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Dive into car culture and automotive nostalgia with Christian and Doug as Rob—passionate car enthusiast and automotive photographer—shares memorable car stories spanning decades. From early Mustang experiences to behind-the-scenes SEMA Show adventures, Rob's journey reveals how automotive passion evolves into professional expertise.
Explore the intersection of automotive photography and car enthusiasm, discovering how documenting car culture deepens appreciation for automotive design, engineering, and community. Rob discusses the technical challenges of capturing automotive beauty, the evolution of car show culture, and why certain vehicles become photographic subjects that transcend mere transportation.
Don't miss Rob's favorite episode with plenty of Mustangs: https://buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/16548659-from-mustang-gt-builds-to-pontiac-gto-restorations-weber-state-automotive-tech-education
Essential listening for Mustang enthusiasts, automotive photographers, SEMA Show attendees, and anyone fascinated by how car passion transforms into career paths. Learn about automotive journalism, car show dynamics, classic American performance cars, and the art of automotive storytelling through visual media.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christian (00:03):
Welcome back to Planet Earth to your
authoritative podcast wheremotor mounts meet memories.
It's to all the cars I've lovedbefore Carslovecom, where we
take a walk down memory lane andmeet some wonderful people,
some pulled from our past, somewe met just today.
And thanks to everybody fortaking this ride with us,
(00:25):
whether you are listening fromaround the world or down the
street.
We wanted to mention that wewould, if you can, follow the
show and I say that a lot, wesay that a lot but ensure that
it shows up in your library.
Doug, can we just take a secondand talk about the follow
(00:45):
mechanism?
Now it's where you have to goto the show page and hit the
little plus that says follow.
I don't know why.
Sometimes I feel like they makeit so small.
Is it just me?
But if you click that, Ibelieve it shows in your library
and then you're always informedwhen a new episode comes up.
Right?
Doug (01:06):
Correct and our cadence, we've been 100% consistent.
Has been every other week onTuesday morning.
Well evening, right?
Oh no, when the episode drops,sorry, yes.
Correct, correct, you'retalking about recording.
So, yes, but who knows, maybewe'll start doing more.
(01:26):
But yes, if you want to, if youwant to be alerted to the first
, first, new, latest episode.
When it drops, hit, follow.
It also helps us know that whatwe're doing is valuable to the
listeners.
Christian (01:42):
Absolutely, you're enjoying it.
You want more?
Yeah, so is the followmechanism also the same with
different platforms, streamingplatforms?
Doug (01:54):
You know, maybe they don't call it follow on, Selma, I
only use Apple, but Spotify hasa follow, I believe, or
something similar.
Christian (02:06):
So we're on all the major ones.
Yeah, yeah.
So if you like what you'rehearing, please, it helps
complete the feedback loop forus.
You can always email us, butplease do follow the show.
That way, you will always beaware of the stuff that we do
and as we move into newplatforms, we can engage in
those places moving forward.
So this is the place where wetalk about life lessons through
(02:28):
cars.
Again, please follow the show.
Reach out over mail.
We're getting more and moremail christianatcarslovecom or
dougatcarslovecom.
We continue to buy as manydomains as we can, but those are
the best email addresses to getto us.
So I think those are the callsto action.
But, doug, there were a fewemails that I got in with some
(02:52):
listeners saying hey, you know,you guys sit comfortably at the
intersection of memorabilia,automobilia and media.
And I got to thinking aboutthat and we always you know,
whether you're sitting aroundwith your kids and you're seeing
automobiles, cars in movies, inTV shows, in music, in books
(03:20):
they really do permeate past,present and future.
And it got me to thinking ofwhat are what are some ways that
?
What are some ways we comeacross All right, whether it's
Miami Vice, cars in that show asa kid, knight, rider, starsky
and Hutch depends on how.
Car 54, where are you now?
How far back do you go?
(03:41):
Andy Griffith's show, rightWith the police cars and that
sort of thing.
So, doug and I are big readersand I just finished a book here
by Bob Lutz I'm holding it upfor the camera and I read a book
of his a few years ago, carGuys vs Bean Counters, about
(04:01):
this push-pull between leadingwith your gut and sort of
constantly being micromanaged byeither the dollar, the widget,
the metrics or the KPI, and Ienjoyed that one so much that I
bought this one, and it took mekind of years.
My to-be-read shelf is groaningwith books.
Under the weight of the booksand this icons and idiots, bob
(04:24):
Lutz does something reallyinteresting and he of course has
held executive positions allover the world for car companies
all over the world.
Doug (04:34):
Ford of Europe, chrysler, gm.
They kept bringing him back outof retirement.
He had something to do with theDodge Viper.
Christian (04:42):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And in this book he talks aboutkind of some Opel let's see, he
worked for BMW for a time,that's correct Talks about
(05:10):
working for the.
You know Philip Caldwell atFord Everybody knows red polling
at Ford Lee Iacocca at Chrysler, eaton also at Chrysler, and
just on and on.
And then ultimately RichardWagner at General Motors and he
kind of talks about I wouldn'tsay it's a no-holds-barred.
(05:31):
You can see I've dog-eared somany pages.
Lutz is really a natural writerand a great turn of a phrase
and he just talks about sort ofthe pros and cons about these
people's leadership style.
There are some sharpobservations but really it's
very interesting.
I was surprised by the depth ofthis.
I don't read a whole lot ofbusiness books, but I don't know
, I just find myself kind of.
(05:52):
You know I tend to read prettywidely, but I thought this book
was really interesting.
So, doug, before we introducetoday's guest, any books you've
read recently, kind of, to start, the media, kind of the media.
Doug (06:07):
Go ahead.
Well, a book I have on my shelfthat I've read and then started
rereading and then stopped, iscalled the Gold-Plated Portia,
and so that book was written by.
Let's see, give me one second,I'm actually going to walk over
(06:27):
and grab it.
Christian (06:27):
Yeah, I was actually looking on my bookshelf as well
for the car guys versus beancounters.
I couldn't find it.
Maybe I lent it out.
I need to stop doing that.
He was editor of Car and Driver.
Doug (06:37):
Road and Track no-transcript, but he loved
(07:05):
doing it and it.
It actually is the book thatgot me really interested in the
intersection of cars and media,which actually question you know
.
The next step was the book Iwas gonna write called to all
the cars I've loved before thatyou talked me into turning into
a podcast, which I'm so glad youdid.
(07:26):
Amen, because it's not lonelywriting that book.
Yeah.
Christian (07:30):
And yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
Doug (07:32):
And we get to meet people, like our next guest actually,
which is a great, great one,perfect segue, well done.
Rob (07:41):
Go ahead, hey, charles, good, good evening.
Doug (07:45):
Good evening, good evening .
Good evening.
So with us is Rob, who wehaven't officially met in person
except over the interweb.
But Rob and I connected overFacebook, if I remember
correctly, via City of AnnapolisCars and Coffee post that I did
for our podcast many moons ago.
(08:06):
And yeah, tell us a little bitabout yourself, rob, and you
know your early, early goingsand you have some great car
stories I hope we can get to.
I hope we can get to at leastthree of them, if you have about
30.
Rob (08:23):
Yeah, yeah, so again, again .
My name is rob.
I was, uh, born and raised inthe baltimore area.
Um, and uh, I've always beensort of excited about cars and
always sort of had a specialplace in my heart for mustangs
and, um, so at this point in mylife I've owned, I've owned a
(08:46):
few mustangs, which has beenI've been really fortunate in
that in that regard.
And uh, now I do try to get out, to get out to cars and coffees
and car shows and things likethat, because I just like going
out and seeing cars.
It doesn't matter to me to makethe model whatever, I just want
to go out and I want to seewhat other people have done with
their car.
What are, are they proud of?
(09:06):
And, um, you know, hear thestory similar, similar to what?
To what?
What we're doing here?
That's that, to me, is what thecommunity is like all about.
Doug (09:16):
Yeah, and that, um, not to take it away from you, right?
Um, but one of your hobbies, um, from you, right?
Um, but one of your hobbies, um, intersected with cars, and
back to media again is, as a um,and I'll say this, this may not
be accurate as a amateur, uh,car photographer, right?
Rob (09:35):
Yeah, yeah, I I I've done a little bit of professional
photography.
Um, but I do I.
I, by doing some car events, II've now done some photography
for two different onlinemagazines or online websites
whatever carshowscom as well asStang Magazine.
(09:55):
They really helped me get mestarted in this business and
I've been really fortunate thatthrough one of those, I got a
connection and I was able toattend the SEMA show two years
ago in 2022.
And that was a real eye openingexperience.
Pretty, pretty amazing stuffout there.
Doug (10:17):
Yes, so for the listeners, I'm familiar with SEMA.
I haven't been to it.
I think it's always in LasVegas.
Yeah familiar with SEMA?
I haven't been to it.
I think it's always in LasVegas, yeah, and tell everybody
what it stands for and whatyou've seen there, or what the
experience is like.
I mean, it's like the superrock stars, if you will, of
(10:40):
custom automobiles.
Right, I'll leave the rest toyou.
Rob (10:43):
Yeah, so SEMA is the Special Equipment Manufacturers
Association.
So they're the advocates foranybody trying to make
aftermarket parts for cars.
They're the ones.
By the way, if you have a carwith a loud exhaust, they're the
ones that are fighting so youcan still modify the exhaust in
your car if you want to get ittuned.
They're the ones going to courtfor for you.
(11:05):
So, um, good, good organizationto support, but at the show.
The goal of the show is thatall these aftermarket equipment
manufacturers come and want toshow off their their latest um
inventions and thing andproducts to the you.
You know, no matter what it is,if you're into trucks that you
can put campers on, there's 10or 12 people making campers that
(11:27):
fit on top of trucks.
There's people making all kindsof paint and paint protection
and um tires and wheels, and youname it.
Um, the show is just absolutelymassive, though.
It covers seven um conferencehalls.
Um uh and I was only able I wasonly able to cover two halls a
(11:49):
day.
So the show, because I had amedia pass, I got in on monday
as a preview day and thentuesday, wednesday, thursday, I
walked the show every day.
I probably walked 10 miles, 10miles a day looking at all this
stuff and you're seeing all thisequipment that the
manufacturers have out but themanufacturers also want to show
off like this is what ourproduct could look like on your
(12:10):
car.
So that's where you startseeing all these builds.
People bring in these reallyhigh-end builds.
You know builds that are two,three hundred thousand dollars.
Um, you get all the majorplayers are there.
Like I met.
Oh, my gosh, blanking can digit.
Um, uh, can't, can't think ofhis name off the top of my head.
Um, but met him there.
(12:31):
Um, in fact, one time I wentinto the bathroom and I turned
around and there's chip foos.
I was like I didn't want tobother him while, while he was
there, but afterwards I was likehey how you doing, you know,
and um thanked him, just for youknow what he I like to thank.
I like to thank him for what hedoes for the, for the industry,
Cause I think he's sort of a um,you know, a champion for the
(12:52):
industry and just you know theway, the way, the way it should,
it should be done, um.
But yeah, they also havecompetitions for builders.
So, um, they have cars umparked all over where people can
can enter their cars into, intoa competition.
Some of them are, you know,very professionally judged Um,
(13:12):
and you have cars there, likethe one car won the Riddler
award in Detroit that year.
It was on, it was on display,and the crazy part is there's so
many cars you go outside andthere's cars parked outside that
people probably have a hundred$200,000 in these cars.
There's just not enough room inthe halls, cause that's where
they're showing off all theactual equipment.
People are parking you know,000, $200,000 cars outside, just so
(13:38):
they can be part of the showthat, otherwise these cars may
never see the light of day.
It's amazing.
I dig it.
Christian (13:45):
Now is it true that SEMA is not open to the public,
so it's kind of abusiness-to-business true
industry.
Rob (13:53):
Yeah, you got it In order to attend, in order to get a
ticket to walk in the door youhave to prove you're a part of
the industry so you have to workfor, for you know you can buy a
ticket if you work for, like,an automotive repair shop or a
paint or a body shop kind of athing, or whatever.
Um, people in the media get inthat are, um, you know, into um
(14:15):
media and and doing stuff forfor the industry.
But on fridays the public areallowed in that last day the
public is actually allowed in umand it's only like a half day
event.
It's kind of cool.
Some of the cars.
They do a big rollout event, umat the end of the day on friday
, so you see some of the carssort of like parading out and
(14:36):
stuff like that.
Um, I should mention too one ofthe things I forgot is so wild
like while you're there, theyhad two different drift tracks
there outside and they're doingexhibitions all day and um.
I may or may not have snuck intoum one of the booths so I could
get closer to the track.
But pretty, pretty, prettyamazing stuff there.
Christian (15:00):
Fantastic memory Good deal.
Yeah, that sounds like a lot offun.
But we have to step into theway back time machine and let's
transport back to when you wereyounger and how it all started.
What was your first car?
Where did it come from?
What?
Rob (15:17):
was it?
It was a 1986 ChevroletSpectrum in dark blue and my dad
put a red pinstripe on it.
And this car, when my mom gotit, it was meant to be like an
Econobox, super cheap car.
So when my mom got it she gotlike the bare bones version.
I don't know if there was anyoptions on the car, so it had,
(15:40):
you know, crank windows, manuallocks, um, everything was just
very manual and basic about thecar.
It did have air conditioning,which was really nice, um, and
in fact when it came from thefactory there wasn't even a
radio installed in the car.
And so my parents, when theybought the car, told the dealer
you got to put a radio in it.
So they went back a week laterand had the radio installed.
(16:02):
But I mean, that's how you knowit was something, it was a car
that at the time that you knowthey needed a car, they bought a
new car and I was.
You know that was where, thatwas where, where it came from.
A few years later, when Ibecame of age to be able to
drive, my dad fortunately um hadbeen given a company car
(16:23):
because of what he did for sales, um, so my mom took his 1988
Ford Taurus station wagon,another, another cool, another
cool, retro.
Christian (16:35):
Absolutely.
Rob (16:38):
Turn all the heads, yeah, um.
And then I got, I got her, uh,I got her a spectrum.
Doug (16:41):
So nice, nice and um you, you mentioned the didn't come
with the radio, did have ac, ithad crank right.
Were there any?
Um looking towards your future,were there any mods that were
done to this unique chevyspectrum, or bare bones with the
red pinstripe?
Rob (17:01):
yeah, yeah.
So, um yeah, my dad um out of ajc whitney catalog ordered a
little in intermittent wipermodule and he installed that one
one weekend.
So eventually it hadintermittent wipers, which today
, of course, is standard, unlikeevery car, but in the 80s that
was a, that was a feature, youknow yep um yeah, it was.
(17:23):
And when I got a hold of it umthe radio of course came out.
I put a tape deck in it.
I cut some bigger holes in therear, in the rear deck lid, put
some jensen six by nines in theback deck lid and um put it to
pieces yeah, I had some fun withit, um, but all in all, all in
all, it was pretty stock, but itgot me from a, from from a to b
(17:43):
and got me to school, and I wasvery, very lucky to have a car
at that yeah, not not only fromthat, but my favorite part about
this story and about thespectrum is that it seemed to
help several of your pals in theneighborhood pass their driving
test.
Christian (18:00):
I've never heard anything like this, so walk us
through how that happened.
Rob (18:03):
Yeah.
So it was a.
It was a good, a good luckcharm.
That um, myself and three of myfriends all passed their
driver's exam the first time inthat car.
So a couple of my friends werejust like you know, I want to go
, go, get my, get my drivers,get my driver's test.
My parents don't have time, I'mlike I'll take you after school
(18:24):
, let's go.
So you know the one girl, sheyou know we went up, we went to
a parking lot.
She practiced parallel parkingonce or twice, whatever, and
went up and passed the exam.
We stopped in McDonald's on theway home.
It was a thank you and that waskind of cool.
And actually one of the girls Iran.
I ran.
I ran into her at a, at areunion um over the summer, and
(18:47):
I saw her and I said you know, Iremember the story, I remember
you passing.
She's like that's a funny thingyou mentioned.
Like my parents were reallyinto, you know, letting me go
out and do some of the driver'sexams, but they were not going
to take me for my license.
She's like if you didn't takeme, I don't think.
I don't think I would have hadmy license to this day, like wow
, so, um, it was pretty cool, soyeah man, you did a good turn.
Christian (19:10):
Now, one thing that you said that didn't strike me
when we were first talking aboutthis, or or when this story
first came to light, was sothere was an element of this car
being good luck yeah, which Ilove.
So everybody said, hey, well,you know, whether it's, whether
it's, you know, willingsomething to be true, or it's
easy to drive, or just kind ofsomehow the, the, the car willed
(19:36):
the person testing you to passyou because you look responsible
in it, I think that's prettyneat, you did somebody a good
turn to be sure.
Rob (19:42):
Yeah, so remember four people passing the exam with no
power steering either, becausethat's back then that was an
option.
Christian (19:52):
Yeah, that's great.
So you didn't have to go to thegym either.
You were getting your workoutfighting the steering Lovely.
Doug (19:59):
My second car didn't have power steering and by my choice,
it was a stick shift Boy.
That was a workout, let's see.
And if memory serves, chevySpectrum was not actually made
by Chevvrolet.
Rob (20:16):
Right, it was what we'd call badge engineering by a
close uh gm partner yeah, myunderstanding is that I, that is
, I was actually designed byasuzu and sort of rebranded and,
um, I think azuzu co sold it astheir own their own, I don't
remember what they called it I?
Doug (20:35):
I think it was the iMark.
Rob (20:37):
That sounds right.
Doug (20:38):
Yep, yep and GM owned part of Isuzu, so there were a lot
of those.
Rob (20:44):
I'll say partnerships, competition, fun fact, fun fact
about that car.
It actually had another namebecause it was the Chevy
Spectrum from 86, I think, tolike 80, or 85, to like 88.
And then the Geo brand camealong, it became a.
Geo Spectrum for like a year.
(21:06):
Good call yeah.
Doug (21:09):
I know somebody on this podcast who owned a Geo.
I did.
Christian (21:14):
I love that little car.
You could go anywhere on a tankof gas.
Rob (21:19):
Was that the?
Christian (21:19):
little convertible Gio.
Rob (21:22):
No, I wasn't that cool.
I wasn't cool enough to have aconvertible Gio, but yeah.
Christian (21:26):
I was lame enough to have a regular Gio for a moment.
Geo.
Doug (21:30):
Metro.
Christian (21:31):
Yeah, in my misguided youth I spent a lot of time
without a car and having a bumride.
I bought whatever car I couldafford by scraping change out of
the nearest sofa.
But wow, bringing back memories.
Good times, yeah.
But that didn't last longbecause we moved on to the first
of many pony cars, right, yes,sir, yeah.
Rob (21:55):
So I had the opportunity when I was in college.
My parents were like, hey, ifyou want sell the spectrum, buy
you.
You know, I had some money thatmy grandparents had given me
through the years and said tobuy a car.
And I was like, you know, I got, I got some money in my pocket.
Can I afford a mustang?
I'd always been dreaming of one.
So I bought an 87 um mustang gtwith the ground effects kit and
(22:17):
that big spoiler on the backand, uh, 50 yeah, it was 50,
that one, that one, the car, thepaint on it was terrible, it
was white, it was like peelingand all that kind of stuff.
So we knew when I bought itthat it was gonna get um painted
.
So I got it painted a reallydark gray which was a factory
color, but they normally didlike a two-tone.
I did the whole car solid in itand the painter even said like
(22:39):
I'm not so sure about this, butwhen he was done he's like this
looks really solid.
Christian (22:43):
He really liked it um so where'd you get it painted?
Rob (22:47):
um, my dad, like knew a guy , that knew a guy and somebody
did it like in their spare timeborrowed somebody's booth and
painted it like overnight and itdidn't look terrible.
Christian (22:57):
You say it looked good.
It looked pretty good.
Yeah, custom painted metallicdark gray.
Doug (23:03):
Golly I wish.
Christian (23:03):
We had a photo.
Rob (23:05):
Love to see that yeah.
Doug (23:10):
So that car I'm sure was a lot of fun, but maybe not a lot
of fun in the rain or the snowor a long trip.
Is that true?
Rob (23:20):
Yeah, that's very true.
Yeah, that GT suspension.
You got on the highway for 30minutes and you knew you were
driving a GT.
It like banged you around.
That ride was no fun.
And then, in the rain and snow,forget it.
When I was in college, I had toget the car.
I had to move it for a springbreak.
It was snow, there was some,but you had to get it out of the
(23:40):
school lot for spring break.
So I was going to put it behindmy buddy's house a half mile
away and I had to get out of alittle parking garage parking
area and there was this littletiny hill and it took me a half
hour of trying to get up thishill, back up and gain as much
speed as I can to drift over thetop.
And then I finally got out ofthat lot.
And then there was this biglong hill that had to go up and
(24:03):
that car just wouldn't do it.
There's no weight in the back,too much torque.
The tires weren't reallydesigned for it.
So my friends pushed me up thehill and that's how I finally
got a part.
So, um, comically, um, my, mygrandfather, um, he passed when
I was in, when I was in college.
But he had a 79 jeep, cherokee,um, four-wheel drive.
(24:26):
Yeah, my parents were like, hey, since that car, since the
mustang's so terrible in thewinter, why don't you take, take
the chair, take the?
Uh, take the cherokee back.
And this thing, my grandfathersaid, hey, why don't we get it
painted?
So he gave it to a local guy topaint and he said paint it
yellow.
And it was like it was alreadylike a 70s yellow.
But the guy painted it likereally bright yellow.
(24:47):
I can't even describe howbright this thing was yellow on
the bottom, black on top, um, itwas, it was, it was something.
Um, so that thing, that thingwas fun though that um.
I was dating a girl in college.
She lived like an hour away.
So over over a difference, overa different break, I, um and I
(25:09):
drove up to her place and I'mdriving back on the Pennsylvania
Turnpike and I hear this soundas it goes flap, flap, flap,
flap, clunk.
I was like what the heck wasthat.
I look up and there's somethingspinning right in the middle of
the road.
It looks like a two literbottle of soda spinning in the
middle of the road.
I'm like what the heck is that?
And so I pull over and I lookat the car and like there's no
(25:32):
lights going on, the battery'sstill charging.
I'm like that just might be thestarter on my car.
So I open up the hood and Idouble check and like all the
belts are still connected andstuff, and said I'm pretty sure
that's the starter, said well,let me go claim it.
So as I'm walking back like thequarter mile to claim it, a
semi truck, 18 wheeler truck, iscoming down the turnpike.
He sees me on the side of theroad so, to be polite, he's like
(25:55):
he starts switching lanes.
So and as he switches lanes,sure enough he hits that thing.
You hear this bang and I waslike he probably got a flat tire
and it was bad.
So I finally you know traffic,traffic, there wasn't any
traffic I ran out, grabbed thisthing, picked it up by the um,
by the pigtail electrical cord,and it's all beat up to crap now
(26:16):
because it's been run over byan 18 wheel and I'm like, looks
like a starter.
So I just get back and get backto the truck, throw it down in
the seat, drive back the toschool and I'm like all right,
here's the plan.
I'm gonna pull into the gasstation, leave the car running,
put the car running, put gas inthe truck, put gas in the truck.
Then drive over to my dorm,leave the car running out front,
(26:38):
grab all my stuff, all my dirtylaundry from college and then
drive back to my parents' housebecause I still had more time on
break and let my dad help medeal with this problem.
And it had a shifter on thecolumn, automatic.
And I get into the gas stationout of habit.
You just grab the shifter, putit in park, turn the key and I
(26:59):
go to get out.
And I go, oh no, and sureenough, I turn the key and
nothing, nothing at all.
That was the last time I drovethe car and the last time I saw
the girl.
So Well you raise.
Christian (27:11):
You raise a good point, though you don't really
need a need a starter if younever turn it off exactly, yeah,
I mean as long as you haveendless access to fuel, like I
think you're really on tosomething here yeah right, solar
panels on the roof and well.
I dig it.
I dig it.
Well then, one of many Mustangsfrom what I see from the file
(27:37):
we have on Mr Rob.
Rob (27:40):
Yes, sir, yes sir.
So right now I daily drive a2018 EcoBoost convertible.
It is red, black, interior.
It's a premium edition, so it'sgot some really nice upgrades
just from the factory.
Then I've done some work to itand it's car show worthy from
(28:02):
the outside.
From the outside, I like tothink of it as it looks like it
should have come from thefactory.
If you look at it and go didthat come from the factory that
way?
And then you open the hood andyou go, okay, that's definitely
not factory anymore.
Christian (28:17):
And, yeah, what he's describing and I'm looking at it
, so we're trying to describe tolistener land what he's done,
the hood line right, so he opensthe hood real nice and wide
here, and what it is is, ifyou're not familiar with the
Maryland state flag it's thebest state flag out of all 50, I
have to be honest, it lookslike a coat of arms.
(28:38):
It's four quadrants.
The upper, left and lower rightare kind of this yellow and
black check that looks like aracing car flag, and then the
alternating quadrants on top,right and lower left are almost
like this, would you say.
It's sort of like, uh, either asword or a cross.
Rob (28:55):
It's a cross, yeah, maybe, maybe like, maybe like a
knight's cross or somethingexactly, exactly that's what I
was going to say.
Christian (29:02):
It looks like, uh, like a, um, like a medieval
castle flag, something we flyingover, and I think it's is it.
Let me get this wrong, but isthe?
Is it called the the john?
Is it the john calvert familycrest or something?
I think that, uh, we can lookinto that later.
We can have somebody fact checkus.
I'm not big on the factchecking, but in the middle of
(29:24):
the so the hoodliner is the flagand in the middle of the flag
it's the mustang, the pony thatlooks like it's flaming.
It's it's.
It's kind of stretched out instreaks.
It's going so fast and itactually is a callback to the
little pony on the front grillof the car.
It's really something else.
It's very distinctive and, ifit's okay with Rob, we're going
(29:46):
to put this up on our sitebecause I've never seen anything
like that before.
What do you think, doug Ditto?
Doug (29:50):
ditto.
I've never seen anything likethat before.
What do you think?
Doug, ditto, ditto.
And he's also got some nice redaccents underneath the hood
which are colorful and about thesame color as the car, but
they're also mods.
So you've done a couple mods tothis Mustang as well.
Rob (30:09):
Yeah, I've had the front bumper off of that car three or
four times now.
I put an aftermarketintercooler.
It's got an intake.
I had it professionally tunedso factory it was like 240
horsepower to the rear wheelsbecause again it's a
four-cylinder turbo car.
Um, it now puts about 290 tothe wheels, which, oh wow, at
the crank at the crank that'slike 330 at the crank, factory
and now it's probably close to400 um, which a gt is like 460.
(30:34):
So I'm I'm getting closer to gtterritory.
I'm never going to compete withthe gt.
I know that um and that's fine,but it just makes the car a
little more, a little more funto drive, a little more kick yep
, yep, a little louder probably,and uh, yeah, yeah yeah,
actually I try to keep it downlike four cylinder.
I'm not a big fan of exhaust onthere, unlike my 87 Mustang
(30:58):
where I had the mufflers removedand I ran straight pipe and
that thing was would like wakethe neighbors.
But this car, this car, I keepit quiet Like I'm like trying to
be a good neighbor, yeah, agood citizen.
Doug (31:12):
Yeah, I hear you, I hear you I hear you, so yeah, so go
ahead, doug.
No, no I was going to say, andthere's another Mustang.
So I think we're on the fourthone, maybe.
Rob (31:25):
Third one, third one.
Christian (31:27):
Yeah, I love how he starts in the 80s in 87.
No-transcript.
(32:00):
How would you even describe it,rob?
Rob (32:03):
it's a kind of a metallic kind of a kind of a copper color
with like a little bit of extraorange in it yeah yeah, there
was a.
There was a plymouth prowlerlike factory color.
That's close, but it has alittle more orange in it.
Um, the cool part about aboutthis color you know ford.
Ford offered it in 65 as acustom order color.
(32:26):
About 400 people did it.
So there's there's none hardlyany of those left at all In 66,
they offered it as a factoryoption.
12% of the cars were sold likethat.
So it's like 60,000 cars or soare this color from 66.
And then they stopped.
So the color is very unique,unique to the year, and that's
(32:50):
actually the reason that I havethis car.
Car is because of the color.
So when I got my 2018convertible, um, my dad started
seeing what I was doing with itand he started reminiscing about
all the car, all the Mustangshe owned, cause he's owned
several, but my grandmother he'sloved before.
Doug (33:07):
Yes.
Rob (33:08):
He's on.
He's owned a couple as well.
But my grandmother, she boughta 1966 Ford Mustang in Ember
Glow.
It was an automatic car withthe deluxe two-tone interior
they also call that the ponyinterior and it had a center
(33:28):
console in it.
And my dad kept telling mestories about how gorgeous this
like interior was and stuff likethat.
And I finally saw one at a carshow and I was like man, one day
I've got to have one.
And so I went ahead and abouttwo years ago I found um was
(33:52):
diagnosed with cancer and I waslike, oh man, I've always wanted
one of these and I wanted to beable to make some memories with
him and I thought I had likemore time.
You know, I was like I need to,I need to have one.
So we, we figured out how to,how to be able to um afford one,
um, we were lucky that we wereable to to, to make make that
happen.
Um, and then um, so I got, Igot, I got one of these cars.
(34:16):
Um, my dad is now on the mend.
He's doing, he's doing well,he's been treated and doing well
, so that's really exciting.
So now he likes telling thestories too, about, about the
car.
Cause I I kind of left I kindof left this out earlier that my
grandmother didn't just own oneof these cars, she owned two of
these cars.
She owned the first one was asix cylinder and my dad was
(34:38):
coming home from college and, um, he ended up sliding on some
ash that back then that theyused to put ash down on the road
for like track for um, tractionin the winter, and he slid on
that.
It was dry, it was inPennsylvania and the road, the
road was covered in this, thisstuff, and he slid on it and
total, total the car.
And he told my, he told mygrandfather, he said you know,
(35:01):
if I had more power I would havebeen able to sort of like power
slide out of this thing orwhatever.
So I think so when theyreplaced the car, they got the
V8 version, because mygrandmother, my grandfather,
literally went out to the crashsite and looked and said, yeah,
I think you're right, if you hadmore power you could have made
it.
So the second one, mygrandmother got a second one,
same color same identical car iswhat it sounds like, but with a
(35:25):
V8 in it, but with a V8 in it.
So this car, this car that I hadstart out pretty much like hers
, her boat, but both of hers hada black vinyl roof.
Black vinyl doesn't wear verywell.
It does terrible things forrust underneath and stuff like
that, so this car.
This car does not have the vinylroof, um, but this car started
out with the same two, two, two89 motor in it.
(35:46):
Um, someone did a lot of niceengine work for me, putting a
four barrel carburetor and anintake and a water pump and a
cam headers exhaust, so itrumbles a little bit that one
will wake the numbers.
So I try to be.
I try to be really polite whenI start and I have to leave for
a car show at eight o'clock inthe morning, um.
But now I, over the winter Itore out every piece of the
(36:08):
braking system and I put discbrakes up front and drum brakes
and rebuilt the drums in therear and upgraded suspension in
the rear and um year by yearit's getting getting some
upgrades here and there.
That my goal is.
From the outside and the insideit looks factory, but the
drivetrain, free game.
I'm going to upgrade it andmake it everything, everything I
can, because I want to be ableto drive and really enjoy the
(36:29):
car.
Um, so so.
Doug (36:32):
Yeah, that's a restomod to a degree.
Rob (36:36):
Right.
Doug (36:37):
Yeah, there's so many modern.
Anybody who's heard me talk?
I had electric power steeringadded to my DeLorean.
Oh my God, it's like adifferent car.
The new suspension too, but itwas like driving a different car
.
It was so much, and it's uh,adjustable, um, in the in the
(36:59):
amount of assist.
But, yeah, there's.
There's electric airconditioning, uh, condensers for
cars, um, as you mentioned,just brakes make it, make a big
difference.
Yeah, there are just so manythings that can make these cars
just so much more enjoyable thanthey ever could have been from
the factory, even though backthen we had a different set of
(37:22):
standards, if you will.
Rob (37:24):
Right.
Well, I have a throwback onthis car, on my 66, that my
transmission was acting up and Iwas, like you know, I could
spend $2,500 or so and try tohave the transmission rebuilt
and reinstalled, but I knew oneday I wanted to put overdrive in
it.
So rather than do that, I founda transmission, an AOD
(37:44):
transmission, out of like an 89Ford Mustang, had that rebuilt.
I do not do transmissions, Iknow my limits.
So had that rebuilt.
I do not do transmissions, Iknow my, I know my limits, um,
so I had a shop I had a shoplocally here install that and
saw that for me.
So this car actually has umoverdrive in it.
Um, it has a custom valve bodythough.
So I ha, I can select firstgear, second gear, and then I
(38:08):
have drive, you know third gear,slash fourth gear and I have a
I use the factory fog lightswitch as my overdrive lockout
so I can basically lock outfourth gear and keep the car in
third gear, so I can drive thecar out of a red light like a
stick.
First, second, third, I'm going30 miles an hour and I want
second gear.
I can just pull it down intosecond gear and just go Um, but
(38:30):
I don't have to deal.
I don't have to deal, I don'thave to deal with the clutch um,
which I don't mind, I can drive.
I can drive stick.
You know, my 87 mustang was astick um, but I wanted this car
so I can also take it to paradesso other people can can see it.
I wanted so my wife can driveit.
She's not very comfortabledriving stick, so now the whole
family can enjoy it.
So yeah, it's a yeah, it's agood time.
Doug (38:53):
No, that's uh, that's awesome.
And yeah, uh, uh.
What do they say?
Uh, necessity is the mother ofinvention.
Is that what they said?
So, yeah, you found.
You found another transmission,you from another mustang, yes,
vintage of your first mustanginto the same vintage of your
grandmother's mustang.
You got it that your dad droveso beautiful and as we oh, go
(39:19):
ahead.
No, no, I was just going to sayI I'm taking the words out of
your mouth.
Uh, christian, um, I can't waitto put these pictures up on our
website.
They, they're gorgeous.
And you know rob saying he's a,you know, I said he was the
amateur photographer.
That was not fair.
These photos, they are gorgeousyeah, well, the, the, the.
Christian (39:42):
The subject makes it easy, but the inside is just
just a time capsule and in andjust hypnotically beautiful.
The thing I like about theinterior, the seats, they're
two-tone.
So I believe Rob was sayingthat the white is called
parchment, the name of the coloris called parchment, and it's
(40:04):
just so beautiful.
So as we wind down here andthere it is, he's showing it
down.
I love the center console too.
Doug (40:11):
Very 60s Just a little like rails going down front to
back all the way full way.
Christian (40:18):
Yeah, so do you uh, and is as we uh are talking
about the.
The weather is changing here aswe move through season three
and make sure you get outside.
Get outside with your cars, goto a car and coffee, go to a car
show, talk to people abouttheir, their cars, and so this
one makes the round with you tocar shows, rob.
Rob (40:39):
Absolutely.
It was just out on Saturday, acouple of days ago, or Sunday
Rather, it was at a car show tobenefit a cancer or cancer
support organization, which wasan awesome, an awesome thing to
do, and unfortunately the carsnever brought home a first place
trophy support organization,which was an awesome, an awesome
thing to do.
Um and um, unfortunately thecars never brought home a first
place trophy.
It's brought home a couple ofseconds and thirds, um, but in
(41:00):
the end I don't go to the carshows to get a trophy or to get
the hardware.
It's nice to be recognized, butreally I go, cause I just like
talking to people about theircars, just like, just like you,
I want to go, I want to see whatpeople are doing with them and
um just check them out.
Christian (41:17):
Yeah, I can see you.
You light up when you talkabout them.
Your enthusiasm is uh, comesright through the line.
So, hey, it was great meetingyou.
Rob, I just want to thank youfor taking some time, and I
think that's a wonderful way tobutton up the show is to kind of
book in with this Mustang yourfirst, the one you have now and
(41:40):
then you kind of went back inhistory to fulfill the dream and
kind of bring it back to familywith your grandmother and your
father.
So just great stuff.
It was great meeting you and,if it's okay, we'd like to put
some of this on the website.
Rob (41:54):
Yeah, absolutely Looking forward to it.
Yeah, right.
Doug (41:57):
And you know you could say every Mustang tells a story.
In this case at least three.
Yeah.
Christian (42:04):
Yep, yeah, he's definitely, he's definitely got
a type, as they say yeah, yes.
Doug (42:09):
Yep, all right.
Christian (42:16):
Well, no, say yeah, yes, yeah, all right.
Well, no, I was just gonnagonna wrap up the show here.
Uh, this was to all the carsI've loved before, thanks to our
new friend rob and uh, check usout, if you like us, follow.
If you really like us, tell afriend I'm christian at
carslovecom, he is doug atcarslovecom.
Let us know how we did take thepoll, take the survey, get
involved, then have you on theshow.
Welcome back to Planet Earth to your
authoritative podcast wheremotor mounts meet memories.
It's to all the cars I've lovedbefore Carslovecom, where we
take a walk down memory lane andmeet some wonderful people,
some pulled from our past, somewe met just today.
And thanks to everybody fortaking this ride with us,
(00:25):
whether you are listening fromaround the world or down the
street.
We wanted to mention that wewould, if you can, follow the
show and I say that a lot, wesay that a lot but ensure that
it shows up in your library.
Doug, can we just take a secondand talk about the follow
(00:45):
mechanism?
Now it's where you have to goto the show page and hit the
little plus that says follow.
I don't know why.
Sometimes I feel like they makeit so small.
Is it just me?
But if you click that, Ibelieve it shows in your library
and then you're always informedwhen a new episode comes up.
Right?
Doug (01:06):
Correct and our cadence, we've been 100% consistent.
Has been every other week onTuesday morning.
Well evening, right?
Oh no, when the episode drops,sorry, yes.
Correct, correct, you'retalking about recording.
So, yes, but who knows, maybewe'll start doing more.
(01:26):
But yes, if you want to, if youwant to be alerted to the first
, first, new, latest episode.
When it drops, hit, follow.
It also helps us know that whatwe're doing is valuable to the
listeners.
Christian (01:42):
Absolutely, you're enjoying it.
You want more?
Yeah, so is the followmechanism also the same with
different platforms, streamingplatforms?
Doug (01:54):
You know, maybe they don't call it follow on, Selma, I
only use Apple, but Spotify hasa follow, I believe, or
something similar.
Christian (02:06):
So we're on all the major ones.
Yeah, yeah.
So if you like what you'rehearing, please, it helps
complete the feedback loop forus.
You can always email us, butplease do follow the show.
That way, you will always beaware of the stuff that we do
and as we move into newplatforms, we can engage in
those places moving forward.
So this is the place where wetalk about life lessons through
(02:28):
cars.
Again, please follow the show.
Reach out over mail.
We're getting more and moremail christianatcarslovecom or
dougatcarslovecom.
We continue to buy as manydomains as we can, but those are
the best email addresses to getto us.
So I think those are the callsto action.
But, doug, there were a fewemails that I got in with some
(02:52):
listeners saying hey, you know,you guys sit comfortably at the
intersection of memorabilia,automobilia and media.
And I got to thinking aboutthat and we always you know,
whether you're sitting aroundwith your kids and you're seeing
automobiles, cars in movies, inTV shows, in music, in books
(03:20):
they really do permeate past,present and future.
And it got me to thinking ofwhat are what are some ways that
?
What are some ways we comeacross All right, whether it's
Miami Vice, cars in that show asa kid, knight, rider, starsky
and Hutch depends on how.
Car 54, where are you now?
How far back do you go?
(03:41):
Andy Griffith's show, rightWith the police cars and that
sort of thing.
So, doug and I are big readersand I just finished a book here
by Bob Lutz I'm holding it upfor the camera and I read a book
of his a few years ago, carGuys vs Bean Counters, about
(04:01):
this push-pull between leadingwith your gut and sort of
constantly being micromanaged byeither the dollar, the widget,
the metrics or the KPI, and Ienjoyed that one so much that I
bought this one, and it took mekind of years.
My to-be-read shelf is groaningwith books.
Under the weight of the booksand this icons and idiots, bob
(04:24):
Lutz does something reallyinteresting and he of course has
held executive positions allover the world for car companies
all over the world.
Doug (04:34):
Ford of Europe, chrysler, gm.
They kept bringing him back outof retirement.
He had something to do with theDodge Viper.
Christian (04:42):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And in this book he talks aboutkind of some Opel let's see, he
worked for BMW for a time,that's correct Talks about
(05:10):
working for the.
You know Philip Caldwell atFord Everybody knows red polling
at Ford Lee Iacocca at Chrysler, eaton also at Chrysler, and
just on and on.
And then ultimately RichardWagner at General Motors and he
kind of talks about I wouldn'tsay it's a no-holds-barred.
(05:31):
You can see I've dog-eared somany pages.
Lutz is really a natural writerand a great turn of a phrase
and he just talks about sort ofthe pros and cons about these
people's leadership style.
There are some sharpobservations but really it's
very interesting.
I was surprised by the depth ofthis.
I don't read a whole lot ofbusiness books, but I don't know
, I just find myself kind of.
(05:52):
You know I tend to read prettywidely, but I thought this book
was really interesting.
So, doug, before we introducetoday's guest, any books you've
read recently, kind of, to start, the media, kind of the media.
Doug (06:07):
Go ahead.
Well, a book I have on my shelfthat I've read and then started
rereading and then stopped, iscalled the Gold-Plated Portia,
and so that book was written by.
Let's see, give me one second,I'm actually going to walk over
(06:27):
and grab it.
Christian (06:27):
Yeah, I was actually looking on my bookshelf as well
for the car guys versus beancounters.
I couldn't find it.
Maybe I lent it out.
I need to stop doing that.
He was editor of Car and Driver.
Doug (06:37):
Road and Track no-transcript, but he loved
(07:05):
doing it and it.
It actually is the book thatgot me really interested in the
intersection of cars and media,which actually question you know
.
The next step was the book Iwas gonna write called to all
the cars I've loved before thatyou talked me into turning into
a podcast, which I'm so glad youdid.
(07:26):
Amen, because it's not lonelywriting that book.
Yeah.
Christian (07:30):
And yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
Doug (07:32):
And we get to meet people, like our next guest actually,
which is a great, great one,perfect segue, well done.
Rob (07:41):
Go ahead, hey, charles, good, good evening.
Doug (07:45):
Good evening, good evening .
Good evening.
So with us is Rob, who wehaven't officially met in person
except over the interweb.
But Rob and I connected overFacebook, if I remember
correctly, via City of AnnapolisCars and Coffee post that I did
for our podcast many moons ago.
(08:06):
And yeah, tell us a little bitabout yourself, rob, and you
know your early, early goingsand you have some great car
stories I hope we can get to.
I hope we can get to at leastthree of them, if you have about
30.
Rob (08:23):
Yeah, yeah, so again, again .
My name is rob.
I was, uh, born and raised inthe baltimore area.
Um, and uh, I've always beensort of excited about cars and
always sort of had a specialplace in my heart for mustangs
and, um, so at this point in mylife I've owned, I've owned a
(08:46):
few mustangs, which has beenI've been really fortunate in
that in that regard.
And uh, now I do try to get out, to get out to cars and coffees
and car shows and things likethat, because I just like going
out and seeing cars.
It doesn't matter to me to makethe model whatever, I just want
to go out and I want to seewhat other people have done with
their car.
What are, are they proud of?
(09:06):
And, um, you know, hear thestory similar, similar to what?
To what?
What we're doing here?
That's that, to me, is what thecommunity is like all about.
Doug (09:16):
Yeah, and that, um, not to take it away from you, right?
Um, but one of your hobbies, um, from you, right?
Um, but one of your hobbies, um, intersected with cars, and
back to media again is, as a um,and I'll say this, this may not
be accurate as a amateur, uh,car photographer, right?
Rob (09:35):
Yeah, yeah, I I I've done a little bit of professional
photography.
Um, but I do I.
I, by doing some car events, II've now done some photography
for two different onlinemagazines or online websites
whatever carshowscom as well asStang Magazine.
(09:55):
They really helped me get mestarted in this business and
I've been really fortunate thatthrough one of those, I got a
connection and I was able toattend the SEMA show two years
ago in 2022.
And that was a real eye openingexperience.
Pretty, pretty amazing stuffout there.
Doug (10:17):
Yes, so for the listeners, I'm familiar with SEMA.
I haven't been to it.
I think it's always in LasVegas.
Yeah familiar with SEMA?
I haven't been to it.
I think it's always in LasVegas, yeah, and tell everybody
what it stands for and whatyou've seen there, or what the
experience is like.
I mean, it's like the superrock stars, if you will, of
(10:40):
custom automobiles.
Right, I'll leave the rest toyou.
Rob (10:43):
Yeah, so SEMA is the Special Equipment Manufacturers
Association.
So they're the advocates foranybody trying to make
aftermarket parts for cars.
They're the ones.
By the way, if you have a carwith a loud exhaust, they're the
ones that are fighting so youcan still modify the exhaust in
your car if you want to get ittuned.
They're the ones going to courtfor for you.
(11:05):
So, um, good, good organizationto support, but at the show.
The goal of the show is thatall these aftermarket equipment
manufacturers come and want toshow off their their latest um
inventions and thing andproducts to the you.
You know, no matter what it is,if you're into trucks that you
can put campers on, there's 10or 12 people making campers that
(11:27):
fit on top of trucks.
There's people making all kindsof paint and paint protection
and um tires and wheels, and youname it.
Um, the show is just absolutelymassive, though.
It covers seven um conferencehalls.
Um uh and I was only able I wasonly able to cover two halls a
(11:49):
day.
So the show, because I had amedia pass, I got in on monday
as a preview day and thentuesday, wednesday, thursday, I
walked the show every day.
I probably walked 10 miles, 10miles a day looking at all this
stuff and you're seeing all thisequipment that the
manufacturers have out but themanufacturers also want to show
off like this is what ourproduct could look like on your
(12:10):
car.
So that's where you startseeing all these builds.
People bring in these reallyhigh-end builds.
You know builds that are two,three hundred thousand dollars.
Um, you get all the majorplayers are there.
Like I met.
Oh, my gosh, blanking can digit.
Um, uh, can't, can't think ofhis name off the top of my head.
Um, but met him there.
(12:31):
Um, in fact, one time I wentinto the bathroom and I turned
around and there's chip foos.
I was like I didn't want tobother him while, while he was
there, but afterwards I was likehey how you doing, you know,
and um thanked him, just for youknow what he I like to thank.
I like to thank him for what hedoes for the, for the industry,
Cause I think he's sort of a um,you know, a champion for the
(12:52):
industry and just you know theway, the way, the way it should,
it should be done, um.
But yeah, they also havecompetitions for builders.
So, um, they have cars umparked all over where people can
can enter their cars into, intoa competition.
Some of them are, you know,very professionally judged Um,
(13:12):
and you have cars there, likethe one car won the Riddler
award in Detroit that year.
It was on, it was on display,and the crazy part is there's so
many cars you go outside andthere's cars parked outside that
people probably have a hundred$200,000 in these cars.
There's just not enough room inthe halls, cause that's where
they're showing off all theactual equipment.
People are parking you know,000, $200,000 cars outside, just so
(13:38):
they can be part of the showthat, otherwise these cars may
never see the light of day.
It's amazing.
I dig it.
Christian (13:45):
Now is it true that SEMA is not open to the public,
so it's kind of abusiness-to-business true
industry.
Rob (13:53):
Yeah, you got it In order to attend, in order to get a
ticket to walk in the door youhave to prove you're a part of
the industry so you have to workfor, for you know you can buy a
ticket if you work for, like,an automotive repair shop or a
paint or a body shop kind of athing, or whatever.
Um, people in the media get inthat are, um, you know, into um
(14:15):
media and and doing stuff forfor the industry.
But on fridays the public areallowed in that last day the
public is actually allowed in umand it's only like a half day
event.
It's kind of cool.
Some of the cars.
They do a big rollout event, umat the end of the day on friday
, so you see some of the carssort of like parading out and
(14:36):
stuff like that.
Um, I should mention too one ofthe things I forgot is so wild
like while you're there, theyhad two different drift tracks
there outside and they're doingexhibitions all day and um.
I may or may not have snuck intoum one of the booths so I could
get closer to the track.
But pretty, pretty, prettyamazing stuff there.
Christian (15:00):
Fantastic memory Good deal.
Yeah, that sounds like a lot offun.
But we have to step into theway back time machine and let's
transport back to when you wereyounger and how it all started.
What was your first car?
Where did it come from?
What?
Rob (15:17):
was it?
It was a 1986 ChevroletSpectrum in dark blue and my dad
put a red pinstripe on it.
And this car, when my mom gotit, it was meant to be like an
Econobox, super cheap car.
So when my mom got it she gotlike the bare bones version.
I don't know if there was anyoptions on the car, so it had,
(15:40):
you know, crank windows, manuallocks, um, everything was just
very manual and basic about thecar.
It did have air conditioning,which was really nice, um, and
in fact when it came from thefactory there wasn't even a
radio installed in the car.
And so my parents, when theybought the car, told the dealer
you got to put a radio in it.
So they went back a week laterand had the radio installed.
(16:02):
But I mean, that's how you knowit was something, it was a car
that at the time that you knowthey needed a car, they bought a
new car and I was.
You know that was where, thatwas where, where it came from.
A few years later, when Ibecame of age to be able to
drive, my dad fortunately um hadbeen given a company car
(16:23):
because of what he did for sales, um, so my mom took his 1988
Ford Taurus station wagon,another, another cool, another
cool, retro.
Christian (16:35):
Absolutely.
Rob (16:38):
Turn all the heads, yeah, um.
And then I got, I got her, uh,I got her a spectrum.
Doug (16:41):
So nice, nice and um you, you mentioned the didn't come
with the radio, did have ac, ithad crank right.
Were there any?
Um looking towards your future,were there any mods that were
done to this unique chevyspectrum, or bare bones with the
red pinstripe?
Rob (17:01):
yeah, yeah.
So, um yeah, my dad um out of ajc whitney catalog ordered a
little in intermittent wipermodule and he installed that one
one weekend.
So eventually it hadintermittent wipers, which today
, of course, is standard, unlikeevery car, but in the 80s that
was a, that was a feature, youknow yep um yeah, it was.
(17:23):
And when I got a hold of it umthe radio of course came out.
I put a tape deck in it.
I cut some bigger holes in therear, in the rear deck lid, put
some jensen six by nines in theback deck lid and um put it to
pieces yeah, I had some fun withit, um, but all in all, all in
all, it was pretty stock, but itgot me from a, from from a to b
(17:43):
and got me to school, and I wasvery, very lucky to have a car
at that yeah, not not only fromthat, but my favorite part about
this story and about thespectrum is that it seemed to
help several of your pals in theneighborhood pass their driving
test.
Christian (18:00):
I've never heard anything like this, so walk us
through how that happened.
Rob (18:03):
Yeah.
So it was a.
It was a good, a good luckcharm.
That um, myself and three of myfriends all passed their
driver's exam the first time inthat car.
So a couple of my friends werejust like you know, I want to go
, go, get my, get my drivers,get my driver's test.
My parents don't have time, I'mlike I'll take you after school
(18:24):
, let's go.
So you know the one girl, sheyou know we went up, we went to
a parking lot.
She practiced parallel parkingonce or twice, whatever, and
went up and passed the exam.
We stopped in McDonald's on theway home.
It was a thank you and that waskind of cool.
And actually one of the girls Iran.
I ran.
I ran into her at a, at areunion um over the summer, and
(18:47):
I saw her and I said you know, Iremember the story, I remember
you passing.
She's like that's a funny thingyou mentioned.
Like my parents were reallyinto, you know, letting me go
out and do some of the driver'sexams, but they were not going
to take me for my license.
She's like if you didn't takeme, I don't think.
I don't think I would have hadmy license to this day, like wow
, so, um, it was pretty cool, soyeah man, you did a good turn.
Christian (19:10):
Now, one thing that you said that didn't strike me
when we were first talking aboutthis, or or when this story
first came to light, was sothere was an element of this car
being good luck yeah, which Ilove.
So everybody said, hey, well,you know, whether it's, whether
it's, you know, willingsomething to be true, or it's
easy to drive, or just kind ofsomehow the, the, the car willed
(19:36):
the person testing you to passyou because you look responsible
in it, I think that's prettyneat, you did somebody a good
turn to be sure.
Rob (19:42):
Yeah, so remember four people passing the exam with no
power steering either, becausethat's back then that was an
option.
Christian (19:52):
Yeah, that's great.
So you didn't have to go to thegym either.
You were getting your workoutfighting the steering Lovely.
Doug (19:59):
My second car didn't have power steering and by my choice,
it was a stick shift Boy.
That was a workout, let's see.
And if memory serves, chevySpectrum was not actually made
by Chevvrolet.
Rob (20:16):
Right, it was what we'd call badge engineering by a
close uh gm partner yeah, myunderstanding is that I, that is
, I was actually designed byasuzu and sort of rebranded and,
um, I think azuzu co sold it astheir own their own, I don't
remember what they called it I?
Doug (20:35):
I think it was the iMark.
Rob (20:37):
That sounds right.
Doug (20:38):
Yep, yep and GM owned part of Isuzu, so there were a lot
of those.
Rob (20:44):
I'll say partnerships, competition, fun fact, fun fact
about that car.
It actually had another namebecause it was the Chevy
Spectrum from 86, I think, tolike 80, or 85, to like 88.
And then the Geo brand camealong, it became a.
Geo Spectrum for like a year.
(21:06):
Good call yeah.
Doug (21:09):
I know somebody on this podcast who owned a Geo.
I did.
Christian (21:14):
I love that little car.
You could go anywhere on a tankof gas.
Rob (21:19):
Was that the?
Christian (21:19):
little convertible Gio.
Rob (21:22):
No, I wasn't that cool.
I wasn't cool enough to have aconvertible Gio, but yeah.
Christian (21:26):
I was lame enough to have a regular Gio for a moment.
Geo.
Doug (21:30):
Metro.
Christian (21:31):
Yeah, in my misguided youth I spent a lot of time
without a car and having a bumride.
I bought whatever car I couldafford by scraping change out of
the nearest sofa.
But wow, bringing back memories.
Good times, yeah.
But that didn't last longbecause we moved on to the first
of many pony cars, right, yes,sir, yeah.
Rob (21:55):
So I had the opportunity when I was in college.
My parents were like, hey, ifyou want sell the spectrum, buy
you.
You know, I had some money thatmy grandparents had given me
through the years and said tobuy a car.
And I was like, you know, I got, I got some money in my pocket.
Can I afford a mustang?
I'd always been dreaming of one.
So I bought an 87 um mustang gtwith the ground effects kit and
(22:17):
that big spoiler on the backand, uh, 50 yeah, it was 50,
that one, that one, the car, thepaint on it was terrible, it
was white, it was like peelingand all that kind of stuff.
So we knew when I bought itthat it was gonna get um painted
.
So I got it painted a reallydark gray which was a factory
color, but they normally didlike a two-tone.
I did the whole car solid in itand the painter even said like
(22:39):
I'm not so sure about this, butwhen he was done he's like this
looks really solid.
Christian (22:43):
He really liked it um so where'd you get it painted?
Rob (22:47):
um, my dad, like knew a guy , that knew a guy and somebody
did it like in their spare timeborrowed somebody's booth and
painted it like overnight and itdidn't look terrible.
Christian (22:57):
You say it looked good.
It looked pretty good.
Yeah, custom painted metallicdark gray.
Doug (23:03):
Golly I wish.
Christian (23:03):
We had a photo.
Rob (23:05):
Love to see that yeah.
Doug (23:10):
So that car I'm sure was a lot of fun, but maybe not a lot
of fun in the rain or the snowor a long trip.
Is that true?
Rob (23:20):
Yeah, that's very true.
Yeah, that GT suspension.
You got on the highway for 30minutes and you knew you were
driving a GT.
It like banged you around.
That ride was no fun.
And then, in the rain and snow,forget it.
When I was in college, I had toget the car.
I had to move it for a springbreak.
It was snow, there was some,but you had to get it out of the
(23:40):
school lot for spring break.
So I was going to put it behindmy buddy's house a half mile
away and I had to get out of alittle parking garage parking
area and there was this littletiny hill and it took me a half
hour of trying to get up thishill, back up and gain as much
speed as I can to drift over thetop.
And then I finally got out ofthat lot.
And then there was this biglong hill that had to go up and
(24:03):
that car just wouldn't do it.
There's no weight in the back,too much torque.
The tires weren't reallydesigned for it.
So my friends pushed me up thehill and that's how I finally
got a part.
So, um, comically, um, my, mygrandfather, um, he passed when
I was in, when I was in college.
But he had a 79 jeep, cherokee,um, four-wheel drive.
(24:26):
Yeah, my parents were like, hey, since that car, since the
mustang's so terrible in thewinter, why don't you take, take
the chair, take the?
Uh, take the cherokee back.
And this thing, my grandfathersaid, hey, why don't we get it
painted?
So he gave it to a local guy topaint and he said paint it
yellow.
And it was like it was alreadylike a 70s yellow.
But the guy painted it likereally bright yellow.
(24:47):
I can't even describe howbright this thing was yellow on
the bottom, black on top, um, itwas, it was, it was something.
Um, so that thing, that thingwas fun though that um.
I was dating a girl in college.
She lived like an hour away.
So over over a difference, overa different break, I, um and I
(25:09):
drove up to her place and I'mdriving back on the Pennsylvania
Turnpike and I hear this soundas it goes flap, flap, flap,
flap, clunk.
I was like what the heck wasthat.
I look up and there's somethingspinning right in the middle of
the road.
It looks like a two literbottle of soda spinning in the
middle of the road.
I'm like what the heck is that?
And so I pull over and I lookat the car and like there's no
(25:32):
lights going on, the battery'sstill charging.
I'm like that just might be thestarter on my car.
So I open up the hood and Idouble check and like all the
belts are still connected andstuff, and said I'm pretty sure
that's the starter, said well,let me go claim it.
So as I'm walking back like thequarter mile to claim it, a
semi truck, 18 wheeler truck, iscoming down the turnpike.
He sees me on the side of theroad so, to be polite, he's like
(25:55):
he starts switching lanes.
So and as he switches lanes,sure enough he hits that thing.
You hear this bang and I waslike he probably got a flat tire
and it was bad.
So I finally you know traffic,traffic, there wasn't any
traffic I ran out, grabbed thisthing, picked it up by the um,
by the pigtail electrical cord,and it's all beat up to crap now
(26:16):
because it's been run over byan 18 wheel and I'm like, looks
like a starter.
So I just get back and get backto the truck, throw it down in
the seat, drive back the toschool and I'm like all right,
here's the plan.
I'm gonna pull into the gasstation, leave the car running,
put the car running, put gas inthe truck, put gas in the truck.
Then drive over to my dorm,leave the car running out front,
(26:38):
grab all my stuff, all my dirtylaundry from college and then
drive back to my parents' housebecause I still had more time on
break and let my dad help medeal with this problem.
And it had a shifter on thecolumn, automatic.
And I get into the gas stationout of habit.
You just grab the shifter, putit in park, turn the key and I
(26:59):
go to get out.
And I go, oh no, and sureenough, I turn the key and
nothing, nothing at all.
That was the last time I drovethe car and the last time I saw
the girl.
So Well you raise.
Christian (27:11):
You raise a good point, though you don't really
need a need a starter if younever turn it off exactly, yeah,
I mean as long as you haveendless access to fuel, like I
think you're really on tosomething here yeah right, solar
panels on the roof and well.
I dig it.
I dig it.
Well then, one of many Mustangsfrom what I see from the file
(27:37):
we have on Mr Rob.
Rob (27:40):
Yes, sir, yes sir.
So right now I daily drive a2018 EcoBoost convertible.
It is red, black, interior.
It's a premium edition, so it'sgot some really nice upgrades
just from the factory.
Then I've done some work to itand it's car show worthy from
(28:02):
the outside.
From the outside, I like tothink of it as it looks like it
should have come from thefactory.
If you look at it and go didthat come from the factory that
way?
And then you open the hood andyou go, okay, that's definitely
not factory anymore.
Christian (28:17):
And, yeah, what he's describing and I'm looking at it
, so we're trying to describe tolistener land what he's done,
the hood line right, so he opensthe hood real nice and wide
here, and what it is is, ifyou're not familiar with the
Maryland state flag it's thebest state flag out of all 50, I
have to be honest, it lookslike a coat of arms.
(28:38):
It's four quadrants.
The upper, left and lower rightare kind of this yellow and
black check that looks like aracing car flag, and then the
alternating quadrants on top,right and lower left are almost
like this, would you say.
It's sort of like, uh, either asword or a cross.
Rob (28:55):
It's a cross, yeah, maybe, maybe like, maybe like a
knight's cross or somethingexactly, exactly that's what I
was going to say.
Christian (29:02):
It looks like, uh, like a, um, like a medieval
castle flag, something we flyingover, and I think it's is it.
Let me get this wrong, but isthe?
Is it called the the john?
Is it the john calvert familycrest or something?
I think that, uh, we can lookinto that later.
We can have somebody fact checkus.
I'm not big on the factchecking, but in the middle of
(29:24):
the so the hoodliner is the flagand in the middle of the flag
it's the mustang, the pony thatlooks like it's flaming.
It's it's.
It's kind of stretched out instreaks.
It's going so fast and itactually is a callback to the
little pony on the front grillof the car.
It's really something else.
It's very distinctive and, ifit's okay with Rob, we're going
(29:46):
to put this up on our sitebecause I've never seen anything
like that before.
What do you think, doug Ditto?
Doug (29:50):
ditto.
I've never seen anything likethat before.
What do you think?
Doug, ditto, ditto.
And he's also got some nice redaccents underneath the hood
which are colorful and about thesame color as the car, but
they're also mods.
So you've done a couple mods tothis Mustang as well.
Rob (30:09):
Yeah, I've had the front bumper off of that car three or
four times now.
I put an aftermarketintercooler.
It's got an intake.
I had it professionally tunedso factory it was like 240
horsepower to the rear wheelsbecause again it's a
four-cylinder turbo car.
Um, it now puts about 290 tothe wheels, which, oh wow, at
the crank at the crank that'slike 330 at the crank, factory
and now it's probably close to400 um, which a gt is like 460.
(30:34):
So I'm I'm getting closer to gtterritory.
I'm never going to compete withthe gt.
I know that um and that's fine,but it just makes the car a
little more, a little more funto drive, a little more kick yep
, yep, a little louder probably,and uh, yeah, yeah yeah,
actually I try to keep it downlike four cylinder.
I'm not a big fan of exhaust onthere, unlike my 87 Mustang
(30:58):
where I had the mufflers removedand I ran straight pipe and
that thing was would like wakethe neighbors.
But this car, this car, I keepit quiet Like I'm like trying to
be a good neighbor, yeah, agood citizen.
Doug (31:12):
Yeah, I hear you, I hear you I hear you, so yeah, so go
ahead, doug.
No, no I was going to say, andthere's another Mustang.
So I think we're on the fourthone, maybe.
Rob (31:25):
Third one, third one.
Christian (31:27):
Yeah, I love how he starts in the 80s in 87.
No-transcript.
(32:00):
How would you even describe it,rob?
Rob (32:03):
it's a kind of a metallic kind of a kind of a copper color
with like a little bit of extraorange in it yeah yeah, there
was a.
There was a plymouth prowlerlike factory color.
That's close, but it has alittle more orange in it.
Um, the cool part about aboutthis color you know ford.
Ford offered it in 65 as acustom order color.
(32:26):
About 400 people did it.
So there's there's none hardlyany of those left at all In 66,
they offered it as a factoryoption.
12% of the cars were sold likethat.
So it's like 60,000 cars or soare this color from 66.
And then they stopped.
So the color is very unique,unique to the year, and that's
(32:50):
actually the reason that I havethis car.
Car is because of the color.
So when I got my 2018convertible, um, my dad started
seeing what I was doing with itand he started reminiscing about
all the car, all the Mustangshe owned, cause he's owned
several, but my grandmother he'sloved before.
Doug (33:07):
Yes.
Rob (33:08):
He's on.
He's owned a couple as well.
But my grandmother, she boughta 1966 Ford Mustang in Ember
Glow.
It was an automatic car withthe deluxe two-tone interior
they also call that the ponyinterior and it had a center
(33:28):
console in it.
And my dad kept telling mestories about how gorgeous this
like interior was and stuff likethat.
And I finally saw one at a carshow and I was like man, one day
I've got to have one.
And so I went ahead and abouttwo years ago I found um was
(33:52):
diagnosed with cancer and I waslike, oh man, I've always wanted
one of these and I wanted to beable to make some memories with
him and I thought I had likemore time.
You know, I was like I need to,I need to have one.
So we, we figured out how to,how to be able to um afford one,
um, we were lucky that we wereable to to, to make make that
happen.
Um, and then um, so I got, Igot, I got one of these cars.
(34:16):
Um, my dad is now on the mend.
He's doing, he's doing well,he's been treated and doing well
, so that's really exciting.
So now he likes telling thestories too, about, about the
car.
Cause I I kind of left I kindof left this out earlier that my
grandmother didn't just own oneof these cars, she owned two of
these cars.
She owned the first one was asix cylinder and my dad was
(34:38):
coming home from college and, um, he ended up sliding on some
ash that back then that theyused to put ash down on the road
for like track for um, tractionin the winter, and he slid on
that.
It was dry, it was inPennsylvania and the road, the
road was covered in this, thisstuff, and he slid on it and
total, total the car.
And he told my, he told mygrandfather, he said you know,
(35:01):
if I had more power I would havebeen able to sort of like power
slide out of this thing orwhatever.
So I think so when theyreplaced the car, they got the
V8 version, because mygrandmother, my grandfather,
literally went out to the crashsite and looked and said, yeah,
I think you're right, if you hadmore power you could have made
it.
So the second one, mygrandmother got a second one,
same color same identical car iswhat it sounds like, but with a
(35:25):
V8 in it, but with a V8 in it.
So this car, this car that I hadstart out pretty much like hers
, her boat, but both of hers hada black vinyl roof.
Black vinyl doesn't wear verywell.
It does terrible things forrust underneath and stuff like
that, so this car.
This car does not have the vinylroof, um, but this car started
out with the same two, two, two89 motor in it.
(35:46):
Um, someone did a lot of niceengine work for me, putting a
four barrel carburetor and anintake and a water pump and a
cam headers exhaust, so itrumbles a little bit that one
will wake the numbers.
So I try to be.
I try to be really polite whenI start and I have to leave for
a car show at eight o'clock inthe morning, um.
But now I, over the winter Itore out every piece of the
(36:08):
braking system and I put discbrakes up front and drum brakes
and rebuilt the drums in therear and upgraded suspension in
the rear and um year by yearit's getting getting some
upgrades here and there.
That my goal is.
From the outside and the insideit looks factory, but the
drivetrain, free game.
I'm going to upgrade it andmake it everything, everything I
can, because I want to be ableto drive and really enjoy the
(36:29):
car.
Um, so so.
Doug (36:32):
Yeah, that's a restomod to a degree.
Rob (36:36):
Right.
Doug (36:37):
Yeah, there's so many modern.
Anybody who's heard me talk?
I had electric power steeringadded to my DeLorean.
Oh my God, it's like adifferent car.
The new suspension too, but itwas like driving a different car
.
It was so much, and it's uh,adjustable, um, in the in the
(36:59):
amount of assist.
But, yeah, there's.
There's electric airconditioning, uh, condensers for
cars, um, as you mentioned,just brakes make it, make a big
difference.
Yeah, there are just so manythings that can make these cars
just so much more enjoyable thanthey ever could have been from
the factory, even though backthen we had a different set of
(37:22):
standards, if you will.
Rob (37:24):
Right.
Well, I have a throwback onthis car, on my 66, that my
transmission was acting up and Iwas, like you know, I could
spend $2,500 or so and try tohave the transmission rebuilt
and reinstalled, but I knew oneday I wanted to put overdrive in
it.
So rather than do that, I founda transmission, an AOD
(37:44):
transmission, out of like an 89Ford Mustang, had that rebuilt.
I do not do transmissions, Iknow my limits.
So had that rebuilt.
I do not do transmissions, Iknow my, I know my limits, um,
so I had a shop I had a shoplocally here install that and
saw that for me.
So this car actually has umoverdrive in it.
Um, it has a custom valve bodythough.
So I ha, I can select firstgear, second gear, and then I
(38:08):
have drive, you know third gear,slash fourth gear and I have a
I use the factory fog lightswitch as my overdrive lockout
so I can basically lock outfourth gear and keep the car in
third gear, so I can drive thecar out of a red light like a
stick.
First, second, third, I'm going30 miles an hour and I want
second gear.
I can just pull it down intosecond gear and just go Um, but
(38:30):
I don't have to deal.
I don't have to deal, I don'thave to deal with the clutch um,
which I don't mind, I can drive.
I can drive stick.
You know, my 87 mustang was astick um, but I wanted this car
so I can also take it to paradesso other people can can see it.
I wanted so my wife can driveit.
She's not very comfortabledriving stick, so now the whole
family can enjoy it.
So yeah, it's a yeah, it's agood time.
Doug (38:53):
No, that's uh, that's awesome.
And yeah, uh, uh.
What do they say?
Uh, necessity is the mother ofinvention.
Is that what they said?
So, yeah, you found.
You found another transmission,you from another mustang, yes,
vintage of your first mustanginto the same vintage of your
grandmother's mustang.
You got it that your dad droveso beautiful and as we oh, go
(39:19):
ahead.
No, no, I was just going to sayI I'm taking the words out of
your mouth.
Uh, christian, um, I can't waitto put these pictures up on our
website.
They, they're gorgeous.
And you know rob saying he's a,you know, I said he was the
amateur photographer.
That was not fair.
These photos, they are gorgeousyeah, well, the, the, the.
Christian (39:42):
The subject makes it easy, but the inside is just
just a time capsule and in andjust hypnotically beautiful.
The thing I like about theinterior, the seats, they're
two-tone.
So I believe Rob was sayingthat the white is called
parchment, the name of the coloris called parchment, and it's
(40:04):
just so beautiful.
So as we wind down here andthere it is, he's showing it
down.
I love the center console too.
Doug (40:11):
Very 60s Just a little like rails going down front to
back all the way full way.
Christian (40:18):
Yeah, so do you uh, and is as we uh are talking
about the.
The weather is changing here aswe move through season three
and make sure you get outside.
Get outside with your cars, goto a car and coffee, go to a car
show, talk to people abouttheir, their cars, and so this
one makes the round with you tocar shows, rob.
Rob (40:39):
Absolutely.
It was just out on Saturday, acouple of days ago, or Sunday
Rather, it was at a car show tobenefit a cancer or cancer
support organization, which wasan awesome, an awesome thing to
do, and unfortunately the carsnever brought home a first place
trophy support organization,which was an awesome, an awesome
thing to do.
Um and um, unfortunately thecars never brought home a first
place trophy.
It's brought home a couple ofseconds and thirds, um, but in
(41:00):
the end I don't go to the carshows to get a trophy or to get
the hardware.
It's nice to be recognized, butreally I go, cause I just like
talking to people about theircars, just like, just like you,
I want to go, I want to see whatpeople are doing with them and
um just check them out.
Christian (41:17):
Yeah, I can see you.
You light up when you talkabout them.
Your enthusiasm is uh, comesright through the line.
So, hey, it was great meetingyou.
Rob, I just want to thank youfor taking some time, and I
think that's a wonderful way tobutton up the show is to kind of
book in with this Mustang yourfirst, the one you have now and
(41:40):
then you kind of went back inhistory to fulfill the dream and
kind of bring it back to familywith your grandmother and your
father.
So just great stuff.
It was great meeting you and,if it's okay, we'd like to put
some of this on the website.
Rob (41:54):
Yeah, absolutely Looking forward to it.
Yeah, right.
Doug (41:57):
And you know you could say every Mustang tells a story.
In this case at least three.
Yeah.
Christian (42:04):
Yep, yeah, he's definitely, he's definitely got
a type, as they say yeah, yes.
Doug (42:09):
Yep, all right.
Christian (42:16):
Well, no, say yeah, yes, yeah, all right.
Well, no, I was just gonnagonna wrap up the show here.
Uh, this was to all the carsI've loved before, thanks to our
new friend rob and uh, check usout, if you like us, follow.
If you really like us, tell afriend I'm christian at
carslovecom, he is doug atcarslovecom.
Let us know how we did take thepoll, take the survey, get
involved, then have you on theshow.
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