April 30, 2024 • 29 mins
We dive into the world of bespoke automotive art with a special focus on RWB - Rauh-Welt Begriff - a unique Porsche customization style pioneered by the captivating Akira Nakai. Join us as we sit down with a passionate young car enthusiast, Simon Wood, who recently experienced the magic of Nakai-san first-hand, transforming his Porsche 911 into a stunning RWB masterpiece. Discover the craft behind these personalized creations and how they embody a blend of Japanese car culture and classic German engineering.
The build was recently undertaken live at LeMay: America’s Car Museum in Washington State, and the Porsche is currently on display there for the public.
See Simon’s car on instagram @woah_wood
Photographers:
@persbecktive
@nokells_image
@gallatin_images
@chindackenese.m
@holden.media
@threeseven.media
"Fuel for the Future" is driven by America's Automotive Trust. Learn more at https://www.americasautomotivetrust.org/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
He, like,brought it up to the back of the house.
He's like, Hey, I gotI got some that we're going to work on.
And so he shows me this old Porsche.
So I completely static.
So I think when we got itwe definitely wanted to do like an R.
WB Yeah.
After the car's all builtit's at the very front over me.
Yeah.
They were very graciousto let me keep it there.
(00:23):
That is Simon Wood, a young car enthusiastwho recently had his Porsche
modified by renownedJapanese designer Akira Nakano.
And for those that are in the know,that means that Simon
is now the proud owner of an R WB Porsche.
This custom buildwas recently undertaken live
in Tacoma, Washington, at LeMay America'sCar Museum,
(00:44):
where as of this recording,the car is still on display.
This is fuel for the future.
Presented by State Farm Insuranceand driven by America's Automotive Trust.
I'm Michael Mann.
Before we dive into the interview,
(01:05):
it's important to know what an artWB Porsche build is.
An art WB Porsche build representsan iconic transformation
of classic Porsche911 models like the 930, the 993
and the 964 and crafted by designerAkira Nakai
our WB stands for Roosevelt McGriff
which translates to rough world concept.
(01:28):
These buildsare not just about high performance,
but also about extreme estheticsand personal expression.
Each art WB Porsche is bespoke, reflectingthe Kazan's meticulous handiwork.
The process often involveswide body modifications, dramatic
aerodynamic customizations,deep dish wheels
(01:49):
and complemented by a lower stance.
The result is a street legal racecarthat well, quite honestly,
it turns heads because of its exaggeratedlines and bold presence.
All of the work is done by handand often can be completed by the sun
in just a matter of days.
The process has its naysayersbecause the builds often
(02:10):
involve cutting intoand changing classic portions.
But each hour WB is unique.
These vehicles are about
making a statement as much as they areabout speed and performance,
embodying a fusion of artand automotive engineering.
Hi Simon.
Thank you for coming on the show.
Can you tell us a little bitabout yourself?
(02:31):
My name is Simon Wood.
I'm 24 years old.
I've kind of been a little bit interestedin cars for a decent amount of my life.
Kind of started backwhen I found the show Top Gear,
the UK version back in like 29, 2010.
So I watched a bunch of those.
Had some family friendsget me into working on some cars,
(02:55):
so I actually got my degreein automotive technology at Shoreline
and, you know, worked at Hyundaifor a few years.
I had a quick stintactually working on like some Ferraris
and also,you know, like mom and pop shops.
I've kind of had the kind of a broad
general experiencekind of being in the automotive industry.
(03:17):
Well, what are your goalsin the automotive industry?
Do you want to be a designeror do you want to have your own shop?
the funny thing was I originally wanted
to open up my own shop.
Kind of like custom performance shop.
But I enjoyed it.
And I love the people that I worked withand have a lot of great experiences,
(03:40):
and I learned a lot.
But I just don't think it's really for me,
I'm actually going to school right nowfor music production.
Good for you.
And, you know,
especially with customizations, whichis going to be a big, big topic today.
You know, there is that artistic,
creative process withinthat as well as music production.
So I can see the connective tissue there.
(04:01):
So. RW B When were you firstaware of our WB Poor portions.
So I think it all starts back to
I think is mid 2019.
My dad and I at the timewould always watch Donut Media on YouTube
and saw thatthey really stay up to speed on our WB.
(04:25):
My dad and I had no idea what our WB was.
We had no idea what it stood for.
So we were just kind of like casuallywatching the video and we're like,
wait a minute, this is really cool.
So we,
you know, a few months go byand I think my dad just off by off
chance is just looking at bring a trailer
(04:46):
and he saw like an AUD
listing out incarnation for a 9599 three.
Like the pictures,
like the card like stuff on top of itor is is kind of hard to tell.
So he kind of drove out thereto check it out.
And this is also totally likewithout my knowing at all.
(05:09):
really? Okay.
He he got this idea because I was like,man, Art, babies are really cool,
but I didn't really thinkanything much else of it.
So I just kind of went along my, my daysand just working and
he was kind of doingall this in the background.
So I found this car and emailed yousome of the pictures.
(05:32):
Yeah. Yes.
And what year is is that car.
Yeah, it's a 1995.
911. Si two.
Yeah. It's a beautiful looking 911.
It's got that kind of purple.
I call it a purple,but it has sort of a purple color to it.
What kind of shape was it in.
Mechanically and structurally super sound.
(05:54):
And those are really the, the two thingsthat mattered most with it because
we were probably goingto be gutting everything else anyways.
But it had some likeinteresting modifications to it, like
it had a stereo system,but we have no idea how it was wired.
It wasn't working and the passenger
(06:15):
seatbelt was replaced with a carabiner
and a drywall screwlike screwed into the side of the seats.
Of course, of course they do.
Yeah, pretty awesome, to be honest,
with all of the cars I've worked on,
I've really never worked on a
(06:36):
rear end jet.
Well, not rear engine, but, like,flat engines haven't worked a whole lot
with flat engines and especially like,air cooled because, yeah, I'm,
you know,I was so privileged to be working with
OBD two and,you know, just plug in your scan tool
and just figure out, okay, it's just thisand that, all, all of that easy stuff.
(06:59):
So it was is going to give mea big challenge to figure out,
you know pre OBD two diagnosticsin case anything anything goes wrong.
So big a big
change of pace for being a mechanic.
When did the option to do an hourWB customization on it happen
(07:22):
and and also tell us abouthow you got affiliated
with LeMay America'scar museum to do kind of a live build.
Yeah so
I think what started it
to become an art isI think as soon as we got done
watching that donut video,the seed was planted in my dad's head.
(07:42):
Like, I think that's why he startedlike looking around,
bring a trailer and
he bought the car.
Didn't tell me.
I think he had it hidden in like
somewhere else, like at his friend'sgarage for, like a month or something.
And then I got to know where he, like,brought it up to the back of the house.
He was like, Hey, I gotI got some that we're going to work on.
(08:05):
And so he shows me this old Porsche.
So I was completely a static.
So that's so I think when we got it, we
definitely wanted to do likean art WB because I feel like
we also purchased
the kit pretty soon after we had the car.
So I think that was,that was the whole goal for that car.
With that being said,
(08:26):
we had to do a bunch of stuffbefore we can actually like, you know,
get the kit on the carand kind of finish it.
So we got to the interior.
We had the car repainted.
We were originally going to do likea pearlescent white with gold wheels, but
we thought the the kind of purplish blue,I think it's called iris metallic blue.
(08:50):
That factory color just fits so wellwith kind of the shape of the car.
And I liked it a lot.
So we were like, Yeah, let's just, let'sjust kind of redo it in the same color.
Sure.
Because, you know, the paintwas kind of starting to fade a bit.
So we repaint it in the same color
we had the
interior done at Northwestcrafted Interiors,
(09:13):
and I think we put on the suspension,
the KW V3 suspension like coil overs,
and we got some two piece
Brembo rotorsand then some Brembo calipers as well.
So we kind of did the most
the majority of like the suspension work.
(09:34):
And so we were kind of
getting all this stuff done. And,
you know, this is also during COVID where
that kind of threw a wrench in thingsbecause originally
we were supposed to have the car donein 2022.
And so, you know, all the borderslike got closed on steroids.
(09:55):
Yeah, I was just kind of hanging out.
So. Right.
We finally get a
I think is an emailfrom the Art of eBay office in L.A.
saying that we're going to be on thethe list pretty soon
for him, for Nixon to come inbut the car together.
So and I knew that lamé
(10:16):
back in like 2018 2019 did
that fantasy colors build the number five.
So I just
I think I just called their front desk.
I was just like, Hey,I was thinking about getting,
having, like an opportunityfor an artery to be built here.
I was just wondering, like,who I should talk to.
(10:38):
So that's when they put me in contactwith Gabe.
Yes. Yeah.
And so, yeah, but from there they're like,Yeah, let's totally do it.
They are super static.
So I was, I was superjazzed to have been able
to work with themto get the build all done there.
And so Nikki Akira, Nikki,who's the brainchild, sort of the myth,
(11:01):
the legend, as our WB Porschesspread around the world,
he comes in and he actually workson the car personally.
And what was that like?
It was really, really cool.
And I think what made it so special
was just it's almost what's the word?
It's almost like he's a myth.
(11:24):
You don't hear a
lot about the whole process at all.
Yeah,
literally,like the only knowledge we knew on
RW B was like that up to speedvideo, right?
This whole time until they, like,emailed us and being like,
okay, he's going to be here on these datesand we're like, okay.
(11:45):
So that's when we had to likekind of Russian Gary thing, like
back together.
And yeah, it was a whole process,but it was so much fun
to get to know in the Kaizen
and Yuki and their dog Bagel
Meat was just,
I had no idea what to expect.
(12:06):
Yeah, I thought I had to like,
way over plan and over prep.
And I, I thought that everything had tobe, like, completely perfect for him.
And then when I actually meet him, he'sjust like, the nicest dude in the world.
And it's just super laid back,super friendly
(12:26):
is down for anythinglike just super down to earth.
And so he was a real, real treatto be able to work with.
And how long did it take him towork on the car?
How long did he work on the car?
It was only two days.
Yeah. Yeah, that's what I figured.That's what I figured.
And for anybody that doesn't know or WBor has not watched
(12:47):
Akira Nikkei work, Google it.
Look on YouTube.
It's actually pretty fascinating.
Porsche purists might not enjoywatching his work, but it is fascinating.
He is very quiet.
I haven't really seen interviews with him.
I've just seen him in action workingand so it takes two days.
(13:08):
He finishes.
What happens then?What do you guys do with car after that?
So after everything was said and done,
we took it out to the front of the museum,
just like take photos and
think, Yeah, after the car is all built,
I think I took Nicci Newquayalong with some of my best friends,
(13:31):
just to go to dinner and celebrate for,
you know, having a car being built.
And the next day after that,
I took the car out with a bunch of carphotographers and videographers
and we got some rolling shots outin downtown Tacoma of the build.
(13:52):
And I think, like someday there'sprobably going to be a YouTube video.
There should be. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah. It would be crazy not to.
I think you got to share thesekind of thing.
So where is the car now?
Do you have it in your garageor are you driving it around?
What's going on with it?
So the car is actually still in La Mer.
(14:12):
It's at the very front of me.
Yeah.
They were very gracious to be able to
let me keep it there for nowjust because I'm actually living in Austin
and I didn't feel the need
to transport the carall the way over here.
Just. Yeah, No,
because, you know,you know how much of a hassle that is.
(14:34):
And yes, yes.
With how wide the car is.
Now, I don't know what kind of trailerI'm going to need to get to actually
fit on a chair.
So it'll be a whole process getting it to
wherever I eventually like stay.
So I was like, let's just instead of likehaving it sit in a storage unit,
let's just have a bunch of peoplecome enjoy it instead of
(14:56):
just having it sit behind a closed garage,Right?
Absolutely.
And because this is an audio formof a show and people can't see visually
your car, describe what it's like nowafter the work you had done.
Do it.
It's like
driving a steamroller in like all the best
(15:17):
ways imaginable.
Just the
we have 330 fives in the rear,which are just unreal.
It's the kind of tiresthat you can just sit upright
and they won't like follow ofor yeah, use as a seat.
They're insane.
Yeah, that is just unreal Street presence.
(15:39):
Like you feel like you'reyou're driving a car
that's like five times as big as it is,
but it's still just as nimble
as, like, a really light sports car.
So it's kind of it's almost impossibleto explain what it's like.
And is it lighter now?
(16:01):
Because I know some of his builds, He'she's like gone in
and actually made things made thingslighter.
Yeah.
So, yeah, with his custom, with his Stella
he did a bunch of weightreduction to my car.
I mean that car is really madefor track days only, right.
Well, mine's more of like,just like cars and coffee, right.
(16:25):
It's fun to drive around.
I don't think it's any lighter. Yeah.
And how much lighter is it now?
It's.
It has to be at least like a footand a half wide.
Like, it's just ridiculous.
I have no idea just how wide
that car is going to be until you put,like the rear and front bumper on.
(16:45):
I was like, it's sticking out that much.
my God.
And he's like, yeah,be careful and drive through.
So I was like, Okay, noted.
Yeah, noted for sure.
And now let's talk about something.
I'm actually kind of fascinatedto talk to you about.
I am not a purist by any means.
I do tend to like my personal cars.
(17:05):
I tend to like thingsthat are as, as original as possible.
But I'm also somebody that's likepeople have been customizing cars forever.
It's your is. Do what you want with it,have fun.
And I do know that there are peoplethat don't like seeing somebody
go to a Porscheand take a saw and cut things off
with handand just kind of manually tinker around.
(17:26):
So what are your thoughts on thatand what do you even have to say to people
that may not be fansof something like in our WB Porsche?
I mean,
hey man,everyone, everyone can have their opinion
That's fine like I, I understand the
I feel like there is a definite time
and a place to understand
(17:48):
and respect the history of these cars,
but I don't think we need to do thatfor every single one ever made.
And you know, if, if it makes me happy
and a bunch of other peopleI like really happy, then
I mean, in life, that's all that matters.
(18:09):
So absolutely. And I think it can inspire.
You never know who's going to seesomething like a build like in our WB
and get inspired to eithersay hey car design that's fun a way
I can customize cars, I can get a kit,I can do what I want.
Like there is something that I thinkcan be inspirational about,
you know, these kinds of things.
(18:30):
And percent,
you know, and,and maybe even draw in people
that weren't interestedin cars beforehand.
Maybe that's a way and for somesome folks as well and that can
it really does like collideyou know like bespoke art.
Yeah and
like really
cool cars into one thingso it's hard not to love it.
(18:50):
Yeah.
Do you have any future plans with the carbesides just to have fun, do cars
and coffee things like that?
Are you planning to be like, Hey,
I want to hang on to it for ten years,I'm going to sell it?
Or are you just like,Nah, I'm just going to take it day
by day, have fun with the car,maybe do some more.
What are your thoughts?
Yes, it's definitelyit definitely is a project car
and will probably foreverbe a project car.
(19:13):
Yeah, I want to keep it in the family
unless, like, something really bad happensor I need to sell it.
Right.
But my plans arefor now is just getting it,
you know, bullet proofing it.
So I'm
just kind of working outall the little kinks because,
(19:35):
you know, it's still an old German carfrom the nineties.
So it has plenty of, you know, quirksand electrical issues and all that stuff.
But mechanically, it soundbut I want to drop the motor at some point
due for reseal tune up,you know replace all the fluids get it
you know road trip ready because yeah yeahsome owners
(19:57):
I think this year in the summer I thinkare doing a big road trip from like L.A.
to Vegas
so it'd be cool to at some point
get the car to that kind of reliability
where I just wouldn't even have to like,think about, like, it breaking down.
Yeah,
I don't think it will, but it's.
(20:19):
It's going to be safe.
sorry.
Go ahead.
Let's see.
Eventually, I might want to either
put a turbo in it.
And I've also seensome people that have like swap.
There's
you know, obviouslyI always keep the original motor, but
(20:42):
like Rutledge Wood'sArtemis B is fantastic.
So if you you should seepictures of that car that thing is
mental
Awesome.
And for people out there that are like,Hey, wait, Simon would was able
to get Nicci son out to to work on a car.
It's got to be easy.
Do you have advice for peoplethat are just interested to learn
(21:04):
more about this or the processor anything like that?
It is.
It takes a lot of patience, patience and
kind of just buying,
being at the right placeat the right time.
I think on our WB as a website theythey kind of break down the whole process.
(21:27):
But basicallyif you buy a body kit from them, like
obviously you have to have like the rightkind of models that they like to work on.
Yes, like usually like a964993
And then when you buy the body kit,you also buy,
you know, like the opportunityto fly Nicci over to work on the car.
(21:48):
So it's kind of like a package dealand you buy the body kit from them
and then, you know,you have to find the wheels,
the suspension, if you want repaintedor wrap it or whatever.
And a lot of it is
up to you
on how you want things done,
you know?
RW BS have been like,
(22:11):
you have somethey're like completely finished
and the only thing that it needsis just the body kit put on
and then there's some are to beis the don't even have engines in them,
they get the body kits put on.
So it's a very free form process. Yes.
It's, it's not like super rigidso it's super like flexible fluid.
Okay.How do you want things as it should be?
(22:33):
It seems like that seems to fit it.
Yeah. Yeah. Very nice.
Yeah.
I actually I have a funny story for
when I had to take
Nicci son and Yuki to Home Depot.
Like the nightbefore the first day of the build ever.
Did you ever hear about that story?
(22:55):
No. No, I haven't.
So this is literally the
the nightbefore the first day of the build,
and I took the case on to
look over the body kitjust to make sure everything was there.
And I don't know what happened, but
all of the rubber pieces around,like the front lip and the side skirts
(23:17):
and the mounting bracketand the end plates
for the Gt2 wing were just gone.
Like, just didn't exist.
And he was like, where all these piecesAnd I was like, I have no idea. wow.
Yeah, it was man, it was so stressful.
And you're like, okay.
He's like,okay, we're going to Home Depot.
(23:37):
Like, All right, let's do it.
So we went to Home Depot like 9 p.m.
and man,we scanned like every single aisle
of that store just to find somethingthat we could use as a replacement
and man, we were on a mission.
We were like, running up and downeach hour that you're almost finding
(23:59):
like something that we could useas, like a substitute.
We had, like, all the staff at the HomeDepot come in,
like, look on, like their websiteto see if they can find anything.
Like, okay, we need like rubberthat's like,
this thickand we need like this much of it.
And it has to be black.
And it was, it was a whole process.
We got the whole store working on Chinatrying to find these pieces for us.
(24:22):
We eventually did findthis big like was like $80, this huge
roll of kind of like cork rubberis like the same thickness.
So we're like,okay, this this will just have to do.
So we get that. And
literally the morningof the first day of the build,
(24:43):
I find all of the missing partsat the bottom of a box
that was filled with all of the old partsthat we weren't going to put on the car.
Right? Right.
Of course I'd put it there like,of course.
Yeah, that's the way it always works. So.
So yeah, that was, that was
that got the heart rate up a little bit.
(25:03):
Yeah.
Got a little got my eyebrows sweatingjust a bit.
The really cool thing, my favorite
part of the car is
when.
So we got all the rubber,everything's fine, so the car's all done.
But the turn signals that I have
for the front bumper are the U.S.
(25:24):
version that requires the little rubberbumps, stops
instead of the euroturn signals that are, like, really big.
And so the bumper that we have forthe kit is for the euro turn signals.
So when we put the U.S.
turn signals on, there's aboutlike like two three inch gap,
whereas just kind of
(25:44):
like, you know,not nice looking or Yeah, like
obviously they're supposed to belike something covering it.
And so a light bulb went off in my headand I was like,
let's use this huge,like giant roll of rubber
and we'll make little cutoutslike little patches to, like, insert
into like where the stops would be.
(26:06):
And so he liked that idea.
So he went like, straight to work,like hang out these patches.
So it's really coolthat really is that roll of rubber that
we found that Home Depot for the buildAnd honestly, like I was thinking like,
okay, I'll just get thethe euro turn signals later.
That was likenow that's it's like a personal touch.
Absolutely. It's a good memory.
(26:26):
And I love coming upwith ideas on the spot.
You know, it talked about the creativityof something like this where you're going
to you're going to encounter problemsand how do you creatively fix it
and still make itsomething that's worthwhile and cool.
And that was something I really, reallyappreciated about in the case was just
he is just like
just there to like, be awesomeand to help and do
(26:50):
whatever that needs to be doneto get the car done to how we want it.
And it was,it was just a really fun time and
yeah, nice.
Like if you look at the front of the car,like you almost can't tell,
but you'll seethose tiny little black squares and yeah,
(27:11):
that's that, that's that roll of rubberthat we found at Home Depot.
All right, Love it.I love it. That's fantastic.
And that's also why I think, you know,you're
sort of trying to keep this in the familylong term is special
to because of these little personaltouches to the car.
That means so much.
Yeah, it's 100%.
I mean, it's like it it's like signifiers,like, you know, being able to build the
(27:36):
that relationship with and the Kaizenand just having that experience was
just one.
The million can kind of ask for anything
more as it was just so cool
seeing him work and seeing the passionthat he puts into that car.
And you can just see he's justhe can do it.
(27:57):
There's eyes closed really for right?
Just legendary.
that's amazing.
Well, thank you so much, Simon.
I really appreciate yousharing this story.
And for people to learn more about ourWB Porsches, you know, anything
customizable is
always a little fascinating to mebecause I, I cannot work on a car.
So I always appreciate those that canand get really fascinated with it.
(28:20):
And if anybody wants to see pictures
or anything,is there like a social media place?
Do you share thingsor is it just in the future, we hope?
LeMay America's Car Museum
is going to put out some contentor anything like that.
Yeah.
So I'm planning on
posting more photos on my Instagram.
(28:41):
I can.
You want me to email you the.
Yeah, I'll, I'll provide a linkin the show notes for each.
Okay, cool.
Yeah.
So on my Instagram, I'm going toI have some photos already there from
the photographers there.
They're just kind oftaking pictures on the side.
And then I'm also goingto post some of those rollers
that we did afterthe build was completed at some point.
(29:05):
And then so you'll see those there.
And I I'll I'll try to give you the
handlesfor all the photographers over there
because they've all posted likea bunch of stuff on their Instagrams too.
Yeah. That'll be great.
And I'll shareall those in the show notes.
I really doappreciate you having me on this, Michael,
and is a really fun timebeing able to talk about this car.
(29:28):
Well, thank you.
Thank you for listening to Fuelfor the Future presented by State Farm
Insurance and driven by America'sAutomotive Trust.
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And before you go, take a quick momentto hit that subscribe
or follow buttonwherever you listen to podcast.
He, like,brought it up to the back of the house.
He's like, Hey, I gotI got some that we're going to work on.
And so he shows me this old Porsche.
So I completely static.
So I think when we got itwe definitely wanted to do like an R.
WB Yeah.
After the car's all builtit's at the very front over me.
Yeah.
They were very graciousto let me keep it there.
(00:23):
That is Simon Wood, a young car enthusiastwho recently had his Porsche
modified by renownedJapanese designer Akira Nakano.
And for those that are in the know,that means that Simon
is now the proud owner of an R WB Porsche.
This custom buildwas recently undertaken live
in Tacoma, Washington, at LeMay America'sCar Museum,
(00:44):
where as of this recording,the car is still on display.
This is fuel for the future.
Presented by State Farm Insuranceand driven by America's Automotive Trust.
I'm Michael Mann.
Before we dive into the interview,
(01:05):
it's important to know what an artWB Porsche build is.
An art WB Porsche build representsan iconic transformation
of classic Porsche911 models like the 930, the 993
and the 964 and crafted by designerAkira Nakai
our WB stands for Roosevelt McGriff
which translates to rough world concept.
(01:28):
These buildsare not just about high performance,
but also about extreme estheticsand personal expression.
Each art WB Porsche is bespoke, reflectingthe Kazan's meticulous handiwork.
The process often involveswide body modifications, dramatic
aerodynamic customizations,deep dish wheels
(01:49):
and complemented by a lower stance.
The result is a street legal racecarthat well, quite honestly,
it turns heads because of its exaggeratedlines and bold presence.
All of the work is done by handand often can be completed by the sun
in just a matter of days.
The process has its naysayersbecause the builds often
(02:10):
involve cutting intoand changing classic portions.
But each hour WB is unique.
These vehicles are about
making a statement as much as they areabout speed and performance,
embodying a fusion of artand automotive engineering.
Hi Simon.
Thank you for coming on the show.
Can you tell us a little bitabout yourself?
(02:31):
My name is Simon Wood.
I'm 24 years old.
I've kind of been a little bit interestedin cars for a decent amount of my life.
Kind of started backwhen I found the show Top Gear,
the UK version back in like 29, 2010.
So I watched a bunch of those.
Had some family friendsget me into working on some cars,
(02:55):
so I actually got my degreein automotive technology at Shoreline
and, you know, worked at Hyundaifor a few years.
I had a quick stintactually working on like some Ferraris
and also,you know, like mom and pop shops.
I've kind of had the kind of a broad
general experiencekind of being in the automotive industry.
(03:17):
Well, what are your goalsin the automotive industry?
Do you want to be a designeror do you want to have your own shop?
the funny thing was I originally wanted
to open up my own shop.
Kind of like custom performance shop.
But I enjoyed it.
And I love the people that I worked withand have a lot of great experiences,
(03:40):
and I learned a lot.
But I just don't think it's really for me,
I'm actually going to school right nowfor music production.
Good for you.
And, you know,
especially with customizations, whichis going to be a big, big topic today.
You know, there is that artistic,
creative process withinthat as well as music production.
So I can see the connective tissue there.
(04:01):
So. RW B When were you firstaware of our WB Poor portions.
So I think it all starts back to
I think is mid 2019.
My dad and I at the timewould always watch Donut Media on YouTube
and saw thatthey really stay up to speed on our WB.
(04:25):
My dad and I had no idea what our WB was.
We had no idea what it stood for.
So we were just kind of like casuallywatching the video and we're like,
wait a minute, this is really cool.
So we,
you know, a few months go byand I think my dad just off by off
chance is just looking at bring a trailer
(04:46):
and he saw like an AUD
listing out incarnation for a 9599 three.
Like the pictures,
like the card like stuff on top of itor is is kind of hard to tell.
So he kind of drove out thereto check it out.
And this is also totally likewithout my knowing at all.
(05:09):
really? Okay.
He he got this idea because I was like,man, Art, babies are really cool,
but I didn't really thinkanything much else of it.
So I just kind of went along my, my daysand just working and
he was kind of doingall this in the background.
So I found this car and emailed yousome of the pictures.
(05:32):
Yeah. Yes.
And what year is is that car.
Yeah, it's a 1995.
911. Si two.
Yeah. It's a beautiful looking 911.
It's got that kind of purple.
I call it a purple,but it has sort of a purple color to it.
What kind of shape was it in.
Mechanically and structurally super sound.
(05:54):
And those are really the, the two thingsthat mattered most with it because
we were probably goingto be gutting everything else anyways.
But it had some likeinteresting modifications to it, like
it had a stereo system,but we have no idea how it was wired.
It wasn't working and the passenger
(06:15):
seatbelt was replaced with a carabiner
and a drywall screwlike screwed into the side of the seats.
Of course, of course they do.
Yeah, pretty awesome, to be honest,
with all of the cars I've worked on,
I've really never worked on a
(06:36):
rear end jet.
Well, not rear engine, but, like,flat engines haven't worked a whole lot
with flat engines and especially like,air cooled because, yeah, I'm,
you know,I was so privileged to be working with
OBD two and,you know, just plug in your scan tool
and just figure out, okay, it's just thisand that, all, all of that easy stuff.
(06:59):
So it was is going to give mea big challenge to figure out,
you know pre OBD two diagnosticsin case anything anything goes wrong.
So big a big
change of pace for being a mechanic.
When did the option to do an hourWB customization on it happen
(07:22):
and and also tell us abouthow you got affiliated
with LeMay America'scar museum to do kind of a live build.
Yeah so
I think what started it
to become an art isI think as soon as we got done
watching that donut video,the seed was planted in my dad's head.
(07:42):
Like, I think that's why he startedlike looking around,
bring a trailer and
he bought the car.
Didn't tell me.
I think he had it hidden in like
somewhere else, like at his friend'sgarage for, like a month or something.
And then I got to know where he, like,brought it up to the back of the house.
He was like, Hey, I gotI got some that we're going to work on.
(08:05):
And so he shows me this old Porsche.
So I was completely a static.
So that's so I think when we got it, we
definitely wanted to do likean art WB because I feel like
we also purchased
the kit pretty soon after we had the car.
So I think that was,that was the whole goal for that car.
With that being said,
(08:26):
we had to do a bunch of stuffbefore we can actually like, you know,
get the kit on the carand kind of finish it.
So we got to the interior.
We had the car repainted.
We were originally going to do likea pearlescent white with gold wheels, but
we thought the the kind of purplish blue,I think it's called iris metallic blue.
(08:50):
That factory color just fits so wellwith kind of the shape of the car.
And I liked it a lot.
So we were like, Yeah, let's just, let'sjust kind of redo it in the same color.
Sure.
Because, you know, the paintwas kind of starting to fade a bit.
So we repaint it in the same color
we had the
interior done at Northwestcrafted Interiors,
(09:13):
and I think we put on the suspension,
the KW V3 suspension like coil overs,
and we got some two piece
Brembo rotorsand then some Brembo calipers as well.
So we kind of did the most
the majority of like the suspension work.
(09:34):
And so we were kind of
getting all this stuff done. And,
you know, this is also during COVID where
that kind of threw a wrench in thingsbecause originally
we were supposed to have the car donein 2022.
And so, you know, all the borderslike got closed on steroids.
(09:55):
Yeah, I was just kind of hanging out.
So. Right.
We finally get a
I think is an emailfrom the Art of eBay office in L.A.
saying that we're going to be on thethe list pretty soon
for him, for Nixon to come inbut the car together.
So and I knew that lamé
(10:16):
back in like 2018 2019 did
that fantasy colors build the number five.
So I just
I think I just called their front desk.
I was just like, Hey,I was thinking about getting,
having, like an opportunityfor an artery to be built here.
I was just wondering, like,who I should talk to.
(10:38):
So that's when they put me in contactwith Gabe.
Yes. Yeah.
And so, yeah, but from there they're like,Yeah, let's totally do it.
They are super static.
So I was, I was superjazzed to have been able
to work with themto get the build all done there.
And so Nikki Akira, Nikki,who's the brainchild, sort of the myth,
(11:01):
the legend, as our WB Porschesspread around the world,
he comes in and he actually workson the car personally.
And what was that like?
It was really, really cool.
And I think what made it so special
was just it's almost what's the word?
It's almost like he's a myth.
(11:24):
You don't hear a
lot about the whole process at all.
Yeah,
literally,like the only knowledge we knew on
RW B was like that up to speedvideo, right?
This whole time until they, like,emailed us and being like,
okay, he's going to be here on these datesand we're like, okay.
(11:45):
So that's when we had to likekind of Russian Gary thing, like
back together.
And yeah, it was a whole process,but it was so much fun
to get to know in the Kaizen
and Yuki and their dog Bagel
Meat was just,
I had no idea what to expect.
(12:06):
Yeah, I thought I had to like,
way over plan and over prep.
And I, I thought that everything had tobe, like, completely perfect for him.
And then when I actually meet him, he'sjust like, the nicest dude in the world.
And it's just super laid back,super friendly
(12:26):
is down for anythinglike just super down to earth.
And so he was a real, real treatto be able to work with.
And how long did it take him towork on the car?
How long did he work on the car?
It was only two days.
Yeah. Yeah, that's what I figured.That's what I figured.
And for anybody that doesn't know or WBor has not watched
(12:47):
Akira Nikkei work, Google it.
Look on YouTube.
It's actually pretty fascinating.
Porsche purists might not enjoywatching his work, but it is fascinating.
He is very quiet.
I haven't really seen interviews with him.
I've just seen him in action workingand so it takes two days.
(13:08):
He finishes.
What happens then?What do you guys do with car after that?
So after everything was said and done,
we took it out to the front of the museum,
just like take photos and
think, Yeah, after the car is all built,
I think I took Nicci Newquayalong with some of my best friends,
(13:31):
just to go to dinner and celebrate for,
you know, having a car being built.
And the next day after that,
I took the car out with a bunch of carphotographers and videographers
and we got some rolling shots outin downtown Tacoma of the build.
(13:52):
And I think, like someday there'sprobably going to be a YouTube video.
There should be. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah. It would be crazy not to.
I think you got to share thesekind of thing.
So where is the car now?
Do you have it in your garageor are you driving it around?
What's going on with it?
So the car is actually still in La Mer.
(14:12):
It's at the very front of me.
Yeah.
They were very gracious to be able to
let me keep it there for nowjust because I'm actually living in Austin
and I didn't feel the need
to transport the carall the way over here.
Just. Yeah, No,
because, you know,you know how much of a hassle that is.
(14:34):
And yes, yes.
With how wide the car is.
Now, I don't know what kind of trailerI'm going to need to get to actually
fit on a chair.
So it'll be a whole process getting it to
wherever I eventually like stay.
So I was like, let's just instead of likehaving it sit in a storage unit,
let's just have a bunch of peoplecome enjoy it instead of
(14:56):
just having it sit behind a closed garage,Right?
Absolutely.
And because this is an audio formof a show and people can't see visually
your car, describe what it's like nowafter the work you had done.
Do it.
It's like
driving a steamroller in like all the best
(15:17):
ways imaginable.
Just the
we have 330 fives in the rear,which are just unreal.
It's the kind of tiresthat you can just sit upright
and they won't like follow ofor yeah, use as a seat.
They're insane.
Yeah, that is just unreal Street presence.
(15:39):
Like you feel like you'reyou're driving a car
that's like five times as big as it is,
but it's still just as nimble
as, like, a really light sports car.
So it's kind of it's almost impossibleto explain what it's like.
And is it lighter now?
(16:01):
Because I know some of his builds, He'she's like gone in
and actually made things made thingslighter.
Yeah.
So, yeah, with his custom, with his Stella
he did a bunch of weightreduction to my car.
I mean that car is really madefor track days only, right.
Well, mine's more of like,just like cars and coffee, right.
(16:25):
It's fun to drive around.
I don't think it's any lighter. Yeah.
And how much lighter is it now?
It's.
It has to be at least like a footand a half wide.
Like, it's just ridiculous.
I have no idea just how wide
that car is going to be until you put,like the rear and front bumper on.
(16:45):
I was like, it's sticking out that much.
my God.
And he's like, yeah,be careful and drive through.
So I was like, Okay, noted.
Yeah, noted for sure.
And now let's talk about something.
I'm actually kind of fascinatedto talk to you about.
I am not a purist by any means.
I do tend to like my personal cars.
(17:05):
I tend to like thingsthat are as, as original as possible.
But I'm also somebody that's likepeople have been customizing cars forever.
It's your is. Do what you want with it,have fun.
And I do know that there are peoplethat don't like seeing somebody
go to a Porscheand take a saw and cut things off
with handand just kind of manually tinker around.
(17:26):
So what are your thoughts on thatand what do you even have to say to people
that may not be fansof something like in our WB Porsche?
I mean,
hey man,everyone, everyone can have their opinion
That's fine like I, I understand the
I feel like there is a definite time
and a place to understand
(17:48):
and respect the history of these cars,
but I don't think we need to do thatfor every single one ever made.
And you know, if, if it makes me happy
and a bunch of other peopleI like really happy, then
I mean, in life, that's all that matters.
(18:09):
So absolutely. And I think it can inspire.
You never know who's going to seesomething like a build like in our WB
and get inspired to eithersay hey car design that's fun a way
I can customize cars, I can get a kit,I can do what I want.
Like there is something that I thinkcan be inspirational about,
you know, these kinds of things.
(18:30):
And percent,
you know, and,and maybe even draw in people
that weren't interestedin cars beforehand.
Maybe that's a way and for somesome folks as well and that can
it really does like collideyou know like bespoke art.
Yeah and
like really
cool cars into one thingso it's hard not to love it.
(18:50):
Yeah.
Do you have any future plans with the carbesides just to have fun, do cars
and coffee things like that?
Are you planning to be like, Hey,
I want to hang on to it for ten years,I'm going to sell it?
Or are you just like,Nah, I'm just going to take it day
by day, have fun with the car,maybe do some more.
What are your thoughts?
Yes, it's definitelyit definitely is a project car
and will probably foreverbe a project car.
(19:13):
Yeah, I want to keep it in the family
unless, like, something really bad happensor I need to sell it.
Right.
But my plans arefor now is just getting it,
you know, bullet proofing it.
So I'm
just kind of working outall the little kinks because,
(19:35):
you know, it's still an old German carfrom the nineties.
So it has plenty of, you know, quirksand electrical issues and all that stuff.
But mechanically, it soundbut I want to drop the motor at some point
due for reseal tune up,you know replace all the fluids get it
you know road trip ready because yeah yeahsome owners
(19:57):
I think this year in the summer I thinkare doing a big road trip from like L.A.
to Vegas
so it'd be cool to at some point
get the car to that kind of reliability
where I just wouldn't even have to like,think about, like, it breaking down.
Yeah,
I don't think it will, but it's.
(20:19):
It's going to be safe.
sorry.
Go ahead.
Let's see.
Eventually, I might want to either
put a turbo in it.
And I've also seensome people that have like swap.
There's
you know, obviouslyI always keep the original motor, but
(20:42):
like Rutledge Wood'sArtemis B is fantastic.
So if you you should seepictures of that car that thing is
mental
Awesome.
And for people out there that are like,Hey, wait, Simon would was able
to get Nicci son out to to work on a car.
It's got to be easy.
Do you have advice for peoplethat are just interested to learn
(21:04):
more about this or the processor anything like that?
It is.
It takes a lot of patience, patience and
kind of just buying,
being at the right placeat the right time.
I think on our WB as a website theythey kind of break down the whole process.
(21:27):
But basicallyif you buy a body kit from them, like
obviously you have to have like the rightkind of models that they like to work on.
Yes, like usually like a964993
And then when you buy the body kit,you also buy,
you know, like the opportunityto fly Nicci over to work on the car.
(21:48):
So it's kind of like a package dealand you buy the body kit from them
and then, you know,you have to find the wheels,
the suspension, if you want repaintedor wrap it or whatever.
And a lot of it is
up to you
on how you want things done,
you know?
RW BS have been like,
(22:11):
you have somethey're like completely finished
and the only thing that it needsis just the body kit put on
and then there's some are to beis the don't even have engines in them,
they get the body kits put on.
So it's a very free form process. Yes.
It's, it's not like super rigidso it's super like flexible fluid.
Okay.How do you want things as it should be?
(22:33):
It seems like that seems to fit it.
Yeah. Yeah. Very nice.
Yeah.
I actually I have a funny story for
when I had to take
Nicci son and Yuki to Home Depot.
Like the nightbefore the first day of the build ever.
Did you ever hear about that story?
(22:55):
No. No, I haven't.
So this is literally the
the nightbefore the first day of the build,
and I took the case on to
look over the body kitjust to make sure everything was there.
And I don't know what happened, but
all of the rubber pieces around,like the front lip and the side skirts
(23:17):
and the mounting bracketand the end plates
for the Gt2 wing were just gone.
Like, just didn't exist.
And he was like, where all these piecesAnd I was like, I have no idea. wow.
Yeah, it was man, it was so stressful.
And you're like, okay.
He's like,okay, we're going to Home Depot.
(23:37):
Like, All right, let's do it.
So we went to Home Depot like 9 p.m.
and man,we scanned like every single aisle
of that store just to find somethingthat we could use as a replacement
and man, we were on a mission.
We were like, running up and downeach hour that you're almost finding
(23:59):
like something that we could useas, like a substitute.
We had, like, all the staff at the HomeDepot come in,
like, look on, like their websiteto see if they can find anything.
Like, okay, we need like rubberthat's like,
this thickand we need like this much of it.
And it has to be black.
And it was, it was a whole process.
We got the whole store working on Chinatrying to find these pieces for us.
(24:22):
We eventually did findthis big like was like $80, this huge
roll of kind of like cork rubberis like the same thickness.
So we're like,okay, this this will just have to do.
So we get that. And
literally the morningof the first day of the build,
(24:43):
I find all of the missing partsat the bottom of a box
that was filled with all of the old partsthat we weren't going to put on the car.
Right? Right.
Of course I'd put it there like,of course.
Yeah, that's the way it always works. So.
So yeah, that was, that was
that got the heart rate up a little bit.
(25:03):
Yeah.
Got a little got my eyebrows sweatingjust a bit.
The really cool thing, my favorite
part of the car is
when.
So we got all the rubber,everything's fine, so the car's all done.
But the turn signals that I have
for the front bumper are the U.S.
(25:24):
version that requires the little rubberbumps, stops
instead of the euroturn signals that are, like, really big.
And so the bumper that we have forthe kit is for the euro turn signals.
So when we put the U.S.
turn signals on, there's aboutlike like two three inch gap,
whereas just kind of
(25:44):
like, you know,not nice looking or Yeah, like
obviously they're supposed to belike something covering it.
And so a light bulb went off in my headand I was like,
let's use this huge,like giant roll of rubber
and we'll make little cutoutslike little patches to, like, insert
into like where the stops would be.
(26:06):
And so he liked that idea.
So he went like, straight to work,like hang out these patches.
So it's really coolthat really is that roll of rubber that
we found that Home Depot for the buildAnd honestly, like I was thinking like,
okay, I'll just get thethe euro turn signals later.
That was likenow that's it's like a personal touch.
Absolutely. It's a good memory.
(26:26):
And I love coming upwith ideas on the spot.
You know, it talked about the creativityof something like this where you're going
to you're going to encounter problemsand how do you creatively fix it
and still make itsomething that's worthwhile and cool.
And that was something I really, reallyappreciated about in the case was just
he is just like
just there to like, be awesomeand to help and do
(26:50):
whatever that needs to be doneto get the car done to how we want it.
And it was,it was just a really fun time and
yeah, nice.
Like if you look at the front of the car,like you almost can't tell,
but you'll seethose tiny little black squares and yeah,
(27:11):
that's that, that's that roll of rubberthat we found at Home Depot.
All right, Love it.I love it. That's fantastic.
And that's also why I think, you know,you're
sort of trying to keep this in the familylong term is special
to because of these little personaltouches to the car.
That means so much.
Yeah, it's 100%.
I mean, it's like it it's like signifiers,like, you know, being able to build the
(27:36):
that relationship with and the Kaizenand just having that experience was
just one.
The million can kind of ask for anything
more as it was just so cool
seeing him work and seeing the passionthat he puts into that car.
And you can just see he's justhe can do it.
(27:57):
There's eyes closed really for right?
Just legendary.
that's amazing.
Well, thank you so much, Simon.
I really appreciate yousharing this story.
And for people to learn more about ourWB Porsches, you know, anything
customizable is
always a little fascinating to mebecause I, I cannot work on a car.
So I always appreciate those that canand get really fascinated with it.
(28:20):
And if anybody wants to see pictures
or anything,is there like a social media place?
Do you share thingsor is it just in the future, we hope?
LeMay America's Car Museum
is going to put out some contentor anything like that.
Yeah.
So I'm planning on
posting more photos on my Instagram.
(28:41):
I can.
You want me to email you the.
Yeah, I'll, I'll provide a linkin the show notes for each.
Okay, cool.
Yeah.
So on my Instagram, I'm going toI have some photos already there from
the photographers there.
They're just kind oftaking pictures on the side.
And then I'm also goingto post some of those rollers
that we did afterthe build was completed at some point.
(29:05):
And then so you'll see those there.
And I I'll I'll try to give you the
handlesfor all the photographers over there
because they've all posted likea bunch of stuff on their Instagrams too.
Yeah. That'll be great.
And I'll shareall those in the show notes.
I really doappreciate you having me on this, Michael,
and is a really fun timebeing able to talk about this car.
(29:28):
Well, thank you.
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