August 20, 2024 • 39 mins
Click here to share your favorite car, car story or any automotive trivia!
Aimee and John share a unique dual-perspective tale of love, family, and vintage steel. This husband-and-wife duo fell for each other and for cars, embarking on what they call a “vintage lifestyle” centered around their shared automotive passion. They spin the odometer back to the ’70s with memories of cruising in a classic Chevy Malibu and wrenching together on a Datsun 240Z – a car that taught them both the art of patience and restoration. The heart of their story is a retro Chevy Suburban camper-edition, which became the ultimate family road-trip vehicle.
John and Aimee had a hard time with picking their favorite, but turns out Joe - a friend from HS is number one on their list - "Wanderlust on Wheels – Joe’s Westfalia Camper Tales and Sporty Miata Memories" https://www.buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/15521761-driving-a-1971-vw-westfalia-bus-joe-s-vw-tales-and-sporty-miata-memories
From cross-country camping adventures with their kids (and even a tale of a lighthouse restoration project where the Suburban hauled supplies! Aimee and John illustrate how car culture can weave into the fabric of family life. This episode delivers plenty of classic car talk – engine sounds, vintage design quirks, and road trip tips – but it’s also brimming with romance and humor (imagine a couple navigating map directions and carburetor tuning in equal measure!).
By the end, listeners will feel like part of the family, inspired by how a shared love of cars can strengthen bonds and create a legacy of adventures for generations to come.
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Listen on your favorite platform and visit https://carsloved.com for full episodes, our automotive blog, Guest Road Trip Playlist and our new CAR-ousel of Memories photo archive.
Don't Forget to Rate & Review to keep the engines of automotive storytelling—and personal restoration—running strong.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome back everybody to your podcast about
cars life lessons through cars.
You know every car tells astory, carslovecom, and it's
good to be back.
We haven't recorded in a while.
I went on vacation, doug wenton vacation, my sister and her
family came and visited me.
We've spent the past three daysat the beach.
(00:23):
So I sit here sunburned andstaring from the fine air
conditioning interior of myhouse and I'm looking at my
podcasting partner here, doug.
How you doing, pal, doing great, great to be back with you.
Indeed, indeed, and we have atandem here, a couple of guests,
which we've never done before.
(00:45):
And as I look into their windowin our podcasting software,
here I see the both of themdelightful couple, amy and John
Russell, and right between them,figuratively speaking, of
course, only beautiful baby blueFiat that we're going to get
into and but, but you know what?
(01:07):
Take a step back here.
The theme today is going to befriends, partners and people who
go way back and have stayedtogether.
It's been an important theme inmy life.
Indeed, this podcast was reallyDoug's brainchild, and I've
known Doug college pal from.
I think we're over 30 yearsinto this life together, man,
(01:29):
and when he fired this up heasked me to be his co-host here,
and there's a reason we canfinish each other's thoughts and
sentences because, you know,when you spend that much time
together, uh, there is a sharedhistory and our guests today
have a shared history.
But before we talk about themtogether, I would like doug to
(01:52):
do the proper formalintroductions and tie up in a
bow, how john knows, a previousguest of ours, joe Gibson, who's
, I believe, this episode wentup about a month ago.
So if you could take me back tohow these two gentlemen crossed
(02:13):
your paths, doug, so it had tobe in the mid to late 80s, right
.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I can't remember if I met these guys in middle school
, junior high back when they hadthat, or high school, but
definitely in high school.
And you know, things got reallyinteresting in high school when
we started driving, right.
That's when people'spersonalities really came out.
Yeah, and you you know, joementioned that, uh, that
(02:46):
Volkswagen bus which I doremember, and and John, um, you
know, the thing I alwaysremember about John is that he
had this he shows up one daywith this four-door convertible
Oldsmobile which they didn'tmake four-door Oldsmobile
(03:06):
convertible.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
You guys went to a cool high school.
Why couldn't I go to a highschool like this?
You got this is like 90210 or21 Jump Street.
How can I go back in time andbe part of this?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
And.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
John and Joe and their close friends.
I remember seeing them drive inthis huge thing and it was
quite the story.
And John, fortunately, is goingto share some of that story
with us as we go through some ofthe cars.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
But, and I would love for John to step in here and
John tells just a little bitabout yourself and then you're
please introduce your lovelywife Amy as well.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Well, hey, doug and Christian, thanks for having me.
My name's John Russell and I'mhere with my wife and she's the
enabler.
If she was a superhero she'dprobably be the rearranger, but
she's been the best part of mylife for over 26 years, thirteen
(04:08):
and a half years of my life.
Sorry that that joke, that jokenever gets old.
But no, no.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Got old after year 10 , but it's OK.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
A flip side to go and she's quick with a zinger to
ladies oh, she's good, I got it.
I got a gang of stuff where Ican talk to her about her.
But the thing about Broadneckis Broadneck was kind of a 90210
, and I didn't even realize itback then.
I ended up moving to Florida atthe middle of my 10th grade and
(04:39):
going to an inner cityfinishing an inner city high
school.
So I really got to appreciatewhat we all had up there.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And how did you come to know Joe?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Joe was a great story .
You know, my wife and I bothcome from military families.
Our dads were both retired armycolonels.
So we moved a lot.
I just moved back.
I'd lived in Maryland DC andmoved to another assignment,
moved back and were at the localcrab restaurant Cantler's
(05:11):
Riverside Inn, which is stillthere.
Back in the day it was still anundiscovered low-down place.
I'm belt height, joe Gibson's alittle shorter than I am.
We both have ball cuts andwe're playing video games and we
hit it off.
We ran around, our dad sat atthe bar, we begged for quarters
(05:34):
and the next day I started in mynew school and there Joe was in
my class.
So we've been, for better orworse, best friends.
For God, how does that work?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
40 years, yeah, and before we get into the, uh, into
the car part of it, I'm justcurious how, how often do you
guys talk?
Uh, you, you're obviously close, um, but how often do you?
And do you guys talk a lot overthe phone?
Do you text a lot?
Or is it one of theserelationships where there's not
(06:08):
a ton of togetherness in thatway, maybe you go months and
months without any contact, butyou pick up immediately when you
do.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
How does that work for you guys?
I have those kind ofrelationships with past friends.
But no, joe and I man he's myhetero life mate we talk
regularly.
I mean we might text multipletimes a day, three times a week,
and we might pick up the phoneand talk for an hour here and
there, and we're partners incars and boats and businesses
(06:39):
and you name it, but cars arethe real passion.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Indeed, I like that.
Thank you Well over to you,doug.
Would you do we get into thesheet metal part of it, or yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, and, and you know I teased out John's car,
but first car because I rememberit so well, but just meeting
Amy, I'd love to hear aboutAmy's first car.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Amy, I'd love to hear about Amy's first car.
Hi all, I'm Amy Russell and Idid not grow up in Maryland, so
anything that was John beforeAmy, we call BA.
But my first car was given tomy mom by her best friend's
husband and it was a about a 70schevy early 70s yep um malibu
(07:43):
and it took it that thing waslike a goldish, brownish, bronzy
.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
I call it metallic chocolate.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
With a white interior .
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Nice.
Yeah, I think GM had to pass.
Yeah, go ahead.
Good, good, you remember thatcolor.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I literally would just keep my
head on the steering wheelwhenever I got into it after
work and just pray please start,please start, please start.
And we've all had a few of thoseAbsolutely had to put both feet
on the brakes at everystoplight and stop sign,
otherwise I'd just keep rollingright on through and didn't
appreciate what I had.
So I sold it and that was myfirst car.
(08:21):
And if I look back at it nowand I just kick myself, so, but
I was a 16 year old girl.
I didn't want that kind of car.
I wanted, you know, somethingcool and modern and, you know,
automatic.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Right A convertible Fiat light blue made Just
guessing.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I much appreciation for that.
Later in life, once I met John,I also didn't like asparagus or
clams or mussels before I metJohn either.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
She didn't grow up in Annapolis, a seafood town.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, midwest, I get it.
So with that, since Amy sharedher first card, john, tell us
about what you're allowed totell us and our listeners about
that.
1973 Olds 98 Custom convertiblefour-door.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
I mean, that was a great first car experience.
There was a restaurant that hadbeen closed for many years,
just a block from my house.
It was getting ready to reopenand they were paying me $5 an
hour to pick up trash and Iworked just long enough to put a
$100 bill in my pocket.
And pretty much the week ofturn 16, dave Gregory and I, we
(09:42):
rode our bikes to the AnnapolisBoat Show and I don't know if
who knows about that show, butit's a very crowded event.
People come there for allreasons, and here was this, this
, this black four-door Ozembeel,where you know the car.
They didn't have the B pillarsback then.
The front windows and the backwindows rolled up together so
(10:04):
they'd cut the top off it butleaving the windshield and the
back window and it had for salespray painted on the side of it.
So, being the brave guy I was 16years old I go into the Fleet
Reserve Club, suss the place out, find the bar fly owner sitting
at the bar and I said, hey, I'mhere to buy your car and he
(10:26):
goes.
Well, how much money do youhave?
And I go.
I got a hundred dollar bill andhe took the hundred dollar bill
.
He handed me the car keys, hewrote his number down on a bar
napkin and he goes call me in aweek.
And that's pretty much when thereign of terror began.
So we put our bikes in the backof the car, I dropped dave off,
(10:47):
drove straight to joe's housein the like.
The front foyer of his housewas the old credenza where
nothing ever moved on it, andwas the the door's greatest hits
on an a-track and that thata-track went in the player and
jo, joe and I just caused havocaround the Broadneck High School
(11:10):
region.
All fun stuff knocking overroad cones, things like that.
But I can still quote everylyric of the Door's greatest
hits because that album playedfor two straight weeks, the
soundtrack of the first car,absolutely.
Absolutely.
We painted that car up forHomecoming.
We gave it reverse white wallswhere the whites were like stars
(11:34):
broad neck rules.
But it got to the point wherewhen we drove around, you could
just see people pointing andread their lips.
They were going that's the car.
Yes, I ended up that's the car.
Yes, I ended up.
You know I never told my dadabout it.
I parked it at the neighbor'shouse another neighbor I did
lawn work for and you know Iended up selling it to a friend.
(11:56):
Well, he was a friend.
He might not have been a friendafter that.
And can I tell what happened?
Yes, please.
So that night they went out andyou know, the car had a tag but
no registration, no insurance,and I didn't even have a
driver's license at that point.
But he got the car.
He drove into the high schoolparking lot at three in the
(12:18):
morning.
There was a police officerthere.
Needless to say, the car gotimpounded.
Three in the morning the policecall my house.
My dad wakes me up three in themorning and says hey, the
police are on the phone.
So I'm talking to the policeabout this.
No, no, no, no, that's not mycar.
You know that car belongs tothis other gentleman.
(12:39):
So here's his number if youwill.
And I hang up the phone.
My dad goes what was that about?
I got his wrong number.
That was the end of that story.
And my dad, who was prettyiron-fisted military guy he did
when the fellow I sold it to hisparents called him the next day
(13:00):
and said hey, your son sold myson a car and they got it and
pounded and you know he owes him150 bucks.
My dad said well, that's notreally how it works.
You know, they made a deal.
My son made a mistake and thatwas like the first time he'd
really ever gone to bat for me,so I was pretty excited about
that.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Talk about life lessons through cars.
The old man had your back.
That's pretty fantastic, and hedid have have my back, hey, for
and for those who don't know,the annapolis boat show is a big
deal.
Down where I live in the, theflorida panhandle, people will
make a pilgrimage up to an app.
It's the boat show.
Um, for breadth and scope andin in depth of of what's out
(13:43):
there, it's, it's, it's reallysomething to be seen.
Um, it's, it's, it's quite theevent.
It's quite the event.
Go ahead, doug, you were goingto say something, didn't mean to
jump in, sorry, you're takingnotes.
Um, all right, so okay, so wesaw what was the second car, or
(14:03):
what was the car after that fromfrom john or yeah I can tell my
, my, my story.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
It was a continuation of the, the ozmobile.
You know, we, of course wenamed that car the death mobile.
It was very similar to ananimal house.
It was just that, that kind ofcar.
So I, you know, I, I ended upcausing trouble where my dad
said, hey, would you like to golive with your mom in Florida?
And I said, man, if I had aknown cause in trouble it would
(14:30):
make that happen.
I'd have caused a hell of a lotmore years ago.
Yeah, so I I got I got straightout of the movies a complete
restart life.
I got a fresh start, fresh highschool.
And I, you know, I had my momand my stepdad and they said
well, john, if you get straighta's, we'll give you three
(14:51):
thousand dollars to buy a carand we'll insure it.
If you get straight b's, youcan buy your own car and we'll
insure it.
If you get straight Bs, you canbuy your own car and we'll
insure it.
If you get straight Cs, you'reon your own.
Anything below that, no car, noprivileges.
I didn't know anybody and I wasgoing to an inner city school
just to kind of show up andgraduate kind of place.
So I paid attention in everyclass.
(15:16):
But algebra I came in as thenew kid and I just slept through
the class.
So I got straight A's and an Fin algebra and my parents go
well, I don't know what to doabout this.
And I said I got it all covered, I'm going to summer school.
So I ended up.
So I ended up getting straightA's for the first and only time
(15:36):
in my.
So I ended up getting straightA's for the first and only time
in my student career, if youwould.
So my stepdad's retiring mymom's buying him a brand new
Vanilla Ice 5-liter convertibleMustang and he had a triple
white with a blue interior.
I mean, that's another story.
But he had a really nice latemodel Fiat which is where my
(16:00):
affection for these cars comeand it was the 83 that was
actually built by Pininfarina.
So they gave me this car.
So I went from, you know, a$100 car to the nicest red,
black interior, shiny,convertible, and it's cool.
I had a good job, made moregood friends and I'll tell you,
(16:21):
I just had the greatest secondround of high school you could
imagine and that car was legal,right, and that car was totally
legal.
Yeah, absolutely, and they'vepretty much all been since then.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yes, Excellent, and so I know you guys being
together, 26 plus years, right,you mentioned earlier in our
talk, or pre pre show talk, thatyou've enjoyed doing road
tripping around the US.
(17:01):
You have some plans to do itoverseas as well, but I heard
about a very interesting camper,a camper that you created
thanks to Joe Joe Gibson againright, exchanging cars and
hoping you could tell us aboutthat.
Thanks to Joe Joe Gibson againright, exchanging cars and
hoping you could tell us aboutthat.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
The camper, the trip, yeah, that was.
You know, that was another carthat I inherited from Joe Gibson
.
We've passed back and forthprobably close to a dozen cars
or boats or something like thatin life, something like that in
(17:46):
life.
So I acquired his 1998 K2500diesel Suburban and we outfitted
into an Expedition camper.
I installed a 30-gallon watertank next to the 44-gallon
diesel tank.
I put a window unit, airconditioner in the back door, in
a in a disguised box.
Another box had a hondagenerator, um, inverter, ice
maker, you name it, hot and coldrunning water.
So it's complete, a complete,under complete, undercover
(18:10):
expedition camper.
And we, uh, we took off and wedrove.
We drove the whole country offgrid, whole pac, whole Pacific
Coast highway.
But the fun thing about thatcar, it's my Joe Gibson voodoo
doll, because he seems toremember it being in perfect
condition when he sold it to meand I've since drilled 2,500
(18:31):
screws into it and every time Iput a screw into it I can just
feel him cringe.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
And every time I put a screw into it.
I can just feel him cringe.
Yes, he forgets that.
Can of bottom paint, I think,or something that spilled in the
back.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Battery, acid Battery acid, but it was a really.
It still have it.
It's been a great truck and youknow that truck has that kind
of bastardized Detroit diesel.
It started as the 6.2, and thenit went to a 6.5 turbo.
So it doesn't have theperformance of like a 5.9
Cummings or a Duramax or a SuperDuty Ford.
(19:06):
But when you know those carsit's a good car and I'll start
it in the morning, sub-zerotemperature.
And just last week I towed acar down from Maryland and our
truck ran for 21 hours straight.
I don't shut it down Once itstarts up.
You run it until you're donedriving it for the day, and
(19:27):
that's how we went across thecountry.
Nice, nice and that was a coupleweeks, right.
Well, we did it in 10 weeks.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
We got a case of the stupids no-transcript spot's
(20:04):
even greater, and it was, butthen we should have stopped it
was just.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
It was just.
It was just a, it was a tasty.
We were saying, well, when wecome back we'll do it again.
And you know life goes.
We haven't made it back sincewe went back to work.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
We did do a pretty decent trip last July for my
50th birthday and it was greatand nice and wonderful.
And of course, the last spot wefound was so ideal and so
perfect and we were only goingto stay a day.
We wanted to stay two.
We were low on gas for thetruck, we're low on or diesel
(20:40):
for the truck, low on gas forthe generator, low on food, low
on water and but mainly low onbeer, and mainly so we, um, we
came home, but we've had someamazing trips in that truck and
just we, we lived a pretty goodlifestyle.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
You know we've stayed in hotel rooms that would make
james bond blush, but we've hada.
We've had a better time in lifethan living on a super yacht or
, you know, in some fancy hotel,right?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
you were in utah, I think somewhere and this kid
comes into the we're at the gasstation and filling up and
everything he comes in he's likeis that a diesel Suburban?
And he was in a nice truck too.
And we're like, yeah, it is.
And John and him are talking.
He's like, oh man, he goes, I'dlove to get that thing.
We're like, yeah, we're farfrom home.
So sorry, but it's.
(21:33):
It's nice to appreciate.
I had two young kids at Lowe'sabout two weeks ago.
I drive a 2001 OldsmobileAurora and the symbol on the
hood is different and this kidgrabbing cards is like what kind
of car is that?
You're?
Speaker 1 (21:49):
kidding.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
And he's like oh, he goes.
I thought I knew all theemblems.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
Hey, that's another story that rubs Joe.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, he mentioned that car to me and most people
don't know what that is.
I do.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Actually that car I'm at probably 75 cars now, last
count over the course of my life, 13 and a half right now, one
being a partnership with Joe andthat Oldsmobile Aurora.
I bought it when my 84 dieselSuburban got stolen pre another
truck I had and that's a greatstory I should have mentioned
(22:25):
earlier.
But I found myself looking fora five-year-old, fully
depreciated, $30,000 sedan tohave a you know kind of a
professional car, if you will.
This was in 2005.
And you know the BMW 5 Seriesand Lincolns and Lexus, they
were all in there and I boughtthis car $5,000, 50,000 miles,
(22:49):
five years old and in 2005,.
I'm still driving at 20.
I'm still driving at 20 plusyears later.
It looks like new and it itcosts nothing but brakes, tires
and oil.
So anybody that wants to giveus grief about that particular
car, joe, it's been the greatestcar I've ever owned.
(23:09):
I just drove it miles lastweekend.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, I mean that was a neat experiment, if you will,
ultimately trying to bedifferent Front-wheel drive V8.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Yeah, it had a terrible reputation at first
because all the other carsseemed to weigh out classic, but
it's aged really well.
My particular one has the 3.5liter V6, which the only GM I
know of, that's the, that's thesix cylinder version of the
north star.
Okay, that's the only one thatthey did that to kind of like a
(23:43):
4.3 is a six cylinder 350 yep,yep, no, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
I didn't realize they had v6s, I only knew about the
eight.
But uh, no, that's, that's.
Uh, yeah, you guys have it.
So, amy, we were talkingearlier, so you did mention your
Malibu and you got rid of it,and I just I love the story
about what your second car andwhat happened to it, and want to
(24:10):
say it was 1985.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
It was a manual red with black interior, four-door,
aftermarket AC, aftermarketcruise control and we drove that
car as a family down toOklahoma or Alabama to visit our
family because we never flewanywhere.
So it was my sister got todrive it.
She's two years older than meand when she went to college it
(24:43):
became my car.
Only one of my friends thatknew how to drive a stick and
stick shift cars.
So I always said, if anythinghappens, to me you guys are
screwed yeah, best friend stilldoes not know how to drive a
manual.
But, uh, I was driving a friendto the airport.
He was, he was joining the army, and I rear-ended, I slid into
the back of a truck inMinneapolis, minnesota, yep, and
it didn't puncture the radiator.
The tow truck tied the roofdown or the roof, sorry, the
(25:08):
hood down and I made it home andmy father had some issues but
said I'm going to have themechanic look at it and if it
didn't hit the radiator thenwe'll fix it.
It didn't, so it got fixed.
And the day my sister wasleaving to go to czech republic
to teach english in high incollege, I was coming back from
(25:30):
depositing my check from work inthe bank, going over the
highway and every single lightlit up on the dash and I just
went christmas tree.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Oh crap, christmas in july I wish it was july.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
It wasn't.
It was december old and I hadto walk about a mile to a
sketchy 7-eleven oh a phone tocall my dad and four cell phones
everyone he came out with theford truck and he was literally
in a snowsuit and I was actuallyin a skirt, you know, and
jacket, everything.
He put me in the cab of thetruck and I towed him home in
(26:05):
that car.
It was about three miles and hesaid it was the worst three
miles, his whole entire life andevery time I put a fist out and
it's dark in Minnesota at thistime, at four o'clock, at this
time it was maybe five thirtysix my sister's at home, her
boyfriend, his family, my familythey're all saying goodbye
because she's leaving that nightto fly out and I was going to
(26:28):
break down on me.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
And can I, can I remind you guys, or bring this
up, that her, her father was aninfantry officer in Vietnam, and
so for him to say it was thescariest three miles of his life
Saying something right there.
It was really saying something.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Let's just say I told you not to go above 10 miles an
hour and I swear I didn't.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
I'll be honest.
When I met Amy she was not thegreatest driver in the world,
but I'll tell you she is nowshe's.
You know she didn't, oh boy,didn't grow up flying canal
flight jet aircraft.
You know, merchant marineofficer, ship captain, and she's
a great driver these days so.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
So we started with cars, through planes, through
boats, through the boat show,but.
But that kind of brings usaround to lighthouses Now.
I know this show is called ToAll the Cars I've Loved Before,
not To All the Lighthouses I'veLoved Before, but I was so taken
when y'all were telling usabout the lighthouse.
(27:32):
Please tell us about how alighthouse came into your life.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I find this so interesting and Joe Gibson's
part of this story too.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
He's everywhere.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
There's the car.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
He's everywhere.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
It goes like this Launch at him.
You'll never meet anybody thatdoesn't like train cabooses,
dolphins and especiallylighthouses.
So in the region we're from,annapolis, maryland, there's a
number of fairly famouslighthouses.
So in the region we're from,annapolis, maryland, there's a
number of fairly famouslighthouses, one of them being
the Baltimore Lighthouse, andit's at Abandoned is not quite
(28:07):
the right word, but unused.
And it had a neat history.
It actually had an experimentin the 60s.
It had a Snap 7 Bravo Strontium90 60-watt isotopic atomic
generator installed in thebasement of it, about the size
of a 55-gallon drum of water.
(28:29):
That would weigh 700 pounds, ifyou will.
This generator weighed 5,000pounds in a two-inch iron box.
So this abandoned lighthouse.
In view of Joe Gibson's familyhouse, you know something we
would.
I'd rent a boat from the Navy.
He had a little boat.
We just we'd go out and we'd do100 turns around it every
(28:51):
summer and Joe and I, as12-year-olds, would sit back and
we'd go.
Wouldn't it be cool if one daywell, one day I got word that it
was coming up on a governmentauction and, short story long, I
ended up winning the auctionand then I thought about who
(29:12):
would be a good fit.
So Joe Gibson had thewaterfront property and he's the
go-getter can fix anything.
He's got a set of tools that'llmake any mechanic blush.
Our other friends, mark andJane they're involved with
another local lighthouse andshe's involved with Maryland
Historical Society.
And then, of course, you need alawyer, and that's our good
(29:35):
friend Ron.
So they came in and webasically kept equal shares for
everybody.
It's a little bit different andour mission is to restore,
preserve and enjoy this locallighthouse, so that's
BaltimoreLighthouseorg, if I canplug that.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
If you ever have a spare second and want to get in
some trouble.
The lighthouse was for sale atauction on the gsagov website.
You at one time could buy awhole town on that website yeah,
you can buy.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
You can buy a navy base.
Yeah, you can buy a rangerstation.
You can buy space shuttle parts.
You can still now I can do thisgsa auctions, general service
administration, that'll that'llget you love it.
But if you want to, if you wantto buy a cargo van, it's there.
If you want to buy a fire, anairport fire truck, it's there.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
If you want to buy, what was that one boat we looked
at.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
It was a landing craft.
I'm not allowed on this websiteanymore for obvious reasons.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Yeah, you, we got to keep you locked up.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
You're, you're, you're trouble, mister.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, we got to keep you locked up in the garage.
You're trouble, mister.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah Well, so can sorry Christian, can question
can you buy some of the carsthat we see in your garage
behind you on that website?
Speaker 4 (31:02):
Oh no, well, everything's for sale, perfect.
Oh, you're.
You know my, my cars are arefor the select few.
You know my, my joke has alwaysyou're.
You know my, my cars are arefor the select few.
You know, my, my joke hasalways been you know, some guys
want to drive around in a fiftythousand dollar car.
I'd rather have ten, fivethousand dollar cars than I do,
and you know, that's, that's,that's what I like.
(31:23):
You know, fiat, classic Fiat's,datsun's.
You know I'm a, I'm a 1972.
So I gravitate toward 72.
It was a good car year.
It was kind of the last of theno emissions, you know,
horsepower, war cars, lesssafety, regulation, and then
going to high school, you know,in the late 80s, early 90s,
(31:46):
that's the same year.
So all of my cars are early 70sor late 80s, early 90s, and
that's just, that's just what Ilike good, good choices, good
choices.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
So can you, uh um, give us a brief tour of your
garage, for for our listenersthey can't see it, but hopefully
we'll put some pictures of yourcars up online.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Okay, okay well.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
I'm looking at my favorite car.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
It's my 1972 Fiat 124 Spyder, russo, red, black
interior with everything you'dever want to bolt onto one of
these cars.
So it has a hot cam, has astainless header, has an ANSA
exhaust, has a Weber carburetor,has KONI shocks, it has Pana
(32:41):
Sport wheels.
So it runs great, it soundsgreat, it drives great, but I'd
be nervous to leave the countyin it.
Next to it is my two FordDatsun.
I had one of these in highschool.
I bought this not long ago andto convince the wife to let me
buy this car, I told her.
(33:02):
I said, honey, she goes.
What are you going to do withit?
I said we're going to.
I'm going to ship it to Europeand we're going to put two
backpacks in it.
We're going to put twobackpacks in it.
We're going to backpack throughEurope without any walking.
And she goes, okay.
So she let me buy the car.
And it's very original.
It has every nick and scratch.
(33:23):
It's red on red and I drive itto California.
Then behind me is a 73 Fiatthat I bought from Joe Gibson's
brother not long ago.
I just trailered it down fromMaryland and it's the parts car
for my car.
But when I'm done with it Idon't want to take it off the
road.
So it's going to be a rat rod.
It's going to be a rat rod racecar and the full Colin Chapman
(33:45):
treatment and I don't know ifyou guys know which viewers know
, but he was famous with Lotusand his motto was add lightness.
So I'm taking everything off ofit the door panels, all the
glass, the windshield I'm goingto put a low-cut windshield on
it the spare tire and I want itjust to be as absolutely light
(34:06):
and clean as possible.
Just, you know one, maybe twoseats on it.
If my wife wants to hang out,then I've got a beloved 82 Fiat
similar to the one I had in highschool.
I bought it for my wife as apresent.
She wanted a convertible.
When my GTV6 Alpha burned up onme on the Skyway Bridge, we
(34:29):
recently stripped the originalpurple paint.
Well, the car had beenrepainted by the eclectic first
owner, purple, and 20 years intothe ownership we decided to
restore it.
We stripped the paint down tobare and the the the paint
change, the heavy refresh,turned into more of a
restoration.
It's come come out really nice40,000 miles, beautiful, and it
(34:53):
drives as good as it looks.
It drives like brand new.
And then across from it is an81 black Fiat Spyder, which is a
unique one.
It's fuel injected and it hasan automatic transmission.
That automatic transmission isa Chevy 200, I believe, which
you might have seen in aChevette, but a lot of the
(35:14):
European cars with automatictransmissions use GM
transmissions.
Jaguar was a big person and thesad thing is it's become the
parts car on the 82s.
But it's actually the nicestcar in the whole fleet.
It's 40 000 miles, the sparetires still wrapped in plastic,
(35:36):
you know, the cosmoline on andit's just a really clean car.
So it's black with a.
It's black with the redinterior that it's about to get
from the 73.
So I'm gonna have a black onewith a red interior, a red one
with a black interior, and thenwe're gonna have the 82 that's
(35:56):
restored to look like new andthen a 73 ratty race car.
So that's not the collection Iever dreamed about, but that's
the way it's worked out and it'sgot a story.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Yeah, you're smiling as you're describing it.
Thank you for the tour of thegarage.
I will say if there was evertwo people made for each other,
it's you and Amy.
Thank you I just think it'swonderful, it's been such a
pleasure and a privilege to getto know you here.
Thank you for bringing us intoyour world for half an hour and
(36:32):
sharing.
You know the stories of yourpast, what makes each of you you
, what makes you tick, and Ithink you should patent I'd
rather have you know a $10,000,$5,000 cars and one $50,000 car,
because because I think a lotof us can relate to that and
also, when you reach back intoyour past, there are these
(36:55):
beautiful cars that don't mean awhole lot to anyone else from
this generation, but somethingthat just inspires you, sparks
the memories of your youth.
There are stories of family, ofthe people, of the friends, and
that's all wonderful.
Speaker 4 (37:12):
The Fiats to me, were always the poor man's Ferrari.
You know they have Lamprettiengines.
He designed, you know, thefamous Columbo V12s.
They were designed by TomGiarda.
He designed some of thebeautiful Ferraris at 330.
So when I look at it I see amillion-dollar Italian exotic.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Well, you definitely have a type, as they say, and
again, it was wonderful meetingyou both.
Thank you for being on the show.
We'll have to have you back,and this show was a bit of a
curveball for us.
So interviewing two people atonce and then having the the
wide ranging conversation thatwe did, it really kept Doug and
(37:55):
me on our toes, and so weappreciate the challenge, we
appreciate your time, can't waitto further the conversation,
have you back, maybe even meetyou in person, and thanks for
being part of the show.
We appreciate you being here.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
It's a pleasure.
We're excited to have youinterested in our story.
So a million yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Thank you.
All right, have a thank youagain.
Good, good reconnecting withyou, john, after all these years
as well actually.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
Well, I'll run into you for sure.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Small world though yeah, next time you're in
annapolis, easton, let me knowdefinitely yep, all right all
right, take All right.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Take care Thanks.
This was To All the Cars I'veLoved Before CarsLovecom.
Check us out on your podcaststreaming platform of choice.
Reach out to us.
I'm Christian at CarsLovecom,he's Doug at CarsLovecom.
We'll see you next week, nexttime.
(38:50):
Have a great summer.
See you in the fall, see yousoon.
Welcome back everybody to your podcast about
cars life lessons through cars.
You know every car tells astory, carslovecom, and it's
good to be back.
We haven't recorded in a while.
I went on vacation, doug wenton vacation, my sister and her
family came and visited me.
We've spent the past three daysat the beach.
(00:23):
So I sit here sunburned andstaring from the fine air
conditioning interior of myhouse and I'm looking at my
podcasting partner here, doug.
How you doing, pal, doing great, great to be back with you.
Indeed, indeed, and we have atandem here, a couple of guests,
which we've never done before.
(00:45):
And as I look into their windowin our podcasting software,
here I see the both of themdelightful couple, amy and John
Russell, and right between them,figuratively speaking, of
course, only beautiful baby blueFiat that we're going to get
into and but, but you know what?
(01:07):
Take a step back here.
The theme today is going to befriends, partners and people who
go way back and have stayedtogether.
It's been an important theme inmy life.
Indeed, this podcast was reallyDoug's brainchild, and I've
known Doug college pal from.
I think we're over 30 yearsinto this life together, man,
(01:29):
and when he fired this up heasked me to be his co-host here,
and there's a reason we canfinish each other's thoughts and
sentences because, you know,when you spend that much time
together, uh, there is a sharedhistory and our guests today
have a shared history.
But before we talk about themtogether, I would like doug to
(01:52):
do the proper formalintroductions and tie up in a
bow, how john knows, a previousguest of ours, joe Gibson, who's
, I believe, this episode wentup about a month ago.
So if you could take me back tohow these two gentlemen crossed
(02:13):
your paths, doug, so it had tobe in the mid to late 80s, right
.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
I can't remember if I met these guys in middle school
, junior high back when they hadthat, or high school, but
definitely in high school.
And you know, things got reallyinteresting in high school when
we started driving, right.
That's when people'spersonalities really came out.
Yeah, and you you know, joementioned that, uh, that
(02:46):
Volkswagen bus which I doremember, and and John, um, you
know, the thing I alwaysremember about John is that he
had this he shows up one daywith this four-door convertible
Oldsmobile which they didn'tmake four-door Oldsmobile
(03:06):
convertible.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
You guys went to a cool high school.
Why couldn't I go to a highschool like this?
You got this is like 90210 or21 Jump Street.
How can I go back in time andbe part of this?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
And.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
John and Joe and their close friends.
I remember seeing them drive inthis huge thing and it was
quite the story.
And John, fortunately, is goingto share some of that story
with us as we go through some ofthe cars.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
But, and I would love for John to step in here and
John tells just a little bitabout yourself and then you're
please introduce your lovelywife Amy as well.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Well, hey, doug and Christian, thanks for having me.
My name's John Russell and I'mhere with my wife and she's the
enabler.
If she was a superhero she'dprobably be the rearranger, but
she's been the best part of mylife for over 26 years, thirteen
(04:08):
and a half years of my life.
Sorry that that joke, that jokenever gets old.
But no, no.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Got old after year 10 , but it's OK.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
A flip side to go and she's quick with a zinger to
ladies oh, she's good, I got it.
I got a gang of stuff where Ican talk to her about her.
But the thing about Broadneckis Broadneck was kind of a 90210
, and I didn't even realize itback then.
I ended up moving to Florida atthe middle of my 10th grade and
(04:39):
going to an inner cityfinishing an inner city high
school.
So I really got to appreciatewhat we all had up there.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And how did you come to know Joe?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Joe was a great story .
You know, my wife and I bothcome from military families.
Our dads were both retired armycolonels.
So we moved a lot.
I just moved back.
I'd lived in Maryland DC andmoved to another assignment,
moved back and were at the localcrab restaurant Cantler's
(05:11):
Riverside Inn, which is stillthere.
Back in the day it was still anundiscovered low-down place.
I'm belt height, joe Gibson's alittle shorter than I am.
We both have ball cuts andwe're playing video games and we
hit it off.
We ran around, our dad sat atthe bar, we begged for quarters
(05:34):
and the next day I started in mynew school and there Joe was in
my class.
So we've been, for better orworse, best friends.
For God, how does that work?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
40 years, yeah, and before we get into the, uh, into
the car part of it, I'm justcurious how, how often do you
guys talk?
Uh, you, you're obviously close, um, but how often do you?
And do you guys talk a lot overthe phone?
Do you text a lot?
Or is it one of theserelationships where there's not
(06:08):
a ton of togetherness in thatway, maybe you go months and
months without any contact, butyou pick up immediately when you
do.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
How does that work for you guys?
I have those kind ofrelationships with past friends.
But no, joe and I man he's myhetero life mate we talk
regularly.
I mean we might text multipletimes a day, three times a week,
and we might pick up the phoneand talk for an hour here and
there, and we're partners incars and boats and businesses
(06:39):
and you name it, but cars arethe real passion.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Indeed, I like that.
Thank you Well over to you,doug.
Would you do we get into thesheet metal part of it, or yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, and, and you know I teased out John's car,
but first car because I rememberit so well, but just meeting
Amy, I'd love to hear aboutAmy's first car.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Amy, I'd love to hear about Amy's first car.
Hi all, I'm Amy Russell and Idid not grow up in Maryland, so
anything that was John beforeAmy, we call BA.
But my first car was given tomy mom by her best friend's
husband and it was a about a 70schevy early 70s yep um malibu
(07:43):
and it took it that thing waslike a goldish, brownish, bronzy
.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
I call it metallic chocolate.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
With a white interior .
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Nice.
Yeah, I think GM had to pass.
Yeah, go ahead.
Good, good, you remember thatcolor.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I literally would just keep my
head on the steering wheelwhenever I got into it after
work and just pray please start,please start, please start.
And we've all had a few of thoseAbsolutely had to put both feet
on the brakes at everystoplight and stop sign,
otherwise I'd just keep rollingright on through and didn't
appreciate what I had.
So I sold it and that was myfirst car.
(08:21):
And if I look back at it nowand I just kick myself, so, but
I was a 16 year old girl.
I didn't want that kind of car.
I wanted, you know, somethingcool and modern and, you know,
automatic.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Right A convertible Fiat light blue made Just
guessing.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I much appreciation for that.
Later in life, once I met John,I also didn't like asparagus or
clams or mussels before I metJohn either.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
She didn't grow up in Annapolis, a seafood town.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, midwest, I get it.
So with that, since Amy sharedher first card, john, tell us
about what you're allowed totell us and our listeners about
that.
1973 Olds 98 Custom convertiblefour-door.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
I mean, that was a great first car experience.
There was a restaurant that hadbeen closed for many years,
just a block from my house.
It was getting ready to reopenand they were paying me $5 an
hour to pick up trash and Iworked just long enough to put a
$100 bill in my pocket.
And pretty much the week ofturn 16, dave Gregory and I, we
(09:42):
rode our bikes to the AnnapolisBoat Show and I don't know if
who knows about that show, butit's a very crowded event.
People come there for allreasons, and here was this, this
, this black four-door Ozembeel,where you know the car.
They didn't have the B pillarsback then.
The front windows and the backwindows rolled up together so
(10:04):
they'd cut the top off it butleaving the windshield and the
back window and it had for salespray painted on the side of it.
So, being the brave guy I was 16years old I go into the Fleet
Reserve Club, suss the place out, find the bar fly owner sitting
at the bar and I said, hey, I'mhere to buy your car and he
(10:26):
goes.
Well, how much money do youhave?
And I go.
I got a hundred dollar bill andhe took the hundred dollar bill
.
He handed me the car keys, hewrote his number down on a bar
napkin and he goes call me in aweek.
And that's pretty much when thereign of terror began.
So we put our bikes in the backof the car, I dropped dave off,
(10:47):
drove straight to joe's housein the like.
The front foyer of his housewas the old credenza where
nothing ever moved on it, andwas the the door's greatest hits
on an a-track and that thata-track went in the player and
jo, joe and I just caused havocaround the Broadneck High School
(11:10):
region.
All fun stuff knocking overroad cones, things like that.
But I can still quote everylyric of the Door's greatest
hits because that album playedfor two straight weeks, the
soundtrack of the first car,absolutely.
Absolutely.
We painted that car up forHomecoming.
We gave it reverse white wallswhere the whites were like stars
(11:34):
broad neck rules.
But it got to the point wherewhen we drove around, you could
just see people pointing andread their lips.
They were going that's the car.
Yes, I ended up that's the car.
Yes, I ended up.
You know I never told my dadabout it.
I parked it at the neighbor'shouse another neighbor I did
lawn work for and you know Iended up selling it to a friend.
(11:56):
Well, he was a friend.
He might not have been a friendafter that.
And can I tell what happened?
Yes, please.
So that night they went out andyou know, the car had a tag but
no registration, no insurance,and I didn't even have a
driver's license at that point.
But he got the car.
He drove into the high schoolparking lot at three in the
(12:18):
morning.
There was a police officerthere.
Needless to say, the car gotimpounded.
Three in the morning the policecall my house.
My dad wakes me up three in themorning and says hey, the
police are on the phone.
So I'm talking to the policeabout this.
No, no, no, no, that's not mycar.
You know that car belongs tothis other gentleman.
(12:39):
So here's his number if youwill.
And I hang up the phone.
My dad goes what was that about?
I got his wrong number.
That was the end of that story.
And my dad, who was prettyiron-fisted military guy he did
when the fellow I sold it to hisparents called him the next day
(13:00):
and said hey, your son sold myson a car and they got it and
pounded and you know he owes him150 bucks.
My dad said well, that's notreally how it works.
You know, they made a deal.
My son made a mistake and thatwas like the first time he'd
really ever gone to bat for me,so I was pretty excited about
that.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Talk about life lessons through cars.
The old man had your back.
That's pretty fantastic, and hedid have have my back, hey, for
and for those who don't know,the annapolis boat show is a big
deal.
Down where I live in the, theflorida panhandle, people will
make a pilgrimage up to an app.
It's the boat show.
Um, for breadth and scope andin in depth of of what's out
(13:43):
there, it's, it's, it's reallysomething to be seen.
Um, it's, it's, it's quite theevent.
It's quite the event.
Go ahead, doug, you were goingto say something, didn't mean to
jump in, sorry, you're takingnotes.
Um, all right, so okay, so wesaw what was the second car, or
(14:03):
what was the car after that fromfrom john or yeah I can tell my
, my, my story.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
It was a continuation of the, the ozmobile.
You know, we, of course wenamed that car the death mobile.
It was very similar to ananimal house.
It was just that, that kind ofcar.
So I, you know, I, I ended upcausing trouble where my dad
said, hey, would you like to golive with your mom in Florida?
And I said, man, if I had aknown cause in trouble it would
(14:30):
make that happen.
I'd have caused a hell of a lotmore years ago.
Yeah, so I I got I got straightout of the movies a complete
restart life.
I got a fresh start, fresh highschool.
And I, you know, I had my momand my stepdad and they said
well, john, if you get straighta's, we'll give you three
(14:51):
thousand dollars to buy a carand we'll insure it.
If you get straight b's, youcan buy your own car and we'll
insure it.
If you get straight Bs, you canbuy your own car and we'll
insure it.
If you get straight Cs, you'reon your own.
Anything below that, no car, noprivileges.
I didn't know anybody and I wasgoing to an inner city school
just to kind of show up andgraduate kind of place.
So I paid attention in everyclass.
(15:16):
But algebra I came in as thenew kid and I just slept through
the class.
So I got straight A's and an Fin algebra and my parents go
well, I don't know what to doabout this.
And I said I got it all covered, I'm going to summer school.
So I ended up.
So I ended up getting straightA's for the first and only time
(15:36):
in my.
So I ended up getting straightA's for the first and only time
in my student career, if youwould.
So my stepdad's retiring mymom's buying him a brand new
Vanilla Ice 5-liter convertibleMustang and he had a triple
white with a blue interior.
I mean, that's another story.
But he had a really nice latemodel Fiat which is where my
(16:00):
affection for these cars comeand it was the 83 that was
actually built by Pininfarina.
So they gave me this car.
So I went from, you know, a$100 car to the nicest red,
black interior, shiny,convertible, and it's cool.
I had a good job, made moregood friends and I'll tell you,
(16:21):
I just had the greatest secondround of high school you could
imagine and that car was legal,right, and that car was totally
legal.
Yeah, absolutely, and they'vepretty much all been since then.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yes, Excellent, and so I know you guys being
together, 26 plus years, right,you mentioned earlier in our
talk, or pre pre show talk, thatyou've enjoyed doing road
tripping around the US.
(17:01):
You have some plans to do itoverseas as well, but I heard
about a very interesting camper,a camper that you created
thanks to Joe Joe Gibson againright, exchanging cars and
hoping you could tell us aboutthat.
Thanks to Joe Joe Gibson againright, exchanging cars and
hoping you could tell us aboutthat.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
The camper, the trip, yeah, that was.
You know, that was another carthat I inherited from Joe Gibson
.
We've passed back and forthprobably close to a dozen cars
or boats or something like thatin life, something like that in
(17:46):
life.
So I acquired his 1998 K2500diesel Suburban and we outfitted
into an Expedition camper.
I installed a 30-gallon watertank next to the 44-gallon
diesel tank.
I put a window unit, airconditioner in the back door, in
a in a disguised box.
Another box had a hondagenerator, um, inverter, ice
maker, you name it, hot and coldrunning water.
So it's complete, a complete,under complete, undercover
(18:10):
expedition camper.
And we, uh, we took off and wedrove.
We drove the whole country offgrid, whole pac, whole Pacific
Coast highway.
But the fun thing about thatcar, it's my Joe Gibson voodoo
doll, because he seems toremember it being in perfect
condition when he sold it to meand I've since drilled 2,500
(18:31):
screws into it and every time Iput a screw into it I can just
feel him cringe.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
And every time I put a screw into it.
I can just feel him cringe.
Yes, he forgets that.
Can of bottom paint, I think,or something that spilled in the
back.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Battery, acid Battery acid, but it was a really.
It still have it.
It's been a great truck and youknow that truck has that kind
of bastardized Detroit diesel.
It started as the 6.2, and thenit went to a 6.5 turbo.
So it doesn't have theperformance of like a 5.9
Cummings or a Duramax or a SuperDuty Ford.
(19:06):
But when you know those carsit's a good car and I'll start
it in the morning, sub-zerotemperature.
And just last week I towed acar down from Maryland and our
truck ran for 21 hours straight.
I don't shut it down Once itstarts up.
You run it until you're donedriving it for the day, and
(19:27):
that's how we went across thecountry.
Nice, nice and that was a coupleweeks, right.
Well, we did it in 10 weeks.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
We got a case of the stupids no-transcript spot's
(20:04):
even greater, and it was, butthen we should have stopped it
was just.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
It was just.
It was just a, it was a tasty.
We were saying, well, when wecome back we'll do it again.
And you know life goes.
We haven't made it back sincewe went back to work.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
We did do a pretty decent trip last July for my
50th birthday and it was greatand nice and wonderful.
And of course, the last spot wefound was so ideal and so
perfect and we were only goingto stay a day.
We wanted to stay two.
We were low on gas for thetruck, we're low on or diesel
(20:40):
for the truck, low on gas forthe generator, low on food, low
on water and but mainly low onbeer, and mainly so we, um, we
came home, but we've had someamazing trips in that truck and
just we, we lived a pretty goodlifestyle.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
You know we've stayed in hotel rooms that would make
james bond blush, but we've hada.
We've had a better time in lifethan living on a super yacht or
, you know, in some fancy hotel,right?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
you were in utah, I think somewhere and this kid
comes into the we're at the gasstation and filling up and
everything he comes in he's likeis that a diesel Suburban?
And he was in a nice truck too.
And we're like, yeah, it is.
And John and him are talking.
He's like, oh man, he goes, I'dlove to get that thing.
We're like, yeah, we're farfrom home.
So sorry, but it's.
(21:33):
It's nice to appreciate.
I had two young kids at Lowe'sabout two weeks ago.
I drive a 2001 OldsmobileAurora and the symbol on the
hood is different and this kidgrabbing cards is like what kind
of car is that?
You're?
Speaker 1 (21:49):
kidding.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
And he's like oh, he goes.
I thought I knew all theemblems.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
Hey, that's another story that rubs Joe.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, he mentioned that car to me and most people
don't know what that is.
I do.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Actually that car I'm at probably 75 cars now, last
count over the course of my life, 13 and a half right now, one
being a partnership with Joe andthat Oldsmobile Aurora.
I bought it when my 84 dieselSuburban got stolen pre another
truck I had and that's a greatstory I should have mentioned
(22:25):
earlier.
But I found myself looking fora five-year-old, fully
depreciated, $30,000 sedan tohave a you know kind of a
professional car, if you will.
This was in 2005.
And you know the BMW 5 Seriesand Lincolns and Lexus, they
were all in there and I boughtthis car $5,000, 50,000 miles,
(22:49):
five years old and in 2005,.
I'm still driving at 20.
I'm still driving at 20 plusyears later.
It looks like new and it itcosts nothing but brakes, tires
and oil.
So anybody that wants to giveus grief about that particular
car, joe, it's been the greatestcar I've ever owned.
(23:09):
I just drove it miles lastweekend.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, I mean that was a neat experiment, if you will,
ultimately trying to bedifferent Front-wheel drive V8.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Yeah, it had a terrible reputation at first
because all the other carsseemed to weigh out classic, but
it's aged really well.
My particular one has the 3.5liter V6, which the only GM I
know of, that's the, that's thesix cylinder version of the
north star.
Okay, that's the only one thatthey did that to kind of like a
(23:43):
4.3 is a six cylinder 350 yep,yep, no, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
I didn't realize they had v6s, I only knew about the
eight.
But uh, no, that's, that's.
Uh, yeah, you guys have it.
So, amy, we were talkingearlier, so you did mention your
Malibu and you got rid of it,and I just I love the story
about what your second car andwhat happened to it, and want to
(24:10):
say it was 1985.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
It was a manual red with black interior, four-door,
aftermarket AC, aftermarketcruise control and we drove that
car as a family down toOklahoma or Alabama to visit our
family because we never flewanywhere.
So it was my sister got todrive it.
She's two years older than meand when she went to college it
(24:43):
became my car.
Only one of my friends thatknew how to drive a stick and
stick shift cars.
So I always said, if anythinghappens, to me you guys are
screwed yeah, best friend stilldoes not know how to drive a
manual.
But, uh, I was driving a friendto the airport.
He was, he was joining the army, and I rear-ended, I slid into
the back of a truck inMinneapolis, minnesota, yep, and
it didn't puncture the radiator.
The tow truck tied the roofdown or the roof, sorry, the
(25:08):
hood down and I made it home andmy father had some issues but
said I'm going to have themechanic look at it and if it
didn't hit the radiator thenwe'll fix it.
It didn't, so it got fixed.
And the day my sister wasleaving to go to czech republic
to teach english in high incollege, I was coming back from
(25:30):
depositing my check from work inthe bank, going over the
highway and every single lightlit up on the dash and I just
went christmas tree.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Oh crap, christmas in july I wish it was july.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
It wasn't.
It was december old and I hadto walk about a mile to a
sketchy 7-eleven oh a phone tocall my dad and four cell phones
everyone he came out with theford truck and he was literally
in a snowsuit and I was actuallyin a skirt, you know, and
jacket, everything.
He put me in the cab of thetruck and I towed him home in
(26:05):
that car.
It was about three miles and hesaid it was the worst three
miles, his whole entire life andevery time I put a fist out and
it's dark in Minnesota at thistime, at four o'clock, at this
time it was maybe five thirtysix my sister's at home, her
boyfriend, his family, my familythey're all saying goodbye
because she's leaving that nightto fly out and I was going to
(26:28):
break down on me.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
And can I, can I remind you guys, or bring this
up, that her, her father was aninfantry officer in Vietnam, and
so for him to say it was thescariest three miles of his life
Saying something right there.
It was really saying something.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Let's just say I told you not to go above 10 miles an
hour and I swear I didn't.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
I'll be honest.
When I met Amy she was not thegreatest driver in the world,
but I'll tell you she is nowshe's.
You know she didn't, oh boy,didn't grow up flying canal
flight jet aircraft.
You know, merchant marineofficer, ship captain, and she's
a great driver these days so.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
So we started with cars, through planes, through
boats, through the boat show,but.
But that kind of brings usaround to lighthouses Now.
I know this show is called ToAll the Cars I've Loved Before,
not To All the Lighthouses I'veLoved Before, but I was so taken
when y'all were telling usabout the lighthouse.
(27:32):
Please tell us about how alighthouse came into your life.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I find this so interesting and Joe Gibson's
part of this story too.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
He's everywhere.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
There's the car.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
He's everywhere.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
It goes like this Launch at him.
You'll never meet anybody thatdoesn't like train cabooses,
dolphins and especiallylighthouses.
So in the region we're from,annapolis, maryland, there's a
number of fairly famouslighthouses.
So in the region we're from,annapolis, maryland, there's a
number of fairly famouslighthouses, one of them being
the Baltimore Lighthouse, andit's at Abandoned is not quite
(28:07):
the right word, but unused.
And it had a neat history.
It actually had an experimentin the 60s.
It had a Snap 7 Bravo Strontium90 60-watt isotopic atomic
generator installed in thebasement of it, about the size
of a 55-gallon drum of water.
(28:29):
That would weigh 700 pounds, ifyou will.
This generator weighed 5,000pounds in a two-inch iron box.
So this abandoned lighthouse.
In view of Joe Gibson's familyhouse, you know something we
would.
I'd rent a boat from the Navy.
He had a little boat.
We just we'd go out and we'd do100 turns around it every
(28:51):
summer and Joe and I, as12-year-olds, would sit back and
we'd go.
Wouldn't it be cool if one daywell, one day I got word that it
was coming up on a governmentauction and, short story long, I
ended up winning the auctionand then I thought about who
(29:12):
would be a good fit.
So Joe Gibson had thewaterfront property and he's the
go-getter can fix anything.
He's got a set of tools that'llmake any mechanic blush.
Our other friends, mark andJane they're involved with
another local lighthouse andshe's involved with Maryland
Historical Society.
And then, of course, you need alawyer, and that's our good
(29:35):
friend Ron.
So they came in and webasically kept equal shares for
everybody.
It's a little bit different andour mission is to restore,
preserve and enjoy this locallighthouse, so that's
BaltimoreLighthouseorg, if I canplug that.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
If you ever have a spare second and want to get in
some trouble.
The lighthouse was for sale atauction on the gsagov website.
You at one time could buy awhole town on that website yeah,
you can buy.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
You can buy a navy base.
Yeah, you can buy a rangerstation.
You can buy space shuttle parts.
You can still now I can do thisgsa auctions, general service
administration, that'll that'llget you love it.
But if you want to, if you wantto buy a cargo van, it's there.
If you want to buy a fire, anairport fire truck, it's there.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
If you want to buy, what was that one boat we looked
at.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
It was a landing craft.
I'm not allowed on this websiteanymore for obvious reasons.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Yeah, you, we got to keep you locked up.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
You're, you're, you're trouble, mister.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, we got to keep you locked up in the garage.
You're trouble, mister.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah Well, so can sorry Christian, can question
can you buy some of the carsthat we see in your garage
behind you on that website?
Speaker 4 (31:02):
Oh no, well, everything's for sale, perfect.
Oh, you're.
You know my, my cars are arefor the select few.
You know my, my joke has alwaysyou're.
You know my, my cars are arefor the select few.
You know, my, my joke hasalways been you know, some guys
want to drive around in a fiftythousand dollar car.
I'd rather have ten, fivethousand dollar cars than I do,
and you know, that's, that's,that's what I like.
(31:23):
You know, fiat, classic Fiat's,datsun's.
You know I'm a, I'm a 1972.
So I gravitate toward 72.
It was a good car year.
It was kind of the last of theno emissions, you know,
horsepower, war cars, lesssafety, regulation, and then
going to high school, you know,in the late 80s, early 90s,
(31:46):
that's the same year.
So all of my cars are early 70sor late 80s, early 90s, and
that's just, that's just what Ilike good, good choices, good
choices.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
So can you, uh um, give us a brief tour of your
garage, for for our listenersthey can't see it, but hopefully
we'll put some pictures of yourcars up online.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Okay, okay well.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
I'm looking at my favorite car.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
It's my 1972 Fiat 124 Spyder, russo, red, black
interior with everything you'dever want to bolt onto one of
these cars.
So it has a hot cam, has astainless header, has an ANSA
exhaust, has a Weber carburetor,has KONI shocks, it has Pana
(32:41):
Sport wheels.
So it runs great, it soundsgreat, it drives great, but I'd
be nervous to leave the countyin it.
Next to it is my two FordDatsun.
I had one of these in highschool.
I bought this not long ago andto convince the wife to let me
buy this car, I told her.
(33:02):
I said, honey, she goes.
What are you going to do withit?
I said we're going to.
I'm going to ship it to Europeand we're going to put two
backpacks in it.
We're going to put twobackpacks in it.
We're going to backpack throughEurope without any walking.
And she goes, okay.
So she let me buy the car.
And it's very original.
It has every nick and scratch.
(33:23):
It's red on red and I drive itto California.
Then behind me is a 73 Fiatthat I bought from Joe Gibson's
brother not long ago.
I just trailered it down fromMaryland and it's the parts car
for my car.
But when I'm done with it Idon't want to take it off the
road.
So it's going to be a rat rod.
It's going to be a rat rod racecar and the full Colin Chapman
(33:45):
treatment and I don't know ifyou guys know which viewers know
, but he was famous with Lotusand his motto was add lightness.
So I'm taking everything off ofit the door panels, all the
glass, the windshield I'm goingto put a low-cut windshield on
it the spare tire and I want itjust to be as absolutely light
(34:06):
and clean as possible.
Just, you know one, maybe twoseats on it.
If my wife wants to hang out,then I've got a beloved 82 Fiat
similar to the one I had in highschool.
I bought it for my wife as apresent.
She wanted a convertible.
When my GTV6 Alpha burned up onme on the Skyway Bridge, we
(34:29):
recently stripped the originalpurple paint.
Well, the car had beenrepainted by the eclectic first
owner, purple, and 20 years intothe ownership we decided to
restore it.
We stripped the paint down tobare and the the the paint
change, the heavy refresh,turned into more of a
restoration.
It's come come out really nice40,000 miles, beautiful, and it
(34:53):
drives as good as it looks.
It drives like brand new.
And then across from it is an81 black Fiat Spyder, which is a
unique one.
It's fuel injected and it hasan automatic transmission.
That automatic transmission isa Chevy 200, I believe, which
you might have seen in aChevette, but a lot of the
(35:14):
European cars with automatictransmissions use GM
transmissions.
Jaguar was a big person and thesad thing is it's become the
parts car on the 82s.
But it's actually the nicestcar in the whole fleet.
It's 40 000 miles, the sparetires still wrapped in plastic,
(35:36):
you know, the cosmoline on andit's just a really clean car.
So it's black with a.
It's black with the redinterior that it's about to get
from the 73.
So I'm gonna have a black onewith a red interior, a red one
with a black interior, and thenwe're gonna have the 82 that's
(35:56):
restored to look like new andthen a 73 ratty race car.
So that's not the collection Iever dreamed about, but that's
the way it's worked out and it'sgot a story.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Yeah, you're smiling as you're describing it.
Thank you for the tour of thegarage.
I will say if there was evertwo people made for each other,
it's you and Amy.
Thank you I just think it'swonderful, it's been such a
pleasure and a privilege to getto know you here.
Thank you for bringing us intoyour world for half an hour and
(36:32):
sharing.
You know the stories of yourpast, what makes each of you you
, what makes you tick, and Ithink you should patent I'd
rather have you know a $10,000,$5,000 cars and one $50,000 car,
because because I think a lotof us can relate to that and
also, when you reach back intoyour past, there are these
(36:55):
beautiful cars that don't mean awhole lot to anyone else from
this generation, but somethingthat just inspires you, sparks
the memories of your youth.
There are stories of family, ofthe people, of the friends, and
that's all wonderful.
Speaker 4 (37:12):
The Fiats to me, were always the poor man's Ferrari.
You know they have Lamprettiengines.
He designed, you know, thefamous Columbo V12s.
They were designed by TomGiarda.
He designed some of thebeautiful Ferraris at 330.
So when I look at it I see amillion-dollar Italian exotic.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Well, you definitely have a type, as they say, and
again, it was wonderful meetingyou both.
Thank you for being on the show.
We'll have to have you back,and this show was a bit of a
curveball for us.
So interviewing two people atonce and then having the the
wide ranging conversation thatwe did, it really kept Doug and
(37:55):
me on our toes, and so weappreciate the challenge, we
appreciate your time, can't waitto further the conversation,
have you back, maybe even meetyou in person, and thanks for
being part of the show.
We appreciate you being here.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
It's a pleasure.
We're excited to have youinterested in our story.
So a million yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Thank you.
All right, have a thank youagain.
Good, good reconnecting withyou, john, after all these years
as well actually.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
Well, I'll run into you for sure.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Small world though yeah, next time you're in
annapolis, easton, let me knowdefinitely yep, all right all
right, take All right.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Take care Thanks.
This was To All the Cars I'veLoved Before CarsLovecom.
Check us out on your podcaststreaming platform of choice.
Reach out to us.
I'm Christian at CarsLovecom,he's Doug at CarsLovecom.
We'll see you next week, nexttime.
(38:50):
Have a great summer.
See you in the fall, see yousoon.
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