):
But with the car show coming upand graduation coming up, I
didn't quite get it finished andit it started making a noise on
the break-in period and weweren't sure if it was a
catastrophic noise or not, so Inever got to actually finish
finding out if it was okay ornot.
(32:45):
But I did build the engine andI've since had it shipped up
here to Connecticut and I'vebeen having it in storage
because I've just been so busy,and now that the weather's
getting great again I'll get itback out and work on it.
And the mechanics at the shophave also.
They haven't.
One of them happens to be a fordguy, so he has told me he would
(33:05):
love to help me work on it too.
So I'm just very lucky with allthe resources I've had with
this truck yeah, it's the giftthat keeps giving.
Doug (33:13):
Surround yourself with smart people and good people and
you know, and tools and allthese things right.
Mason (33:21):
Absolutely.
Doug (33:22):
Yeah, and these days there are so many resources out there
right between the YouTubevideos, right?
Maybe you've even put some upthere, who knows?
Mason (33:34):
Not quite, but I am youtube mechanic certified.
Doug (33:36):
Yeah, you know I, I heard that, you know, I, I think, um,
I think, uh, uh, what was her?
Uh, ava gregory uh said that inon our podcast when we had her
on that she was youtube mechaniccertified.
Um, so, uh, before we talkabout your second car, which is
(33:57):
also Ford, I did want to ask you, and we like to ask this
question tell us about a songthat makes you think about the
truck.
I think it was a song that youlistened to in the truck, right?
But in thinking back andpreparing for this podcast, you
shared something with us.
Mason (34:19):
Yeah, I'm a huge fan of pretty much all what's I guess
considered classic music.
Now I listen to it so much Idon't consider it classic, but I
love all genres.
But being from the South, Iguess I prefer country, and so
80s and 90s country with joediffy, and he has a song, pickup
(34:39):
man, and one of the verses sayswhen I was 16 I saved a few
hundred bucks.
My first car was a pickup truckand when I heard that song I
just knew that he was talkingabout that was me, so I I would
listen to it in the truck.
I listened to it all the timeand so it was a very, uh,
relatable song.
Doug (35:00):
Yeah, yeah, it definitely, definitely a good fit and uh,
so I do want to ask about youruh, ask about your second
vehicle, which was not a truck,but it was a it was a mustang.
Mason (35:12):
Yes, the 1991 mustang gt.
Uh-huh.
Um, I I love mustangs, as Isaid before, and uh, I say I
pretty much love any year ofmustang.
You know, the mustang 2 gets alittle hairy, but I'll still
give it some love um yep, but Ilove this mustang.
It was, uh, it was the 302, thefive liter, with a five speed
(35:35):
manual, and that's really thecar that I learned to drive
stick shift.
I, I was taught on my freshmanyear roommates.
Uh, 1969 oldsmobile 442, a bigblock with a four speed.
That's where I really learnedhow to drive stick shift.
Okay, um.
But then daily driving amustang is really where I got
(35:56):
comfortable, because I got it inbetween school years, um, so it
was a summer when I was homeand I had to get to my job
during the summer and if I, if Icouldn't drive my stick shift
mustang, I wasn't going to getto work.
So, um, which, funny enough,was at a classic mustang shop.
So I, I was really living themustang dream at the time.
Doug (36:17):
Yep yeah, there are lots of mustangs there, I'm sure, and
they probably heard you uhpulling up definitely about a
mile away.
Yep, yeah, yeah, one of my, oneof my close friends in high
school had one, had a.
It was a 1990 mustang gt Ithink it was blue and they, the
all the gts had the uh what graybottom.
(36:38):
The lower half of it was gray,the the plastic on the bottom.
Yep, yep, the gt flares, Iguess you would call them.
Um, yeah, it was such a neatcar and and 225 horsepower even
back then was a lot, especiallyin a light car like that, that
thing could, oh yeah, shred sometires like, and that's what he
(37:01):
did in it yep, I did the same,yep yep, fun, fun for that.
Um, yeah, so the mustang youdon't have anymore, the truck we
know you're never going to getrid of.
Mason (37:15):
Um, what would be your dream car my ultimate dream car
is the 1967 westing uh.
Gt500 eleanor.
Uh, from the movie gone in 60seconds with nicholas cage.
Um, ever since I saw that movieI fell in love with that car
and that's one of those cars.
People either love it or theyhate it.
Um, but I love it and one day II hope to hopefully eventually
(37:42):
build my own.
That would, it would probably Iwould.
I think that would be more fun.
We'll see when the time comesaround if I'd rather buy one
than build one, but for now I'dlike to build myself one.
Yeah.
Doug (37:56):
Yeah, and you know I should have asked you early on.
I know you mentioned putting aseat cover on the bench seat and
whatnot.
What have you seen as like kindof tasteful upgrades,
especially working at F40Motorsports, that people are
asking for?
And I give this great example,like my DeLorean, you know,
(38:21):
front end, rear engine, rearwheel drive, right, but
steering's still kind of heavy.
It's a stick shift as well.
I have tennis elbow which Ican't seem to get rid of.
It's a 50 plus the age 50 plusthing that you get even if you
don't play tennis, and I hadsome other friends were doing it
(38:43):
too.
I had electric power steeringadded to that and it made it
like a different car to me.
It was.
It's so much more enjoyable.
So just just wondering if, if,whether for your truck or
customers that you've seen,would have been some kind of
modern upgrades that areimportant that you feel enhance
(39:05):
the car but don't take awayanything from it I do.
Mason (39:10):
I've seen a lot of power brake conversions.
Um I one thing that I don'tknow it doesn't really increase
the drivability.
But, uh, electric fuel pumps oncars that don't have them, they
, we sometimes will install themwith a switch under the dash so
you can't even really see itand we'll hide the, the fuel
(39:31):
pump and everything.
But most of the customers thatwe have their cars are in a
collection and they sit and evenjust being where there's actual
winters and salt on the road,and so people put their cars
away for the winter so they sitfor, you know, months on it at a
time.
So when they, when you're tryingto start them up again, that,
especially the, the really oldcars with the six volt battery
(39:53):
systems, they, they, just theystruggle to crank over anyways
on a full battery, so trying toget the fuel all the way up to
the front of the engine and getit started.
So the electric fuel pump arereally great because they flip
the switch.
You fill up the carburetor,you're already ready to go pump
the gas and it should firereally quickly and that way
(40:14):
you're not killing the batteryand the starter and stuff.
So just simple things like thatthat really help it out?
Doug (40:21):
yep, and it could make the difference between somebody put
barely driving a car that's aclassic to driving it a little
more, which I I think goes intoone of the causes that
Christian's going to ask youabout real quick.
Christian (40:37):
Yeah, just as we guide the podcast here gently
towards the off-ramp, we ask ourguests what are causes or
things that are important to you, that you espouse or that
you're passionate about, and youhad a very interesting answer.
Should I read it back to you,mason, or can you paraphrase?
(40:59):
It has to do with a lot of carsjust kind of sitting around and
, as you alluded to, that's theworst thing you can do to
anything mechanical.
Mason (41:07):
Yeah, I believe that all these cars should be driven, and
as much as a car that has satfor a while and needs help
getting running again is jobsecurity for me.
It hurts me more to see allthese cars sitting for such long
periods of time and justgetting neglected and
deteriorating without any love.
And I'm not a crazy funkyspiritual guy or anything, but I
(41:32):
almost believe that cars havesouls.
You can talk to them sometimes,so it sounds a little crazy.
You know it makes it soundbetter, but um it, it helps.
Like you don't, you're notgonna, you're not gonna leave
your best friend and uh, youknow you never talk to them and
whatever, like you're, you'regonna keep.
(41:52):
You know you don't have todrive these cars every day.
They're, they're fun cars tobring out on a nice day or
whatnot, but but letting themsit for just years and years and
I know things happen, but butif you, if you don't have to let
it sit and you shouldn't- Well,I?
Christian (42:07):
the funny thing is, I think you win either way,
because if they sit, you'regoing to fix them, but anything
mechanical will have to be fixedat some point, and that's where
you step in.
So I think you're going to bebusy and passionate about this
field for a very long time tocome, mr Mason, and I want to
thank you for taking some timewith us today, because it was a
(42:28):
distinct pleasure meeting youand speaking with you, and we
wish you all good things, myfriend.
Mason (42:33):
Well, thank you.
Thank you for having me.
I really enjoyed it.
You bet you are welcome backhere anytime, and we wish you
all good things my friend.
Christian (42:36):
Well, thank you.
Thank you for having me.
I really enjoyed it.
You bet you are welcome backhere anytime and we would love
to check back with you every sooften to see what you're into,
what's your latest project, etcetera, et cetera.
But for now you have just heardthe high-revving, low-mileage,
late-modeled herdround-the-world authoritative
podcast on automotive nostalgia.
He's doug.
(42:57):
Reach him at doug atcarslovecom.
I'm christian, reach me atcarslovecom and this was mason.
You know the best way toconnect with him, apparently, is
how doug did it just add afriend?
Add that friend button.
Mason magically appears.
If you like what you're hearing, please follow and tell a
friend.
That helps us grow incontinually finding guests and
(43:18):
telling these stories.
Try out carslovedcom,especially the carousel of
memories, as we like to call it.
Send us the pictures of yourautomobiles, we'll get them up
there.
Check out our link tree, ourdigital switchboard, which is
L-I-N-K-T-R dot E slash Cars.
Loved Always.
I'm sure we'll see you at thenext local car show, showroom,
(43:41):
race show or concourse.
We appreciate you taking a lapwith us.
We will see you next time.
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