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What happens when the car your parents courted in finds its way back to your family decades later? In this heartfelt exploration of automotive heritage, Justin shares the remarkable story of his father's 1963 Corvair Monza Spyder that mysteriously returned to the family years after being sold, confirmed by Winston cigarette butts still lodged in the stubborn ashtray. Now in Justin's care, this baby blue convertible represents more than transportation—it's a tangible connection to his parents' early romance.
Cars have a unique ability to become vessels for family narratives and personal connections. Justin's automotive journey spans from his first 1980 Honda Prelude found in a newspaper classified ad to an exhilarating 1988 Honda Prelude Si with four-wheel steering that both thrilled and terrified his friends. His ill-fated relationship with a Volkswagen Golf diesel resulted in a spectacular mechanical meltdown—a runaway throttle situation that created an oil stain so permanent it remains visible on his parents' street thirty years later.
Listen to Justin's favorite episode where Tom Wolfe tells all about his Dodge Coronet road trip purchase and invaluable tips for rust proofing: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/17498085-from-rust-proof-roots-to-global-vehicle-protection-tom-wolfe-s-ziebart-story
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christian (00:02):
Listener land you have found To all the cars I've
loved before, welcome back.
It's your authoritative podcastOn automotive nostalgia, where
every car tells a story, everycar has a culture.
It's time to plug in, dust off,get a little grease under those
fingernails and I want towelcome new listeners or recent
listeners.
How do we know this?
(00:23):
Through the magic of packetswitching and capturing.
No packets were tortured in thecollection of this data.
Ogden, utah, welcome.
Ashburn, virginia, welcome NewYork City.
Didn't know how do you likethat so nice?
They named it twice.
A couple other places a littlefurther afield.
(00:43):
We are heard around the world.
Yes, singapore.
Yes, pakistan, welcome, welcome.
It's good to have everybodyhere.
What do you think about thatpartner?
Doug (00:54):
Magic of the internet.
I love it we don't even have tobe syndicated.
Christian (01:01):
Yeah, I mean around the world, I'd be okay with that
, but yeah, and today's guestokay with that.
But yeah, and today's guest,we're very happy to have him.
We're going to introduce him ina couple of minutes.
Just reached out to us he saidhey, you are my people.
Yes, that's a direct quote.
We got to get together, make ithappen Some magic coming your
way tonight.
So Ogden, Utah, Singapore,Ashburn, Virginia, Pakistan, New
(01:21):
York City, Welcome back.
And I won't torture listenerland by singing happy birthday,
but we do have a very specialbirthday today, Doug.
Do you have any idea whose itis?
Here's a hint.
We interviewed his daughter ona previous season of the show.
It is none other than JohnDeLorean.
Doug (01:43):
How do you like that, john Zachary DeLorean?
Christian (01:45):
How do you like that, john?
Doug (01:45):
Zachary DeLorean.
Happy birthday in heaven, sir.
Christian (01:50):
Amen, you know, I think we talked about this when
we were meant to, when we spokewith her.
His autobiography is a heck ofa tale and I think you read at
least one or two.
You know owning one of his mostfamous inventions.
You've read about him quite abit, quite a bit Interesting
(02:12):
fella.
Doug (02:13):
You could say extensively.
And I'm pretty active in theDeLorean community, partially
just to find out tips on how tofix my car, but also, I mean
wonderful people like KatDeLorean are actually very
active on Facebook groups andthat's how we connected with her
.
So we're super fortunate.
I mean, you know the man.
(02:33):
The man died 20 years ago.
So we're you know, talking toher was was you know as good as
close as it gets to meeting him.
So it was a true honor andprivilege and it's the gift that
keeps giving.
Season one, episode 10.
Christian (02:54):
I got to tell you and we'll go back a couple of years
and this just kind of struck mewhen you said you were getting
this car.
And I know it was a bit of adream for you and you always
want to help your closestfriends, you know, overachieve,
get to their goals, make dreamscome true.
But I thought you would go getthis car, bring it back and I
(03:16):
would never see you againbecause you would be underneath
this piece of steel forevertrying to make it work.
But it's been surprising to methat really the opposite has
happened.
You have met more people by wayof this car.
It's really just been a social.
I mean, you know a lot ofpeople have a lot of friends,
(03:37):
people, person, et cetera, etcetera, but it's all of the
people that have moved withinyour orbit.
It's really a striking,bordering on stunning thing.
Did you think about that?
Doug (03:51):
Yep, and you posed the question.
It's in our blog, but you posedthe question to me If I hadn't
bought the DeLorean, would wehave the podcast?
And I think the answer is no.
Yeah, I think you can draw adirect line.
Christian (04:04):
Thank you, john.
Yeah, I think you can draw adirect line.
Thank you, john.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's amazing how you set thesegoals up in your life personal
goals, professional goalsinvolving your family, friends,
significant other, and in thejourney of achieving them or
reaching them or helping someoneelse reach them.
It's all the little detours andoff ramps and tangents and
(04:27):
connections made along the way,but that's really neat.
Doug (04:32):
Thank you for sharing that .
Yeah, no, I'm smiling, thinkingabout all the people who smile
and point when they see medriving the car.
They don't smile and point atme, they smile and point at the
car, and that makes me happy.
Christian (04:45):
Yeah, but you're the one that steps out of it.
You're not in a spacesuit, soit makes sense to strike up the
conversation with you.
Doug (04:51):
Except out of the back.
Christian (04:52):
And so you get a lot.
So before we go, it's just realquick.
So at one point you said to meyou weren't, and I forget
exactly how you phrased it, butyou got so much attention in the
car and you have several othercars so you would just kind of
park that car for a bit.
But it's just everybody lookingat you all the time and a lot
(05:14):
of people have no idea what it'slike to be famous and when
everybody's looking at you allthe time.
You know.
Imagine if you know yourwedding day, where everybody is
looking at you and you're thecenter of attention for the
entire day.
Imagine if your wedding day wasevery day of your life.
That's what it's like to befamous.
How do you handle that when yougo out?
Doug (05:42):
That's a.
It's a I hate to say love, loveor hate thing, but it is.
You get asked about gigawatts,flux capacitor yeah, will it go
88?
All the regular stuff, you knowwhat.
Christian (05:58):
Because you didn't buy.
Doug (05:59):
Is that a Lamborghini?
Is that a Ferrari?
Christian (06:02):
Right, but but yeah, you didn't buy it.
To seek attention is the funnything, and I think you were
really kind of taken aback atcertain points and it's taken
you a few years to settle intothat.
Well, and I don't drive itevery day, it's not, it's a
weekend it's not the dailydriver, like it is for Brian
Paoni, another guest, if youdon't want to interrupt.
Justin (06:26):
You got it.
It just seems like a perfectexcuse to completely make up a
backstory and just take peoplefor a ride could, could.
Christian (06:35):
And that very deep voice is not casey casem, ladies
and gentlemen, it is our voicefor today, it is our guest for
today.
Justin, how are you?
I'm well, sir, how are you?
Beautiful, wonderful, betterthat you're here.
And Doug, how did Justin comeacross our dashboard?
Doug (06:54):
Yeah, so we got super lucky.
Even though Justin and I livein the same state, we didn't
know each other, so I would sayhe's a friend of the show.
He was listening to the showwhile he was taking down
christmas lights, uh, kindlysent us a message and uh, yeah,
we've been chatting ever since.
He's got some great storiesabout cars that we're gonna
(07:18):
we're gonna jump into.
But, yeah, he heard us onovercast.
Of course, we're on all thestreaming platforms, including
YouTube, youtube podcast, butalso we're adding video daily.
But, yeah, justin found us onOvercast and you know, can't say
enough nice things about theshow and how he feels, how it
(07:38):
made him feel thinking about hisearly cars, which is really the
consistent feedback we get frompeople, whether they're car
people or not.
Christian (07:49):
Yeah, good point, and he reached out.
He reached out.
So it's as easy as being on theshow, as being a fan of the
show.
So we're one text, one emailaway and really, in talking with
justin before the show, uh, we,we had to tell him a couple
times man, it's your show, we'rehere for you.
We just kind of.
(08:10):
We just kind of put guardrailsup and, yes, you can smash
through them if you'd like, butthat's, that's why we're here.
So what's the weather.
Justin (08:17):
What's the weather by you today, justin, have to ask,
because it's brutally cold herein florida 40 degrees in florida
, poor guy uh, let's see, it wasuh 27, I think was the high, 17
was the uh wind chill and lastnight and then today I was out
there with the snowblower andthe the chipper trying to get
(08:40):
ice off the sidewalks.
Christian (08:42):
that was the next question.
That was the next question.
That was the next question.
Okay, well, glad that you arefrost free.
You look warm and toasty, butyour first car wasn't a
snowblower, was it?
It was not.
Let's talk.
Let's go into the WaybackMachine.
And instead of talking aboutthe very first car, you had a
special car that you wanted tomention.
(09:02):
So let's get into that a littlebit.
Justin (09:07):
Which one are we talking about?
Christian (09:09):
Was that the Corvair?
Justin (09:11):
It was yes, and that is the one that I would really like
to talk about.
So I have a 1963 Corvairconvertible, monza Whoa, and
there's a great story behind thewhole thing.
My mom and dad were dating in.
(09:32):
They were, they were married in73 and they began dating in 70.
And my dad had this car andthey went on their first date in
the Corvair and they went on afew other dates after that and
then finally, my future mom saidI'm never riding in this car
(09:57):
again because the floorboardswere rusted clean through to the
road.
Well, doors weren't closingright, top was leaking.
It's a corvair, let's face it.
Uh, so dad's like, okay, okay,okay.
So he goes on to buy another carand honestly I don't know what
the next car he bought was.
(10:18):
But, um, he gave that car to mygrandfather and said here, do
you want this to play aroundwith?
For a few years, I'm gonna.
My grandfather had a 41 olds.
That was his pride and joy.
Uh, he's like, yeah, I'll takethis.
So he played with it for a fewyears and then, ultimately, he
ended up selling it on end ofstory.
(10:39):
For now, fast forward me.
We were in the, I'd say, mid80s, probably about 84, 85.
My dad gets a call from a guyand I, unfortunately I don't
know his name Called him up andsaid Mr Warfield, I believe I
(10:59):
have the car that you and yourwife are recording in.
No, have the car that you andyour wife were recording in.
No, and I would.
I want to sell it, but I wantto offer you offer you the first
right of refusal, whoa.
Doug (11:15):
So when does this?
Christian (11:15):
happen.
That's like this is fiction.
Justin (11:18):
Well, yeah, yeah, yeah which and this is what I wrote
out to you or wrote to you guys,because I thought this was just
like perfect.
So dad's like, oh, okay, I'llgo look at the car.
So he and my mom went andlooked at the car and it was
baby blue, monza wire wheel capsand at the time it had a black
(11:38):
top.
And he's like, yeah, everythingchecks out.
And dad said to mom I'm goingto open the ashtray and see if
there's anything in the ashtray,because the ashtray was stuck,
the little lid wouldn't open.
Now this is on top of the dashabove the radio.
And dad went to open up theashtray and it was stuck.
(11:59):
And dad looked down into thereand he actually saw his win
Winston cigarette butts fromwhen he owned the car.
So he got rid of it in 71, 72.
Gets a call from a guy I thinkyou have your car.
I think I have your car, do youwant it?
Dad went and looked at it andthis is in the mid 80s and it
(12:23):
turns out it was the very samecar, totally wild.
So dad bought it back from himand the guy had the engine
rebuilt, transmission rebuilt,had done some body work to it,
basically got it back on theroad Now.
It wasn't like a full showroomor show car restoration.
Doug (12:47):
Yes, it was a, you know.
Justin (12:49):
I'm a huge fan of roadkill, of don't get it right,
just get it running.
And that's what they did.
And they did a pretty good jobon the exterior bodywork.
The engine was okay, mom anddad got it.
They put a new top on it, theyhad some more work done on it,
had new brakes put on it, so onand so forth.
(13:12):
Fast forward a whole bunch ofyears and then, and I guess it
was about 10 years ago, um, Iwas my mom and dad ended up
moving from maryland to northcarolina and they took the car
them, and there just wasn't alot of places for them to to
drive it, you know, cause that'ssomething you want to cruise in
(13:32):
, that's like a.
You don't want to just bust outon the highway, absolutely.
And um, so they drove it aroundfor a little bit.
And then my wife and I wentdown and I asked dad.
I was like would you finallylet me drive this thing?
Um, put a pin in that.
We'll come back to that.
(13:53):
Um, will you finally let medrive this thing?
He's like yeah, sure, so I takeit out.
And this thing was a blast.
It was sloppy, steering wassloppy, shifting was sloppy,
brakes sloppy.
Drive it around for a bit, parkit back in the garage and it
sat for a few more years andabout six or eight years ago my
(14:20):
dad called me and said I'mselling the Corvair.
If you want it, come get it,otherwise it's for sale Full
stop.
Christian (14:30):
You got the right of first refusal too.
How interesting Second timearound With the equipment and
the family.
Justin (14:37):
Exactly so I called up my buddy Tiemann.
I was like, dude, I need you, Ineed your truck and I need your
trailer.
And, like all of my friends whoare awesome, he's just like yep
, let's go, let's do this.
So we drove North Carolina,hooked up the car, stayed the
night.
Next morning came back and it'sbeen in my garage and I'm
(15:01):
slowly getting it back up to, uh, to road worthiness.
Nice, that's where it's at anduh, I'm hoping, um, I'm hoping
to hoping to get it uh up andrunning.
Uh, my, my mom's not in thatgreat of a shape and I'd love to
(15:23):
be able to put her in thepassenger seat one more time.
Don't know if it's going tohappen, but I'm damn sure going
to try.
Doug (15:31):
Fingers crossed.
You know what's so great aboutthat.
It just came to me.
We've heard of right of firstrefusals before and those type
of things.
I've've heard of right of firstrefusals before and those type
of things.
I've not heard of somebodygoing back to find the previous
or however many previous ownersand say, hey, I've got your car.
I think I've got your car,whatever.
(15:53):
This nice gentleman wentthrough the trouble for whatever
reason, and man, that makes itlike doubly special, like that's
a I'll use one of christian'sterms like guardian angel right
yeah, and I I honestly don'tknow um the story behind that,
like how he found.
Justin (16:12):
I mean, obviously you can do a venn number search, but
in these days of the internetthat's easy.
But we're talking totallydifferent 84, 85, where you know
that just wasn't a thing.
So you had to do your researchor already have um documentation
on it and honestly, at thispoint I don't know if the engine
(16:34):
and transmission are matchingnumbers to the chassis.
I I don't know um.
Doug (16:38):
I haven't really dug that in that far into it, sure well
that I would um, it's a goodsegue, if you don't mind, since
we're talking about papers yeahinto how you found your first
car.
What?
What was your first car?
Justin (16:56):
that was a 1980 Honda Prelude, two-door silver.
Doug (17:04):
My favorite color.
Justin (17:07):
And we found that in the Frederick News Post and I think
it was being offered up forlike $1,500 or something dollars
.
And my dad and I went out andat the the time I didn't have my
license yet I couldn't drive astick, couldn't drive anything.
And, dad, we went over there,we talked to the girl that owned
(17:31):
it, took it out for a testdrive.
Of course my dad drove and youknow, obviously, knowing how to
drive a stick, he's like all allright, this is a really easy
stick for you to learn.
On.
This thing's really forgiving,excuse me.
Uh.
So we went back, made an offer,bought it.
Um, and the one one cool thingI remember, yeah, and I don't
(17:53):
even remember her, I justremember her saying you have to
take care of Ian, and Ian wasthe dog or dogs.
Ian was the car's name.
Okay, my first car's name isian and to this day I still
don't have any names for anycars except for that one,
because somebody else named it.
Christian (18:11):
I, I didn't know that anyone named really named cars
until this show and everyonedoes, and and I started doing it
.
Uh, since we started doing theshow here, that is fantastic.
Okay, I have to ask the paper.
You were very specific on thepaper, the Frederick News, what
did you call it?
Now I got to ask you do youhave any idea if that paper is
(18:36):
still in existence?
Justin (18:38):
Oh, it is absolutely.
Christian (18:40):
Oh well, that's fantastic because, you know, in
this day and age and in it justit just brings me back to how
this is not really car relatedsemi, but for millennia that's
how people have gotten theirinformation, some written record
, you know, going all the wayback to the town, crier in
newspapers.
(19:00):
And I remember being younger,younger, that's how you know
when I first moved to the bigcity, that's how I got my first
job man Getting it and goingthrough not that specific paper,
but get the paper and gothrough the one of the jobs, the
one ads.
you mentioned the little traderags that have the color picture
(19:20):
of the cars, or sometimes blackand white, and that's how
information got around.
Justin (19:27):
I mean, that was the thing you waited for the auto
trader to come out and you'relooking for a car.
It was once a week they wouldcome out and there was a whole
bunch of circulations, whetherbe national or local.
That was.
That was the cool thing likeyou waited for that rag to come
out and start flipping through,and then you, you had a pencil
(19:49):
and you circled things and youmade notes and you know, and you
ripped it out, it was moretactile.
Yeah, yeah, you ripped it out,you would tape it to your wall,
yes and, and you would cold callpeople Just a straight up cold
call and say, hey, are you theguy that has the car?
(20:10):
I'm interested in it.
Can we talk?
Christian (20:14):
Doesn't happen anymore.
No, it does not.
I was cleaning out.
My oldest son went off tocollege recently and is cleaning
out his room and found allthese newspaper clippings that
we had clipped out.
And it's just.
You know, my mom used to dothat when I moved to the big
city and she would send me thenews from my hometown.
(20:34):
You know she'd clipped thenewspaper clipping and put it in
the envelope and mail.
Well, that's all gone by thewayside now.
Doug (20:46):
That's all firmly in the past.
Sorry, christian, I love thisstory about you and your mom, so
you always wanted what car.
Christian (20:58):
Several that I'm sure I'll never have.
Doug (21:04):
But the Risky Business Porsche.
Is that what we're talkingabout?
Yeah, so you and you still havethe.
I don't know if it was anewspaper printout or whatever
and it was preserved in what.
What do they call that Plastic?
Laminated, Laminated.
Christian (21:16):
By your mother.
Yeah, I somehow found this inthe papers.
I do have it, so I'll see if Ican pull it out somewhere.
But I do have it yellowed withage.
It's in the newspaper, butyellow, and my mom was a teacher
so she brought it to school,laminated it and then brought it
um I can't say I've ever gottenclose.
I've looked at a few in thepast, um, but still news.
(21:37):
Maybe one day that's rightpaper.
Doug (21:40):
And before we go on to uh, the next car, christian, I have
a quiz for you.
Yes, I'm trying to make yourautomotive knowledge better.
Try my best.
Wow, okay, what, uh?
What do a uh volkswagen beetleand a corvair have in common?
And I'm talking about oldvolkswagen beetle, not newer
ones.
And I'm talking about oldvolkswagen beetle, not newer
(22:05):
ones.
Both they're cool.
You got it there, we.
You got it guinevere, fromfresher brothers would be very
proud of you.
Christian (22:08):
She's, she's very proud, proud of me, hopefully,
all the time anyway.
But let's just add anothermerit badge to the sash, all
right?
Well, let's move along to thenext car on the used car lot in
Justin's past.
Doug (22:20):
Yeah, and I think it was another.
Let's take it, I can't use that?
Christian (22:26):
Was it another Prelude?
Are you telling me that theHonda Prelude was a Prelude to
another Honda Prelude?
Doug (22:31):
You did it very well.
Let's ask.
Justin.
Justin (22:33):
Let's go to the source First.
I'm going to add to your answerthat, yes, the Corvair was
air-cooled, but it's also theVolkswagen and the Corvair were
both rear-engine, rear-wheeldrive.
Doug (22:48):
Yes, another one.
Christian (22:51):
We have a quiz master in our midst.
Justin (22:56):
It was actually the time it was considered America's
Porsche, because it was the onlyAmerican car that tried to
duplicate that platform of a car.
Doug (23:07):
Yep, but I digress and they had a bus version.
They had a truck version.
Just like Volkswagen.
Justin (23:16):
They had the what was it ?
The Greenbrier?
And then I forget what thetruck version of.
Doug (23:20):
it was Like a side step?
Justin (23:24):
Yeah, all right.
So what was the question on thenext car?
Christian (23:27):
We were on your ninth Prelude.
I think that you bought.
Justin (23:30):
My ninth.
So that was my second Preludeand that was an 88 SI four-wheel
steering and that car was fastand it was low and it was sleek
and it was fast, it was a fivespeed, but the most important
thing that was, uh, it was afour-wheel steering car and it
(23:52):
was kind of ahead of its timeand not a lot of companies
wanted to try to do that,because it is.
It is kind of sketchy to learnhow to drive that car.
Um and uh, when I would wouldtake my friends out, um, my best
(24:15):
friend, adam uh said they usedto call me Jay at the time.
Uh yeah, jay knew that carstuck and scared the out of all
of us because I had such a goodtime taking friends for a ride
on back roads and just whippingthat thing around corners and in
(24:37):
and out of straights and I justhad a great time with it
because I knew it would handle.
They didn't and it was so muchfun.
Now of course you know I'm anidiot.
I'm like you know 21, totallyknow any better.
But, like you know, 21 don'treally know any better.
But, you know, had fun with it.
I was invincible at the time.
Would I do that now?
(24:57):
Probably not, but yeah, happens.
Christian (25:00):
Hey, what color was it black?
Justin (25:04):
black with black interior, aluminum wheels um
manual.
You know, for the time it wasan 88, so it had all the bells
and whistles.
Doug (25:16):
What else?
Justin (25:16):
can I say about it?
If I had the opportunity to buyone tomorrow, no questions
asked, I would buy another one.
Doug (25:27):
Well, there are some on bringatrailercom, but did you
hear that Honda may be bringingback a Prelude?
Justin (25:33):
I have not.
Doug (25:34):
Yeah.
However, you heard it herefirst America and the world.
Justin (25:39):
I have not.
But there's something aboutmodern vehicles that they're so
bulbousy, bulbousy and they theydon't have a relationship to
the ground that, yes, othervehicles or older vehicles have,
where you can't feel the road,you're isolated from it and the
(26:01):
car is almost driving you andthere's, you know, there's so
much noise reduction andsteering control and uh uh,
trash control and abs and allthis kind of stuff.
If I want to lock the brakes upand I want to slide sideways, I
want to do that, that doesn'tmean I'm out of control.
(26:22):
It means I'm really in controland want to take control of the
vehicle, and you really don'tget that.
You know, I'd love to have anew-troom, for that matter, and
be able to have those, thoseoptions no, I'm, I'm with you.
Doug (26:39):
I was driving my delorean and it had been a while and I
was going like 75 and I'm likeman, what would this thing feel
like to go to 88, not to pick,pick an obvious number?
And I think it'd be prettyscary.
I've never driven it that fastand I don't want to.
Christian (26:59):
You've no need, frankly, you've no need.
You've no need.
Doug (27:03):
Sure, but whatever the amount, like going 75 in my very
modern 2023 car or 88 is atotal different experience to
what um Justin is saying.
Christian (27:21):
Right.
So now, speaking of another,totally different experience, I
think we can squeeze in one morecar here.
Let's do it the dozens thathe's owned.
We got to finish up with a VW.
There's gotta be a golf in thisguy's past finish up with a vw.
There's got to be a golf inthis guy's past.
Justin (27:37):
It has to be.
Look at it, he's a vw guy.
Look at this guy.
So it's the one and only vwthat I owned.
Um, I bought at some point a1986 uh golf diesel.
And when I went and looked atit they had this thing tricked
out looking like a GTI.
So they had the headlights,they had the round headlights,
they had the driving lights onthe front and they had the black
(28:01):
fender skirts over it andeverything.
And I'm like that car is sexy,I want that car.
And then when I went and lookedat it and saw it was a diesel,
I went you know what?
I've never owned a diesel.
Let's sure, let's buy it, whynot?
And I needed a car, didn't knowanything about teasers, and
(28:24):
that car was cool, man, it wascomfortable, it drove great, but
it was slow.
It wouldn't get out of its way,I think out of the box.
It had like 53 horsepower or 58horsepower, something like that
.
But I could pull a stump out ofthe ground with this thing, I
mean yeah because the dieseltorque yeah, exactly, exactly.
(28:45):
And um, that car was so cool, I,I really liked that car, it was
so much fun to drive, eventhough it was, you know, like I
said, couldn't get out of itsown way.
But, uh, I had a, uh, I waslooking to get into something
different and I had a local vwshop.
I called, just cold called, andsaid, hey, I've got an 86
(29:07):
diesel, you guys are interestedin it.
They said, yeah, bring it up,we'll tell you if we want to buy
it.
Okay, cool.
And my future wife, you know, atthe time my girlfriend, she's
behind me and I was like, allright, well, we'll leave my
parents' house, follow me up tothe dealership and you know,
(29:28):
we'll see what happens.
We make it up out 300 feetoutside of my parents' driveway
and I went from first gear upinto second gear and I pushed
the clutch in, shifted it in thesecond and, no matter what I
did, the engine speed keptincreasing up and up and up and
(29:52):
up and up and up and up and upand up and this thing was
screaming and I'm like 25, Ifreak out, I'm like and I don't
know anything about diesels Ifreak out, decide to eject,
eject.
So I pulled the key and thething kept running and the RPMs
(30:13):
kept going up.
So I jumped out of the car andI come running up to the front
of her car.
I'm like just go in reverse, goin reverse, back up, back up,
back up, and she went in reverseand I ran away and this thing
just ran itself completely outaway.
(30:37):
And this thing just ran itselfcompletely out huge cloud of
smoke, huge dump of diesel fueland oil on the ground.
Neighbors called the firedepartment.
Fire department showed up andthey just stood there and
watched it run out and I'm likewhat?
Uh, what, what's going on?
What I didn't know, because Iwas ignorant to how diesels
(31:02):
worked that the head gasket blewand it was running on its own
oil.
So the throttle ran away,because it was a mechanical fuel
pump Throttle ran away, it wasrunning on its own oil, it was
belching diesel fuel and oil outof its tailpipe.
And then, when the whole thingwas said and done, of course the
whole neighbor's standing, awhole neighborhood is standing
around.
Yeah, I'm looking embarrassed,I don't know what to do.
(31:25):
Fire department's there,they're doing their thing, and
then finally the fire departmentstarts packing up and I'm like,
um, what do we do about this?
Like this is a, this is a thing, this is like I just belched a
whole bunch of crap out on theroad and they're like, oh well,
you have to figure that out.
And they packed up and left andI went well, uh, okay.
(31:50):
So I ended up just pushing thecar back into my parents'
driveway, aww, and left thisgiant spill of fuel and oil on
the road because I didn't knowwhat to do.
They didn't give me anydirection like oh, you should
call Hazmat, or you should callthis person, or you should call
that department, should havecalled Freisha Brothers.
Doug (32:12):
They didn't even say get some cat litter and dump it on
there.
Justin (32:15):
It didn't say anything and, yeah, cat litter was what
we thought.
So, you know, I went out thereand, like, did what I could.
Well, to this day I can stilldrive through the neighborhood
and this has been 30 years, Ican still drive through the
neighborhood and see that spoton the road because it actually
dissolved the asphalt.
(32:37):
They haven't fixed it.
Christian (32:44):
Golly.
Justin (32:46):
What are you doing with your?
Christian (32:46):
camera.
Oh no, I was just doing jumpingjacks.
Justin (32:50):
That story has me so discombobulated that you just
said holy, I just thought thewhole thing was so funny that
the car ran away on its own fuelor own oil and I didn't know
what was going on and the firedepartment was like, yep, peace
out that's like what do you sayto that?
Christian (33:07):
that's just kind of uh, what?
What a wonderful end to thepodcast here.
End of the show.
Doug, I think this is the firsttime in our history where we
actually made the list of thecars.
Ran through it in half an hour.
I'm pretty pleased.
(33:27):
What do you think?
Doug (33:29):
Yeah, I'm super pleased.
Plus, we're going to haveJustin back, because there's a
whole other list of carscomplete with stories.
Um, we're gonna do a four-wheeldrive edition, I think, of a
show.
Christian (33:41):
It's a jeep thing, dig it can't wait, but before we
let him go, we have to askabout uh we we always check with
guests to see if they have acause that they would like to
mention, share causes importantto them, things that they're
into, and Justin has what Ithought was a wonderful one.
(34:03):
Would you care to share Justin?
Justin (34:05):
Local animal rescue.
If you care about animals andyou actually want to do some
good, don't give to nationalanimal rescue groups.
Get to your local animal rescue?
Um.
Find your local dog or catrescue.
(34:26):
Donate food, uh, donate moneyfor them to get that care.
And when it comes to finding anew pet, don't what is it, don't
shop adopt.
Don't be afraid to take on a,an elder dog or cat?
Um, personally, we had a dogthat had six months to live.
(34:52):
He was an awesome dog and weended up having him for six
years because he got love, hegot care, he got good food, got
attention, he had a warm placeto sleep.
He wasn't given six, eightmonths, but we had him for six
years and uh, my wife uh got mea portrait, uh painted uh of him
(35:14):
on there for our living roomwall and he's still with us.
His name is luke.
Um, but just animals is thebiggest thing to me and just
just take care of your crittersyeah, uh, wonderful mention here
, perfect timing because it'sextremely cold outside.
Christian (35:37):
Yes, you know, they say about the peas, the plants,
the people, the pipes Bring yourpets and thoughts.
Justin (35:43):
Don't forget about the pets, don't forget about the
pets, don't forget about thecritters, even if they're strays
.
Just give them a cardboard boxto come in and sleep in, out of
the weather.
Just a little cardboard box anda towel, yep, you know, in a
corner of a yard makes a hugedifference to a critter.
Um, it's, it's kind of messedup.
(36:06):
You know, like I would, I'mmore likely to help an animal in
need than I am a human, becausethe animals are doing what they
can.
Christian (36:14):
Yeah, you know.
Yeah, well, you got a big heart, buddy.
You got a big heart and we havetons of animals.
Yeah, it's.
Yeah, your heart is well loved,I bet.
Let's put it that way.
Well, justin, it was reallygreat to meet.
You had a blast the past halfhour, doug said, and getting
(36:35):
ready for the show, he said thisguy is going to be something
else.
This guy is going to besomething else, and you did not
disappoint.
So we appreciate you takingtime out of your day and
spending it with us absolutely,and I'm happy to come back.
Justin (36:48):
uh, definitely willing to talk to you, absolutely.
Christian (36:53):
We'll do it.
We'll do it.
We'll have our people talk toyour people.
Actually, we need to hire somepeople to talk to your people,
but we're going to startaccepting resumes now, or you
can just hire me.
Yeah, we'll hire you to talk toyourself.
Justin (37:11):
That's another problem we won't get into today.
I talk to myself all the timefor free.
Christian (37:13):
Yeah, just don't answer yourself, Amen.
Well, thanks, pal you did great.
Well, you had just heard thehigh-revving, low-mileage,
late-modelheard-around-the-world
authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia.
He is Doug.
Reach him at Doug atCarsLovecom.
He's our engine.
What can we say?
I am Christian.
Reach me at Christian atCarsLovecom.
(37:36):
Think of me as the transmissionfluid you see on the ground in
the morning.
And this was Justin.
Hey, if you like the show, feelfree to share, invite others.
Our link tree L-I-N-K-T-R dotE-E slash CarsLove.
It's our digital switchboard.
You can see all of ourpresences there in one place.
Please follow, tell a friendreview and hey, we'll see you at
(37:59):
the next local car show,showroom, race strip or
concourse.
Thank you for listening.
Keep the rubber side down andwe will see you next time.
Thank you, listener land.
Listener land you have found To all the cars I've
loved before, welcome back.
It's your authoritative podcastOn automotive nostalgia, where
every car tells a story, everycar has a culture.
It's time to plug in, dust off,get a little grease under those
fingernails and I want towelcome new listeners or recent
listeners.
How do we know this?
(00:23):
Through the magic of packetswitching and capturing.
No packets were tortured in thecollection of this data.
Ogden, utah, welcome.
Ashburn, virginia, welcome NewYork City.
Didn't know how do you likethat so nice?
They named it twice.
A couple other places a littlefurther afield.
(00:43):
We are heard around the world.
Yes, singapore.
Yes, pakistan, welcome, welcome.
It's good to have everybodyhere.
What do you think about thatpartner?
Doug (00:54):
Magic of the internet.
I love it we don't even have tobe syndicated.
Christian (01:01):
Yeah, I mean around the world, I'd be okay with that
, but yeah, and today's guestokay with that.
But yeah, and today's guest,we're very happy to have him.
We're going to introduce him ina couple of minutes.
Just reached out to us he saidhey, you are my people.
Yes, that's a direct quote.
We got to get together, make ithappen Some magic coming your
way tonight.
So Ogden, Utah, Singapore,Ashburn, Virginia, Pakistan, New
(01:21):
York City, Welcome back.
And I won't torture listenerland by singing happy birthday,
but we do have a very specialbirthday today, Doug.
Do you have any idea whose itis?
Here's a hint.
We interviewed his daughter ona previous season of the show.
It is none other than JohnDeLorean.
Doug (01:43):
How do you like that, john Zachary DeLorean?
Christian (01:45):
How do you like that, john?
Doug (01:45):
Zachary DeLorean.
Happy birthday in heaven, sir.
Christian (01:50):
Amen, you know, I think we talked about this when
we were meant to, when we spokewith her.
His autobiography is a heck ofa tale and I think you read at
least one or two.
You know owning one of his mostfamous inventions.
You've read about him quite abit, quite a bit Interesting
(02:12):
fella.
Doug (02:13):
You could say extensively.
And I'm pretty active in theDeLorean community, partially
just to find out tips on how tofix my car, but also, I mean
wonderful people like KatDeLorean are actually very
active on Facebook groups andthat's how we connected with her
.
So we're super fortunate.
I mean, you know the man.
(02:33):
The man died 20 years ago.
So we're you know, talking toher was was you know as good as
close as it gets to meeting him.
So it was a true honor andprivilege and it's the gift that
keeps giving.
Season one, episode 10.
Christian (02:54):
I got to tell you and we'll go back a couple of years
and this just kind of struck mewhen you said you were getting
this car.
And I know it was a bit of adream for you and you always
want to help your closestfriends, you know, overachieve,
get to their goals, make dreamscome true.
But I thought you would go getthis car, bring it back and I
(03:16):
would never see you againbecause you would be underneath
this piece of steel forevertrying to make it work.
But it's been surprising to methat really the opposite has
happened.
You have met more people by wayof this car.
It's really just been a social.
I mean, you know a lot ofpeople have a lot of friends,
(03:37):
people, person, et cetera, etcetera, but it's all of the
people that have moved withinyour orbit.
It's really a striking,bordering on stunning thing.
Did you think about that?
Doug (03:51):
Yep, and you posed the question.
It's in our blog, but you posedthe question to me If I hadn't
bought the DeLorean, would wehave the podcast?
And I think the answer is no.
Yeah, I think you can draw adirect line.
Christian (04:04):
Thank you, john.
Yeah, I think you can draw adirect line.
Thank you, john.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's amazing how you set thesegoals up in your life personal
goals, professional goalsinvolving your family, friends,
significant other, and in thejourney of achieving them or
reaching them or helping someoneelse reach them.
It's all the little detours andoff ramps and tangents and
(04:27):
connections made along the way,but that's really neat.
Doug (04:32):
Thank you for sharing that .
Yeah, no, I'm smiling, thinkingabout all the people who smile
and point when they see medriving the car.
They don't smile and point atme, they smile and point at the
car, and that makes me happy.
Christian (04:45):
Yeah, but you're the one that steps out of it.
You're not in a spacesuit, soit makes sense to strike up the
conversation with you.
Doug (04:51):
Except out of the back.
Christian (04:52):
And so you get a lot.
So before we go, it's just realquick.
So at one point you said to meyou weren't, and I forget
exactly how you phrased it, butyou got so much attention in the
car and you have several othercars so you would just kind of
park that car for a bit.
But it's just everybody lookingat you all the time and a lot
(05:14):
of people have no idea what it'slike to be famous and when
everybody's looking at you allthe time.
You know.
Imagine if you know yourwedding day, where everybody is
looking at you and you're thecenter of attention for the
entire day.
Imagine if your wedding day wasevery day of your life.
That's what it's like to befamous.
How do you handle that when yougo out?
Doug (05:42):
That's a.
It's a I hate to say love, loveor hate thing, but it is.
You get asked about gigawatts,flux capacitor yeah, will it go
88?
All the regular stuff, you knowwhat.
Christian (05:58):
Because you didn't buy.
Doug (05:59):
Is that a Lamborghini?
Is that a Ferrari?
Christian (06:02):
Right, but but yeah, you didn't buy it.
To seek attention is the funnything, and I think you were
really kind of taken aback atcertain points and it's taken
you a few years to settle intothat.
Well, and I don't drive itevery day, it's not, it's a
weekend it's not the dailydriver, like it is for Brian
Paoni, another guest, if youdon't want to interrupt.
Justin (06:26):
You got it.
It just seems like a perfectexcuse to completely make up a
backstory and just take peoplefor a ride could, could.
Christian (06:35):
And that very deep voice is not casey casem, ladies
and gentlemen, it is our voicefor today, it is our guest for
today.
Justin, how are you?
I'm well, sir, how are you?
Beautiful, wonderful, betterthat you're here.
And Doug, how did Justin comeacross our dashboard?
Doug (06:54):
Yeah, so we got super lucky.
Even though Justin and I livein the same state, we didn't
know each other, so I would sayhe's a friend of the show.
He was listening to the showwhile he was taking down
christmas lights, uh, kindlysent us a message and uh, yeah,
we've been chatting ever since.
He's got some great storiesabout cars that we're gonna
(07:18):
we're gonna jump into.
But, yeah, he heard us onovercast.
Of course, we're on all thestreaming platforms, including
YouTube, youtube podcast, butalso we're adding video daily.
But, yeah, justin found us onOvercast and you know, can't say
enough nice things about theshow and how he feels, how it
(07:38):
made him feel thinking about hisearly cars, which is really the
consistent feedback we get frompeople, whether they're car
people or not.
Christian (07:49):
Yeah, good point, and he reached out.
He reached out.
So it's as easy as being on theshow, as being a fan of the
show.
So we're one text, one emailaway and really, in talking with
justin before the show, uh, we,we had to tell him a couple
times man, it's your show, we'rehere for you.
We just kind of.
(08:10):
We just kind of put guardrailsup and, yes, you can smash
through them if you'd like, butthat's, that's why we're here.
So what's the weather.
Justin (08:17):
What's the weather by you today, justin, have to ask,
because it's brutally cold herein florida 40 degrees in florida
, poor guy uh, let's see, it wasuh 27, I think was the high, 17
was the uh wind chill and lastnight and then today I was out
there with the snowblower andthe the chipper trying to get
(08:40):
ice off the sidewalks.
Christian (08:42):
that was the next question.
That was the next question.
That was the next question.
Okay, well, glad that you arefrost free.
You look warm and toasty, butyour first car wasn't a
snowblower, was it?
It was not.
Let's talk.
Let's go into the WaybackMachine.
And instead of talking aboutthe very first car, you had a
special car that you wanted tomention.
(09:02):
So let's get into that a littlebit.
Justin (09:07):
Which one are we talking about?
Christian (09:09):
Was that the Corvair?
Justin (09:11):
It was yes, and that is the one that I would really like
to talk about.
So I have a 1963 Corvairconvertible, monza Whoa, and
there's a great story behind thewhole thing.
My mom and dad were dating in.
(09:32):
They were, they were married in73 and they began dating in 70.
And my dad had this car andthey went on their first date in
the Corvair and they went on afew other dates after that and
then finally, my future mom saidI'm never riding in this car
(09:57):
again because the floorboardswere rusted clean through to the
road.
Well, doors weren't closingright, top was leaking.
It's a corvair, let's face it.
Uh, so dad's like, okay, okay,okay.
So he goes on to buy another carand honestly I don't know what
the next car he bought was.
(10:18):
But, um, he gave that car to mygrandfather and said here, do
you want this to play aroundwith?
For a few years, I'm gonna.
My grandfather had a 41 olds.
That was his pride and joy.
Uh, he's like, yeah, I'll takethis.
So he played with it for a fewyears and then, ultimately, he
ended up selling it on end ofstory.
(10:39):
For now, fast forward me.
We were in the, I'd say, mid80s, probably about 84, 85.
My dad gets a call from a guyand I, unfortunately I don't
know his name Called him up andsaid Mr Warfield, I believe I
(10:59):
have the car that you and yourwife are recording in.
No, have the car that you andyour wife were recording in.
No, and I would.
I want to sell it, but I wantto offer you offer you the first
right of refusal, whoa.
Doug (11:15):
So when does this?
Christian (11:15):
happen.
That's like this is fiction.
Justin (11:18):
Well, yeah, yeah, yeah which and this is what I wrote
out to you or wrote to you guys,because I thought this was just
like perfect.
So dad's like, oh, okay, I'llgo look at the car.
So he and my mom went andlooked at the car and it was
baby blue, monza wire wheel capsand at the time it had a black
(11:38):
top.
And he's like, yeah, everythingchecks out.
And dad said to mom I'm goingto open the ashtray and see if
there's anything in the ashtray,because the ashtray was stuck,
the little lid wouldn't open.
Now this is on top of the dashabove the radio.
And dad went to open up theashtray and it was stuck.
(11:59):
And dad looked down into thereand he actually saw his win
Winston cigarette butts fromwhen he owned the car.
So he got rid of it in 71, 72.
Gets a call from a guy I thinkyou have your car.
I think I have your car, do youwant it?
Dad went and looked at it andthis is in the mid 80s and it
(12:23):
turns out it was the very samecar, totally wild.
So dad bought it back from himand the guy had the engine
rebuilt, transmission rebuilt,had done some body work to it,
basically got it back on theroad Now.
It wasn't like a full showroomor show car restoration.
Doug (12:47):
Yes, it was a, you know.
Justin (12:49):
I'm a huge fan of roadkill, of don't get it right,
just get it running.
And that's what they did.
And they did a pretty good jobon the exterior bodywork.
The engine was okay, mom anddad got it.
They put a new top on it, theyhad some more work done on it,
had new brakes put on it, so onand so forth.
(13:12):
Fast forward a whole bunch ofyears and then, and I guess it
was about 10 years ago, um, Iwas my mom and dad ended up
moving from maryland to northcarolina and they took the car
them, and there just wasn't alot of places for them to to
drive it, you know, cause that'ssomething you want to cruise in
(13:32):
, that's like a.
You don't want to just bust outon the highway, absolutely.
And um, so they drove it aroundfor a little bit.
And then my wife and I wentdown and I asked dad.
I was like would you finallylet me drive this thing?
Um, put a pin in that.
We'll come back to that.
(13:53):
Um, will you finally let medrive this thing?
He's like yeah, sure, so I takeit out.
And this thing was a blast.
It was sloppy, steering wassloppy, shifting was sloppy,
brakes sloppy.
Drive it around for a bit, parkit back in the garage and it
sat for a few more years andabout six or eight years ago my
(14:20):
dad called me and said I'mselling the Corvair.
If you want it, come get it,otherwise it's for sale Full
stop.
Christian (14:30):
You got the right of first refusal too.
How interesting Second timearound With the equipment and
the family.
Justin (14:37):
Exactly so I called up my buddy Tiemann.
I was like, dude, I need you, Ineed your truck and I need your
trailer.
And, like all of my friends whoare awesome, he's just like yep
, let's go, let's do this.
So we drove North Carolina,hooked up the car, stayed the
night.
Next morning came back and it'sbeen in my garage and I'm
(15:01):
slowly getting it back up to, uh, to road worthiness.
Nice, that's where it's at anduh, I'm hoping, um, I'm hoping
to hoping to get it uh up andrunning.
Uh, my, my mom's not in thatgreat of a shape and I'd love to
(15:23):
be able to put her in thepassenger seat one more time.
Don't know if it's going tohappen, but I'm damn sure going
to try.
Doug (15:31):
Fingers crossed.
You know what's so great aboutthat.
It just came to me.
We've heard of right of firstrefusals before and those type
of things.
I've've heard of right of firstrefusals before and those type
of things.
I've not heard of somebodygoing back to find the previous
or however many previous ownersand say, hey, I've got your car.
I think I've got your car,whatever.
(15:53):
This nice gentleman wentthrough the trouble for whatever
reason, and man, that makes itlike doubly special, like that's
a I'll use one of christian'sterms like guardian angel right
yeah, and I I honestly don'tknow um the story behind that,
like how he found.
Justin (16:12):
I mean, obviously you can do a venn number search, but
in these days of the internetthat's easy.
But we're talking totallydifferent 84, 85, where you know
that just wasn't a thing.
So you had to do your researchor already have um documentation
on it and honestly, at thispoint I don't know if the engine
(16:34):
and transmission are matchingnumbers to the chassis.
I I don't know um.
Doug (16:38):
I haven't really dug that in that far into it, sure well
that I would um, it's a goodsegue, if you don't mind, since
we're talking about papers yeahinto how you found your first
car.
What?
What was your first car?
Justin (16:56):
that was a 1980 Honda Prelude, two-door silver.
Doug (17:04):
My favorite color.
Justin (17:07):
And we found that in the Frederick News Post and I think
it was being offered up forlike $1,500 or something dollars
.
And my dad and I went out andat the the time I didn't have my
license yet I couldn't drive astick, couldn't drive anything.
And, dad, we went over there,we talked to the girl that owned
(17:31):
it, took it out for a testdrive.
Of course my dad drove and youknow, obviously, knowing how to
drive a stick, he's like all allright, this is a really easy
stick for you to learn.
On.
This thing's really forgiving,excuse me.
Uh.
So we went back, made an offer,bought it.
Um, and the one one cool thingI remember, yeah, and I don't
(17:53):
even remember her, I justremember her saying you have to
take care of Ian, and Ian wasthe dog or dogs.
Ian was the car's name.
Okay, my first car's name isian and to this day I still
don't have any names for anycars except for that one,
because somebody else named it.
Christian (18:11):
I, I didn't know that anyone named really named cars
until this show and everyonedoes, and and I started doing it
.
Uh, since we started doing theshow here, that is fantastic.
Okay, I have to ask the paper.
You were very specific on thepaper, the Frederick News, what
did you call it?
Now I got to ask you do youhave any idea if that paper is
(18:36):
still in existence?
Justin (18:38):
Oh, it is absolutely.
Christian (18:40):
Oh well, that's fantastic because, you know, in
this day and age and in it justit just brings me back to how
this is not really car relatedsemi, but for millennia that's
how people have gotten theirinformation, some written record
, you know, going all the wayback to the town, crier in
newspapers.
(19:00):
And I remember being younger,younger, that's how you know
when I first moved to the bigcity, that's how I got my first
job man Getting it and goingthrough not that specific paper,
but get the paper and gothrough the one of the jobs, the
one ads.
you mentioned the little traderags that have the color picture
(19:20):
of the cars, or sometimes blackand white, and that's how
information got around.
Justin (19:27):
I mean, that was the thing you waited for the auto
trader to come out and you'relooking for a car.
It was once a week they wouldcome out and there was a whole
bunch of circulations, whetherbe national or local.
That was.
That was the cool thing likeyou waited for that rag to come
out and start flipping through,and then you, you had a pencil
(19:49):
and you circled things and youmade notes and you know, and you
ripped it out, it was moretactile.
Yeah, yeah, you ripped it out,you would tape it to your wall,
yes and, and you would cold callpeople Just a straight up cold
call and say, hey, are you theguy that has the car?
(20:10):
I'm interested in it.
Can we talk?
Christian (20:14):
Doesn't happen anymore.
No, it does not.
I was cleaning out.
My oldest son went off tocollege recently and is cleaning
out his room and found allthese newspaper clippings that
we had clipped out.
And it's just.
You know, my mom used to dothat when I moved to the big
city and she would send me thenews from my hometown.
(20:34):
You know she'd clipped thenewspaper clipping and put it in
the envelope and mail.
Well, that's all gone by thewayside now.
Doug (20:46):
That's all firmly in the past.
Sorry, christian, I love thisstory about you and your mom, so
you always wanted what car.
Christian (20:58):
Several that I'm sure I'll never have.
Doug (21:04):
But the Risky Business Porsche.
Is that what we're talkingabout?
Yeah, so you and you still havethe.
I don't know if it was anewspaper printout or whatever
and it was preserved in what.
What do they call that Plastic?
Laminated, Laminated.
Christian (21:16):
By your mother.
Yeah, I somehow found this inthe papers.
I do have it, so I'll see if Ican pull it out somewhere.
But I do have it yellowed withage.
It's in the newspaper, butyellow, and my mom was a teacher
so she brought it to school,laminated it and then brought it
um I can't say I've ever gottenclose.
I've looked at a few in thepast, um, but still news.
(21:37):
Maybe one day that's rightpaper.
Doug (21:40):
And before we go on to uh, the next car, christian, I have
a quiz for you.
Yes, I'm trying to make yourautomotive knowledge better.
Try my best.
Wow, okay, what, uh?
What do a uh volkswagen beetleand a corvair have in common?
And I'm talking about oldvolkswagen beetle, not newer
ones.
And I'm talking about oldvolkswagen beetle, not newer
(22:05):
ones.
Both they're cool.
You got it there, we.
You got it guinevere, fromfresher brothers would be very
proud of you.
Christian (22:08):
She's, she's very proud, proud of me, hopefully,
all the time anyway.
But let's just add anothermerit badge to the sash, all
right?
Well, let's move along to thenext car on the used car lot in
Justin's past.
Doug (22:20):
Yeah, and I think it was another.
Let's take it, I can't use that?
Christian (22:26):
Was it another Prelude?
Are you telling me that theHonda Prelude was a Prelude to
another Honda Prelude?
Doug (22:31):
You did it very well.
Let's ask.
Justin.
Justin (22:33):
Let's go to the source First.
I'm going to add to your answerthat, yes, the Corvair was
air-cooled, but it's also theVolkswagen and the Corvair were
both rear-engine, rear-wheeldrive.
Doug (22:48):
Yes, another one.
Christian (22:51):
We have a quiz master in our midst.
Justin (22:56):
It was actually the time it was considered America's
Porsche, because it was the onlyAmerican car that tried to
duplicate that platform of a car.
Doug (23:07):
Yep, but I digress and they had a bus version.
They had a truck version.
Just like Volkswagen.
Justin (23:16):
They had the what was it ?
The Greenbrier?
And then I forget what thetruck version of.
Doug (23:20):
it was Like a side step?
Justin (23:24):
Yeah, all right.
So what was the question on thenext car?
Christian (23:27):
We were on your ninth Prelude.
I think that you bought.
Justin (23:30):
My ninth.
So that was my second Preludeand that was an 88 SI four-wheel
steering and that car was fastand it was low and it was sleek
and it was fast, it was a fivespeed, but the most important
thing that was, uh, it was afour-wheel steering car and it
(23:52):
was kind of ahead of its timeand not a lot of companies
wanted to try to do that,because it is.
It is kind of sketchy to learnhow to drive that car.
Um and uh, when I would wouldtake my friends out, um, my best
(24:15):
friend, adam uh said they usedto call me Jay at the time.
Uh yeah, jay knew that carstuck and scared the out of all
of us because I had such a goodtime taking friends for a ride
on back roads and just whippingthat thing around corners and in
(24:37):
and out of straights and I justhad a great time with it
because I knew it would handle.
They didn't and it was so muchfun.
Now of course you know I'm anidiot.
I'm like you know 21, totallyknow any better.
But, like you know, 21 don'treally know any better.
But, you know, had fun with it.
I was invincible at the time.
Would I do that now?
(24:57):
Probably not, but yeah, happens.
Christian (25:00):
Hey, what color was it black?
Justin (25:04):
black with black interior, aluminum wheels um
manual.
You know, for the time it wasan 88, so it had all the bells
and whistles.
Doug (25:16):
What else?
Justin (25:16):
can I say about it?
If I had the opportunity to buyone tomorrow, no questions
asked, I would buy another one.
Doug (25:27):
Well, there are some on bringatrailercom, but did you
hear that Honda may be bringingback a Prelude?
Justin (25:33):
I have not.
Doug (25:34):
Yeah.
However, you heard it herefirst America and the world.
Justin (25:39):
I have not.
But there's something aboutmodern vehicles that they're so
bulbousy, bulbousy and they theydon't have a relationship to
the ground that, yes, othervehicles or older vehicles have,
where you can't feel the road,you're isolated from it and the
(26:01):
car is almost driving you andthere's, you know, there's so
much noise reduction andsteering control and uh uh,
trash control and abs and allthis kind of stuff.
If I want to lock the brakes upand I want to slide sideways, I
want to do that, that doesn'tmean I'm out of control.
(26:22):
It means I'm really in controland want to take control of the
vehicle, and you really don'tget that.
You know, I'd love to have anew-troom, for that matter, and
be able to have those, thoseoptions no, I'm, I'm with you.
Doug (26:39):
I was driving my delorean and it had been a while and I
was going like 75 and I'm likeman, what would this thing feel
like to go to 88, not to pick,pick an obvious number?
And I think it'd be prettyscary.
I've never driven it that fastand I don't want to.
Christian (26:59):
You've no need, frankly, you've no need.
You've no need.
Doug (27:03):
Sure, but whatever the amount, like going 75 in my very
modern 2023 car or 88 is atotal different experience to
what um Justin is saying.
Christian (27:21):
Right.
So now, speaking of another,totally different experience, I
think we can squeeze in one morecar here.
Let's do it the dozens thathe's owned.
We got to finish up with a VW.
There's gotta be a golf in thisguy's past finish up with a vw.
There's got to be a golf inthis guy's past.
Justin (27:37):
It has to be.
Look at it, he's a vw guy.
Look at this guy.
So it's the one and only vwthat I owned.
Um, I bought at some point a1986 uh golf diesel.
And when I went and looked atit they had this thing tricked
out looking like a GTI.
So they had the headlights,they had the round headlights,
they had the driving lights onthe front and they had the black
(28:01):
fender skirts over it andeverything.
And I'm like that car is sexy,I want that car.
And then when I went and lookedat it and saw it was a diesel,
I went you know what?
I've never owned a diesel.
Let's sure, let's buy it, whynot?
And I needed a car, didn't knowanything about teasers, and
(28:24):
that car was cool, man, it wascomfortable, it drove great, but
it was slow.
It wouldn't get out of its way,I think out of the box.
It had like 53 horsepower or 58horsepower, something like that
.
But I could pull a stump out ofthe ground with this thing, I
mean yeah because the dieseltorque yeah, exactly, exactly.
(28:45):
And um, that car was so cool, I,I really liked that car, it was
so much fun to drive, eventhough it was, you know, like I
said, couldn't get out of itsown way.
But, uh, I had a, uh, I waslooking to get into something
different and I had a local vwshop.
I called, just cold called, andsaid, hey, I've got an 86
(29:07):
diesel, you guys are interestedin it.
They said, yeah, bring it up,we'll tell you if we want to buy
it.
Okay, cool.
And my future wife, you know, atthe time my girlfriend, she's
behind me and I was like, allright, well, we'll leave my
parents' house, follow me up tothe dealership and you know,
(29:28):
we'll see what happens.
We make it up out 300 feetoutside of my parents' driveway
and I went from first gear upinto second gear and I pushed
the clutch in, shifted it in thesecond and, no matter what I
did, the engine speed keptincreasing up and up and up and
(29:52):
up and up and up and up and upand up and this thing was
screaming and I'm like 25, Ifreak out, I'm like and I don't
know anything about diesels Ifreak out, decide to eject,
eject.
So I pulled the key and thething kept running and the RPMs
(30:13):
kept going up.
So I jumped out of the car andI come running up to the front
of her car.
I'm like just go in reverse, goin reverse, back up, back up,
back up, and she went in reverseand I ran away and this thing
just ran itself completely outaway.
(30:37):
And this thing just ran itselfcompletely out huge cloud of
smoke, huge dump of diesel fueland oil on the ground.
Neighbors called the firedepartment.
Fire department showed up andthey just stood there and
watched it run out and I'm likewhat?
Uh, what, what's going on?
What I didn't know, because Iwas ignorant to how diesels
(31:02):
worked that the head gasket blewand it was running on its own
oil.
So the throttle ran away,because it was a mechanical fuel
pump Throttle ran away, it wasrunning on its own oil, it was
belching diesel fuel and oil outof its tailpipe.
And then, when the whole thingwas said and done, of course the
whole neighbor's standing, awhole neighborhood is standing
around.
Yeah, I'm looking embarrassed,I don't know what to do.
(31:25):
Fire department's there,they're doing their thing, and
then finally the fire departmentstarts packing up and I'm like,
um, what do we do about this?
Like this is a, this is a thing, this is like I just belched a
whole bunch of crap out on theroad and they're like, oh well,
you have to figure that out.
And they packed up and left andI went well, uh, okay.
(31:50):
So I ended up just pushing thecar back into my parents'
driveway, aww, and left thisgiant spill of fuel and oil on
the road because I didn't knowwhat to do.
They didn't give me anydirection like oh, you should
call Hazmat, or you should callthis person, or you should call
that department, should havecalled Freisha Brothers.
Doug (32:12):
They didn't even say get some cat litter and dump it on
there.
Justin (32:15):
It didn't say anything and, yeah, cat litter was what
we thought.
So, you know, I went out thereand, like, did what I could.
Well, to this day I can stilldrive through the neighborhood
and this has been 30 years, Ican still drive through the
neighborhood and see that spoton the road because it actually
dissolved the asphalt.
(32:37):
They haven't fixed it.
Christian (32:44):
Golly.
Justin (32:46):
What are you doing with your?
Christian (32:46):
camera.
Oh no, I was just doing jumpingjacks.
Justin (32:50):
That story has me so discombobulated that you just
said holy, I just thought thewhole thing was so funny that
the car ran away on its own fuelor own oil and I didn't know
what was going on and the firedepartment was like, yep, peace
out that's like what do you sayto that?
Christian (33:07):
that's just kind of uh, what?
What a wonderful end to thepodcast here.
End of the show.
Doug, I think this is the firsttime in our history where we
actually made the list of thecars.
Ran through it in half an hour.
I'm pretty pleased.
(33:27):
What do you think?
Doug (33:29):
Yeah, I'm super pleased.
Plus, we're going to haveJustin back, because there's a
whole other list of carscomplete with stories.
Um, we're gonna do a four-wheeldrive edition, I think, of a
show.
Christian (33:41):
It's a jeep thing, dig it can't wait, but before we
let him go, we have to askabout uh we we always check with
guests to see if they have acause that they would like to
mention, share causes importantto them, things that they're
into, and Justin has what Ithought was a wonderful one.
(34:03):
Would you care to share Justin?
Justin (34:05):
Local animal rescue.
If you care about animals andyou actually want to do some
good, don't give to nationalanimal rescue groups.
Get to your local animal rescue?
Um.
Find your local dog or catrescue.
(34:26):
Donate food, uh, donate moneyfor them to get that care.
And when it comes to finding anew pet, don't what is it, don't
shop adopt.
Don't be afraid to take on a,an elder dog or cat?
Um, personally, we had a dogthat had six months to live.
(34:52):
He was an awesome dog and weended up having him for six
years because he got love, hegot care, he got good food, got
attention, he had a warm placeto sleep.
He wasn't given six, eightmonths, but we had him for six
years and uh, my wife uh got mea portrait, uh painted uh of him
(35:14):
on there for our living roomwall and he's still with us.
His name is luke.
Um, but just animals is thebiggest thing to me and just
just take care of your crittersyeah, uh, wonderful mention here
, perfect timing because it'sextremely cold outside.
Christian (35:37):
Yes, you know, they say about the peas, the plants,
the people, the pipes Bring yourpets and thoughts.
Justin (35:43):
Don't forget about the pets, don't forget about the
pets, don't forget about thecritters, even if they're strays
.
Just give them a cardboard boxto come in and sleep in, out of
the weather.
Just a little cardboard box anda towel, yep, you know, in a
corner of a yard makes a hugedifference to a critter.
Um, it's, it's kind of messedup.
(36:06):
You know, like I would, I'mmore likely to help an animal in
need than I am a human, becausethe animals are doing what they
can.
Christian (36:14):
Yeah, you know.
Yeah, well, you got a big heart, buddy.
You got a big heart and we havetons of animals.
Yeah, it's.
Yeah, your heart is well loved,I bet.
Let's put it that way.
Well, justin, it was reallygreat to meet.
You had a blast the past halfhour, doug said, and getting
(36:35):
ready for the show, he said thisguy is going to be something
else.
This guy is going to besomething else, and you did not
disappoint.
So we appreciate you takingtime out of your day and
spending it with us absolutely,and I'm happy to come back.
Justin (36:48):
uh, definitely willing to talk to you, absolutely.
Christian (36:53):
We'll do it.
We'll do it.
We'll have our people talk toyour people.
Actually, we need to hire somepeople to talk to your people,
but we're going to startaccepting resumes now, or you
can just hire me.
Yeah, we'll hire you to talk toyourself.
Justin (37:11):
That's another problem we won't get into today.
I talk to myself all the timefor free.
Christian (37:13):
Yeah, just don't answer yourself, Amen.
Well, thanks, pal you did great.
Well, you had just heard thehigh-revving, low-mileage,
late-modelheard-around-the-world
authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia.
He is Doug.
Reach him at Doug atCarsLovecom.
He's our engine.
What can we say?
I am Christian.
Reach me at Christian atCarsLovecom.
(37:36):
Think of me as the transmissionfluid you see on the ground in
the morning.
And this was Justin.
Hey, if you like the show, feelfree to share, invite others.
Our link tree L-I-N-K-T-R dotE-E slash CarsLove.
It's our digital switchboard.
You can see all of ourpresences there in one place.
Please follow, tell a friendreview and hey, we'll see you at
(37:59):
the next local car show,showroom, race strip or
concourse.
Thank you for listening.
Keep the rubber side down andwe will see you next time.
Thank you, listener land.
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