May 28, 2024 • 41 mins
John Naderi aka "Nads" is a highly accomplished creative director in the automotive content space well known for his work with Hoonigan, Motor Trend TV's Super Street Garage, and so much more. On today's episode we discuss a variety of subjects including JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) and his origin story.
Learn more at https://www.johnnaderi.com/about and find Nads on instagram @nadsynads
"Fuel for the Future" is presented by State Farm Insurance and Driven by America's Automotive Trust. Learn more at americasautomotivetrust.org.
Produced and hosted by Michael May
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
And therewas just dozens of different magazines.
And there was they had,you know, basically in the newspaper,
there was classifiedswith, you know, hiring at Motortrend,
you know, a Peterson Publishingsend your resume to this address.
And I had stacks of rejection letters.
And one guy, DonaldNosek, took a chance on me
and I got hiredas an associate editor of Max Speed.
(00:23):
And that was in 1998.
And from there, I somehow managed to jammy foot in the door and
were looking at what,30 years, 30 some odd years later,
I'm still somehow managing to Peter Panmy way through this.
That is John Naderi,known to his friends and fans as Nads.
Nance is a creative directorwho has had a major influence
(00:43):
on automotive, entertainment,journalism and culture.
This is fuel for the futurepresented by State Farm Insurance
and driven by America's Automotive Trust.
Learn more about the trust at America'sAutomotive Trust Board.
I'm Michael Mann.
Welcome to the show.
(01:03):
John Naderi, also known as Nads.
Yes, unfortunately.
Well, let me start off by asking,how did you even come to get that name?
Boy, that predatesmy time in the automotive space.
But it was my high schoolcross-country coach
who said, When you're coming aroundthat last quote, what's your last name?
And I said, Naderi.
And he said, in On you go, okay,I don't like that.
(01:25):
He goes, But when you're coming aroundthat last corner, I'm going to call you
now. And I said, I said, Why now?
And he goes, Because when you're runningaround that last corner, I'm going to be
screaming, Go nads. So
and it stuck for stuck, unfortunately.
Yeah.
Ricky Chu at Super Streetlit it back up again.
(01:45):
So I came backand also that's when it started.
Okay, great.
So the start of the automotive space.
Yeah.
And on that note, our listeners
may recognize you fromjust a ton of automotive content
from hooligan stuff, Motortrend TV,a lot of writing and all sorts of things.
And so I'd like to ask how you
(02:05):
first became interested in cars.Like what?
What grabbed your attention?
My origin story, yeah.
Yeah, that's. That one goes really deep.
My earliest memories are if anybody
remembers the six wheel Elf F1 car.
I had a poster of it on my wall for
(02:26):
God knows whatever reason,at Long Beach, of all places.
I didn't know it was LongBeach at the time.
And I just.
I don't know why my dadgot me a car poster from there.
It was just forged early on.
But believe it or not,
my first love was Monster Trucks.
wow. Bob Chandler's Bigfoot,who was the original?
(02:46):
The monster, right? Yeah.
There was no monster jam or any of this.It was.
Yeah, this was in the lateseventies, early eighties.
I became obsessed with, like, just a kidwith Tonka toys, just big trucks.
And my dad said, Well,let's let's do a truck together.
So he bought an old 73 F-250.
And it wasit was crumpled, the frame was bent,
(03:09):
the bed was sitting off of the carpetbecause I read these
four wheeler magazines,these Peterson publishing magazines.
Everybody started with the barn fight.
So I was like,You got to start with a bad boy.
You can't buy a nice truckthat someone else has built.
So my dad, knowing nothing about trucks,bought a beater of a truck
and we had it restored,it lifted and everything else.
(03:30):
And I just fell in love with Ford Trucksand Bob Chandler and Bigfoot.
And that just led toI was raised in the San Fernando Valley,
so led to cruising on Van Nuys Boulevard,
which is an infamous legendary spot.
And I was coming of ageand I got my license in 84.
So this is the early eighties.
I ride my little BMXbike down to Van Nuys.
(03:53):
I lived right around the cornerfrom Van Nuys
and would just go to seeeverybody cruising
and there was lowriders and those guyslook like they would hurt me
and there was dudes with muscle carsand Cigarets rolled up in the sleeves
and they looked like they would stuff mein the locker and take my lunch money.
Guys with lifted trucksthat had questionable bumper
(04:14):
stickers and flags on them.
Even in the Southern Californiain the eighties, I was like,
I don't think I'm kind of a brown, soI didn't think I kind of fit in with them.
And there was these nerdy dudeswith five tans and 240 Zs
and BMW, 2000 twos,and one of them just goes, Nice bike.
And I turned around and went, thanks.
(04:34):
And I said, These cars are fun.
And I just from there it lit off like ajust a complete obsession with,
you know, there is a replacementfor displacement and just wrong wheel
drive and small, small powerthat does big things.
And I ended up going to the three racesin Mexico as they say,
(04:54):
and wow, following along.
And this is almost predatingthe Honda market.
But right thenHonda started to come around in the late
eighties after I spent some timein San Diego at university,
I got back into itand that furthered my passion.
I started with a mini truckand then went to a Supra
for all affects 16and then went through all the way.
(05:17):
And now my current and probably erstwhilelongest obsession is Honda's
and four wheel drive cars and carsthat are just kind of stupid cars.
It's like you would never start with thatwith a Honda Civic, you know?
But for some reason it was the thingto do back then and it just stuck.
that's amazing.
And I have to say a couple of things.
One, I mentioned Bigfoot to my wifemaybe like a month ago,
(05:41):
and I don't know what the reference was,but I was like, like Bigfoot.
And she had no ideawhat I was talking about.
If I was talking about, like,the Sasquatch watch, I'm like,
the monster truck.
Like, this is like a mini monster truck.
And she had no idea.
And that just takes me backto to being a kid.
And I think I had a poster of Bigfooton my wall when I was a kid.
I'm sure you would have, like.
(06:02):
Like my kids grew up,and I took them to Monster Jam.
Yeah, they had the plushies thatthey have now and then the diecast, too.
But yeah, seared in my memoryis Bob Gellar
and now I think they're on 66inch tall tires.
Back then he had 40 eightsand the biggest tire you can get on a
truck was a 44 back that we had48 inch tires and he had planetary axles.
(06:24):
It was four wheel steer and it was justparked on top of another a car.
And he had his cowboyhat and his sunglasses.
And he's leaning out of a predator calvescoming up through the hood.
I was up from there. Yeah.
That was the reason I straight awayfrom the big VA.
It's after those days on Van NuysBoulevard, you know,
and came to be like the sport compactaficionado.
(06:46):
Yeah.
And not to not to derail the conversation,but I live in the valley, so I'm
right around the corner.
And it's funny because the
now that I live here, it is You don't seethat same type of scenario anymore.
I was going to say, you mostlysee Teslas and electric cars up here.
And every now that we had someone near mein my neighborhood has this
(07:07):
red old pickup that like, looks likeit's right out of a mad max movie.
But besides that, it's mostlylike there's just Teslas everywhere.
So the culture has changed.
Yes, very much so.
So did you always knowyou wanted to do something
professionally with automobilesor did that happen almost by accident?
(07:28):
And because of your knowledgeand expertise and and just.
that's a good question.
I, I don't know if it was automobilesper se, but it was
it was writing and photography.
Yeah, in some ways.
And I had a knack and a passionfor writing.
And I back then,you know, with my BMX bike,
(07:48):
I, you know, raised in the late eightiesand Southern California
mountain bikes came into play andit was a natural extension for BMX racing.
So I started racing mountain bikesand became very passionate about that
triathlons, roadrace, track bikes, a lot of,
you know, Greg Lemond type, LanceArmstrong type stuff.
Are we so allowed to say his nameor has he been fully canceled now?
(08:11):
That's a good question.
So apologiesif it's the Teddy Kennedy car now.
But I.
I was a bike racer
and I wanted to work in in the bikeracing industry.
And my my biggestmy biggest hero, literary hero.
And the publication side ofit was a gentleman named Zapata Espinosa,
(08:34):
and he was the editor in chief of MountainBike Action magazine.
Okay.
So I don't know, there was no emailthen there was no DMS.
I literally, like called the Officeand asked
if I could do an interview with them.And they go, Sure.
So I, I strolled in.
I was going to Cal State UniversityNorthridge, I strolled in, I rode my bike
there to show that I was a core rider,rode my bike to the interview, had
(08:56):
my tape recorder was ready to do it,and he gave me a lot of great advice.
And one of the things he said,he said, Learn photography
because you can only tell the storyif you're writing the words.
If someone else is doing the photos
and they don't tell the same storythat you're telling, it won't match up.
So you do photos, awards,it makes you more of a double threat
(09:16):
and you tell the story betterin your own way.
So I learned photography, went all inand tried so hard
to get jobs at all the bicyclingpublications, you had to know someone.
And these are famous racers that wrote forthese magazines, and I could not get in.
And my other passion was automobiles.
And back then it's now Motor Trend,but it was called Peterson
(09:38):
Publishing back then.
And Robert E Petersen was the guywho helped founded the Ray,
and he was the first guyto put a girl on the hood of a car.
He launched Motortrend magazine reviewingnew cars in like 1949 or something,
and launched Hot Rod magazine and like,really birth the hot birth
the hot rod culture.
(09:58):
And by the early nineties,when I graduated from university,
I was all in and I'm like trying to getinto the doors of Peterson Publishing.
And there was just dozensof different magazines.
And there wasthey had basically in the newspaper,
there was classifiedswith hiring at Motortrend,
you know, a Peterson Publishingsend your resume to this address.
(10:21):
And I had stacks of rejection letters.
And one guy, DonaldNosek, took a chance on me
and I got hiredas an associate editor of Max Speed.
And that was in 1998.
And from there, I somehow managedto get my foot in the door.
And we're looking at,what, 30 years, 30 some odd years later,
I'm still somehow managing to Peter Panmy way through this.
(10:41):
I don't know if I'm necessarily the faceor voice of youth marketing anymore, but
maybe I'm the guy they turn to.
They say, Tell us what it was likerapid ads back in the day when Hondas
had single cabs and drive cars, couldn'tgo faster than 10 seconds, you know.
So, yeah, yeah.
You know, SoI'm still doing it to this day
and still having just as much funas I always did.
I definitely want to talk to youa little bit here about JDM
(11:03):
and and I don't know much about thatmarket.
And Japanese domesticmarket is what it's called
just for for peoplethat may not know what it is.
And yeah, I guessI should have you explain it for people
that may not know what like a JDM car is,how would you define that?
Well, the best way to describeit is an OEM.
To use.
(11:23):
Another acronym is original equipmentmanufacturer.
People who manufacture vehicles,companies, Ford, Toyota, Chevrolet,
all those brands, they manufacturedifferent vehicles for different markets.
So in the United States, the vehiclethat we drive, the Honda Civic
might be different from the Honda Civicthat is in the oceanic market or the Asian
market, which, you know, comprisesJapan, China, Thailand, you know, Taiwan.
(11:49):
Those markets differ.
And it's everything from crash standardsto pedestrian
impact standards to even lightingand then also, obviously,
one of the more obvious ones is a driverconfiguration
from the UK, Japan, Australia is righthand drive vehicles,
kids being kidsseeing in the United States
(12:10):
there was hopped up versions of the Civicthat was available in Japan
and people wanted thatJapanese domestic market engine
and if they couldn't affordto get the engine, they really did.
You know, we're talking about going downa rabbit hole here for a super deep cut.
They would get the headlightsor the tail lights or the bumper.
(12:30):
And if a a common enthusiast who knows
Honda Civics were to look at the two,you'd almost have
to put them next to each otherand have someone else pointed out
the the the corner markers on the Japaneseversion are clear.
The ones in the United States are orange,but they're barely orange
unless they're they're lit up.
You know, there's parkingmarkers, there's roadside flares,
(12:53):
engine suspension parts, thinner windowglass, a bunch of different elements.
And and the manufacturer, Honda,
they would produce thatfor their domestic market,
which was calledthe Japanese domestic market.
So JDM was the thing to to to be
in the United States. Wow.
Rightbefore I started a Super Street magazine,
(13:14):
one of the guys I worked with
was named Jonathan Wong,and they call him Jonathan JDM Wong.
He was the first personto actually popularized the name.
He doesn't like to take credit for itbecause he said people were saying
and shops were selling the parts,but he was the first person to actually
write itinto printed law and Peterson publishing.
So he wrote it insuper Street and said, JDM is the thing.
(13:37):
And then from there it just took off.
I will say that these days, JDM,
unfortunately, has been sort of clouded.
The name's been sort of co-opted to define
any manufacturerof performance parts from Japan,
which is not necessarily trueIf you have a company like I don't know
(13:57):
how familiar you are or your audiences,but there's brands like Cars
and Graffitiand and Top Secret tuners, names like that
that produce vehicles and partsfor these cars.
Those aren'tJapanese domestic market manufacturers
because they make parts for the cars,whether they're made in the US or Japan.
(14:18):
Got it.
People used to call them J spec,
which is maybe slightly not woke,but they would call it J spec back then.
But now it's just become a catch all.
So whether it's an original equipmentvehicle or part or a
aftermarket manufacturer,everybody just calls it GM.
And now the reason you're probably hearingthat name a lot is because
(14:38):
what's called the Golden Era vehicles,if you think about it
now, x 306, third generation Acura,
Mazda, Rs7, fourth generation, Toyota,
supra, the one, the orangeone from the Fast and the Furious.
And of course, what they callGodzilla, the GT-R.
Those vehicles are starting to passwhat's called the 25 year rule.
(15:01):
So 25 years ago, those vehiclesso that vehicles that were manufactured
in 1999are starting to become legal for import.
And there's a lot of importers
from Top rank to a bunch of othersthat handle this import process.
And you could actually purchase a vehiclethat is legal and you could drive it.
In United States,the prices on those cars have skyrocketed.
(15:22):
Collectors are going crazy for them.
The people at Top Rank actually have amuch like BMW, if you're familiar with it.
They have European delivery where you cango to Germany and get your BMW.
You can go to Japan and get your beat down25 year old Skyline GT-R
and drive it on the roadsin Japan and drive it in in Japan
(15:43):
on Fuji Speedway,which is very hallowed racetrack in Japan,
and then store it in Japan while you waitfor your 25 year date to come up.
And I've talked to them,they won't tell me exactly how many,
but I know people have been to themand people film videos.
It looks like a sea of Japanese cars.
There's probably over 200sitting in a warehouse right at any
(16:04):
given time that are awaiting thatthat are all sold to wealthy collectors.
And mind you,these cars are going for 125 to $300000
and some are worth upwards of $1,000,000for the very rare versions.
But it's nuts now.
So it came kind of full circlewhere people wanted just little head
lights, tail lights.
I'll take the engineand now I see manufacturers.
(16:27):
I'll get some aftermarket partsfor it, too.
Now you can import a full blown car.
So that's a pretty long windedexplanation of what JDM is now.
I love it.
And actually I think that helped explainhow I've always thought about it.
It's funny how Yeah.
Anyway, I just think that'sa great explanation of it.
And you mentioned how like on Van NuysBoulevard,
you mentioned Hondas and things like that.
(16:48):
Was that the start of perhapsyour interest in that type of vehicle?
well, for me,like I said, my interest predates it
a little bit and I got a mini truckbecause I raced
BMX bikes and mountain bikesand all the famous BMX racers
had these lowered California stylemini trucks in the eighties.
And that's all I wanted.
(17:09):
And I got that.
It was still four cylinder
rear wheel drive,but it was a small little Toyota truck and
but I hung out with the guys, with thewith the dots and five tens and the 240 Zs
and like that the golden eraof the SCCA racing, you know
Peter Brock
E Enterprises, the white 510 with the redand blue on it and John Morton,
(17:31):
the infamous driver like that predates
a lot of the Honda world.
So that was at the street racesa couple people would kind of,
I don't want to call it cheating,but they'd say, I'm I'm not a domestic,
but I drive this.
Pinto And those little old Pintos werelike, the domestic guys didn't like them.
And then the the importguys were kind of like, we'll take you in.
(17:52):
So a lot of like the Japanese car clubs,the Japanese street race teams,
which I say Japanese.
I mean, people of Japanese descent
were sort of the firstto really take on these cars.
And those were the oneswho sort of kind of
you could call them the first generation.
And then there was a carshow in downtown L.A.
It was a Japanesea Japanese festival called Nisei Week.
(18:15):
Nisei meaning second generation.
This Nisei week festival,the guys who like the cars
would cruise around the festivaljust because it was a a Japanese festival.
So Japanese kids with their carswould cruise around.
And someone had the bright ideato say, Hey,
let's put these cars into the festivaland have them drive in with the festival.
So they had little parking areasand so those were the earliest Japanese
(18:36):
car shows.
And this is, I want to say in thein the early seventies, but by the time
the Hondas came around in the nineties,that's when it really exploded.
When what you see, you
know, and I would say thatthat would be maybe late eighties at best.
But I can remember as far backas like 89, 90 was
when Honda started to populate the, the,
(18:58):
the landscape and the street racing areasand everything else.
So do you think Fast and Furioushad an influence on this market at all?
Absolutely not.
I will tell you thatI helped a couple of the.
I was going to ask you about that.
Yeah, I wasI was working at Super Street at the time.
And Craig Lieberman,who was the event director for NYRA,
(19:20):
him and I worked together and he asked meto bring a couple of cars to this movie.
And there was casting callsand everybody was excited about.
But by then this was in the late nineties.
So I want to say the movie came out in 99or 2000.
This retro.
Yeah,it dates not not exactly correct, but
in 98
we we all helped deliver carsto this to the
(19:42):
to this to the filming of the race warscene out in the desert.
And by thenthe market had already been been big.
I would say the biggest driverof the Honda world and this is a hot take
because I've interviewed tons of people,because I personally wonder, like,
how do we go from to me,I personally think back in the day like A
(20:06):
to 40 Z, like an S 31stgeneration Z is a way sexier car
than a Honda Civic hatchback, this dorkylittle horse economy grocery getter.
I mean, if you look at a Z,you can kind of say,
I couldI could make if you look at a Honda,
the first person to look at a Honda, it'salmost like I was watching like some
I think I was watching a what's it called
(20:29):
Seinfeld just did on Frosted.
And this was an odd tangent,but they talked about like,
who was the first person to drink milk?
They're like squirting itout of the udders.
And someone just goes, Wait,I think I'll try this.
And I feel like that's
that was so landmark pioneerthat looked at a Honda Civic
and said, Hey,I think I could do something with that.
But I firmly believe it was eightiesThe malaise era
(20:51):
muscle cars that launched a generationof Honda Civic performance.
Because I interviewed people who weredeep, deep, deeper than me in this world.
Why are Honda so popular?
Because everybody made parts for them.okay.
So I'd interview the manufacturers and Igo, okay, I got the got the origin story.
Why did you guys make parts for Honda's?
Because everybody drove themand it was a chicken and egg thing.
(21:14):
I'm like, wait,no one's giving me an answer.
You're just pointingfingers back and forth.
So but I believe my hot takeas someone who was there and lived it back
then, like the the coolest kiddrove Mustangs and Camaros.
They were third generationCamaros and Fox body
Mustangs, thethe pre five O's and and all that.
(21:35):
They weren't the best cars,but they were V8, you know,
200 somethinghorsepower manual transmission
and they would be the fastest thingfrom the showroom of those days
and I think a lot of parentsin the early nineties and late
eighties would sayI don't want to buy my my daughter a Z 28.
(21:55):
You know, it's just like this isthe worst thing ever that I could get her.
What is this little Honda?
my God. It's fuel efficient.
It's cheap on the wall.
I don't have to spenda lot of money on it.
The insurance is super great,and it has these little air in it.
It's safe.
My kids and my kids can't do any harmbecause it makes 80 horsepower.
So I think that'swhat they gave their kids.
(22:17):
I don't I can't verify this for sure,but I.
You started once you startedCNN pop up in parking lots, it was like,
how soon was the first, you know,when was the first automobile?
It was at this date.
So when was the first automobile race?
Probably in the datewhen they made the second automobile,
because they want to see who'sgoing to go faster.
Honda people were probably no different.
They got the car and they're like,I wanted a Camaro.
(22:41):
I wanted a mustang.
I wanted a, you know, a Buick.
Grand National, whatever it is.
But I got stuck with a Civic.
So what can I do to make this faster?
So kids started doing it, and thenfrom there, an entire industry was born.
So that's that's my hot take on it.
And I have yet to verify that.
But I'm shopping that theory around.
I like that theorybecause it's probably a combination
(23:01):
of all the things you just talked about.
So I think that's very valid.
I don't think anybody can ever confirm it.
So I think, you know, just
throwing that out and saying,you're right is probably my flag.
Yeah. Nice.
So I'm going to shift the topic slightlyhere.
Talk to me about drifting, because I knowthat you've you have some kind of
experience or something in the drift worldand I want to hear about that.
(23:25):
I the experience that I have inthe drift world is is purely fan based.
I have driven drift cars.
I've driven drift car exactly five times.
One of them was a famousJapanese driver named Tarzan Yamada.
It was a Dodge Viper comp coupe that waslike a complete formula drift race car.
I had no business being inside of it.I drove horribly.
(23:47):
The second instructor was Stef Papadakis
in his formula Drift spec as 2000.
These are amazing cars.
Another one was JimmyOaks in the Hood again, Shark
Kart in Dubai, of all places.
I mean, I've drivensome pretty wild, infamous cars
but never really got the grassfor the TV show.
We built a Z Drift car and Rocky
(24:10):
and the boys out at Apple Valley Speedway
kind of gave usa day of instruction, myself
and my co-host, Amir Benyettou,which was very fascinating.
But for me, I've always known thatmy place is behind the keyboard
or behind the lens. It'snot behind the wheel.
So but I while I was at Super Street,my predecessor, Richard Chang,
(24:32):
went to Japan, filled a couple of cars,and it did well for the magazine.
And I'm nothingif not chasing circulation.
And I'm always trying to look at the
you know, my kids areI have a 17 to 15 year old.
They're pretty much at my heightright now.
But back in the day,I used to get down on my knees and go,
What are you guyswatching on the YouTubes these days?
Because I'm always just that
culture vampire trying to like, suckthe next trend out of someone.
(24:54):
And so I followed Rich Chang's lead.
When I became the editor of Super Street,I went to Japan and we went to Japan,
and some friends of ours took us tosomething called D1 GP at B Hoka Highland,
and it was the very first yearof the series
and it was Drift carsand they got all we normally
do it on the street and we're very excitedbecause this is the real deal.
(25:15):
And so we went, we covered thatand in 2001 I put the first drift
car on the cover of a magazineand it was no less than no potato.
Taniguchi HK AC 15
And it was the December issueand it was beautiful shot.
It was a red car with thesebeautiful chrome, super advan wheels.
One was in red, one was in Chrome,and it was on a green background,
(25:38):
so it looked very Christmasy.
I was like,my God, I'm going to be a hero.
It's sold horribly to where my bosses,who knew nothing about drifting,
they said, What is this?
And they're pointing at the magazine
and tapping their fingersat the printed cover.
And I'm like, I not how to go to use I 15,you know, they go, What is that?
What I'm like is a tourist car.
And they're like, What's a drift car?
And back then a yellow Honda Civichatchback was circulation gold.
(26:02):
Any time you bought one of those,it was our 57 Chevy of our world
that was Yeah.
You know, like putting, you know you knowTaylor Swift on the cover of whatever,
you know.
So I was like, okay they go, they godon't ever put a car like that
on the cover again.
Go back to yellow. So to catch facts.
And I got skewered for it.
And years later,now that's like the infamous legendary,
(26:23):
the one that everybody really recognizedspent a lot of money.
Novelis, a very famous driver,not now, but his name was no potato, but
he called himself Knob for no one better,which it was just amazing.
He had this glorious straight look likeI look like a movie star.
He was just perfect.
The car was perfect.
West Allison took amazingphotos of it, and
that's was my introduction to Drifting.
(26:44):
And from there I was hooked.
And, you know,some people brought, you know,
Ken Miyoshi, a very famous promoter,brought something over with Falken Tires.
They brought somethingto the parking lot of Irwindale Speedway
and called the Drift show off.
And there was a, you know, couple of guysfrom Run Free and some small some small,
you know, driftersand some American kids to trying to drift
(27:07):
and that Japanese judges
and they tried to make it a big dealand it didn't quite take off,
but it wasn't until JimLal and Ryan Sage started Formula Drift
that they sort ofmade it like kind of take off and get big.
And now that's where drifting is today.
And I I've been through that pathall the way through
putting those carson the covers of the magazines,
following those guysand bringing them to Hoon again
(27:29):
and filming them for the Super Street showand everything.
You know, it's just so to meit's been exciting.
I personally
I'm excited
about I was just in Formula DriftLong Beach I was excited to watch them.
It rained, unfortunately for the finals,but James Dean
did an amazing joband all those cars are amazing.
But looking at the carswith the wide angle steering angle
(27:52):
kids, the way the wheels sit outalmost looks like a praying mantis.
It doesn't look like thatold school golden era
style of like really coollooking drift cars anymore.
I feel like, unfortunately, it'skind of gone away from that, you know?
But that's life and in motorsportsand absolutely exciting, you know?
I mean,I still love watching all those guys rip,
(28:13):
you know, but yeah, yeah.
So that's sort of my historywith drifting.
Yeah.
So I a I love hearing about that story
and I specifically was told to ask youabout that because I have an eight year
old son who knows nothing about carsor racing or anything,
but I was kind of just telling him, Hey,well, tomorrow I've got this to do,
and then I'm going to do an interviewfor my car podcast and blah blah, blah.
(28:36):
And he's like, who are you interviewing?
And I gave himjust like a brief little rundown.
And I mentioned driftingbecause I knew a little of that history
that you just gave me.
And I know that my son talksabout drifting costs constant.
He's eight years old, can't driveanything, doesn't really know what it is.
But like, if I take a turntoo fast on Ventura Boulevard, he's like,
(28:57):
you're drifting.
I'm like, No, I'm not. I'm not drifting.
But I was like,I'm going to have to ask him about his
his connection and his history with thedrifting world just to make my son happy.
So thank you fordealing with me with that.
So you mentioned you're a little bit
I think the term you usedwas you're a vampire for content.
You're asking your kids, you know,what's on YouTube.
(29:18):
I could probably talk to youfor days on end about automotive content
because that's a big passion of mine.
And a big experienceis experience of mine too. Excuse me.
So I did want to ask you about howbecause you've been around for so long,
you've done so much now,but how do you kind of follow an idea
or a conceptinto creating automotive content?
(29:39):
And this is a very vague general question,but I am curious about your process.
If you're like, Hey, we need more TV showsor some stuff online or a new article
series, whatever it may be,How do you kind of start that process?
Yeah, it's funny
because a lot of people in this spacethese days will define themselves.
I'm a creative directorand writer and photographer by trade
(30:02):
and first and foremost a journalist,so very inquisitive, very
rapid consumer of media.
I to me I am and always,
I hate to say, but looking for the nextbig thing like anyone else.
But like most creative directorswill tell you in the automotive space,
this is so fringy.
But they will say, I'm a storytellerand I'm like, You're not a storyteller.
(30:25):
You know, we are.
We're plagiarists, nothing more.
I mean, that's what we are.
You try to take somethingthat is popular somewhere else
and if you see it in the zeitgeistand you know that there's a nugget
of something there, you couldyou could use it or you take something
because fashion, street culture, media,everything is cyclical.
(30:45):
So everything goes in cycleswhere you think
that something's going to be bigand it is big and then it goes away
and the people are like,that's super crunchy.
And then all of a sudden that like6:00 on the clock, it started to go.
People go, Hey,I'm starting to kind of feel that again.
Then 9:00 is like,okay, it's peak and then it at noon back.
That's when people like me will be like,Hey, I think we should start.
(31:06):
We're in skinny jeans, you know, in there,
but we're already behind the curve,you know?
So but with the automotive culture,I'm always looking elsewhere
outside of the culture, and I'm alsolooking for the culture to help define it.
You know, like what?
What cars are legal right now.
Golden era, you know, nineties era
cars in the import world are very big.
(31:26):
So these telling these storieswhich you know, it's funny because I,
I think about I'm stuck in my worldmy daughter
this is the best thing So my daughter 17she's got a little enemy Miata
that I got her and she's loving itand she's obsessed with cars
and she follows all of the influencers,you know, So everyone that I know,
(31:46):
most of them, you know, and some of them
I don't know and but she'll send me linksand I'm like, it's a friend of mine.
But she sent me this linkfrom this girl that said,
I got harassed because of my cleartail lights.
So I took them off because I don't knowif you know, like back
in the day, like clear corners,there was a company.
Well, first of all, it started with theLexus ES, It was the Lexus Toyota Tesla.
(32:10):
And it became the Lexus is 300when it came to United States.
And then these really unique tail lights,they were mostly clear
with red center lenses and peoplejust thought it was the coolest thing.
So a brand called APC and dozens of othersstarted to make knockoffs.
So if you didn't have a is300but you wanted
the tail lights like the is300,you could put them on your Civic
(32:33):
or your Integraand they call them all Tesla tails.
Back then they were clear tails
and they, they peakedand they were the hottest thing.
And then they became super cringeworthy.
You know, it's like, God.
And then people said,I don't want all Tesla tails.
I want the European marketor the Japanese market tail lights
that have a nuance difference.
But have OEM quality.
So that just killed the clear tail.
(32:54):
It became like Lambo Doors and flamboyantgraphics
and gaudy wheels,and it just sort of went off the rails.
So that's how me as a 56 year old
whitemale looks at Claire tails these days.
And my daughter's like, she's like,I want to get clear tails for the Miata.
And I got her this cool garage,very Japanese garnish.
(33:14):
And I'm like, No, you can't becauseyou have to rip this JDM garnish out of it
and then put these factory tail lightsand then clear them.
I'm like, It's okay.
I go, the princess thing.
I'm like, You're going to get beat upafter school and everything.
And she's sending me links.
And then guys like people that I workedwith, I don't get Gary King Jr.
Claire tales on his skyline,you know? GT-R.
I'm like, my God.
(33:35):
And I look at it like,because I'm stuck in the, you know, 2008
where I think, well, these no one wantsto see this anymore, you know?
And now it'scoming back around again in 2024.
So when I see that it, it makes me,I could lean on a lot of my history
and a lot of the stuff that I've donein the past to say, you know what?
I bet it's about time to bring this back.
(33:56):
There are other things that I've done,like the drifting car on the cover.
I was the first to do VIP cars.
I brought time attack hereto the United States.
I was one of the firstto do YouTube programing when no one knew
what YouTube was.
This predated Hoon again and everyone.
And I feel like it's that infamous linefrom the Fast and Furious
(34:16):
where Dominic Torettois racing Brian O'Conner
and he hits the nitrous and Dominicsays, Too soon.
JR And so I feel like that.
So there's a lot of stuff now that quitehonestly, I hold close to my chest
I believe that there's a space in ourin our world for augmented reality
and virtual reality and mixed reality,but we haven't even really touched it yet.
(34:36):
360 videos.
There's a couple peoplethat are doing them, but not really.
You see it in the real estate marketwhen you're looking at two rent or one
360 video.
Why wouldn't we do that
with the automotive space,you know, live streaming?
It was big.
And now I kind of wentand now we're trying to see, you know,
twitch and back in Justin TVdays was kind of doing something.
I'm still very bullish about that.
(34:57):
I also think let's be honest,let's go back to the analog days.
I think experiential events.
I will always bet on experiential events,especially coming out of COVID,
not so much these days,but right out of COVID
like the first eventsthat everybody could go to.
Yeah, there was a thing about it,you know, and I think
when you talk about mixed media,I don't think anybody's
really doing this too well because theydon't want to bastardize from their event.
(35:20):
But I think you should, because we live inwhat's called the global village now.
You should have your event where,you know what,
if you were there, you were thereand you go, But if you weren't there,
we're going to be livestreaming.
We're going to have a completephoto gallery, We have a video recap.
There's a mixed versionthat you could have you could participate
as part of the audience, even thoughyou're not there in real life, you know?
(35:40):
So I think that that's athat's a big deal now.
So that's just some of the thingsthat are rattling around in my old brain.
my God, I love it.
I love it so much.
I could talk about that kind of stuffall day.
And one of the things that that I kind ofpick up on, whether you intended it
to or not,is because I'm I'm a film maker by trade.
That's how I started in savings. And
I you know, I go to meetings all the timeand I'm always developing content
(36:03):
and ideas and working with otherfilmmakers and listening to you talk.
Just now you weren't talkingabout traditional television.
You're not talkingabout traditional old school,
you know, other distribution outletsfor for video kind of content.
You're talkingabout all these different kind of things.
And that's,
I think the future of all entertainmentis people have to think about it that way.
(36:25):
And so, yeah,I just love kind of hearing hearing you,
you know, ramble on about those thingsbecause it is kind of fascinating
because I think you're so goodat what you do.
And just hearing you talk about all thesedifferent elements is really fascinating
and I think important for anybodyinterested in
any kind of content production,whether it be automotive
or you're a song writer or whateverit is to kind of see, see everything
(36:47):
that's out there and be willing to learnmore about these different elements.
Yeah,
that's not a very
eloquent way to describe,although that's what
it does make sense.
And that that is the way I think.
Yeah, I look at skateboarding, I look at,
I look at street culture, I look at music,I look at,
you know, I'm an old guy,so I still have linear cable television.
(37:08):
So I watch the Super Bowl, even though I'mnot much of a football fan, you know,
just to see how they're producingthese live events
and how they do these things,you know? Yeah, yeah.
For me, it's just it'show you deliver the content.
You know, one of the things too, isI do think you have to be very careful and
and again,we always wanted to make a skateboard,
but we never did
because our design director, John Chase,he's the one who clued me in to this
(37:32):
this language said it'sa very cultural culture thing to do.
You're you'repicking at the bones of something else.
And I said, Wow,I never thought of it that way.
Yeah, I'm I'm always looking to dothe next thing, another startup
or something.
I always do betterwhen I'm when I'm steering my own ship.
I, you know, I don't workwell with others.
(37:53):
I don't play well with others.
And I struggle in the confines of the boxbecause I'd rather build my own box.
And one of the things I've
always wanted to do is and I'm giving awayone of my ideas on your podcast is
I want to sell skateboards for whateverbrand I do, but I want to do something
where you can't buy this skateboardunless you send us
from a verified account,a video of you doing a kickflip.
(38:13):
You know, And that goes back toI don't know if, you know,
skateboard culture,but there was a little video series
where they get the famous skatersand they put them in a car
and they have a bunch of free skateboards
and they just scream at somebody to,a flip, you know.
So that's like,that's the thing, you know?
So if you could if you could prove to usthat you could do a kickflip,
I'll sell you I'll give you the rightto purchase the skateboard from me.
(38:33):
I think that's really important.
I don't want to put them up on their wall.
I don't want people to use it,have fun with it.
You know, just like cars.
They should be driven skateboards
and if you're going to sell a skateboard,you better sell it to people
who are going to use a skateboard.
that's amazing.
Well, thank you so much, John.
I could not be more happy and appreciativefor you to join me on the show today.
(38:55):
I don't want to take upany more of your time.
Do you want to tell peoplewhat you're up to now
or where they can check outstuff of yours?
Do you want to plug anything?
I would say no.
I mean, I guess the best way to plugwhat I'm doing is my Instagram page,
which is at ads, you know, and that'sbasically what I'm up to right now.
(39:15):
I'm just pretty much a hired gun.
I work for a bunch of different brands.
I do a lot of social media for.
I work with brands like SEMA and Mothersand a few others
and talking about, you know,
we had the TVshow, it's not quite public yet,
but it went away and a bunch of the othershows kind of went away, unfortunately.
(39:36):
But we're talking aboutmaybe getting the band back together
and putting something together on YouTubeand maybe taking all these ideas
and throwing them at buildingsomething fun.
And I think one of the things I've alwayswanted to do with any bit of programing,
it's a struggle to stand out in this worldbecause you have people who are doing
exoskeletonbuilds on Lamborghini hurricanes,
you know,that are to DJ swapping a Lamborghini.
(39:58):
And I'm like, okay, you know, I can'tkeep up with that, you know, But for me,
if we just build a fun, simpleHonda Civic hatchback
that harkens back to the golden erawith some modern day touches,
something alongthose lines would be kind of fun to show.
And then show the peoplethe same way we did the shows say, Hey,
we're doing this build
and we're going to show youwhy we're doing it,
but here's why we're putting clearcorners on it.
(40:19):
Here's why maps doesn't like them.
But Amir and Christian do like them,and we trade on that.
You know, I'm yelling, Stay off my lawnwhile they're putting clear corners
on a civic hatchback.
So maybe some of the some of the contentthat we produce bring back some of that
some of that YouTube golden eratype stuff.
So awesome.
Definitely see that in the future.
Well, thank youand I'll provide some links
(40:39):
in the show notes for everybody listening.
And again,thank you so much for joining me today.
Have a good rest of your dayand I'll talk to you soon.
Thank you so much, Michael.
It's been a tremendous honor.
Thank you for listeningto Fuel for the Future.
This show is driven
by America's automotive trustand presented by State Farm Insurance.
To learn more about the trust, visitAmerica's Automotive Trust Board.
And therewas just dozens of different magazines.
And there was they had,you know, basically in the newspaper,
there was classifiedswith, you know, hiring at Motortrend,
you know, a Peterson Publishingsend your resume to this address.
And I had stacks of rejection letters.
And one guy, DonaldNosek, took a chance on me
and I got hiredas an associate editor of Max Speed.
(00:23):
And that was in 1998.
And from there, I somehow managed to jammy foot in the door and
were looking at what,30 years, 30 some odd years later,
I'm still somehow managing to Peter Panmy way through this.
That is John Naderi,known to his friends and fans as Nads.
Nance is a creative directorwho has had a major influence
(00:43):
on automotive, entertainment,journalism and culture.
This is fuel for the futurepresented by State Farm Insurance
and driven by America's Automotive Trust.
Learn more about the trust at America'sAutomotive Trust Board.
I'm Michael Mann.
Welcome to the show.
(01:03):
John Naderi, also known as Nads.
Yes, unfortunately.
Well, let me start off by asking,how did you even come to get that name?
Boy, that predatesmy time in the automotive space.
But it was my high schoolcross-country coach
who said, When you're coming aroundthat last quote, what's your last name?
And I said, Naderi.
And he said, in On you go, okay,I don't like that.
(01:25):
He goes, But when you're coming aroundthat last corner, I'm going to call you
now. And I said, I said, Why now?
And he goes, Because when you're runningaround that last corner, I'm going to be
screaming, Go nads. So
and it stuck for stuck, unfortunately.
Yeah.
Ricky Chu at Super Streetlit it back up again.
(01:45):
So I came backand also that's when it started.
Okay, great.
So the start of the automotive space.
Yeah.
And on that note, our listeners
may recognize you fromjust a ton of automotive content
from hooligan stuff, Motortrend TV,a lot of writing and all sorts of things.
And so I'd like to ask how you
(02:05):
first became interested in cars.Like what?
What grabbed your attention?
My origin story, yeah.
Yeah, that's. That one goes really deep.
My earliest memories are if anybody
remembers the six wheel Elf F1 car.
I had a poster of it on my wall for
(02:26):
God knows whatever reason,at Long Beach, of all places.
I didn't know it was LongBeach at the time.
And I just.
I don't know why my dadgot me a car poster from there.
It was just forged early on.
But believe it or not,
my first love was Monster Trucks.
wow. Bob Chandler's Bigfoot,who was the original?
(02:46):
The monster, right? Yeah.
There was no monster jam or any of this.It was.
Yeah, this was in the lateseventies, early eighties.
I became obsessed with, like, just a kidwith Tonka toys, just big trucks.
And my dad said, Well,let's let's do a truck together.
So he bought an old 73 F-250.
And it wasit was crumpled, the frame was bent,
(03:09):
the bed was sitting off of the carpetbecause I read these
four wheeler magazines,these Peterson publishing magazines.
Everybody started with the barn fight.
So I was like,You got to start with a bad boy.
You can't buy a nice truckthat someone else has built.
So my dad, knowing nothing about trucks,bought a beater of a truck
and we had it restored,it lifted and everything else.
(03:30):
And I just fell in love with Ford Trucksand Bob Chandler and Bigfoot.
And that just led toI was raised in the San Fernando Valley,
so led to cruising on Van Nuys Boulevard,
which is an infamous legendary spot.
And I was coming of ageand I got my license in 84.
So this is the early eighties.
I ride my little BMXbike down to Van Nuys.
(03:53):
I lived right around the cornerfrom Van Nuys
and would just go to seeeverybody cruising
and there was lowriders and those guyslook like they would hurt me
and there was dudes with muscle carsand Cigarets rolled up in the sleeves
and they looked like they would stuff mein the locker and take my lunch money.
Guys with lifted trucksthat had questionable bumper
(04:14):
stickers and flags on them.
Even in the Southern Californiain the eighties, I was like,
I don't think I'm kind of a brown, soI didn't think I kind of fit in with them.
And there was these nerdy dudeswith five tans and 240 Zs
and BMW, 2000 twos,and one of them just goes, Nice bike.
And I turned around and went, thanks.
(04:34):
And I said, These cars are fun.
And I just from there it lit off like ajust a complete obsession with,
you know, there is a replacementfor displacement and just wrong wheel
drive and small, small powerthat does big things.
And I ended up going to the three racesin Mexico as they say,
(04:54):
and wow, following along.
And this is almost predatingthe Honda market.
But right thenHonda started to come around in the late
eighties after I spent some timein San Diego at university,
I got back into itand that furthered my passion.
I started with a mini truckand then went to a Supra
for all affects 16and then went through all the way.
(05:17):
And now my current and probably erstwhilelongest obsession is Honda's
and four wheel drive cars and carsthat are just kind of stupid cars.
It's like you would never start with thatwith a Honda Civic, you know?
But for some reason it was the thingto do back then and it just stuck.
that's amazing.
And I have to say a couple of things.
One, I mentioned Bigfoot to my wifemaybe like a month ago,
(05:41):
and I don't know what the reference was,but I was like, like Bigfoot.
And she had no ideawhat I was talking about.
If I was talking about, like,the Sasquatch watch, I'm like,
the monster truck.
Like, this is like a mini monster truck.
And she had no idea.
And that just takes me backto to being a kid.
And I think I had a poster of Bigfooton my wall when I was a kid.
I'm sure you would have, like.
(06:02):
Like my kids grew up,and I took them to Monster Jam.
Yeah, they had the plushies thatthey have now and then the diecast, too.
But yeah, seared in my memoryis Bob Gellar
and now I think they're on 66inch tall tires.
Back then he had 40 eightsand the biggest tire you can get on a
truck was a 44 back that we had48 inch tires and he had planetary axles.
(06:24):
It was four wheel steer and it was justparked on top of another a car.
And he had his cowboyhat and his sunglasses.
And he's leaning out of a predator calvescoming up through the hood.
I was up from there. Yeah.
That was the reason I straight awayfrom the big VA.
It's after those days on Van NuysBoulevard, you know,
and came to be like the sport compactaficionado.
(06:46):
Yeah.
And not to not to derail the conversation,but I live in the valley, so I'm
right around the corner.
And it's funny because the
now that I live here, it is You don't seethat same type of scenario anymore.
I was going to say, you mostlysee Teslas and electric cars up here.
And every now that we had someone near mein my neighborhood has this
(07:07):
red old pickup that like, looks likeit's right out of a mad max movie.
But besides that, it's mostlylike there's just Teslas everywhere.
So the culture has changed.
Yes, very much so.
So did you always knowyou wanted to do something
professionally with automobilesor did that happen almost by accident?
(07:28):
And because of your knowledgeand expertise and and just.
that's a good question.
I, I don't know if it was automobilesper se, but it was
it was writing and photography.
Yeah, in some ways.
And I had a knack and a passionfor writing.
And I back then,you know, with my BMX bike,
(07:48):
I, you know, raised in the late eightiesand Southern California
mountain bikes came into play andit was a natural extension for BMX racing.
So I started racing mountain bikesand became very passionate about that
triathlons, roadrace, track bikes, a lot of,
you know, Greg Lemond type, LanceArmstrong type stuff.
Are we so allowed to say his nameor has he been fully canceled now?
(08:11):
That's a good question.
So apologiesif it's the Teddy Kennedy car now.
But I.
I was a bike racer
and I wanted to work in in the bikeracing industry.
And my my biggestmy biggest hero, literary hero.
And the publication side ofit was a gentleman named Zapata Espinosa,
(08:34):
and he was the editor in chief of MountainBike Action magazine.
Okay.
So I don't know, there was no emailthen there was no DMS.
I literally, like called the Officeand asked
if I could do an interview with them.And they go, Sure.
So I, I strolled in.
I was going to Cal State UniversityNorthridge, I strolled in, I rode my bike
there to show that I was a core rider,rode my bike to the interview, had
(08:56):
my tape recorder was ready to do it,and he gave me a lot of great advice.
And one of the things he said,he said, Learn photography
because you can only tell the storyif you're writing the words.
If someone else is doing the photos
and they don't tell the same storythat you're telling, it won't match up.
So you do photos, awards,it makes you more of a double threat
(09:16):
and you tell the story betterin your own way.
So I learned photography, went all inand tried so hard
to get jobs at all the bicyclingpublications, you had to know someone.
And these are famous racers that wrote forthese magazines, and I could not get in.
And my other passion was automobiles.
And back then it's now Motor Trend,but it was called Peterson
(09:38):
Publishing back then.
And Robert E Petersen was the guywho helped founded the Ray,
and he was the first guyto put a girl on the hood of a car.
He launched Motortrend magazine reviewingnew cars in like 1949 or something,
and launched Hot Rod magazine and like,really birth the hot birth
the hot rod culture.
(09:58):
And by the early nineties,when I graduated from university,
I was all in and I'm like trying to getinto the doors of Peterson Publishing.
And there was just dozensof different magazines.
And there wasthey had basically in the newspaper,
there was classifiedswith hiring at Motortrend,
you know, a Peterson Publishingsend your resume to this address.
(10:21):
And I had stacks of rejection letters.
And one guy, DonaldNosek, took a chance on me
and I got hiredas an associate editor of Max Speed.
And that was in 1998.
And from there, I somehow managedto get my foot in the door.
And we're looking at,what, 30 years, 30 some odd years later,
I'm still somehow managing to Peter Panmy way through this.
(10:41):
I don't know if I'm necessarily the faceor voice of youth marketing anymore, but
maybe I'm the guy they turn to.
They say, Tell us what it was likerapid ads back in the day when Hondas
had single cabs and drive cars, couldn'tgo faster than 10 seconds, you know.
So, yeah, yeah.
You know, SoI'm still doing it to this day
and still having just as much funas I always did.
I definitely want to talk to youa little bit here about JDM
(11:03):
and and I don't know much about thatmarket.
And Japanese domesticmarket is what it's called
just for for peoplethat may not know what it is.
And yeah, I guessI should have you explain it for people
that may not know what like a JDM car is,how would you define that?
Well, the best way to describeit is an OEM.
To use.
(11:23):
Another acronym is original equipmentmanufacturer.
People who manufacture vehicles,companies, Ford, Toyota, Chevrolet,
all those brands, they manufacturedifferent vehicles for different markets.
So in the United States, the vehiclethat we drive, the Honda Civic
might be different from the Honda Civicthat is in the oceanic market or the Asian
market, which, you know, comprisesJapan, China, Thailand, you know, Taiwan.
(11:49):
Those markets differ.
And it's everything from crash standardsto pedestrian
impact standards to even lightingand then also, obviously,
one of the more obvious ones is a driverconfiguration
from the UK, Japan, Australia is righthand drive vehicles,
kids being kidsseeing in the United States
(12:10):
there was hopped up versions of the Civicthat was available in Japan
and people wanted thatJapanese domestic market engine
and if they couldn't affordto get the engine, they really did.
You know, we're talking about going downa rabbit hole here for a super deep cut.
They would get the headlightsor the tail lights or the bumper.
(12:30):
And if a a common enthusiast who knows
Honda Civics were to look at the two,you'd almost have
to put them next to each otherand have someone else pointed out
the the the corner markers on the Japaneseversion are clear.
The ones in the United States are orange,but they're barely orange
unless they're they're lit up.
You know, there's parkingmarkers, there's roadside flares,
(12:53):
engine suspension parts, thinner windowglass, a bunch of different elements.
And and the manufacturer, Honda,
they would produce thatfor their domestic market,
which was calledthe Japanese domestic market.
So JDM was the thing to to to be
in the United States. Wow.
Rightbefore I started a Super Street magazine,
(13:14):
one of the guys I worked with
was named Jonathan Wong,and they call him Jonathan JDM Wong.
He was the first personto actually popularized the name.
He doesn't like to take credit for itbecause he said people were saying
and shops were selling the parts,but he was the first person to actually
write itinto printed law and Peterson publishing.
So he wrote it insuper Street and said, JDM is the thing.
(13:37):
And then from there it just took off.
I will say that these days, JDM,
unfortunately, has been sort of clouded.
The name's been sort of co-opted to define
any manufacturerof performance parts from Japan,
which is not necessarily trueIf you have a company like I don't know
(13:57):
how familiar you are or your audiences,but there's brands like Cars
and Graffitiand and Top Secret tuners, names like that
that produce vehicles and partsfor these cars.
Those aren'tJapanese domestic market manufacturers
because they make parts for the cars,whether they're made in the US or Japan.
(14:18):
Got it.
People used to call them J spec,
which is maybe slightly not woke,but they would call it J spec back then.
But now it's just become a catch all.
So whether it's an original equipmentvehicle or part or a
aftermarket manufacturer,everybody just calls it GM.
And now the reason you're probably hearingthat name a lot is because
(14:38):
what's called the Golden Era vehicles,if you think about it
now, x 306, third generation Acura,
Mazda, Rs7, fourth generation, Toyota,
supra, the one, the orangeone from the Fast and the Furious.
And of course, what they callGodzilla, the GT-R.
Those vehicles are starting to passwhat's called the 25 year rule.
(15:01):
So 25 years ago, those vehiclesso that vehicles that were manufactured
in 1999are starting to become legal for import.
And there's a lot of importers
from Top rank to a bunch of othersthat handle this import process.
And you could actually purchase a vehiclethat is legal and you could drive it.
In United States,the prices on those cars have skyrocketed.
(15:22):
Collectors are going crazy for them.
The people at Top Rank actually have amuch like BMW, if you're familiar with it.
They have European delivery where you cango to Germany and get your BMW.
You can go to Japan and get your beat down25 year old Skyline GT-R
and drive it on the roadsin Japan and drive it in in Japan
(15:43):
on Fuji Speedway,which is very hallowed racetrack in Japan,
and then store it in Japan while you waitfor your 25 year date to come up.
And I've talked to them,they won't tell me exactly how many,
but I know people have been to themand people film videos.
It looks like a sea of Japanese cars.
There's probably over 200sitting in a warehouse right at any
(16:04):
given time that are awaiting thatthat are all sold to wealthy collectors.
And mind you,these cars are going for 125 to $300000
and some are worth upwards of $1,000,000for the very rare versions.
But it's nuts now.
So it came kind of full circlewhere people wanted just little head
lights, tail lights.
I'll take the engineand now I see manufacturers.
(16:27):
I'll get some aftermarket partsfor it, too.
Now you can import a full blown car.
So that's a pretty long windedexplanation of what JDM is now.
I love it.
And actually I think that helped explainhow I've always thought about it.
It's funny how Yeah.
Anyway, I just think that'sa great explanation of it.
And you mentioned how like on Van NuysBoulevard,
you mentioned Hondas and things like that.
(16:48):
Was that the start of perhapsyour interest in that type of vehicle?
well, for me,like I said, my interest predates it
a little bit and I got a mini truckbecause I raced
BMX bikes and mountain bikesand all the famous BMX racers
had these lowered California stylemini trucks in the eighties.
And that's all I wanted.
(17:09):
And I got that.
It was still four cylinder
rear wheel drive,but it was a small little Toyota truck and
but I hung out with the guys, with thewith the dots and five tens and the 240 Zs
and like that the golden eraof the SCCA racing, you know
Peter Brock
E Enterprises, the white 510 with the redand blue on it and John Morton,
(17:31):
the infamous driver like that predates
a lot of the Honda world.
So that was at the street racesa couple people would kind of,
I don't want to call it cheating,but they'd say, I'm I'm not a domestic,
but I drive this.
Pinto And those little old Pintos werelike, the domestic guys didn't like them.
And then the the importguys were kind of like, we'll take you in.
(17:52):
So a lot of like the Japanese car clubs,the Japanese street race teams,
which I say Japanese.
I mean, people of Japanese descent
were sort of the firstto really take on these cars.
And those were the oneswho sort of kind of
you could call them the first generation.
And then there was a carshow in downtown L.A.
It was a Japanesea Japanese festival called Nisei Week.
(18:15):
Nisei meaning second generation.
This Nisei week festival,the guys who like the cars
would cruise around the festivaljust because it was a a Japanese festival.
So Japanese kids with their carswould cruise around.
And someone had the bright ideato say, Hey,
let's put these cars into the festivaland have them drive in with the festival.
So they had little parking areasand so those were the earliest Japanese
(18:36):
car shows.
And this is, I want to say in thein the early seventies, but by the time
the Hondas came around in the nineties,that's when it really exploded.
When what you see, you
know, and I would say thatthat would be maybe late eighties at best.
But I can remember as far backas like 89, 90 was
when Honda started to populate the, the,
(18:58):
the landscape and the street racing areasand everything else.
So do you think Fast and Furioushad an influence on this market at all?
Absolutely not.
I will tell you thatI helped a couple of the.
I was going to ask you about that.
Yeah, I wasI was working at Super Street at the time.
And Craig Lieberman,who was the event director for NYRA,
(19:20):
him and I worked together and he asked meto bring a couple of cars to this movie.
And there was casting callsand everybody was excited about.
But by then this was in the late nineties.
So I want to say the movie came out in 99or 2000.
This retro.
Yeah,it dates not not exactly correct, but
in 98
we we all helped deliver carsto this to the
(19:42):
to this to the filming of the race warscene out in the desert.
And by thenthe market had already been been big.
I would say the biggest driverof the Honda world and this is a hot take
because I've interviewed tons of people,because I personally wonder, like,
how do we go from to me,I personally think back in the day like A
(20:06):
to 40 Z, like an S 31stgeneration Z is a way sexier car
than a Honda Civic hatchback, this dorkylittle horse economy grocery getter.
I mean, if you look at a Z,you can kind of say,
I couldI could make if you look at a Honda,
the first person to look at a Honda, it'salmost like I was watching like some
I think I was watching a what's it called
(20:29):
Seinfeld just did on Frosted.
And this was an odd tangent,but they talked about like,
who was the first person to drink milk?
They're like squirting itout of the udders.
And someone just goes, Wait,I think I'll try this.
And I feel like that's
that was so landmark pioneerthat looked at a Honda Civic
and said, Hey,I think I could do something with that.
But I firmly believe it was eightiesThe malaise era
(20:51):
muscle cars that launched a generationof Honda Civic performance.
Because I interviewed people who weredeep, deep, deeper than me in this world.
Why are Honda so popular?
Because everybody made parts for them.okay.
So I'd interview the manufacturers and Igo, okay, I got the got the origin story.
Why did you guys make parts for Honda's?
Because everybody drove themand it was a chicken and egg thing.
(21:14):
I'm like, wait,no one's giving me an answer.
You're just pointingfingers back and forth.
So but I believe my hot takeas someone who was there and lived it back
then, like the the coolest kiddrove Mustangs and Camaros.
They were third generationCamaros and Fox body
Mustangs, thethe pre five O's and and all that.
(21:35):
They weren't the best cars,but they were V8, you know,
200 somethinghorsepower manual transmission
and they would be the fastest thingfrom the showroom of those days
and I think a lot of parentsin the early nineties and late
eighties would sayI don't want to buy my my daughter a Z 28.
(21:55):
You know, it's just like this isthe worst thing ever that I could get her.
What is this little Honda?
my God. It's fuel efficient.
It's cheap on the wall.
I don't have to spenda lot of money on it.
The insurance is super great,and it has these little air in it.
It's safe.
My kids and my kids can't do any harmbecause it makes 80 horsepower.
So I think that'swhat they gave their kids.
(22:17):
I don't I can't verify this for sure,but I.
You started once you startedCNN pop up in parking lots, it was like,
how soon was the first, you know,when was the first automobile?
It was at this date.
So when was the first automobile race?
Probably in the datewhen they made the second automobile,
because they want to see who'sgoing to go faster.
Honda people were probably no different.
They got the car and they're like,I wanted a Camaro.
(22:41):
I wanted a mustang.
I wanted a, you know, a Buick.
Grand National, whatever it is.
But I got stuck with a Civic.
So what can I do to make this faster?
So kids started doing it, and thenfrom there, an entire industry was born.
So that's that's my hot take on it.
And I have yet to verify that.
But I'm shopping that theory around.
I like that theorybecause it's probably a combination
(23:01):
of all the things you just talked about.
So I think that's very valid.
I don't think anybody can ever confirm it.
So I think, you know, just
throwing that out and saying,you're right is probably my flag.
Yeah. Nice.
So I'm going to shift the topic slightlyhere.
Talk to me about drifting, because I knowthat you've you have some kind of
experience or something in the drift worldand I want to hear about that.
(23:25):
I the experience that I have inthe drift world is is purely fan based.
I have driven drift cars.
I've driven drift car exactly five times.
One of them was a famousJapanese driver named Tarzan Yamada.
It was a Dodge Viper comp coupe that waslike a complete formula drift race car.
I had no business being inside of it.I drove horribly.
(23:47):
The second instructor was Stef Papadakis
in his formula Drift spec as 2000.
These are amazing cars.
Another one was JimmyOaks in the Hood again, Shark
Kart in Dubai, of all places.
I mean, I've drivensome pretty wild, infamous cars
but never really got the grassfor the TV show.
We built a Z Drift car and Rocky
(24:10):
and the boys out at Apple Valley Speedway
kind of gave usa day of instruction, myself
and my co-host, Amir Benyettou,which was very fascinating.
But for me, I've always known thatmy place is behind the keyboard
or behind the lens. It'snot behind the wheel.
So but I while I was at Super Street,my predecessor, Richard Chang,
(24:32):
went to Japan, filled a couple of cars,and it did well for the magazine.
And I'm nothingif not chasing circulation.
And I'm always trying to look at the
you know, my kids areI have a 17 to 15 year old.
They're pretty much at my heightright now.
But back in the day,I used to get down on my knees and go,
What are you guyswatching on the YouTubes these days?
Because I'm always just that
culture vampire trying to like, suckthe next trend out of someone.
(24:54):
And so I followed Rich Chang's lead.
When I became the editor of Super Street,I went to Japan and we went to Japan,
and some friends of ours took us tosomething called D1 GP at B Hoka Highland,
and it was the very first yearof the series
and it was Drift carsand they got all we normally
do it on the street and we're very excitedbecause this is the real deal.
(25:15):
And so we went, we covered thatand in 2001 I put the first drift
car on the cover of a magazineand it was no less than no potato.
Taniguchi HK AC 15
And it was the December issueand it was beautiful shot.
It was a red car with thesebeautiful chrome, super advan wheels.
One was in red, one was in Chrome,and it was on a green background,
(25:38):
so it looked very Christmasy.
I was like,my God, I'm going to be a hero.
It's sold horribly to where my bosses,who knew nothing about drifting,
they said, What is this?
And they're pointing at the magazine
and tapping their fingersat the printed cover.
And I'm like, I not how to go to use I 15,you know, they go, What is that?
What I'm like is a tourist car.
And they're like, What's a drift car?
And back then a yellow Honda Civichatchback was circulation gold.
(26:02):
Any time you bought one of those,it was our 57 Chevy of our world
that was Yeah.
You know, like putting, you know you knowTaylor Swift on the cover of whatever,
you know.
So I was like, okay they go, they godon't ever put a car like that
on the cover again.
Go back to yellow. So to catch facts.
And I got skewered for it.
And years later,now that's like the infamous legendary,
(26:23):
the one that everybody really recognizedspent a lot of money.
Novelis, a very famous driver,not now, but his name was no potato, but
he called himself Knob for no one better,which it was just amazing.
He had this glorious straight look likeI look like a movie star.
He was just perfect.
The car was perfect.
West Allison took amazingphotos of it, and
that's was my introduction to Drifting.
(26:44):
And from there I was hooked.
And, you know,some people brought, you know,
Ken Miyoshi, a very famous promoter,brought something over with Falken Tires.
They brought somethingto the parking lot of Irwindale Speedway
and called the Drift show off.
And there was a, you know, couple of guysfrom Run Free and some small some small,
you know, driftersand some American kids to trying to drift
(27:07):
and that Japanese judges
and they tried to make it a big dealand it didn't quite take off,
but it wasn't until JimLal and Ryan Sage started Formula Drift
that they sort ofmade it like kind of take off and get big.
And now that's where drifting is today.
And I I've been through that pathall the way through
putting those carson the covers of the magazines,
following those guysand bringing them to Hoon again
(27:29):
and filming them for the Super Street showand everything.
You know, it's just so to meit's been exciting.
I personally
I'm excited
about I was just in Formula DriftLong Beach I was excited to watch them.
It rained, unfortunately for the finals,but James Dean
did an amazing joband all those cars are amazing.
But looking at the carswith the wide angle steering angle
(27:52):
kids, the way the wheels sit outalmost looks like a praying mantis.
It doesn't look like thatold school golden era
style of like really coollooking drift cars anymore.
I feel like, unfortunately, it'skind of gone away from that, you know?
But that's life and in motorsportsand absolutely exciting, you know?
I mean,I still love watching all those guys rip,
(28:13):
you know, but yeah, yeah.
So that's sort of my historywith drifting.
Yeah.
So I a I love hearing about that story
and I specifically was told to ask youabout that because I have an eight year
old son who knows nothing about carsor racing or anything,
but I was kind of just telling him, Hey,well, tomorrow I've got this to do,
and then I'm going to do an interviewfor my car podcast and blah blah, blah.
(28:36):
And he's like, who are you interviewing?
And I gave himjust like a brief little rundown.
And I mentioned driftingbecause I knew a little of that history
that you just gave me.
And I know that my son talksabout drifting costs constant.
He's eight years old, can't driveanything, doesn't really know what it is.
But like, if I take a turntoo fast on Ventura Boulevard, he's like,
(28:57):
you're drifting.
I'm like, No, I'm not. I'm not drifting.
But I was like,I'm going to have to ask him about his
his connection and his history with thedrifting world just to make my son happy.
So thank you fordealing with me with that.
So you mentioned you're a little bit
I think the term you usedwas you're a vampire for content.
You're asking your kids, you know,what's on YouTube.
(29:18):
I could probably talk to youfor days on end about automotive content
because that's a big passion of mine.
And a big experienceis experience of mine too. Excuse me.
So I did want to ask you about howbecause you've been around for so long,
you've done so much now,but how do you kind of follow an idea
or a conceptinto creating automotive content?
(29:39):
And this is a very vague general question,but I am curious about your process.
If you're like, Hey, we need more TV showsor some stuff online or a new article
series, whatever it may be,How do you kind of start that process?
Yeah, it's funny
because a lot of people in this spacethese days will define themselves.
I'm a creative directorand writer and photographer by trade
(30:02):
and first and foremost a journalist,so very inquisitive, very
rapid consumer of media.
I to me I am and always,
I hate to say, but looking for the nextbig thing like anyone else.
But like most creative directorswill tell you in the automotive space,
this is so fringy.
But they will say, I'm a storytellerand I'm like, You're not a storyteller.
(30:25):
You know, we are.
We're plagiarists, nothing more.
I mean, that's what we are.
You try to take somethingthat is popular somewhere else
and if you see it in the zeitgeistand you know that there's a nugget
of something there, you couldyou could use it or you take something
because fashion, street culture, media,everything is cyclical.
(30:45):
So everything goes in cycleswhere you think
that something's going to be bigand it is big and then it goes away
and the people are like,that's super crunchy.
And then all of a sudden that like6:00 on the clock, it started to go.
People go, Hey,I'm starting to kind of feel that again.
Then 9:00 is like,okay, it's peak and then it at noon back.
That's when people like me will be like,Hey, I think we should start.
(31:06):
We're in skinny jeans, you know, in there,
but we're already behind the curve,you know?
So but with the automotive culture,I'm always looking elsewhere
outside of the culture, and I'm alsolooking for the culture to help define it.
You know, like what?
What cars are legal right now.
Golden era, you know, nineties era
cars in the import world are very big.
(31:26):
So these telling these storieswhich you know, it's funny because I,
I think about I'm stuck in my worldmy daughter
this is the best thing So my daughter 17she's got a little enemy Miata
that I got her and she's loving itand she's obsessed with cars
and she follows all of the influencers,you know, So everyone that I know,
(31:46):
most of them, you know, and some of them
I don't know and but she'll send me linksand I'm like, it's a friend of mine.
But she sent me this linkfrom this girl that said,
I got harassed because of my cleartail lights.
So I took them off because I don't knowif you know, like back
in the day, like clear corners,there was a company.
Well, first of all, it started with theLexus ES, It was the Lexus Toyota Tesla.
(32:10):
And it became the Lexus is 300when it came to United States.
And then these really unique tail lights,they were mostly clear
with red center lenses and peoplejust thought it was the coolest thing.
So a brand called APC and dozens of othersstarted to make knockoffs.
So if you didn't have a is300but you wanted
the tail lights like the is300,you could put them on your Civic
(32:33):
or your Integraand they call them all Tesla tails.
Back then they were clear tails
and they, they peakedand they were the hottest thing.
And then they became super cringeworthy.
You know, it's like, God.
And then people said,I don't want all Tesla tails.
I want the European marketor the Japanese market tail lights
that have a nuance difference.
But have OEM quality.
So that just killed the clear tail.
(32:54):
It became like Lambo Doors and flamboyantgraphics
and gaudy wheels,and it just sort of went off the rails.
So that's how me as a 56 year old
whitemale looks at Claire tails these days.
And my daughter's like, she's like,I want to get clear tails for the Miata.
And I got her this cool garage,very Japanese garnish.
(33:14):
And I'm like, No, you can't becauseyou have to rip this JDM garnish out of it
and then put these factory tail lightsand then clear them.
I'm like, It's okay.
I go, the princess thing.
I'm like, You're going to get beat upafter school and everything.
And she's sending me links.
And then guys like people that I workedwith, I don't get Gary King Jr.
Claire tales on his skyline,you know? GT-R.
I'm like, my God.
(33:35):
And I look at it like,because I'm stuck in the, you know, 2008
where I think, well, these no one wantsto see this anymore, you know?
And now it'scoming back around again in 2024.
So when I see that it, it makes me,I could lean on a lot of my history
and a lot of the stuff that I've donein the past to say, you know what?
I bet it's about time to bring this back.
(33:56):
There are other things that I've done,like the drifting car on the cover.
I was the first to do VIP cars.
I brought time attack hereto the United States.
I was one of the firstto do YouTube programing when no one knew
what YouTube was.
This predated Hoon again and everyone.
And I feel like it's that infamous linefrom the Fast and Furious
(34:16):
where Dominic Torettois racing Brian O'Conner
and he hits the nitrous and Dominicsays, Too soon.
JR And so I feel like that.
So there's a lot of stuff now that quitehonestly, I hold close to my chest
I believe that there's a space in ourin our world for augmented reality
and virtual reality and mixed reality,but we haven't even really touched it yet.
(34:36):
360 videos.
There's a couple peoplethat are doing them, but not really.
You see it in the real estate marketwhen you're looking at two rent or one
360 video.
Why wouldn't we do that
with the automotive space,you know, live streaming?
It was big.
And now I kind of wentand now we're trying to see, you know,
twitch and back in Justin TVdays was kind of doing something.
I'm still very bullish about that.
(34:57):
I also think let's be honest,let's go back to the analog days.
I think experiential events.
I will always bet on experiential events,especially coming out of COVID,
not so much these days,but right out of COVID
like the first eventsthat everybody could go to.
Yeah, there was a thing about it,you know, and I think
when you talk about mixed media,I don't think anybody's
really doing this too well because theydon't want to bastardize from their event.
(35:20):
But I think you should, because we live inwhat's called the global village now.
You should have your event where,you know what,
if you were there, you were thereand you go, But if you weren't there,
we're going to be livestreaming.
We're going to have a completephoto gallery, We have a video recap.
There's a mixed versionthat you could have you could participate
as part of the audience, even thoughyou're not there in real life, you know?
(35:40):
So I think that that's athat's a big deal now.
So that's just some of the thingsthat are rattling around in my old brain.
my God, I love it.
I love it so much.
I could talk about that kind of stuffall day.
And one of the things that that I kind ofpick up on, whether you intended it
to or not,is because I'm I'm a film maker by trade.
That's how I started in savings. And
I you know, I go to meetings all the timeand I'm always developing content
(36:03):
and ideas and working with otherfilmmakers and listening to you talk.
Just now you weren't talkingabout traditional television.
You're not talkingabout traditional old school,
you know, other distribution outletsfor for video kind of content.
You're talkingabout all these different kind of things.
And that's,
I think the future of all entertainmentis people have to think about it that way.
(36:25):
And so, yeah,I just love kind of hearing hearing you,
you know, ramble on about those thingsbecause it is kind of fascinating
because I think you're so goodat what you do.
And just hearing you talk about all thesedifferent elements is really fascinating
and I think important for anybodyinterested in
any kind of content production,whether it be automotive
or you're a song writer or whateverit is to kind of see, see everything
(36:47):
that's out there and be willing to learnmore about these different elements.
Yeah,
that's not a very
eloquent way to describe,although that's what
it does make sense.
And that that is the way I think.
Yeah, I look at skateboarding, I look at,
I look at street culture, I look at music,I look at,
you know, I'm an old guy,so I still have linear cable television.
(37:08):
So I watch the Super Bowl, even though I'mnot much of a football fan, you know,
just to see how they're producingthese live events
and how they do these things,you know? Yeah, yeah.
For me, it's just it'show you deliver the content.
You know, one of the things too, isI do think you have to be very careful and
and again,we always wanted to make a skateboard,
but we never did
because our design director, John Chase,he's the one who clued me in to this
(37:32):
this language said it'sa very cultural culture thing to do.
You're you'repicking at the bones of something else.
And I said, Wow,I never thought of it that way.
Yeah, I'm I'm always looking to dothe next thing, another startup
or something.
I always do betterwhen I'm when I'm steering my own ship.
I, you know, I don't workwell with others.
(37:53):
I don't play well with others.
And I struggle in the confines of the boxbecause I'd rather build my own box.
And one of the things I've
always wanted to do is and I'm giving awayone of my ideas on your podcast is
I want to sell skateboards for whateverbrand I do, but I want to do something
where you can't buy this skateboardunless you send us
from a verified account,a video of you doing a kickflip.
(38:13):
You know, And that goes back toI don't know if, you know,
skateboard culture,but there was a little video series
where they get the famous skatersand they put them in a car
and they have a bunch of free skateboards
and they just scream at somebody to,a flip, you know.
So that's like,that's the thing, you know?
So if you could if you could prove to usthat you could do a kickflip,
I'll sell you I'll give you the rightto purchase the skateboard from me.
(38:33):
I think that's really important.
I don't want to put them up on their wall.
I don't want people to use it,have fun with it.
You know, just like cars.
They should be driven skateboards
and if you're going to sell a skateboard,you better sell it to people
who are going to use a skateboard.
that's amazing.
Well, thank you so much, John.
I could not be more happy and appreciativefor you to join me on the show today.
(38:55):
I don't want to take upany more of your time.
Do you want to tell peoplewhat you're up to now
or where they can check outstuff of yours?
Do you want to plug anything?
I would say no.
I mean, I guess the best way to plugwhat I'm doing is my Instagram page,
which is at ads, you know, and that'sbasically what I'm up to right now.
(39:15):
I'm just pretty much a hired gun.
I work for a bunch of different brands.
I do a lot of social media for.
I work with brands like SEMA and Mothersand a few others
and talking about, you know,
we had the TVshow, it's not quite public yet,
but it went away and a bunch of the othershows kind of went away, unfortunately.
(39:36):
But we're talking aboutmaybe getting the band back together
and putting something together on YouTubeand maybe taking all these ideas
and throwing them at buildingsomething fun.
And I think one of the things I've alwayswanted to do with any bit of programing,
it's a struggle to stand out in this worldbecause you have people who are doing
exoskeletonbuilds on Lamborghini hurricanes,
you know,that are to DJ swapping a Lamborghini.
(39:58):
And I'm like, okay, you know, I can'tkeep up with that, you know, But for me,
if we just build a fun, simpleHonda Civic hatchback
that harkens back to the golden erawith some modern day touches,
something alongthose lines would be kind of fun to show.
And then show the peoplethe same way we did the shows say, Hey,
we're doing this build
and we're going to show youwhy we're doing it,
but here's why we're putting clearcorners on it.
(40:19):
Here's why maps doesn't like them.
But Amir and Christian do like them,and we trade on that.
You know, I'm yelling, Stay off my lawnwhile they're putting clear corners
on a civic hatchback.
So maybe some of the some of the contentthat we produce bring back some of that
some of that YouTube golden eratype stuff.
So awesome.
Definitely see that in the future.
Well, thank youand I'll provide some links
(40:39):
in the show notes for everybody listening.
And again,thank you so much for joining me today.
Have a good rest of your dayand I'll talk to you soon.
Thank you so much, Michael.
It's been a tremendous honor.
Thank you for listeningto Fuel for the Future.
This show is driven
by America's automotive trustand presented by State Farm Insurance.
To learn more about the trust, visitAmerica's Automotive Trust Board.
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